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samofmine · 5 months

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"Stop looking at me like that!" Sam says, high pitched and annoyed, but well, no. Dean very much can't stop looking at him like that.

(aka I couldn't stop thinking about this so here's a weecest with sam in a cropped top and the inner chaos it ensues on dean)

Like what, anyway? He just hopes he's not drooling.

Sam came home an hour ago. He insisted on going shopping for his own clothes, saying Dean never got his right size, the pants looked too baggy and the shirts too loose. Well, forgive him if he doesn't want Sam parading the shape of his body to everyone. He gets enough catcalls from creeps in gas stations and sideroad bars as it is.

But Dean can't really use that as an argument, so yes, go the fuck ahead and buy your own clothes if you're so self sufficient, he said, and oh how it bit him in the ass.

Sam's fashion preference happened to be a pair of ragged jeans, red converse sneakers, and a freaking cropped top. A white, loose cropped top, short enough he can see everything from under Sam's nipples to the curve of his hipbone, loose enough it reveals Sam's collarbones as he moves.

Sammy's stomach. The smooth, milky skin wrapping around his small waist. His hip bones. Hell, even his belly button. Dean feels dizzy.

It's not like Dean's never seen it before. He bathed the kid, changed his diapers, but it's all a distant memory now, since Sam's puberty hit and he started acting like such a girl, shy to even be in the same room as a shirtless Dean, and god forbid Dean ever needs to piss when he's in the shower, because he will be throwing a tantrum before he even gets to step inside the bathroom.

Whatever. It doesn't matter. It would take more than bitchy mood swings and annoying brattiness to make Sam any less endearing to Dean.

He's still his little brother. His baby. Dean's everything.

He's not saying he misses the closeness, the tangled limbs under bedsheets when it was too cold and lying too close together when they had to share a crappy motel fan during a heat wave. But now that all of that is in the past, he simply wasn't prepared to see so much of Sam.

He wants to put his hands on each side of his waist and see if they still fit perfectly.

He wants to brush his fingers under his belly button and see if he can still track the goosebumps running through his body by watching his skin from close enough.

He wants... He wants.

He won't do any of that, though, because he doesn't want to be yelled at and he definitely doesn't want to deal with a moody Sammy for the rest of the week.

So, he stares. Sam has to grant him at least that.

"Looks weird, I know it." Sam looks down, and Dean notices his hands are trying to cover his stomach. "Just stop staring. It's hot today."

Dean blinks. What. What?

"What?" He can't help it. "Why do you think I'm staring? D'you think I'm gonna make fun of you?"

"Well." Sam looks at him, all bitchy faced. "Why else?"

Dean wants to laugh. Or cry. This is ridiculous.

If I could take a picture of you like this and keep it next to my bed so it's the first thing I see everyday, I'd be doing it right now. Seriously. Just give me a camera.

Obviously he can't say any of that. So.

"Why don't you wear a skirt to complete the look?" He teases, but crap, that was not the right thing to say, not just because the image of Sam in a skirt crosses his mind and he feels faint from it, but because of Sam's pained expression as soon as he heard the words.

"You're a jerk." Sam says and lies down on his bed, his back to Dean. He pulls the covers on top of him as if he's trying to hide.

Dean moves before he can even rationalize it. "Sammy, c'mon." He says, sitting on the edge of Sam's bed. "I was joking."

"Leave me alone." He gets in response.

Dean takes a deep breath, tries to go through his mental Sammy manual to see if he has any way of fixing this.

Feels like nothing he can say or do will make any difference.

So, to hell with it.

"You look good." He says. If Sam's gonna be pissed at him anyway, let it be for his honesty instead of his bad jokes.

Sam tenses up under the blanket, Dean notices of course.

"You don't mean that." Sam's voice is smaller, vulnerable, tugging on Dean's heartstrings like nothing else does.

"Of course I..." He sighs in frustration. "Let me see you."

Sam turns to lie on his back just so he can look at Dean, confused. Well, at least he's looking at him.

Dean grabs the blanket and pulls it down.

"Stop! Give it back." Sam whines, pulling it back. He's so goddamn loud, for no reason.

Dean rolls his eyes and holds Sam's wrists to make him stop.

"Let me see you, Sammy." He says, in a way anyone else would think is an order, even their dad, but only Sam knows this is him pleading.

He lets go of Sam's wrists to put the blanket away. Sam lets him.

Dean takes a moment, takes in the sight.

Sam's hands are still shyly on top of his stomach, hiding it.

Dean swallows dry.

He slowly reaches and moves Sam's hand so he can touch him, fingers almost shaking from the excitement, and Sam's stomach clenches under his touch.

He looks up to meet Sam's eyes. He's looking at him, nervous and flushed and beautiful, and Dean wants to keep him to himself, wants to lock them inside this room and throw away the key or fucking swallow it, because no way in hell he's ever going to allow anyone else to see Sam like this.

"You look good." He repeats, not recognizing his own voice, it comes out strangled and pathetic and he has to take a deep breath.

"Thanks." Sam says softly, so damn soft, Dean doesn't think locking him in the room will be enough. He's gonna have to eat him.

He brushes his fingers lightly across Sam's stomach and he squirms, fucking squirms, laughing under him.

"Tickles." Sam whines.

And, well, if doing that will make Sammy lose the scowl, game on.

Dean starts to tickle his tummy, laughing along with Sam as he drinks in every movement.

"Stop!" Sam laughs, grabbing his hand.

The pause in their movements is too long and with their eyes locked Dean forgets to breathe.

"Well, do you believe me?" He says once he remembers, "Or should I say it again?"

"I believe you." Sam says, shyly.

"What was that? I didn't hear it." Dean leans down, closer to hear him better.

"Shut up, you heard me." Sam is still smiling.

"How come you're always avoiding me lately?" Maybe now is not the time to talk about this, he knows Sam's good mood is fragile and he shouldn't be tempting it, but. He has to know.

"I'm not. I just... Feel weird around you."

"Weird?" Dean asks, confused.

"I don't know. Shut up." Sam says, but he's still smiling, even though it's a more nervous smile. "Just... Weird. Like I always want more of it. Don't ask me to explain it, I just know I shouldn't feel this way. I just do, though."

Dean blinks at him, digesting.

"It's probably cause we spend most of the time in small rooms with not enough space even to have personal space."

Nerd, Dean thinks.

But such a cute fucking nerd. He has no idea what he's even talking about but at least Sam isn't tired of him or hates him. He just feels weird, and Dean can totally understand that.

"You're such a weirdo." He says, not holding back his smile. Sam laughs weakly and Dean feels high on it.

Maybe that's why he leans in and kisses his forehead.

He feels Sam freezing under him but it's been so long since he let him this close, so damn long, he can't stop.

He kisses the tip of his nose.

Sam holds his breath.

Dean kisses his chin.

"De?" Sam's voice is so small, Dean is going insane.

When he meets his eyes again he notices Sam isn't looking at him with confusion or annoyance like he expected.

He decides to push his luck.

"What? I can't kiss you, anymore, either?" He says, testing the waters. "When you were little you wouldn't go to sleep without a goodnight kiss from me, remember that?"

Sam groans in embarassment, but he's still smiling, cheeks tainted pink.

"I was a kid. 'M not a kid anymore."

"So I shouldn't kiss you then." Dean raises his eyebrows.

"Why would you even want to kiss me?" Sam says, not meeting his eyes.

Dean can't even register the question. Seriously.

"Have you looked at yourself?" He says. "How could I not?"

He travels his eyes down Sam's body, his stomach drawing his attention again.

He stares for a moment too long.

"You can." Sam says, almost a whisper.

Dean meets his eyes, not sure what he was talking about. Maybe he got distracted, sue him.

Sam notices and rolls his eyes.

"Kiss me, I mean." He explains shyly "Miss your goodnight kisses, too."

And Dean feels himself buzz with excitement, fingers going numb from wanting to reach and touch and hold and do everything at once.

He sighs in frustration and lets his head drop forward, resting his forehead against Sam's stomach.

"You'll be the death of me." He says against Sam's skin. He hopes it's a promise. Only death could free him from this longing. Maybe not even death.

And there they are. The goosebumps.

He smiles. He can't help but kiss him, right on top of his bellybuton. He takes his time, too, letting his lips brush against the skin, breathing in Sam's scent.

Sam is quiet but Dean can hear his breath getting heavier.

He continues.

He kisses every bit of skin he can reach, lips brushing across Sam's stomach from one kiss to the other, never wanting to break the contact.

"Feels weird." Sam lets out a choked sigh.

"Bad weird?" Dean asks, looking up at him.

"Just weird." Sam says. "Probably bad weird. But I like it."

Dean looks at him, words escaping him.

Sam smiles sweetly and cups his face with his hand.

"I like everything you make me feel, De. Even though I hate that I like it sometimes."

Dean leans back to get a better view of Sam's expression, wants to register it in his brain so he can remember it the next time Sam avoids him again.

"Same here, Sammy." He says, simply, because he has no idea how to put into words the relief he's feeling.

He looks at Sam's stomach, places his hands on each side of his waist. Rubs his thumb against his skin.

"Fits." He says, more to himself.

Sam's hand finds his face again, this time under his chin, making him look up.

They're really damn close to each other. Dean's eyes stop on Sam's lips.

Sam is leaning in. His hand move from his chin to hold Dean's shoulder, both hands, and he closes his eyes and he continues to lean in and Dean feels like everything is happening way too slowly but he could never rush this.

Sam kisses him. It's nothing but a peck, but it's enough to awake the monster that's been dorment inside Dean's soul all this time and he can't stop himself from pulling Sam towards him by the neck, to kiss him better, to kiss him harder, to feel his lips against his tongue.

Sam tries to follow Dean's rythm, letting out small whimpers that make Dean even more hungry.

He guides him so they both move on the bed and he sits him on his lap. Sam's arms immediately lock around his neck.

They kiss for so long Dean starts to feel lightheaded, but he still wants more, because it's Sammy, and Sammy is kissing him back and he wants everything Sam gives him and he almost wants more.

After too long but not even close to long enough Dean lies them down, but they continue to trade kisses until Sam falls asleep first, Dean's hands firm on his waist, keeping them close enough they share each breath. Dean decides this, right here, like this, is where they belong. He falls asleep with a smile on his face.

#weecest #this ended up being fluffier than i intended #today i offer you sam in a cropped top tomorrow who knows #should probs warn !!! that dean is a bit obsessive and possessive and a lil insane about sammt #sammy*#but arent we all. be honest #wincest #samdean #wincest ficlet #didnt proof read bc its 5am and i should be asleep #been trying to correct the typos but tumblr hates me

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gilverrwrites · 3 days

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Have we discussed Roman’s separated wife hooking up with Bruce Wayne? You and Bruce have always been cordial, so when Roman doxxes you, Bruce lets you stay at the Manor and cry on his shoulder until the wine bottle is empty. He’s so nice and his hand is so warm on your cheek and oh Lord, it’s bigger than your face and you can’t remember the last time you felt safe while a man was touching you. You try to make a move, but Bruce knows he’s overindulged you (partially to get info about Roman but he’ll feel guilty about it later), so he stops you…but promises he’ll be more than ready and willing when you’re in your right mind and decide you still want this. You wait anxiously the entirety of the next day, until Bruce shows up at your door in the sluttiest t-shirt and sweatpants you’ve ever seen, his ginormous hand finding its place on your face again while the other one is slipping under the hem of your shirt.

Slutty top? You've hit a nerve anon, cause now all I'm thinking about is Brucie in a slutty little crop top, like sir put that washboard away before I bite it! Honestly, feral for anyone of any shape and size in a crop top, just show me your belly, please. Yeah, that would work on me.

But to answer your question, no we have not discussed this but we certainly can!!!!

Like, I can say earnestly, when he invited you to stay with him, sleeping with you did not cross his mind; he was purely thinking about;

Helping you get out of a bad situation

Good for the Brucie Wayne image (so long as the press don't get wind of it until you've found somewhere permanent to move too)

(as mentioned) Chance to get info on Black Mask

But the moment you flash that perfectly poised smile, even though you’re clearly on the brink of tears, he's thinking ‘Uh oh. I'm in trouble.’

He never thought much of you while you were with Roman, if maybe a little bit sorry for you. The extent of your relationship was occasional networking with Bruce at events, and Batman peeking through your windows at night to check on you when Roman was at his worst or imprisoned.

It helps that he thought you were pretty.

But now, as he's getting to know you on a personal level, seeing that you're stronger than he'd thought, and smarter. You're letting down walls and actually relaxing, and in his domain at that! It stirs something within him.

And for you, like Roman and Bruce are the same age, from similar backgrounds, similar personas for the public (charming and rich) but it's crazy to see how different they really are.

When you talk, Bruce isn't just waiting for his turn to speak, he listens.

There's no coercion when you set a boundary, he just respects it. Which funnily enough makes you more willing to share. He's just so easy to trust.

When you ask about interesting pieces around his house, he doesn't brag about where it's from and what it costs. Instead, he tells you stories about his parents or his kids interacting with it.

He's funny, and respectful, not at all what you'd expected.

And did you mention handsome? Oh, he's very handsome. That dark hair and those blue eyes. The chiselled jaw and the dimples and he smells good too, you find that out after you bury your nose into his chest while he's carrying you to bed that first night. You're tipsy, and his house is a maze, he's just trying to help and not at all showing off his strength.

The same way he's just dressed so casually the following day when he comes to find you, this is what he always lounges around. He's totally not subtly flexing his glamour muscles as you open the door.

Now, Roman is by no means bad in bed. He's just, shall we say, selfish? He has a set way in life and sex that he expects you to live up to.

Bruce though? He's a giver. He can take, when appropriate, but right now, he knows what you need.

You need those big hands on your waist as he chases you into the bed with his mouth. You need them soothing your tired body, massaging all the stress out of your aching body. You need his thumb to rub circles into your inner thighs while he kisses, and sucks, and laps at your hot, wet sex. You need his long hard fingers pumping into that sweet little hole, again and again until you cum all over them.

And that is just the start.

But you know one other really important thing you need? Some goddamn aftercare.

He knows it straight away, shouldn’t have been surprised. But when your body immediately falls limp after he rolls off of you, when you look at him confused as he asks if you need anything he knows your life has been lacking kindness for so long that you barely even recognise when it's extended to you.

He's not good at the emotional stuff, at comforting words but he reasons that you probably don't need to hear it right now. Don't need to be reminded of your mistakes, of your past.

Instead, he pulls you into him, wrapping his warmth around you like a giant weighted blanket. Holding you until you accept his affection and melt into his arms.

Meanwhile, the False Facers can't breach Bruces security, can't get a good look into the Manor. Which means they don't know what you're doing there. But they know you're there, and that means Roman knows you're there.

And Romans not stupid, you sneaky, no good, selfish whore.

He gave you everything, and this is how you repay him? You nasty little bitch. And with Bruce Wayne of all people?

Don't get comfy, because the moment you step outside those gates, the second you let your walls down, he's going to rock your shit. You're going to pay for all the crap you've put him through, tenfold.

Taglist: @wandalfnation

#He'd assume you were sleeping with Bruce even if you weren't lets be real #anon #thanks for the ask I love it #bruce wayne/reader #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne #batman/reader #batman x reader #batman #roman sionis #roman sionis/reader #roman sionis x reader #black mask #black mask/reader #black mask x reader #gilverranswers

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streaminn · 3 months

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Note! Prices can change and vary depending on what is being commissioned! None of these are concrete

+10-15 usd per person

+5-10 usd depending on the background

Note: There can be additional charges due to paypal fees

And you can ask for more examples! Please Dm for more info and all that jazz :^)

Can Draw!

Fanart

oc’s/humanoids

pngtuber models

character sheets

horror, gore (not excessive)

Chibi

NSfW

Might Draw (We’ll need to talk about these requests)

full on furries (not so experienced)

excessive gore/horror (same excuse as above)

comics

honestly, if it isn’t in the Can Draw, let’s talk about it.

Will not:

hate art

anything political

if it crosses my boundaries

Terms and Service! (this is a long one)

The client may ask for progress updates every 2-4 days, if not longer, should the commissionee not be in contact.

The art may take longer than the estimated time the artist gives. Should that be an issue or concern, the client must tell the artist.

In commissioning the artist, the client acknowledges that the artist is a student and that this is not the artist’s full time job, and the client should not expect the artist to be able to treat it as such.

IMAGE RIGHTS

The client may not, in any way shape or form, use the art in a commission product for NFTs, no matter how much they offer to pay the artist. Should NFTs be made of the art without consent, the client gives full consent for the artist to take legal action against them.

The client may make minor edits to the completed commission (e.g. cropping, adding text/borders, changing brightness/contrast/hue/saturation…

The client may use/reupload the commission for personal/non-commercial use, but only if proper credit to the artist and a linkback to any of the artist’s social media is provided.

If the commission includes characters that do not belong the client, additional credit to the owner(s)/creator(s) of said characters must be provided when using/reuploading for personal/non-commercial use.

The client may not use the commission for any commercial use unless discussed with the artist beforehand.

^ Should the client use the art for commercial use, provided the artist’s consent, the artist will receive an agreed-upon percentage of the sales profits.

The client MUST credit the artist for any usage of the art on any platform.

The client MUST ask the artist if they want to use their art as a reference, and proceed to credit each time the reference is used. REVISION POLICIES Once the coloring stage begins, the only major revisions permitted are details that the artist may have missed and was specified by the client in the order while the commission was still in the sketching/lineart stage (e.g. a missing tattoo that’s essential to the character’s design).

If the client is unsatisfied with the commission, the artist is willing to discuss and make minor edits as stated prior (e.g. adjusting colors). However, the artist will not redraw the piece and expects full payment, as the client should have specified in the sketch stage changes they wanted to be made.

The client may not hire another artist to adjust the image without the commissionee’s consent.

The artist is willing to edit the image post commission for the commissioner, but may charge a small fee depending on what is being asked of them. Upon commissioning the artist, the client automatically agrees to the terms of service provided, as it is assumed they have read them.

…and that’s about it? Just don’t expect me to be obligated to draw something and we'll figure something out. Not to mention that depending on how much commissions i’m getting and how busy i am, the art will take atleast a few days to a week!

If you got references, provide them! It’ll help alot. You can also ask for progress updates, just don’t mind me accidentally not seeing the message bc this is tumblr and I don’t get notifs for some reason.

as of rn, im accepting payment through ko-fi and paypal

But ye! That’s about it, thanks for seeing this yall. If you want to see more examples, simply look at the tags below in my account!

#commissions open #commission work #rendered #commission sheet #open commissions

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maythedreadwolftakeyou · 16 days

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Hiii, do you have any tips for drafting out embroidery patterns? I've got one in mind, but drafting it out and color picking is so nerve-wracking!!

[Hi!!!! this got kinda really long so I'm gonna crop it under a read more. And I honestly don't have any real training/instruction in fiber arts so this is just how I do things, and probably others do them very differently!]

Haha so my fandom embroideries are VERY different from my non-fandom personal pieces in this respect. For non-fandom things i just kind of throw myself in like WAHOO FREEFORM LETS GO and go for a kind of messy colorful approach that ends up as things like this:

Versus my fandom stuff is way more structured and designed to fill space, be very precise, etc. So for those I do go in with a digital mock up of the design I make in photoshop, that I then color in, and then as my last step translate to thread colors.

For my Dragon Age series. this has been because I'm specifically trying to mimic the stained-glass style of art you see in parts of the game like the dialogue wheels, some icons, windows, etc. The icons in particular were really easy to copy into embroidery because they already come in handy circles:

This is mostly because I have desperately wanted to pick up stained glass work as a hobby for like 6 years now. As in once every 3-6 months I put everything I'd need to start doing it into an online shopping cart and look at the price total and then sadly close the window because I just don't actually have any space I could do it in (I live in a 2bed apartment so i have no garage or yard or anywhere it wouldn't make everything else a mess or be a hazard). The day after one of those events I impulse bought and completed a floral embroidery kit from the craft store and kinda was like... ok, well, I did this once how hard can it be to use this medium to mimic the hobby I wish I could be doing? Plus, it's only like 60 cents per color! I can afford that! So I took the first design I wanted to do, the romance icon, and basically redrew it sloppily in photoshop, then freehand-copied the design onto fabric and stitched it the next day:

I learned a lot from this piece and changed my approach a little. Here you can see I tried shading in the parallel direction to my thread, which looked messy and added texture, so now I shade horizontally to my thread direction instead.

But it gave me a basic approach for turning the Tarot cards or DA Keep tiles (or any other art!) into embroidery patterns, which I couldn't copy as directly into this really smooth stained-glass style. There's a basic process I follow when doing these conversions that generally follows the same order, which I'll go through below.

STEP 1: SHAPES

The first thing I do is pick the shape of my display frame which is usually a circle, but could be an oval or rectangle too, since I hang the finished pieces on my wall to have nice way to show them off. I like to fill the whole space so knowing the size and shape of what I want the finished project to look like is a good goal for me. Since I am doing fandom pieces I want to be recognizable, I do stick pretty close to the "original" character design/art, but you can absolutely change as much as you want and freehand draw your own interpretation instead. If you're doing original art just substitute the below composition notes with "sketch out roughly what you want it to look like". I personally do my pattern drafting digitally as I find it easier, but you can do this part by hand too.

First, I keep the reference image I'm working off of open next to me while I work, and draw in the shape of my frame (here, a circle). If I'm adding in the little border to be fancy, I add a second inner circle. I keep these as their own top layer so I always know I'm working within the final "frame" and don't spend time designing any section that will fall outside it. Then I will take copies of the reference image and knock the layers down to 25-50% opacity, and start moving them around underneath the 'frame' layer until I like the way their positioning looks as a composition. Sometimes elements of a card I want to include don't all fit in, so I'll chop the section out and add an additional layer to throw in (like the background circle things in the Hermit design below). Or I'll just freehand things like adding much bigger diamonds behind Solas in my Hierophant design because I did NOT want to do 1000 tiny ones. Then once I'm satisfied with the general composition, I'll use the plain ol circular brush tool to trace out the major shapes of each element. I try to keep in mind that I can't go too small, and curvy lines are more difficult to fill in than straight ones. I usually do a rough messy version first, make it mostly transparent, and then a cleaner and more precise one over that.

(you can see parts of the rough one on the left and the fully 'cleaned up' on the right for the Hierophant design)

Now: depending on what you are doing next with the pattern, this might be where you stop and start coloring. If you are planning to freehand your design or just trace it onto fabric (or even print it onto fabric here), there's no need to do more than this kind of lineart! However, if you are working digitally and want to create a scalable vector so you can print it at different sizes, you can use the pen tool in photoshop to trace your design and make a "work path" of the lineart. However, another note: THIS PART IS VERY FRUSTRATING AND TEDIOUS BECAUSE THE PEN TOOL WAS CREATED BY THE DEVIL TO TORMENT US. It is so so so easy to accidentally delete a line or even the whole path and not notice later on. Ask me how I know 😭 Anyway I'm not going to include a pen tool tutorial because I don't even know how to use it well and have to google or watch videos every other time I try to use it. But if you can muddle through it gets you some really clean lines that eventually look like this:

With the work path selected, you can select the brush tool/size/color and use the "stroke path" option to create lineart of the vector. Then you can save this as a transparent png file for use at different sizes and for printing and it looks so nice and clean! one of the big benefits to this is that you get really fine lines that are easier to be precise with stitching on. This is extra perfect if you are printing the design directly onto your fabric (which you can do with an at-home inkjet printer for designs under 8inches wide, as long as you stick a piece of stabilizer on the back of your fabric and cut it down to printer sheet size--this is what I do and can make another post about that process if people want haha), or if you are printing onto transfer paper like you can buy at craft stores.

This is where I end the lineart for my designs. After I have this, I move on to the next phase, which is...

STEP 2: COLOR

For interpreting my designs into thread, I start by thinking of it as flat colors first. You can't "shade" as easily with threads as you can with things like paint or brushes in digital art (though you can A Little, which I will get into), so to start color planning I pick the "main" color each section will be in the piece.

For the existing icons this was simple--I kept the same sections as the original designs, so for each I just color picked or eyeballed the color in photoshop and colored it in (but you could do this on paper with pencils, markers, whatever as well--they don't need to match your threads exactly and usually won't, it's just to give you an easy reference to follow as you go). For the tarot cards which were more complicated in coloration, I just did my best and went with what looked good next to each other, even if it was a little off the original art. It will be off more later anyway when you have to pick threads so don't stress it too much honestly. I will often make layers with different color options and turn them on/off for direct comparison to try to determine what I think looks best as well, like below where I was debating between more blue/desaturated for the background or brighter colors.

I do wanna note I have regrets about the color selection, shapes, or shading in EVERY SINGLE ONE of my finished pieces. But no one else ever comments or probably even notices! One aspect of this hobby is just learning to be satisfied with what you've made and using what you learned to get closer to your preferences next time. I'm only going back and redoing some of my designs' colors because I want to make it easier for others to choose on the patterns I sell, more than I care for just for myself. Also since I'm doing this lineart/stained glass looking approach where I go over the distinct shapes with black thread at the end, it means I get these clear delineations between sections you might not necessarily have in your own pieces, and that's ok.

Ok right. Now while shading/coloring in detail is hard with thread, you CAN make whats essentially dithered gradients. "Dithering" in the concept of art means using 2 (or more) colors to give the impression of a third color, or to gently scale between the existing binary rather than a hard line. Think of it like blocky pixel art or gameboy game images. If you're doing needlepainting, you use really small stitches close together to get this effect, which translates to "smaller pixes"--if you look at the jellyfish in my first photos that's a very messy casual version of that. If you want a better example, I recommend looking at @ammocharis 's pieces like these in her pinned post, which are truly amazing! I simply do not have the patience myself 😂 For my stained glass style, I work only in very long straight stitches, so I can only shade in one direction and have to be a little more precise with it.

So for shading, I think about in each section which direction my threads might go. Then perpendicular to that direction I pick which side will be the light one and which the darker one. Sometimes I color this in on my pattern mockup, but sometimes I don't! Or I'll only do it for certain sections to make sure I don't forget. Like for my Tower design I only colored it as flats, and waited until I selected threads to decide how the shading would go. I am currently working on a smaller, simplified version of my Hierophant design and I did add shading digitally for that one just for fun. But it's not as important as having the flat color version you can use to quick-reference how you want your design to go while you're stitching. You might also notice I don't actually color my gold--I just throw in a stock image of gold foil for that layer so I can't confuse it with any of my yellow thread sections.

Here's a close up where you can kind of see what I mean by the "dithered" effect between colors--some are more obvious (like the red on the far left or middle orange) and others pretty subtle (dark grey to dark red on the wolf face):

Now, while I use single layers of satin stitches for this, and just alternate thread colors increasing/decreasing as I go, you can accomplish the same thing with short overlapping stitches like with needlepainting, or with clusters of french knots, or whatever else. But in GENERAL you are going to be able to trick people into seeing gradients out of dithering best when you are using the same type of stitch for that whole area. So if I was using multiple stitch types like having french knots, daisy chains, ladder stitching or whatever else for some sections, I would keep those to contrasting areas/colors. A fantastic example of using different layered types of stitching to create more intricate color/texture in an embroidery would be these incredible tarot card depictions by @hattedhedgehog, which I like even better than my own embroideries. Here's his take on the Tower card as well for comparison to mine (I'm so in love with it!!!).

But anyway, at this phase, your design is actually still digital--the above is just to explain how it translates later in the process. The next step is...

STEP 3: THREAD SELECTION

I will admit here I am not great at this part. I am constantly second guessing my thread colors, and can spend over an entire hour in the thread aisle at the craft store agonizing over choices. Really, I think this is just one of those things that takes practice and you get better at it over time. What I have had the best luck with is actually printing out a reference photo of my design/the original artwork and taking it with me. If you already have threads you can do this part at home too, but DMC alone has over 500 colors and I definitely don't even own half that so I like to torture myself by looking at them all together on the thread racks. Plus Anchor and Artiste and whatever other brands there are out there. One approach is to just sit there and pick out what you want for each section and line it all up together on top of your printout. Or in the case of my Tower I laid a bunch of options out on top of my template in the hoop to guess how they'd look in the frame.

For me since I am also doing this dither shading thing, I also need 2-3 colors per sections depending on its size. Sometimes it's easy and the threads have a color just a little darker or lighter right next to them in the numerical lineup! Other times, there is no good match, or it looks too far away to shade nicely, or I want one to be a warmer or cooler tone than the other... which means a lot of standing and fretting to myself over it. I actually take a lot of photos at this stage because it can be easier to see how they will look in the end from a photo than in person to me? Idk why. Plus then after they get scrambled in my bag I remember wtf order I meant for them to go in later. But as long as you're not preventing other customers from shopping themselves, you can spend as long as you want staring at thread in the embroidery aisle and they won't kick you out unless it's closing time, so take your time.

Now, IN THEORY, you can sort of combine steps 2 and 3 by color-selecting from your threads and using that to color in the design. However I have tried this and it led to mixed success because the photoshop eyedropper brush simply isn't actually that exact (in my experience, it desaturates compared to what we actually see). And because then you have to have the threads on hand while you're coloring... which means you might buy ones you don't end up using if you don't like them. So I prefer to just use this as a refinement step where I pick threads based on the design colors, then will re-color the design a second time to match those threads more closely to be sure I like the effect.

I've even used this as a tool when I needed to adjust my color choices mid-project, by digitally coloring over over my WIP:

Or here's a design (but I haven't posted the finished piece yet bc it's a gift so shhh) I made with certain color tones initially, but after buying thread I re-did the color mockup to be more vibrant, because I liked those threads better in the store:

Once you have your thread, you can make yourself a little reference chart with the colors you intend noted on the sections you want them, like below:

(note: i didn't end up sticking to these colors because I ended up dying my own thread for several sections. And then forgot I made this entirely and picked new ones because I put the project down for a year between design and stitching. Sigh).

Or for my Solas pattern I did this in a really detailed way, which i am sorry but i have redacted because... i have it for sale now and don't wanna just give that away haha. But if you buy the pattern from my shop this is one of the files you'd get with it, for ease of reference. I do also include a text-only list of them as well.

Now I don't go to this much trouble for all my designs, just the ones I put up for sale (or plan to). You can also just make a text list of your color plans if you want. Though for fun I also have been using my scrap thread to make these little "color palette" keyrings for my finished pieces, so if I ever remake them or update their patterns I will know what the original colors were, plus I can compare what i used to other threads if I wanna change part of the design up. This step is absolutely not necessary and I'm just doing it because I'm selling the patterns now, but they are kinda fun to look at.

And don't forget.. if you start a section in a certain color and decide you don't like it, you can just cut the threads and pull them out! I did that with my original hierophant piece actually. I had an entirely different color for one row of diamonds i thought just clashed way too much with the others, so I used photoshop to paint over it with some alternate options until I found one I liked better. Then I cut away all the old threads and put in the new color. It can be a little harder to fill a piece the second time since the fabric will have stretched out a little, but as long as you're using a good stabilizer it usually doesn't move too much.

You can also just make test swatches on spare fabric to test before you add them to your real piece. I wish I'd done this for some color transitions that didn't end up looking the way I wanted, but I am simply too lazy most of the time. My exception is usually for metallic, satin, or sparkly threads, because I want to know how they feel while embroidering. But if you're really worried about a certain color or shade it's a good thing to remember you can just do.

SO yep, that's my general process for drafting patterns. I start with the shapes/design, then do my flat color version, then I pick my threads. Makes it sound easy and short when phrased like that :) But I can honestly spend 8-10 hours just on making the lineart and coloring it in. If I was better at art, probably this would be less, but I'm working with what I've got (not much) 😂 I think all aspects of this are also something that gets easier over time, but it will probably never look as bad as you worry when you start out. I think all my pieces look awkward and rough right up until I do the finishing steps and move them to the display frame sometimes.

I hope this was helpful and answered your questions!! Feel free to post/share your WIPs to ask for feedback or advice ever too :) I've only ever had people in the embroidery community on tumblr be encouraging and helpful to me, and I'm happy to answer any questions myself when I can or if parts of this were confusing

#ramblings #my stuff #my embroidery #embroidery #dragon age embroidery #calicostorms #oh god tumblr changed the alignment of all my images so theyre all huge now great #WELL I keep tryign to rearrage them to be on the same line and it is NOT working so. thats how they will look i geuss #this is gonna annoy me all night... thats what i get for expectign a Functional Website though

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miwtual · 1 year

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hey kai if you want could you do a tutorial on how to put gifs inside shapes (like your MARGOT ROBBIE as HARLEY QUINN in the DC EXTENDED UNIVERSE) it looks so good

howdy anon! i’ve answered something similar to this before, but i figured that a proper tutorial would be nice, so thank u for sending an ask about it :)

as per usual, you will need basic giffing knowledge for photopea, as well as the website itself, to complete this tutorial. this tutorial is also very wordy, but i do have some images to help with the process. if you have any questions about the process, please feel free to send in another ask.

without further ado, let’s go!

so, when making your gifs, the first thing you need to do is make sure that they are the same amount of frames. otherwise, your gif will end up looking strange with one gif looping faster than the other one.

once you have all of your clips you want to use for the gif you’re making (i will be using two, but you can use more than that!), decide which one you want to be in the shape that you’re going to be choosing. for the sake of this tutorial, i am going to be using a simple circle shape, but you can use any variety of shapes however you’d like. i have some notes below about different ways to get different shapes:

on your left toolbar, directly under the “move” tool, there is the option for a “rectangle select” tool. right clicking this option also allows for you to choose ellipse select for circles. by adding a new layer to your canvas (on the top options, go to layer > new > layer), you can use either of these shapes to make a rectangle or circle, which you can then fill in by going to edit > fill…

on your left toolbar, above the “zoom” and “hand” tools, there should be a rectangle. right clicking this should give you the option for other shapes, such as ellipses, lines, and custom shapes. depending on what you want for your gif, you can choose any of these options for your own gif shape, but beware that these shapes are all fairly limited to what photopea has to offer.

for other shapes that photopea doesn’t offer (like the starburst shape that mattel uses for barbie edits, for example), i will go to google and just look up things like “mattel logo shape png”, or whatever other shape i’m looking for, and try to look for a transparent png. while this does give you a lot of options, you may not be able to find a transparent option (i use remove.bg to help with that!) or you may have to do some editing around the edges to get the shape the way you want it (many of the mattel logos have a big MATTEL in the middle that ruins the edges of the starburst shape, so you’ll have to fix that, for example)

more notes about choosing your shape:

if you get a shape off google, make sure that your cropping fits that shape! if you have a shape that is some weird dimensions that arent a 1x1 ratio, your gif cropping will have to reflect that so it fits in the shape.

you should also know how big you want your shape to be on the finished product — for me, the entire gif canvas is going to be 540x540, so i’m going to make the shaped gif 240x240 so that both the big gif in the background and the shaped gif are visible in the final product. this will all depend on what you are doing for your gifs, though, so play around with different shapes/sizes in another canvas the size of your final product.

first thing’s first, make your gif for within the shape however you want. as you have (probably) seen from other gifsets of mine, there’s multiple ways you can choose to make the gif within your shape: you can do like this edit and have a colored overlay, or you could do like this edit and have normal coloring with a pop of color, or some other thing that you’d like to do! for this edit, i’m going to keep the sanji gif within my shape colored fairly normal with a pop of blue to match his shirt. my gif, as of now (without the shape), looks like this:

from here, add your shape on top of all your layers (as i said before, your gif should be cropped so the shape fits perfectly within the cropped gif!). go to the very bottom of your gif frames, and put that shape directly under the first frame (which is likely titled “_a_Background” or “_a_frm0,50”, depending on how you gif your gifs) while still within the gif folder you most likely have, especially if you follow my tutorials. this part is tedious, but starting with that first frame, go through every frame of your gif, right click, and select the “clipping mask” option. because you have that shape at the very bottom, every layer above it will follow the same clipping mask to put the gif within the shape. after your done, your frames should look something like this:

and now my gif looks like this:

which isn’t what i want, because i want that blue color in the shape with the rest of the gif! there’s an easy way to fix this, if you’re like me and have that gradient color: click and drag all of your adjustment layers into the folder with your gif (i know, goes against everything i’ve said before in my other tutorials, right?) so that you can do the same thing you did with your frame layers and create a clipping mask for those gradient color layers. you don’t have to do this for the other adjustment layers for your coloring, by the way, just for the gradient color layers! now my gif looks like this:

much better! and now that we have the shaped gif finished and in its shape (make sure you save the psd!), you can sharpen and export your gif by going to file > export as > .GIF and you’ve made your shaped gif!

now you can make your other gif to be behind the shaped gif; i won’t provide a tutorial for how i made this gif, other than it follows my usual coloring + a gradient layer to make the entire gif blue:

now that you have both of your gifs, we can move on to putting them on the same canvas!

after putting both of your gifs on the same canvas, position the shaped gif wherever you’d like to place it on the canvas. you can center it, place it in a corner, whatever you want! it’s your gif, your choice. i placed my circle sanji gif towards the bottom left corner of the canvas because i wanted to be able to see both the little gif and the larger gif clearly. :)

from here, you can do a number of things to make the shaped gif stand out; what i did for mine is add a shadow behind the gif and an outline of the circle that’s off centered from the circle gif itself. here’s how i did both of those things:

shadow: double click the shaped gif’s folder to open up the “blending options” pop up menu. check the “drop shadow” option towards the bottom of the list, and adjust it to how you want it to be. once you’re happy with how the shadow looks, click “OK” to close the pop up menu. below are my settings for this particular shadow on this gif, but this may change depending on your own gif (feel free to play around with these settings!):

off-centered outline: this is specifically for circles/rectangles; if you have another shape that you got off google, for example, this part of the tutorial will not work (but if you want to know how to do something like this for a shape like that, i can create another tutorial! just ask <3). create a new layer (layer > new > layer through the topbar menu) and create an ellipses the same size as the circle i created earlier. from here, go to edit > stroke… to make the pop up menu show up (you will not be able to preview this when you edit this layer, so if you’re unhappy with how it looks once you click “OK”, use CTRL+Z to undo and try again!). once you have the shape as you want it, go to select > deselect on the topbar to deselect the section you just made, and use the move tool to move the shape around however you want. if you want to make the shape less intense, change the opacity located near the layers menu (i put mine at 30%). below are the settings for my shape, which you can of course play with as you'd like for your own gifs:

now that you’ve done that, do anything else you’d like to do to your gif — add text, put a watermark, whatever you’d like! after you’re finished with that, save your psd and then go to layer > animation > merge to merge all of your gifs together before going to file > export as > .GIF. and then you’re done! congrats, you’ve just made a shaped gif in photopea! :)

#kai.answer #anonymous #mystuff #mytutorials #photopea tutorial #photopea gif tutorial #photopea #gif tutorial #completeresources #usergif #userars #userlace #tusersai #tusergeo #usernaia #hopefully this helps anon!! again feel free to send another ask for clarification :)

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pseudocyance · 3 months

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Foam headwing ear cuff tutorial

i made a couple pairs of headwings for mcyt cosplays and thought I should share a tutorial on how to make then since it's really easy

You can wear these with glasses!!

I'm making Watcher wings for this one but you can use this to pretty easily make wings with just one per ear

What you need:

A couple of sheets of thin craft store foam in the colors you want

Jewelers wire or floral wire (I used floral wire)

Scissors

wire tools(optional)

A few sheets of thin white paper

Hot glue

Pencil

I think I cropped out all of the scisors/wire cutters but a tw for those still

Edit: also a tw for possible trypophobia, the last image has googly eyes and that might be uncomfortable

start out by doodling the design you want and getting the wing shape right

Since my design was pretty complicated I loaded it into procreate(coloring in like i did is optional) on my tablet so I could trade onto a bigger paper

Trace onto a sheet of paper. This is when you can start sizing it up correctly to fit your head. (I'm watching SPN btw)

Cut them out and reshape as needed

Now, very important, draw on the down feathers area. This is what's going to have the wire under it. You can also do three layers like I did with the Grian (red, yellow and blue) wings. I did two for this one because it needed to be lighter due to the three wings.

Lay our your template(s) onto a sheet of foam. I found that taking a mechanical pencil and dragging it across the foam. It creates a really nice groove for you to cut along.

Cut out the top area. I used a slightly darker shade of purple.

This is where you want to cut the feather shapes into the upper area if you want to. Just little angled triangles.

Bend a wire along the top area. Take the bent wire and put it on the lower foam peice. Hot glue at the base of the wing where the wire sticks out. BEFORE IT DRIES STICK THE TOP PART ON TOP. You then go through and hot glue the rest of the wire and top section down after adjusting wire as needed.

If you're doing multiple wings like me then glue them together here and make sure you like the angles. You can also bend your wings using the wire for further adjustment.

Cut the wire that's sticking out

Hot glue another peice of wire on, only attaching it on a small section. Put this behind your ear and bend it around. The sections coming around your ear should almost touch after cutting off excess.

Put a bead of hot glue on the end of the wire. WAIT AT LEAST 30 SECONDS and then lightly squish it in to form a ball. This is just so the wire doesn't stab you. You should do this on both ends.

Here are all of the ones I've made so far

I also gave into my intrusive thoughts and added googly eyes to the Watcher ones a few days later

And yes those are Torchy earrings

WE'RE ALL DONE!!! Send me asks or reply to this if you have any questions and I can also send more pictures if needed. I hope this gets spread around a bit since this is exactly the sort of tutorial I looked for when trying to make these and I think others will find this useful. This can be used for any fandom, cosplay or costume. You don't need to credit me but feel free to share that I was the inspiration

Ty for following along! <3

#Wings #Cosplay #Head wings #Avian #Grian #jimmy solidarity #watcher grian #Crafts #Craft #My post #Tutorial #cw trypophobia #<theres a lot of googly eyes in the last image

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professorofcosplay · 1 month

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Happy MD finale day!!! Here’s some old cosplay photos of my Camper V cosplay!

I’m actually going to be redoing parts of it since I realized the jumpsuit was cropped only the night before and didn’t have time to change it! It was a semi last minute build since I had to grade all my students’ finals literally the same week. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the dye on the jumpsuit turned out, the little caution tape leg stripes, and the paint job I did on the claws. The dye job was honestly a bit of a stroke of luck since it was originally black cotton and thought it’d take more than this to get it to the perfect shade. And the height from the stilts!!! AMAZING!!! Really brought the build up to the next level. I was also pretty impressed by my addition of the LEDs in yellow eye headbands and the tails. It was such a fun little challenge! I found an antique longbow that is PERFECT to wear slung across my back for the next time I wear this out and about!

I’ll be getting new arm bracer thingies and claws since they were SO uncomfortable and redoing the tail since I think I have a better plan for it >:) but it was still SO fun to wear around the con! I’m adding some yellow ones of these glasses since I feel like they’ll match the humanized V look I’m going for and might add a boot cover for the stilts to better match the leg shape. Maybe, maybe not… What do you think? :) I’m also going to do a proper photo shoot once I’m finished with the revamp!

Anyways, here’s to hoping for a great ending for this amazing show! And to many more creative endeavors in this fantastic fanbase! (Do NOT repost this elsewhere or use my images at all for AI, content, or any other purposes, either profit or not for profit. Reblogs happily appreciated! :D)

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cozymochi · 8 months

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Oo I love Elena of Avalor, what's Emilio's relationship to his cousin like? and his dorm mates?

[😳💕 IN REFERENCE TO THIS DIP]

Gonna answer these questions in reverse to test the waters. I briefly mention it on his bio image but I think I mixed up the subject pronouns in my sentence structure when referring to his relationship to the other guys 💀 i realized too late that it reads awkwardly- SO LEMME CLARIFY.

🦜 Emilio’s relationship to Kalim 🦦: Kalim —much like how he wants to treat any first year in his dorm— really wants to seem like some really cool older brother to his younger peers. Emilio finds this sunny disposition a lil’ off putting to a degree BUT…. Emilio does wanna get close to Kalim if only to elevate his own sense of worth and perceived status. Which can translate to Emilio being something of a bootlicker. Not Sebek level, but whatever lets him seemingly advance.

He doesn’t necessarily care about Kalim’s wealth per se, heck Emilio himself is already from a noble family in his home country— but being close to the Kalim Al-Asim looks really good on the outside in Emilio’s mind. “Humble” little Emilio managed to network with THE Asim heir? Now that’s something worth talking about, especially back home. Business is one thing but to be in his inner circle? That’s very special.

In general their relationship is amicable, but It’s hard to say if Emilio actually cares for Kalim on a personal level, if at all. But Kalim definitely cares for him as he does for anybody else. It’s probably the least complicated.

…Which segues into-

🦜Emilio’s relationship Jamil 🐍: Jamil does not like Emilio, and Emilio views Jamil as an obstacle. So naturally he wants to get in Jamil’s good graces as much as possible too! Emilio frequently tries buttering up Jamil in some shape or form via giving him information he’d find valuable or emulating how Jamil treats the other students in the dorm to “set an example.” If Jamil rejects an impromptu party, Emilio is right there to second that notion!! (Note: only applies if Jamil is present) He tends to, dare I say… parrot Jamil…? 😉

But unlike Kalim, Jamil is not as easy to sway. He can spot a fake smile a mile away. At first, Jamil assumed something far more nefarious about Emilio’s intentions, but that dissipated quickly after investigating further.

…That said, Jamil will use Emilio’s desperation to get in good spirits with Kalim (for as surface level as they are). It makes Emilio rife for exploitation. Jamil will often test the waters to see how far Emilio is willing to go, without actually giving him much of an inch in return… But, Emilio has his practical uses. He has his own invaluable connections, and underneath all that phoniness is someone genuinely capable with an eye for detail that most in the dorm don’t seem to have.

At first, Jamil didn’t trust Emilio at all because of his incessant behavior… and now?? I mean he still kinda doesn’t cuz Jamil is just like that, but he eventually learned Emilio himself is generally harmless and his interest in Kalim is purely surface level for petty vanity reasons. …That and Emilio is similarly from a noble family, so Jamil doesn’t want conflict to start with should anything crop up. He has yet to figure out why a guy from a noble family like Emilio would feel the need to overcompensate so much. Why would he feel the need to elevate his status, shouldn’t he already have it? And for that matter, why go to so much effort?

That said, as much as Jamil finds Emilio’s constant - and I mean constant- schmoozing annoying, in an ironic twist it makes Emilio seemingly the only somewhat capable person he trusts in the dorm to watch Kalim should Jamil be out of commission for arbitrary shenanigans of the month. He both trusts and doesn’t trust him, it tends to flip back and forth. They’re kinda both “useful” to each other.

…Kalim thinks Jamil and Emilio are best friends.

✨NOW FOR THE PERSONAL LORE✨.

🦜 Emilio’s relationship to his cousin 💎:

Much like anything in this universe, Emilio’s relationship with his cousin more or less directly parallels the source his whole character draws from.. So, it’s parallel to Esteban’s relationship with Elena minus the indirect hand in parental death (side note: This show is bonkers). I feel like I’m not doing many favors by NOT going into depth on the Esteban and Elena stuff, but for the sake of brevity on the long post I’m going to have to leave it out. Watching the series informs a lot of the directional choices here, but that’s an unreasonable ask. So, I guess I’ll have to leave it at “if you know you know.” BACK TO THE MEAT AND POTATOES:

Emilio is jealous of his cousin. Unlike her, he wasn’t born into nobility, but rather adopted into her family after both his parents perished in an accident. While his cousin looks to him like an older brother and Emilio to her like a younger sister, his cousin often gets showered in praise and far more attention from that side of the family than he ever gets. He often wonders if they even remember him. In fact, they usually DO forget he’s there. No matter what it is she does, she gets rewarded and lauded whereas if Emilio does something similar or more impressive, it doesn’t earn much fanfare. In fact, his family just assumes it was his cousins doing.

Emilio, in an attempt to gain their praise and attention, has developed something of a vain complex where overcompensating is his way of getting recognition. He wants to be seen as capable and worth seeking for advice and wisdom, so he makes it a point to learn as much as possible and make as many connections as he can (Ironic, considering what his signature spell is). That side of the family works on the Grand Council to the Queen of their country “Shining Peninsula,” so there’s a lot he wants to live up to. He wants to work to get there, his cousin, however is just expected to already have a spot.

As for her, it’s not that she’s incapable. Far from it. Despite his jealously, Emilio does love his cousin. She’s very understanding and down-to-earth, but her sheltered lifestyle and need to live up to the expectations put on her leads her to being extremely impulsive and act on instinct. Did I mention her magic reserves are crazy high? In another ironic twist, she’s the one who seems to notice that Emilio is very knowledgable on a lot of things she’s blind to, and while she might turn to him for help… she kinda falls into the same pitfalls the rest of her family does. She doesn’t usually listen.

Hey, in a weird way it also kinda parallels Kalim and Jamil. So, maybe Emilio could find a kinship in a certain somebody.

So, someone out there is probably wondering if this cousin is twst Elena. Yes. Her name is Marisol.

#twstposting #my art #(its there)#emilio estrada alvarez #twst oc #its the maternal side #i shouldnt clog the main tag with my bs #…that said still have to organize a little #twisted wonderland

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greeenchrysanthemums · 9 months

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Appearances for the GG rivals au character.

I am no artist, so these will simply be written descriptions with a few images thrown in here and there. These are all subject to change at any time, as well, since this is still in its early planning stages.

For Gem, I imagine she looks a lot like in this gorgeous fanart, except her dress has slits up the side to allow for easier movement and her hair is a low bun with a braid wrapping around the front of her head, like this.

Scott and Impulse wear armour similar to how applestruda draws it in her au, with their cloths in shades of teal and yellow. Scott, I like to imagine, has long, back length hair, that he wears down and covering one eye. Impulse has shortly cropped hair and two little nubby horns that are tipped in black, as well as sharp clawed hands. Scott's teeth are sharp; no one quite knows why.

Grian's eyes are entirely black like a barn owl's and his hands end in sharp talons rather than nails. He doesn't have wings, not anymore at least. He wears a high collared red tunic and brown trousers, but both are rarely seen past the heavy, ankle length, black cloak he hides himself under, which is held closed by a silver brooch in the shape of an eye. The cloak has a hood but he never wears it. He always seems to be sliming, whether that smile is devious or genuine is up for debate. The brooch looks something like this, minus the blue center and the circlular details

Scar wears a similar black cloak, held closed by the same brooch, though he wears his with the hood up, and it has red flower detailing on the hem (so, similiar to his secret life look but its a full cloak). His eyes are still green, though, and he has a single grey streak in his brown hair. His tunic and trousers under the cloak are both black and he wears his shirt just a little bit too open at the top. He also always wears a smile, but pretty much everyone can agree it is deceptively kind.

Mumbo and Etho wear matching outfits, claiming it is professional since they share a job, but it is something they choose to do not something that is required of them (they are just silly, really). I imagine they are simple outfits consisting of white tunics with black trousers and thick, leather aprons on top (mumbo's is red and etho's is green). They both wear goggles and thick gloves, as well as chunky boots, all for safety since they work with explosives. Etho wears a black bandana on his lower his face. His goggles replace his headband in this look, being what keeps his hair out of his face. His scared eye is missing entirely; he does not have a false eye, it is just an empty socket. Mumbo wears his goggles around his neck when they are not on his face.

Bdubs dresses similarly, minus the apron and goggles, since he works out in the garder. His shirt is white, and he has brown trousers. Over that he wears a thick cloak that is almost always covered in some manner of flora and/or mud. He completes the look with a wide brimmed hat to protect him from the sun.

Cleo is also dresses similarly to Etho and Mumbo but her apron is a plain brown that is stained with soot. Her tunic sleeves are always rolled up to show off her strong arms and she doesn't wear her safety gloves nearly as much as she should, and she forgoes eye protection entirely. One of her eyes is missing (surprisingly not related to the lack of protective wear), replaced with a glass eye of a slightly different shade of green than her organic eye. Her hair is pulled into a much messier bun than Gem's, with frizzy stray hairs going every direction.

Ren and Martyn look like how they are typically drawn in third life fanart. Ren's eyes are red, as well as blood shot, and he almost always appears angry.

Pearl wears a white tunic with flared sleeves tucked into a pair of high waisted black trousers. Over this she has a deep, red cloak that stops at her waist. She has a crescent moon shaped birth mark on the left side of her face. She carries a sword around her waist. Her hair is always down and messy under her hood.

Bigb just looks like a baker, I am not sure how to describe it. But he always seems to have flour stains on his clothes no matter how hard he tries to wipe it off. Big strong arms for him as well.

Skizz wears the same armour as Scott and impulse, and his underclothes are black. The sleeves of his tunic are ripped off and he does not wear his gauntlets. He refuses to elaborate on why. He is a dove avian.

Tango wears a short sleeved red tunic and black trousers with big chunky boots. His hands are clawed, and his ears are pointed; both are tipped in a red to black gradient. His eyes are entirely red. He has a long tail that ends in a tuff of fire that doesn't seem to have any real heat.

Jimmy wears a blue tunic with a brown vest over it. Brown trousers and chunky boots. His sleeves are always rolled up and he is always covered in some manner of dirt, both because of the work he does on the farm, and from being very clumsy. He has bull horns, one of which is chipped. He also has a tail.

I still don't have set roles for joel and lizzie just yet so they do not have designs in mind either, unfortunately.

#GG rivals au #geminitay #grian #hermitcraft #life series

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shiverhohojiro · 1 month

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thinking about it... I think this isn't necessarily Model Accurate, but it is what makes most sense to me, considering 1. he never moves his crossed "arms" (and while they might just not be rigged on his model to be able to move, they're also never uncrossed even in all official/most concept art), 2. there are other tentacles that he does use as arms, 3. we know that he can't transform due to an injury during the Great Turf War, and 4. we do have a canon image of him being injured. During the Great Turf War.

I also do think it is very interesting to note that his big X shaped scar is lime green, which is also shown in sunken scrolls to be the color for the Squid Army during the war. Obviously it's not the injury I think prevents him from transforming, but.

Anyways. Text transcriptions under the cut in case any of my writing is difficult to read:

Shogun General DJ Octavio Takowasa

(if you want to get technical, it's Takowasa (family name) Octavio (given name)) (he just likes the ring of DJ Octavio Takowasa more)

Swim form notes:

3 suckers on each tentacle

Legs are "crossed" both to keep them out of the way (they can't move...) and to mimic crossed arms. Intimidation factor. [crop of Cap'n Cuttlefish from Sunken Scroll 15, where he is referred to as "the unknown young man folding his arms"] like this lol

Notes on X scar:

[arrow pointing to bright green X mark on thigh] <-X scar location

Inflicted with something sharp (knife, sword), and ink-tipped (in squidling lime green) to prevent it from healing quickly

Even if he hadn't later been paralyzed, the leg injury would still be disabling. He'd probably have chronic pain and need a mobility aid, especially since his refusal to rest/use a mobility aid/take pain meds regularly while healing probably made the injury Worse.

Notes on The Injury:

Spinal injury + soaked in enemy ink for a while + eventual respawn (in swim form). Can't transform if you can't send signals to your legs.

[image of lime green scarring on his back/right side] If he could still transform, the scarring would probably look something like this

idfk how and where this translates on swim form

The numbers 1 through 8 are there to compare his limbs+hair in octoling form to his tentacles in swim form. 1-2 are his legs, 3-4 his arms, 5-6 his curled tentacles in the front, and 7-8 the back hair.

#dj octavio #octavio takowasa #splatoon #you might also note the 'squidling' on there instead of Inkling and oh boy!#when I make my next 'headcanon in the form of art' post!

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goxjo · 1 month

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HII I LOVE UR BLOG SM ITS SO PRETTY😭❤️

I wanted to ask how you make your cute PNGs with no bg and the animated thin lines???

They’re so cute (T T)

Hi nonnie, thank you that's honestly so sweet of you!!! Sorry for the delay, I got a little busy and tried to see if there are any free sites you can use to make these. Before I get to the tutorials tho I’d like you to know that you can totally request animated dividers from me lol (I’ve taken a couple before here!) just send me a few hex codes / theme colors + bg / transition colors (optional) <33

Anywhoooo I use photoshop for everything but the tutorials below the cut have free-to-use friendly options (I believe!!) ++ I made a separate post for the animated thin lines because tumblr only lets me upload one video per post!!

Tutorial on how I make my banners <3

⟢ ┈ for this tutorial, you can use Photoshop (Paid) or GIMP (Free)

GIMP was my 'training ground' for photoshop lol and the tutorial is pretty much the same for both editors.

I use the wand tool to remove plain / obvious BGs and the pen tool to remove any stubborn parts that the wand tool can't detect (some people prefer masking but this is just how I like to do it)

++ YouTube tutorials are pretty much available for both tools, and unfortunately I don't think there's any way around learning how to use them + the pen tool might be a little tough to get the hang of at first, but you'll get there!

FYI, I tried to use a few 'free bg remover' sites and they don't really do the trick for me :c Canva Pro has one bg remover tool but I haven't tested it out for myself!

Here's a quick little vid lol, I used my darling Eliza as an example + it's sped up to 4x!! Tip: You may add a green (or any vibrant color) layer at the bottom just so you can clearly spot any "strays" (also, my apologies just bc this is a very rough clean up pffft)

After 'cleaning up' I like to color panels with my signature colors <33 I usually just add a color overlay (double click / right click the layer + select ‘blending options’) and play around with blend modes

FYI, some people use Picsart to color their banners but tbch, I played around with it once before and I really just have no patience for the tool I'm sorry ;-;

I'm using Vivid Light @ 50% opacity for this example (it's also more or less what I used for the one on my pinned)

The rest is really just about layering + framing!! (if you're happy with the colors of your panel, you can absolutely do everything else on Canva Free)

For my banners, I almost always use this heart shape I got off google:

For the heart layer itself, I set 'Fill' @ 0% and use the outer glow feature in blending options so it looks something like this: (it looks transparent now but it becomes more vibrant when uploaded)

Then I put my 'cleaned' PNGs inside the heart, crop / remove borders (using the wand tool!!!), add sparkles (totally randomly placed lol) or other brushes, add a BG if I want, and that's it! All that's left is to export as PNG <33

BUUUUT AT THE END OF THE DAY If cleaning up panels / images is too much work (I know it is lol), you can always try to look for 'transparent [keyword]’ (e.g., transparent manga) images / panels here on tumblr or on pinterest. Most of them are free to use anyway + recolored too!! That way you can edit them more liberally on sites like Canva (Free) that more or less have similar options.

#nani?!#nonnie chan ♡#!edits #banners #banner tutorial #theme resources #transparent png #manga panel #png #aesthetics

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jplupine · 2 months

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Beast of Sunagakure: Part 2

Pairing: Gaara x AFAB Reader Word Count: ~8k Date Published: July 19, 2024 WARNINGS: 18+ MDNI, Monster!Gaara, Exophilia, Size Difference, Feral Behavior, Underwear Stealing, Marking, Vaginal Sex, Hair Pulling, Vaginal Fingering, Creampie, Getting Caught; Reader is AFAB but no gender is specified, Terms such as pussy/cock/etc. get used.

A/N: The art above was drawn by me! Gotta crop to make it Tumblr friendly </3 If you'd like to see the full image, you can follow the links here or read it on AO3.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Bonus You can also read it on AO3!

"Oh, this is just wonderful." Your voice was heavy with sarcasm as you threw your clothes around.

"What's wrong?" Gaara asked as he watched you from a few feet away.

"Have you seen my underwear? I left them on that rock to keep sand out of them and now they're gone!" You picked up your bag to search it just in case they had been placed inside and you had simply forgotten. Gaara shrugged before glancing toward the opening of the cave.

"The wind did pick up for a little while earlier."

"You've got to be kidding." You went to the edge of the cave and peeked outside. Your eyes scanned the sand to see if the wind had blown the garment away. If it had, you couldn't see it. You groaned in frustration before going back to your bag. "Whatever. At least I have more."

Pulling out a clean pair of underwear, you then got dressed to finish the journey home. Gaara would be returning with you as the beast to make it seem as if you had found him and were bringing him back. To make it more convincing, he was putting his shackles and muzzle on before he shape-shifted back into his cursed tanuki form.

He shook out his fur and stretched before you both headed out into the desert and went in the direction of Sunagakure. Gaara used his larger body to provide you shade from the blazing sun crawling across the sky. It was easier crossing the desert with his help and much faster.

When you could see the village in the distance, you took hold of the chain dangling from Gaara's muzzle. He huffed through his nose but followed your lead.

Nearing the village, you could hear people yelling and rushing to get out of the way when they saw Gaara coming. A few screamed, but Gaara remained behind you. You swallowed while trying to maintain a calm appearance as you walked through the village. Your grip on the chain tightened.

Best case scenario, you could get Gaara back to his cage before any elders or other village officials could interfere and have as little fuss as possible. In reality, you didn't make it far before you were stopped by the Kazekage himself standing in the middle of the road. His expression was firm as his gaze was settled on Gaara.

Panic made your heart beat faster when his eyes drifted down to you.

"You were taught to control the curse seals? I was not told anyone took you on as an apprentice."

"Um, no." You cleared your throat. "I-I found him wandering the desert on my way home. He recognized me and thought I would have food for him. Thankfully, I had a lot of provisions from my cousin's wedding to give him." You hoped talking about Gaara as if he were more like an animal would be enough to convince Rasa that you didn't know the truth about Gaara. There was a stretch of silence as you were scrutinized before the Kazekage stepped to the side.

"Come. We should have him properly fed before he gets the urge to hunt." You felt relief wash over you. "It must have been terrifying being alone with him." Rasa spoke while walking.

"Oh, yeah." You nervously laughed. "When he charged at me, I thought I was done for until he was shoving his head into my bag to get the food. The muzzle got in the way, so I had to help him." You were quick to spin your story and add details to lower suspicions.

"You're not going to ask how he escaped?"

"I wasn't sure I should. I was guessing something must've gone wrong while he was being transported because of the muzzle."

"I commend your ability to stay calm in such a situation. I'll take it from here. This is where you live, is it not?" The Kazekage stopped outside of your home, and you glanced at it before looking back at him.

"Yes, sir."

"Go. Rest. You must be exhausted." Rasa took the muzzle's chain from you only to have Gaara resist. The Kazekage looked Gaara in the eye with a silent, threatening expression.

"Thank you, Lord Kazekage." You bowed out of respect before turning to go inside. When you looked back, Rasa was dragging Gaara away.

The next time you saw Gaara was when you returned to your work duties. He looked okay as he could be, alert and with his ears perked in your direction. His bright eyes were a welcome sight compared to when he was aggressive or indifferent.

"Good morning, Gaara." You greeted him while unloading his breakfast from the bucket you carried. Judging by his behavior, you truly didn't need to worry about being attacked anymore. You got his food through the bars before taking off your gloves as Gaara came over to eat. "I don't know about you, but I could hardly get any sleep last night. I was too worried about what the Kazekage might be doing to you."

Gaara huffed and started eating.

"I'm serious!" You leaned against the bars. "I could barely bring myself to leave you alone with him. He looked pissed." Gaara's ears tilted down before he nodded, letting you know the Kazekage had indeed been very angry with him. "He didn't hurt you, did he?" He shook his head. "Good. That's a relief." You sighed.

Having Gaara finally responding to your idle chatter also felt nice. Talking to yourself before was a bit hollow.

When it came time to clean his cage, you were more comfortable being in there with him than last time. Gaara also seemed more relaxed while watching you scrub the floor. His gaze didn't feel as predatorial either.

Rattling came from behind you along with metallic scraping. Looking over your shoulder, you saw Gaara in his human form and pulling the shackles off his ankles. Your eyes widened and darted around to make sure only you two were there.

"Gaara? What are you doing?"

"I want to talk to you."

"About?"

"I want to help. Show me how to do this." Gaara guided you further away from his bed. You were immediately suspicious as he took the scrub broom from you.

"What are you hiding?" His eyes locked with yours and he looked like a caught mouse.

"What? I'm not-"

"You think I'm not used to you hiding crap in your bed? I have to change out your bedding today, so you better tell me. I swear if I find another slobbery bone-"

"You won't!" Gaara waved his hand as he blushed.

"Right." You had a dry tone before going to his bed to look.

"I'll change the bedding!" He tried to stop you, but you knew exactly where he tended to hide things among the straw. You pulled up the floral fabrics you already knew he had.

However, with the headscarves was something else you knew belonged to you but didn't know he had. Holding it up, you spun on your heel to look at Gaara who now had a bright red face.

"Gaara!" You yelled while shaking your fist clutching the garment. "Is this my underwear?!" He averted his gaze while crossing his arms. "You are a pervert! And a little liar! Wind blew them away, my ass."

"I can explain."

"Yeah. Explain why you stole my dirty underwear. Pretty sure I can guess." You then looked at the underwear you held as your brows furrowed with confusion. "Wait, how did you even steal these? You don't have any pockets." Gaara lowered his head as his jaw clenched.

"I....tucked them into one of my shackles." His ears were nearly the same shade of red as his hair.

"You didn't think this through past doing that, did you?"

"I won't argue about my actions being impulsive. They were."

"You need to learn to ask for permission instead of just taking my things." You pointed at Gaara, and he looked at you with wide eyes. "Being a little pervert is one thing, a thief is another."

"You say that as if you would give them to me."

"I don't know. I seem to like how you want me so badly you act like an animal." You shrugged. "It makes me feel better about the thoughts I've had about you." He was visibly caught off guard by your words. There were a few seconds of utter silence as Gaara stared at you before you raised your eyebrows at him.

It was hard to tell what was going through his head.

Then he took a step closer. His eyes now looked hungry as he was stalking toward you. He only stopped when he stood close enough that you could feel his breath on your skin and his gaze studied your face.

"You have thoughts about me?" His voice had dropped in tone as he cocked his head to the side.

"I do."

"Then in the cave.... That wasn't just a spur-of-the-moment thing?"

"I'll admit I did have ulterior motives at first. But I meant it when I said that I was coming back to you. I worried about you the whole time I was gone." You were being honest and hoped that he could tell.

"What ulterior motives?" His brows slightly furrowed.

"To tell the truth? I was planning to jerk you off so you'd be less inclined to maul me." There was another pause before the corners of his mouth curled up and he laughed. Gaara's laugh was sweet and reached his eyes; it made your heart skip a beat.

He was a pretty beast and a pretty man. The way his eyes seemed to glitter in the sunlight coming through the barred windows made you momentarily forget your circumstances. Gaara covered his mouth with his hand while still smiling. His closeness and expression had your heart beating faster.

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect you to be so blunt."

"Is that smile worth a kiss?"

"You want a kiss?"

"Well, it's either you give me a kiss, or I steal one like you've stolen my things." You waved your underwear and headscarves.

"Is this threat also with ulterior motives?" His question made you lean in closer until your noses were only centimeters away from each other.

"Yes. To get you to kiss me." You saw his eyes drift down to your lips. "I won't tell if you don't." You whispered with a smirk.

Gaara closed the distance between your mouths to kiss you. One of his hands came up to cradle the back of your head as his fingers laced through your hair. His other hand grabbed your hip to pull your body flush against his. You tossed the garments you held behind you to drape your arms over Gaara's shoulders.

As his lips moved in time with yours, you slid your fingers up the back of his neck. You knew you shouldn't be doing this with Gaara given the chances of getting caught being a lot higher than back in that cave. But one little kiss couldn't hurt, could it?

The way he kissed you was hungry; full of craving as he held you impossibly close. It made your knees feel weak. After tasting this forbidden fruit full of desire, no other man could compare.

Gaara pulled away only to kiss along your jaw and down your neck. He inhaled your scent and softly growled.

"You smell sweeter."

"What?"

"Stress is bitter." He muttered before grabbing the back of your thighs to lift you. A gasp left your mouth when you found yourself on your back and Gaara on top of you. His face was buried in your neck and shoulder as the straw beneath you rustled. "I've watched you get plumper and sweeter. It makes my mouth water." His lips were on your skin when he pulled your collar to the side. "I tried to behave. But I could never forget your touch or the way you sounded."

"Tried to behave? You stole my underwear, Gaara." You scoffed.

"I didn't think I could have you." He grazed his teeth over your exposed skin, his sharper canines causing goosebumps to rise in their wake. Gaara's tone and his mouth on you made you realize keeping it to 'just a kiss' would be harder than you thought; how quickly things had escalated and you were now in his bed.

You both were dancing on the edge, pushing just how far you would go. It was only supposed to be a one-time thing in that cave, but as Gaara had said, you also could never forget what happened between you two then. It was hard to think straight with him so close.

"But you want me. That much I know is not a trick." Gaara brushed his nose right under your jaw while slipping one of his hands between your thighs to cup your core. Your eyes fluttered closed as you took in a shaky breath. Your grip on his shoulders tightened from his fingers rubbing over your pussy through your clothes. "That scent doesn't lie."

Opening your eyes, you pulled Gaara's face away from your neck to look at you. The silence between you was sparking before you pulled him in for a kiss. Your tongue slipped past his lips to caress his, and Gaara yanked your apron off. He pulled at the rest of your clothes to have skin-to-skin contact and threw them to the side.

You moaned into the kiss while grabbing his hips to pull his body closer to yours. Feeling the warmth of his skin as his palm ran up your side made a shiver of delight go up your spine. His erection was pressing against your inner thigh until you spread your legs more, allowing him to get comfortable while lying against you.

His weight on top of you was bliss as you nipped his bottom lip. Your hands on his hips moved to go up his back. Gaara's breath faltered before he pulled away from the kiss for air. His deep blush had reached his ears and made his pale eyes stand out even more.

He lowered his head to kiss down your throat, and you leaned your head back to make it easier. His hands wandered, touching and groping anywhere he could reach. Gaara craved with his entire being, memorizing your body with his hands and lips as his kisses went lower.

He bit down on your chest hard enough to leave a mark near your heart. Gaara then licked the bite to help soothe it. Something about the bite made your skin buzz with excitement. His desire to mark you, to leave some evidence of his touch that lasted longer made you feel good.

You watched him kiss and nip more places over your torso. Gaara's lips were so gentle before the sting of his teeth followed, then the soothing wet heat of his tongue. It drove you wild, made worse by thinking of what else he could do with his mouth even in his beast form.

Gaara turned his face up again to look at you while holding your hips in place.

"I can't wait any longer." His voice was breathy as he panted.

"Go on, then." You bit your bottom lip while looking at his hard cock hovering over your core. Your hands were on Gaara's shoulders again as you watched him penetrate you. Being smaller in his human form made it easier, and his hips were soon flush against yours. Your hands on his shoulders moved to cup his face and guide him into another kiss.

His hunger for you was insatiable as his tongue slipped into your mouth and his hips began to rock. He was slow at first, processing every sensation at once before his hips snapped. Gaara had you moaning into his mouth over and over again just to devour the sound. His chest rumbled with a low growl when your fingers tangled in his hair and pulled, the sound vibrating not only his body but your own as well.

You quickly forgot about everything else; your chores, your circumstances, and even the risk of being caught was no longer on your mind. Gaara was all you could think about as he pistoned his cock and grabbed the back of one of your knees to raise it higher.

The new position allowed him to go deeper and grind against your clit. Gaara rested his forehead on yours while moaning and panting, breathless from the kiss. He leaned on his elbow placed near your head while still holding your knee up.

"You may need to keep my cage locked when you ovulate. I don't know what I might do now knowing how you feel and taste." Gaara groaned while going balls-deep in your pussy as arousal leaked down over your ass. The thought of him driven feral with need for you made you clench around his cock.

You moaned and let the waves of pleasure wash your worries away. Gaara rolled his hips, putting more pressure against your clit to make you squirm beneath him.

"Fuck~!" You cried out while tugging on his hair. "Please- Oh, fuck!- Please do that again." Gaara obliged, making you clench around him again.

You pulled his hair to bury your face in his neck. His grip on your leg tightened as he went harder, making you moan louder into his skin. Gaara growled with satisfaction and maintained his heavy pace to keep hearing you.

Your nails dug into his skin as your toes curled. Gaara bucked when you began to leave sloppy kisses on his neck. You nipped his warm skin, and hearing the way his breath shook, you bit harder, making him groan.

Gaara was falling apart on top of you, grinding and thrusting while moaning near your ear. When you bit down hard enough to leave a mark, he couldn't take anymore. His cock was buried to the hilt as he was coming. You licked the bite while smirking and holding him close.

Listening to him panting, you could feel his racing heart against your chest. Your fingers in his hair loosened their grip and began to gently rub his scalp to help him calm down.

"I'm sorry." His voice was quiet.

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry." Gaara let go of your knee. "You didn't get to-"

"Stop. It's okay." You cut him off and kissed his cheek. "If it really bothers you," You grabbed one of his hands and raised it. "you can use your hands." He watched as some of his fingers disappeared in your mouth. His chest rumbled with his eyes locked on your lips and tongue.

You weren't able to leave until hours later, body still buzzing and delightfully exhausted. Gaara wanted to explore you and had done just that. The fact that you left without underwear also meant you had to go straight home and get cleaned up.

It was clear things between you and Gaara would never be the way they were before. You began to bring him more gifts, starting with a small potted succulent to put in the window. When asked about it, you would say that it was an attempt to make the place less barren and easier to work in. The elders would roll their eyes but let you keep the growing number of plants in the windows.

All the while, you would sneak into Gaara's cage to spend time with him when no one else was around. From cuddling and sharing stories to sex that left you breathless, your relationship with Gaara grew. When he was in human form, you loved it when he smiled and clung to those moments.

"Who would have known this was all it took?" A woman's voice made you look up while you were wiping your hands off on your apron. You had just cleaned up after feeding Gaara and returned to see a blonde woman standing near one of the windows, touching one of the potted succulents.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand." You said, and the woman looked back over her shoulder at you. You froze when you realized she was the Kazekage's daughter.

"You've been his caretaker longer than most. He even seems to like you." Her gaze drifted over you before she glanced at Gaara. "I wanted to know why. You don't seem all that special. You can't even control his curse seal." Temari's tone was steady as she spoke. "You also aren't the first to try being kind to him. In fact, the last person who tried to be kind to him ended up unrecognizable. So I couldn't understand what made you different." She then looked at the plants in the window again.

"I wish I could tell you." You chuckled nervously while shifting your weight on your feet.

"There's no need. I can see it now that I'm here." Temari crossed her arms. "You actually mean it. I heard you talking to him earlier. You were genuine in asking him how he slept and how he was feeling. Being genuine is something I've never seen anyone do for Gaara." She turned to face you and got closer. "You walked with him right into the village without being attacked or anyone else getting hurt. It has people asking questions."

"What? Why?"

"Do you really have to ask?" Temari suddenly grabbed you and shoved you against the cage bars. With one hand on the back of your head, she had your face pressed against the bars. Gaara was snarling with his hackles raised as he paced the cage. "He won't attack you. He attacks everyone if given the chance. My brother and I have scars to prove it. Gaara isn't some stray dog who starts obeying after being fed, and we all know it. People are thinking you're a witch."

"I'm not!"

"I know." Her grip loosened as she looked at Gaara. "But you should be careful." Temari backed away from you and moved to leave. "The Kazekage always puts the village first. If what you've done has weakened Sunagakure's greatest weapon, he won't take kindly to that."

The silence that followed her warning was tense.

"She knows, doesn't she?" You muttered while staring in the direction Temari had gone. "About you, I mean." Looking at Gaara, you saw him turning into his human form before grabbing the cage bars.

"Yes. I wasn't always locked away. Hurting them is how I got here." Gaara averted his gaze to look at the ground. "It was harder to control when I was younger. People hurt me, so I hurt them."

"Then Temari and Kankuro aren't going to be on your side anytime soon."

"No." Gaara shook his head. "Which means you need to make sure no one learns that you know."

"Do you never want to leave this cage? You don't have to keep going through this." You cupped his cheek in your hand while studying his expression.

"It's better that I'm here."

"How? You're not some wild animal, Gaara." He didn't respond while holding the back of your hand as he turned his face to nuzzle your palm. You sighed through your nose and didn't push the matter any further.

Your heart ached seeing him remain here like this. He looked at you and softly sighed through his nose.

"There's more to that story."

"What?"

"The last person who tried being kind to me. Temari doesn't know what really happened." Gaara looked away as his grip on your hand tightened. "He tried to kill me. What I did was in self-defense."

"I believe you." You muttered while brushing your thumb over his cheek. Getting to know Gaara, the real Gaara behind the raging beast, you learned that he was full of pain and had been lashing out his entire life. However, he was always honest about the things he had done even if it hurt.

After Temari's visit, it didn't seem as if she was planning to make regular appearances. It was like before when she avoided Gaara. It didn't seem as if she told the Kazekage her thoughts about you possibly making Gaara weaker either given the fact that you retained your position as his caretaker.

And when you stood in front of his cage with another potted succulent in your hands, holding it in front of your face while peeking over the plant, you knew. Hiding your smile with the succulent, you watched as Gaara's eyes softened and a smile pulled at the corners of his lips. He made a joke about how many plants were now filling the windows and spilling onto the floor but it wasn't a complaint. Hearing his light tone and seeing his soft smile, you knew you were in love.

You also knew that could get you in so much trouble. Had you fallen in love with any other man in the village, it wouldn't be an issue. But you had to go and fall in love with the Beast of Sunagakure.

What sort of future could you two possibly have? You didn't want to be sneaking around all the time just to be with him. What you wanted was Gaara out of that damn cage.

Your concerns for Gaara would keep you awake some nights. You would toss and turn, trying to get comfortable enough to sleep, but your mind wouldn't stop racing. On one of those nights, you couldn't take it anymore and got up.

The silence of the night surrounded you as you walked through the empty village with only a few drunkards stumbling about on their way home. It didn't take you long to reach the building where Gaara was kept far away from the rest of the villagers. Using your keys, you got inside without being seen and locked the door behind you.

Quietly making your way deeper into the building, you entered the room with Gaara's cage. He was sound asleep and curled up in bed. Moonlight through the barred windows provided enough light for you to find your way to the front of his cage to unlock it.

Gaara stirred when he heard your key turning in the lock with a twitch of his ear. He tiredly blinked while raising his head to watch you come closer.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't sleep." You muttered while rubbing the back of your neck. "If you want me to go, I will." Gaara shook his head, much to your relief. His tail straightened out as he was shifting his body as if to get up. "Actually," You stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder.

He raised a brow in question, and you set the keys on the floor before timidly slipping under his arm while crawling into his bed. Gaara rolled onto his back with you lying on top of him. He looked down at you as you rested your cheek on his chest and heavily sighed.

The sound of his beating heart beneath your ear filled the silence. You relaxed against him, and Gaara draped one of his large arms over your back while crooning. Running your fingers through the soft fur on his chest, you listened to his heart.

Gaara nuzzled the top of your head, comforting you as your stress began to ease. Your fingers twirled around his fur, his warmth soaking into your bedclothes and reaching your skin. You wished you could stay like this without having to sneak back home before the morning light.

You raised your head to look at Gaara with your chin resting on his chest. His head tilted as he looked at you. With a soft smile, you leaned up to kiss the tip of his nose. He huffed through his nose before licking your cheek.

Chuckling, you grabbed his face to litter it with kisses. On his cheeks, forehead, nose, and temples. Gaara's chest softly rumbled with a growl that nearly mimicked a purr. He was loving the attention and your touch.

Gaara made a sound like a rolling chirp when you rubbed the base of his ears. His arm over your back pulled you closer to his face. Burying his head under your chin, he was breathing in your scent as your fingers went through his hair and fur.

"Look at you being so sweet." You cooed, and his tail curled. Rubbing one of his ears, you smiled. "You should've been nicer to me sooner if this is what you wanted." Gaara huffed through his nose again, the warm air hitting your neck and chest and making you chuckle.

You wanted to be able to do this every night.

"My lovely Gaara." Your voice was soft as you traced your fingers along his jaw. Gaara gave a pleased rumble as his tail slowly swayed, letting you know that he was still enjoying the contact. "Maybe next time I'll sneak you out to my house." His ears perked up. "Oh, you like that idea, do you?" You chuckled, and he nodded. "I could bring a cloak to disguise your human form. Then I could make us dinner."

Gaara was quietly listening to your musing as you ran your fingers through his hair. His tail coiling rustled the straw in his bed.

"After dinner, we could have a bath. Nice and warm. You'd end up smelling like me, though, unless I get you your own soap." You hummed but felt Gaara shake his head. "No? You don't mind using my soap?" He shook his head again. "All right, then. We could even help each other wash up. I often have some trouble getting my back. You'd help me with that, wouldn't you?" You asked as your hand went down the side of his neck and over his chest to his shoulder.

Gaara nodded after a short pause. His ears were low and his heart was beating faster. Looking at Gaara, it didn't take you long to figure out why he wasn't as relaxed as before. While you were talking, he was imagining.

"See? You're so sweet." You pretended not to notice the changes in Gaara and continued to talk. "My bathroom is pretty small, so it'd be a tight fit for both of us in there. We can make it work if you don't mind being close to me. Hmm. I won't have to fill the tub as much with you in there, though. If I did, there'd just be water getting everywhere." Your fingers traced lazy circles in his short fur. "And then we could cuddle in my bed. It's not as spacious as yours, but you should be able to fit with me in your human form."

There was a quiet groan from Gaara that made you scoff in amusement.

"What? Don't want to squeeze in? Sorry, prince. I can't afford a luxurious house. It's also a good thing you don't think I stink because everything smells like me in there too." You softly sighed but watched as Gaara's ears moved and his breath faltered. "I'm beginning to think you like that idea; being surrounded by me. Well, you'd have to behave for me to be able to sneak you through the village. Think you could be a good boy for me?" Your voice went softer, and his ears turned back as his hold on you tightened.

Gaara nodded to answer you while turning his face toward your neck. You knew his mind was racing now even if you couldn't tell exactly what he was thinking about. Flattening your palm against his chest, you heard his tail twitch across the straw. His tongue slithered out to lap at your throat.

"Is something on your mind, Gaara?" You asked as a smile pulled at your lips. He gave a soft whine from the back of his throat. "Are you uncomfortable? I can lay beside you instead-" You moved to sit up only to have Gaara pull you back into him. Chuckling, you kissed his temple. "So if that's not your problem, what is?" He huffed, his warm breath rolling over your skin.

There was another soft whine as Gaara nuzzled your jaw.

"Oh, I think I know what it is." Your fingers circled the dark spot on his chest. "You're thinking about me naked, aren't you? Soaking wet from a bath. Skin warm and soft beneath your hands." You purred as your hand went down his torso. "The smell of fresh soap clinging to my hair. Sheets soaked in my scent." Gaara groaned low, making his chest vibrate beneath you. "I can sneak you over tomorrow if you're that interested. But for tonight...." You trailed off while lifting your tunic higher up your thigh.

Gaara's gaze followed your hand, watching as more of your skin became exposed. When you glanced back, you saw that Gaara's hard cock was already leaking with precum. Looking at him with a smile, you scooted down his torso to press yourself against his erection. He moved his arms to give you more room.

Slipping off your underwear, you then took off your tunic. Straddling Gaara's hips, you leaned back while placing a hand on his thigh for stability. His cock was pressing against your ass while your other hand traveled over your body.

His breath quickened as he watched you. Your hand went down your torso before your fingers spread yourself wider. There was a low growl from deep in Gaara's chest as he stared at your pussy on display for him. His tongue hungrily licked his maw while watching your fingers glide through your arousal. You circled your entrance and up to your clit.

Your breath faltered from how you touched yourself. Gaara couldn't look away, drinking in how the moonlight lit your skin and made your wetness glisten. His eyes were begging for more.

Letting your head fall back with a groan as you rubbed the throbbing bud beneath your fingers, you bared your throat to Gaara. He sat up, taking his chance to taste your skin with his long tongue curling around your neck. Your hand on his thigh moved to push against his chest.

"Lie back down." Gaara hesitated with a whine before doing as told. He was eager, needy, and you had been teasing him with fantasies. You made him watch as you slid your fingers into your pussy and coated them in your slick. Gaara looked so close to snapping.

Pulling your fingers free, you lifted your hips to bring Gaara's cock in front of you. Your wet fingers smeared your arousal along his shaft as he groaned. You hummed while swiping your thumb over the tip of his dick, using his precum along with your slick as a lubricant.

Placing one hand on his stomach, you lined up his cock, running the head between your wet lips until it slipped into place. Lowering your hips, you felt yourself stretch to accommodate his thickness. Gaara whimpered when you took all of him as his fingers twitched and his claws flexed.

Closing your eyes with a sigh, you took a few seconds to adjust. Gaara rested his arms above his head to dig his claws into the straw. Raising your hips, you sank back down to the hilt. You set a slow and steady pace at first while readjusting to get a better angle.

Gaara grunted as his face twisted with pleasure. You rode him with your hands running up his sides. His back arched off the bed when you clenched around him, his sharp intake of breath making you smile. He couldn't keep still beneath you, twitching and groaning with your arousal dripping down his balls.

You picked up speed after planting your hands on his chest. Rising and falling on his cock, you moaned and panted, feeling his soft barbs from deep within. His head rolled to the side as he panted and his claws left scratches on the bed beneath the straw.

His mouth hung open from his heavy breathing as drool dripped from his fangs. Gaara's gaze drifted down, his muscles twitching as he watched your body move. His eyes settled on his wet cock you were busy bouncing on. He groaned as his keen ears picked up the slick sounds coming from between your thighs along with your shaky breaths and moans.

He could see how your body stretched around him and felt how it clenched and squeezed. You liked how lost he looked. He could easily roll over and mount you if he wanted, but he was instead letting you ride him as he squirmed.

Gaara bucked, driving his cock deeper when his tail smacked against the bed and floor. You moaned as your nails dug into his fur. His chest rumbled beneath your hands, sending vibrations up your arms.

"Does it really feel that good, pretty boy?" You purred, and Gaara's ears turned back as he whimpered. You knew that if he was in human form his blush would be spreading down to his chest from how he was acting. He managed to nod before licking his maw with a groan. "I can't believe just talking about- Ngh!- spending the night together got you this riled up. You're so cute." One of your hands slid down his torso, fingers ghosting over his abdomen and around his belly button before going lower.

His body arched toward your touch as if seeking more of it. Gaara rocked his hips up, giving more of an impact when you sank down on his cock. You cursed through a moan and leaned back to place your other hand on his raised knee. Gaara continued to thrust his hips in time with your movement while gripping the edge of the bed above his head. Your hand that had gone down his torso now went up to your clit.

Rubbing circles over it, you felt yourself clench around Gaara's dick. His entire body tensed as his lip curled into a snarl to bare his fangs. He watched your hand work while trying to keep his hips moving steadily.

Your grip on his knee tightened. It was difficult to focus while seeing the way Gaara looked at you and hearing his sounds of pleasure as his cock filled you. You could feel your orgasm building and added just a little more pressure to your clit. You bucked, Gaara's name spilling from your lips with a breathy voice.

Gaara's grip on his bed was harsh enough to break a piece off in his massive hand. The damage wasn't enough to make either of you stop, so close to the high that nothing else mattered. Your thighs burned and clenched around Gaara's hips. Your blunt nails were digging into Gaara's thigh when you finally climaxed.

Your orgasm was the last straw for Gaara, his head rolling back as he bellowed. You were locked in place by his barbs while feeling his cum flooding your core. Your body was buzzing and sensitive, feeling every twitch of his cock buried inside you. He groaned as his body relaxed, and you let your gaze wander over Gaara.

The rise and fall of his broad chest, the drool leaving a sheen on his jaw, and the way his fingers spread and closed into a fist as if to keep himself grounded. When his cock and barbs began to soften, his body began to shrink from him shifting into human form. More of his cum spilled out and dripped down his balls before he propped himself up on his elbows to look at you.

Seeing the little smile on your face was all it took before he reared up and grabbed your face to kiss you. It was sweet and hungry, his arms wrapping around you to hold you against his chest. Your fingers slid into his hair to deepen the kiss, but then you caught a glimpse of the chunk missing from his bed and began to laugh.

Gaara was confused for a second before realizing what you were laughing at. His lips curled upward with a laugh bubbling up that made your heart flutter. His pretty eyes glittered in the moonlight as you both laughed together over the broken piece of the bed discarded on the floor.

Until Gaara suddenly stopped and his head whipped in the direction of the windows. He tensed, making you follow his gaze to see what he was looking at.

Never did you think someone other than you would come to see Gaara in the middle of the night. He was feared by nearly the entire village; who other than you would possibly dare come here in the dark? And yet, despite everything, someone was standing outside and looking in through one of the barred windows with eyes wide in shock.

Dread settled in your gut. How much had this person seen? You were naked in the arms of a man in the Beast's cage; it wouldn't be hard to figure out what was going on.

"Gaara, what the fuck?!" The man outside whisper-yelled before looking away as if to check his surroundings. Gaara quickly leaned over to grab your tunic and shove it into your arms.

"Get dressed." He rushed to move you off him before getting up. You did as told, pulling your tunic over your head before searching for your underwear. Gaara remained in human form, and it wasn't until the man outside came inside that you recognized who he was. Seeing the man's face made you feel even worse.

"What in the fuck is going on here?!" Kankuro hissed while standing outside of the cage. The silence that followed was deafening. Gaara grabbed your wrist to pull you closer as if he was worried something might happen. He stood straight with his shoulders squared and a serious look on his face.

"We were having sex."

"No shit."

"Then why ask?"

"Are you kidding me? We all know what you're like, Gaara. I'm asking how the fuck this happened." Kankuro waved his hand.

"Do you seriously want me to answer that?"

"Yes!"

"I became aroused, and then they took my penis-"

"Are you stupid?! I don't need you to tell me how sex works!" Kankuro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while his other hand was on his hip. You had to cover your mouth to keep from laughing. You weren't sure if Gaara was trying to frustrate his older brother on purpose or not. "You nearly took out my eye once, so finding you giggling and balls-deep in someone is the last thing I expected to ever see. Temari said you took a liking to your caretaker, but I didn't think it was to this degree."

"What are you doing here anyway?" Gaara asked while crossing his arms.

"I was coming to talk to you about what Temari told me. Wasn't sure you'd talk to me, but clearly, I got my answer regardless." There was an awkward silence as they looked at each other. Even if they were brothers, they were not close, and Gaara stood unmoving and unspeaking like a statue.

A naked statue with bits of straw sticking out of his hair.

"Could you at least cover up?" Kankuro sighed, and Gaara lowered his hands to hold them over his crotch. "You know this is going to cause problems."

"Don't push me, Kankuro. I won't waste time with threats if you put them in danger."

"Look, I'm not saying I'm gonna tell. But if you two plan on fucking next to uncovered windows, I'm not gonna be the only one seeing something. Now can we backtrack to how this even happened to begin with? You're not exactly known for being the cuddly type."

"....It's complicated."

"I got that already." Kankuro glanced at you. Your hands were clutching the sides of your tunic as you kept quiet to let Gaara handle whatever this situation was developing into. It was looking as if Kankuro was going to keep your and Gaara's secret.

You just couldn't figure out why. With the brothers not being close, what reason did Kankuro have to keep what Gaara was doing hidden from the Kazekage?

"Just tell me what you want." Gaara's tone was steady and cold.

"We can talk about that in private." He then looked at you again. "I can walk you home."

"They're not going anywhere with you until you tell me what you want." Gaara remained firm. He was suspicious and acting with caution. Should you worry about what Kankuro might do?

"Gaara...." He trailed off before sighing with both of his hands on his hips now. "Seriously?"

"Yes."

"Fine." Kankuro paused while looking at the ground until he finally looked at Gaara again. "I'm next in line to lead the village, but I have no desire to do so. I want you to find someone to take my place when the time comes."

"That's a lot to ask of me. I wouldn't think you'd entrust such a task to me either."

"Well, I've got quite the bargaining chip now. Even if I don't want to tell our father about your secret little nighttime visitor doesn't mean I can't." Kankuro raised his eyebrows, and Gaara glanced at you from the corner of his eye.

"I'll do it."

"Good." The sealed deal left you a bit confused, but you weren't going to ask Kankuro why he didn't want to be the next Kazekage. Not at the moment, at least.

"It's late. You should go home." Gaara turned to you before cupping your face in his hand to kiss your forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow." He then kissed your cheek before whispering to where only you could hear him. "I'm sorry you have to clean up the mess by yourself." Your cheeks burned, well aware of what he meant since his cum had been soaking into your underwear the entire time you patiently stood by as he and Kankuro talked.

Kankuro did indeed walk you home after leaving Gaara. It was quiet and awkward given the circumstances. What were you supposed to say to the man who caught you having sex with his younger brother?

"So....why don't you want to be Kazekage?" You asked after turning a corner.

"I'm just not cut out for it. I've seen what it's done to my father trying to manage everything all these years. I know I couldn't do that." Kankuro heavily sighed while putting his hands into his pockets. "So....you and Gaara?"

"What about it?" You averted your gaze, not sure what he was going to ask next.

"How did that happen? I know you're his caretaker and all, but I can't see how you decided a beast was a good idea for a lover."

"Gaara's more than just a beast." You muttered. "Like he told you, it's complicated. One thing just seemingly led to another."

"I'm kind of jealous."

"What? Why?"

"I'm still single, and yet Gaara who spends most of his time snapping and growling somehow got you." Kankuro sighed with slumped shoulders. You couldn't help but laugh at his pouting but tried to hide it behind your hand. "Yeah, laugh it up. At least I'm not dumb enough to have sex next to open windows."

"At least I am having sex." You popped off without thinking and immediately regretted your words. If you angered Kankuro, he could go back on his deal with Gaara and tell your secret.

To your relief, he burst into laughter.

Entering your house, you went to get some light in the dark room. Gaara slipped in behind you, shutting the door and locking it before he reached up to pull back the hood of his cloak. He took in his surroundings as you walked to the cupboard to get out ingredients for dinner.

"I think you're right."

"About?" You asked while setting out food.

"Me leaving the cage. For good." Gaara's words made you look at him.

"Really?"

"I want to...." Gaara glanced away for a second before locking eyes with you. "I want to be the Kazekage. But I'll need your help." You froze while processing what he'd just said. "Will you help me?" There was some uncertainty in his eyes until you gave a reassuring smile.

"Of course I will."

#Beast of Sunagakure #gaara x reader #gaara #gaara smut #naruto smut #naruto #reader x character #afab reader #exophilia #monster!gaara #lemon #Wolf does fanfic

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