#I could go on with more photos too but unfortunately I have a picture limit

[jessejaredstories]

One Last Adventure

“Did you find anyone yet?”

“Not yet babe, I’m still looking.”

I flipped through the pages of my old high school yearbook while my boyfriend Jack was pacing around our bedroom. He was supposed to be searching through Grindr and Tinder for potential targets, but I knew he was getting frustrated and decided not to push it. My boyfriend has always been the impatient type, but I could understand why he was getting extra antsy tonight. 

About a month ago, my boyfriend and I made a deal with a witch. In exchange for five years off of each of our lifespans, the witch would grant us the supernatural ability to take over other people’s bodies. As you can imagine, Jack and I have been generously using our new powers ever since we got them. We’ve been using them to do whatever we want as whoever we want! Getting easy access to anything we want, getting payback on anyone who’s wronged us, and probably the most fun, fucking as whoever we want. Pretty sweet ability right? 

But of course, an extraordinary power like this doesn’t come without its cost. On top of paying the witch with literal years off of our lives, there were also two conditions we needed to follow. The first condition was the time limit. We got exactly 30 days before our powers expire. Once time’s up, that’s it. No more body hopping fun. The second condition was more of a restriction than anything else. The witch said that we couldn’t just take over anyone’s body. We could only choose people both Jack and I have met in-person before. That condition really limited our options, but even so, that didn’t stop us from having as much fun as possible. 

“Hey, what about these two?” I handed Jack the yearbook with an open page. Unfortunately though, it took him less than a second to shake his head no.

“No good. I knew them but I never actually met them.”

I sighed as I took back the yearbook. Not gonna lie, I was starting to get frustrated too. We just couldn’t find any new bodies to possess! Normally, we wouldn’t get so worked over it, but tonight was different. It was our last day before our powers expired for good. Obviously we couldn’t just let our powers die out without one last body hopping escapade! But after hours of searching, it was not looking good for us…

Or so I thought. I started half-assedly looking through all the faces of our former high school classmates. It was then that two faces stuck out to me. Akshay Khan and Kabir Patel. 

“How about these two? Remember them? The Indian bros?” I asked Jack.

“Oh yeah, I remember them. Can’t say I remember much though,”

“Neither can I.”

Akshay and Kabir were known for being inseparable best friends, but that was it really. They never got involved in any school activities. That’s why they each only had one photo in the yearbook. Easy to miss, but they were still an option nonetheless. 

“C’mon, let’s check out what they’ve been up to,” I said as I pulled out my phone. 

Jack joined me on the couch. He laid against me as I typed in Akshay’s name. Luckily that was all I needed to get a hit on Instagram. His profile came up and surely enough, it was him. He had recently posted on his story too. I clicked on it and up came a picture of him and Kabir working out at some gym together.

“Whoa, they’ve really glowed up since high school. The gym’s been kind to them!” Jack let out a fox whistle when he saw the picture. I turned my head slightly to watch him checking out the goods. I could tell by the hungry look in his eyes that we just found our next targets.

“What do you say bro?” I said while lowering my voice. “You down to hit the showers after we hit this last set?” I caught Jack off guard with my bad Akshay impression, but he caught on right away. We exchanged a knowing look, then proceeded to get ready for the takeover. 

We both laid down on the ground and took deep breaths. We had body possession down to a science with how many times we’ve done it. All that was left to do was to go through steps again. I cleared my mind of all thoughts then I focused on imagining my soul leaving my body, all while maintaining my breathing. Soon enough, I could feel myself becoming lighter as my soul left my physical body. Once I was no longer a slave to the laws of physics, I flew straight to the gym where Akshay and Kabir were. They made the big mistake of tagging their location on social media, which made Jack and I’s job a whole lot easier! 

Thanks to my spirit form, I made it to their location within minutes. I phased through the walls and looked around for the bros. The gym was pretty empty that night for some reason. After some searching, I found Akshay in the locker room area checking himself out in the mirror. He was by himself in there. I crept up behind him, ready to strike while he was distracted! 

“Nrghh… What the fuck?” Akshay exclaimed. He hunched over while holding his stomach. I hesitated jumping into him, then abandoned the idea altogether when I realized what was happening. Jack had beaten me to the punch, he had already begun possessing Akshay.

I decided to stay back a moment and watch as my boyfriend possessed the gym rat. Akshay was groaning loudly. He tried keeping his balance but ended up falling to the ground on all fours. Sweat beads were forming on his face as he began breathing heavily. He then swung his head back with his mouth wide open. I could see his eyes roll back to the back of his head until I only saw the veiny whites of his eyeballs. Akshay then let out a loud, eerie groan. His cheeks and chest puffed up as Jack's soul slithered down his throat. I could see Akshay's Adam's apple bob up and down too! This lasted for a few seconds, then Akshay swallowed the last of Jack's essence in one final gulp. Once it was done, Akshay's eyes went back to normal and he stood up with a cocky grin on his face. 

"Ahh yeahhh... That's the good stuff..." Akshay said while caressing his massive pecs and rock hard abs. Except I knew that wasn't Akshay anymore, that was my loving boyfriend checking out his new body in the mirror. 

I watched as my boyfriend admired his newly obtained muscles in front of the mirror. I couldn't help but smile as Jack flexed his cannons for arms and made his pecs pop. To be honest, I was slightly jealous of him. Akshay was jacked! I wanted to have that body for myself, but no matter, there was still another body up for grabs anyway. 

I turned around and began searching for Kabir. I looked throughout the gym and eventually found him near the dumbbells. Kabir was busy putting some weights back on the rack. He wasn't perfectly alone like Akshay was, but the sight of his plump butt sticking out as he was bent over was too tempting to ignore. I just had to take the risk and dive right in! 

I steadied my aim first and then charged in as fast as I could. Thanks to my spirit form, I was able to phase right through his gym shorts and go straight into his asshole. 

"Ow!! What the fuck!?" Kabir yelped out, presumably from me penetrating him by surprise. The impact of me entering him made Kabir fall onto the ground on his stomach. He grabbed onto his ass cheeks while squirming around on the ground. Unfortunately I wasn't able to possess him in one smooth motion, but it didn't matter. I was already halfway in, and there was nothing Kabir could do to stop a pro like me.

I started wiggling my way up his ass. The deeper I went inside him, the more I could feel through his body as the body takeover process started. 

"Aaargh fuckk!! Ahh!!" 

Kabir was moaning and thrashing around like a madman! I couldn't blame him though, I could feel the stimulation I was giving him by entering through his ass. I bet I was hitting all the right pleasure spots as I slithered up him! 

"Mmmm... yeahh that's the spot..." I purred using Kabir's voice. I was in full control now, and hearing his accent come out of my mouth was making me hard! I stood up and brushed off any dirt on me. I took a moment to admire my newly possessed body. Jack might have gotten the more muscular body, but Kabir was taller and with a well-toned physique too. He was hot— No, I was hot! 

“Hey bro, you good?” 

I felt a hand pat me on the shoulder. Shit! Someone must’ve spotted Kabir thrashing around on the floor! I slowly turned around, but thankfully my worries were for nothing. It was just Jack.

“Yeah man, I’m chilling, all good here,” I answered. Jack shook his head. 

“You sure, Kabir? Looked like you had a pretty ass cramp just now… You don’t need a massage to help ease the pain?”

Getting called “Kabir” threw me off for a moment. Although I quickly caught on when I saw “Akshay” wink at me.

“Actually, you’re right, I could use a massage right now! Think you can lend me a hand bro?” I replied with a smirk. Akshay returned my gesture with a grin. It was moments like this that made me love taking over other people’s bodies with my boyfriend. Nobody but us knew that these two gym rats just got possessed by two other men, and that secret just made it even more fun.

Akshay and I wasted no time in getting to the locker rooms. Luckily for us, there was still nobody back there. We took off our clothes and hopped into one of the shower stalls together. Akshay turned on the water, and then proceeded to pin me to the wall behind me. He planted a big fat kiss on my lips. It was aggressive, but I loved it! 

We made out in the stall with our tongues fighting for dominance while the running water helped cover up our loud kisses and moans. Naturally, our dicks got hard while we kissed. I could feel Akshay’s dick rub against me as we pressed and interlocked our wet bodies against one another. It was strange. Normally when we possess straight men, we could feel their dormant souls try to resist against us having fun with their bodies. I expected Kabir and Akshay to do the same, but they never did! It was almost as if their bodies were enthusiastic about us having our fun. Perhaps, they’ve already done what we were doing?

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. All that mattered was that Akshay had a hand around my neck, choking me while keeping me pressed against the shower wall. I opened my mouth and Akshay spit in my mouth. I swallowed it like a good boy, then I jumped onto Akshay. He held me up while we resumed kissing. Then, while our lips were locked together, he began to lower me down onto his cock. I could feel his dick tap against my hole, then it slid right in.

“OHH FUCKK!!!” I couldn’t hold back my moans. The pleasure of having Akshay’s whole length inside me… My hole expanding to accommodate his girth was too much to hold back!

“You like that? You want this big, brown cock inside you?”

“Fuck yeah! Fuck me!!” 

“Beg for it then.” He started teasing me by thrusting himself into me slowly. 

“Please bro! Please fuck me hard!! I want you… I need you… Arghh!!”

Akshay started picking up the pace of his thrusts. I thought I saw stars with every deep stroke he gave me. We were probably making a lot of noise between my moans and his grunts, but we didn’t care. We fucked like animals with our new jock bodies and we weren’t ashamed of it! 

It only took us another few minutes of fucking before we were both close. Akshay pulled out and let me down to the ground. We then started tugging our dicks together until we covered both ourselves and the shower stall with our cum. We were both panting as we shot load after load of our sweet spunk out. We then made out again one last time while we were still covered with each other’s cum before the shower washed it away. It was hot, and it was definitely the last body hopping adventure we needed before our powers expired for good. 

Once we finished having our fun, Jack and I were ready to leave. We never bothered cleaning up, we just depossessed the bodies and let them take care of it. Jack and I shared one last loving look as Akshay and Kabir before leaving. However, when we tried forcing our souls out of their bodies, we couldn’t! No matter how hard or how much we tried, we just couldn’t leave! We ended up having to clean up after ourselves for once. We did that quickly, then got dressed and left the gym as fast as we could. We had no idea what was going on! But then I caught a glimpse of the time. It was already 1:30AM! It was already the next day! It was supposed to be a quickie, but I guess Jack and I got a little carried away…

All this happened two years ago. We’ve been living as Akshay and Kabir ever since then. Even to this day, neither of us know what could’ve happened that we’d end up trapped in these bodies. If I had to take a guess, I’d wager that when the witch said that our powers would expire permanently, she meant it way more seriously than Jack and I expected. Without those powers, we couldn’t even return to our original bodies! I don’t know, but honestly, I don’t care anymore. If anything, we’ve been blessed to have Akshay and Kabir’s lives as our own. Sure, Akshay’s new family is super traditional and they’re already setting him up for a bride, but that doesn’t matter to us. We still meet up in secret when nobody’s around. No matter who we are, we are lovers and nothing will ever take that away from us. 

We’re not sure how exactly we’re gonna get past an arranged family, but as long as Akshay is by my side, we can overcome anything.

[sirfrogsworth]

hey man, well done for getting out there with your camera when it must be unspeakably exhausting sometimes. i'm really enjoying all the urban photography! but i'm too shy to say it non-anon! keep it up though!

Thanks!

I've been challenging myself to go on a photography field trip once or twice a month. I realized if I scout a location on Google Maps and do some pre-planning with the street view, I can drive somewhere, set up and take my pictures, and be done within an hour or so.

For my bridge pictures I was looking for a good vantage point and street view had this...

And I knew I could make that work. So on my way to get more eggs I decided to take a detour. I timed it for sunset and headed over there.

Unfortunately there is a really confusing bridge you have to drive over to get there. There was a stoplight, but there was no intersection.

I could not figure out the purpose of this damn stoplight. I was sitting there for nearly 5 minutes and didn't understand why the light wasn't changing. So I thought maybe it was broken or something and just drove ahead.

Then I got to the middle of the bridge and realized my error.

The bridge only had one lane for car traffic. And the light had a sensor that told you if a car was coming from the other direction. And so I was face to face with a car in the same lane.

The area on the right is a bike lane. And there is a huge bump separating the car lane and the bike lane. And unless I wanted to do the world's longest drive in reverse, I had to hop that little curb into the bike lane. As I proceeded forward I could hear it just barely scraping the bottom of my car.

I was very embarrassed.

I'm really hoping I didn't damage anything. But I could tell it was just barely kissing the bottom of my car and only 2 or 3 times so I think it is okay.

But I learned an important lesson.

They don't put out random stoplights for no reason.

In any case, I was able to get my photos and my eggs and be home in about an hour in a half. And that is just about the limit of my energy.

It's actually easier than going to the movies. 3 hours being upright was just too much for me. And I get to spend the next week editing photos and feeling artistically satisfied.

So my photo field trips have been a big help to my mental health and usually only have a day or two of post-exertional malaise. Which is pretty manageable. Going to the movies was usually double that. Which is problematic because I am thinking about going to see Dune 2... which is a 3 hour movie. So 4 hours out and about including driving and whatnot.

I've picked out my next photo field trip already.

This may look like a boring highway, but if I go at night every single one of those cars will leave a long bright light trail that will probably span all the way to the horizon. My only issue is I could really use a companion to go with me. I don't feel safe going by myself. But hopefully I can get that figured out by the time I am ready to go.

I took over 250 photos at the bridge the other night. And I am having trouble choosing which ones are best to share. So I have decided to do some very interesting edits to make them all a bit different. I will be sharing one of those shortly. But I'm a little worried you all are going to get very sick of this bridge.

Thanks for writing in. I hope you have a lovely day.

[phoenixyfriend]

I know I'm a nerd because the amount of time I've spent obsessing over the Vojvodina dress is. Way too much.

This dress doesn't actually have a name (probably), but it's from late 19th century Vojvodina, and I kind of obsessed over it when I was at the Serbian Ethnographic Museum in Belgrade (main site is available only in Serbian).

(Unfortunately, I'm trying to work within the tumblr image limit, but here's a google drive!)

BTW, if you enjoy this post, please consider leaving a tip! I spent more time than is reasonable putting this together.

Also, due to tumblr being Odd, you may want to open this in a new tab to avoid having the posts expand to full; the dashboard view only lets there be one image per line, for some reason. If you open in a new tab, they are much more neatly organized into sets, and quicker to scroll past.

Due to the fact that I can't really describe these photos in a way that means anything to readers unless they have a large technical vocabulary or background in Balkan fashion history, and there being so many pictures, I will not be including image descriptions. However, my commentary on those photos throughout the latter half of the post should hopefully give you a solid summary on what the photos contain, even if it's not going into details for most.

Here is the general shape of what you see in 19th century Serbia (incl. Kosovo), Montenegro, Bosnia&Herzegovina, and Croatia:

You can see a few throughlines, even with the variety from one region to the next. Certain types of fabric are more common, especially that heavy plain-weave white fiber (I think usually cotton, nowadays, but probably historically flax) with the small knots; my grandmother's apartment is still stocked with that as the default bed linen! You see it all through the exhibit, most frequently in the skirts, but often for blouses or chemises, too.

There are a lot of hand-woven fabrics, which you can see on display best with the aprons, and a very specific style of applique trimmings on the cropped vest. The arm's eyes and necklines have similar proportions. The lengths are similar. Most things are cut on the rectangular, or not cut at all. Hems are often tassled, for complex weaves, or simply folded under for the white base fabrics; plain, non-white fabrics tend to get a textured applique at the hems. Lace is usually eyelet.

There are exceptions, of course. I'd love to know more about that mint green cardigan(?) from Montenegro, with the gored pieces. I think it's made of doeskin (the tight wool weave, not the leather), and I wish I could get more information on the history. Most of the larger green dyes, not counting floral motifs or minor elements of a multicolored weave, are from the Bosnian section of the display (wide stripes along the collar, for instance), presumably due to Ottoman influence leaving a large Muslim population. And then there's this mint green cardigan from Montenegro made of a fabric I'm not seeing on any other garments? Tell me more, please.

(Also, in the close-ups, you can see that the hook and eye closure has released rust stains onto the blouse!)

There are so many more pictures, but unfortunately, I have a thirty-image max and really want to talk about this one specific dress:

The image description on the floor below describes this as:

Woman's festive dress with a zlatara cap, Banat, Vojvodina, late 19th century

(I have minimal commentary on the hat. It's a traditionally Serbian vestment, but there's nothing too unusual about it.)

So, here are a few things to note at first glance:

The arm's eye on the vest is wide. It dips further in towards the neck than most vests, and swoops further down towards the ribs. Most of the traditional vests have a much tighter arm's eye.

Relatedly, the straps are much thinner than most of the vests, maybe half as wide. This is partly the arm's eye, and partly the width of the neckline to start!

The vest comes down in a slightly pointed oval ending at the swell of the bust, rather than curving back up or being a rounded shape a few inches higher. It's also finished with these little satin triangles?

The vest is laced at front, rather than hook and eye closure.

The bottom edge has tabs!

The hems on those tabs are chain stitched in yellow, and then the hem is wrapped in a thin orange ribbon that I would hesitantly say is satin? Plus all the other yellow embroidery, which to my eye looks really different from the embroidery you see on various aprons, and also different from the metallic appliques you see on most vests!

That bottom edge also appears to be straight across (most of the vests curve up slightly at front), and is very tight to the body. While some of the vests are tight, those are generally the shorter ones. Longer vests are much looser than this one, which cuts off and cinches at the waist, right where it meets the skirt.

The fabric itself! I'll get back to this but it seems to be a satin jacquard??? A jacquard that matches (in thread, not in pattern) to the skirt? Insane.

[Disclaimer: Some of these deviations, such as the arm's eye size or the dropped shoulder hem, could be a matter of the mannequin being the wrong size for the clothing. Unfortunately, I don't have enough background information to be sure. It could be just the right size. It could be far too small. I only have these photos and the most basic of background information to go off of.]

Okay moving on to the blouse:

It's not completely unique to be sheer, but it's definitely uncommon!

The chest is not pintucked or a flat weave, but rather the sheer fabric has thin stripes of more opaque weave? I don't actually remember what that's called but it's definitely cool to see.

We also see a net lace at the cuffs, which is similarly uncommon; most of the fashions I saw had eyelet lace instead (which we can see at the collar of the blouse).

The dropped shoulder! The shoulder seam sits much higher on most of the pieces I saw (there are a few exceptions, but mostly from regions nearby). In fact, most of the examples had the shoulder seam hidden, between the higher seam and the width of the vest; it's both the dropped seam and the thin straps of the vest that let us see this here!

That metallic embroidery. Again, most of the embroidery we see on the other pieces is cross stitch or done with a much thicker thread; sometimes, you get lineart, but not filled in in this manner. This kind of thin-thread embroidery that fills the space between the lines isn't common in the other pieces!

I don't think I can actually say much about the sleeve length? I feel like most of the pieces have sleeves that are full or bracelet length, while this one is a three-quarter, but I'm not 100% on that actually being true. It's a bit hard to tell in some cases. Might just be summer clothes?

The skirt:

SATIN JACQUARD

BOX PLEATS

SLIGHT OVAL HEM

SATIN RIBBON TRIM

I'm gonna be honest this was a huge part of why I began to obsess over this dress let me just. Whoo!

This fabric is, as far as I can tell, a satin jacquard, very probably machine-woven. It is very different from basically every other fabric we see in this exhibit. This is not a plain weave, and it is not a hand-woven design. This is a meticulously, mechanically repetitive pattern done using satin-weave manipulation to adjust which sections have shine and which don't. Given the time period, it's probably silk. (Take a look at this portion of a video on silk by Nicole Rudolph to understand what I mean by jacquard. If you want to know more about satin weave, you can watch the full video.)

I'd guess that the vest is made of the same type of fabric, even the same threads, just in a different pattern.

The pleating! If you take a look at the other photos, the general pattern is 'put together some rectangles, gather at top, and you have a dress. Cover with a hand-woven apron in front and possibly in back.' There are, again, some exceptions, but this dress has both the box pleating and the satin jacquard. The structure of this skirt is completely different from 90% of this exhibit.

In conjunction with the pleating, the skirt had a very slight oval shape around the bottom. I didn't get a good photo of that part, but it's typical of 1890s dresses in Western Europe to have a sort of egg-shaped hem if you look at them from above, through use of pleating, strategic panel shapes, and bum pads or petticoats. In short, the dress is just slightly longer at back without being a full-on train. Most of the other pieces, due to the rectangles and gathers, are a much simpler circle shape around bottom.

Length! Part of why the egg-shaped hem is happening is because this dress actually brushes the floor. Ankle-length is the default across the exhibit, even for formal wear.

Simple satin ribbons for decorative trim, rather than something textured, shaped, or multicolor!

Then, the actual hem of the skirt: a center-pleated green ribbon. This is, again, really different from most of the hems. Most of the skirts don't reach the ground, and aren't made of a fancy fabric. Those white dresses/skirts that form the base of most looks are easily washed and have hems that don't drag on the ground. If they aren't left to just the selvage, they're very simply hemmed; I think what I saw most frequently was a double-folded hem. The pieces that have more decorative hems, like blouses and vests and aprons, aren't pieces that get the same form of wear. However, since this dress does reach the ground, it needs a centimeter or so of additional fabric to take some of that wear to protect the fancier skirt fabric, like hem braid, which the easily-replaced ribbon could conceal for this skirt since it's a festival item.

I think that might also be part of why there's a seam about twenty centimeters up from the bottom edge; it's a replaceable section in case it needs replacement, or the seam is for a protective layer inside. However, it could also be a seam used for a stiff inner lining meant to help the skirt flare out just a touch, like this.

Now, finally, why is all this even a thing, and why do I care?

Vojvodina, the region this outfit is from, was under Austro-Hungarian control during the latter half of the 19th century; whether it was officially Hungarian, Austrian, or both changed from one decade to the next, but it was definitely under that sphere of influence for a very long time. Despite this, it was and is culturally Serbian, and is majority Serbian in terms of population; it was even back then! However, the 19th century saw a large number of ethnic Hungarians and ethnic Germans in the region as well, and the cultural impact from Vienna was not to be underestimated.

This dress is a great example of how a culturally Serbian individual would have clothing that integrated those foreign influences. For most of the Balkans, the greatest influence was the Ottomans, due to five centuries of imperial rule, but this dress is a great contrast due to Hungarian occupation, and then Austrian. It contains elements of the culture that birthed it, yes, but the influence of the West is so very, very clear.

(I wish I could talk more about the Pannonian elements in general, but I'm still learning.)

I hope you enjoyed this rambling deep dive into a single outfit from the Serbian Ethnographic Museum. Visit it if you get a chance!

And if you've read this whole thing and feel like dropping a tip, you can do so on this blog, post, or over on ko-fi. You could even join my Patreon!

[hisshiss-bitch]

just realized i never made one of these omg so

INTRO POST TIME BABY

lets start with the basics:

☆ hi, my name is [redacted]* and i'm a minor, i go by she/they (demigirl), canadian, i'm pansexual and demiromantic, i use way too many emoticons and usually type in lowercase letters (for the aesthetic), and i am always so veryvery excited to meet new people on here :D ☆

*i go by a new online fake name every few months and i am currently wasting my life on baby name websites trying to find a new one. rn maybe call me ash? idk i like it

☆ fandoms: good omens | the vivzieverse | all of em studio ghibli movies (mainly howls moving castle and my neighbor totoro) | the osemanverse | pirates of the caribbean | all of those delicious tim burton films, beetlejuice especially (and the musical!) | sorta in the heathers fandom but i haven't actually watched the musical, just the soundtrack ;-; | night at the museum but only for the tiny gays lol ☆

☆ favourite books: anything by alice oseman | coraline | good omens | the book thief | percy jackson | harry potter* | honor | a good girls guide to murder | the graveyard book ☆

*not supporting jkr by any means i just am feeling torn cos i love the series but hate her views

☆ favourite movies/tv shows: howls moving castle | inside out | encanto | helluva boss | hazbin hotel | good omens | coraline | night at the museum | monty python and the holy grail | matilda | my neighbor totoro | ponyo | the harry potter series ☆

☆ favourite visual artists: @hg-aneh @cliopadra @crystallizedtwilight @dingledraw @greykolla-art @gleafer @hattersarts @honestlynotgonnalie @libbyframe @mrghostrat @marsipanart @plumbum-art @ufofrommarss | my best friend | vincent van gogh ☆

☆ favourite MUSICAL artists: girl in red | tv girl | queen | abba | bon jovi | britney spears | taylor swift | conan grey | musical soundtracks lol | beyonce | cavetown | laufey | lemon demon ☆

☆ things that make me happy: meeting new people online | doing puzzles | doomscrolling | the sound of keyboards | reading | my cat <3 | the color of bubbles ☆

my numerous aesthetics i am flipflopping through always:

well. it seems i've hit the picture limit. hm.

how unfortunate, i still have eleven more photos to add.

currently listening to: (new song every week if i can remember)

i think i'm gonna ramble on at you for a bit more

anyone else hate the sound of styrofoam? makes me want to shed my skin and shiver until mushrooms erupt from my pores

that was weird. sorry.

y'know i think i'm gonna ramble on about one of my special interests to you now.

listen up pals because i'm gonna tell you some stuff about pompeii.

ALRIGHTY so getting right into it, pompeiis eruption was mainly just ash and dust falling down on the city, along with some pumice etc. it covered the city so thickly that even people who stayed inside died.

but that's not all. the dust rushing down the mountain, called the pyroclastic surge, got superheated. i can't remember the exact number but it was big. think burning upon impact.

speaking of the heat of the pyroclastic surge, it was so hot that the people standing in the streets immediately evaporated all the water in their bodies, and that's why they were all curled up on the ground, the heat caused their muscles to contract. cool, huh?

yeah. i think so too.

...

why are you still here?

...

i've recently been getting into the sort of fourth-wall breaking dreamcore stuff.

i don't know why but i'm suddenly getting the urge to say i love you

PANPLOSAURUS, BAM!!

bet you weren't expecting that, hm?

...

i'm gonna go now

psyche! as if. i've put too much work into this post now, i can't stop.

i wish i could add more pictures.

i love space. not the sort of purple and blue and red galaxy thats on every piece of edgy wolf art, but the way that you look up at the sky and think you see a star, the first star of the night, but no its just an airplane.

but then you realize it was a star, your vision is just swimming

and you suddenly see all the stars

and look, there's a constellation

and you stand there under the flickering streetlight for a bit, just looking up

up

up is a funny word.

two letters. short but conveys a lot.

what was i talking about?

oh right, the stars.

i like the stars.

this is a long post.

d'you think i can make a text post longer than "do you love the color of the sky?"

"which one?"

i love the color of the sky.

unfortunately, i live in the city

too much light pollution to see the stars or the color of the sky.

my friend wrote me out this poem and i can't remember for the life of me what it was or who it was by, but the last line was "like a spider trapped under a cup, you wish you could just float up."

at least i think thats what it was.

that word again. up. up. up.

i'd like to float up, i think.

i'd take my phone with me, so we can stay together.

remember the panplosaurus? good times.

how long has it been?

...

...

sometimes i want to

thats sad. what do i want to do? i looked through my autocorrect suggestions to find something i might want to do

i don't know what to do

well, this is getting depressing. i'm getting tired. sorry.

whenever i think of the word sorry i think of heartstopper in the one panel with nick telling charlie to stop apologizing.

"you know, you say sorry a lot."

...

"don't you dare say it!"

"i kinda want to say it"

"don't!"

i like that part.

anyways, i'm gonna edit most of my spelling mistakes in here and go to bed.

i love you

<3

[princess-of-the-corner]

Turnabout Snapshot(s) maybe? because Vincent is a photographer. but also what is the full story behind the blackmail part?

Oh that could work!

Putting the actual blackmail part under the cut because it's skeevy but I can get into skeevy plots with this au because they're all adults and lawyers and there's murders!

Jagged is trying to leave Bob's record company because Bob is a FUCK. He's famous enough that he wouldn't have any trouble signing with a new one, or may even go ahead and make a record company of his own. He just has to wait a little bit for the contracts to be up.

Bob doesn't like this because Jagged is basically the Golden Goose for him. Even though XY is popular, he's 20 now which is 'old' in terms of teen hearthrob pop idol so his time is limited as he doesn't have enough genuine talent to be more than a pretty face.

Bob starts trying to dig up dirt on Jagged to blackmail him into staying, but he can't find much of anything? Jagged is surprisingly clean for a rockstar. No illegal drugs. He's pretty loyally with Penny at this point. The only scandal he had was Luka's existence, but that's already public knowledge

So he decides to create a fake situation and has XY help. Basically just having XY talk his way into Jagged's hotel room right at the same time Bob gives Vincent the code to sneak in and take pictures, and hope XY can at least make it look like Jagged is trying to sleep with him? Not the worst but it would be 1.) an affair 2.) an affair with a male 3.) an affair with someone so much younger than him(even if XY is of legal age). So like yeah it's still blackmail that people would pay money to make it Go Away.

Obviously Jagged is not interested at fucking all, but XY just has to make sure that Vincent gets a compromising shot, right? Maybe get Jagged far too drunk to realize what he's doing.

Part way into the night XY decides he can't go through with any of this(Jagged is actually really nice and is giving XY the 'sorry your dad fuckin sucks would you like help getting away from him because I know people' speech)

XY panics and has a fight with Vincent in the hotel room trying to get the camera to delete the photos that were taken. He manages to win that fight.

Unfortunately Bob was keeping an eye on things and is pissed that XY is ruining things. Knowing that blackmail is a loss but unwilling to let Jagged jump record labels, plus knowing he can't let word of what they tried to do get out, he goes for killing Vincent and framing Jagged for it.

Jagged, during this whole confrontation, is /really/ fucking drunk. And he has no recollection of any of this happening the next morning.

[pykanico]

Day 21 - Photographs

Fic if you want to read every posted day : https://archiveofourown.org/works/51386731/chapters/129854215

“Emmet, I know that it is bad but…”

“No but Ingo, They broke in the gym to have that, It is not okay”

Emmet was angry, He tried to be patient, to ignore them like Elesa advised him, but the paparazzi got him to his limit, since the team plasma problem at Gear station, this people started to be insufferable more than usual, he try but now, now they got too far.

He was glaring at the magazine where a particular photo was in.

The photo in question was something that happened some days earlier, They were just having some harmless fun with Elesa at her gym, as it was close after a very determined fire-type did some damage by accident on the puzzle of the gym, The trio mostly did friendly battle and talk before going out eat together.

The magazine, for some reason, had a photo of their outing in the restaurant. That was frustrating, but he knew it could happened, What was unacceptable was the photo he found of them and Elesa when they were IN the gym.

He does not know how they got this photograph, but it was a problem, If people like this can find a way to break in close buildings, where else can paparazzi go to find picture!?

Emmet was shaking, he was furious after all, his older brother could see that too, That is why Ingo slowly put his hand on Emmet’s shoulders, his older brother trying to keep his attention, Ingo’s expression as serious as possible.

“I know Emmet, I do not try to minimize your anger. After all, they broke the law, What I mean is that you need to cool your engine for a moment, you can't conduct anything in this state” As much as he didn’t want to calm down, Emmet understood where his brother was coming from, he simply nodded slowly more than bitter about the situation.

“Okay Ingo, I can try but I cannot promise anything”

“It is all I ask, We are going to call Elesa, knowing her she is probably already on it”. As on cue, Ingo Xtran started to ring loudly with a recognizable sound that made them know that it was their friends trying to get to them, Ingo did not wait long before answering it, the image of a really worried Elesa appearing on the devise.

“Hey you two, I hope you got a better morning than me”

“I am Emmet, And we did not have a good morning”

“Hello Elesa, I am sorry to say that Emmet is right, our morning had unfortunately taken a turn for the worse, We were going to call you but it seemed that you beat us to it”

Elesa let out a grimace “I take a bright guess, the magazine?”

“Yes, The Fucking magazine”

“Language Emmet” Ingo had a grimace of his own at Emmet swearing, but he did not really care, the magazine does not deserve any respect “But yes, your guess is right Elesa, it is the magazine”

“Yeah, I am already on it, so you don’t have think to much about this you two, I will personally ‘Vol’beat them if I need to”

Ingo immediately start to laugh loudly at Elesa pun as Emmet look blankly at her, he know she is trying to light up the mood but.…

“I hate you”

[sebestie]

“I’m happier than ever”

In the past years, we had been heading to a deadline of unfortunate events that might’ve made you make up your mind. I already knew you were strong for those times you faced harmful critics, abusive authoritarianism, toxic environments, insufficient team work, etc. but the inner strength that takes to quit such a thing like you just did, is bold.

You leave behind the hopes a team gave you and quickly took back. You are the type of guy to race to win, everything you touch turns into gold, you don’t fit limits, you can go wheel to wheel, you’re smart and you have knowledge to corporate a team. You were what the other teams had disadvantage: they could have a faster car, but none of those cars were driven by number 5.

I’m sorry that, after all that you built with talent and passion, the closing of your career is coming as an unpleasant ending where you leave in a position we all wish it was better.

You’ve said it yourself that, after being spoiled with victories, championships and other kind of privileges, there was not place for excitement in the midfield. And you were right. Such as for you as for the fans. Seeing you in such a situation of undeveloped cars, being sure you were capable of so much more, used to hurt a lot. Then why does it hurt even more to let you go?

Sebastian, I didn’t want to let you go. In fact, I wanted to see you win again. To be a fifth times world champion. You were the first to dream of it now you got tons of people dreaming of it too. You’re magmatic. You’re the reason I and many other have watched all those races, and when you wouldn’t make it to the end, I promise you I was no longer there to watch.

Woeful. I’m back at it. It’s hurts. I fear it will hurt every day more until your last checkered flag.

But it might, it just might get better when my ego realises this is no end. No end for Sebastian Vettel. He will still be the guy who built up all the legacy that will never leave my memory. There will be comfort whenever I remember his deeds.

The fact that you held on in the previous seasons while they failed to you, they were trying to break you, makes you a warrior. The last years in special, everything going against you, the biased media pressing towards, the business going downhill, the contrary luck.. But you leave that all behind now.

If I may get personal, all inside me got so emotional with your intimate published video. You are a father and a husband, you like fresh bread and chocolate, your favourite colour is blue, you believe people are good, spending time in nature is recharging to you, you smile with your eyes, you’re from a town called Heppenheim, you have a strong personality and you can name 71 f1 world champions, one of them being yourself.

I once met you Sebastian, we met in a sunny day, you were biking my way and stopped for autographs and photos. I look at your picture together everyday. I’m proud of it, I show people, I feel so lucky. You are nice, polite, kind. You’re the type of guy to build standards, someone so unique. You smiled when I told you I left when you got knocked out in qualifying, because as your supporter, I couldn’t stand that disgrace.

There’s something we all have been too selfish to had wished before but now it’s time: I wish you a good retirement. This time with no distance between you and your loved ones. May you have the time of your life, feel a pure state of joy you couldn’t feel working around a system like motorsport’s.

I’m grateful for you Sebastian, and although you will listen that a lot, still there’s people who owe you beyond this lifetime.

You’re a free now, Sebastian. And you worked your ass off to one day deserve to drop off. Enjoy your beautiful life!

[corvarrow]

Alright, I couldn't decide how to best present my thoughts about this art challenge, so here's just a summary screenshot to start with - if you would like to see the big versions with the lore you can check out my tag, and the actual list itself is here!

And without further ado, here are my thoughts on this art challenge and finishing it!

Things that helped me finish the challenge

Taking a break day (or two) a week – I have a day job so this was absolutely required to not burn out, lol

Having a theme – This was nor originally intentional, but keeping it worldbuilding related really helped me come up with ideas as there were several prompts where I was just coming up with nothing otherwise.

Small canvas size – These are all fairly small - it was a 6x6 pad. Originally thought it was going to be too small, but ended up being perfect. Since I opted to do full blown scenes I don’t think I would have finished otherwise

Limited Palette/Materials – I learned this from completing previous challenges, but the fewer decisions I have to make the easier it is to do these. This one happened to actually be ink (see materials section) but I have done challenge before with like, "single set of markers"

Displaying the Art – I didn’t like having a loose stack of completed pictures, so I bought a 6x6 photo album to store them in. This was a great decision as they look very cool in there I was very motivated to complete the set

Completion Stickers - Yes, I am 2 years old. I had a paper list where I was putting stickers next to each word as I completed it, and it was very satisfying >_>a

Stuff I liked

Able to practice a medium - Yeah by the end I was feeling way more confident with ink and different techniques (wet on wet, wet on dry, etc)

Got to practice scenes and lighting – I even fit in a ton of OC cameos

Posted all pieces regardless of quality - Although this was not my first list-based challenge it is the first one I posted ALL pieces for

Got some fun pieces to revisit later - There are quite a few I REALLY like for different reasons so it would be fun to do them again later, but spend more time

Kept a consistent quality for the whole challenge - It was tempting to "get lazy" at the end but I think I managed to keep the same general quality the entire time

Used up a bunch of pages in a sketchbook I’m not overly fond of by doing tons of thumbnails - To be quite honest, if I have a sketchbook I hate enough (because the paper is bad or whatever) I will often uh, dismantle them. 8Da; I am not overly fond of the one I'm currently using, but now there's only about 14 pages left so, I will persevere.

Stuff I didn’t like

Time commitment required - Even with the breaks, I was spending almost all evening for 5 weeks working on these, which was a little Much for me. I will have to rethink my approach to any future challenges.

Using WIP designs/Not being able to spend a lot of time on anything – There’s a couple pieces where I wanted to go a certain direction and had to go with Vibes rather than accuracy for the sake of getting it done….which is fine, some of them turned out nice regardless. However would have still liked to hammer things out a little more.

Materials Used

Artsnacks Inktober Box, with some modifications - Something you should know about Artsnacks, is that often the colored materials will be the brand shown, but the color you actually receive will be random. Luckily, I got an Orange ink. Unfortunately, I also have terrible luck with PH Martin’s Orange in that it always separates no matter how much I mix it, so partway through the challenge I replaced it with a Daler Rowney Flame Orange Ink. This is a VERY similar ink, the only difference I really saw was that when diluted a lot it leaned more yellow. Additionally I did not use the blue Faber Castel Pitt pen in the box. TECHNICALLY I could have made green for all those plant pictures, but I refused for the sake of keeping a cohesive Black/Orange color scheme

Ranger Craft-It! Heat Gun - I would not have been able to finish had I not been able to speed up the drying time with this thing, it is the best

Lots of background noise - My noise of choice was a mix between scary cave and cave diving stories, as well as the White Vault podcast, which is a fictional horror audio drama

Bonus Round: Number of OC Appearances

Tower: x4

Torch: x4 (one of them in his plantbeast form)

Cavi: x3

Mady: x1 (also the only non-sion in this list)

Team "New/WIP OCs" -

Aki: x5 (one of them as a doll)

Jas: x2

Aki's sibling (final name pending): x1 (as a statue)

[bbygirldahyun]

bunnie idk if this counts as a request (if it does pls ignore this) but I remember you saying that you could show more photos of how you picture dayeon from cheer au, could you do that with misana? an if it isn't to much work I'd also love to see more of dayeon :3

- 🪅

i’m in the mood to talk cheer au today so i’m happy to provide! lol i love showing my picture inspo for aus hehe

sana

i honestly go back and forth constantly on whether sana is blonde or brunette in cheer au. i really cannot decide. i think she goes between hair colors honestly, she doesn’t like to keep one style for too long.

she’s definite princess vibes like these

cheer au sana to the max! but she’s also just bubbly and a total chatterbox and will talk anyones ear off. i would say she’s the friendliest/comes off the sweetest of the trio (misanayeon).

more of how i picture her (blonde edition)

also this video is so cheer au sana !!!

mina

mina i always picture with black hair. i’m a dark hair mina supremacist i’m sorry 😩 i can’t help it.

mina is the fashion girl to me. she knows how to put an outfit together. she comes off meaner than sana just because she’s so quiet and looks intimidating cause she’s pretty and stylish, if that makes sense?

she also in addition to ballet does cheer (duh) and gymnastics in the au so very this vibe

and then obviously both girls are often in their cheer uniforms which looks something like this!

i’d love to do more dayeon but unfortunately i’ve hit the picture limit 😭 so i guess that’ll have to be in another post or something! i was going to do a huge master post with all the girls at some point but then life happened and i just lost steam 😔 maybe i’ll come back to it at some point!

hope this is what you wanted! if you want anything else/wanna chat more cheer au i’m always happy to!!!

[hazbincalifornia]

Guys’ night

Fitzo Kid Anon submitted: I was inspired by some of the asks you’re getting lately/your responses. Hope you enjoy!

(Shadow: Added spacing because tumblr yelled at me for going 'over the character limit per text block'.)

Stolas sat at his dinner table, despondent. Stella was visiting her brother and had taken Octavia along, but she’d stressed that his presence wasn’t required (or wanted) on her little ‘family’ vacation. He’d known he would miss having his little owlet around the house, but thought some alone-time would have felt refreshing. It had, for the first evening and morning, but now it felt as if Stolas had run out of duties or even hobbies in which to engross himself. He could just go to bed, but he didn’t think he’d sleep well.

He looked dispassionately down at the newspaper he’d been reading cover-to-cover to cope with the odd silence at dinner. He was at the entertainment section, which had a large spread recommending nights out for couples. Ozzie’s new host is a crowd-pleaser, promised a headline. A demon in a jester costume was grinning lasciviously up at him from the photo underneath. Stolas put the paper down. The buzzing of his phone was a welcome distraction. But who could be calling him at this hour? Had Stella perhaps remembered his request to wish Octavia goodnight before she was put to bed? Oh. Of course not.

The name on the screen had made Stolas’ pulse quicken, but that only deepened the feeling of guilt in his stomach. He still scrambled to answer the phone. “Blitzo?”

“Heyyyyy… Stolas.” Blitzo sounded like enunciating clearly was taking a bit of effort.

“Is everything all right?”

“What? Why do you think something’s wrong? Can’t a guy just… call to ask how it’s hanging?”

Stolas swallowed. “It just sounds like you’ve been drinking. And you don’t usually call me.”

“Yeahhhh… I’ve just been pretty busy lately, you know. Parenthood. But I’ve got a night off! Spangles is with some babysitters.”

“Oh! That sounds nice!”

“Yeah! Cute couple from an apartment block near mine. Well, the lady is cute I guess. The guy is a total baby-dick-haver and sooo hung up over it. Pretty embarrassing! How do shmucks like that do it? But anyway, they love Spangles. And why wouldn’t they? She’s the cutest little thing in the whole world. Bet she makes them want to pop one out of their own! Good luck with that, though. No way that loser has a decent sperm count. I bet she pegs him. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that bedroom but he keeps kicking me out of their-“

Stolas interjected before Blitzo could speculate more on the sex life of that unfortunate couple. Against his better judgement, Blitzo was making him chuckle again. He just had such a unique way with words! But Stolas should probably wrap up the call soon. “That’s sweet of them! I hope you enjoy having some time to yourself, Blitzy. It’s important to look after yourself too, you know.”

“Uh-huh. So what are you doing tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“Yeah. Are you free, like, right now?” Stolas’ eyes flitted back to the newspaper. Say no. Say no and goodnight. He won’t begrudge you if you lie about needing to put your daughter to bed. You’re a member of the Ars Goetia. You have a family. Blitzo has a family! You shouldn’t get yourself mixed up in this again. Stolas heard himself giggle and say, “I’m not busy right now, why do you ask?” Perfect. Well done Stolas.

Blitzo’s voice suddenly had a lot more bravado. “Great! I mean, fuck knows we both deserve a guys’ night in, huh? Want to come over to mine?” - This was a mistake. Blitzo’s front room had brightly-coloured party chains on the walls and several empty bottles of cheap Prosecco on the table. There were pictures of baby Spangles on every surface, but none of either of her parents. Stolas had tried to delicately compliment the decorations and ask what the occasion was and Blitzo had scowled and changed the subject.

When he sat on the sofa Blitzo had stared expectantly at him for a few minutes, and now he was gradually inching closer even though the awkward pauses in their conversation were getting longer. “Hey, where are my fucking manners? Can I get you something to drink, big guy?” Stolas had had one more glass of wine than his usual at dinner. He probably shouldn’t mix it with whatever Blitzo had in his fridge.

“Really, that’s quite all right Blitzo.”

“Come on, let me get you something.” Blitzo batted his eyelashes at Stolas, who unwillingly blushed.

“If you insist, maybe just a glass of water?”

“Ugh, seriously. Don’t get all goody-two-shoes on me now, creepy mouth. This is guys’ night! We can both,” Blitzo fumbled with his shirt buttons for a few seconds, then gave up, “let loose.”

“I think you’ve already had quite enough of that. Maybe I could get us both some water…”

“Stolas.” Blitz put his hand on Stolas’ thigh. “I didn’t invite you over so we could sip tea and chat about the weather.”

It took all of Stolas’ willpower, but he stood up and out of arm’s reach. “That’s enough. I knew I shouldn’t have come here.” Blitzo’s heavy-lidded eyes got watery for a second, but then he blinked and schooled his gaze back to what it was.

“Don’t be like that. I know you want to, and there’s nothing wrong with that. My relationship has always been open, so-“ “Mine with Stella isn’t! And regardless, I think your boyfriend wouldn’t be happy if it were me of all people-“

“He’s not my boyfriend! I’m totally going to break up with him, Stolas. Just, when he actually visits, because I’m classier than he is and I wouldn’t do that shit over the phone. He was supposed to be here tonight. He said he would but…” Blitzo was furiously blinking again. Stolas’ shoulders sagged. Much as he wanted to believe otherwise, Blitzo’s resolve to end things with Fizz seemed recent. The babysitter and alcohol and decorations weren’t for his benefit, not originally at least.

“I’m sorry, Blitzy. But we can’t-“ “Yeah, you know what? You’re right. Save it. I don’t need your pity, or your company. I don’t need anyone’s. I’ve got by this long without any.” Stolas reached his arm out in what he hoped was a conciliatory gesture but Blitzo shrank away from it.

“I understand how you feel, but Blitzy, there are people out there who care about you! What about your new friends who are babysitting Spangles? And-“ Blitzo just scoffed.

“They’re not my friends. They just feel sorry for me because they caught me skulking around their apartment. Just like- just like I did with you.” He looked up, and the intensity in his expression made Stolas’ planned reply stick in his throat. “And I never really apologised for all that shit. I’m sorry, Stolas. You were trying to look out for me and the kid and I threw it all back in your face. I guess I still am doing that. Fuck, you’re right. We shouldn’t even be doing this.”

“I still care about you, Blitzy,” Stolas whispered, “And I’ve put what happened in the past behind me. You shouldn’t self-flagellate over it like this. My intentions weren’t exactly pure either.”

“So, you’re saying like, if I came onto you back then, you would’ve gone for it?”

Stolas stammered, well aware that his feathers were puffed up a good few inches more than they used to be. “Well, I- I wouldn’t say- I mean, I had Octavia to think about and- but, I wanted to. I thought you were flirting with me then and I- I liked it. It felt nice to be wanted. Especially by you.” Blitzo looked away again and they sat in silence for a bit.

The tension in the room seemed to reach an unbearable peak. Blitzo scrambled to diffuse it, “Hey, you know, I kind of like your nickname for me.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I mean. I’m kind of over the whole Blitzo thing. The ‘o’ at the end is too… clownish.”

“So you’d prefer it if I call you Blitzy?” Stolas’ enthusiasm didn’t seem to make Blitzo cringe away this time.

“Well… I was thinking of just dropping the ‘o’ but, you can call me that. If you really want to.” Blitzy wasn’t meeting his gaze anymore but Stolas could see a distinct change in his expression. He tried again to touch Blitzo’s shoulder and this time the little imp didn’t shrug out of his reach. “I’m not doing this just because of Fizz. I called you… because I didn’t want to be alone and right now you’re the only friend I’ve got. The only friend who’d come and be there for me. So sorry for… making it weird by hitting on you. I’m not gonna just use you again Stolas. I don’t…” Blitz’s voice had been fading ever since Stolas first heard the word ‘friend’. He felt his hand slide up from Blitzy’s shoulder and stop under his chin. Blitz’s mouth had stopped moving now and he looked up at Stolas with wide, unusually vulnerable eyes.

“I changed my mind,” whispered Stolas. It’s just for tonight, he told himself, as he stooped to close the gap between their faces.

-

The next morning, Stolas was awoken by the sound of heavy footsteps. He blinked in confusion. Had he overslept? Was that Octavia bounding into his room to wake him up? Wait, his room looked different. He bolted out of bed but didn’t have time to do much else before the door handle rattled and turned. An imp was staring up at him. An imp in a jester hat. He was wearing an expression that Stolas recognised from the last time they had crossed paths. Part disbelief and part barely-contained rage.

Think, Stolas. There had to be something, anything he could say to absolve himself and Blitzy at least a little in this situation. He should at least have the decency to stand and answer up to his actions. The imp was about to speak. Blitzo was stirring on the bed behind them. Visions of the impending shouting-match flashed before Stolas’ eyes and he lost his nerve. “I’m sorry I fucked your boyfriend!” he yelled, as the portal back to the palace closed behind him.

________________

Shadow: THIS IS AWESOME, HOLY COW. How Blitzo still ends up falling back on obsessing over what he wants even when he is technically in a relationship now, the name thing, how Stolas doesn't want to make things worse but folds when Blitzo's breaking and calls him his friend, and then the ending is great, omg.

[pinerblogs]

Iscrapbook user manual

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL HOW TO#

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL PDF#

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL INSTALL#

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL MANUAL#

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL FULL#

A Preview button in the right toolbar lets you see each kit, as shown below. You could probably lose a day of time just looking through each kit. I looked for a set of animal graphics, but found that most of kits are holiday, season or location themed, again most suitable for scrapbooking, but I didn't open every kit to see the individual graphics. On the double-plus side, you can go to the Chronos Artwork page and download about nine gigabytes of different iScrapkits for free. On the plus side, you can edit most of it for color, size, shape, and more. Most of it was too cartoonish and seemed more appropriate to scrapbooking than card creation. I am not so impressed with the installed artwork available. You can also add color, blur, distortion, lighting, stylization, tiling and half-tone to your image. For each photo you insert there are numerous affects you can apply, including, as shown below, cropping and masking. The longer I worked with Greeting Card Shop, the more amazed I became at the incredible wealth of available affects I could achieve.

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL MANUAL#

Initially I was frustrated working with the program because I had to constantly refer to the manual to do things that I thought should be simple. Greeting Card Shop Screen Shot Font Dialobg Beneath the graphic elements lies the Layers palette. The element categories include Shapes, Artwork, Photos, Text, Address Fields, and Favorites. As you can see below, templates display on the left, the middle is your card in progress, and on the right are your options for your graphic elements. Your creation area includes three main sections in which to work. Click Design in the tool bar and various editing icon options appear across the top. Unfortunately, the photo card template selections are not very interesting.Īfter you choose your template, a second window opens with your work area in Preview mode. While this may not be much of an issue for you, I found it annoying.Īfter moving photos around on my hard drive, I clicked on the Artwork button and Greeting Card Shop installed the SuperPack templates I downloaded. If you store your iPhoto or Aperture libraries in a different place, you need to move them back to the Picture folder to use them in Greeting Card Shop also. It seems this is not a Chronos limitation, but a built-in Apple restriction for third-party apps. This means I have to move any shots I want to use into my Home folder's Picture folder to use them within Greeting Card Shop.

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL PDF#

A trip to the 100-page PDF manual revealed that I can only use photos stored in the Pictures folder. I wanted to create a photo card, but found I could only search my Pictures folder for a shot to use, but I keep my photos on an external drive. You can save your creation in the Greeting Card Shop format (.gcs) or export it as PDF, TIFF, JPG, or PNG file. My other creations aren't worth showing you though. After abandoning a few attempts, I succeeded in using a Baby Announcement template to create a custom card to give to a friend. I tried to create a New Year's photo card first, which presented stumbling blocks. To change the template size you must choose your card, then use the Format menu to change the size. When you open Greeting Card Shop the Template Chooser appears. Greeting Card Shop includes features that let you print address labels or envelopes using your Apple Contacts application.

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL INSTALL#

When you install the program it asks for access to your contacts, ostensibly to make it easier for you to address and send cards.

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL FULL#

If you find that the full application is squeezing too much space out of your hard drive, you can manually uninstall Greeting Card Shop's artwork. The art collection is available in 145 iScrapKits organized by artist. The artwork available for Greeting Card Shop can be shared with Chronos' other products, including iScrapbook, Business Card Shop, and PrintLife. There are over 600 greeting card and 93 invitation templates, 94 envelopes and 16 photo card templates available for your use. You can get to this page from the More Templates button in the side bar from within the program also. templates, you can also download metric paper sizes and formats. While the application includes a number of U.S. Optional templates are available as a download from the site. The basic install uses a whopping 500 MB of disk space, but adds another 9 GB when you install all of the available graphics. Greeting Card Shop requires OS X 10.8.4 and later and you can try it for 30 days. If you're not graphically challenged like me, you can create your own card templates too. With few design skills you can use the app's artwork and design templates to whip up a pleasing single-fold, double-fold or tri-fold card in a reasonable amount of time.

#ISCRAPBOOK USER MANUAL HOW TO#

Just yesterday a friend called wanting information on how to create New Year's cards easily. Just because the Christmas season has slipped by does not mean card-sending season has ended.

[farfrompleasant]

Girl! It's Freyja Friday!!! Sorry I missed last week, I was in Utah (which I think in some ways explains itself better than more words ever could 😭)

How're y'all? I'm in CA right now and it's hot Hot HOT, but I guess Miss Thing wouldn't care her whole setup is so temperature controlled 😂 That reminds me, how does she deal with the temperature outside of her enclosure? It seems like you handle her a lot (cos she can handle it ba-dum-tss) but then she's just okay with ambient room temp all the time? Do you have to set a timer for when to put her back?

How do you keep track of her likes and dislikes (and neutrals/mehs 😀) in terms of what she can eat? Is there just an ever-expanding list? Chaotic notes app entry?

Have you been outside-ing her more still? Is she still into being on the porch? Would you ever slap a little on her and let her just roam a little? Would she?

I remember she's met other beardies before, has she met other lizards? Other types of pets? I know cats are dangerous (I think) because of the bacteria they can harbor in their claws and mouth, but like a turtle? Do you think she's capable of interspecies friendship with not a human-handler?

I'm currently away from my babies getting my 5th baby ready to join the pack lol

This is Nova!

She's a cosplaying a hamburger due to her spay surgery earlier this week 😂

See you in book club! 🥰

Happy Freyja Friday!!

(I feel like I’ve shown you this photo already, but if not, It’s raspberry juice c:)

I know we missed last Friday but honestly, it’s been a little crazy so it wasn’t all bad that we missed FF :p you were in Utah??? What is it like out there? I’ve always wanted to go there c:

We’re just hot, well I am lmaooo like my room is always hot due to Freyja’s heating lap, but now that the temperature is rising overall— it’s stifling 😀 but I definitely know that she probably doesn’t mind how hot it is outside of her enclosure. However since there’s been a rise in heat, she gets really hot inside her enclosure! Freyja’s been resting a lot and crawling into her hide for shade 😭 I don’t have a specific time on how long she can be out/handled but I at least limit it to half an hour. Twice a day too c:

Speaking of outside of her enclosure, I have been too busy to take her outside… I recall the last time I’ve taken her out for a small stroll was last Wednesday and she wasn’t too scared. Still, I had to handle her just so she could feel comfortable 🥺 but she’s comfortable with roaming my room and it’s the cutest thing. Her gait along with her crawling into a dark, secluded area🥰 that girl loves to hide! There was this time where she hid beneath my nightstand and I was searching for her like a maniac 🤣

You know what? I don’t take many notes on what Freyja likes or dislikes but her taste is always evolving tbh— she’s very flippant when it comes to her interest >.> like just this week, she refuses to eat raspberries, in favor of receiving blueberries 😅

Yeeeah, she’s met other beardies and she was unfazed… well, there was this other instance where she inadvertently met another lizard— it was a wild reptile that snuck into my room and was immediately attracted to her enclosure. And again, she was unfazed; Freyja just stared, absolutely unbothered. Even when by brother (unfortunately) killed the wild reptile right in front of her 😕 my coworker actually has two box turtles, if it’s possible I’d love to see how Freyja reacts to other reptiles c:

Omggggg Nova 🥰 and her burgerrrr🥺

She’s precious and I absolutely love that name 🥺 I’m so happy for you and I know that she’s in good hands, now that she’s apart of your family 🥰 I hate that she was spayed but I’m glad that she’s a healthy baby girl c:

(This is a picture of her at 1 years old, does she look different? To me she does, seems like she was even spunkier than she is now 😆)

[burnedbyshoto]

bakugou leaving reader for the unknown, for his dream, because where they were wasn’t good enough, it was a hindrance on his future. it wasn’t so much that he hated his hometown, the people, or even you — he loved you, after all — but he just could never keep himself tied down to the place he was trying to outgrow.

he leaves for university, in the big city, a campus that is known for making the best, creating trailblazers in every field imaginable, and when he leaves at the age of eighteen, he doesn’t come back. all he remembers is the shocked look on your face and the helpless tears streaming down your face when he broke up with you.

it’s been twelve years, and he’s thirty now. he changed his number when he got to the new city, only keeping touch with his parents out of obligation than anything else. it’s short phone calls, three minute conversations of mitsuki scolding him for not calling enough, for never visiting, masaru trying to gently express their concerns for their only son, and of course, bakugou saying he needs to leave.

his parents are strangers to him, practically, and whenever they try to speak of his past life, the one he exchanged away for the current CEO position he’s found himself in, he hangs up. he doesn’t want to hear it, he doesn’t want the bitter pit in his stomach when they even begin to speak your name.

but they haven’t mentioned you in years.

but the thing about katsuki is, unfortunately, his attitude.

thirty years old and a prominent CEO of a company no older than four years old and yet already a billionaire? practically unheard of. sure, people, normal people, praise him for it, but the board? men who used to people like katsuki don’t praise him.

they hate his harsh attitude, his ridiculous will power, and necessity to do everything, and somehow… katsuki gets put on a leave of absence for a minimum of a year.

at first, it’s fine. bakugou spends the newfound free time traveling, seeing the world, doing things he never was able to because he was building his empire. but three months of nothing leads him to grow restless, bored, and the worst feeling in the world crawls into the pit of his stomach and he realizes in month number five what it is.

for the first time in his life, bakugou katsuki is: homesick.

so he goes home, trading the concrete jungle and modern technology for dirt roads and rusting machines. it’s just for a moment, he says as he sees the life he left behind ages ago.

it’s much slower in his hometown, people much more open and conversing with one another instead of cellphones like he’s grown used to. he isn’t quite ready to knock on his mother’s front door so he goes to the general store and walks straight to where he just knows his past time favorite snacks are.

to his total surprise (notice the sarcasm?) it’s right where he remembered it was through the cobwebs of his memory. there’s one bag of spicy corn chips left and as he reached for it, another hand goes for it too.

he freezes for a bit, eyebrows furrowing as he looks at the person who’s hand is connected to the bag of chips he wants.

but he stops breathing for just a moment.

it’s a young girl, most definitely no older than twelve, with your face. it’s exactly the same. but unlike you, the girl had ash blonde hair and deep red eyes.

the girl blinks eyes looking taken back and slightly lost, as does bakugou, and then as if finally caught up on the situation of things, she scowls.

“hands off the chips, old man! I got here first!”

the magic is gone and bakugou feels his eye twitch as he reels backward.

“what the hell did you just say to—?!”

“I said hands off! arent you too old to be eating chips anyways?! you’re practically a million years old, eat the lame corn nuts or something,” she scoffs rolling her eyes as she tucks the bag of chips under her arm.

“aren’t you some shitty little brat!” bakugou hisses, his hand twitching with irritation. “don’t you know to respect your fucking elders.”

“ain’t nothing to respect from what I can tell!”

“aiko, hurry up,” a voice bemoans from behind the aisle and bakugou feels his chest constrict in the weirdest, most heart aching way as you walk around the corner with an armful of party supplies. “we have to get to your grand—”

bakugou stares at you, and you at him. the tension and silence so thick and heavy on the both of your shoulders and tongues.

in the twelve years he’s been away, bakugou has had other relationships. most of them due mostly to friends insistence, and others mostly just because he wanted a warm body nearby. but no one could ever match what you meant to him, not that he could have realized that because he could never think back to you. you were his past, not his present, not his future.

and bakugou was suddenly feeling a lot of things, thinking a lot of things as he looked between you and well… aiko.

“y/n,” bakugou’s voice is hollow, almost unbelievable. “i-is she — are we—?”

“this is my daughter, y/l/n aiko,” you say, steely calm and dangerous. the warm smile you were wearing moments ago clean off your face and your eyes were like glass — shiny, unemotional. “she was born after you left, so you never got a chance to meet her, did you?”

“y/n—“

“y/l/n!” you snap, face still void of emotions. “you don’t have that right anymore.”

bakugou stiffens for a moment, but he knows that you’re right. “y/l/n,” he tries again, your last name a word he’s never had to use in his entire life to address you. “how old is she?”

“mama,” aiko whispers, eyes glaring at bakugou as she stand protectively in front of you, fingers digging into your blouse. “I wanna go now.”

your eyes drop from bakugou, and he watches as a strained but kind smile is expressed to aiko as you press a kiss to her forehead. “okay, go pay for these things for me, will ya? tell tayo-sama we’ll pay him back tomorrow. i’m going to finish this conversation with… with my old classmate.”

aiko looks between you and bakugou, eyebrows furrowed with unsaid questions but she nods, grabbing the things from your arms and going to the cash register. bakugou keeps his gaze on the young girl until your fingers dig into his bicep and your pulling him into a corner that he had definitely made out with you in ages, lifetimes ago.

“what are you doing here?!” you hiss in a near terrible whisper, face frazzled and overwhelmed. “you’ve never been back home! what’s different?!”

“is she mine?!”

“no!” you shriek, fist hitting his chest. “she’s not yours! she’s mine! she’s not some claimable object you get to collect years later!”

bakugou stiffens but also feels like he melts with guilt under those words… youre right. he has no claim to her. all he did was give her life but it was a life where he was probably nothing more than an empty space in. but he looks at you, millions of emotions swimming through your watery eyes, and the snarl on your lips as you stand before him as if you could do anything.

“i’m… i’m sorry, you’re right,” bakugou says, lips pressing into a thin line.

“you shouldn’t have come back,” you laugh miserably, fingers massaging your temples. your tone is weak, defeated, as if for the first time in your life you felt the bottom of the pit. “why did you come back home?”

“mama!!!! let’s go already!!!” aiko whines by the entrance and you tremble in front of him before shaking your head.

“coming!” you call back to her.

bakugou steals another look at what is his daughter. a girl he never knew existed.

“do me a favor, bakugou,” you say passing him with small but domineering steps. “don’t do anything to make her suspect youre her father.”

it took a few hours, probably more, maybe less, but bakugou finally finds himself at his childhood home. he’s heart feeling like it was being swallowed as the front door opened and he saw his older mother and father standing at the entrance. bakugou couldn’t understand what they were saying as they welcomed him in, he could only notice how their home looked exactly the same… well except that the walls that were decorated with photos of him and only him were also covered with pictures of aiko.

“did you know?” bakugou asks before he can even say hello.

mitsuki stopped mid rant, her face moving from irritated mother to exasperated but pitiful silence.

“since she found out.”

“why didn’t you… why didn’t I know?”

“she tried telling you, called you multiple times only to be blocked,” masaru gently explains. “you always shut us down when we so much as mentioned her.”

“she even flew out there at one point but caught you making out with some dumb model too.” mitsuki inserts with a huff. “we tried, brat. you just…”

bakugou is silent, his heartbeat roaring in his ears at the thought of his initial monstrous attempt of deleting his past life. mitsuki sighs, sad and sullen.

“there was no point in telling you when you won’t listen.”

or the story of a one sided bitter ex as bakugou and reader are challenged at creating some semblance of a relationship because aiko pieces it together the moment they looked at each other. including a lot of angst, a six month time limit to rekindle a once in a lifetime love story because choosing between family and work is damn hard.

[luvyanfei]

anon said. ooo a new blog! can you do confession headcanons where xiao, childe, and scaramouche react to reader confessing to them and the aftermath of it? thank you!  

a/n. xiao’s is kind of terrible ;; ue ue gomenasai

“i love you, [character’s name].”

SCARAMOUCHE.

huh? is this some kind of a joke? if so, it’s definitely not a good idea to mess with his feelings like this, especially when he also shares the same sentiment. scaramouche is almost impressed by your boldness. not everyone has the nerve to confess their love for a harbinger in front of their own faces, after all. when he’s hit with the realization that you’re serious, he secretly pinches himself to make sure he’s not in a dream.

the sharp pain that comes with his nails making contact with his flesh affirms that this is real. he stifles back a genuine smile, choosing to stay calm despite the bliss he’s currently feeling. “i guess it can’t be helped. hmph, you should be lucky i’m rather fond of you as well, [name].” he says that, but he’s the fortunate one to have successfully stolen your heart before others can claim you for themselves.

unfortunately, his time with you is quite limited due to his affiliation with the fatui, so any fleeting moments are captured in photos from the kamera to look back on. he secretly carries a picture of you while he’s out of town on important missions so that he won’t miss you too badly. he fondly looks at your still, yet smiling face to cheer him up after a tough work while everyone else is asleep. well, almost everyone.  

“hmm, who’s that in your hands, scaramouche?” childe asks, gesturing to the photo the harbinger is admiring fondly. scaramouche rolls his eyes to hide his slight embarrassment and hesitates a bit before he answers.  

“oh them? their name is [name], my... sibling.” childe almost gapes in disbelief as he looks at the blue-haired man in shock. 

“you have a sibling? why didn’t you tell me? they’re so cute!” the 11th harbinger squeals in delight, which honestly irks poor scaramouche. he scoots away to give himself some space as he tucks the picture in his pocket for safe-keeping. 

“you didn’t bother to,” he explains matter-of-factly. “now if you’ll excuse me,” he stands up from his crouched position and dusts himself, “i’m going to take a walk, alone.” 

he wanders through a dark forest and grassy fields, until he finds himself standing on top of a cliff, the moon glowing brightly above. he peers up at the twinkling stars in the sky and imagines you beside him, watching the breathtaking view together. humming an unfamiliar tune to himself, scaramouche muses over the past and replays your confession over and over again. if he could, he would respond differently than he did before. 

‘i love you.’ those three letter words echo in his ears like a melody and he allows himself to smile. 

“i love you too, [name].” 

XIAO.

he automatically perks up an eyebrow in confusion. what? is it just him or did you seriously admitted you love him? xiao stammers for a brief second, no words spilling out from his partially open mouth. what is he supposed to say? “thank you?” “i love you too?” 

when he pulls himself together, xiao shakes his head and frowns. his answer is clear and simple: no. you mortals don’t understand just how dangerous it is to get close with someone like him - a yaksha. drowning in the brink of debt and despair, he doesn’t need you to suffer all the same. the dejected expression on your face pains him to a considerable degree, yet he convinces himself, this is for your own good. 

since then, he avoids you like the plague in hopes that your feelings for him will disperse into flames. you deserve someone better, someone who won’t place you in harm’s way, someone unlike him. out of kindness, you still visit him from time to time while you go and do your daily commissions, but your interaction is heavily tense and an air of discomfort seeps through your gaze. why does his chest hurt as if he was impaled with a knife and so much more when you look at him like that? the thought of breaking down and revealing the truth that he’s also in love with you tempts him eagerly, but his pride and anxiety tides over his desires. 

you, on the other hand, is aware that xiao harbors feelings for you. you discovered this secret of his when you climbed the stairs to the spot on the balcony where he was to surprise him with a greeting, but your ears captured a faint voice in the night breeze and you couldn’t stop yourself from eavesdropping on the little conversation xiao was having with himself. he muttered about “rex lapis”, the fate of liyue, and etc. you were about to leave him to his own devices, but the next words he said stopped you in your tracks. 

“will [name] accept me if i say i love them? probably not, i suppose.” you left before he could spare a glance in your direction and a smile graced your features as you happily walked away. and being the persistent individual that you are, you inquire verr on why he’s acting so cold towards you, desperate to seek the answer you need. “xiao is, as you’re well aware, a yaksha who’s experienced hardships throughout his life, and probably lost loved ones along the way. i’m sure,” she turns to look at the setting sun in melancholy, “he doesn’t want to hurt anyone important to him again.”

you plan ahead of time for the best way to approach him without giving him any chance to escape. unfortunately, this is the only thing you can think of as you place a hand on either side of his head, trapping him between you and the wall. xiao looks at you curiously, devoid of amusement. he crosses his arms and frowns. 

“what are you doing?” your hands twitch and you chew on your bottom lip nervously before you explain yourself.

“i heard from verr why you’ve been giving me the cold shoulder, that you don’t want to hurt anyone important to you, but...” you trail off to blink back the tears threatening to burst. 

“it hurts, when you ignore me like this.” your voice is quiet enough that he needs to step closer to hear you. “it hurts how selfless you are. can’t you be selfish just once? i meant what i said and i’ll say it again. i love you.” 

xiao stammers, at a loss for words, before he starts sniffling and buries himself in your arms, crying out apologies as you stroke the back of his hair and gives a closed-eye smile. “it’s okay, xiao. i’m sorry too, for not realizing how much you’ve been suffering by yourself. you don’t have to carry the burden alone anymore,” you say, looking into his tear-filled eyes, “i will always be here with you, no matter what path you choose to take.” 

“even if that path may eventually hurt you?” he whispers in a cracked voice, fingers curling around your sleeves. you nod. 

“it’s worth the pain as long as i can hold you in my arms, like this.” he chokes out a bitter chuckle and wipes away the glistening tears. 

“i love you too, [name].” 

CHILDE.

the harbinger blinks his cerulean eyes once, then twice, and... you find yourself pulled into his arms, as his lips uplift into a jovial smile. “really? you love me? [name], i had no idea you held such deep admiration for me.” you playfully roll your eyes and chuckle as you wrap your own arms around his body, fondly reciprocating his affection.

he’s the fastest to accept your confession than the other two men. you’d bet he would scamper to where he’s staying at to tell every grain of detail to his adoring relatives. 

he writes letters to his siblings about your daily dates and the progress you two are making in your relationship. they tease him for the most part, but they’re happy that he’s found the love of his life and requests that he bring you along with him on his next visit. childe smiles in relief, content that they accept you already despite never meeting you and he asks you if you’d like to come with him to his home country where you can introduce yourself to his family. without hesitation, you agree instantly, eager to meet the siblings he gushes about. 

snezhnaya is colder than you thought, as you hug yourself to preserve your warmth, even with the layers of clothing wrapped around you. “we’re almost there, [name].” childe notices your trembling and rubs his gloved hands against your back. “sorry, it’s a bit chilly here, but please bear with me.” 

you nod and continue on. when a building enters your field of sight, childe stops and grins shyly at you. “this is the place.” breath materializes in front of you as he gestures for you to head on in. almost immediately are you greeted with a little embrace as a young boy wraps his fingers around your waist and grins up at you. 

“so you’re the one who big brother said he’s in love with? have you kissed before? when is your wedding?” the child bombards you with questions excitedly and a girl has to pull him away from you, tonia, you guess. 

“teucer,” childe scolds gently, a light blush colouring his cheeks, which does not go unnoticed in his siblings’ eyes, unfortunately for him. 

a wedding, huh? seeing the sparkle in your eyes, the laughter in your voice, and the warmth of your touch as you idly chat with his siblings makes him hope, that maybe in the distant future, he’ll brave himself to take the next step to further deepen your relationship, for he wants to be with you always. 

as he tucks away the last sleeping child, childe wanders in to your shared bedroom, surprised you’re still awake. “you really love them a lot, huh childe?” he nods seriously, as you pull him to lie down comfortably into bed. 

“but do you know something else?” his breath tickles your ear as he intertwines his fingers with yours, offering a meek smile. you shake your head and nuzzle closer to him. 

“i love you too, [name].” 

[kameliendame]

Went to see Raymonda today! It’s a brand new production made for the Dutch National Ballet. Money was spent on this and you could TELL.

I saw Riho Sakamoto as Raymonda, Jakob Feyferlik as Abd al-Rahman, Vito Mazzeo as Jean de Brienne, and then there was Naira Agvanean as Henriëtte, Maria Chugai as Clémence and Rafael Valdez and Dingkai Bai as Bernard and Béranger.

One thing that immediately hits you as soon as the curtain rises is the splashes of colourful costumes set before a minimalistic yet vast décor that pictures the inside of a castle, the courtyard (with a scenic view of the mountain ranges of the Provence) and the inside of a ballroom. Jérôme Kaplan did an absolutely stunning job with creating timeless pieces that convey the period within which Raymonda is set but without making it stuffy by keeping the silhouettes streamlined. My personal favourites were the long ankle length dresses of the noble court ladies (pictured last) and the Hungarian costumes in the pas Hongrois, which were based on actual traditional costumes (planning on scanning more photos soon!).

Another thing that also surprised me was how well rehearsed the corps de ballet was. Judging from the last performance I had seen (The Nutcracker last December, which was a hot mess) my expectations werent too high but now I feel kinda mean thinking like that lol. Literally every single act was done with laser precision and finish with the absolute highlight being the grand pas classique in the third act. Kudos to all the corps dancers and ballet masters who made this happen because it looked better than what some big(ger) companies have been showing these days.

Honorable mention goes to Connie Vowles who danced the second (Clémence) variation in the dream act. In this production, Henriëtte and Clémence don’t dance the dream variations for some reason; instead its danced by two different dancers. I literally have no idea why they would make such a decision esp. because it’s absolutely criminal to deprive the audience of Agvanean’s Henriëtte variation (but more on that later). Vowles danced her solo to damn near PERFECTION. I was literally gasping when she was ending those tours en l’air in perfect fifth not once but all three times. A really promising young dancer, here’s to her going far. I also spotted Chloë Réveillon in the corps, surprised to see her here after her stint at the Mariinsky but she’s a solid addition to the troupe. Loved her in the grand pas classique along with Erica Horwood, and, once again, Connie Vowles.

Now on to the main dish... The Sakamoto/Feyferlik/Mazzeo trio and the Agvanean/Chugai/Valdez/Bai quartet. I’ve seen Sakamoto before (Clara in the Nutcracker) and the best thing that I can say about her is that she’s a technical powerhouse with decent épaulement and very good aplomb. That’s it, really. Unfortunately the girl has no ballon whatsoever which translates into sluggish footwork, which then translates into sloppy finishes. She’s not a bad dancer at all but she lacks finesse. Her body is very limited in what it can do and there was never a point where I felt like she was one with the music or even conveying it well in her dancing, despite not missing a beat. She’s a classic example of dancing on the music but not dancing with the music. Combine that with her mediocre footwork and her lack of grace and lyricism and you have a very underwhelming performance. In the more technical parts of the ballet she was doing alright and managed to keep my attention, but it was in the final variation where she completely lost me. The ‘‘clacque’‘ variation is infamous for it’s supposed emptyness (just lots of bourréeing across the stage really), but because of that it requires enormous charisma and magnetism to keep your attention. If done well it hypnotises you (Sylvie Guillem!!), if done wrong it just bores you. Unfortunely, in this case I’m leaning towards the latter. That all being said... Raymonda is a behemoth of a role to tackle and Sakamoto did an absolutely tremendous job dancing all those variations and pas deux while still looking like she just came fresh on stage when she was taking her bows during curtain call. It’s her first role as a principal dancer since her appointment in December last year and despite my nitpicking eye she did really, really, really well. Her partnership with Feyferlik was great, his overwhelming stage presence managed to make up what she lacked. The one with Mazzeo however... again... it wasn’t bad... but they were just kind of... there. But they did the job well in technical aspects at least, there were some tricky lifts which were done with a well rehearsed and steady hand.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Agvanean/Chugai/Valdez/Bai quartet was such a treat to watch. Nadia Agvanean especially as Henriëtte was the highlight of my evening. Her little head movements, the turn of her shoulders, the stretching of her fingers into the distance to a point beyond her reach, she puts so much thought in all these little details that can make a performance into something bigger than the dancer itself. Not to paraphrase that infamous Tsiskaridze quote but the Russian school really is superior. You can tell she had a Vaganova upbringing in literally every single movement no matter how small. This really shows how much a dancer can get out of themselves if they pay miticulous attention to the style they’re being trained in instead of just thinking of doing the steps right.

All in all it was a great evening and an even greater addition to the Dutch National Ballet’s repertoire. The fact that they can stage a warhorse like Raymonda while still making it look fresh and modern (with an updated libretto, mind you) shows that even a tiny country like the Netherlands with not much of a ballet history can reach the same world renowned standards of the old ballet companies as long as enough respect, hard work and love are put into it. Bravo to all the people who made this happen, on stage and off stage!

[intynidad]

Hi hi!! Could I request the dorm leaders (if that’s too many, your favorites!) with a child MC? (Parental or older sibling sorta relationship) (also by child I mean 8-10 years old) Have a wonderful day, drink some water and eat protein! 💕

@moomoo-mochi OMG THANK YOU??

I love this so much I’m just a sucker for this kind of prompt!!

Also, this will be based on how I acted as a toddler (spoiler I was a stupid kid)

a health potion with risu giggles for a fellow merchant!

(also sorry I didn't know what to write for iidia or vil and I didn't want to write something that I wasn't satisfied 

The beginning 

-you careless puppy, How many times I told the two of you to be careful!- professor crewel was scolding you and your lab partner...well at your lab partner more than you, you were kinda busy trying to get out of the cauldron to listen 

You and your lab partner were assigned to do a regression potion that was supposed to work in reviving dead plants or turning rotten food into edible again but when you were measuring the exact amount of the last ingredient to finish the potion, somebody accidentally pushed you making you spill all of the ingredients...and yourself into the cauldron.

so now there you are extremely confused about what just happened and incapable of taking care of yourself for the 3 days the potion was supposed to last and now your lab partner has to take care of you until the potion wore off or mister crewel finds an antidote

Riddle Rosehearts

Riddle has an abusive mother and no younger siblings so our dear tomato is lost, he doesn’t know any rules that would help him take care of a little child so he asks trey for help (like most of heartsalybul when they have problems).

trey lets you eat pastries while riddle does his dorm leader duties but he looked away for a second and oops no child in sight...ok time to panic.

riddle was scolding some heartsalybul students that spilled all of the red paint in one of the chairs so now not only the other members of the dorm couldn’t continue painting but now the unbirthday party had to cancel and you know what happens when you break one of the queen’s rules

-OFF WITH YOUR- Riddle swung his magic pen

-wead!- riddle turn around to see you with a rose in your hand pretending it to be a magic pen

-off widd your wead!- you repeated swinging the rose up and down

riddle was stroked by your cuteness like a truck; he was speechless (also because picking roses was against the rules but lest ignore it) the two students he was scolding ran away because their dorm leader was picking you up and giggling at your little imitation of him 

-nono Off, with, your, head!-

-off wid your wead!-

Leona kingschoolar

-agh how annoying- the savanaclaw dorm leader wasn’t a big fan of children and much less taking care of them, he probably was gonna throw you at Ruggie or jack, both of them had younger siblings so they could probably take care of you better but there is one thing he didn’t count off

-LEONA OJI-TAN-...fuck, today was the day Cheka came to visit his dear oji-tan, now Leona is not only stuck with a brat but with a furball too.

-who are them uncle?-(owo who this) Cheka waved at the child that was behind his uncle’s legs-hi I am Cheka, wanna play tag?!-oh ho ho this gives him an idea

-Cheka this is Y/N, your new playmate-the lion cub had a little sparkle in his eyes

-you two can play all day and ill be watching you from that tree so have fun-hell yea he was a genius Cheka and you are entertained, and he can nap is a win-win situation for everyone

-WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH- and there it goes his perfect plan

-oi, what happened- you were in  sitting on the ground while hugging your knee and crying your heart out and Cheka kneeled beside you trying to comfort you 

-I’m-I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to push you it was an accident- now he looked like he wanted to cry 

-agh you two cut it out-Leona said in a low growl while kneeling beside you-is just a scratch don’t worry just let me-he picked you up.

now all of you were in his room he gently  bandages your knee while Cheka was holding your hand for “moral support”

-kiss to make it better Leona oji-tan!-

-only if both of you promise to be more careful-Cheka nodded- ok “pain, pain go away *woshh*, there you go- you moved your knee and started to giggle while Cheka was already dragging you to continue playing, the two of you were lucky that both were cute because not everybody can see this side of Leona and live for telling it 

Azul Ashengrotto

-Come, come everyone!-the leader of octaville tapped his fedora-For the price of 25 madol you can have for a limited time only a  photo of our dear Y/N as a toddler!-

and of course, our dear capitalist Ursula is taking profit from this situation.

you were sitting in a little chair all dolled up while jade took pictures of you with different students and Floyd was taking the money from dose poor unfortunate souls

An hour passed and there were still about 50+ students in line for a photo when Azul notice something about you.

your hands were in the form of a tiny fist and your eyes were watery and you haven’t smiled at the camera for the last photos even when Floyd made funny faces behind jade you weren’t enjoying this.

usually, he wouldn’t care about it, he was making some good money and that was the important thing but you were different, you were his friend

-the lounge is closed, everyone get out, Floyd take care of that and jade-he looked for a second at you-make something warm for our little guest-

all of the students in line emitted different protest sounds but a look at Floyd grin and everyone was already on the exit

-sorry for all that little one- he lightly patted your hair-what about I pay you for your work with some treats?-

-*happy gasp* YESH!!-you hugged his leg with a strong grip-

-nee~ nee~, why Azul can have a hug from shrimpy and I cant?-

-FWOYD!! :D-

Kalim al asim

-Kalim, please calm down-Jamil said looking like he is gonna pop up a blood vessel

-LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y/N LITTLE Y-he was let’s say...excited about this situation

-JAMILLOOKATTHEMTHEYARESOCUTEANDTINYIWANNATROWAPARTYFORJUSTTHEMOMGTHEYARESOCUTE- 

-Remember to breathe Kalim and please calm down you are scaring them-Jamil said while kneeling to be on your level

-*gasp* I’m sorry y/n, I’m just so happy to be with you, are you hungry?-you give a quick nod

for the surprise of Jamil, the fact that you turned into a child made Kalim more independent???

he knew that crewel sensei asked Kalim to take care of you but he kinda assumed he is the one who will end up taking care of both of you.

-emmm Jamil-and here we go-have you seen Y/N around?-

-excuse me whAT??!!- Jamil shouted- HOW DO YOU LOSE A CHILD?-

-I didn’t lose them I just….temporally misplace them...OK YES, I LOST THEM BUT IS NOT MY FAULT WE WERE PLAYING HIDE N SEEK!-

-sure sure Kalim never anything is your fault-Jamil said between teeth-

Kalim could be a literal ray of sunshine but one of his bigs flaws were his “rich person behavior”

because he was spoiled and lived in a bubble he didn’t understand that his actions had consequences, in the good side he was working on it.

two hours had passed since that moment are you were nowhere to be found

now the scarabia duo was starting to panic

-OMG HOW IM SO CARELESS THAT I LOST THEM WHAT IF SOMETHING HAPPENED TO THEM IM THE WORST FRIEND IN THE WORLD-

-KALIM CALM DOWN, PANIC WILL NOT HELP IN THIS SITUATION-

-WHY ARE YOU YELLING AT ME-

-BECAUSE YOU ARE YELLING-

-*snore*-

-..............................-

-Jamil,...did that pillow made a sound?-

-I think so ?-

*SNOOOREEE*

and there you were sleeping under a big mountain of pillows you fell asleep while playing so that, why you didn’t, respond to the calls of the two boys

-ok Kalim we found them and I hope this had taught you a lesson about taking care of things...well taking care of people-

-oh for the great seven I thought I was gonna have a heart attack-

-now you know how I feel and I really would appreciate it if you used this experience to-

-*SNOOOOREEE*-

And now Kalim was sleeping beside you

great seven give Jamil patience and have mercy on both of you when morning comes 

Malleus draconia

-arent you a little thing fufufufuf-

-old man be careful with them-silver said

you might be wondering, I thought malleus would take care of toddler Y/N?

Well, that was the plan...malleus is a reserved man, with no friends more than his two guards and the older fae that raised him, that was until he meets you, you looked at him in the eyes with no fear just a hint of curiosity.

you gave him his first nickname,”tsunotaro” a childish name that was almost disrespectful to the heir of the valley of thorns and one of the most powerful wizards of all twisted wonderland, yet you called him that silly name, you hugged him, you listen to him and he listened to you, you were his friend and precisely because that he left you at the care of Lilia, the mere thought of you screaming and running away from him made his heart ache

that always happened…

Malleus is used to that, since he was a child people looked at him with fear or caution but never with kindness except for one person, you

and he was determined to let that like that, but he couldn’t stop thinking what if something happens to you?

what type of friend he would be if he lets somebody take advantage of you in this vulnerable state?

a peek wouldn’t hurt

there you were, in the flower bed of ramshackle dorm both planted, taking dandelions from around and with inexperience and tiny hands crafting a flower crown too small for anyone except you.

he looked at you from the shadows carefully to not being spotted warding you like the dragon he is.

-hewo-small and tired eyes fixed behind a large tree

malleus was behind that tree…

-whats yowr name?-now standing up and slowly walking to the tree in question-are you shy?, is oke I won’t hurt yow-

like if a child could do any damage to him

-I made thwis fow you-you said reveling a second flower crown that was just a little bit bigger than the one in your head 

you let the flower crown on the floor near the tree and waited, malleus knowing how stubborn you were he knew you wouldn’t leave so he left his hiding spot thinking about the screams and the fear your little face will have

-waaaa, you big! (giggles)-again, no signs of fear-uppa uppa!-you said while rising your hands to the sky and opening and closing your little fists

malleus emitted a low chuckle and picked you up, when you got to his eye level immediately went for his horns  touching and grabbing all your little hands could

-you sure are a strange thing, little child of man-