#I got no way of knowing how much our preferences overlap

[wavebiders]

Do you mind if I give any recommendation on which cata Alliance quests to avoid?

I mean. You can if you want to, but I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm almost certainly not going to take it into account

I'm a completionist and really big on forming my own opinion on things. I'm going to play it all and then decide for myself how I feel about it. There's been plenty of quests in pre-cata content that I hated but I don't regret playing them either

[russellsppttemplates]

I never knew anybody 'til I knew you (Lando Norris)

Your new job is allowing you to have new experiences, and your heart is not too mad about it either

Note: english is not my first language. After a long time in the books, I'm finally writing for Lando! This is my first long piece and I hope I did well enough!

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Tw: curse words, mentions alcohol consumption

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog

"I'm just saying, it's closer that way. We can go and get the packages ourselves and sort out any issues with them straight away", Lando reasoned, opening his text message app so he could continue what he wanted to do. "Okay, fine by me. He's got a point, Y/N", Max raised his hands in surrender, looking at you for your opinion.

Working for Quadrant hadn't been a goal you had set out to accomplish in the strict sense of it. You didn't see yourself working for a massive company where people were stuffed in offices where the only way they could know their colleagues' names was when they had online meetings that took far too long and discussed the baseline of the issues. So, when you saw the job offer for someone in the Graphic Design area of work, you looked up the company name and saw their work, fascinated with how the guys had grown this business from streaming online gaming. Later, as you progressed in the recruitment process, you came to learn that Lando and Max also had a more public presence than you had initially figured out, despite all of your friends' insistence that "you can't be that clueless, Y/N, how did you not know that Quadrant was Lando Norris'? I thought you applied because of that", they would say as you shrugged your shoulders, "in this economy, do you think I am that picky about a job? I have my preferences, sure, but I know what I'm worth and I saw the offer was actually quite okay!", you defended yourself.

You ended up getting the spot and, so far, you couldn't complain. Most of the time you worked with Callum, Max and Tara, since your work overlapped with theirs, and every now and again, like right now, Lando would also meet up with you.

"Are you sure it's fine if I go? Your parents know Max, but they haven't met me before. Are you sure they won't find it weird?", you spoke directly to Lando, thinking that his idea, as lovely and kind as it was, didn't account for the facts you were stating.

"Max is coming because he's from the team, and you're from the team, too, so you're coming with us as well", Lando said simply, not seeing the problem.

"But he's been your friend for so long now, I'm a Quadrant Team member", you attempted again, "they don't have to provide for and give a roof to a stranger, I'll find an hotel to spend the night", you offered, wanting to be clear about it.

"You're part of the team, too! Don't worry about that, okay?", Lando said, "besides, mum loves having a full house, she's definitely the host of the family", he smiled, checking the item on his list nd carrying on the meeting.

"When we're there, we'll be able to get our hands on the embroidered Originals collection", Max began, "hopefully they're perfect and we can start working on the website", he gestured as you turned your laptop so they both could see, "this is the concept I've come up with, since this isn't as flashy or as colourful as past collections", you showed them the mood board, looking for disapproval signs but being met with looks of surprise instead, "I know it's not usually what you go for, so I also have another idea here, if you just let m-", you were about to change when Lando slapped your hand away from the mouse and holding it in his, "I really like this one, especially these posts here, I think the ideas are great!", he noted as he set your hand down on the table, "okay, then I can keep working on this", you said, closing the other tab, "do you have something better than this?", Max asked, "seems as good to me!", he offered.

"This is just a draft, I'll invest more time in this and I'll have it ready for the end of the week. That way we can have it ready when the clothes arrive. I'll text Tara to ler her know", you smiled, grabbing your phone as the boys flickered through the ideas, pointing out the different details they liked and wanted to keep.

.

"I'm way too young for my life to be just this, so please drive safely, Max", you said, buckling your seatbelt and exaggerating your hold on the door handle, "if you weren't such a crucial part of this team, I'd make you reconsider your jokes", he teased back, reversing out of the parking space and initiating the trip.

Lando was already at his parents' house since they had a family gathering the day before, so you and Max were driving up to meet him, "they're really nice people, really chilled as well", Max began, "Adam and Cisca, that is. I can hear you thinking and I'm assuming that is what's going on in your head", he stated.

"I don't want to step on anyone's toes, and I don't want to embarrass anyone or myself even. Can you imagine Lando's parents finding out their son's company has questionable employees? They'll mark me off as some sort of strategy fool or think that I want to take this company down, and I don't!", you uttered out, sharing more than you meant to.

Impostor's Syndrome was a bitch, and it often showed up the moment things got progressively harder, and while you knew you were able to deal with it, the little voice still nagged you.

"Y/N, you're one of the most valuable people we have on the team, and I don't say that lightly. This is Lando's baby, and yes, he's the face of it and that counts for most of it, but the work behind it is just as important and with the numbers we're having, it all comes down to you. Since you joined us the designing aspect of it, - obviously, you wouldn't be the one responsible for accounting, duh -, the compliments have been non stop, it has improved the interactions, too!", he said honestly, "you have nothing to worry about, truly", he comforted, "it's this exit here", he mumbled, checking the GPS and turning on the blinker, slowing down the car as they entered the city.

You didn't have to wait long before he pulled up to a big house, the gravel sound quieting down until it came to a halt when Max stopped the car, "Lando said he'd meet us at the door, I really don't fancy being mistaken by a burglar", he joked, getting out of the car as you did the same, stretching your legs and taking in the sight.

"Max, Y/N! Did you have a good trip?", Lando made himself be heard and seen, walking up to you and grabbing the bags his friend was taking out of the car boot, "I'll take these", he offered, picking up your luggage as you pulled on your backpack, "thanks", you smiled, following him as he led the way into his parents' house.

"My parents are in the kitchen", the Formula One driver said, ushering you to the roomy space after he and Max dropped the bags by the stairs, "Max, dear! We haven't seen you in so long, how are you?", a beautiful woman said. Her hair was brown and her skin was tanned as she hugged Max and Lando, "this is Y/N, she is our graphic designer", he presented you, the older man hugging you and his wife doing the same, "I'm Adam, it's so nice to finally meet you", he smiled warmly, "likewise", you smiled back.

"You can call me Cisca, darling. We've heard so much about you, it's nice to finally put a face to the name", she winked at you as you didn't miss Lando elbowing his mother as he closed his eyes, sighing at her, "thank you for having me over, I hope it's not too much trouble", you thanked again, feeling more at ease at their genuine welcoming greetings.

Lando quickly scrambled an answer, seemingly not wanting his parents to talk, "of course it's fine, no trouble here! Let's get your things upstairs so we can settle in and work!", he clapped his hands, walking to the corridor and up the stairs with Max as you excused yourself.

"This is your room, you have the bathroom on the next door", he pointed on the corridor after he placed your bag and backpack down in the small sofa, "Max is in the office, it's just across the hall and I'm at the end of the hall, if you need anything", Lando offered.

"Thanks, again. Do you guys want to begin now? I just need to put on some fluffy socks and I'm good to go", you said, "yes! Is the dining room okay with your parents? The table is big enough to layout everyhting", Max chirped in, whistling at your room as he looked around, "she got an upgrade, good move!", he tapped his friend's back.

After Lando cleared it with his parents, he was quick to remove the table runner and flower vase from the dining room table, extending it to its biggest size so you had all the space you needed, "you can sit here, Y/N, it's usually where the room heats up faster", he pointed out the radiator, pulling up the chair next to your and typing on his iPad.

"So this is the video idea? I like it, we just need to find some background music for it", Max asserted, grabbing his phone to check the time, "we should get going to pick up the order", he uttered.

"Do you need all of us to go?", you asked, saying the changes in your laptop as you did,

"You can pull your the backseats of your car down, can't you, Max? That way we can bring more boxes, and you and me go", Lando reasoned, looking over at you, "do you mind staying here while we go get them?", he asked, not wanting you to feel uncomfortable.

"I'll be fine, you go", you smiled, opening your notebook and writing down some notes.

"Oh, darling, you could've turned the lights on. Soon enough you'll be like me and need glasses", Cisca said as she stood on by the door, flickering the lights on as your eyes got used to the brightness, "I already wear them, or I should more often anyway", you blushed, suddenly getting caught with your hand in the cookie jar, grabbing your case from your backpack and putting them on.

When Lando and Max left, you decided to work on the website graphics, checking how the campaign would work with the current layout, that you lost track of time.

"May I see what you're working on?", she asked, "it's okay if I may not, I don't want to intrude", she smiled as you pulled up the chair next to you, "I don't know much about these things, but I always get quite fascinated with this part", she said, sitting down and looking at the screen.

Already driving back home, Lando and Max talked about the plans once they arrived, "and that way Y/N can also finish the social media stuff, and maybe you'll have more time to actually make a move on her", he teased.

Lando scoffed, "I'm not trying to make a move on her", he defended himself, "I'm glad to know, because if those moves were what you had, it wouldn't surprise it that it didn't go very far", Max yelped as his friend took the opportunity of the straight road ahead to hit his thigh, "so that's what you talk about? Here I am thinking about business and you're meddling in my love life?".

"I never said it was love life, but since you've admitted it, it's saving me time. So, what are you planning? I could help since this seems to be stalled", Max tried again, holding his hands in protection of his body in case Lando hit him again.

"I wouldn't know where to begin, I mean, it will make things awkward if this goes south, right? I'd never be able to look at her again, much less work with her", Lando admitted, "She's very kept to herself as well, I highly doubt that she'll want to be involved with me in that way. Whoever I date or interact with has to deal with enormous amount of public eye and I wouldn't spring that up on her", Lando mumbled, taking the road exit on his left.

"So you've given this some thought, too. Here we are thinking you're coming to the meetings to help and now you're just blushing when we talk about Y/N", Max joked back as Lando shook his head.

"We're back!", Lando announced, walking inside the dining room while pushing the boxes with Max, "don't worry, mum, we're not scratching the floors", he said, sweetly kissing the side of her head, "are you planning to work for us?", he noticed she was sitting next to you, notebooks of the projects open and sheets and fabrics all over the table in front of you.

"Y/N was kindly showing me the project you're working on, for the launch, and it looks really nice!", she complimented, placing a hand on your shoulder and the other on your arm, "she's been showing me everything, I've probably stolen some valuable time from you, darling, I'm sorry", she slumped her shoulders slightly, "not at all, it's all under way, don't worry", you smiled, easing her worries, "I'll leave you guys to it, how about I make some tea?", she suggest as the three of you nodded.

"We have the boxes here, they're sorted by colours", Lando opened the first box, "these are only for the Originals collection, right?", you checked over, peaking at the blue hoodie he pulled out.

"The sizing is right, right?", Max wondered as Lando stretched it out, "Y/N, can you try these, please? We need to check if the model is good for guys and girls".

Getting up from your spot, you grabbed the vibrant blue piece, feeling its soft texture against your fingertips, "I have wider hips that average, I'm not sure I'm the greatest test model for that", you shrugged your shoulders, "keep that in mind". Taking off your sweater so your torso was covered in a strappy top, you pulled the new garment on, adjusting the strings around the neck so you could pull it all the way down, "Oh, it's so soft", you noticed, "and warm, too. And feels quite good actually, it's not too tight", fumbling with the ribbed material on the bottom as you checked yourself out on the windows now that it was dark outside.

Lando gulped as you did so. Oh, had Lando noticed your hips. To anyone else, it would be another feature of your body, but he was enamoured by them. Your body's curvy outline enticed him and he would be lying if he said that it wasn't the first thing he noticed at first glance when you arrived for you last interview, especially with the tapered pants you had been wearing.

"Looks nice. What do you think, mate?", Max turned to Lando, hoping to get an answer but finding him looking at you, "is there something wrong? I told you I'm not the best mo-".

"It's gorgeous, looks gorgeous", he breathed out just as his mother walked inside carrying a tray with tea and some biscuits, "Here's the tea, guys", she said, setting it on the table, "wow, that's a very nice piece!", she complimented.

"It is, isn't it, Cisca?", Max said, covering up her son as he kept looking at you as you tested the front pocket, not noticing his gaze on you.

"You also have a very beautiful model, you can't ignore that factor in the equation", she complimented you while you grabbed a mug, taking a sip of the warm liquid and hoping it hid your pink cheeks, "thank you", you whispered.

While Lando helped his father with dinner, Max convinced his mother to show you both family albums, and once you had the delicious food they prepared, you excused yourself so you could use the shower, wanting to wash the day of travelling away. Max and Cisca stayed in the living room while Lando helped his father prepare dessert, checking on the apple crumble in the oven so it could get golden brown and not burnt, "so, any life updates recently?", the older man asked.

Lando wasn't around as much as they both would've liked, so often times his visits also came along with news and updates, "not much, racing has been good, it's nice to have a break now, even if it's just two weeks", he offered, looking at the oven.

"And nothing else? I mean, no one special? Your mother is usually the blunt one, but I'm going to try it myself: Y/N is just a Quadrant Team Member?", Adam questioned, noticing his son's cheeks become redder.

"Is it that noticeable? I just hope she doesn't see it as much as you do", Lando groaned, rubbing his cheeks, "maybe you should hope she notices, you know? Maybe she'll admit she likes you, too. You never know", Adam patted his son's back, grabbing the gloves so he could take the tray out of the oven, "she seems like a really nice girl, kind, good work ethic, intelligent, and she's beautiful", he finished as his son sighed, grabbing the vanilla ice cream from the freezer, "she's all of that and so much more".

.

"Kygo is doing a set tonight", you heard Max say as you walked inside the living room, taking the spot on the sofa next to Lando since his mother had taken your previous spot when you went to use the bathroom, "I've been meaning to ask you guys if you wanted to go, actually. He texted me saying to tell him if we were planning on going", Lando stated.

"Go and enjoy being young, life is not all about work if you can't enjoy yourself", Cisca shared, "dad and I won't complain if you make noise when you get back", she winked.

"Would you like to go, Y/N? You can say no, that's fine, too", Lando turned to you. He knew Max would be down on a heartbeat, but he didn't want you to feel pressured to do something you didn't want to because you were at his parents' place as a guest.

"I'm good, I like his music, too. I've been wanting to see him live for a bit, actually", you smiled, thinking about how lucky you were to be able to have these experiences because of your job and friends.

Later that night, you're getting ready in your room, sitting on the carpeted floor and applying your make-up for the occasion. The dressier outfit you had brought with you consisted of a burnt red top and some pants as it had become the outfit you had felt the most comfortable and confident in to go out. The top complimented your chest and your midsection as your pants looked really good around your hips and butt, your legs elongated by the small heeled shoes you had spent years looking for. They were comfortable, pretty and functional, ticking all the boxes for what you needed for tonight.

"Y/N, can I come in?", your heard Lando knock on the door, welcoming himself when you said he could, "we are leaving in about ten minutes, if that's okay", he said, taking a good look at you as you fiddled with your earring, "yes, fine by me", you smiled looking back in the mirror propped on the bedside table and finally clasping it, looking back at him.

You took his breath away. It was as simple as that. Your hair had your natural curls he loved so much, your makeup complimented your naturally soft beautiful features and your outfit made you look incredible.

"You guys ready?", Max patted the door, propping himself on it as you grabbed your shoes, "I'll put them on downstairs", you said, carrying them in your right hand as you had your small purse on the left.

While you did the small, dainty tie on your shoes, Lando's eyes went straight for your chest, the slightly bent down position granting him an agonisingly teasing angle as he tried his best to look away, "you might want to be less obvious, you don't need to creep her out to get her to be yours", Max whispered in Lando's ear.

As soon as you arrived, Lando and Max walked with you to the VIP area, asking you what you wanted to drink before they went up to get it.

Lando looked great on his white shirt, the light coloured shirt looking great against his tanned skin as the relaxed fit complimented his back, prompting you to make sure you weren't drooling in public. You worked for his company, it would never be a good idea to get romantically involved with him, no matter how many times your heart leaped.

"A very weak Gin and Tonic for you, as requested", Max said as he pushed the cup towards you, carrying nother drink for himself, Lando sitting next to you on the booth and empty handed, "you're not drinking?", you asked, "I'm driving us all home today, I'm want to do it safely", he stated, tapping his hands on the table when he saw Kygo, signalling him to approach you.

"Hey Lando, Max", he smiled, "I'm Y/N, I work for Quadrant", you smiled, greeting him with a half hug as he introduced himself too, "my set is in a few minutes, you got here just in time. If you want to see it up close, Y/N, let me know and I'll make it happen", he winked at you.

The wink was not missed by Lando or Max. While Max wanted to laugh at his friend's jealous expression, threatening to send the norwegian DJ to a place that was less than nice and sunny, Lando couldn't believe his eyes. Yes, it was only fair that others, too, saw your beauty and noticed you, but to put themselves out like that, that was a different story. You didn't seem to bothered by all of it, sipping on your drink as you spoke to Max, pointing out different people you remember from Silverstone earlier that year.

"Kygo's starting, I want to dance!", you said, getting up and gesturing for the boys to join you. While you were used to having a lot less space to dance in, the welcomed freedom was appreciated as you playfully placed your pointer finger on Max's head, making him do a little spin, "now, no need to be jealous, Lando, you can twirl, too!", you yelled over the music blasting from the speakers, doing the same and sinking your finger on Lando's curls.

"I'm going to get another drink, want anything?", Max asked, excusing himself when you shook your head, "you know you can drink, I'm the designated driver", Lando offered, "I know, thank you for that. I just don't want to drink more", you smiled, recognising the next song, feeling brave and pulling Lando by his hand so he could dance with you.

I never knew anybody 'til I knew you

I never knew anybody 'til I knew you

And I know when it rains, oh, it pours

And I know I was born to be yours

Lando twirled you would face him, chest flush against his as his colourful eyes looked into yours intensely, "I know this is very forward, and very unlike me to be fair, but I need to get it out", he gulped as he spoke loudly in your ear, looking for any sign of discomfort from you, "I really like you, like, a lot. And I would like to know if you feel the same. Because Max and my parents seem to think you do, but all I know they're just saying so that I shut up about how much I love you and how much it would mean to me", he spoke loudly against your ear as the song played.

You were struck by his confession, not expecting it to ever happen, much less like this and in these circumstances.

"If you consider this a hostile work environment, I didn't want that, but I had to be honest with you", he gulped, "just say you don't feel the same and I'll drop the subject, okay? I might have to pretend to go somewhere else so I can be away from you a bit until things are not awkward, but don't worry, I won't drink because I'm driving and-", Lando belted out before you interrupted him, moving your face closer to his neck this time and speaking into his ear, "It's not hostile if it's consensual, right?", you smiled, a glint in your eye as his own widened, chuckling as he sang the the words in your ear, taking the opportunity to kiss your cheek near your earlobe.

"Took you two fucking long enough!", Max yelled as he approached you, tapping Lando's back in congratulations, "you know what this means, Y/N? I won't have to listen to him mope about how he thinks he was made for you and you were made for him, and that the universe would have to be playing a very bad joke of you two didn't end up together!".

"What makes you think I'll stop that? I just got the girl of my dreams, now I'll have the confirmations of all I've said! You'll just hear how amazing all of it is!", Lando smiled, hugging you close to him and kissing the top of your head.

[takotakigum]

our time — itoshi rin.

characters: itoshi rin x gn!reader

warnings: tooth-rotting fluff, established relationships, implied hurt/comfort, and parent!reader&rin.

word count: 900

synopsis: one of the struggles rin first faced in parenthood is not being able to understand the main reason why his little one is crying.

aged up characters | please read at your own risk!

your baby has one of the worst meltdowns the world has ever seen—at least, the worst rin has ever thought of.

the first time it happens, rin doesn’t know what to do.

“why’re you still crying?” rin looks at your kid, whose hands are roughly rubbing at their eyelids. as careful as he can, he tries to pry it away from their face, scared it might irritate and wound the skin. “come on.” rin tries to carry your kid from the living room floor, although they stubbornly stay seated on the ground. naturally, with rin’s strength, he could easily lift them up with ease; however, you suddenly go off the couch, sitting down on the floor with your little one.

immediately, your baby rushes to you. their eyes seeking comfort in your shoulder while their hands squeeze at the fabric of your clothing. rin sees the little one’s body crumble on your lap, crying hurtfully louder, even though their mouth is muffled by your chest.

“what’s wrong?” rin asks in a rather stern voice, still unsure of what to do. his body is stiff, knuckles almost turning white as he grips at the edge of the leather seating. “…..” even you don’t answer, your shushed hums to your baby still gets overlapped with their crying.

as time ticks slower than possible, rin’s leg bounces anxiously. and soon enough, he’s unable to hear the prominent sobbing from your kid, just the lightest hiccups from a sore throat.

your hand retracts from your baby’s back and onto rin’s knee, gesturing your husband to sit down on the floor with you. and he does, he immediately sits down beside you; wanting to hold the little one yet his hands stops midway when he sees you shake your head.

worriedly, rin tilts his head, but nonetheless moves a few inches away. you almost frown, letting out a short sigh before rin takes it as a sign to get closer once more.

“what happened?” when rin is sure your baby finally calmed down and has droopy eyes, he asks. “got overwhelmed, i think.” you play with the loose threads of your baby’s clothes, twirling it around your hand as you try and lean your body closer to them for comfort. “huh? about what exactly?” rin recalls how the living room was quiet, not overbearing at all—just like the way it always was. however, the second rin averted his eyes from his kid playing and rolling around on the floor, he heard loud wails from them. “who knows. no one really understands what’s happening in their heads, right?” the anxious knot plastered on rin’s eyebrow worsens, but one glance at your now smiling face eases it up a bit.

“then how can we help? how are we meant to know?” his voice is soft, too quiet for your baby to even hear. “we don’t know, nor can we help the way they want us to. but it’s alright. it’s all over now.” you look at the previously fisted hand crumpling your shirt start to loosen, your little one’s fingers relaxing. carefully, you hope it’s only right to fix your baby’s messy, dark green hair.

“what? that’s it?” rin continues, he’d rather do something—anything, really—than merely sit down and watch his little one cry helplessly. “yes, that’s it. it’s normal, don’t worry about it much; just experiencing heightened emotions…err i think?” rin could only nod, watching you attentively, yet still bothered.

although rin would prefer not to worry you even more with his overthinking and lack of parental knowledge. in hindsight, you really don’t mind.

your baby suddenly blabbers, mumbling something beyond the understanding of any humane language. “hm?” you rub your knuckles on your baby’s swollen cheek softly. they pout, arms hitting your chest for attention. “yes?” then, the baby looks at your husband with grabby hands, and rin’s eyes widen.

“wanna go there, baby?” suddenly, your baby makes a sound of agreement. however, it seems that if you didn’t give them to rin at this very moment they’ll start crying again. rin opens his arms stiffly, and despite it, your little one practically jumps off your arms and into his.

within seconds, the anxious air of the room eases little by little. and soon enough, your baby’s cheek is snugly fit on the juncture of rin’s neck and shoulders. “tired baby.” rin mumbles, and you poke at his cheek for it. as rin embraces your baby, you stand up from the floor, grabbing one of rin’s hands steadily to bring him up on his feet too.

“i still don’t get why you cried so suddenly.” rin directs at the little one as the sways of his body lull your baby into a deeper slumber is beyond careful. “don’t act like you never cried when you were that young!” you whisper back, giggling. “but i never did- i know it.” the tips of rin’s ears are heating up, you both know it.

dare you say it’s because of the way you wrap your arms around rin’s abdomen from the back and not because of his embarrassment. “whatever you say.” you sigh with a faint smile on your face.

with one last glance at your sleeping baby, you kiss their forehead, light enough to not awaken them. from the corner of your eye, you see the same pout your baby once made in front of you—however this time, it’s on rin’s face.

and so, the moment your gentle, loving lips flutters against rin’s nose, cheeks, forehead, and mouth—what’s ever left of the tense air dissipates and gets replaced with something rin loves more than anything in the world:

the feeling of never ending warmth given to him by none other than himself, his own little one, and of course, lover.

© takotakigum | do not repost, translate, or plagiarize my works.

[lynsstrange]

the marauders as color/winter guard performers headcannons

(For the enjoyment of me and the probably one other person on the platform who’s two niche interests somehow overlap)

James:

Section leader during marching season, team captain during winter season

Takes it VERY seriously

Is the reason they have twelve hours of practice a week, but also the reason they score very high

Everyone hates him the second conditioning comes around, constantly yelling at the team (Sirius) to try harder while they’re doing suicides and across the floors at seven in the morning

Rifle prodigy (he cannot stfu about showing off how many rotations he can do)

The overzealous upperclassman that scares off incoming freshmen

Always the one lending money at competitions for food. Also has first aid stuff, electric tape, hand warmers, and just about anything else the team could be in need of packed

Basically Team Mom ���

Mary:

TECHNICALLY co-captain

Her and James are constantly bickering over whether her position is official (“That’s Mary, our FLAG SERGEANT” “WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT EVEN MEAN”)

She’s much more involved in flag, doesn’t like weapon as much

A good teacher, but brutally honest to anyone she sees as not meeting expectations

Resident playlist-maker, and has dominion over the speaker in the back of the bus

Is constantly critiquing the show design and advocating for aesthetic cohesion (“the rifles would look so much better if the bolts were taped blue, just saying”)

Sirius:

Is good at weapon, more so sabre

Doesn’t like flag as much, but always gets stuck on solos on it because he’s talented

Manages to miss his drill dot EVERY FUCKING TIME by just a little bit and it sends James into rage

Never really knows the counts, but always in time

Manages to look good even in the shittiest of costumes

Trauma dumps and tells wildass stories in the back of the bus on the way back from late night comps

Constant guard terminology sexual innuendo (“Remus, I need you to strip- your silk, Remus, mind out of the gutter 🙄”)

Remus:

He doesn’t know how he got here

Meaning he got dragged into it by Sirius and James

(Mostly James)

Is basically being held hostage because of his skill- that being that he’s a lot stronger than he looks, so he’s good at rifle when he actually tries

Always has some dusty ass beat up novel in his competition duffle (me)

Late to practice or gone often because he has so many other academic commitments lmao

Always covered in bruises from getting whacked by equipment

Competitive only when it comes to Sirius. (Sirius can do a one handed forty five?? Remus can do a DOUBLE one handed forty five)

Lily:

Marching band historian during fall season

Runs the guard’s social media pages

Organizes all team parties

A STICKLER for team traditions, and makes sure they’re continued on each year

Pretty well-rounded, but prefers flag

Like Remus, only truly competitive and spiteful when it comes to James

All the freshmen love her because she’s a good teacher, and she has a special talent of talking just about anyone into auditioning

Always mad about the state of disarray in the guard room

Peter:

Like Remus, isn’t sure how he ended up here

Isn’t really that great at anything, but he tries real hard

Plays trumpet or smth during marching season lmao

And somehow ended up in guard by peer pressure and a crippling fear of being left out

Marlene:

Weapon NERD

And honestly all around guard nerd

Is almost as enthusiastic as James

She even did baton for a short period of time for fun

Is one of those people who can just whip rifle around in that effortless way (you know the type of person I’m talking about)

Constantly coming to James with feedback about choreography, and they’re always either getting along very well or at odds

Definitely on her way to DCI

Resident makeup helper (she can do a mean cat eye, even on a highway in a school bus)

Maybe at some point I’ll do the skittles or other various characters lol but for now I’m imagining just the in-universe Gryffindors/marauders as one team haha

[lesbianalanwake]

Re: dark presence rehabilitation, I was wondering... like, what's the goal? (this is based on my personal understanding which might be wrong.)

overall its goal seems to be to escape the dark place? but at the same time it seems like it wants to turn the outside world into something similar to the dark place, a neverending nightmare fueled by people's subconscious. specifically Scratch seems like a bit of a megalomaniac (I will make the entire world worship Alan's (my) writing forever!) (so much fun, geez...) - but... what's the point of escaping then? Scratch himself says in AN smth along the lines of a drop of darkness being absolutely inconsequential in the dark place, but so noticeable and fun in our mostly light world.

so, my suggestion is that the dark presence can stay outside but it ?should limit itself to smaller horrors. spice of life. a nightmare here, a nightmare there. Cats 2 (2025).

FHGHSKGHS drip-feeding the Dark Presence with minor horror allowances to keep it happy. it can ruin Hollywood. for Barry's sake.

it depends on what the Dark Presence and the Dark Place actually are. that could go a couple of ways. I could not even begin to guess which direction. scattered thoughts:

I prefer an explanation like "x entity became corrupted" over anything "inherent." it is man who is evil.

I'm continually wondering if the Dark Presence is, or is part of, a greater entity that got lost/corrupted.

AW2 describes the Dark Place as a mirror. I think the place that we see and experience might only be a sliver - a cracked and corrupted shard, if you will, because it doesn't always produce only suffering and misery and madness. just most of the time. so maybe Presence and Place are both parts of some greater ocean that got metaphysically landlocked.

maybe the Dark Presence is some kind of spirit of the Dark Place, and corruption in one leads to corruption in the other. so where did it start, if they weren't always like that?

the green/red Polaris/Hiss color scheme is all over AW2. Scratch is red like the Hiss. why is the Dark Presence so similar to the Hiss. what does it FUCKING mean, Sam.

(I have been thinking "the Hiss wasn't originally Like That" since I first played Control. something something the Hiss being embodied in Dylan who wasn't originally Like That either. so that makes me wonder even more about the Dark Presence, when they share those similarities. I cannot stop thinking about the apparently dead world that Hedron et al. came from. about the implication that something is eating away at the Oldest House, that its roots are withering. about the apparently empty world of the Quarry and the City. about how empty and occasionally extraordinarily violent the Astral Plane is when we see how full of life and personality the Altered Items are and how many of them don't really mean harm. about what might have made the Dark Place like that. what the fuck is happening out there in the conceptual reality behind this reality.)

there is the possible implication that the Diver had some hand in creating Scratch? maybe? but that goes back to the question of what the Diver is - Zane, the light/Bright Presence, something else. and what the goal is there. who knows.

I've said this elsewhere but I think Scratch in AWAN is more like. a ghoulish sliver of the Dark Presence mimicking reality like Jagger does, a finger of a giant hand trying to manipulate things. whereas Scratch in AW2 is the Dark Presence more fully embodied and also lost in the sauce. and it has fucked up big time by trying to use Alan to escape, tying itself too closely to him, to the point that even its grand escape is distorted by details of Alan's life. I don't think Evil Deerfest is necessarily what it might have originally wanted, but rather a sign that Dark Presence and Alan have overlapped to the point that Alan is changing it. like it's stuck in the Scratch persona now. has put on a skin that it struggles to take off. (but that's just a game theor--)

like. maybe it wasn't always a rabid beast of an entity and the Dark Place wasn't always a nightmare hell world, or maybe it's always wanted to get out of the Dark Place and doesn't necessarily have roots there. but over time Dark Presence/Place have absorbed and reflected so much of whatever corruption is going on that now Presence/Place want to make a distorted fun house mirror out of everything.

except. now the Dark Presence is not solely mirroring and reflecting corruption and "darkness" anymore. it's starting to mirror Alan even after it jumps out of his body, and, like Dylan being the narrative focus of physical embodiment for the Hiss, Alan is a (relatively) normal person who has been trapped and isolated for a very long time, which does strange things to a person. Barbara was just a sweet woman who got very unlucky. maybe the Dark Presence used to be similar. Evil Deerfest is strangely bright. we've seen it change, a little bit. something is going on there.

so I would like to see something a little more nuanced than "killing the evil" or whatever. (especially when it was all that Jesse and Polaris could do just to shut the door on the Hiss. ain't no way it's that easy.)

[lilac-set]

I got a question about fashion: How do you y'all manage clothes? is it a group wardrobe or do you each have separate outfits?

Ah, good question. We all have pretty distinct styles, but there is some overlap, especially with more foundational pieces. Ideally we would probably curate a wardrobe with some (most?) pieces we all like to wear and some things that make us feel like ourselves individually, theres only four of us so that probably wouldnt be too overwhelming, but we do wanna make sure we each dress in a way that whoever comes in is comfortable if the person who got ready that day happens to switch out

Right now, unfortunately our parents have more control over our wardrobe than we do, which feels a little suffocating obviously but in a way is convenient, because we never have to deal with looking like each other, we just look like our mask, and no one has super strong preferences for or against any one piece of clothing, with a few exceptions being that wearing black is a positive front trigger for Fire, pastels for the little, and i (🪨) prefer dark colors. We feel some ownership over the ones we prefer, and some of them we bought specifically for us individually (within our parents’ extremely restricting restrictions, which is basically what they had already decided should be our personal style before we were born), but we borrow from each other a lot. The little does have some baby hair bows and similar things just for him

We’re pretty good at cooperating and compromising, because we all get to live in the brain experiencing positive emotions if we optimize for everyone involved, so we’ve never had any real arguments about it

All that is to say, not too much dysphoria, but very little euphoria either

In headspace, and on the body if we didnt have to worry about our parents’ and each other’s comfort,

Fire (now cofronting) pretty consistently dresses like this:

Along with a non-negligible amount of gold jewelry, which he somehow makes look minimalist

Earth’s color palette is more varied, i like eccentric casual button downs a lot and generally dark earthy and neon colors, I’d probably leave the shirts open and layer them over something pretty neutral

We couldnt find any good examples of what Water wears but we can give a color palette, he likes loose flowy comfortable clothes, he’s more confident in his masculinity so his presentation is a little more gnc than the rest of us adults

And then the little, a cat. It isnt always or even usually overalls but you get the vibe

He likes to wear an inordinate (/aff) amount of bows and things like that in his fur as well

To be completely honest we dont have a plan, which stresses out a little bit, and its something we think about a lot. There are some things, all of the adults probably wouldnt mind sharing some pants and undershirts between us, probably less so between Fire and Water but i dont mind black and Water and i have some colors we like in common, and Water and Air have a couple too, we’re not so concerned about obtaining things we’re comfortable with once we have the option as we are that sometimes someone will switch in and have to deal with looking like his brother, and the first will have to deal with his brother looking like him, and both of those sound like dysphoria hell for us, but we dont wanna deal with the lack of euphoria forever, ya know? I want my body to look like me. I just dont want anyone else living it to look like me. My tattoos will never be on the body, Fire’s piercings will never be on the body, we all have different ideas of what we would do with our hair and beard and idk if we could handle each other’s. We all identify with the body, we just have completely different ideas of what we would do with it

That being said, it never happens that one of us is fronting completely alone, we all always cofront, we use words like “front” and “switch” to refer to the ratio. So what would probably continue to happen once we have the freedom to choose our own clothes is that what’s on the body would be an amalgamation of everyone’s styles. Which is fine i guess

What about you, what do you guys do?

[aceofwhump]

Ik this has prob been asked before, but as a fellow ace in whump comm, i'm kinda curious as to how your asexuality affects your perception or preferences in whump? Thanks!

That is such a good and interesting question and I'm so sorry for how long it took me to respond to it but I had never really given it that much thought before and trying to put it into words proved to be challenging. I've written this like 8 times and I'm still not sure I got it. I hope this makes some kind of sense.

Disclaimer: I am only speaking of my own experiences and feelings and how they relate to one another. I am in no way speaking for every asexual, whump lover, or ace whumper. Also my aromanticism and my asexuality are very much connected at times and I sometimes have trouble separating them so some of this is also related to my aro-ness.

There's been a lot of talk in the community over the years about how maybe whump is our way, as asexual whumpers, of making up somehow for our lack of sexual attraction and that whumperflies are our version of sexual attraction and I think there's definitely some truth in that. There's a lot of overlap and similar feelings between the two (as far as I know as someone who doesn't feel sexual attraction) but I don't know how much I personally relate to that theory. It does make some sense I admit that but something about that theory never sat right with me. It's too close that thing that people say that we're missing or lacking something. I've never felt like I was lacking something by being asexual because lacking something means I'm incomplete somehow? And I'm not. I'm just as complete and human as any allo. So the idea that my love of whump or my whumperflies is my brain making up for missing something kinda makes me feel idk weird? I don't know. It's hard to explain sorry.

For me, whump and my enjoyment of it has absolutely nothing to do with my sexuality and in a way I suppose that is how my asexuality affects my perception and preferences. What I mean by that is that when I go in search for whump, when I experience whumperflies, when I like a specific trope or scene or character, there is absolutely nothing sexual about any of it. It doesn't affect who I want whumped. It doesn't affect what trope I enjoy more. Whumperflies are not my version of sexual attraction. In my head, whumperflies just mean I really enjoyed that whump because it made me feel things emotionally and I am reacting to those emotions in a physical way. That's it. Whump is just a genre of fiction I really really enjoy. It's not my kink. It's not sexual for me. It is for a lot of people and that's totally cool and valid but it just isn't for me. Is that because of my asexuality? Yeah probably. More than likely. If I experienced sexual attraction it might make me perceive whump and whumperflies differently. Because I am asexual, whump is just whump.

In terms of my preferences of whump I had a sort of epiphany about this. My favorite kind of whumps are all non whumper whump. By that I mean things that occur not because they are inflicted by another person but more like things that happen to him. Things like nightmares, accidents, natural disasters, sickness, etc. The closest I get to liking whumper whumps are things like gunshots or being chained up. Occasionally kidnapping or torture scenes. All things that don't involve multiple people or someone intimately doing it to another person. And I've started to wonder if that's related to the fact that I am a semi touch averse asexual. If I wasn't asexual would I enjoy whumper/whumpee more? Do I like non whumper whump because I'm asexual and don't like physical intimacy? I don't know. Maybe.

I could also love a trope but if it's not happening to a character I connect with emotionally then it means nothing to me. I need that emotional connection 99% of the time or I get nothing out of it. It's not just the trope, it's the context of it and who it's happening to. Physical attractiveness doesn't really come into play all that often. I need an emotional connection to the character in order to enjoy their whumps.

It also affects the character dynamics I prefer. This is where my aromanticism comes into play as well and gets kinda entangled with my asexuality in a way that I can't quite distinguish between the two so I'm sorry if I get a little confusing here. My preferred character relations are platonic and familial (found or bio). I actively avoid romantic whump mostly because it turns sexual soooo fast. It's become so difficult to find AO3 fics that are not focused on a romantic pairing and are not smut. If that gets into my whump it almost always turns it sour for me. Sex and most of the time romance sours my enjoyment of whump. That is directly related to my aroaceness for sure. 100%. So I seek out friends, siblings, found families, parental figures and their grown "adopted" manchild, mentor/mentees, etc.

The best way I can think of to explain it is the difference between Wednesday Addams and Morticia Addams and their enjoyment of pain and blood and violence. I'm mostly thinking of the Netlfix show right now with this comparison btw. So Wednesday when she's enjoying blood and violence it's because she's just enjoying it for what it is. But Morticia. Morticia's love of pain and violence is much closer related to it turning her on. It's definitely more sexual for Morticia. it is NOT for Wednesday. I am Wednesday (hence why I headcanon Wednesday as aroace among other reasons).

Does that make sense? Does any of this make sense? I'm having such a hard time articulating all of this mostly because I've never thought that hard about it all before. I'm asexual. I enjoy whump. That's as far as I'd thought about it before. Hopefully this all isn't too weird or whatever. It's a good question.

[redolentgrove]

It was about three or four in the afternoon at this point in the day. Loki had taken Millie off toward Undella Town, and Celeste had just finished recording a set of ocarina samples for Bijoux. The Sylveontaur had gone off toward the lake to take a quick break, leaving Bijoux by herself in the main clearing. The sun settled high in the sky, slowly heading downwards along with the passage of time, signaling that evening was on its way.

The Cinccino-taur sat there with a set of wireless headphones around her ears, head buried in her laptop, listening to the samples and stitching them together along with the samples of other instruments. The main rhythms sounded right; the ocarina mixed well with the shamisen notes, and some notes of piano, guitar, violin and drums accompanied things later in the track. There were minor blips; some things didn't sound like they had mixed smoothly enough, and she made small adjustments, tweaking things until she was satisfied with the way things blended together.

Bijoux looked up briefly, slightly taken aback by the approach of a shiny Roserade. She lifted her headset from her ears, hanging it around the back of her neck. She pressed the save function shortcut, pressing 'yes' when the program asked her if she was sure she wanted to overwrite the file she had been working on. She watched a progress bar showed up, keeping an eye on it slowly filling as the computer did its work. When the grass type addressed her, Bijoux moved the laptop to face away from the pair, listening while he introduced himself to her.

"Oh, you're one of MIss Charade's friends!" Bijoux trilled in discovery, looking down at the Roserade. "Yeah, I definitely know about that Meowscarada; Mom talks about her a ton. She's definitely got a crush on her… but with how easily she falls in love, I'm not sure how much Mom wants to act on that." She shook her head. "But uh… yeah, I think I've seen you around at least a time or two, if you're friends with Miss Charade. Mom said you were named after something to do with cards. You're mister, uh… Jack, right?" She stood and offered the grass-type a returned bow and a nod of her head, a gentle, welcoming smile on her muzzle. "Anyway, uh… you're doing soul-searching? Go ahead, ask me anything."

Bijoux listened to Blackjack's questions, letting out a small blush when he mentioned their gender identities. Sure, she was being more open about it, but it still felt slightly weird to have someone outside of her family and friend group mention it. Regardless, she nodded and thought carefully about how she could explain it to him, without overstepping any boundaries. Of course, she realised the Roserade was an adult, so she also didn't want to talk down to him in the process. She briefly eyeballed her laptop's screen, saw that her track had saved successfully, and closed the laptop when she was ready to address his questions fully.

"Well… my Mom actually transitioned about two hundred years before I was even born," the Cinccino-taur finally replied, rubbing her left hand behind her head. "There definitely wasn't an overlap of us discovering our gender identities together. I guess if anything, though, the fact that she had the experience and lived the same sort of discovery made it easier for me to come out as transgender. I didn't really always have the words to describe how it felt, but she did, and hearing her explain what it meant, that it was normal and valid to be… it was an incredible feeling to know someone had my back on the matter. That she not only understood, that she would go to any lengths to help me be who I was."

Bijoux offered Blackjack a broad, toothy grin, and let out a bit of a laugh. "It's weird. Once I came to terms with my gender identity, it was never really a struggle to figure out my sexuality and romantic preferences. I always knew I liked girls, and I still do, so I guess it wasn't all that surprising to come out as a lesbian as well. I guess that one was just another domino in the chain of events; you figure something out about yourself and a lot of times the rest falls into place."

The Cinccino-taur rose briefly, then stepped over to look at the Roserade more closely. It was only now that she realised that the grass-type was almost a full two feet shorter than she was. She knelt down in front of him, tucking her legs beneath her taur body to try and close the height gap between the pair. At least as long as she was sitting, she didn't have to look downward to look him in the eyes. She extended a hand slowly, steadily, to offer the grass-type either a handshake or a small pat on the shoulder, if he were to accept such contact.

"I'm going to be honest," she began. "I'm not here to ask you exactly what you hope to find with your soul-searching, mister Jack. I'm not going to assume I know anything about you other than that you're a friend of my mom's, but I do know that the most important advice I can give you is that, whatever you find, don't ever keep it entirely to yourself." She nodded sagely.

"I know I was extremely fortunate that my mom happened to have the same experience with her gender identity, and that not everyone necessarily has a friend who knows exactly what you're feeling. But if you have one friend you can trust, even one, then once you discover something, the best thing you can do is talk to them. Even if they don't know the words to describe your inner discoveries, it's better to at least know you can be honest with someone about those feelings, and know that they'll support you. And just because they might not know how to help, just having the chance to have someone listen is one of the best things you can have. And they might even know someone else who does know how to describe your feelings."

Bijoux held up a finger to signal for the Roserade to wait, before rising to her paws and heading to the grove's storage shed. When she came back, she had a small pamphlet in her hands. She knelt back down, offering it to Blackjack. Were he to look at it, there would be descriptions of different words to fit multiple gender, sexuality and romantic identities. Different coloured flags would accompany each identity, to correspond to each word.

"I don't know the exact feelings you have, and I don't have any intentions to make you tell me," Bijoux reiterated, her tail swishing half-heartedly behind her. "But when I first talked to Mom and we went to therapy, I took a few of these pamphlets with me. I thought at the time, maybe I wasn't completely sure of the way I felt. I read through the different identities, seeing what resonated and what didn't… but in the end, I realised, it was that simple as identifying as a transgender woman. At least, it was for me. Maybe seeing some of those put into words will help you a bit as you look through your heart."

Bijoux smiled warmly at Blackjack. "I hope that I was able to help you at least a little bit, mister Jack. Either with the pamphlet, explaining some of the history behind my identities… just, anything, really. But again, I feel like the most important thing you can possibly do is to search yourself for some answers, find the person you trust the most around you, and tell them about your discoveries. Maybe they'll know how to explain it to you in terms you both understand. Maybe they won't. But the nice thing about this, is that even if your journey is about self-discovery…"

"You don't have to do it alone."

(( @ask-meowscarada ))

[theothersarshi]

I don't want to derail @theshitpostcalligrapher's post, so I'll make my own. Anyway, they were really nice to @theworseshitpostcalligrapher on this post, where the latter rewrote the same three words in a similar style in a reblog. (So it's really nice all around - there's acknowledgement of what's going on, there's approval, there's building up.)

And I wanted to share a story.

Back when I was in primary & middle school (grades 1-8 over here in Romania), I was a very, very earnest kid, a bit naive, but when I loved people or things, I really loved them. Keep that in mind for what happens next.

We had 1 hour of Art class/week all throughout middle school, but our middle school Art teacher Did. Not. Teach. I can't emphasize how much teaching didn't happen. We had to have watercolors/tempera and a paint brush, and he'd tell us things like, "Paint something Olympics-themed" or "Draw something for the local theater festival". Then we'd get grades based on how nice our paintings/drawings were. That was it. That was all.

...I found out things like the human body having proportions only when I was already a student, while talking to my future bff. I found out tempera isn't "watercolors, but in a tube" even later. But never mind that.

My middle school best friend had talent, though. She was naturally Good At Art and she came up with this amazing style (well, amazing to us 12 yos) where she made up big drawings out of tiny pencil doodles - asterisks and spirals were among her favorites, I think. It was not quite like typewriter art, because her doodles didn't overlap, but typewriter art + Pointilism + doodles is the best way I can describe it. The rest of us hadn't even thought about using a pencil.

I was in love. And I could sort of understand how she did it, so I started... copying that. I wanted to try it out for myself, do the thing. I changed the basic doodle shapes, but I kept the general idea. (I would have preferred something realistic and colorful, but I had no idea how to do any of that; see: teaching, not happening)

My colleagues called me a copycat (understandable). My mother called me a copycat (*sigh*). Even my teacher called me a copycat (I'm wondering vaguely if that's why he never taught anything, so we'd never end up copying a style we saw, *le gasp*). One must never, ever do what someone else is doing! ORIGINALITY!!!ONE! Figure it out yourself, in your own way!

Adult!Me thinks our teacher could have used this as a Teachable Moment to talk about why her drawings worked and to point us in the direction of similar artists or whatever. Or maybe he could have realized I wanted to learn something and pointed me in the direction of, I don't know, a book about how to draw, maybe. If he didn't want to teach his class himself. But I digress.

I was left feeling bad and like a complete loser. My best friend at the time mocked me, too, because of course she did. As far as I know, when we got to high school she never drew again (we were no longer friends by then, due to unrelated reasons).

It feels particularly wonderful to me to come across people actively encouraging and helping each other to learn, even if they're walking paths others have walked before. I never learned how to draw, but I did learn how to write stories, and there's a lot of fumbling around and imitating others to see what works and why before you become good. It takes so much practice. It's hard.

And sometimes maybe you just want to do The Thing for yourself, and that's also fine. Who the heck cares if you decide to have your own Van Gogh-style painting of your own bedroom on the wall of your bedroom?

Anyway, it makes me so happy when I see creatives being creative and sharing things with others. It's probably very flattering to be the only one at the lonely top, but when you have a community and you can learn from others, everyone wins more.

[russeliarat]

So like incredibly short intro for us three hosts. We would introduce you to other members of the system, but we have 100+, possibly way way more so it's very hard to get intros for everyone when we don't know half the people in the noggin'

~-------❁❋❁❋❁❋ .: ʚɞ

❁❋❁❋❁❋~~~~~~Russelia ~~~~~~❁❋❁❋❁❋

So I've been running this blog probably solo for more than a year now, so y'all already know me eheh. My name's Russelia, but call me Russ. I use they/them and flutter/flutterself, and lean very very feminine presenting. I'm the host/co-host, but also function as a main protector for my system, as well as a trauma holder. In headspace, I take the form of a humanoid moth and thus have an obsession with moths - I also have children in headspace whom are varying forms of moths. I'm some form of aroace.

I'm 17 years old but change with the body's age, and I'm taken by another host in a different system <3 I formed ~2020, took over as the primary host around 2021-2022 though was dissociated with our now 'higher up' headmate, and as of recently (July 2023) I gained Jash and Whole as my co-hosts!

Those who knew me as Redd, I was actually blurred with them through a large portion of 2021- April-ish 2023 and believed myself to be them, though they are a different headmate who has too many responsibilities to take the role of host/co-host anymore.

❁❋❁❋❁❋~~~~~~Whole~~~~~~❁❋❁❋❁❋

Writing with Russ's help since apparently no one writes properly enough for em /aff

I'm Whole, CCCC fictive and co-host to the system. 22 years old and I'm taken by another headmate. Because of how marriage works, I'm Russ's stepdad, but they compare us to best friends a lot because we knew each other far before I married their dad. I'm pan, I use he/him.

Formed around May this year (2023) and I function as front's protector and soother, though I'm also a 'higher up' as we like to call the role, I have an admin job for the system essentially - manage system and the new formers, layers, stuff like that, I just get to comfort people and sort out their issues to. We work like a well-oiled clock like that, eh? I prefer to stay silently watching but I'm not against putting my opinions and reblogs here and there.

(Fun fact, Russ thought I was a fever dream when I formed)

❁❋❁❋❁❋~~~~~~Jash~~~~~~❁❋❁❋❁❋

Hey, I'm Jash, I'm a Chonny Jash factive but treat me like I'm my own person (should be an obvious thing but you'd be surprised) I'm eternally stuck at age 20 for some reason, I'm also pan and use he/him pronouns. I'm married to Whole and share memories with Russelia which make us child and father. I function as a protector, comforter and Russ and Whole's co-host. I have an interest in feminine fashion believe it or not

I've got a lot of medical issues, I tend to prefer not to talk about medical issues and stuff, but I'm not totally against chatting about it. We are bodily disabled so at some point I've got to talk about the overlap, right? I'm a bit more vocal than Whole but not as much as Russ, so yk I'll talk here and there. I'm private about my personal life though so don't push it. I find it simply hilarious the entire line up of hosts is one big family, it's incredible. Line up of 'autotune Aussies' or something as Russ puts it /lh /aff

~-------❁❋❁❋❁❋ .: ʚɞ

If there's something we want to individually talk about, we'll use tags for our names:

(examples: -Jash, -Whole, -Russ)

But, if there is none, assume it's either Russ or a combo of all three of us. You'll occasionally see a post with new name tags pop up, these are our other headmates. You'll see this a lot when we're sending asks to our friends' blogs. You can ask about them, but don't expect them/us to answer. If they do, sometimes we'll have to keep information very minimal to protect them such as in the case of a vulnerable headmate or a little for example. Do not harass them for more information, we will not respond or block you depending on the severity.

Lots of people tend to front at once, at one point we have about 20 people in front and it gave us a huge migraine lol, so if a group of people want to talk about something, we'll put multiple names in tone tags. Some of em might decide to colour code each other, let us know if the colours are hard to see ^^

[sanomanjiroceo]

Mikey thinks being trapped with everyone else was preferable to his current predicament. At least with the others, he had entertainment and wasn’t having his balls threatened. Inui seemed to get a rush of joy that rivaled Sanzu on a drug binge every time he brought that metal instrument between Mikey’s legs.

He supposed this was payback, a way to get him back for all the times he’d subjected the man to his whims within Bonten. The times he’d tortured him for one reason or another, or sometimes, without reason entirely. He did get bored after all.

Mikey wondered why he had even been “saved” until he’d overheard Inui scolding Haruchiyo. He’d been saved by Haruchiyo only to end up in the hands of men who wanted him dead for much more personal reasons. It didn’t help that he’d made it out while the ones they loved were still missing.

“Who else was there?”

Mikey answered their questions. He didn’t have any reason not to, knowing they just wanted to find the people they cared about. He also didn’t particularly feel like becoming sterile today and he knew the second he hesitated, Inui wouldn’t waste that opportunity. Hell, he might end up doing it anyway just because. Mikey resolved to stay on his best behavior.

He wasn’t used to this, wasn’t used to the feeling of someone else being in control. He’d spent so many of the last few years at the top, that he’d forgotten what it felt like to be helpless and at the mercy of someone else. This must be how other people felt all the time. He made a mental note to apologize to his sister for all the times he’d kicked her ass in training when he got out of here. If he got out of here alive that is.

“Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?” Inui stated, opening and closing the nutcracker in warning, a sadistic smile on his face.

Mikey sighed, “Last thing I remember was the gas. They used it to knock us out at night and I’m assuming to enter the cell. Someone died yesterday during the night, but he wasn’t important to any of you. Ran rifled around his body and noticed his liver was missing so I thought maybe this was some black market organ thing and we’d all end up that way. At least, I thought that until I ended up with you and found out it’s all a big game.” Mikey scowled and Inui mirrored the expression. “Jiro, Ran, Kai, Amari—all of them were still alive the last I know.”

The whole situation had never made sense to Mikey and he’d spent his days trapped in that room agonizing over why this group of all people was taken. Only a few even had relationships to each other. The siblings. Kai and Ran seemed to have some connection based on things he’d heard them mention. But the rest, aside from being acquaintances or friends, there was no correlation. Especially when you factored in the kid. Even when it came to the people they were involved with, there wasn’t a significant amount of overlap. So how had all of them managed to fall victim to the same enemy? It had been plaguing him ever since he woke up there with them.

Rindou gave Inui a look and Mikey tried to decipher what the two men were saying without words. The third man, the only one he didn’t know, signed something for the other two and Mikey wished he knew how to interpret it. Inui turned to him with a gleeful expression.

“You’ve been such a good little boy,” he twirled a knife around between his fingers, “but I can’t think of anymore questions for you to answer. I think our time here might be done.”

Thinking that he didn’t have much time before Inui shoved that knife between his ribs, Mikey spoke. “I want to help you find them.” His words were honest. “They have my sisters best friend too and I’d like to get her back.”

“You think we need your help?” Inui spat, venom coating every syllable. Rindou looked equally as murderous.

Despite the fact Mikey was standing there with his pants and boxers around his ankles, he stood his ground. Which was in fact easier to do when there wasn’t a nutcracker three inches from him.

“I think if you didn’t need help, they would all have been found already. Fact is, you didn’t even find me, you just played their game. If you want to find them, don’t you think I could be useful?” Mikey questioned, even as he was met with only scowls. “Now I know you fucking hate me, but you’re also running out of time. They weren’t feeding us or even giving us water in there. How much longer do you think they can hold out like that?” He was met with silence. “Now I can call my sister and we can have the entirety of Bonten working on this, trying to find them all. The full power of Bonten. If you don’t want to let me go, you can even keep me tied up, it’s kind of kinky Seishu.” Inui growled at Mikey. “It also gives you an insurance policy that Bonten will do what you ask. Or you can kill me here and now, and you’ll be stuck with another dead end and possibly the deaths of those you love. So what will it be?”

[7serendipities]

Freyja’s Falcon Flights

In my home practice, the Autumnal Equinox is a celebration of Freyr and Freyja, although that celebration often dovetails with both the Pleiades acronychal rising and Rosh Hashanah. Generally, I try to make something that has both apples and honey, drawing on the common themes. This year I made an apple spice cake in a spooky bundt pan, but with no honey due to the allergies of a household member. (Then I went back and made a honey-filled fairy cake, hold the spice, as you saw in the previous post, and there will be raw apples dipped in honey for tomorrow.) That was the main focus of my celebration: just food shared with my household, our household spirits, our ancestors, and the two deities of the occasion.

A few days previous, I did a journey to check in with Freyr and Freyja, to see what they wanted for their holiday, and that’s when I got the go-ahead to make the apple spice cake. I also asked about something that had been flitting in my head for a few weeks, which I was pretty sure had come from her. I’d had an inkling that she wanted something monthly from me, going forward — that she was finally ready to step up (or rather that I was finally ready for her to step up) and become more central to my practice. I had the term “Falcon Flights” rattling around in my head, as a sort of analogue to “Crow Calls”, but until I went to journey to her I didn’t know what that meant. I had sort of guessed that it was meant to be something oracular, in keeping with my Dark Moon rituals to Na Morrigna, and my previous Bright Moon rituals to the Eyes of Ra, but, nope. She wants me to write and share journey prompts. “Falcon Flights”, indeed.

This month is a little late, but for next year I’ll be doing these from equinox to equinox, on the waxing half moon before the solstice and the waning half moon after the solstice, so this will be the only one until next March, and they will only overlap with the Morrigna Dark Moons in August and potentially September (depending on the moon cycle). This year that waning half was the 17th, before the equinox, but I didn’t journey to see her and Freyr until after that (whoops!).

I also asked her what tarot deck she wanted to go with the runes (similar to how the Morrigna have a preferred tarot deck that I use alongside ogham), and she picked…. none of the ones I already had. We settled on the Dark Wood Tarot, by Abigail Larson and Sasha Graham, published by Llewellyn Books, and that got here yesterday, at which point I clarified a couple of things about this new endeavor via divination, and then… I got enormously sidetracked by my Way Opening celebration. After that, I just didn’t have the energy to do another journey (to test the prompt) and then write up a blog, so I apologized and begged off and here I am on Saturday night, writing it up now, instead.

Note: This journey prompt is based on cosmology used by my Seidr Guild, which was adapted from Hrafnar’s cosmology as written down in Diana Paxson’s book The Way of the Oracle. If you have your own method of getting to Freyja or Folkvangr, feel free to use that, instead! And I hope I don’t need to say it, but I’m only providing a prompt; you do this journey at your own risk. Try to do it safely, and practice good spiritual hygiene! This doesn’t have much of a lead-in or return, as it’s meant for a more advanced audience, so do whatever your usual routine is for trance and journey work: cleanse, shield, ground, center, etc. You could write out a longer script and then even record it, maybe, if you work better from an audio file than a written prompt. Make it work for you, and your practice! I’m just the messenger, not the keeper of orthopraxy.

Falcon Flight to Himingbjorg

(Prepare an offering for Freyja, and one for Heimdall, before beginning.)

Begin in stillness, and quiet, and darkness. Find your center, and align yourself with earth and sky. As you stare at the darkness behind your eyes, feel and see as mist swirls up from the ground, obscuring everything around you. After a moment, it begins to part, leaving you standing in a flowery meadow.

When you arrive in the meadow, take a moment to observe around you, turning until you see a path. At the entrance to the path are two shrubs, and as you move on that direction, you see trees as well. Shrubs give way to trees and undergrowth on either side of the path, getting taller and denser as you move onward, until they join overhead into an arch, forming a tunnel of trees that slopes downward, getting denser and darker.

Eventually, you notice that the path has become flat, and then it begins to rise. Now the trees are thinning again, branches giving way to brightness, and as the trees again give way to shrubs, you see a gate in front of a wide plain and beyond it, the great world tree. If you have any guides or guardians you wish to accompany you, ones who can join you in flight, call to them now, before you step through the gate and make your way towards the tree.

As you approach the World Tree, circle around it clockwise, until you see an opening beneath one of the great roots. Duck under this root and enter the tunnel beneath. There is hard dirt packed beneath your feet, and the entire tunnel seems to have been hewn from that same clay-rich dirt and sandstone. Not as many feet come this way — the floor is still rough in places, so watch your step as you continue forward. There are torches set into sconces in the rough hewn walls, and their light looks like fire but you feel no heat as we continue past, and you smell no smoke or pitch.

The tunnel curves gently and then begins to rise in a gradual incline, ending in a doorway, two huge stones on either side and capped with a third. Touch one gently as you step out into the fresh air — these are worn by the elements and smooth to the touch. If you look back to the entrance, you will notice that on this side, the tunnel leads into what looks like a large burial mound, standing alone in a large clearing, though the forest is slowly encroaching from all sides.

Smell the air — the pine sap scent is strong, and your nose can tell there is moving water somewhere nearby, even if your ears cannot yet hear it. Now you should continue, following a clear trail deeper into the forest. Your footfalls are muffled by pine needles, and the air seems still. The scent and after a while the sound of water is to your left as you walk, and after a short time, you arrive at a fork, with three paths to choose from.

One path curves to the left, and you can just make out a bridge over a creek in the distance. The one to the right seems to vanish into the trees. Continue down the middle path, which leads straight ahead. After a while, the trees seem to thin a bit, and the underbrush grows less tangled. There is a little smoke in the sky, above the rise of the hill, as though it comes from a hearth-fire, and you follow the path towards it.

As the path reaches the edge of the forest, and the pine needles give way to a large open field, your eyes are drawn to the great hall. It is large, and you know at once to whom it belongs. This is Freyja’s Hall, Sessrumnir, and you are in Folkvangr. Go and find the Lady of this place, and give her the offering you brought.

When she has accepted your offering, ask for the lend of her falcon cloak, that you might fly on to your next destination with her blessing. Place it on your shoulders, and hold still as she waves her staff over your head, completing your transformation.

Take off into the sky then, and fly! Fly for the sheer joy of it, swoop and roll. Higher and higher — but do not forget your ultimate destination. You seek the Bifrost, that you might follow it to Himingbjorg, Heimdall’s cloud-castle.

When you arrive at Himingbjorg, alight on the wall — Heimdall will help you regain your own shape.

Thank him, and then give him the offering you brought.

Once he has accepted it, you may ask one question and one question only, and he will show you what he can see from up here, and give you your answer.

When you are well answered, ask him to help you transform once more, and then return to Freyja, waiting for you on the ground.

After she returns you to your own form, give her back the cloak and thank her. If there is anything else you wish to say to her, do it now.

When you are ready to depart, go back the way you came: through the forest, to the mound, through the mound-tunnel and out from under the root, across the plain, and back to the gate, through the tunnel of trees, and back to the meadow. Then the mist will swirl up again, and take you back to your body.

[raccoon-queer]

violet, white carnation, jasmine, red rose, peony, aster, lavender

i know it's a lot, sorry!

(my system name is a flower on that ask game, as well as my friend's system name. it was weird /pos seeing them!)

-nonbinary gf

don't be sorry for sending a lot, I love talking about myself alsdkjfsd also flower system names my beloved <3 also also I shall put this under the cut for the sake of my mutuals

violet— do you like to cook or bake? if so, what is it that you like to make?

I used to, but then I got diagnosed with celiac and T1D and now I cannot eat anything that I could bake skdjflaksk I do like cooking though. I like sautéing mushrooms (or other vegetables) and putting random spices on them bc it makes me feel very fancy and I don't care if it tastes weird bc only the texture matters. hashtag autism moment lmao

white carnation— would you ever want to get a piercing? if so, where?

I have your typical ear piercings, and I plan to get a septum. I might get another ear piercing later? but I haven't thought about it too much, I'm way too focused on getting the septum bc septums my beloved <333

jasmine— describe your dream partner or best friend. what kind of personality traits do they have?

oh I have thought about this so much! I would like any partners or close friends to be open, honest, and straightforward, as well as compassionate and good at both talking and listening. I love people who are affectionate in the same ways that I am - I love gifts, acts of service, and affectionate words, but I'm not a huge fan of touch unless it is Good Touch (aka explicit consent before any kinds of touching and only firm pressure bc I hate the feeling of skin. hashtag autism moment part two electric boogaloo)

I also love when people have both an interest that overlaps with mine as well as an interest that I don't necessarily have. then we have something we both love to talk about, and something I can listen to them talk about when I don't feel like talking

red rose— how do you tend to act around someone you have romantic feelings for? (are you more shy, do you prefer to be bold, ect.)

honestly? about the same. most of our alters interact with people the same way regardless of whether we like them romantically, platonically, or just consider them an acquaintance. I'll be just as silly and weird with people I have a crush on as with people I'm friends with

peony— would you consider yourself to be tall, short, or average height?

deeefinitely short. alas I am a mere 5'2, 5'4 when I wear my heeled boots :') one day I will definitely be investing in platforms

aster— do you have any 'fictional crushes' on any movie, tv show, or book characters? who and why?

nope, I've never had a crush on a fictional character before actually

lavender— what is currently on your mind (aside from this ask game)?

literally the only thought in my mind right now is that I feel like I am sitting in an aquarium fskdlfjsd my led lights are on aqua and I am listening to atlantis by seafret on repeat and I feel like a little fish boy

[ipgroupblog]

BLOG 1 (Melissa): First Group Task

Introduction 

The interdisciplinary project was a project assigned to me and many media students to create an impressive art experience. We were split into many groups, I joined a group of 4 other students, all of whom had different backgrounds/skills. As we didn’t know each other, we were given multiple tasks as icebreakers to help get a better understanding of our skills.

Group Task 

We were given two group tasks. First was a task being our ice breaker, a simple task and little planning. However, our second task was much harder as we were given the goal of building a way to protect an egg from a drop with limited tools. We recorded our process to see how we would behave as a team before then reflecting on how it compares to the personality tests. 

Reflecting Reports 

Myers-Briggs test gives an outlook beyond work and more as an individual. This gave more insight into who I am than what I am which I believe connects far more compared to the Belbin Report. The Belbin looks especially at my role within a team and less of an individual. 

Myers-Briggs 

Introverted (96%) This would have stated I would not have taken a leadership role and would prefer to listen however; I was more open and spoke more. However, I throughout the video I speak often, almost taking the lead in helping the situation and organising ideas. This links to the statement that “successful leaders and entertainers come from their ranks” (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2015a) meaning even if they are introverted doesn’t mean they can’t be leaders. 

Turbulent (100%) States it makes me very sensitive to stress. While I didn’t experience stress for the group task, it's likely because I'm aware that there are no consequences to my situation, therefore, no stress. 

Intuitive (68%) In the middle which made a middle ground between imagination and practicality. I feel like this seems to be the oddest one as I can be very imaginative however, I tend to not notice if that idea is practical. Like the Belbin report, I am good at planting ideas (50%) but never thinking about them practically. I did this a lot during the video as I would input a lot of ideas for the egg on how to keep it safe. However, I did find it hard to communicate these ideas and overlapping ideas making it confusing. 

Prospecting (65%) Fairly balanced like Intuitive, stating that " flexible when it comes to dealing with unexpected challenges.” (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2015b) this was presented very well during the video as I was sharing many ideas but easily got "overwhelmed by the sheer number of options” (NERIS Analytics Limited, 2015b) which was easily helped by the team by picking out the best ideas. 

Belbin Report 

Specialist (90%) 

My strongest role is Specialist, with the role being “Brings in-depth knowledge of a key area to the team” (Belbin, n.d.) this was seen well when I was able to state from memory how I did the egg challenge before. That knowledge helped us as a team build a stable contraption to protect the egg. 

Resource Investigator (80%) 

My second strongest role is Resource investigator, stating the role of “find ideas to bring back to the team.” In the video, I act more upon the role of resource investigator of being “Enthusiastic. Explores opportunities...” (Belbin, n.d.) and keeping the team motivated. This ties into my Myer’s Briggs test of “Introverted” as I was to keep the team organised with the ideas. Therefore, this may have been why my introverted report did not live up to the statement in the video because being an investigator conflicts with it. 

Implementer (70%) 

My third strongest role is Implementer, which states a weakness of being “inflexible and slow to respond to new possibilities”. (Belbin, n.d.)  When looking at the video I was flexible to the new suggestions and changes but what made me inflexible was the fact I found to physically apply this in action. This connects to my Myers-Briggs test of prospecting stating that I am flexible, therefore, I can be flexible but only to an extent. 

Plant (50%) 

Lastly, my fourth strongest role plants, stating I’m “highly creative and good at solving problems” and often “generates ideas” (Belbin, n.d.) This follows into resource investigators often providing ideas for the team which I did often in the video. When it came to issues, I would often suggest ideas some were better than others which only shines a light on my Intuitive nature from the Myers-Briggs test. 

References 

Belbin, M. (n.d.). Belbin Team Roles. [online] Belbin. Available at: https://www.belbin.com/about/belbin-team-roles. 

NERIS Analytics Limited (2015a). Energy: Introverted (I) vs. Extraverted (E). [online] Available at: https://www.16personalities.com/articles/energy-introverted-vs-extraverted. NERIS Analytics Limited (2015b). Tactics: Judging vs. Prospecting. [online] 16personalities.com. Available at: https://www.16personalities.com/articles/tactics-judging-vs-prospecting.

[sagau-my-beloved]

Do you think Venti would like the food from the real world? I think he’d get sick with fast food or something like that but if reader cooks for him he’d eat it. He’d eat anything that reader makes

Headcanons about sagau Venti with reader in the real world (food edition):

Honestly, that's such an interesting idea, I do think that there's a lot of overlaps with the food in his world and our world, so it doesn't take a whole lot of adjusting, but that being said-

Warnings: general Sagau, like literally nothing else

-

• Is kind of confused when he first gets to you and your fridge isn't just like brimming with ingredients and meals

• You tell him that you typically either get takeout or cook small meals for yourself to get by

• Since takeout itself does exist in different regions around Teyvat, he's more or less familiar with the concept

• But none of that prepares him for what you actually meant

• Is mildly horrified over how food is preserved, prepared, and just the overall lack of health in it all

• Like you don't really know where your food comes from, or what ingredients were put in to it, or where those ingredients come from—

• He could absolutely never eat fast food and feel well after, the first time he stayed in bed for like the entire day and complained to you constantly over how bad he felt

• You did feel bad about it, obviously his body just wasn't used to that kind of stuff

• Pretty much swore off eating anything that came wrapped in plastic, it just wasn't worth it

• All that strengthened your resolve to try cooking more, going out of your way to use more organic ingredients and actually put effort into making a healthier meal

• Now, he would eat anything you made, it really didn't matter what it was, what it was made of, how good or bad it tasted

• If it tasted absolutely horrible, he would just smile at you and thank you profusely for going out of your way

• If it made him feel bad afterward you wouldn't hear a single word about it

• Is really just very very appreciative when you attempt to make things more to his taste, he hates how much of an inconvenience he's being (but also secretly deeply enjoys the fact that you like him enough to go out of your way for him)

• He also takes up cooking himself, he's got all that time alone while you're off at work or taking classes perhaps

• You're gonna have to show him the basics on how to actually work a stove, all of it really does amaze him

• But before you know it, you're coming home almost every day to something made

• He is very quick to learn your preferences, mentally notes every critique or passing comment you've ever made

• If the food that you make is decent, or at the very least not absolutely terrible, the cooking responsibilities are split roughly 75℅ to 25℅ and you might have a playful argument over who's cooking that night

• "No way. I deeply apologize my muse, but I'm afraid your just going to have to let me treat you tonight." He says with a playful wink, one you can't help but smile at.

• Otherwise it'll probably be closer to 95℅ and 5℅, and as usual, he's absolutely happy to pick up the slack

• Also really loves cooking with you, showing off interesting techniques that he learned from his years of experience, you showing him weird cooking tricks that he never would have thought of

• Occasionally is sad over the lack of certain ingredients that either don't exist or aren't commonly used in your world

• Contributes a bit to his homesickness

• He has a few of his favorite recipes from Mondstadt memorized, and if you try to make them for him he might actually just die

• He just loves you so so much, and you're going out of your way when you already have so much that you have to do, and he wants to be the one that does everything for you!

• Every time you mention you had to get take out or fast food for lunch because of your tight schedule he internally panics

• What if it made you feel bad like him? Even if it doesn't you shouldn't be eating that stuff anyway

• Will actually start packing you lunch if it seems like you aren't doing it for yourself

• Also always leaves really cute notes

• Your co-workers and/or peers are now constantly hounding you about having a secret boyfriend that you haven't told them about

• I touched on this in my last set of headcanons, but he also really likes cooking breakfast since he's often the first one awake (Teyvat fried egg for the win)

• He does like going to slightly nicer restaurants where the ingredients are of a higher quality sometimes too

• The atmosphere was always a bit stifling and it could get rather expensive, but the food was good

• That was reserved for special occasions, he'd much rather have your food than some strangers anyway

• Since there aren't really a whole lot of dessert dishes in the Mondstadt region, he's absolutely amazed by the amount your world has

• But as a result of that lack of tolerance, he's also way more sensitive to sweet tasting things and a lot of things taste too sweet to him

• I headcanon that he's absolutely the type to scrape frosting off cake because of how unbearably sweet it is

• The first time he had ice-cream, his eyes practically sparkled

• Also, it's a personal opinion of mine that he would really like tiramisu because of the balance between sweet and bitter

• But that is also a very dangerous thing

• He has enough energy to run you into circles as it is, mix that with a sweet dessert that is soaked in coffee and you have yourself a recipe for complete chaos

• His first sugar crash is also pretty amusing, goes from living at three times the normal human speed to asleep in less than five minutes

• Wakes up more lethargic than you have ever seen him, along with a headache, and he swears he will never do it again (a total lie)

• It's all a learning experience like a lot of other things, he'll happily take the highs and lows, as long as it's with you

[jackarthurdavenport]

Some of my lovely friends asked to show how I do my blending, so here is a very long tutorial! I will explain how to:

Blend GIFs with lots of movement

Blend three or more GIFs on one canvas

You will need:

Any version of Photoshop with a timeline

Basic-intermediate knowledge of GIF making (including cropping, how to use adjustment layers for color correction, applying layer masks, and placing multiple GIFs on one canvas)

Since the way I blend depends on the footage I'm able to work with, I often end up going in a different direction than I first planned. So this isn't a strict step-by-step guide that can be applied to everything you make. These are just some tips!

Read the rest under the cut.

TERMINOLOGY:

(Pretty sure you already know this but I will be repeating these a lot here, so just in case!)

Highlights & Shadows - The highlights are the brightest parts of the image. The shadows are the darkest parts. Remember that just because it's bright doesn't mean it's actually white, and just because it's dark doesn't mean it's actually black!

Negative Space - This refers to empty space around your subject. When there's negative space, it's easier to spot the focal point of the image.

BLENDING GIFS WITH LOTS OF MOVEMENT

Number of GIFs: 2 Main GIF: Closeup of Sam (“big!Sam”) Secondary GIF: Sam flying (“flying!Sam”)

STEP 1: Find the right scenes Since the subject of the secondary GIF is much smaller and basically cuts across the frame, it’s important (but not always essential!) that the main GIF has less movement and a decent amount of negative space.

STEP 2: Make your individual GIFs Make your GIFs like how you usually do (Important: Remember that your GIFs need to have the same number of frames). When it’s time to crop, it’s best to have the two files opened in Photoshop at the same time so you can compare them against each other. It’s absolutely fine for them to overlap because that’s the whole point! The secondary GIF has Sam flying in from the top left to the bottom right, so I cropped the main GIF with him off-center so there would be space to see flying!Sam.

Now we have these two GIFs:

STEP 3: Combine your GIFs Place the secondary GIF over the main one and adjust the blend mode. Setting the blend mode to Screen usually works, but in this case, this is how it looks:

As you can see, the highlights in the main GIF are obscuring flying!Sam in the first frames. You can only see him clearly when he’s flying over big!Sam’s face. This is because the shadows on the top GIF will lighten and/or disappear against the highlights of the bottom GIF when set to Screen. It would be too complicated to fix this with a brush (which we will get to later) because of the movement in the secondary GIF, so instead I set the blending mode to Multiply, which is the opposite of Screen. Now here is the GIF:

We can now see flying!Sam. But the blue of the sky is now a pseudo-filter over big!Sam’s face up until the last frames. So I applied a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer over the secondary GIF to remove those colors. The sky in the GIF is made up of cyans and blues, so I dragged those sliders down to -100. Here is how it looks now:

STEP 4: Erase the bits you don’t want So that big!Sam’s face isn’t covered by flying!Sam’s wings and that pesky airplane up top, we have to use a brush to erase those parts. In the Layers panel, make sure your GIF layers (in this case, groups/folders) are selected and click the Add Layer Mask button. A little rectangle next to the layer/group name will show up like so:

Then in the Tools panel, click the Brush tool, pick a soft brush and set the size to around 180-210px. The larger the brush, the softer the look. I learned this from Becca (@inejz-ghafa) who made an amazing tutorial a while back (will link it in the source at the bottom)! Adjust the brush size if you have to.

Now click on the little rectangle layer mask of the group you want to erase (in this case, the secondary GIF). When you do this, the Foreground and Background Colors buttons in the Tools panel will revert to the default black and white.

Painting with black will erase and painting with white will undo the erasure. So I erased the airplane and the bits of the wings covering his face. I didn’t erase the parts that overlap with his uniform, just to keep the effect of flying!Sam zooming across the GIF. And here is our finished product:

BLENDING THREE OR MORE GIFS ON ONE CANVAS

We will be working with these two GIFs since they use different techniques:

STEP 1: Compose your image Find the scenes you want to put in your GIF and choose which of those is the most important. Once you've decided on that, you can build the rest of the elements around it.

Sam's GIF: Multiple Exposure Effect

Number of GIFs: 3 Main GIF: Bloodied shield Secondary GIF: Closeup of Sam Tertiary GIF: Bucky with the shield

STEP 2: Make your individual GIFs Since the shield is the most important part, I made it the largest GIF and cropped it close to emphasize the star and the blood. I made Sam's GIF the same size, but cropped it with his face off-center so that the star wouldn't completely cover his face. Again, it's totally fine for the images to overlap! The tertiary GIF is the least important so I cropped it smaller. To determine the size of that GIF compared to the shield, I made the Rulers visible (View > Rulers; or Ctrl+R) then clicked the top ruler and dragged down to create a guide to where I wanted the smaller GIF to end. Then I measured from the bottom of the GIF up to the guide to determine the height of the smaller GIF. (Tip: It's better to make the tertiary GIF too large than too small. That way, you have more to work with. So size it larger than it will appear on the final GIF.)

This is only a stylistic choice for this particular set, but I removed the blue from the shield and set the tertiary GIF to black and white, so that the only notable colors in the GIF are red, black and white. Varying up the coloring of each GIF (i.e. color vs. monochrome) adds some spice to the image, so play around with these different styles if you like!

Here are our three GIFs:

STEP 3: Combine your GIFs At first, I made the main GIF of the shield the bottom GIF. Then I placed the secondary GIF over it and set the blend mode to Screen, but found that it lacked depth. So I switched them and made the Sam GIF the bottom GIF (blend mode: Pass Through) and placed the shield GIF (blend mode: Screen) over it. And this is what I got:

Notice how the window behind Sam on the left side is distracting? It also partially obscures the star. So I went back to Sam’s GIF, created a New Layer and painted over the window with a black brush. Now here is our GIF:

This is just my personal preference, but I wanted the area around the star to be a solid black rather than gray, so this time I created a New Layer over the shield GIF and applied a layer of black with the Paint Bucket tool, setting the blend mode to Soft Light. Now we’re done with the main and secondary GIFs:

Now let’s add the last GIF:

STEP 4: Erase the bits you don’t want Lastly, I erased the warehouse rafters over Sam’s face and a bit of his shirt and the warehouse floor on the bottom right corner using Layer Masks and a soft brush (like in the first tutorial). And we’re done!

Bucky's GIF: Silhouette Effect

Number of GIFs: 3 Main GIF: Bucky holding the notebook Secondary GIF: View of the sunrise from the boat Tertiary GIF: Sam and Bucky walking away

STEP 2: Make your individual GIFs To achieve this silhouette effect, the main GIF needs to have a clear focal point, which means it’s better to have negative space around the subject and for there to be minimal movement. In this case, the subject is made up of Bucky’s hands, notebook, and part of his shirt; and there’s some movement but we can still work with that. The other two GIFs will then be placed “inside” the subject. Because the negative space in the main GIF consists of highlights, I chose a secondary GIF which emphasized the shadows. For the smallest GIF, I used a guide like in the previous tutorial to measure its size.

We have these three GIFs:

STEP 3: Combine your GIFs Place the secondary GIF over the main one. In my case, I didn’t measure it right so I had to nudge the top GIF a bit to the right to fit it inside the silhouette. The important thing is that the edge of the secondary GIF should not overlap with the silhouette itself, or else the illusion “breaks.”

Now let’s add the third GIF:

STEP 4: Erase the bits you don’t want For this GIF, there’s a lot we need to erase! Using Layer Masks and a soft brush again, erase the parts of the secondary GIF that extend beyond the silhouette. It’s entirely based on personal preference if you want to keep some parts of the secondary GIF outside the silhouette (like I did here) or if you want them completely removed. And for the small GIF, erase the edges for it to blend with the secondary GIF while also staying within the silhouette of the main one.

Now here is our finished GIF:

And that’s it! If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading. I hope this was useful! Remember, there is no definitive way to blend GIFs, so keep experimenting. And don’t be afraid to make mistakes either, because we learn a lot from those. Happy Photoshop-ing!

- Elle