#I will find and photoshop it later but I don’t feel like it right now

[sanshofox]

Artists getting sad after the „who’s the artist, what’s your age“ trend thing on socials. They see many of them being a very young age with already good skills.

Here my try for words of comfort: consider the differences when you grew up and how the younger gens grew up. Nowadays there‘s easier access to tools, gadgets and knowledge with faster paced society.

With better developed internet you can find all kinds of references, tutorials, brushes and whatnot to help you developing your skills or to get a better understanding of how each skill works (if traditional, crafting, digital and more). And now you have all kinds of places to share your stuff on and be part of a community that share the same interest for art and even can give feedback. Artists now using the internet as a platform to earn money and showing their how-to’s. What I would have given as a kid and teen to have that through a „simple mouse click“.

I remember back then when not every household had internet and even if, it wasn’t stable nor fast. You only had a few sites to visit, that you knew were save to go on, and even less sites when it came to art. I remember one german art site and years later on deviantart (and both were in their very toxic era back then. Very closed off at times and tutorials being seen like a „do not reveal the secret to it“ magic trick kinda vibe).

It was hard to find out about stuff because we didn‘t have that global connectivity and marketing etc that exists now to discover things.

And also being „limited“ as a kid and teen on what you could use. Nothing that was right at hand was digital. So you couldn’t experiment with media types for example. So no vast library on tools that imitate all kinds of things, i.e. brushes in procreate. Everything needed to be made traditionally with what you had. I remember I had two of those how to draw anime artbooks (and back then it were two out of very few options actually), pencils and a few copics. You had to make the most of it.

Photoshop you had to use by mouse and was veeery costly (one software CD cost over 2k). I think wacom tablets weren’t a thing until my late teens?? 🤔

And please don’t take this as a rant, I am actually feeling rather nostalgic about it. Those how to draw anime books were hilarious when I think about them now haha. I think I still might have one?? 👀 And I still have those very first copic markers 🥰

It doesn’t matter how you started or what age you are comapred to others. That you keep on making art is what counts. Skill needs to be developed, but passion and creativity/imagination comes from yourself. Skill isn’t what keeps you on doing it, but the love for it is.

[tawaifeddiediaz]

gradient text tutorial

This tutorial is for @ladynephthyss​​ but y’all can have it too xD

We’ll be adding text so the final gif looks like this:

This tutorial assumes basic knowledge of gif-making, Photoshop, and coloring. I’ve only described the text tutorial in this.

Tutorial under the cut:

Couple things to note beforehand:

There is a lot of trial and error involved when doing any sort of text, and this is no exception! You might have to play around with the colors and the settings before you find something that looks good and readable!

This tutorial is inspired by the difference text effect in these tutorials: one and two by @anya-chalotra​ (highly recommend checking those out!), just done a different way.

This text effect works better on big gifs (540px width) that have quite a bit of movement below the text so you get that effect.

Find fonts that have bold shapes or some width to them, so you can see the movement.

This is my starting gif, after sharpening and coloring.

First, I position my text where I want it. (this can be moved around later, I just like to get an idea). Remember what I said about fonts? Try to use ones that are thick for this effect so you can see the gradient/movement underneath the letters. I’m using Intro. 

It doesn’t matter what color the text is at this stage, I just do white text so I can see it:

Then, add a gradient map in the color you want your text to be. For this one, I chose black and purple. The more contrast there is in your colors, the better it looks. You’ll be able to change this later though, if you don’t like the way it looks. 

This is how it looks with the gradient map:

Now, we’re going to go over into our layers panel, and where we have the white box (the layer box), we’re going to select and delete that...

...so it looks like this:

Then, while pressing Ctrl, we’re going to hover our mouse over the T in our text layer. Your cursor should show a white box with a dotted border. Press the T in the text with the specialized cursor, and you should get a dotted line all around the letters, like so: 

(I’m not able to get a screenshot of the cursor for some reason but I hope the instruction made it clear!)

Then, make sure you have your gradient map layer selected, and press the layer mask button (shown by a white arrow in the below image - it looks like a white rectangle with a black circle in the middle.)

This is what it should look like:

Right now, it’ll look like some solid color (which depends on your gradient). This is because we still have the text layer visible. Once we press the eye icon next to the actual text layer to hide it, you can see that this is what it looks like:

(You can also delete the text layer, but I don’t, just because if I decide to put these two words on two lines, or change their spacing or whatever, I don’t want to have to make a new layer. I can just edit that one before re-masking.)

As you play your gif, you’ll see that this is what the whole movement looks like:

You can see that the movement of him lifting the glass to drink his tea shows through the text, too. Almost like a weird color X-ray type thing, where the lighter color shows on darker shades of the gif, and the darker color shows on the lighter part of the gif.

Note: sometimes, depending on the way your gradient is made, you might get text that looks like the picture below. Just hit the reverse button (shown with a white arrow), and you should get the text looking like it does above.

This is the basic way to do it. Now, we can easily edit this, if we feel like there’s too much purple and not enough black. To do that, we go into the gradient, and change the slider positions of the colors. This is purely an aesthetic preference, but I’ll show you how to do it below:

For example, I moved those sliders so there’s more black and less purple, and the gradient feels more like two colors only, instead of all the various hues of dark purple/gray-purple. 

This is what the gif looks like:

In the gif before this one, the black was more of a muted gray. In the one directly above, you can see that it looks much more striking. So play around with that until you find something you like. 

It still doesn’t look very visible to me, so I’m going to add a drop shadow underneath (again, this is a preference thing). You’d do it just like you would with a regular text layer. Right click the Gradient Map layer and select Blending Options. Add a drop shadow.

This is what mine looks like:

And that’s it! You can keep playing around with the whole thing until you’re happy with it. You can even keep changing the color, and the great thing about that is you’ll be able to preview it as you change it to see what works with your scene. For example, I tried white and black text here:

And that’s it! Feel free to drop me an ask if anything’s confusing! Happy giffing!

[eliotbaum]

FAQ

I made an FAQ about Commissions, online store, brushes etc here a while ago! I'll do a more informative pinned post for people who access tumblr only from their dash, so please refer to the FAQ here under the cut.

What program do you use?

I use Adobe Photoshop CC and Procreate. Photoshop for painting and colouring, Procreate for sketching and inks. 

What brushes do you use?

I can’t share most brushes since I bought them ages ago and don’t have the source for them anymore, sorry. For Photoshop, I use flat or rake brushes, and one flat, calligraphy-like one that tilts with pen sensitivity, and an airbrush that has some kind of grainy paintspray effect. For Procreate, I most commonly use Max Ulichney brushes for textury brushes, standard procreate pencil brushes and Joe’s Fine Ink Line for inks. 

Do you do commissions?

Not right now, no. If I do, I’ll announce it, but on Patreon first. 

Do you have a patreon?

Yes, you can find it here. Support is much appreciated. 💛 

Do you have an online store?

Yes, thought it’s currently closed. Will reopen hopefully in 2024, for abouth a month. Later half of the year more likely.

What’s Heart of Gold? 

Heart of Gold is a mystery/drama webcomic with overarching religious themes that revolves around the tenuous relationship which grows between the main characters Dunant and Ionel.

Is Heart of Gold on Hiatus? Will I be able to purchase volume 1 and 2 in print someday? 

Yes, it’s on hiatus. We sell volume 1 at conventions, and will do our best to sell it online as well. There are some plans for volume 2 in print.

What about your Curse of Strahd campaign/CoS art?

I love to share about our campaign! I have an artbook about it, or rather, the relationship between my PC Kasper and the NPC Lydia. I’d like to make a 2nd volume of it, and maybe something more gen too in print. Feel free to ask… Hoping to do more stuff for it, as always with a big LydiaKasper & Fiona focus haha

How do you color/do you pick your colors?

Honestly, I just experiment a lot. Use the color wheel! Look at how other artists you like use colors! This helps me more than anything. This, and curves sometimes. I’ve been planning to do a tutorial for patreon for a while now, but haven’t gotten around it yet.

What pronouns do you use?

They/Them and He/Him.

[famousfilmsfan]

Bryan and Jons Dyanamic was never explored often so I decided to give them one.

Kinds hyperfixated on this

Part 1:

Jon: You really let me drop out of college for no reason?

Bryan: I was honestly convinced you would cut me if I did.

Jon: I can’t believe how horrible I was to everybody.

Bryan: yeah, and you constantly claim I play the victim.

Jon: Shut up.

Bryan: Make me.

Jon: *chuckles* this is nice. To actually talk like two friends, no yelling at eachother

Bryan: Yeah.

Jon; So..did you actually try to contact me before evil bryan took over?

Bryan: every day, I got hung up on, two fake wrong numbers and one f*ck your mother.

Jon: Damn. Sorry Bryan.

Bryan: Yeah...my mom is a b!tch though.

Jon: Oh good that wasn't my condition, she is the worst, like every hallmark villain rolled into one

Bryan: Hey! That’s my mom you’re talking about!

Jon: B-but you said.

Bryan: Hey only a son can talk bad about his mom.…but yeah she is a hallmark villain

Jon: Hmmm I have an idea

Bryan: Wanna pitch the movie idea to Hallmark and make more money?

Jon: Hell yeah!

Part 2:

Bryan and Jon we're sitting by the pool. Bryan in red trunks and a t-shirt and Jon….

Bryan: Is that a speedo?

Jon: Yeah?

Bryan: You know only athletes and pervs wear those in public right?

Jon: Hey! I’m pretty well built!

Bryan: Well…

Jon: Says the guy who photo shops abs onto himself.

Bryan: I don’t photoshop.

Jon: Prove it

Bryan takes his shirt off revealing abs.

Jon: What the? How!

Bryan: The twisted really made me an active person. I mean I jumped over a ten-foot wall. When have you done that?

Jon:…decent point.

Bryan puts his shirt back on and lays down.

Part 3

Bryan and Jon, we're on a vacation together away from Fazbears. They told the animatronics they were going to a conference so they wouldn't follow.

Jon: So Bryan how did you find this place?

Bryan: Online, said they were having a deal on rooms.

Jon: Uh. Bryan have you noticed how there are only men here

Bryan: Huh? *looks around* Oh didn't notice

Jon: Bryan…show me the website.

Bryan showed the website to Jon on his phone

Jon: Bryan…this is a hotel for gay couples

Bryan: What? *looks at it* Oh that explains the double bed in our room

Jon: You think? We’re not a couple!

Bryan: Well not anymore but maybe *smirks*

Jon:….What does that mean?

Bryan: Well we did used to date. Remember?

Jon; Uhhh?

Bryan: First year of college? We had Friday date nights

Jon: We just hung out together.

Bryan: We shared dessert!

Jon; Because we were broke

Bryan: You were broke. I was a trust fund baby. *puts on sunglasses and smirks* Baby.

Jon: You’ve been waiting for that weren't you?

Bryan: *embarrassed* Very much yeah.

Bryan, throwing his head into Jon's lap: Tell me I'm pretty!

Jon, lovingly stroking his hair: You're pretty f*cking annoying, that's what you are.

Part 4

*Jon and Bryan are in Paris.*

Jon: I'm...moved. I...I don't know what it is I'm feeling right now. I feel...destiny?

Bryan: But...

Jon: I don't know what it is. I feel like... I just never thought I'd see it with my own two eyes. And here it is. It's just there. It's right in front of me, and...

Bryan: This is what you wanted to see? The bridge from Inception?

Jon: Yeah.

Bryan: But the Eiffel Tower is behind us, babe.

Jon: Yeah, but this is the bridge FROM INCEPTION.

Bryan: Okay, alright.

Part 6

Bryan: You’re giving me a sticker?

Jon: Not just a sticker. That is a sticker of a kitty saying “me-wow!”

Bryan: I’m not a preschooler.

Jon: Fine, I’ll take it back-

Bryan: I earned this, back off!

Part 7

Bryan: Jon can you call the Glamrocks they’re not listening to me

Jon: Bryan i’m not their mom.

Bryan: At least try.

Jon: fine…guys! Get over here!

*Immediately the Glamrocks all line up behind Jon like ducklings*

Jon: Uhh.

Bryan: Awwww!

Part 8

Jon: Davis hand me your sewing kit

Davis: I don't have one

Jon: You don't have one in your pocket?

Davis: No because i’m not a 50’s housewife

Later!

Jon: Hey Bryan do you have a sewing kit on you?

Bryan: Yeah i’m not an animal

Jon: Davis I can pick this lock. I need a Bobby pin

Davis: Okay…oh yeah I don't have one i’m not a nine year old girl.

Jon: Bryan?

Bryan: *holding four of them* Which size?

Part 9:

Jon; Vindi.

Vendi: Jonathen.

Bryan:….Bryan!

Jon and Vendi stare at him

Jon and Vendi: *thinking* God why do I love this man?

Part 10:

Vendi: *on his knees with a ring and orchids* Bryan my dear I love you so much, ever since you entered my office and I saw those gorgeous eyes please I beg you. Marry me?

Jon: *on his knees next to him with a ring and roses* Bryan please, i’ve known you for years and I fell in love with you over the years, every action makes you even more adorable in my eyes. Marry me please?

Bryan: *panicking. Can’t break Jons heart but also can’t break Vendis*

Jon: so?

Bryan: Maybe…all three of us could work it out?

Jon:….

Vendi:…..

Later!

Vendi Jon and Bryan were in bed together, Jon on Bryans left and Vindi on his right.

Bryan: *internally* I can’t believe that worked.

(wow I just made Bryan poly….i don’t regret that)

[whenemmafalls]

this was requested by a few people so, without further ado, below the cut i’ll explain how to make an edit of the eras tour poster like the ones that can be found here. i’ve seen different versions of these floating around twitter/tiktok/etc for a while but let’s be honest..the picsart ones don’t look as cute. i use photoshop 2020, but older versions should work just fine since this edit doesn’t involve anything too fancy!

now, i started with the original poster and carefully removed all of the images to create a base template that i’ve used for all the posters since. i don’t really feel like explaining how to do that because it feels kinda unnecessary when i can just link it to you. so go ahead and start by downloading my base template, which you can find here. 

once you have that open, you’ll want to gather your images. you’ll need nine images that should be at least 300x300px in dimension and one much larger image to serve as the center png. how big this needs to be depends how large the subject of the photo is, but it should probably be around 2000px. keep in mind that the subject shouldn’t be too wide either, or else it will block the surrounding photos when you try to position it. for example, the below image wouldn’t be a good option because her arm would cover at least one of the other eras.

once you have your photos picked out, you’re gonna want to drag the nine smaller ones into the document and crop/scale/position them so that there’s one in each square. remember that the template layer should be above the photo layers so that they’re contained within the frame. once you’ve done that, it should look something like this:

now it’s outlining time. first, make a new transparent layer and place that between the photo layers and the template layer. it’s really REALLY important that you remember to always paint on this transparent layer and NOT directly on the photos, as we want to be able to edit the photos later without also editing the borders. i used a website like this to find the color codes of the backgrounds on the original poster, so i’ll just put them here for you:

debut: #bcd5b8 fearless: #f4cb8a speak now: #cfb6d4 red: #a45865 1989: #c0e6f9 rep: #5f5c57 lover: #f8bad3 folklore: #d3d0c9 evermore: #ceb69c

you’re gonna want to select the paintbrush tool and set it to 20px and choose the “soft round” setting in the general brushes folder (this will make sure that you don’t have any harsh edges). then, change the color of the brush to whichever era you’re starting with, using the hex codes above. now you’re ready to go in and start painting! on your transparent layer, outline the edges of the subject of your first photo. you don’t have to be super precise with this because the soft edges allow for more error!

once you’ve done that, go ahead and change the brush setting back to hard round in order to fill in the surrounding edges, like so:

and voilà! pretty easy, right? now you just have to do that eight more times for each era, using the corresponding hex code for your brush color. and again, ALWAYS REMEMBER TO PAINT EVERYTHING ON THAT TRANSPARENT LAYER!!! pro tip: you can use the rectangular marquee tool to contain the square of the era that you’re working with so you don’t have to worry about staying inside the lines. once you’ve done that, it should look something like this (just ignore that the reputation background is too light, i used the wrong color and didn’t notice until later):

ok now you’re gonna want to download this lovely psd pack in order to color the photos (you could also color them yourself, but i’m bad at coloring so i took the easy way out). open that up, and drag the first one over for whichever era you’re starting with. position it so that it’s directly above the corresponding era’s photo and then right-click the psd and select “ungroup layers” (you wanna do this because you won’t be able to create a clipping mask from grouped layers). then, with all the layers of the psd selected, you’re gonna wanna right-click and select “create clipping mask.” this should make it so that the filter is only visible on that era’s photo. now just repeat that process for each era! once you’ve done that, you should have eras-colored filters over each image, like so:

now it’s png time! i’m not gonna explain how to make a png here because it would take too long and i’m such a perfectionist that the way i make pngs would probably get me locked up. however, here’s a really useful, in-depth tutorial on the subject if you’ve never made one before. go ahead and make your png and drag it into the document once you’re done. scale/resize/crop the png so that it fits nicely in the center of the document (and remember that this should be the topmost layer at this point, right above the template layer, so that it’s visible). it should look something like this now:

now you’re gonna do the same thing for the center psd that you did for all the other eras, by creating a clipping mask from the “midnights” era filter:

now all that’s left is the text! you have a few options for this part depending on what kind of edit you’re making. for the eras edit series, i made a png of each album title and positioned that in the center, like this:

i’ve also seen a lot of people making edits of these for their pets/grandparents/themselves, in which case you probably want to put a name of some sort in there. i made a sample of this to show you. first, you’re gonna want to download this font. it’s not the exact font from the poster because that one costs money, but this one looks almost exactly the same once you stretch it vertically. once you’ve installed the font, make a new text layer and write whatever word you want. change the font size until it roughly matches that of the surrounding words (remembering that it won’t be as tall). then, right click the text layer and select “convert to smart object” so that you can stretch it and then select edit > transform > warp. a number of dots should appear around the text, which will allow you to pull the top and bottom edges of the word so that it looks as tall as the original font. once it roughly matches the poster font, press enter to exit out of warp mode. the text will also look blacker than what's on the poster, so just right click on the text layer/smart object, select “blending options,” and reduce the opacity until it matches. this is what i got:

now you could stop there, but i like to mess with it a little (bc perfectionist) and go back and tinker with the paintbrush/clean up the edges and alter the brightness/contrast so that the images match each other a little better. after doing all that (and fixing the rep background color), this is what i ultimately ended up with (i also changed some of the images cause i didn’t like them):

and that’s pretty much all there is to it! i’ve never made a tutorial before so idk if i explained too much or didn’t explain enough but please please feel free to message me if you have any questions/require further clarification on anything!!! ok thanks bye!:)

[allyanaleizel]

Hello, internet!

I have a confession to make. I find Instagram too overwhelming now with all the reels and the algorithm. Twitter (now named X) feels like a graveyard. I feel a bit uncomfortable to put my life on TikTok. I don’t think I have the following to start a newsletter. I know I’m not eloquent enough to write amazing things on Medium or Substack. So, where do I go?

Here I am, in the platform where I basically started and learned how to express my creativity. The good ‘ol Tumblr blog. A lot of things have definitely changed and there’s a bit of learning curve into navigating the interface again. I do, however, find some comfort in feeling like I’m just talking to myself. No number of real-time views, no algorithm, and not a single care whether or not I gain followers.

It’s been almost a decade since I last used Tumblr seriously. I know it’s dramatic to say, but this place is truly where I discovered my skills and passion. There was a time when doodles were a thing and I became that girl in high school who would just doodle during math class. I would get scolded by my teachers but it never really bothered me. I also remember getting into coding my own Tumblr themes, that’s why until now some basic CSS/HTML is ingrained into my brain. I learned how to use Photoshop, Paint Tool SAI, etc. I got into digital photography because everyone else on my feed was doing it. Even though I had the most beginner friendly DSLR, I treasured it the most up until college. Basically, I was a sponge. Anything that piques my creative interest, I would always try my best to learn something about it.

10 years later.

Sometimes when we look at our current self and where we are now, we tend to overlook the progress we’ve made throughout the years. Writing this somehow makes me smile. Because even though I know deep down that I’m not a hundred percent satisfied with who I am at the moment, I know that the person I described in my last paragraph is extremely proud of our progress. I wish I could tell her that we graduated at our dream university with flying colors and best solo thesis award. I wish I could tell her about the projects we’ve done and that we have a published children’s book locally. Lastly, I wish I could tell her that the things that made her feel “weird” in high school is now her part of her career that funds her bills, little travels, and dates with self & friends.

I am, by no means, saying that I am successful by society’s standard. There are boxes in my artist career checklist written 5 years ago that I no longer what to pursue. I am the kind of person who believes that success is defined by one’s self, and it’s not only limited to career but your life as a whole.

The shift.

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you might’ve read a couple of stories I’ve shared about struggling with burnout and finding motivation to create personal art again. At first I was convinced that it was just a creative burnout. But, a burnout can’t possibly last for years, right? 😅 My second theory is that maybe deep down I wanted to just prioritize having a creative day job, since it brings in money to pay the bills. My last theory is how I feel like I’ve associated my creativity to my emotions, and that I could only create when I’m really going through something. (Like a heartbreak or during the peak of the panini.) And since I’m at my happiest state, I no longer feel the need to escape through art.

Whether it’s a burnout or something else, I do believe that I’m just taking my time. Quoting Ursula from Kiki’s Delivery Service, "Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you’ll be flying again.”

I don’t want to put myself in a box.

When you have a lot of interests, it’s kind of difficult to find an outlet for all the things that you want do. The internet advice always seem to tell you to “find a niche and stick with it.” But…what if I don’t want to? I really thought my dream was to become an independent illustrator, but somehow I found myself enjoying design too. As I described earlier, I am the kind of person who likes to explore anything that piques her creative interest — and this took me a while to fully embrace. Throughout the years, I also learned that I have non-creative skills that can thrive in a workplace such as team & project management. So why put myself in a box when there’s so much more out there that I can try out?

I still have a lot to figure out, but I’m slowly trying to get back to things I enjoy doing. I’m just really calm and happy right now being the most basic adult with her day job on weekdays and doing her silly little chores on weekends.

Whew, this is one lengthy post. Maybe I am a yapper, after all. Haha! But I do hope to share more of my life and thoughts here. If you’re still reading this, thank you and I hope you have a great rest of your day!

All love and sunshine,

Allyana

[raypakorn]

Making Horror! Gifs

so @billlkin​ asked for me to share my technique for making the gifs for my horror series sets. i will be honest that i just kind of play in photoshop a lot and my technique isn’t always the same because sometimes i find something that works better for some of the gifs but this is the steps i took to make this gif:

in this tutorial, i do assume that you have basic photoshop knowledge and know how to adjust layers and color a gif.

this is also my first tutorial so if i don’t explain something well enough, sorry! but feel free to send me an ask and i’ll try to explain it more thoroughly.

the first step is to pick a scene (i always look for one that you think looks like in a different scenario would fit the horror genre) and color the gif (you may have to adjust some of it later on)

 once the base is colored, i look for an image to use as a textured overlay. generally, i use unsplash and i’ll search for smoke, grunge, or horror for this set i used this image and i set the settings to multiply and erased enough so i could see ayan’s face

with the overlay in i move on to placing a gradient map layer (making it red and gray) which i set to hue and take the opacity down to either 70% or below, depends on how red i want it

when i did this ayan’s face was pretty much just gray, so in some effort to bring back some color to his face i added in a hue/saturation layer just over gif layer

as you can see the gif isn’t all that red and more a purplish color, so i added in another gradient map, made the red lighter and set it to color and again i took the opacity down to my liking

 i liked the red over ayan but the sides still needed to be darker in my opinion so i placed in two gradient fill layers set at color. i angled them so they would sort of meet in the middle but not cover up ayan

with the gif having the redness i wanted i added in my dust fx overlay. you can find most of those youtube. you just have to use 4k to convert them. the one i used is here. i set it to screen and turn down the opacity to anything below 50.

really in the home stretch now. the next step is how i sort of give the red outline. so you duplicate the gif and set it lighten. you’ll see that you have to line it back up with the original but i always do it a little off to the side so the red outline will show.

to achieve the red outline, you right-click on the duplicate gif and choose blending options up at the top. when the screen opens, you look for advanced blending in the middle and uncheck the G & B boxes and it should give you a red square in the preview.

all that is left to do now it to make ayan pop a little more, so i once again do two gradient fill layers but this time with black, i set them to soft light.

my last step for really any gif i make is to have a levels layer on top to brighten or darken the gif as i please because to me it also always makes the gif more vibrant.

and you’re done! as i said if you don’t understand a step and need me to go into more detail feel free to send an ask <3

[gleekto]

Klaine Advent 2022: Chemistry Sucks (9/?)

Summary: Nerd!Kurt/ Popular!Blaine high school AU - Kurt joins Glee club in his junior year to please his dad, though he’d rather just hide out in the library until he can graduate and get out of Lima.

Turns out he’s not the only gay kid in town. Too bad the other out gay kid is cocky and popular senior, Blaine Anderson. Sure of himself, gets all the solos, things served to him on a platter. Kurt finds him shallow and infuriating.

Blaine finds Kurt square and irritating.

Yet at a party one night, they promise to sleep together if they don’t have other opportunities by the end of the year. A dare. Naturally competitive spirits.

Day 1, Day 2,Day 3, Day 4, Day 5, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8

Chemistry Sucks (Day 9: Value)

Kurt isn't exactly sure why this dumb competitive bet with Blaine has so drastically shifted the dynamic between them, but somehow since Regionals, Blaine has gone from not wanting to be associated with the nerdy gay junior to his BFF. Or maybe not quite his BFF, but Blaine sure does text him a lot.

Or maybe it wasn't the bet. Maybe it was the winning duet. Kurt having proved himself an asset rather than a liability to the ultra-competitive leader of the Glee club. The unpredicted value of a Regionals victory to his social life. Regardless, Kurt is apparently suddenly very textworthy.

Today alone, his phone hasn't stopped buzzing. Even during class.

B: Are you taking history next year?

K: IDK. I haven't decided yet?

B: Try to avoid Ms Pattinson. The worst. Dry and a lot of work.

K: Sounds like chemistry.

B: Come on, chemistry can be fun ;)

Kurt honestly has no idea how to respond so he just leaves it.

Then an hour later -

B: Do you think they'll give us another duet at nationals?

K: You sure have a lot of questions today. I don't know. You'll get something though don't worry, leading man.

B: I'm serious. We sounded great together. You could help us win.

K: I feel so used.

B: No. I mean you were great too.

K: Thanks?

B: That sounded cocky sorry.

K: When have you ever apologized for being cocky?

And just when Kurt was finished his nightly moisturizing routine, ready for bed, his phone buzzes again and he just knows it's Blaine. Again. He rolls his eyes but feels a twinge of he doesn't want to even think of what -

B: Do you think Harry Styles is hot?

Another important conversation that needs to be had right now.

K: He's straight.

B: So? And no, I think he's bi.

K: I've learned not to fawn over straight guys. Don't get your hopes up.

B: I do not think Harry Styles would be in to me. I just think he's hot.

K: Glad you've maintained your grip on reality.

B: I think lots of guys are hot.

K: Not just photoshopped celebrities?

B: No seriously. I appreciate real guys too.

K: Sam?

B: Like my best friend, Sam?...Yeah, he's hot. But don't tell him ok?

K: He would be flattered.

B: Oh I know. Just don't want him to get a big head.

K: Of course I won't tell him.

B: Like you've never thought your friends were hot.

K: Worse. I used to have a terrible crush on Finn. Now he's my stepbrother.

B: Yikes. You win. Finn is pretty good looking though.

K: Him too?

B: I told you, I think lots of guys are hot.

K: Artie, Puck, Mike?

B: In that nerdy-hot kind of way, I'm not really one for the bad boys, and Mike is definitely hot.

K: True. Well you pretty much have a crush on all the guys in the Glee club.

B: You missed one.

K: Seriously?

B: Are you fishing? And no crushes. Just physical appreciation.

K: I never fish.

B: Well I think you're hot too.

Kurt is relieved this is all on text so Blaine can't see how clammy his hands are and the unintentional smile plastered on his face.

K: You're not so bad yourself.

B: That's a relief.

K: ?

B: I mean if we end up sleeping together, I hear it works better that way.

K: Mutual physical appreciation.

B: Exactly. Leads to better outcomes.

K: We're stopping this right now Blaine.

B: ...

B: Goodnight Kurt.

K: Goodnight. No more texting.

B: Until tomorrow.

K: Fine.

[korgbelmont]

Noah Harris x Gabriela Adalhard

Part 2

Noah's world has just been changed in ways he could never have imagined.

Written in the present tense

Part 1

Warnings: Drugging, blood

Word Count: 1526

Notes: I don’t own these characters, they are the property of Pixelberry Studios.

Harris part of title made on photoshop

In this, Immortal Desires MC (Charlie) is with Cassius Harlow while My Two First Loves MC (Emma) is with Mason and Ava is with an original character called Sarah

Noah falls back and pushes himself back as Gabriela runs at the wolf creature. The creature swipes it's clawed hand at her, however she catches it with ease, pushing back. Cas and Charlie arrive and Charlie pulls Noah away while Cas goes to help Gabriela.

Charlie - Come on, we need to get you out of here.

Noah looks up to see that their eyes are the same silver shade that Gabriela's are.

Noah - What are you people?

Charlie - Talk later, run now. And, uh, hold you breath.

Noah does so and Charlie takes Noah away from the fight. Next thing he knows, he is outside Gabriela's with Charlie.

Noah - How...?

Charlie takes a breath and their eyes return to normal.

Charlie - We're Vampires. Cas, Gabe, and I.

Noah - I...

Charlie - I know this is a lot.

Noah - What about that thing?

Charlie - No idea.

Cas - But we have a feeling.

Cas and Gabriela join Charlie at either side. Gabriela places her hands on Noah's shoulders, concerned.

Gabriela - Are you alright?

Noah - I don't know.

Gabriela - I'll answer all your questions.

She turns to Cas and Charlie.

Gabriela - But right now, we need to call the Elders at gather them at the Nexus.

Cas - I'll speak to Astoria in the morning.

Noah - But what about that wolf?

Cas - Disappeared. Annoyingly.

Gabriela - All we can do now is rest and wait for our chance.

Cas and Charlie nod before heading off. Gabriela turns back to Noah and leads him inside. Inside, he sits down on the couch and runs a hand through his hair. Taking a seat next to him, Gabriela tries to find the best place to start.

Gabriela - So... What do you want to know?

Noah - I don't know where to start?

Gabriela - Take as long as you need.

After a few moments, Noah seems to relax a bit.

Noah - Do you know what that thing was?

Gabriela - It was a Werewolf. At least, I'm pretty sure it was. First time I've seen one.

Noah - Vampires, Werewolves... My brain hurts.

Gabriela - You'll adjust in your own time.

As the night passes into early morning, Gabriela answers all of Noah's questions about Vampires. How they can walk in the sun, the ley lines, their weakness for silver and much more.

The following morning, Noah stares up at the ceiling, having got hardly any sleep and still thinking about everything that happened the night before.

Noah - (No, can't just lie here anymore.)

He gets out of bed but freezes at the sound of voices outside. Once they go silent, he takes the chance, but the door is pushed open and someone puts Noah in an armlock as another puts something over his mouth and his vision soon blurs before blacking out completely.

Coming to, Noah finds himself in some sort of dungeon. He pushes himself up onto his feet and finds Cas stood on the other side of the bars.

Cas - Welcome back.

Noah - What the hell happened?

Cas - Something that shouldn't. We spoke to one of the Elders and they she didn't like the idea of another human knowing. They're currently debating what to do with you.

Noah - What about the Werewolf? Surely that's more important if it's in Vamp territory.

Cas - Adalhard gave you a history lesson then.

Noah - Yeah.

Charlie walks in and gives Noah a regretful look.

Charlie - You alright?

Noah - Not the first time I've been behind bars.

Charlie - You'll need to give them reason to spare you. Lewyn and Astoria especially. Lewyn can see logic. Even if he is an asshole who would sacrifice without second thought.

Noah - And Astoria?

Cas - Stand up to her.

Charlie - Gabriela's been fighting for you since they brought you here.

Noah smiles as he turns his back for a moment, wracking his mind around it all.

Noah - Alright.

Cas looks over and nods and two guards come over to open the cell up. They take Noah by the arms and lead him into a room with multiple people Noah assumes to be Vampires talking.

Astoria - ...chance a Pack is trying to move into Crimson Beech.

Lewyn - We have to consider all options. There's every chance the Knights of Ossory have begun using Werewolves. Plus the Hunt's Peak Pack is the closest and maybe looking to remove any potential threat.

Astoria - Use the thing they hunt? Please.

The room falls silent as Noah is brought to the centre.

Lewyn - Welcome to the Nexus, Mr. Harris.

Noah - (I'm guessing that's Lewyn. Which would make her Astoria.)

Lewyn - I hope you have good reasoning on why we should let you live.

Noah - Because if I turn up dead or disappear, people are going to come looking for me. And they know where I am.

Astoria - We could just turn you and keep you here.

Noah - Except then, you lose a chance to get rid of the Werewolf.

Genevieve - And what exactly can you offer, young man?

Noah - I can travel to get information. Outside of Crimson Beech. Let me find a Pack and see what they know.

Genevieve looks over at the two Coven heads.

Genevieve - He has a point. He could prove useful.

Lewyn and Astoria stare at each other for a moment, as if they were having a telepathic conversation. Noah looks behind to see Gabriela giving him a hopeful smile.

Lewyn - Very well. We'll allow you to get this information for us.

Noah's shoulders sag as he breathes a sigh of relief. Gabriela, Cas, and Charlie join him. Gabriela gives him a hug that he returns for a moment before they step back.

Gabriela - I know where to start.

Charlie - Chamber of Laws?

Gabriela - Exactly.

Cas - Research. Yay.

Gabriela leads them through to an ancient looking library filled with scrolls and tomes.

Gabriela - See if you can find anything on Werewolves.

Cas and Charlie head to different sections while Noah remains with Gabriela.

Noah - Charlie said that you were fighting for me.

Gabriela - They don't like it when humans discover the truth. I was explaining the truth to them.

Noah - Thank you.

Gabriela - Of course. Now come on. We have work to do. Let's try over here.

The four spend a couple hours going through scrolls and tomes with no luck. Except for Noah as he takes it as a chance to learn more about the world and the history of Vampires.

Charlie - Here!

Cas, Gabriela, and Noah join Charlie where they see that they have a tome with a drawing of almost exactly what they saw.

Charlie - Werewolves are protectors of Primal Magic. But they've been hunted down by an organisation called the knights of Ossory.

Gabriela - I've heard of them...

Noah turns to see her looking down.

Gabriela - My ancestors worked with them to hunt down Vampires for a period.

Cas - Shocker.

Noah shoots Cas a glare and he rolls his eyes.

Charlie - Anyway. There's a Pack not too far from here. Place called Hunt's Peak. One of the few left. But it seems like they managed to drive out the knights a couple years ago going by this entry made by Astoria.

Noah - Guess I know where I'm going.

Gabriela - You'll need proof of us. Look here.

She points to another entry about Hunt's Peak.

'While we are aware of Werewolves, it would seem that it is not vice versa for the Hunt's Peak Werewolves as we know they have no knowledge of Vampires.'

Cas - I can sort that.

Without another word, Cas takes off, leaving the three of them with the tome.

Gabriela - What else does it say?

Charlie - They have two forms. A wolf form and a Primal form.

Cas returns and hands Noah a vial filled with a red liquid.

Noah - Is that...

Cas - My blood. Let them have a sniff and they'll believe you.

Noah - Thanks.

Cas - I have one more thing.

Cas reaches into his pocket and hands Noah a couple keys.

Cas - You know how to ride a motorcycle?

Noah - Yeah.

Cas - Take mine. You won't have as much of a risk of getting stuck in traffic.

Noah takes the key and stuffs it in his pocket.

Noah - Thanks.

With a plan set, they return to the Nexus. On the way, Charlie looks at the maps on their phone and hands it to Noah.

Charlie - About ten hours to get there. You'll need at least three days.

Noah - Great.

Returning to the main chamber of the Nexus, they present their plan to the Elders.

Astoria - Very well. You have three days.

Noah - Thank you.

Astoria - But if you try to run, you will be hunted down.

Noah - I won't run.

[substituted-shinigami]

Writing Update: Creative Corner April 2023

Welcome back to “Writing Updates”, which I’m thinking of renaming to Creative Corner, but uh we’ll see! (I tend to go back and forth on these things😅) My thought process is that instead of doing the “Good News/Bad News” format I’ve done in the past, I’m going to do a “Writing Corner” and an “Art Corner” instead. I’ll try it out and see how I feel about it. Anyway, let’s get on with the news!

TL:DR Version: I’m taking this month off…kind of. Last month was busy, but really fun!😁 This month was busy, but uh, not at all fun…long story.😅 Anyway, so no new one-shots this month. However! I did find some RenRuki fluff drabbles that I think you all might like, so I put them together in their own series. They’re perfect for a rainy day when you just want to feel good!🥰 They should be out later this month!

Read on if you want the long version:

Writing Corner: 

*Sighs heavily* Alright, I’m gonna be honest, this month sucked. Between burnout, family stuff, and depression, I barely wrote at all. I have a nearly completed piece that I could try to rush edit and finish in time, and would at least come out okay. But I thought about it, and realized that while I do like the piece, it’s not at all what I felt like reading right now. I don’t read a “hurt/comfort with a bit of angst” piece when I’m sad, I read fluff, lots of fluff. In fact, I had a google doc with a couple of fluff scraps that didn’t fit anywhere else that I would sometimes go back to and read whenever I was sad just because it made me feel good. And then I thought, what if this month was bad for other people too? Would these pieces make them feel good? So I’ve decided to release these instead in a brand new collection I’m going to call “Soft Moments”. Admittedly, they are more like eating a sugary sweet dessert than having a hearty protein filled one-shot meal, but that’s exactly what they are for! They are there for people who need to read something nice on a hard day. Anyway, they aren’t exactly a one-shot, so that’s why I decided to put them in their own collection, rather than adding them to “We Can’t All Be Winners”. In the end, I’ve decided to release the “hurt/comfort” piece another time. This also works out well for my new (ever changing😅) schedule for WCABW, where I am going to do 3 months on, 1 off, 3 on, and so forth! 

Art Corner: While I haven’t done much writing this month, I have gone back to my roots on this blog somewhat and started working on comics again. If you saw one of my earlier posts, you will know that I’m taking a crack at human based comics. They…are absolutely not proportional. But um…variety is the spice of life, right?!?! Anyway, hopefully they will at least be funny, but uh, we’ll see! That said, I'm thinking of eventually switching to digital art so that I don’t have to redraw backgrounds and unmoving characters, but that requires me to figure out how to draw with photoshop on my mini touch screen laptop so uh…………..

Bloodlines Corner (because let’s be honest, it gets its own spot at this point): 

Me: *glares to some far off corner in my google docs* You do realize it’s been months now, right?

Bloodlines: *shrugs innocently*

So I’ve realized I haven’t actually explained the premise of this story to most people on this blog, so here we go. Originally, Bloodlines was a one-shot in its own series of one-shots based on the idea of “What would happen if Rukia got Hisana’s illness?” However, I realized that I hadn’t really thought it out well enough for an entire series. So then I was going to make it a one off one-shot in a series of one off one shots, thus spawning WCABW. However, it clearly needed more editing, so I decided to release “prestigious school au” instead. Fast forward several months and not only am I still editing it, but that one-shot turned first into a multi-part and eventually a multi-chapter fic, all the while the events of the story still staying within the same time period, and therefore taking place over the course of one day. It is… utterly ridiculous. 

So anyway, it’s pretty long now, (well for me anyway, it’s almost 30 pages), which makes it take forever to edit. Unfortunately, I think that has caused the back chapters to suffer a bit, because for some reason I always prefer to edit things in order, so by the time I get to the end I’m pretty mentally exhausted. Therefore, I’ve decided to divide it up by only editing one chapter a day to make it easier on myself. Hopefully this will work out, and I can have it out by like August or something, but we will see! (Not being done until December is unfortunately still probable! 😅)

*Sigh* Welp, this has gotten long, but this month has been even longer so I guess it’s appropriate. In any case, thank you all for reading! The new fluff-filled anthology series should be out by the end of the month. Like I said earlier, it’s more like having dessert than dinner, but sometimes that's just what you need! See you all next month! 😊

[iamred-iamyellow]

⋆ ˚｡⋆౨ৎ˚ You Still Can't Call Me Back - [Part 3]

♥ prev

♥ series masterlist | main masterlist

♥ pairing: lando norris x fem!reader

♥ chapter synopsis: once the two of you got back to monaco you asked lando to take care of camila so you could catch up on some of your work. instead of helping out like he promised, he left oscar and max in charge while he went partying. 

♥ smau + written - fc: girls on pinterest - none of the pictures are mine

♥ warnings: swearing !!!

♥ a/n: (inspired a little by ep 2 of baby daddy) I know it's been a looonngggg time but I was completely out of inspiration for this part and didn't want to post a chapter I wasn't proud of. I am so sorry it took me this long to write this but I hope ya'll are still enjoying the series' <3

liked by landonorris, logansargeant, and 239,573 more

yourusername goodbye miami, see you soon monaco <3

comments are limited

mclarenracingf1 can't wait to see camila in the paddock again

♡ by yourusername

logansargeant feel free to call me if you ever need a babysitter

oscarpiastri 🤺🤺

logansargeant 🤺

lilyzneimer it was great to see you!

♡ by yourusername

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

After your visit to Miami there was no chance you were getting any more time off work. Your only other option was to leave Camila with Lando again.

You hated having to ask him for these favors but your best friend convinced you to not feel guilty. He was her parent too. He can take on some responsibility.

-Lando’s POV-

Oscar and Max were getting ready to leave the apartment when Lando stopped him.

“Do you guys mind babysitting Camila tonight?”

“We both have plans,” Oscar said.

“I know, I know. I just need one day off,” Lando pleaded.

“Mate, you’re on your own.”

Lando put out his arms to stop them from pushing by him.

“Please, please. Just tonight. I won’t ever ask you like this again.”

Oscar sighed, “Fine.”

-A Few Hours Later-

"I really need to go see Lily. You think you can handle this by yourself?" Oscar asked Max, putting on a coat.

“Oh come on,” he groaned. “How come you and Lando get to leave but I don’t?”

“He’s a dad and I have a girlfriend. What exactly would you be doing tonight? Playing video games?”

“That’s exactly what I’d be doing.”

“Lando has a sim room; knock yourself out. Just don’t hurt her.” Oscar said, putting a coat on.

"I won’t hurt her. She just eats and rolls around and stuff. She's like a puppy. I think I've got this."

"That does not sound promising at all, Max."

"Relax, go have fun with Lily. I can do this on my own."

"Alright," Oscar sighed. "Call me if you need absolutely anything."

liked by user2, user8, user19, and 1,382 more

user17 guess who just met @/landonorris at the club 🥴 i told you all that monaco was the perfect getaway

view comments

user6 who are you kissing in the last picture?

user17 @/user6 my man 🥰

user23 i hate to be that girl but if my man was in the same room as Lando he’s definitely no longer my man

user16 @/user23 preachhh

user4 not him going out without @/yourusername

user5 right? Like he’s a father now go be with your child

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

No no no this can't be right. Was Lando seriously at a club right now?

You paced around wondering if it was worth going over to his place or not. Maybe the picture was photoshopped? Maybe it was from months ago?

It didn't matter. Fuck your work. You were going to go find out whether it was real or not right now.

-

You unlocked Lando's door to find Camila lying alone on their couch holding a small toy up to her mouth.

You looked around the empty room, calling out Lando's name, knowing damn well no one would respond.

You wandered through the sleek hallways to find a slightly opened door to the sim room. Max had some noise cancelling headphones on and couldn't even hear you when you walked in.

No one was watching your daughter. No one would've even noticed if something happened to her.

You went back to the living room, pulled Camila into your lap, and decided to text your sister.

You

you were right

yoursister

I'm sorry

-Lando's POV-

"Mate, don't you have a baby or something?" a drunk guy said to Lando.

"Yea I do,” he bounced his leg anxiously. "You know what, give me one second to check on her."

He grabbed his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans and dialed Oscar's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey is Camila alright?" Lando spoke into the device.

"Yea, Max hasn't called me yet so I'm sure she's fine."

"Sorry, what? You're 'sure she's fine'? Are you not there?"

"No I'm with Lily. Max said he had it covered, though."

Lando started to internally panic. He quickly hung up and called Max, but after two attempts and no answer he decided to take this into his own hands.

-

The door opened and Lando urgently tripped in.

He locked eyes with you, “I am so sorr-“

”If you didn’t want to take care of her, you should’ve just said that.” you interrupted, slamming the front door with daughter in your arms.

✧˖ °. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁‧₊˚ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁˖°✧

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[blog-reflection]

ONE / Twelve- For a Brighter Future

Being in Brighton is so unreal, especially for that long.

Today is friday. I’ve been in Brighton with Jeo for almost a week now and let me tell you, finding a nice apartment you like sucks. We’ve been visiting places non stop and to be honest, I don’t think I ever make it. I, again, got disappointed this morning. I was visiting that nice place with Jeo but someone really flexed hard with their photoshop skills. Meaning, there are only four visits left for today and another three tomorrow. I mean, I still like the time here. The more I am in Brighton the more I want to live here. I got a bit sad but also nervous I wouldn’t be able to find an apartment. Luckily I got Joe with me. He really knows what’s important to look at when making the move and he’s able to cheer me up most of the time with his positive “can do” attitude. We saw some apartments, some good, some really bad, but not what I imagined. I’m really hyped for one particular apartment though. Two room apartment, awesome view, perfect location…it’s near the coast, so that’s pretty cool. I don’t have a long walk to the park or the beach if I want to. In times like these I’m happy to work in a job that does not force me to any specific location.

Josepphe: You’re ready James? I know you really quite like this apartment, you’ve been dreaming about it none-stop since you’ve seen it. James: Oh yes. It's just, still reminding me of home somehow while being my own realm. Also, the flooring looked just amazing and didn't let me start on the sealing. I do think I will miss the big window next to my bed. That’s always a highlight of mine. Josepphe: you are the only one who liked the window in that house not gonna lie. Well, let me know if you like this apartment. If it is what they have said online then we have made a really good deal.

Josepphe is right, this apartment is quite cheap compared to the others we reviewed. I still can’t believe that this might be the first step to get independent.

We stood in front of this old big house. So far so good, it looks exactly like it did in the photos. I walked towards the door and knocked on it. An old black woman opened. She had black middle-long hair in a bun, wearing a white shirt and a pair of light blue jeans. She looked, unlike my grandparents, relatively young. If I didn't know any better I’d say it would be her daughter opening the door. She gave us a heart-warming hug and invited us inside, starting to introduce herself and getting right into it.

Sarah: So, this is it. My name is Sarah, I have lived here since something between the 60’s and 80’s. I don’t want to shock you but I’m better off if I say that now. Even if you rent the flat, I’ll be still living in this house till the end. The other candidates thought I would leave but no. I wanted to make this clear front up. Are you still interested? Because the other people left after they heard that they would have to share? James: Well it’s not like we see each other that often despite the fact that we use the same front door. Plus, you seem like a really nice person, so of course pls. I want to see my room now. Sarah: Very well.

With that said she walked around towards the staircase. At the end of the staircase was a really spacious room, the main room to say that. It has white walls and logs connecting the roof. Next thing she shows me in the kitchen, which is quite small but has all it needs. Same for the bath which is kind of big.

Sarah: Well basically that’s it. Feel free to walk around and ask any questions you have. You got all the time you need, you’re the last one for today. James: I do have a question. Are there any rules I’d have to follow since, well, you live here? Sarah: Oh, there is not much I ask for. It’s mainly to keep the music at a decent level, maybe a tad quieter in the later eve. Parties are okay if they are only in your part of the house, but please inform me before, friends however can walk in and out. If you give me my space, I give you yours. When you go to the store it would be nice if you at least could ask me. I don’t want you to do a whole shopping for me but maybe I run low on something. Oh, and if you want to chat a bit or play some chess or so that would be really lovely. But other than that it’s all yours. No rules about wall colour or something be free, as long as it is upstairs.

This sounds like a dream. I stayed in the room a bit longer and looked in every corner, every place. This is just amazing. It’s such a good apartment. I really love it. Lets just hope the price is still the same. If so, then I’m going to live here in less than three weeks. I would move everything over from my mum’s place in Dover to this apartment in Brighton. This will cost me a fortune but it’s worth all of that if I can live here in peace and quiet. I took view photos with my phone for later references and for Jesse and Lucia before heading towards the staircase. Sarah placed herself in her Living Room, watching the news. I awkwardly knocked against the door to make her aware of me.

Sarah: Oh, you got more questions I see? Or do you want to leave? James: I just wanted to ask about the pricing, if anything has changed or so ever?” Sarah: Well the price is still the same, 850£/month. The rent for the entire house is just really high, that’s why I can’t go any lower. It's less than what others pay to live here but Brighton is quite expensive. I hope you can understand this to at least some point. I’m really sorry that I can’t get lower on the pricing though.

She seemed mad about having to charge me so much even though it's not her fault at all.

James: Listen Sarah, I’m going to talk with my grandad about this for a second outside if that’s okay? We will be right back.

She nodded and Josepphe and I left the house, the door slightly open.

Josepphe: Soo? What do you say? Is it what you wanted it to be?” James: Are you kidding? This is beyond what I imagined it to be. Despite the fact that Sarah is just so lovely. It's really like a dream come true. But the pricing…. It’s a lot. I don’t want you to have a burden for so much money. Josepphe: Jam, listen…you really love this apartment and I’m sure we will not find something better. I promise you, don’t worry so much about the payment. Your grandma and I have saved a fortune just for you. I see how happy this place makes you. And to be honest, you really need to live on your own. You mum is sometimes a bit intimidating, even for me. Last time, at the family breakfast, she really said some awful things to her own mother. I haven’t seen you this happy in a while James. I like your smile, it’s cute. So, what do you say? Want to go inside and ask Sarah for the keys huh?

All these things Josepphe just said were way too much to deal with. I stayed strong but I busted out in tears inside of me. He put his arm around my shoulder and we both went to Sarah. I told her that I would take the apartment as soon as possible. We all sat down at the kitchen table to go through the final contract. Everything I asked her was now down written, proven with her and my signature. She copied the papers, grabbed the keys and said

Sarah: For a brighter future

With this sentence I was officially having my own space to live. To my surprise she agreed on moving in as soon as possible. I hugged her goodbye and left the house together with Josepphe. We were walking around the corner when I just started screaming. My granddad was excited as well and hugged me really tight before I jumped around in circles like a kid on their first sugar rush. Finally, after all that time I’ve been through lately, a shine has arrived. I feel that, from now on, things will get along easier for me than it used to be. Not only will I live in my own apartment but also be able to stay away from my mom for good. Ever since the verbal fight between her and Gérard, things changed. They are still married but life apart. Gérard lives in Deal now. I don’t know what he is doing there, nor if he has a new lover or so ever. I only know that my mom’s mental health started to slowly scatter. So slow that actually no one really notices it, who isn’t struggling with mental health as well. I can see that she is damaged, a lot. In stressed situations she tends to snap out of nowhere due to an overflow of either emotions or surrounding impacts, just like a view weeks ago at home.

After we came back to the hotel we decided to call it a shot. I cancelled all the leftover visits and started backing up. On Saturday morning Josepphe and I were walking towards the train station of Queens Road, Brighton to make our way to Kings Cross, London only to get on another train back home to Dover. This is a ride for sure and we have been up all week to visit the apartments but I’d say it's worth it. Brighton is far away from all that Bullshit I had to deal with. And the best of it, the train to Windsor only takes around 2 hours which is one hour less then from Dover. It's not like I visit Jesse that often, but it's great to know that even the opportunity is given.

I finally made it.

[amber-gimlet]

That one touhou post of Marisa and Reimu sidefistbumping and saying “let’s get this bread” but it’s Venat and your WoL, that’s what ff14 is about

[bratz-kitten]

ASTRO OBSERVATIONS [part 5]

— people with jupiter in the 8th may experience an “abundance” of traumatic experiences throughout life, often relating to death; these are the people who truly feel like everyone they love ends up dying. at their worst, they can become desensitized to death— jupiter is ruled by sagittarius, a sign known for being in denial when in difficult situations in favor of optimism. these natives can pretend like nothing actually happened, or minimize the situation in their head so that they don’t have to face it.

— okay this might be a weird one... like, you know in asoiaf when arya was walking through the streets and was always like “i’m as quiet as a shadow”? that’s literally the energy of someone with planets in the 12th house/chart ruler in the 12th house. these people are so stealthy. they’re able to move so quietly and without anyone noticing, both literally and figuratively. on one hand, they’re very quiet about their plans and ambitions to the point where other people only find out when they’re achieving success over it; on the other hand, they just. don’t like making noise while walking idk bitch you’ll only see me coming when i’m right beside you, i even get paranoid that i’m breathing too loud and that other people will hear 

— people with moon aspecting mars can be incredibly impulsive when they feel hurt or triggered. yall need to be careful with doing things in the heat of the moment that you know you’ll regret later... but in the moment, you feel so hurt that it clouds your rational side. please be more self-aware about this because you may make decisions that will directly affect you for the worse in the future 

— people with leo mars ft. constantly asking you for pictures... about anything. they just wanna SEE LMFAO THEY DON’T CARE WHAT IT IS THEY’RE SEEING. you just got ready to go out? “send pics of your makeup and your full outfit”. you’re waiting in a long boring line to get the covid vaccine? “send pics of the line”. your mom baked cake? “send pics of the cake”. plus they send so many random pictures while texting, it’s their special love language

— having moon conjunct moon/venus in synastry feels insane. you tell them something you’ve been through, and they’re immediately like “that happened with me as well.” it doesn’t even have to be something grand, sometimes just very specific things you thought were particular about you. the amount of understanding that comes with this aspect in synastry can feel very new and intense especially if you’re used to seeing yourself as the “odd one out”, used to feeling isolated in your experiences 

— people with pluto in the 1st house often feel the need to erase “traces” of their existence, for example deleting messages that they sent people, deleting all of their social media posts. they can feel anxious and paranoid about other people having access to their past self, even if the past self in question is from, like. a week ago 

— people with chiron in the water houses (4th/8th/12th) might’ve suffered bullying to the point where they repress their memories. a lot of their memories of their school years may feel foggy if they were bullied in those years

— also. people with chiron in the 8th house may feel as though they’ve been punished for wanting to experience intimacy. it’s like, the people who were supposed to be the closest to them – for example, their sibling or something – were the ones who hurt them the most. 

— people with mercury-neptune aspects and strong pisces/neptune energy in their birth chart might struggle with only remembering things when they’re right in front of them. you should keep things in your peripheral vision to remind you of reality, especially when it comes to feelings— so that you won’t start getting lost inside your own head. like... keep the letters your friends wrote you by your bedside table so you can read them every time your brain starts convincing you that you’re not loved. keep the gifts you’ve been sent on display in your bedroom wall, or sentimental material things that remind you of past happy experiences.

— earth placements and their thing for asmr... omfg. it’s like they’re always looking for things to up their sensory experience/sensitivity. like, earth signs are the ones most connected to worldly experiences so they feel so soothed with the whole asmr experience: just hearing someone gently whispering or tapping on/scratching things calms them down and helps them fall asleep. they love the tingles it’s heaven for them

— moon-saturn aspects might hold and caress themselves while they sleep because their parents never did. yes i woke up and chose violence <3 your secret is NOT safe with me 💋

— while we’re on the topic of sleeping, a majority of the pisces moons i know need to sleep while hugging something, at least a pillow. they can’t just not hug something while they sleep, it’s very instinctive for them. anyways if any pisces moon needs a pillow to hold, i volunteer as tribute 💋

— virgo placements feel sososo soothed by hearing their cats purr. thinking about how my virgo placement friends are always the ones who send me videos of them petting their cats... and then i get soothed by how soothed they feel. it’s a win win situation, if you have virgo placements it’s hereby your duty to send me a video of you petting your cat while they purr. right now. GO

— people with gemini in the 3rd house might have shaky movements of the hands when other people look at them doing things. very specific i know but the third house rules hands and gemini is a sign that has somewhat of an anxious, twitchy quality to it. on the other hand, people with capricorn in the 3rd house (scorpio risings, using whole signs) have the steadiest hands i’ve ever seen lol their movements ooze confidence, these bitches know how to make you feel as thought they know exactly what they’re doing

— people with venus in the 1st house ft. altering their pics with photoshop and hating posting selfies without filters because they never feel like their appearance is good enough. stop it. you don’t need to always look your best and especially not if your ‘best’ isn’t even what you actually look like. also... don’t even think about making self-deprecative jokes about your appearance. next time i find one of yall saying “ahaha im not bad for a 5 without talent” i’m squishing your head between 2 pieces of toast and calling you an idiot sandwich. you’re BEAUTIFUL 

— having venus in the 3rd house in composite with someone? do you mean calling each other the absolute ugliest nicknames in the most endearing way? 

— leo deals with themes of the ego, and it seems that leo placements often struggle with attracting narcissistic people into their life... leo suns/mercuries can be raised by loud, overbearing, narcissistic parents who see their kid as an extension of themselves and who teach the kid to always be very supportive and caring towards them or else they’ll deny them of words of affirmation-- either by insulting them to shatter their self-esteem or simply never complimenting the kid back. leo moons/mars/venus tend to attract narcissistic partners who only care about serving their own emotional needs and ignore the ones of their partner, and who feed off of their supportive and giving nature. which is why leo placements really need to watch out for being gullible, naïve and dismissing the red flags because my god, you be falling for some shady people. 

— people with personal planets in the 12th house/chart ruler in the 12th house might feel like they can’t let go of their past life— they may dream of memories, people or places from another life. it’s like they can’t detach from it, and even if they can’t directly remember their past life, it’s like they feel it in their bones. also, they might’ve felt... estranged from their family ever since childhood; there may have been feelings of being unable to emotionally connect to their (often, distant) parents, and they might’ve even wondered if they were adopted because of how different they felt to the rest of the family. 

— okay so, a thing that people with saturn in the 3rd house need to look out for is mentally checking out of conversations while they’re still happening. these people can detect when they’re being manipulated really fast and their way of dealing with it can be to immediately shut down, to grow cold and silent and not even bother answering when you’re expected to respond. and, like, that’s great when someone starts screaming at you or being insulting/trying to coerce you into shit, but take notice if you find yourself shutting your loved ones out as soon as they say anything that triggers you. don’t simply detach from them, communicate what’s wrong

— aries placements, ESPECIALLY aries suns and moons, value generosity so much and they get so turned off by stingy ppl who don’t share with others, especially when others need it. like.. if you’re hanging out in a group with them and someone asks for a bite of your food because they have no money and you say no... espect them to never respect you. ever. 

— people with libra placements use soooo many adjectives to describe things. something can’t just be beautiful, it has to be DIVINE and CELESTIAL and INTOXICATING. they can be so expressive god it’s so fcking funny 

— capricorn placements HATE asking others for advice because they think no one knows better than them (and they’re not wrong, lol). when they truly care for someone, they might ask the person for advice simply as a sign that they respect, trust and value their judgement. even if they don’t plan on taking it LMFAO 

— people with mars in a water sign can have this terrible habit of expecting other people to guess what they want. and then they get passive agressive when you don’t instinctively feel what it is they want... and when you ask them “do you want this?”, they go like “FINALLY. i thought you’d never get there”. stop it. i know that you want people to understand you in a way that transcends words, but you can’t expect people to read your mind and then get disappointed when they don’t, thinking “oh if they loved me that much then they would’ve known that i really want chipotle for dinner :(” GIRL WHAT. COMMUNICATE YOUR NEEDS  

[primofate]

Genshin x fem!reader [Volleyball Team AU - Inspired by Haikyuu!] He introduces S/O to the team

Before you read this, might be a good idea to read the introduction first. To give you the whole low-down of the team and their dynamicsssss.

Other works in the Volleyball Team AU Series: Click Here

Scenario: You and him have been dating for a while now. Why does the team not know and what’s their reaction in finding out/when he introduces you?

Warnings: AU if that’s not your thing then don’t read, not proofread...as usual.

#1 Zhongli (Captain/Wing Spiker/Ace)

You’ve been dating for nearly 5 months at this point. Beforehand the two of you were close friends. So the team kind of already knew you guys were close, but you’d never met the team properly.

It’s not that he was HIDING your relationship, its that he didn’t want to pressure you into meeting his team. They could really be an overwhelming bunch of high schoolers sometimes.

As it happens he walks to the gym hand in hand with you one day, his other hand on his duffel sports bag, thinking that he’d be the earliest one there as always. 

But when he slides the gym doors open his WHOLE TEAM greets him “CAPTAIN!” and then there’s an awkward silence that descends as they all catch him with his hand intertwined with yours.

KAEYA AND TARTAGLIA LOSES IT. “C-Captain, you had a girlfriend and didn’t tell us?!” “You finally made a move on her?!” “S’about time!”

Needless to say they both get knocked on the head by Zhongli’s fist. 

Zhongli sighs and turns to you apologetically but you say that you don’t mind meeting them. He perks up and claps his hands to ask his team to line up.

They do so diligently. Kaeya, Tartaglia and Thoma are giddy while looking at you. Xiao and Kazuha have their mouth slightly agape as if you’re some kind of rare species. Diluc and Albedo stare you down. 

You introduce yourself as Zhongli’s gilrfriend and as you do so Tartaglia’s eyes dart towards Zhongli who has a slightly shy expression on his face. 

“Oh, oh question time!” Thoma raises his hand “Does the captain secretly eat sweets behind our back?” You haven’t even answered when Kaeya asks “Does the captain ever glare at you (he mimics Zhongli’s face) and say 10 Push ups NOW!” Surprisingly Diluc raises his hand too “...Is the captain strict with you too?”

Zhongli gets irked the more questions are asked and he finally steps in with an ominous presence. “10 laps around the gym...NOW!” 

He apologizes to you again but you reassure him it’s totally fine and they all seem like such fun. 

#2 Diluc (Vice Captain/Wing Spiker/Defense Specialist)

The vice captain is a very secretive guy.

Not even his brother knew.

It’s not that he was ashamed of you, he just liked his privacy and you already knew that. 

But there was this one time where he forgot his textbooks under his desk and you had to go and give it to him while he was at practice.

Shyly looking into the door the first one that spots you is Albedo.

“...Do you need something?” you tense up at Albedo’s question and shakily hand him the textbooks.

“U-Uhm... D-Diluc’s...”

Albedo tilts his head and turns to shout at the team. “Someone’s looking for the vice captain,”

Everyone stops what they’re doing and snaps there head towards you.

Diluc jogs over, sweat still fresh on his forehead. Without thinking he takes the books from you, small smile on his face and thanks you.

The rest of his team freezes up all thinking: “Hold on, is he...SMILING?”

You’re oblivious to them staring and give him a quick kiss on the cheek before leaving. When Diluc turns back his team is glaring daggers at him, he stares back at them. Doesn’t say anything, and continues practice.

No one is brave enough to ask him about it.

Tartaglia whispers to Kaeya “You didn’t know about it either huh?”

#3 Kaeya (Middle Blocker)

This MF would talk about you whenever he had the chance.

Y/N this, Y/N that, Y/N is so cute. 

Frankly the team is kinda tired of it. 

But when you finally visit one of their practices the team levels their gaze at you and think “Oh shit, he wasn’t lying, she is actually cute,”

Sees his teammates expression and brags even more. “I know what y’all are thinking. You’re thinking, OH! She’s actually really cute! Hm?”

Slings an arm around you shamelessly with a grin. “Back off boys, I’ll block all your attempts,”

Diluc is the one that walks up to you and you blink at him. Kaeya blinks at him, confused as well.

Diluc suddenly bows, “I feel sorry for you but please take care of him,”

The rest of the team either bursts out laughing or snickers behind their hand.

Their vice captain is low key savage

#4 Albedo (Setter)

The team finds out about you cause when they finish practice they find you waiting outside the gym.

Kazuha asks politely while the others look on “Are you lost?”

You straighten up and stutter a little, “Ah, uh, no, I’m...” You’re at a loss for words. 

Then Albedo suddenly appears from the gym doors and sees you. “Ah, were you waiting long? Sorry,”

Thoma tilts his head in question. “Albedo...Your sister?”

Albedo at this point was standing next to you already. “...No, my girlfriend,” like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Everyone is stunned into statues.

“H-How did you get one before me?” Tartaglia looks as if his soul had been sucked out of his body.

“Next time you can just come inside and wait inside the gym, it’s dark out here,” their responsible captain suggests and you’re amazed at his kindness and bow at him with a thank you.

Albedo doesn’t see what’s the big deal and just grabs your hand and starts walking away.

#5 Tartaglia (Middle Blocker/Wing Spiker)

The team already knew since the first date. It’s because he.would.not.shut.up.about.it

That particular day at practice his spikes were a tad bit stronger than usual.

“Oi... you’re getting too excited...” Xiao mumbles at him. Tartaglia just grins and scratches the back of his head. “Aaaahhhh... I can’t help it, I’m so nervous for my date with Y/N!”

A few more dates later he starts showing off his phone wallpaper to the others. It’s a picture of you and him.

Kaeya tries to piss him off by saying, “Huh, we’ve never actually seen her in person. Maybe it’s photoshopped,” The others snicker.

Is so pissed, asks you to come immediately.

You thought it was an emergency so you come into the gym with a worried look on your face only to be hugged tight into his chest. “See? See? She’s totally real and totally cute!”

Albedo crosses his arms and blinks, then looks at Kaeya “...You totally baited him, he’s such a simpleton.”

Kaeya responds with a smirk “Right?”

#6 Kazuha (Decoy/Middle Blocker/Wing Spiker)

The most formal out of all of them and even tells them seriously that he had an announcement to make.

Next day he comes into practice with you in tow.

Properly introduces you as his girlfriend. 

Everyone is wide-eyed at how official it feels. Then you suddenly take out a big container of fruits and tell everyone it’s for them (The captain doesn’t allow sweets, he thinks it’ll fatten them up or some crap.)

EVERYONE IS BLESSED BY YOUR PRESENCE and Kazuha is just enjoying you getting along with them.

Kaeya and Tartaglia try to whisper and bribe you into making cookies for them. 

Albedo and Xiao stares at Kazuha thinking ‘If someone like you can get a girlfriend, we can get one too, right?’

You offer to come back next time with more fruits and some secret cookies.

#7 Xiao (Libero)

Tried to keep it a secret because he knows his team will make a fuss about it.

The team finds out when his phone suddenly starts ringing in the middle of practice and he asks for a timeout to pick it up.

“Mm... Yeah... I’ll pick you up when I finish,” Everyone starts nudging each other when they hear him talk to you in an unusually calm and soft tone. So different from when he plays volleyball and gets angry at them.

By this point everyone tries to keep quiet and enlarge their ears to eavesdrop.

“Idiot... I won’t be late. I promised to take you out didn’t I?” 

Hearing their tsundere libero say something so sweet makes everyone combust.

When he turns back everyone is staring at him with smirks on their faces. “Hey, why not just ask her to come here?” Kaeya sneakily suggests.

Xiao blushes “A-As if I’d let her near you bumbling fools!”

He was worried it would scare you away, actually.

#8 Tohma (Pinch Server/Middle Blocker)

Literally no one is surprised he has a girlfriend.

It would be MORE of a surprise if he DIDN’T have one.

But they find out cause he left his phone out on the bench one day and there’d been a text message while Xiao was conveniently sitting on the bench.

“...Tohma, someone me--” Xiao looks at the screen where the message ‘I love you!’ is clearly written.

Xiao is so curious but is not gunna admit it so he nudges Kaeya or Tartaglia who might be sitting next to him and secretly motions over to the phone.

They read it and ask in a real loud voice “Oi Tohma! Who’s Y/N? They said I love you!” 

Tohma laughs nervously and since it’s already out he might as well introduce you. 

“This is my princess,” he says when you enter the gym to walk home with him that afternoon. You bow and introduce yourself and everyone looks at you thinking... “Ah, they look like the perfect domestic couple,”

Low-key everyone is jealous of how you dote on him.

Hello Hello! Technically this could be counted as fluff, but I understand that not everyone is fond of AUs, so, if you don’t mind being tagged to something like this, please fill in the survey again (I’ve added AU as an option, just click that one if you’ve signed up for the others before!)

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Masterlist

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[cilly-murphy]

BEATING HEART EFFECT TUTORIAL: I was asked by the amazing Samantha @shegos how I made the animated beating heart effect on my Witcher gifset so I thought I would make a tutorial about it! I’ve used this same effect before on this Merlin gifset. This tutorial assumes you have basic giffing skills and work on Photoshop with a timeline.

step 1: To start off, I have made my gifs, colored them, blended them so this is where I’m at. You don’t need a blended gif for this, you can use it on any gif you want, this is just mine.

I had to find a heart shape to work with so I went over to google and typed various types of “heart png” “real heart transparent” till I found what I wanted. This is the heart I used, you can use anything that attracts your eye. I open it on Photoshop and use the Magic Eraser Tool (you can see my settings in the image below) and delete the background and tiny specs of the background seeping into the heart.

step 2: You open up your gif (we need the frames here so you save your gif and open it again) and you drag your heart atop the layers while having chosen the first frame on your animation. This is what your timeline should look like now.

I didn’t like how straight the heart looked, so I tilted it a bit to the left by going over to Edit > Transform > Rotate. Lastly, I changed the heart’s opacity to 83, depends on what you prefer. 

step 3: Now we have to prepare the heart for the animation process. We make a group, add the heart inside, and make these adjustments layers set on normal: 

Then you create a new layer and color it with this hex: 

You set this layer to blending mode overlay. Then you duplicate it three times and set the new three layers to blending mode soft light. Lastly, you select all of the adjustment layers, right click and create clipping mask, so your other layers are safe and set the entire group mode to darken. So now, this is what your layers tab should look like. 

The last last step before animating, is to duplicate your group, and change the new one to blending mode luminosity and opacity 30%, again here depends on your preference.

step 4:  Here comes the fun part! To time this as correctly as I could (I’m sure you folks are better at math than me) I went over to youtube and found a beating heart sound. Be careful, for this part, you only change the opacity of the first group you made, I’ll tell you later what you do with the second one. You choose your first frame in your timeline and go over to the first group and choose only the colored layers, not the gradient maps. So then you start with 100% opacity and then change it depending on how the sound feels frame by frame. I was basically starting the sound, stopping at points, changed the opacity, played it again, changed things e.t.c. These are my settings, with my gif speed being 0.07. 

1 to 4: 100% 5: 25% 6: 50% 7. 60% 8: 75% 9: 100%

then 4 frames 100% again and then 5-9 then again 4 frames 100% you see how it goes. While doing this, I was saving my gif and opening it up on tumblr a lot, to test out different types of opacity settings and speeds. It took a while but worth it.

step 5: Here are the last steps. You go over to the luminosity blending mode group, select the four colored layers, and set them all to 25%, while having chosen the first frame in your timeline so it works on all of them. It looked a bit too colored for my taste so I changed that little thing.  Then I added the text I wanted I wanted and voila!

I truly hope that was helpful, for many of these steps I was playing around on photoshop, so you do what works for you. Also, I used some different blending modes and settings for my Merlin set, so this effect depends a lot on how your og gif looks like. So try around things and any questions you have, my askbox is open ❤️