#Memory's design is something I don't really like in the style of the show

[scoliosisgoblin]

Which version of Rick is your fav?

it's so hard for me to choose tbh. HOWEVER, I'd say Evil Rick

then I'd say it's C-137 and Memory Rick

I love how pathetic™ Evil Rick really is tbh. love that he's being controlled by his Morty. can you guess who my favorite Morty is?

[apple-salad]

Rose Ribbon Embroidery "Mini" Projects (for BABY NYFW) Part 2: Embroidered Bonnet

I decided semi-last minute to attend BABY's fashion show at NYFW!

BABY had mentioned in their NYFW brand description that their newest collection would be a return to their origins, as well as presenting archival items.

You have to dress to impress for NYFW, right? So of course, I had to pull out all the stops and wear my Rose Ribbon Embroidery.

Also at the last minute, I decided to make a few extra complementing items...

A matching RRE kumya JSK, and a bonnet.

What follows is more of a sew-along/journal rather than a tutorial or guide, mainly for my own memory's sake. But if you enjoy looking at my process (sometimes sloppy), I'm happy!

Also feel free to take a look at the more romantic process video I edited.

Part 1: Kumya JSK

Part 2: Bonnet (you are here)

This post will be my process pictures and notes for the bonnet, as well as a matching mask as a bonus.

I don't believe BABY released matching headwear for Rose Ribbon Embroidery, although I've seen an unknown velveteen headbow with rose lace sold with RRE before.

BABY usually coords RRE with the bunny ear bonnet since Ichigo wears it this way in Kamikaze Girls.

I do own this because I wanted to wear an Ichigo-like outfit at some point, but for this occasion I decided to do something different and make a "matching" embroidered bonnet.

I originally wanted to make a hard bonnet with a very defined brim that could show off the embroidery clearly as I don't really like soft bonnets, but when looking at existing BABY bonnets as a reference, it doesn't look like hard bonnets were a thing back in 2004 (and as it is, BABY rarely releases hard bonnets). So to keep with the oldschool theme, the bonnet is a soft one, although I later make some decisions to make it slightly more structured.

The next decision to make was full bonnet vs half bonnet. The bunny ear bonnet is a full bonnet and I think this is technically more "period accurate", but I am not a fan of how they look like a weird hood from the back so I opted for half (plus, that makes construction and patterning easier for me).

I still used my own bunny ear bonnet as a reference for approximate brim dimensions!

The kumya JSK was a little easier to carelessly sketch out and embroider since I was copying 1:1 from an existing design, but I felt I needed to do at least a bit more careful planning for the embroidery on this. I'm quite bad at creating embroidery designs from scratch, but with the mental image of the rose clusters and swags of vine, as well as referencing the embroidery from the film, I came up with this:

I wanted to emulate the embroidery style of the Momoko's (well, in reality likely the embroidery designer Onoe Megumi--unclear if she did the actual embroidery, but it's likely) embroidery, which I figured wouldn't be too difficult if I was also embroidering by hand.

For material, I am using the same velveteen I used for kumya's JSK. Not my first choice and I actually purchased some thicker looking 100% cotton velvet that I thought would be more similar to the original JSK material, but was worried it wouldn't arrive in time and wanted this project out of the way in case things went wrong/took longer than I expected (it did arrive about a week before the event, but it was totally wrong IRL so I'm glad I just went with this acceptable option). I also bought some more torchon lace, so I used that and another lace from my stash.

The colours of the embroidery in the film also seem to be quite different than BABY's dress. I'm not sure if the pink of the roses has faded over the years, but it has a slight salmon tone whereas the film's roses seem to be more of a pale cool/neutral pink (hard to tell with the yellow tint of the entire film) with some variegation. I love the colour scheme of the film's embroidery, but to keep things coordinated I try to opt for the same colours as the actual dress I have.

I only have white silk ribbon in the width I wanted, so I opted to attempt to dye it to match. Previously I have used alcohol markers to colour the embroidery afterwards, but I find the colour hard to control and it tends to bleed into the fabric. I've also tried colouring the ribbon with the marker before embroidering, but without heat setting the colour transfers onto the fabric as well (and it seems like trying to do so with the amount of ribbon I need would be a waste of ink).

I don't have a lot of experience with it, but since the ribbon is silk, acid dyeing seemed like the way to go.

Very interesting photo of ribbon in pot (the pink ribbon gets eaten up by pinwheel roses much faster than I expected so this is the second batch I had to dye--not ideal as they are definitely slightly different in colour but it's not too noticeable). In total, I think I had to dye 3 batches of ribbon and 4 for the pink ribbon as I just barely ran out near the end, and they are all slightly different colours. Thankfully the undertone is the same so it's difficult to tell unless you are really comparing up close.

I thought I would take this opportunity to use the "peach" acid dye that I bought years ago for another project, but this ended up being a mistake as the colour was totally off (maybe the red dye was too expired). I ended up using my regular fiber reactive procion dyes (with heat/acid), because I have many more colours I could mix together, and that was much better. I really should have done this from the start as I wasted perfectly good silk ribbon by making it too dark/off for my purposes (I ended up overdyeing it in pink so it's a usable colour now, but not for this project).

The silk seems to take on dye extremely fast--even just heating up the dyebath will colour it. In some cases I removed the ribbon before adding any acid at all because I felt the ribbon was already getting too dark.

I managed to get a fairly usable mossy green colour for the leaves and vines, however the pink still ended up being a little off/dark compared to whatever BABY used. It's not too bad here as one strand of ribbon, but when many layers are on top of each other in a rose it seems pretty dark. While not ideal, I think it's still okay, especially considering the embroidery colours used in kumya's JSK match nothing else (many pinks will be going on in this coord).

After dyeing and drying, the ribbon is super wrinkled so I ironed it and wound it on some spare card so it's ready to use.

And now I can start the arduous process of embroidery.

Like before, I mainly use a combination of ordinary ribbon stitches, pinwheel roses, and french knot roses. However, this time I try harder to duplicate, or at least evoke the appearance of the embroidery of the film.

It's interesting how plain and somewhat boring the roses look on their own, especially with this monotone colouring. The varied colours of the film's embroidered roses are lovely, but I decided against it here because the BABY dress has monotone ribbon roses.

The roses definitely seem to just be pinwheel style which is very easy and doable, however I am a bit more confused about the leaves. They look like a number of straight stitches in various lengths and directions that fill in a leaf-like shape. I have no idea if this technique has a name and if there is a proper method for it, because I am a silly beginner who is very uneducated in embroidery.

Anyway I do my best and hopefully I got close enough. Ribbon embroidery is really all about the texture, which is really lovely to look at. Except I have trouble looking at my own work for too long because I start nitpicking all the mistakes I made...

Adding the green and leaves really helps the embroidery come to life.

I took even fewer pictures of the embroidery process than kumya's JSK this time because it's not that interesting. I was definitely getting sick of doing the same pinwheel over and over...

I stupidly decided that aside from embroidering the front of the brim, I also wanted a little bit of embroidery on the back of the brim for interest, as well as on the side.

The designs I drafted out for these two pieces is much simpler, but still, more work....

Almost ready for construction! Hopefully a lot faster with the handwork out of the way.

I iron on some interfacing onto the back brim panel and the bonnet band for slight extra stiffness.

The bottom part of the brim is plain cotton sateen because I was worried that the part that touches the head would get dirtier more quickly it if was velveteen.

I wanted some lace gathered around the brim and an extra velveteen ruffle on the back of the band, so I prepare that now. The lace is gathered with a single gathering thread and sewn down before sandwiching between the two brim panels.

Brim sewn and topstitched (and band is ready for attachment).

The upper flowers ended up a little closer to the top of the band then I intended, but I think it's okay.

Gathering brim and attaching it to band. Because the velvet fabric is so thick, the usual "sew one line of stitching with a wide stitch length" not only made the fabric incredibly difficult to gather, but the thin polyester thread also continually broke when trying to do so. Therefore, I opted for an alternative method I think I'd remember seeing in my sewing machine manual of all things--a zigzag carefully stitched over a central gathering thread. This worked much better, although I probably should have used a thicker/extra strong thread as the central gathering thread because it did break the second time I had to gather the brim due to a mistake.

I also add a bit of lace to the inside of the brim. I think this adds some luxury and frilliness between the head and the bonnet's brim, so I wanted to add a small width. I probably could have used even more of the lace's width since it turned out very subtle when worn. But I still think it adds a small amount of interest to the innermost part of the brim and was worth adding.

Unfortunately here after sewing on both brim parts I realize that I gathered both using an incorrectly marked centre line, so I had to rip it out and do it again ;_;

Next, I can carefully align and pin the bottom of the brim to the bonnet and sew it down. I tack this down by hand because I'm not skilled/accurate enough with a sewing machine to topstitch both sides nicely at once (look closely, and my messy stitching is quite visible...)

I also fold in the raw edges and finish the sides of the brim by hand, leaving some openings for ribbon ties.

At this point I spray almost the whole bonnet with water to disperse and fade my markings. Unfortunately, some of the earlier batches of ribbon that I dyed (Can you tell the variance in the 3 dye batches I needed to do?) were probably not washed well after dying and seem to have bled into the fabric from the water...but hopefully it's not too noticeable.

Next I topstitched all around the brim and attached the ribbon ties.

I bought some double sided velvet ribbon in my last minute supplies shipment and made some bows from it. I think the material is a little thick and petersham would have worked alright as well, but the consistent velvet material feels more luxurious, doesn't it? I also think as an added benefit (?) the ribbon being plush and double sided made the bows more puffy looking.

I add some clips to the sides and a toupee clip to the top for security. I opted for a toupee clips because I think it's really the way to go if you don't want the head item to move at all, no matter how thin or slippery your hair.

Finished.

Bonus 1: rose accent pin

I was in a bit of a rush at this point as it was near the end of the week coming up to the show, so I didn't take any photos of the process here but the technique and templates I used were identical to my handmade faux rose rosettes I made for UM (and the bonus corsages). I have a post with all the details of this sitting in my drafts that I will post eventually, and I will update this post when that happens.

The brooch was just meant to add a bit of 3D faux flower accent to the bonnet, bringing in the rose motif even more. Partially inspired by the faux flowers BABY adds to their bonnets sometimes, like on Milk Tea Doll.

The fabric was "custom dyed" with the same fiber reactive dye I used for the silk. The fabric was further starched, cut out by hand, and shaped with flower iron tools before gluing together.

Bonus 2: matching embroidered mask

I wasn't sure about whether or not I wanted to wear a matching mask, but decided to do so for situations when I would want my face at least half-covered in public. I didn't really expect to be visible in fashion show pictures as someone in the back, but just in case. (I think this decision was worth it, although my makeup transferred all over the thing and in most pictures my face was even more unflattering. eh well)

I forgot to take a lot of pictures of my process for this, but it's very uninteresting and not dissimilar from every other mask sewalong from 2020. I draft out a design similar to the bonnet motifs on both of my mask panels (cotton sateen), and embroider.

I should have embroidered closer to the centre of the mask because when worn the embroidery is not very visible/covered by my hair at the sides. What can I do since the panels were already cut though...oh well!

The lining material is some Japanese CLEANSE Ex fabric I had bought previously to make masks during the pandemic. It's supposed to be antibacterial and antiviral, as well as washable, but I have no idea how well supported those claims are.

Sew together normally on both upper and lower sides, turn inside out, add a channel for nose wire and side channels for elastic.

I also have some mask elastic on hand so I use that.

And the finished outfit again with all my items~

Thank you for reading! If you ever feel inspired to take up a similar project, such as the kumya JSK, I'd love to see it!

[ask-whitepearl-and-steven]

You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but how has your opinion changed on Steven Universe now than when it first aired? Like I have fond memories of watching the show while it was airing but now I realize that it had a lot of problems that I feel like a lot of fans either flat out ignore or bend over backwards to make sure their rose tinted glasses stay on.

... okay, fair question. Let's talk about this.

I'll try not to wax poetic too long, but there are a lot of things to be said here.

First and foremost - how has my opinion changed since the show has ended?

Simply put - it hasn't.

When I started watching Steven Universe over 7 years ago, I didn't have much knowledge of it. I sat down, saw a few of episodes and went 'well, this is a silly show for kids with a goofy but loveable protagonist... but it seems like it's also incredibly charming with its delivery and has some nice, more complex themes about loss and healing and grief throughout.'

And if you ask me what Steven Universe is now... I would probably say that exact same thing.

Am I wearing rose tinted lenses? Interesting question.

What ARE 'rose tinted lenses' in this context anyway?

What do these lenses represent? What do they obscure?

Since you didn't go into specifics, I can only assume what you're referring to when you say that many fans ignore the show's problems.

There have been many discussions surrounding various aspects of the show and how it might be read as 'problematic' (ahhh how I've come to despise that word.... without context, it has all the descriptive power of the word 'icky' - none of the critical details and all of the emotional punch of scrunching up your face like a cat that just sniffed a lemon...)

Is this about something as simple as the 'SU doesn't have a consistent size for its characters' debate?

Because that has been gone back to, over and over again, and proven to be a point of opinion. SU favored allowing storyboarders to show off their personal flourish, and even though Peridot was 30% hair in that one episode, it did not overall take away from the plotline being told, which was their goal. If you wanted to watch a show with consistent styling throughout, you can always watch a 3D modeled show, but keeping that up was simply never one of SU's main pillars. And I feel like it didn't have to be.

Is this about something more complex such as the way Rose was presented?

...and how her arc was shown backwards instead of forwards - showing first the person she became in the end, and afterwards revealing all the growth she had to have to get there?

That was on purpose! And I don't think this is a problem. It's a feature, not a bug. Rose was never meant to be an ideal character - she was meant to be complicated and messy, and I think the fact that the fandom is so split in their opinions of her shows that the Crewniverse pulled that off really well!

She fucked over Bismuth! She forced Pearl to be silent! Those are both parts of her character arc that were never resolved because she died before she could resolve it - that's BY DESIGN. Sometimes, you just do something absolutely stupid and cruel, and you cannot go back to fix it.

Is this about the Diamonds? The fact that they were not put in space jail, after being put on trial for space crimes, and then publicly executed for space eco-genocide?

Here's the thing - most people I know who watched and loved SU are fully aware of that. But simply put - Steven Universe was not a story about Revenge.

Steven Universe was a story about love. A story about family. A story about truth, and lies, and hurt, and healing. About how sometimes healing doesn't happen. And how sometimes it will, but you won't be around to see it.

But it's not a story that can be all things for all people.

That is the thesis of my reply: It is a story.

It is not a manifesto. It is not a bible. It is not a Complete Truth.

It is a single story. Made by a group of very talented people, who cared about these characters, who did their best. They made a funny, emotional, well-drawn and complex cartoon show about the things THEY personally wanted to tell stories about.

Does it answer all questions the way everyone wants them answered? No. That's impossible.

Everyone wants a different story. Everyone wants a different solution, a different resolution. A different ending.

Steven Universe is one story. It cannot satisfy all people.

So when you ask me 'has your opinion of Steven Universe changed'? The answer is 'no'.

I went in, expecting to see a story. I saw a lot of what I liked! I saw some parts which I thought were interesting. I saw some parts which, yes, I disagreed with a little.

But overall, it's a good story. And that's what I expected, and that's what I got, which means I'm pretty satisfied. I love that story.

I feel like recently, there's this expectation of media, to be Everything For All People. And it's a bit unrealistic. No one call tell the perfect story. We are all simply telling the stories we want to tell. And people will vibe with that, more or less.

A single story, made by a small group of people, will never be that for you. There will never be an Unproblematic Cartoon that you watch that will be devoid of things you disagree with.

Being critical of media doesn't mean 'Criticize the FUCK outta that media, and the one with the least criticisms is the best one'.

Critical thinking is about evaluating things critically - that means being critical of YOURSELF. Being critical of your OWN reactions. Asking 'why did I like this?' and 'why did I dislike this?'. Asking 'this doesn't mesh with me, but who WOULD it mesh with? It isn't for me, but who is it for? Who would it hurt, but also who would it help?'

Some people HATED how SU: Future ended. They beat their fists on the wall and cried about how Steven was leaving his family behind, and how THEY could never imagine doing something like that, and how he was running away from his problems just like Rose had.

Me? I loved it. I think it was the right choice, and I COULD imagine it and thought it was in character. I thought he needed to be his own person, instead of shouldering everyone else's responsibilities for once. Was one of us more right than the other? Maybe not? Maybe that was the whole point?

Loving things is not about putting on rose colored glasses. Sometimes, choosing to love something with flaws is an act of rebellion. It's about knowing you have differences, but understanding that there is value in the things you DO agree on, and knowing you can consume that.

Healthy consumption of media does not mean throwing the whole cartoon away as soon as you notice something is wrong with it, like a bruise on an apple.

Healthy consumption of media involves critical thinking AND feeding yourself. Acknowledging you may disagree with parts of it, but not starving yourself just because your apples all have small imperfections.

Eat, for fuck's sake. Feed yourself. You'll feel better.

Thassit.

[melverie]

OBEY ME MC & OC ASK GAME

an ask game specifically for your Obey Me MCs and OCs! List the OCs and MCs you want to get asks for and specify which species they are so people know which species-specific questions they can ask you Some questions have a lot of aspects to them; they're there to give you a little nudge in case you have no idea how to approach the question, but the only really important bit is the first question!

⸺ GENERAL INFO ⸺

01: What is their opinion on the other species? Would they rather be a different one? 02: Do they have a nickname? 03: When is their birthday? Do they celebrate it? Do they even remember it in the first place? 04: What kind of magic do they possess? If they can't use any, do they have magic potential slumbering within them? 05: Which deadly sin best aligns with them? Which one do they embody the least? 06: Have they been to other realms? Which one is their favorite and why? 07: What is their favorite place, and what do they love so much about it? 08: Do they have a kill count? How high is it? 09: Do they attend RAD? What is their role there? Their best subject/the one they teach? Club activties? If they don't attend RAD, what do they do? 10: What was there initial reaction to Diavolo's plans of uniting the three realms? Has their opinion changed? 11: Do they still have any objects from their childhood? What is their most vivid childhood memory? 12: What is something they have experienced that has shaped them into the person they are today?

⸺ RELATIONSHIPS & PERSONALITY ⸺

01: What's their relationship with...? [anon chooses at least one character for this one; MC is part of the cast if you're asking about OCs] 02: On a scale of 1 to 10, how annoying are they to Lucifer? :) 03: What is their family like? Do they have siblings? Pets? 04: What is a character trait that will immediately make them despise someone? On the flip side, how can you easily win their favor? 05: Do they openly show affection? What is their love language? [platonic or romantic] 06: Are they interested in romantic relationships? Do they have any experience? Are they proactive or would they rather be persued? 07: Would they date an immortal being if they aren't immortal themself, and vice-versa? 08: Are they easy to read or do they mask their intentions perfectly? Are they manipulative? A good liar maybe? What are their tells? 09: How is their temper? Are they quick to violence? Do they get frustrated easily? 10: Do they wear their emotions on their sleeve, or do they try to hide them from others as best as they can? Do they try to hide them from themself, too? 11: Do they cry often? What is the last thing they cried about? 12: What makes them soft? 13: What is their greatest wish? What would they be willing to sacrific to get it? 14: What is their biggest regret? 15: What is there biggest fear? Is there something they try to avoid at all cost? 16: How do they react when stressed? How does their behaviour differ when in a life or death situation? 17: What is a side of themself they don't want other to see? When does that side reveal itself?

⸺ CONCEPT AND DESIGN ⸺

01: How often do you think about them in a day? Be honest, I know they torment you in your thoughts as much as you torment them :) 02: What inspired you to create them, and what is the first thing you decided about them? 03: What is the biggest change you have made from their original concept? 04: What do they look like? Do you have a picture/picrew of what you envision them to look like? 05: Do they have any physical attributes that set them apart from others? 06: What is their clothing style? Do they put a lot of effort into their appearance? 07: How do you imagine their voice? Are they loud? 08: Anything you heavily associate with them? A color, a word, a picture, or something else? 09: Share some fluff headcanons about them! 10: How about some angst headcanons? >:) 11: Bonus: something else you really want to share about them that isn't mentioned on here ♡

⸺⸺ SPECIES-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

⸺ ANGEL ⸺

01: What rank are they? [seraphim, cherubium, ophanim, ...] 02: How many wings do they have? Do they display them proudly, or do they try to hide them whenever possible? What kind of halo do they have? 03: Do they sometimes sneak out to visit the other realms? 04: Are they a guardian angel to someone? 05: Have they seen Michael in person and do they think he looks like a jellyfish? [the second part is mandatory, don't skip] 06: Did they know the brothers before they fell? Regardless of if they have or not, was is their opinion of them? And what do they think of fallen angels in general? 07: Did they fight in the Celestial War? What side were they on and why? 08: Have they ever questioned Father? What for? Were they punished for it? 09: How close are they to falling? If they are a fallen angel, what made them fall? 10: What is something they would willingly fall for?

⸺ DEMON ⸺

01: Wings or tail(s) in demon form? What do their horns look like? 02: Are they part of demon nobility or would they have taken the train back in the day? 03: Do they have any special abilities? [such as Mephisto's power to essentially forge pacts with demons, Lucifer's power to read and manipulate memories, and so on] 04: Are they a fallen angel? If so, do they regret falling? 05: Have they forged any pacts yet? How eager are they to do so, and do they forge them often? If they haven't, why not? 06: How would they go about forging pacts? Do they have a specific strategy they fall back on, or do they go with the flow? 07: How loyal are they to their human master? 08: Have they given anyone their grimoire? 09: What do they do with human souls? 10: Solomon shows up at their doorstep in the middle of the night to ask for a pact. How do they react? 11: What is their opinion of Diavolo as a ruler? Have they experienced the reign of any other demon kings? How does Diavolo compare in their opinion? 12: What was their reaction to the brothers first arrving in the Devildom? Were they scared of a potential war? Hostile toward them? Did they extend a helping hand? 13: If they attend RAD, were they chosen for the exchange program? Did they go to the Celestial Realm or the human realm?

⸺ HUMAN ⸺

01: How old are they? 02: Are they immortal? If given the opportunity, would they like to be? 03: Did they believe in demons and angels before the exchange program? Did they have any contact with the paranormal before it? 04: Do they have a guardian angel? Have they forged any pacts? 05: Are they into demons and/or angels? If they had to choose one or the other, which one would they go for? [trying to word this SFW but I'm sure you know what I mean :)] 06: Who do they trust more—angels or demons? Why? 07: Where do you think they would most likely end up in—heaven or hell? 08: Do they carry anything with them to protect themself from the paranormal? 09: How close were they to just bless the water inside a demon's body and turn it into holy water because they were just so done with them?

[haunted-headset]

ASK TIME ASK TIME!! i am officially raiding your asks now, take this as a threat /j

mkay sooooo, thoughts on lovejoy member!reader x wilbur?? 🤭 you could write about their sweet loveydovey moments and the way they blow kisses to each other on stage, or maybe their relationship is secret so focus on all the little things they do to show affection without the fans (and maybe friends too) knowing they’re together? like holding hands under tables, the lil glances they give each other, aaaah!!

apologies if you’ve written smth similar already, my memory is failing me rn, but if u have then do not worry because ill be back asking for other random shit too LMAO <3

🎸 Lovejoymember!reader x Wilbur HCs🎸

a/n: yoooo this is a really cool idea :D

tags: @vibestillaxxx@joviepog@ax-y10@themonsterunderurmom @wilburstan@smolsleepykitten@funnyreally2009@crows-death@dykepunz@aresriiots@0miamor0@defonotval@chipch0p@mazzistar16@unmellowyellowfellow@justalittlebitofchaos@thosecolorfulsheets@vopix@taylors-version-from-the-vault@aine-lasagna@merianakross@veeislost@urfav-sapphic-siren@shazbaz58-blog @wifiatthetrainstation@mcr-pr-fob@shd454@rqvii@idioticion@m0thza @zuuriell @somebody-v @goosebeing@ogelizasoot @lexx-the-gay-rubber-ducky @r0ckstardr3amgal

contains: loads of fluff, petnames, a single ass slap, & cheesiness

This man is CONSTANTLY flirting with you on stage. We're talking ass pats, blowing kisses, quick pecks between lyrics, etc. He finds it funny whenever the crowd screams & cheers when you two flirt.

When you two first started dating, you both didn't want to tell anyone, so you couldn't be affectionate around each other. Or so you thought. He'd hold your hand under tables, make sure you two were sharing a hotel room &/or bed, kiss the back of your hand when nobody's looking, give you hugs, tickle you (we all know he would tickle you. he did it to Mark, why not you?), etc.

If you were a drum player, he'd randomly rest his chin on your head if you were sitting down to play

During studio time, he's hugging you from behind & being suuuuuper cuddly (while grossing out the other members in the process)

During concerts, he's randomly making suggestive, cheesy, or flirty jokes to you to make the crowd laugh.

^^ "Hey, Y/N?" Wilbur said to you into the mic, looking in your direction. "Yeah?" you replied, trying to catch your breath from the last song. "What's up?" "I have a really important question for you," he said. "The crowd would really love to hear this from you." "What is it?" you replied. "Everybody's been wondering what you do for a living besides being sexy," he grins. This causes you to turn beet red & the crowd, the rest of the band, & Wilbur begin to laugh.

If you were a good singer, he'd beg on his hands & knees ask you to do duets or backing solos in new songs

If you were artsy, he'd also beg on his hands & knees ask you to help design the merch

If the band had to get on a plane or train to get to the next concert location, he'd be SO CUDDLY!!! He'd lay his head in your lap or vice versa, he'd hold your hand, he'd share an earbud with you, he'd let you watch him play The Sims on his laptop, he'd lean his head on your shoulder or vice versa, etc.

When the band goes out to eat or just goes out in general, he's paying for & doing EVERYTHING for you. You got something to eat? Don't even lay a finger on your wallet. You're in a store & you mention being hungry? He's grabbing every single snack & drink that you like. You shiver slightly? He's taking off his jumper or hoodie & giving it to you, no questions asked. You mention your legs hurting? You're being carried, either piggyback, on his shoulders, or bridal style.

[abybweisse]

Ch210, Spoiler page and thoughts

The title page has been leaked already; I've seen it elsewhere here as well as on Discord. It's almost everything I was hoping for this chapter, represented in one image.

There are some things to point out, and I was hoping to post some thoughts before I'd even seen this spoiler, because my thoughts were already pondering a possible situation like this: that the chapter focuses on Finny going berserk... perhaps in ways we've never witnessed before.

I was also hoping we'd get the new reaper confronting Doll, but I really don't know if he will.

But back to Finny. In the cover art, you will see that there's a lot of blood on him and his clothes, but I don't think it's his own blood. His eyes suggest he's in berserker mode. I suspect we might finally get a better glimpse of what it was like the day he escaped from the drug facility. Previously, I'd wondered whether Sebastian had killed the staff and just skipped over the one remaining test subject -- either he lives or he doesn't. But since we now have a situation where Finny has to force his way out of another locked down facility -- and this time he's also trying to save friends and other children, something he couldn't do last time -- we might get scenes that look like a reenactment of that drug facility escape.

In ch209, we see Finny running off, away from Snake but also towards the approaching staff. We know he will have to fight them, and it might be mostly empty-handed. This is no problem for him, especially when he's in a frenzy. He might grab and throw whatever he can, but this time it might be more about crushing people with his hands, as he might have done at the drug facility. This fighting style could look more like Sebastian crushing the heads/bodies of bizarre dolls on the ship... but with less-graceful movements.

Scenario: He gets through the staff that have entered the underground lair, then anyone in the way upstairs, in the barn. Then he's back outside. Is he going to head to the main building to attempt to save the other kids, or will he only be able to focus on himself and the four top students? Either way, at some point he's going past a brick wall when lights shine on him, and that's what we see in the cover art. It might be a flashlight/torch, but it could also be a spotlight from a sniper tower. The top students did warn him before that the fences were reinforced, and that guards were stationed at lookout posts to shoot down attempting escapees.

When he was at the drug facility, he was being kept in a cellar of some kind, and it looks like it was designed so the kids couldn't easily climb out, but he somehow did, perhaps by jumping and grabbing hold of the rim of the hatch. Or maybe he somehow climbed up whatever grips he could reach. It seems he killed the man sent to shoot him and dumped his body down into the cellar. Here, Finny might actually climb up one of those lookout towers, kill the guards, and toss them down to the ground. Or he kills them -- maybe one -- merely by tossing them down.

This sort of action could allow Yana-san to give us glimpses of the previous escape in parallel to the escape scene now. Panels next to each other or even split panels, showing then and now, as it all unfolds. A bit like when he envisioned old scenes of the drug facility exam rooms and surgical equipment as he and the others looked around and found Ginny's body and the dissection table. But this time it might be like an onslaught of comparison images, representing the jumble of memories and current moments in Finny's head, as this all happens.

And we might even see him literally tear down the fencing. 🤔

Thoughts?

Oh, and FYI. Today is the Ides of March... and Snake's birthday (though in-universe it's Dec 9th)....

[eternalglitch]

Hi! I've been following your story since probably the 5th chapter (I'm not sure exactly), and it's absolutely amazing! I ran across the anamatic for it first, and I wasn't entirely sure what I was looking at. I had only ever known the 2007 movie version of tmnt. And then the description said it came from your story, and I love reading, so I checked it out. There, it said to watch the show first, and I was like, nahhhh. It'll be fine. I know the characters, the 4 boys, splinter, Casey and April, the Shredder. What more was there?

Oh boy. As soon as I read the name Draxum, I was confused. I thought maybe I was misremembering Shredders real name. But then who was Big Mama?

So I caved and went to find the show.

I was the same as everyone else who started it. "What in the world did they do to them?!" I really didn't like Splinter. The designs of the boys were so weird. Why was Raph acting so childish? The whole caboodle.

But I was informed by anime watchers years prior that when you first start a show, you need to give it the 3 episode test: watch the first three episodes before you give your final verdict. The first three are vital for the show writers and artists and producers to play with and figure out how the show is going to move forward and what style they'll fall into. They have the first three episodes to gently flush out who the characters are without bombing the watchers with info. So I did.

It was exactly what I needed to get through college. It actually retaught me how to laugh at shows again. How to be engaged. How to enjoy something again.

And as soon as I finished the show, I went right back to your story and finally understood who the characters were.

And coming fresh from the show, the characters I read in your story were like I never finished the series. Everything about them was the same. You drew their personalities out perfectly.

I wanted to share my findings and did the exact same thing I went through for a friend. I showed her the video, and she got excited. I told her of the story, but that it only made sense after the show. She watched the show and enjoyed it all. I gave there the link to your tale, and she ate it up. I thought she might have a breakdown as she waited for each update.

We got both our brothers into the show. I got another guy friend to watch it, and finally convinced another friend to watch it. The first friend got HER friend to watch it...

Really, it's all because of your story that I have a whole friend group that I can talk about turtles with.

So thank you 😊

-🐢

P.s. I hope for healing well and that your Lil rat buddies are doing much better.

I have actually had people read lfls with zero turtle background knowledge before, but if you are trying to map it to a different iteration it is definitely quite different. You probably joined around the 10th chapter, since I don't believe I had any serious fandom presence or fanart let alone an animatic until around that time.

Before Rise, 2007 was the only iteration of turtles I knew as well, by chance.

And I'm very glad my story created so many good opportunities and memories for you! Thank you for the very sweet ask <3

[mr-jack-letterman]

More B-Side Verse!

Next up is Error.

This is Trojan, the B-Side verse version of Error.

(click for better quality)

- Within B-Side, Trojan used to be a Science Sans instead of a Geno Sans like Error was.

- Since Trojan originated from a younger and overall nicer Sans variant, Trojan is much more pacifistic and less angry than Error.

- He still destroys Universes, but he's less likely to actually fight people. He does his job and tries to flee as fast as possible when Scribe shows up, only rarely giving in to fighting.

- A glitch is spreading throughout B-Side verse. It seems as though there is no cure, but destroying the infected universes seem to slow it down. So, Trojan does his best to kill off the infected universes using his power, only leaving the uninfected alive. This earns him the title of "God of Destruction" throughout the multiverse as rumor spreads. No one, except Trojan's trusted allies, know of his true motives.

- Scribe and his crew are trying to stop the same corruption, but Scribe believes Trojan is the root cause of it and seeks to annihilate him, thinking destroying "the source" will kill off the rest. He doesn't see Trojan's efforts as "damage control", all he sees is Trojan "spreading more corruption."

- Being alone for so long has made him more like Alphys, very nervous and anti-social, but undeniably brilliant. He has a habit of going on long rambling tangents about data, space, magic, and whatnot. Most people don't understand a thing he's talking about though. He doesn't care, he's just happy to infodump.

- Most people see him as this maniacal mad scientist who tortures people and experiments on souls. Many Sanses like to compare him to some of the abusive and horrible Gasters throughout the multiverse. When, in reality, Trojan has absolutely zero confidence in himself let alone his "mad science."

- Most of Trojan's time is actually spent researching and documenting the different magic and fighting styles all Sans and Papyri have. He finds all the variation extremely fascinating and just rly rly rly wants to learn about it all. (*Cough* undiagnosed autism *cough*/lh)

- Trojan really doesn't have many friends and doesn't get out much. But, unlike Error, he's pretty good friends with Nightmare and his gang of misfits, as well as Cyan, the B-Side variant of Underswap Sans.

- For a long while, Trojan couldn't remember he used to be a Science Sans. Once he did remember, Cyan gave him his necklace as a reminder to never forget.

The rest of these are not rly that important, they're just funky little design quirks I think are cool lmao.

- Trojan is named after a "Trojan Horse Virus" a type of computer virus that disguises itself as a normal program.

- His name is also a reference to the Trojan Horse in Greek mythology. Within the story, not only was the Trojan Horse a smart plan, the monument itself was an alleged tribute to Athena, goddess of wisdom. Trojan is a very smart cookie so using my tism powers I named him after something connected to the goddess of wisdom essentially NSNDNND.

- Trojan's "strings" are less like strings and more like thick ribbons of green binary. Within the Antivoid, similar to Error, Trojan has a bunch of these ribbons hanging from the "ceiling". But unlike Error, written on these ribbons are the names and serial numbers of all the universes he's destroyed. It's his way of remembering them and memorializing them.

- The binary code surrounding him can spell out various small phrases or words relating to what he's feeling. Normally, they just spell out "Trojan". But as seen above in my paper sketches, they change periodically. The translations for the binary can be found underneath each sketch.

- Trojan's eyelights can change as well. They turn into 1s when he's surprised, angry, excited etc, and change to 0s when he's embarrassed, sad, worried, etc.

- When he's overwhelmed or confused, strings of binary cover his eyes.

If you have any questions about B-Side verse or the world itself, don't hesitate to send me an ask or a message!

Original Error by @loverofpiggies

(I hope tagging is alright-)

Extra info about B-Side verse :D

[il-predestinato]

Interview with Charles Leclerc from Sportweek (La Gazetta dello Sport): “I play the piano, I love art, I want to fly. And I dreamed of Ferrari” (published January 7, 2023).

What is fashion for you?

Charles: “A way of expressing oneself without speaking. I realized this when I started travelling all over the world, thanks to F1, visiting countries and cities I didn't know before.

“I realized that dressing well had a different meaning according to different cultures and traditions. That's when fashion really started to interest me, I would say from 2017, even though I've always liked it.”

What was the next step?

Charles: “I started attending fashion shows, then I became a testimonial for Giorgio Armani and then I came more and more into contact with this environment.”

You also take great care over the graphics of your racing helmets. Which design do you like the most?

Charles: “Probably the one used in France (2022), with the reproduction on the two halves of the photographs of my father Hervé and Jules Bianchi.”

Ferrari is red, but for your 488 Pista you chose a different colour.

Charles: “At that time I was using a matte black helmet with the Monégasque flag going from the front to the back. So I decided to order the car exactly the same. I still like it very much.”

What did you think when you saw yourself in a Ferrari suit for the first time?

Charles: “It was a very big emotion, because it was my childhood dream to get into F1 and race for the Prancing Horse, even though at that time I was not yet an official Ferrari driver (only FDA).”

Do you have any good-luck charms you don't part with?

Charles: “I had some as a kid. My grandmother always used to sew a cross inside my overalls, under the sponsors' logos, but that tradition has disappeared since she is no longer here…”

How do you express your creativity?

Charles: “Mainly through music. I play the piano and invent my own pieces. I will never be as good with a pencil at drawing.”

How do you choose the clothes you wear every day?

Charles: “There's a very classic part of me, which seeks simplicity and comfort, and another more creative part that leads me to play around with streetwear.

“I let myself be guided by the mood of the day, by how I feel, because dressing is a way of making something clear with one's image.”

Will we see a clothing line of your own like Hamilton did?

Charles: “I had started the project, but I stopped. Maybe in the future.”

Do you ever talk about fashion with Lewis Hamilton?

Charles: “Sometimes we discuss the brands we like. He really has good taste and a lot of courage to show off the strangest looks when he comes to the circuits.”

Favourite colours or colours you would never wear?

Charles: “These days I prefer grey, beige and white. I'm not a big fan of fuchsia, in the sense that I wouldn't see myself dressed all in fuchsia, but I've worn that too.”

How do you feel about walking the catwalk?

Charles: “I'm not comfortable. Too many stares on me. But I like to watch the show and observe the more unusual garments. I was at the Ferrari Style show in Milan last year and before that at Armani.”

Try describing the feeling of driving an F1 car to someone who does not know racing. Valentino Rossi, when he tested the Ferrari, said: It is faster than I thought.

Charles: “A nice definition, because it is difficult for a normal person to think about the speed of a F1 car. I always make the comparison with the Rollercoaster. It's like being up there, but keeping everything under control.”

Why are you happy racing?

Charles: “For the adrenaline and because on the track I feel free.”

Do you like motorbikes?

Charles: “I have one motorbike, customised, which I bought in Bali when I went there on a trip with my best friends. We rented it on the spot and I wanted to take it with me to Monte Carlo, even though it was a mess to get it registered to ride there.”

Why that particular motorbike?

Charles: “Because of the memories it holds. I had just arrived in F1 and I decided to take all my closest friends on holiday, for the first time outside Europe. We had a great time.”

Do you still think of getting a flying license?

Charles: “I've already had a few lessons, I'm now at 11 to 13 hours of flying, let's say I have the basics. I had to stop, I hope to start again in 2023. There is a lot of theory to study and I obviously like the practice more.”

How was the feeling?

Charles: “Excellent. I like the stall tests, because there's adrenaline, but also checking the plane in general. And to say that I've always been afraid of flying...”

What do you mean?

Charles: “Even though I've taken planes countless times in my life, I wasn't calm. Now, knowing what pilots do and all the options there are in case of unexpected events, has reassured me.”

Even today you are karting like when you were a kid. Would it be nice to discover a new Leclerc?

Charles: “I would like to help talented young people, who don't have the means, to emerge and make their dreams come true. However, it is a project that takes time and which I therefore see as possible only in the future.”

What does it mean to be the hero of so many very young people?

Charles: “Every time I come to Maranello, outside the Ferrari factory there are always kids waiting for me. In recent years, F1 has regained popularity, also thanks to Netflix. It's nice to see a child's eyes light up when we make a photo. A small gesture is enough, which does not cost effort, to give joy to others.”

Do you feel like an example to follow?

Charles: “I try to be myself, behaving well, if this can then serve as an inspiration for those who observe me, I'm happy about it.”

Translation by vetteleclerc.

[ayyy-imma-ninja]

Hmm out of curiosity do you like have ref sheets of the SAMS characters that you look at for proportions and colours and stuff when you draw the video thumbnails or do you just like rely on the models as refs for that stuff?

(I haven't watched any of the shows myself 'cause it's a lot of time to invest into something (and I really struggled with focusing on the first video they made 'cause of overlapping talking and audio from what they were reacting to being overstimulating, so I'm kinda hesitent in general to try watching again), but I really like the thumbnails that I see from you on here when people share them (mainly I see them from Ceph (twinanimatronics) XD). But yeah I find it really cool how you translate their designs into your own style, it looks really nice.)

No I don't have ref sheets for the SAMS characters; not really, anyway. I draw them all from memory, then refer back to previous art for things like color palettes X3

[fashion-runways]

Idk if you’ve answered this somewhere else but do you have a top three for designers and/or collections?

i haven't! i don't really have a top collection first because i have a terrible memory and it all blends into one general vibe after a while lmao and second because i cannot pick just 3 anyway, and i guess top 3 designers kind of change as time passes and new ones come and whatnot... plus there are so many good interesting designers it's hard to pick at all, like sure mcqueen is mcqueen, i'd die for mcqueen who wouldn't, even sarah burton's mcqueen was impeccable imo even if it wasn't as wild, i really love jeremy scott's work in moschino, it was insane and silly and so much fun and genuinely cool, and then westwood is... you know.. westwood, like who doesn't like westwood, you need to get something checked if you don't like westwood. i did a whole project on the punk scene and westwood when i was in fashion school, didn't even hesitate when they asked us to pick a designer and a style. i guess i'd pick those three as my all time favs.

current ones, i'm always looking forward to whatever harris reed is cooking every year, i would literally kill a man for thom browne if he asked, and i love the silly little fairytale world kate and laura mulleavy live in within rodarte even if sometimes it gets a little ugly, it gets a little dumb. notable mention not making it into the top 3 but still being great for simone rocha, robert wun and dilara findikoglu.

other than that, i also did a project on agatha ruiz de la prada and aesthetics and branding because i think she's so fun design wise and so specific, she's just doing whatever, that's a clown show she puts on every collection and frankly why not, what's stopping us! and sure elie and zuhair are great, it's practically the same collection every year too but who cares when they're so good at what they do.

[aliennazero]

hi, your yoshiden posts are making me go insane at midnight. thank you so much for the good food! i was wondering if you have any personal thoughts on the reason(s) why yoshida would be romantically interested in denji? (or have the potential to be?) and if you think there's anything in the manga so far that does/could point to that?

Thank you for your question, yoshyoshy! Sorry for my late responses.

About why Yoshida would be romantically interested in Denji... honestly I have no basis for that, it just from VIBES and my feelings alone like- In my eyes, they have this weird gay tension that's only shounen mc and his *completely opposite designed* "rival" could have.

HOWEVER when we talk about CSM style of foreshadowing, I think yes, their relationship progression is already hinted since chapter 103 and 104. We, as the readers, just don't know exactly how it will ends up to be. We have the puzzle pieces, but not knowing the bigger picture. It could be platonic, it could be romantic (either one sided or not).

CHAPTER 103 SYMBOLISM

In chapter 103, there's so many details set up for both of them that I will show one by one. May be a reach, but knowing Fujimoto, we can't really predict or ignore anything tbh.

When the crowd cheered for Chainsaw Man, Yoshida saw and interested in Denji only.

Yoshida seems to be more relaxed (leaning in) and comfortable sitting with Denji than Fami (in chapter 122).

There are metaphor using their drinks to showcase their personality. Yoshida is iced coffee: bitter, dark, tired, and more mature-like. Meanwhile Denji is orange juice: sweet, sour, and more childish-like. Both standing next to each other (with height differences too). Which is very cute in my opinion.

Lastly, the famous background scene full of paintings with each different objects and symbols. Which I might try to debunk later on, but it's for another post.

CHAPTER 104 REVISITED

Now we go to the next "foreshadow" chapter, which is my personal favourite because we get teased by the probability of new trio. But we will focus on yoshiden this time.

"I'll stop you by force if I have to." Yeah, he already did. But what interesting about that is, he never *actually* try to hurt Denji. He always try to minimize the impact of his force method and tries to make Denji understand (the problem is, Yoshida is really just that BAD at giving reasonings and excuses).

Yoshida's memory is hinted to be weirdly strong. He remembers so many details even from small talks months ago, talking about Denji and "10.000¥ is 10.000¥"

"If there's anything I can do, I want you to come to me" has the same energy with "It's save through cloth, right?". It's not just a random empty words. It must be relevance in the future, right? RIGHT???

IN MY CONCLUSION

I think that's it. If you think there's more evidence to foreshadow their relationship, feel free to discuss about it! For me personally, their dynamics is very interesting and it would take much more effort to develop them into nothing than something.

I am VERY positive that their relationship would go deeper beyond what we have now. Honestly let's be real, it would be more interesting if their relationship develops romantically. Not only it would break shounen rules, but it also will be a major character development for both Yoshida and Denji. And apparently it suit the subplot we had right now, conforming your real identity. However I don't hate the idea of them being platonically too.

Also their dynamics goes from "haha funny comedic duo with gay jokes sprinkles" to "I could see you for who *you* are, but our traumas and our limited social abilities has shaped us to threaten each other, we understood everything yet we understand nothing (also let's blame the government)" in exactly 30 chapters after their first meeting in part 2, crazy.

[ladytesla]

The Great Faerun Baking Show (part two)

I've decided I'm going to run with this anyway. It is a beautiful day in Faerun and I am a horrible goose fanfiction writer. There are several things I need to get done today, so obviously I'm going to not do them and write this instead.

For those of you who are just stopping by, I had a horrible idea a while ago and this is the result. I have no idea what's going to happen or who's going to win. I’m just going to roll a D20 ‘bake check’ for everyone and write out the results, including what everyone rolled so y’all know I’m not cheating just so my druid boyfriend can win.  The person with the lowest total score (out of a possible score of 60) goes home.

We've got the main 6 companions, Jaheira, Halsin, Minsc (and Boo), Minthara, Dammon, and my tav Medora (who y'all can just pretend is Alfira if you don't want someone else's tav in the story, since they're both female bards)

Week One, Cake Week: Star baker was Karlach, Minthara went home

Week Two: Biscuit Week, or "Viconia's Walking Florentine"

Signature Challenge: Sandwich Biscuits

Astarion: Bourbon biscuits. He and Shadowheart took a shot right when the bake started. He took a few more shots after that just because he could, and ended up making a bunch of vampire jokes with Noel Fielding. Despite the alcohol handicap, his biscuits turned out quite nice.

Dammon: Dulce de leche and banana biscuits. The dulce de leche overpowered the banana a bit, but the texture of the biscuits themselves were great.

Gale: Tara's coffee biscuits. He really wanted to bring back the memories of caffeine-fueled all-nighters at Blackstaff Academy. He also used a cat-shaped cookie cutter. The biscuits weren't exactly identical, and the coffee cream was a bit too runny.

Halsin: Lavender and vanilla biscuits. He used a duck-shaped cookie cutter because he likes ducks. They were all perfectly identical and the flavors were incredible. He got a Hollywood Handshake for them.

Jaheira: Malted milk biscuits. She wasn't able to get them as identical as she would have liked, and some of the biscuits were a bit underdone.

Karlach: Peanut butter and jelly sandwich biscuits. She was determined to have Paul like something with peanut butter in it. Unfortunately he still doesn't. They were also a bit messy. They were adorable in their messiness though.

Lae'zel: Pistachio custard creams. They were messy, and the dragon cookie cutter she used was a bit too delicate, resulting in some dragons missing their tails.

Medora: Raspberry and almond linzer biscuits. They had a lovely classic flavor profile, and were nearly identical.

Minsc: Coconut biscuits. He tried to use chocolate designs to make them look like tiny coconuts, but it wasn't completely successful. The flavor, however, was nice.

Shadowheart: Blackberry and earl grey biscuits. She tried to shape them like night orchids, colored with activated charcoal. However, the color made it hard to judge whether or not the biscuits were overcooked, and several of them were burned. The earl grey was so faint it was overpowered by the blackberry and the, well, burn.

Wyll: Empire biscuits. He grew up sneaking them from the kitchen as a boy, and wanted to stick to his 'classics done right' style. Unfortunately the biscuits weren't as crisp as Paul and Prue would have liked. Noel still stuck one in his pocket for later though.

Technical Challenge: Coconut Macaroons

(I think I'm going to list them from worst to best from now on)

11. Dammon

10. Shadowheart

9. Medora

8. Karlach

7. Lae'zel or Wyll (they both rolled a 9)

6. Wyll or Lae'zel

5. Halsin

4. Astarion

3. Jaheira

2. Gale

Minsc (honestly how does he keep doing so well idk man)

Showstopper: Gingerbread Showpiece

Astarion: To keep with his Brand, he decided to make a graveyard with several little gingerbread mausoleums and monuments. His, of course, was the biggest and fanciest one, with the door open and a little paper cut-out of himself coming out. Very tongue-in-cheek. Some of the monuments were sloppy, because he had so many he didn't have time to make them all super polished.

Dammon: He did his best to make an anvil, a hammer and a little piece of pulled sugar as the metal to be forged. He then discovered that despite working with molten metal on a regular basis, molten sugar still burns just as much when hitting the skin, and dropped it. He spent so much time on a backup sugar piece that the presentation on his anvil and hammer suffered a tiny bit.

Gale: His scene was an open book with a little wizard casting Fireball standing on the pages. There were huge cracks in the gingerbread book, but the wizard and his fireball were nicely detailed. He wasted a lot of time because he needed the spell piped on to the gingerbread to be ACCURATE DAMMIT.

Halsin: He created a peaceful woodland scene with trees, a family of bears, and some mushrooms. The largest bear broke, but he was able to fix it somewhat and prop it up against a tree. Bears lean against trees all the time. He hoped the judges might think it was purposeful. They saw right through him, however.

Jaheira: Years of helping her children with various projects has paid off. She somehow in the time limit created Wyrm's Crossing and just for show a poured-sugar River Chionthar. That earned her a Hollywood Handshake.

Karlach: She made an impressive replica of her tent, complete with a small army of teddy bear cookies. She even took the time to make little bears shaped like her friends and the judges. When asked if she hadn't wanted to make something more badass, she shrugged and said she could like cracking skulls and teddy bears at the same time.

Lae'zel: Her red dragon looked more like a guinea pig, unfortunately, so she changed her answer last-minute and said it was a giant space hamster. Due to its red color, though, the judges saw right through her story.

Medora: She attempted to create a lute, a mandolin and a drum. The neck of the lute broke and the piping on the drum was far from precise, but it wasn't a complete disaster.

Minsc: He made a treasure chest mimic. Originally he'd wanted the lid to open, but the hinge broke. It was still beautiful regardless, and quite big. It nearly took up the entire counter.

Shadowheart: Her little gingerbread cottage was already precariously lopsided, and when she turned to grab another piping bag it fell completely off the bench and onto the floor.

Wyll: He replicated his favorite park in Baldur's Gate out of gingerbread, even sculpting a statue with modeling chocolate. It was very impressive.

The Results

Our star baker this week with a total of 45/60 is Halsin!

And unfortunately, with a score of 9/60, Shadowheart has to leave the tent.

Feel free to play along, roll bake checks, and comment with what your Tav would make! Yeah I can't be stopped we're on to bread week next.

[sunoorintarou]

Catharsis: Vivid

Phos!Reader x (Platonic) Nobara Kugisaki

Warnings: Regret, self blaming, general angst, usual Catharsis warnings

Notes: this was supposed to be smthn cute with Phos and Nobara but ig things happen💀

Nobara's eyes were trained on the bottle of nail polish on her desk. A bottle of dark blue.

She picked up the nail polish, beginning to paint her nails. Unwanted memories began to cloud her vision, memories she could never forget no matter how hard she tried. Memories of you.

"But I don't like nail polish. It smells weird." You had frowned, shaking your head.

It was late at night, and you and Nobara had decided to have a sleepover in her room, gossiping and giggling the entire night thus far.

You had offhandedly mentioned your inexperience with many things, like makeup and nail polish, immediately causing Nobara to want to change that.

"I picked this colour out just for you, though." Nobara pouted, holding a bottle of dark blue polish. The colour perfectly contrasting the bright red she usually wore.

You saw the hope in her eyes, will going weak before nodding, holding your hand out to her.

Nobara immediately perked up, smiling brightly as she began painting your nails.

"There, there! Look how pretty!" She smiled, showing you your perfectly painted and manicured nails.

You glanced from them to her bright face, smiling softly. "Yeah, I guess they're not all that bad."

"Let's take a picture, they look pretty together!"

Nobara paused, setting the bottle of blue nail polish down, watching as it dried.

After that, it was tradition for you to come back to her whenever they chipped or peeled for her to redo them, letting her experiment with different styles and shapes.

Almond shaped with plain deep blue nail polish was your favourite, and she had agreed they suited you the best.

Nobara paused, eyes widening as she looked at her own nails. Almond shaped with deep blue nail polish. A stark contrast to her usual square shaped with shiny red polish and occasional gold designs.

She stood up, walking to her cupboard as she opened it, grabbing her signature bottle of red nail polish. The last time she had gotten one was more than a month ago. She remembered the day vividly. You had chosen that one for her, after all.

The bottle was still full.

She looked over at the blue polish, realising it was the one you had always worn. Her eyes went wide.

It was half empty.

Nobara sighed, putting the red nail polish away and going back to her chair, bringing her knees up to meet her chest as she examined her nails.

She wondered if you were still wearing the same nail polish. Whether you still wore the same perfume she had picked out for you. If you thought of her when you felt sad on those long nights after longer days.

If you remember how she'd stayed in your room with you, holding you close as you cried in her arms. Remember how you'd spilled the beginnings of your true feelings to her and made her swear she'd never tell anyone.

Perhaps if she'd been faster, if she'd questioned you more, if she'd spent more time with you, spoke with you more, held you more. Perhaps you'd still be with her.

After that night, however, she began to doubt. Not you, but herself.

Just how much did she really know about you?

She knew your name, your age, that you liked banana milk, that your favourite Sanrio character was Cinamoroll. She knew you liked sleeping and loved your friends. But that was just material, physical.

Your family, your friends, your life before you came here, your goals, your dreams, your passions, your hobbies. Did you ever have pets? Have you ever had a boyfriend? Did you even want a boyfriend? Marriage? Kids? A family?

Your childhood, where you were from, hell, Nobara didn't even know your surname.

Did she ever, for a moment, really know you?

Were your smiles real? Your laughter? The way you felt about everyone was genuine. That was something she didn't doubt for a second. The way you cared about everyone, making sure no one got left behind, making sure no one ever felt alone.

How was it that you were the one that got left behind first? The one who felt the most alone?

How long had the storm in you brewed til you could no longer ignore it?

Just what had happened? Was it Yukio? Just Yukio? Something told her it was more than that. So what was it?

What was so horrible and twisted, settling under your skin, making it itch and crawl, causing you to scratch at it, scarring your skin, causing you to destroy yourself?

Nobara sighed. Asking herself these questions wouldn't bring you back. No what if or should have would.

Instead, all she could do was lament and pray that in another life, she'd never let you leave. In this life, however, she swore she'd find you and try to atone for her sins. If nothing else, she just wanted you to be happy, even if it was without her.

[silversweetpea]

Show and Tell

Word Count: 1326

Pairing:  Matt Murdock x Reader

Summary:  You show matt your new tattoo and there are some unexpected side effects.

Warnings: literally nothing I just craved fluff lmao

Author’s Note:  This is probably one of the more self indulgent fics i’ve ever written because the idea of getting tattoos for people is something I actually do? I currently have four that are just straight up tattoos of handwriting and doodles from people I love with plans to get 3 more in that style. 

❀✿❀✿ ❀✿❀✿ ❀✿❀✿ ❀✿❀✿ ❀✿❀✿ ❀✿❀✿

It had never been a secret in your relationship with Matt that you loved tattoos. You'd been dotted with designs longer than you'd known the lawyer and you had never shied away from the conversation that came about from each one. One of the first things that you had done when you started dating was guide his fingers around the shapes of different tattoos and explain the stories that they represented, or told him what the handwriting was referencing. Recently, you had wondered if he knew your scrapbook better than you with the way that he so mindlessly traced shapes as you lay together. 

All of which was why his slightly gob smacked expression was nothing short of endearing.

"You got a tattoo for me?" His voice is quiet in the apartment, disbelieving as if Matt expected you to break into laughter at any moment. There's a small part of you that feels bad for keeping it as a surprise but you knew that if you told the people in your life you were getting tattoos before you did they often tried to pitch in their opinions. You still shudder thinking of the argument you had gotten into with your best friend about wanting her actual handwriting and not some calligraphy font when she started trying to perfect the loops of her perpetually crooked cursive J. You hadn't wanted to fight with him, or to listen to Matt tell you that it was a bad idea. You had just wanted to memorialize this chapter of your life with him.

"Yeah, of course I did. I love you," You never tired of saying it, you weren't sure you ever could when you could see the way that his face changed. Matt wasn't the most chatty of partners, often reserved until given a reason not to be but you didn't mind. Not when you could read the micro expressions of his face like an open book. There was something about the way that he would breathe in, deep and slow, like he was smelling for rain, and his tilted grin would make his features look so much softer. He looked like all the horrible things you knew knocked at the door of his mind had been turned away for a moment, or maybe that was just you projecting how he made you feel when he said it back.

"What did you get?" Matt asked and you watched the way his fingers twitched in his lap. You didn't laugh, afraid to discourage his interest when all you really wanted was to memorize the way he leaned in towards you but didn't touch. Not when you hadn't invited him to. 

"Oh, you know, something tasteful." You teased. "A nice watercolor of your ass surrounded by quotes off of practice bar exams."

"(Y/n)," Matt laughed, shattering any attempt at sounding annoyed with you. 

"Here, give me your hand," He does and you pause just long enough to give it a gentle of squeeze before guiding it to your forearm. Yur heart beats fast in your chest, a thousand hummingbirds desperate to get out as you think about his reaction. You don't regret the design. Your ink is for you, but you can't deny how vulnerable you feel in these moments just before you explain them.

"Is it a flower?" You can't stop grinning as he speaks, low and contemplative as you finish guiding him over the first flower and move to the next. It had taken ages for your artist to get the right shade of red to stick to the delicate petals and you were in no hurry to move him along the finished piece. 

"It's several technically, but they're all the same flower. I got three of them because it's been three years," Part of you wants to leave it at the flowers and keep the quote beneath it to yourself. You won't, you can't trust that Foggy or Karen won't ask about it and then you'll have to explain that you were worried it was too sentimental even for you, but watching him try to decode what flower it is made it hard. 

"Well it's not a sunflower," You do laugh this time, but you don't feel bad because you're not the only one. 

"It's a red spider lily," The words are slow and your mouth feels dry as you try to organize your thoughts. "It's also known as the Devils crown on occasion and also simultaneously a flower of the heavens. I thought it was fitting for you."

There's a careful stillness for just a moment in his form, fingers frozen on your arm as you push forwards with your explanation. 

'It's not the only reason I got it though, just a fun little coincidence. I mostly got it because it's used to mark a time to celebration in some cultures, some Buddhist records even claim that they fall from the sky like snow." You're sure that he's following you now, even as he's silent. Matt was good about letting you ramble when you were nervous to calm yourself down. You can't bring yourself to look anywhere but him when you speak, too afraid to miss something in his expression and equally as afraid of not being heard in all your sentimental glory. 

"I would have thought you would go for mistletoe," he says after a minute, voice not quite hesitant but something just to the left of it. You can still picture him now, barely bundled up against the cold weather, snow falling to land in his hair and melting on his hands. You must have sounded like a wreck, caught on a bad night, but he just sat there with you and listened while you watched them light the Rockefeller tree. 

"I like the complicated ones, what can I say?" The smile returns and he does that deep breath again. You can't read his mind but sometimes you wish you could just to make sure he picked up on everything you weren't saying. That you liked him not in spite of his multitudes but because of them, that you weren't going anywhere just because things got hard or dangerous, that for all his self hatred and anger you can only look at him and see someone bursting at the seam with virtues. your boyfriend says nothing though, lost in his own thoughts as you continue with your presentation.

"This part isn't going to be nearly as interesting for you, sorry, but I still want you to know it's here." Matt's brow furrows, lips opened ever so slightly as you guide him back and forth across the same patch of skin. "When we first met you gave me your business card. It's not really your handwriting but I didn't know how to get that from you without raising suspicions so I just had them tattoo the braille instead. It's probably better that way though, more you."

"You put my name underneath a flower called 'Devil's Crown'?" 

"No, I put 'if you need help' underneath a flower of the heavens. You may not think much of yourself Matt, but I do. I always have." The color comes back slowly and then all at once, from sheet white to a beautiful shade of pink. You bring the hand not guiding him along the words to interlock your fingers with his. 

The brunette in front of you has been so quiet for so long that the anxiety has started to creep back in. The only thing that kept you from beginning to loose yourself within it is that his fingers are still tracing the flowers and words on your arm, your hand warm in his.

"What are you thinking?" You ask finally, despite the fear of what he might say. Matt opens his mouth instantly, for once not thinking about the words coming out of his mouth. 

"I think when this is is over I want to get married."

[bowties8glasses]

they hold each other during the night

commission for @theoneandonlyduskstrike's Nocturne being comfortably held by Luna

I LOVE DRAWING OTHER PEOPLE'S OC WITH THEIR FAVORITE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS IT RULES (bonus doddle):

with this being dusk's third commission, I tried doing my warmup sketch of nocturne entirely by memory, there's some off details but dusk said I got her down pat, yay!

and then we get to Luna, now I could've made dusk hold a tiny silly bean Luna akin to how I drew ponies before (twiparkle :>) but yea no the idea was def to have something looking more like the character

I did a sketch of Luna that looked as close to the show design as I could make, one bit that I really got stuck on was the face, something was off and I couldn't figure out what

I kept touching up the snout think that was the problem but then realized, it was the eyes, I initially drew them like I would with any other snooty animal, when they should've taken nearly the entire face

it looks silly but the details are all there, and now with a better understanding of the design and the *MLP style as a whole), I can start putting my own spin on things

wanted to give a liiiiiitle bit of that nightmare moon vibe to the design, a little more cat-adjacent

now we get to the fun part!

after the first draft, I asked dusk for any ideas for how the two interact, they suggested Noct hugging from behind Luna's neck, but also said they like having Luna holding them, cause usually they are the one hugging her (they have a plushie)

ok so now the composition must involve a big Luna that hugs you, that is the only option given this information

I got a pose I was happy with quickly after, but redid it a few more times until I got a ideal size difference

once I had put the colors down, I realized my luna design wasn't that different from the canon model, so I made a alternative version with the extra dark spots removed

it also makes the remaining dark spot on the cutie mark darker since I don't have to worry about the lineart detail getting lost

dusk liked the extra spots more though so that became the one used at the top