#also also i started using a different kind of paper. i liked the totally white background of the printer paper i was using buttt this

[lucky-draws]

im just thinking......about ballet ocie........

[sereniv]

.

[eredhes]

I’ve been wanting to get into clay and wondered what kind you used and if you have any tips for a newbie

I'm pretty flattered by this as I'm totally self-taught with clay haha I work with air-drying clay as I haven't been able to get onto a course, everything has been booked up in my area for like 2 years now. I'm considering saving up to get a home kiln.

My clay recommendations might be limited to the UK/Europe. I use Sio-2 Plus, but my normal supplier has stopped selling it so I've half switched to Pebeo Gedeo.

I'm really fond of and highly recommend Channel 4's The Great Pottery Throw Down and absorbed a lot from watching it.

(This got really long so rest under the cut):

I prefer natural clays as they tend to allow for fairly fine detailing. Sio-2 Plus is my favourite of these. Pebeo Gedeo is very similar to Sio-2 except it tends to dry out quickly and form a sort of skin which can be annoying. The white version doesn't do this but the texture is more grainy. Glorex looks like it would be the same as the previous two but it tends to be chalky (marks surfaces, feels soft). I have a 5kg bag that I use for practice pieces. I would not sell something made from it. Scola (which seems to get sold under different names) I would not recommend as in my experience while it feels soft and nice to work with it's brittle and chalky. Hobbycraft's own clay used to be this gorgeous natural red clay (older pieces of mine prior to April 2023) but they've replaced it with synthetic clay that is totally different.

I don't like most synthetic clay as they tend to be like soggy, mushy paper making them harder to work with. They're better suited for making larger pieces. DAS I absolutely hate. I don't know if every pack I've gotten happens to be bad but it's borderline unworkable as it doesn't adhere to itself easily. There's also Earthstone, which is synthetic with a more natural feeling but it's sort of hairy and chalky.

Natural clays are usually in a see through plastic bag, while synthetic are usually in the same type of opaque plastic/foil-like packaging.

General advice: I have 2 tools I mainly use (besides my beloved hands); rubbery tip paintbrush-thing and a very blunt cake decorating knife.

I start with a basic shape made of scrunched up tin foil then build up on top of it, just make sure the clay is at least 50mm thick or it may crack. Also handy to have; cake decorating stand wheel (actual pottery ones are... pricy) and a tile for a flat easy clean surface (can get free sample ones online).

Moisturise your hands after working with clay. Get up and stretch regularly. Seek out inspiration, follow what moves you. Sketch out ideas beforehand, use reference images, do studies (drawing and clay), make practice pieces. Have fun with it.

Sorry this is a bit long winded but I hope it's helpful!

[rat-butch]

impera ghouls' fav art medium, from an art school dropout

found this in my notes app, i previously sent them to @gravehags but i'm posting it here because why the fuck not.

mountain's kinda obvious, but he really likes working with natural materials. enjoys woodworking and land art. despite his size, has very deft hands and is extremely delicate. makes a trip to the farm each season to get some beautiful fresh and golden hay to weave it into ornaments and jewelry. and let me tell you that's a testimony to his skill cause i literally cried over hay last october and I had to soak it in water to be able to bend it. the texture was disgusting and i got destroyed at the critique anyway lol

i've already said it before, but cumulus is totally into stamp carving and linocuts. 11/10, very calming, probably has rough hands since you have to use lots of white spirit to get the ink of off the lino, and you gotta use a special rough scrub to get ink out of your skin. puts her creations everywhere, gives you and the ghouls little cards and patches she printed herself :)

cirrus and sunshine probably share the screenprinting workshop. it's a very delicate craft, especially when you go for traditional paper stencils. but worry not, ghoul claws are sharper and more precise than your average cutter. though, a intricate multi-colored stencil implies there's a lot of drying time involved, especially on fabric. they always have some kind of brunch during that time, with tea and snacks and such. invite you to join them if you happen to pass by. (it's them printing the merch i know it)

aether makes very cool metal sculptures. he's got both the strength and the patience for it. you know those adorable little bird-shaped garden ornaments made from scrap metal ? yeah he did some because the local old ladies are always commissioning him to make them. also the workshop's babysitter, has to keep an eye on swiss and dew when they start beefing with a circular saw in their hands.

rain is very skilled in needlework. originally considered himself a better painter, since he's got a sharp eye and is good at color theory, but discovered all the ways you can use embroidery and sewing with an artistic approach during a workshop in his first year. sewed a costume made out of dried orange peels and called it 'orange leather' once. also interested in book binding. will get snappy if the others call him a little grandma while he's embroidering.

phantom is a photographer, and a pretty good graphist as well. he's too shy to admit it, but he really does know how to present his work. has the cleanest portfolio around, and is probably a huge perfectionist. i mean, perfectionism is kind of a must in art school but bug is an anxious wreck (give him a hug). very gentle, handles the lenses and lights with lots of care. mainly photographs landscapes and nature mortes, but enjoys taking portraits as well. makes a lot of self-portraits and will very shyly ask you to pose for him.

aurora makes little pop-up zines. it's a prefect way for her to give way to both her gentleness and chaotic nature. while pop-ups may look tedious to make, it's actually lots of fun, and you can get pretty chaotic with it too. has a whole collection of patterned and textured papers, she made most of them. probably has a 'cool paper stash' she hasn't touched because she doesn't want to 'waste them' and said paper is like christmas wrapping paper from 2016 (it's me i'm guilty).

dewdrop is more interest in contemporary art, especially sculpture. little guy has no patience and likes to break stuff, i see it as a match made in heaven. uses his fire ghoul abilities to burn different matters and experiment with them. kinda see him as my friend who burnt a humongous quantity of human hair for a project. was pissed no one cuddled him for two days because of the smell.

swiss is totally a performance artist. i mean, technically, all of the ghouls have a huge affinity with it, but swiss especially. a big fan of contemporary composers like john cage and karlheinz stockhausen, as well as bauhaus performance art. he likes to let loose, have fun exploring his body's and voice's capicities in an artistic light. probably submitted some kind of sextape as a project, but it's okay because the professor likes provocative stuff.

bonus : all of them probably were nude models for the evening classes at some point. i haven't included anatomical study in the hcs because no one in their right mind would enjoy sitting on a stool and drawing greek statues for 8 hours straight, but none of them would mind being the models. although they'll probably ask you for a massage afterwards because of how tiring it is to stay in the same position for so long.

[yyuangss-main]

𝐌𝐘 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐃 — 𝐊𝐀𝐄𝐘𝐀 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂𝐇!

❝Letters by an unknown sender arrive at your office desk daily. The Cavalry Captain suggests you figure out who is the one behind the pen.❞

❝𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: NONE!

❝𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓: 5.5K!

❝NOTE: Hello hello to @kaeyas-beloved! You were my secret Santa for the Genshin Impact Secret Santa event! I decided to write a Kaeya fic for you and I hope that you enjoy it lovely! <3

“Oh? What do we have here?” Kaeya closes the door to your office behind him. “Yet again another letter?” He recognizes the familiar white envelope. You had it in your hands while reading the letter that was inside it. You don’t look up from the letter and only nod. Kaeya finally reaches your desk and leans against it with his arms crossed.

“Found it this morning. I finally had time to read it.” You say.

“What did our friend say this time?” Kaeya asks, trying to read the letter alongside you but not having a good angle to make out the words. “He hasn’t run out of things to say, especially after five months of daily letters.”

“My dear beloved. I appreciate the work you do in order to keep us safe as much as I appreciate your entire being.” Kaeya stops all of a sudden and finishes the letter in silence. “You need to figure out who this guy is. Come now. You mean to tell me in five months you haven’t had a day off to find out the sender?” Kaeya places both of his hands on your desk. You scratch your head, unsure about it. Kaeya raises his eyebrow. You sigh, pushing your chair back and standing up to stretch.

“My dear beloved. I appreciate the work you do in order to keep us safe as much as I appreciate your entire being.” Kaeya stops all of a sudden and finishes the letter in silence. “You need to figure out who this guy is. Come now. You mean to tell me in five months you haven’t had a day off to find out the sender?” Kaeya places both of his hands on your desk. You scratch your head, unsure about it. Kaeya raises his eyebrow. You sigh, pushing your chair back and standing up to stretch.

“Trust me, I have. But every time I try to think, there’s no one that comes to mind.” You tap your finger on the stack of papers sitting on the desk. “And work hasn’t been so kind to me lately.” Kaeya’s eye travels down and he chuckles.

“Alright alright.” He holds his hands up in defense. “Point taken. There are many possibilities. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” Kaeya glances at the letter still in his hand and back at you who started shuffling papers into a neat pile.

“If you want to get a lead on it, be my guest.” You set the stack aside and grab another one, flipping through the pages.

“In that case. Do you mind if I take this with me?” Kaeya raises the letter up. “I’ll bring it back. I know you like to keep them.” You agree, giving permission for Kaeya to do as he likes.

He’s gone but not before letting you know he’d be in the library in case you need him. You decide to finish up the current stack and then you’d go see what Kaeya was up to. It would also give you the opportunity to check out a new book. You make your way to the library and there’s Kaeya sitting at one of the many tables.

His materials are laying on the table. He has your letter, a separate sheet of paper which he currently writes on, and a pen in hand. Kaeya seems to be reading the letter and writes down a couple notes. You head for the stairs, careful to not disrupt him.

“What are you working on?” You hover over his shoulder to get a glance. He stops writing,

“I’m coming up with a list of who it could be.” Kaeya answers and taps the end of the pen on the paper. You look at the list Kaeya came up with. In the first bullet, Kaeya wrote Timaeus. He was followed up by Diluc in the second bullet. The list had a huge range of different names. In total, he had six names written down. “Think of me as your partner.”

“I’m sorry. Diluc and Liyue?” You pointed to where Kaeya had written Liyue under Albedo’s name. “Liyue is an entire region if you didn’t know.”

“No no.” Kaeya starts, “I always forget his name. The guy we met in Liyue. He was part of the Fatui and was around the guy with the Geo vision.” You scoff and pull out the chair next to him to sit down.

“Childe? That literally makes no sense.” You said, “It’s obvious he lives in Mondstadt. Especially after today’s letter. Childe’s located in Liyue which wouldn’t make sense if he’s thanking me for all the work I do. He probably doesn’t even know I have a Pyro vision.”

“A carrier pigeon can get a letter here in roughly ten hours give or take.” Kaeya counts on his fingers. “Whereas on foot, it would be a day trip. That’s only if there are no complications along the way.”

“You said it yourself. Day trip without any complications. Which means, the way back is a day trip too.” You counter, “And doesn’t sound like you’re including rest stops either. Keeping up that routine for five months? I think I’d rather confess.” Kaeya lets out a laugh.

“You caught me. I just wanted to have an excuse to go to Liyue with you again.” Kaeya strikes through ‘Liyue’, leaving the list to only five people now. “Never fail to live up to your title, strategist.”

“All you had to do was tell me you wanted to visit Liyue again.” You lean your head into your hand with a smile. Kaeya copies your action in a teasing manner.

“There’s a lot of things I would like to tell you.” Kaeya then slides the list over to your side of the table. “As for Diluc, don’t you agree that the words used in all the letters are part of his normal vocabulary?” He was right on that part. The words did come off as professional and sophisticated. You pick up the list.

“I’ll give you that one.” You said, checking the list for a second time. “I highly doubt it’s Diluc though. We get along well to a certain extent.”

“I put Timaeus first because he said you were his favorite knight.” Kaeya points to the top. “And what has the sender expressed multiple times? You are his favorite knight. It makes Timaeus the top suspect.” You check the rest of the list. Bennett, Venti, and Albedo were the remaining names. All better leads than what you could come up with.

“Get off work yet?” You asked Kaeya, tearing your gaze away from the list. “We can start going down the list today.” Kaeya stands up from his chair, extending his hand out to you.

“I was never on for today.” He says once you take his hand. You and Kaeya say your goodbyes to a group of knights at the door. Kaeya continues to give his reasons for the rest of the people on the list.

He added Albedo since he invited you to dinner once. Although you’d told him nothing romantic happened, Kaeya said, ‘Maybe not for you’. Bennett was on the list because he said your position as the strategist was amazing.

Now in the city, you find Timaeus at Good Hunter, ordering food. He’s the first in line and once he’s done, starts walking back to the crafting stand. He begins fixing up his shelf of books.

“Let’s go up to him now. That way once his food is ready, we won’t be bothering him.” You begin walking over to Timaeus, Kaeya right behind you. “Timaeus, how are you?” He slides a book back in the correct spot.

“I wasn’t expecting to be visited by you two today.” Timaeus greets you and Kaeya. He picks up one of the books near the crafting table. “How can I be of assistance?” Kaeya hands him your daily love letter.

“Mind reading this for us?” Kaeya asks, “We’ll be on our way once you’re done.” Timaeus skims the letter and agrees.

“My dear beloved. I appreciate the work you do in order to keep us safe as much as I appreciate your entire being.” Timaeus is careful to not mess up as he reads. You aren’t feeling much of a reaction as he finishes up reading the letter. His composure is still the same and didn’t chance in the slightest.

You look at Kaeya and shake your head. He mentally marks off Timaeus from the list and takes the letter back.

“Thanks for your time. We’ll be leaving now.” You and Kaeya leave a puzzled Timaeus alone. Not having much to worry about, he goes back to fixing his bookshelf. “I think he’s a normal fan with a normal appreciation of me.” You tell Kaeya once you two are a distance away from Timaeus. Kaeya throws his arm around your shoulder and brings out the list. He opens it with his free hand.

“Then our next trip is to Angel’s Share.” Kaeya says, “Let’s see if Diluc’s still there.”

“What do you two want?” Diluc doesn’t seem pleased that Kaeya is his guest for the day. Kaeya outstretched his arms,

“Is that any way to greet us? Especially the lengths we came to see you?” Diluc exhales. “We only wanted to ask you to do a simple favor for us.”

Charles told you and Kaeya that Diluc had gone back to the Dawn Winery. Venti was there performing so you thought it was a good idea to stay until he was finished. Not that it helped since Venti ended up refusing to read the letter. He claimed that he would confess his love through a song given the chance.

“Depends on what the so-called, simple, favor is.” Diluc narrows his eyes. “Unlike the other simple favor you asked me for.” Kaeya waves his hand around.

“Nothing like that.” Kaeya walks up to the red haired man with the letter, “(Y/N) and I need you to read this.” Diluc glances at it before snatching the paper from his hand. He runs through it briefly and gives you both a confused look. Kaeya sends him a nod and tells him to start reading. Diluc shakes his head and clears out his throat.

“My dear beloved. I appreciate the work you do in order to keep us safe as much as I appreciate your entire being.” Diluc said, irritation laced in the tone of his voice. Kaeya stops him mid sentence.

“Ah ah ah.” He waves a finger in a no motion. Diluc glares at him. “Pretend she and I aren’t here.” Kaeya returns to his position beside you, placing both of his hands on his hips. Diluc grits his teeth, but goes along with what Kaeya requested.

“My dear beloved. I appreciate the work you do in order to keep us safe as much as I appreciate your entire being.” Diluc’s tone changes, “You are one of the most hard working knights and should be noticed more. If no one has thanked you yet, then I shall be the first to do it. Keep my words close to you, please. As one day, I wish I could tell you this in person. But that will happen once I gain the confidence to step forward. Happy now?” Diluc extends the letter out. Kaeya smirks and begins slow clapping.

“My oh my. So touching. Wouldn’t you agree?” Kaeya nods at you. “If it weren’t for his monotonous voice, I’d’ve said we had our man.”

“What exactly are you talking about?” Diluc asks.

“Someone has been sending me these letters.” You answer Diluc’s question. Diluc skims the handwriting on the sheet of paper one more time. He narrows his eyes at Kaeya who in return raises his brow. “I’m trying to figure out who it is. Kaeya made a list of suspects and we’re just going down the list. By the way you’re acting, it’s most likely not you either.” You reach for the letter. Diluc allows you to take it back and proceeds to head for the stairs.

“Well. I wish you luck in finding your admirer.” He stops on the second step while holding the railing. “Who knows? Perhaps it’ll be someone rather close to you.” His gaze travels to Kaeya for a quick moment. Kaeya has a finger pressed against his lips. Diluc continues to ascend up the stairs and disappears into one of the rooms.

“That went better than expected.” Kaeya breaks the silence. “Your thoughts?”

“Stop bothering him.” You roll your eyes at him and turn on your heel to leave. Kaeya bursts into laughter, “You knew what you were doing. Poor man wants to make his wine in peace.” Kaeya jogs after you, the servants at the front door escorting you out.

“I’m doing my job. Is it my fault he doesn’t want to cooperate?” Kaeya places a hand on his chest. “Besides, you say it’s not him. What if he was hiding his emotions well enough that the strategist couldn’t see through it.”

“Diluc and Timaeus both acted the same they usually do when they read the letter.” You say goodbye to whoever is nearby. “Even if their voice wavered the slightest bit, I would have picked up on it. But no. They had no idea what they were reading and it was obvious.”

“Next on our list is Bennett. Shall we go find him?” Kaeya folds the paper once again and it goes back in his pocket. You see the sky’s beginning to change colors. The trip to Dawn Winery was longer than expected.

“No. It’s fine. I have work to finish.” You say. “And plus, I wasted your time with Timaeus and Diluc. You most likely have better things to do.”

“I don’t. Like I said, I was never on for today.” Kaeya places his hands on the back of his head, “I only came to see you… And what our friend wrote. Want me to go interrogate Bennett for you instead? I’ll be nice.”

“That’s okay.” You pat his back, “I’m grateful you’re trying to help. I’ll pick this up again once I’m not busy. And I’ll feel much better knowing I’m not taking up your time with dead ends.”

You and Kaeya part ways once you’re back in the city.

You completely forget about having to visit Bennett and Albedo for the week. And the letters weren’t leaving any time soon. Kaeya joined in every morning to read the recent ones while coming up with his own theories.

A knock resonates through your office and you raise your head. Lisa stands at the door and waves her hand once you see her.

“I knew you’d still be here.” She smiles and leans on the doorway. “Jean and I are going to get something to eat. Want to join us?”

“Is it lunchtime already?!” You say in a panicked tone. You’re checking the time while Lisa tuts in return. “Time went by so fast. I’ve been working all morning, I completely forgot.”

“I think that’s a sign.” Lisa tilts her head to the side, “Let’s go. It’ll be on me.”

“I’m almost done. You go ahead and I’ll catch up!” You want to finish the sentence you’re on.

“Oh no.” Lisa marches over to your desk and snatches the pen out of your hand. She closes the cap, “Jean said the same thing. I will be getting one of you out of here.” She pulls at your wrist and you willingly let her. No one in all of Teyvat could convince you to argue with Lisa.

“But,” You sigh in defeat and Lisa drags you alongside of her. “You’re lucky I’m scared of you.” She chuckles and taps the end of your pen against your cheek.

“Even if you weren’t, you still wouldn’t be able to say no.” You and Lisa leave the headquarters for Good Hunter. Halfway to your destination, Jean came running after you both. She said she’d put the work aside for now as the lunch break was necessary.

Once arriving, compared to when you and Kaeya came looking for Timaeus, there was no waiting line. In fact, the only person currently at Good Hunter was Bennett. He sat at one of the tables writing something. And your mind instantly thought of the letters. Bennett and Albedo were the remaining you hadn’t talked to yet.

Lisa gets her small purse ready for when she needs to pay. She sparks up a conversation with Sarah on how the day has been. Meanwhile, Jean takes a seat at one of the tables to keep it reserved. You take the initiative and decide to talk to Bennett. Maybe you’d catch him in the act of writing another letter if it truly is him.

“Bennett, how are you?” You approach his table. He returns your greeting with a smile and tells you he was doing great. “What are you writing?” You take a peek. Before Bennett can answer, the tip of his pen pops. In result it leaves a large ink splotch that ruins the entire sheet.

“Aw man.” Bennett groans, “Now I have to start all over again.” He removes the paper to reveal a couple other sheets under the first. He reaches into a small bag on the table and pulls out another pen. You can see Fischl’s name on the messed up paper. Soon an idea comes to you.

You pick the paper up and furrow your eyebrows as you read. The words Bennett wrote were not only the same as Ficshl’s daily vocabulary, but the handwriting was somewhat comparable to the ones of your confession letters. Not all the way, just partially. Some of the strokes of Bennett’s letters were very similar. Could they have been modified?

“I was writing a letter to Fischl.” Bennett breaks your train of thought. “I’m leaving on an expedition. I wanted to give this to Katheryne by the end of the day. But you know me and bad luck. That’s the sixth one I mess up.” His words go in one ear and go out the other.

“Handwriting. Why didn’t I think of this before?” You said which leaves Bennett confused. Suddenly, you take off running but come to a quick halt. “Do you mind if I keep this?” You wave the ruined letter in the air at Bennett. The action caught Lisa’s attention.

“Sure?” Bennett shrugs.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Lisa cuts her conversation with Sarah. She sounds and looks angry. You point at her.

“Jade parcels. I will be right back! If I’m not, you can hang me upside down from the Statue at Windrise.” And you’re gone in the direction of Angel’s Share. First to see Diluc. Right after, you’d rush back to the headquarters to see if Sucrose is still around.

Sucrose passed on the word to Albedo that you needed his handwriting. Specifically all the letters of the alphabet written in uppercase and lowercase. When Sucrose came back, she said he told her he’d have it ready and you were free to come pick it up whenever.

“I swear, now I remember how much I hate this place.” Albedo’s head whips over to you. You’re shivering under the layers of jackets you wore for the short trip. “My vision didn’t help keep me warm.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe I should have gone to you instead.” Albedo brings you close to the small fire. You rub your hands together over the fire. “You know, this is the second time someone asks for my handwriting.” Albedo finds the scrap sheet of paper where he wrote all the letters of the alphabet under the book he was reading.

“There’s no way someone else asked you for the same thing.” You accept the paper from him. His handwriting is just as neat as Diluc’s. You flip the sheet of paper where he wrote the lowercase letters on the back.

“Yes. Kaeya beat you to it.” You scrunch up your nose. Kaeya asked Albedo for his handwriting before?

“What do you mean?” Albedo tilts his head to the side.

“Kaeya. He asked me for the same thing. I’d say, about five months ago?” Your eyes widen for a split second. “Is everything okay?” Albedo asks, placing a hand on your shoulder.

“Did he say what for?” And Albedo shakes his head.

“It looked like he didn’t want to tell me.” Albedo drops his hand. “I’m assuming this is for him too. Did he misplace the first sheet I gave him?”

A new piece of information that changes a lot of things. To anyone it might seem useless, and it might have been useless to you also had Albedo not mentioned the time span. You sigh and place your hand on your forehead. The touch is still cold, reminding you of your surroundings.

“I’ll be honest with you Albedo.” He puts a bookmark between the pages he was reading before you got here. Albedo shuts the book, paying close attention to every detail that comes from your mouth. “I have been getting these love letters for the past few months. No clue on who it is whatsoever. Kaeya has read them since the beginning and told me to figure out who it is.”

Albedo nods, allowing you to continue speaking.

“I agreed because he would be helping me. He came up with a list of people.” You point at Albedo, “You’re one of them. Hence, why I asked you for this. Originally we were asking them to read it. But anyone can hide their emotions if they're good enough. Handwriting on the other hand. Not something you can fake easily.”

You finish telling him your dilema and he takes in a while to process what you’ve told him.

“Does Kaeya know about you asking me for that?” He asks and you say no.

“I told him it was fine and he could stop helping me. I would try to figure it out on my own.” You add. Albedo crosses his arms.

“Let me take Kaeya’s place for now and add someone to that list.” Albedo says, “Have you thought that perhaps, Kaeya is the one sending the letters?”

“No. It can’t be. I mean, why would he drag me around Mondstadt asking a bunch of other people if they’re my secret admirer?” You respond, thinking back to Kaeya’s actions from this past week. A smile forms on Albedo’s face.

“In my opinion, that sounds like something he would do. Besides strategist, the dates do add up. Kaeya asked me five months ago my handwriting,” Albedo raises his left hand and then raises his right, “You got your first letter five months ago. Don’t you at least think that something worth looking into?”

He does have a point. Though, why pretend what you’re trying to confess is made by another? Is admitting he likes you too much for Kaeya?

“Like you said, handwriting is not something you can fake easily.” Albedo turns his back and reopens the book, “It will always reveal the truth.” Albedo wished you a safe trip back to Mondstadt. The Sun had already settled by the time you got back and the Moon was high in the sky.

The idea of Kaeya being your admirer wasn’t leaving your mind anytime soon. It’s just going to have to be another restless night until you get to the bottom of this. Two knights sound outside the doors of the headquarters and allow you entry once they see you. You go up the stairs and to your office where all your notes from last night were at.

Last night you stayed behind comparing Diluc and Bennett’s handwriting to the ones of the letters. Only to come and find out there were several. You easily recognized Jean’s in the mix. Diluc, Bennett, and even Barbara’s handwriting, were all crafted perfectly into your love notes. You’ll give your admirer the credit of being one step ahead of you.

You open the first drawer, revealing the stack of notes you kept safe. Along with the notes, you chose one letter from each of the five months. With Albedo now giving you his handwriting, you had almost everyone on the list and a few who weren’t.

You came back down the stairs and opened the door to the library. The lights and candles were still on. You sat at one of the library tables on the second floor. Separating the notes in an orderly manner, you began examining Albedo’s handwriting.

Albedo’s writing had been in the letters since the first one. His seemed to be the base writing. Of course, modified just like the rest of the handwritings used. Whereas Diluc’s handwriting hadn’t been added until the third month. The same went for Bennett. Each letter from the alphabet had a different stroke, different style, and matching one of the many people Kaeya added as a suspect.

On the list of your notes you wrote down who your admirer used for each letter. Albedo was primarily used for the letters A and H. Diluc was used for the letters D and I. You continued until all the letters of the alphabet had one corresponding person.

All but one letter.

The letter K didn’t match anyone. Out of ten people on the list, not a single person. You grabbed the letter and walked over to the checkout list for books Lisa had. You began flipping through past dates until landing on one page. Right under your name where you checked out a book series was your accompanying friend. He agreed that day to check out the same book series as you.

In black ink and perfectly matching the K on every letter for the past five months.

Kaeya Alberich.

“And if it’s not him, that means he knows who it is.” You rest your elbows on the countertop. You’d just finished telling Diluc the trap you’d set up. Diluc is surprised how you’d managed to create such a smart trap. “So? Think it’ll work?”

After concluding Kaeya had to be the one writing the letters, you set up a trap for him to confess. The trap was writing back to the admirer. Last night in the library, you wrote in said letter that you wanted to meet him in person the next day. You’d chosen the time and the location of Angel’s Share. Once you were done. You hid the letter in the same spot your letters were delivered. In the morning, it was replaced with your daily letter.

Though the catch was that you didn’t tell Kaeya you wrote to the admirer nor told him about Angel’s Share. So if he came into Angel’s Share at the exact time, then there was no doubt Kaeya was the sender.

“You never fail to amaze me.” Diluc continues making a customer’s order. “Still, I can’t believe it took you this long to figure out.” You roll your eyes.

“And you knew?” He gives you a small smile.

“From the moment he made me read it. The K was a dead giveaway.” Now the look he gave Kaeya was starting to make sense. “Either way, you should head upstairs. It’s almost time.” You check the clock hanging on the wall. Sure enough the time you wrote on the letter was approaching fast. You slid off the stool, taking your drink with you and went up the stairs of Angel’s Share to the second floor.

It was empty with a few jugs sitting on some tables. You sat down and sigh. You had to be right on this. Diluc himself said it was Kaeya and Albedo was dead set on it being him too. The tavern door could be heard opening and shutting from the second floor.

“We meet again.” Kaeya’s voice resonates from the bottom. “Be a dear and make me a drink, will you?” Diluc scoffs, watching as Kaeya makes his way for what he was expecting. The stairs leading to the second floor.

Kaeya reaches the top step, clenching and releasing his hands once he sees you. He takes a deep breath and shows off the best confidence he can fake.

“The lady of the hour.” Kaeya says, catching your attention. Your heart pounds in your chest and you feel your stomach twist at the sight of Kaeya. He’s right on time, second floor, at Angel’s Share. Kaeya sits across from you at the table of your choice. He starts looking around to see the second floor empty. “Where is he?”

“Where is who?” You play along, feigning to be confused. You have to lure him in a little more.

“Our friend. Your secret admirer. Don’t tell me he doesn’t want to show up.” Kaeya says, “I specifically asked permission to leave early to meet him. You finally write back and he’s not here? All your hard work can’t go down the drain just like that.”

“Kaeya.” He hums in response. “How do you know I wrote a letter back to him?”

“Well, you told me about it of—” Kaeya trails off once realization hits him. You never told him you’d be meeting your admirer. You never told him it would be on the second floor of Angel’s Share. And the smile on your lips is the same one he loves to see once your plans are successful. “Course…”

“Checkmate.” You lace your hands together, placing them on the table. He drops his head, letting out a soft laugh. So you finally figured out it was him. No use in hiding it anymore.

“In what world could I outplay the strategist?” Kaeya grins, looking you in the eye again. “What gave it away?”

“Handwriting.” You begin to explain, “You were smart enough to add over ten different handwritings each time you wrote a letter. Your mistake was not taking away one. Your own. But Kaeya, you have a lot of nerve dragging me to Dawn Winery knowing it was you the entire time!” You lean over the table and pinch his cheek. He rubs his now sore cheek with a pout.

“How rude. I had to help you figure it out somehow.” Kaeya soothes his red cheek. “For your information, it has been five months and you weren’t making any sort of progress.” You collect your composure and sit back down.

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” You ask. “In five months you never got the courage?” Kaeya casted his gaze to the side. He was a little embarrassed. Putting up a front of a confident man when he was with you. In actuality, it disappeared the second you would say a word to him.

“All that confidence went flying in the Anemo archon’s wind—” A loud sneeze cut into the conversation. From below, Diluc says ‘bless you’ and Venti replies ‘thank you’. “When I tried to tell you. And then I did think you’d fallen in love with that scribe from the famous Sumeru Akademiya we met at headquarters.”

“We met Alhaitham once and haven’t heard from him since.” You press your lips in a thin line.

Kaeya still hasn’t looked at you. A silence falls and he begins tapping his fingers on the table, wondering what else he should say. The tapping grows consistently and you reach to hold onto his hand in order to make him stop. At the touch, Kaeya relaxes a little but his nerves are still there.

“Perhaps, I thought you wouldn’t accept the letters if you knew they were from me.” Kaeya mutters. “At least seeing you read and keep them was enough for me.”

“If you’d dropped a hint earlier, I would have accepted your feelings.” You day and that grabs his attention once again. Kaeya’s eye widens when the words you said registered, “I’m not going around accepting everyone’s invitations for a one week getaway to Liyue.”

Kaeya chuckles. The one week getaway where he admitted to himself he did have feelings for you. And prior to that, where you’d grown to see the Cavalry Captain in a romantic way.

“So it seems we had a bit of a miscommunication.” Kaeya now grasps your hand, “But I am glad we have it figured out.” He raises your hand to bring it up to his lips.

“Uh uh!” You snatch your hand away before he can kiss it. “That does not mean you’re out of trouble!”

You arrive at your office ready to fulfill another day’s work. As a daily routine, you checked all of the mail sitting on top of your desk. Carefully going through them one by one and discarding those that aren’t important, you come across the red wax sealed envelope.

That’s the one Kaeya used as his trademark for the letters he sent. You undo the seal and take the contents from the envelope out. Unfolding it slowly, it’s another letter like the others. It’s finally in his handwriting and Kaeya signed his name at the bottom.

“Our friend is still sending letters?” A gasp comes from the door. Kaeya stands there with a hand over his mouth, acting surprised. “When will he give up? Do tell me what he said to you this time.”

“You’ve been sending me these every day for five months.” You watch as Kaeya approaches you. “And you haven’t run out of things to say?” He lifts your head by your chin.

“Only a fool would run out of things to say to you.” Kaeya presses a soft kiss to your forehead.

[snek-panini]

Book time! This is On the Subject of Nests and Happiness by Nonesensed. I don't typically go for nesting fics, they tend to get a little silly for my taste, but this one is an old favorite. They put some very nice worldbuilding into it and I really liked their OCs, which is kinda unusual in fandom, at least for me. So I wanted to give it the book treatment, and it turned out really well! The cover is cardstock, with book cloth on the spine, neither of which were actually bought for this project but they looked so good together that I couldn't resist. The title is HTV and it was an absolute nightmare to get all those tiny letters to stick properly. Worth it, though. More pics under the cut!

Endpapers are scrapbook paper, also not bought for this book, but just. Look at them. They look so good. I had actually intended to make my own end bands on this project, but they fought me so hard that I gave up. And I already had these black-and-white checkered ones that matched, so it's not so bad. You can kinda notice my tendency to make covers too deep in this shot. I used to think that was a flaw but as I go on I'm kinda liking it. I get more wiggle room when casing in, and they feel nice when I read the books. View from the top shows how thick this one is. It's the longest word count I've done at this size and I want to do more like this. The textures and proportions make it very pleasant to hold.

Have some interior shots:

Title page, first page of first chapter with summary, and first page of actual chapter text. All the images came from rawpixel with minimal manipulation on my part to make the one in the third photo. I don't like working with images, I've never been that kind of artist, but I do very much like how things turned out. It's got three chapters and they all have a first page with the wreath image and short summary, then the actual text of the chapter starts on the following page.

This fic has so many footnotes. More than any other fic I've set type for so far, and some of them are very long. I discovered in the process of formatting them that footnotes are a pain in the ass to typeset. Again, though: totally worth it, they look so good even if they do make the line spacing a little weird. I think a lot of my frustration with them comes from trying to make Word do things it was not intended to do. It won't stop me doing more footnote-heavy fics in the future, but at least now I have a better idea of what I'm getting into when I do them.

Fun thing about this: I waxed and burnished the cardstock before I attached the cover, and the last thing I did after casing in was the title. I have a cricut mini press, which is shaped like a tiny iron, and when I was pressing the HTV it left an iron-shaped dark patch on the front cover. Cue panic. It looked so stupid, and it was already cased in so I was stuck with it. I think what happened had to do with the wax coating? Thankfully, pressing it again all over (instead of just where the title is) covered up the dark patch, but the result is that the front is a slightly different color than the back. Whoops. I may go back later and press the back too, to get the color even, but for the moment I actually kinda like it? Shows me what I'm learning. Another fun fact, thankfully less visible than the last one: while I was making the cover, I gave myself the worst papercut ever while working with the cardstock. There was actual blood, and right on the tip of a finger on my dominant hand. I had a mark there for weeks.

I'm very proud of this one. That's probably why the post got so long and ramble-y, but I just keep coming back to it. Colors, textures, size, nice sharp groove where the spine connects to the front. I'm just really proud of it.

[mumriksworld]

Oh my gosh! I love your Moomin house model! I’m looking to build one myself and wanted to ask a few questions about your model!

What material did you use for the roof tiles? How did you do the detailing on the windows and banisters? (Is it clay or cardboard or some other modeling material?) What are the window panes made of? What is your cylinder base made of? How did you construct the roof shape?

Ok! I think I’m done, sorry there are so many questions but I just love this model! It’s so unique, it looks like it came straight out of Tove Jansson’s illustrations. Especially the chimney and the paper bush! Also like, the idea to put it in a lantern case is so perfect! That must look so cool when it’s hung up!

Anyways, thank you for your time!

Gosh, I got a little taken aback by the apprentice! Thank you kindly♡ Well, I mostly used cardboard.

The cylinder base is made out of those thick rolls masking tape is attached to. Have saved a couple of those for projects and stuff:) Used two of them, one at the bottom and one slightly above the middle, to keep it more stable. Then, I simply just rolled up the cardboard on the rolls and glued them in place.

The windows are also made out of cardboard and toothpicks.

The roof is actually made out of a party hat 🥳 it was the perfect size and shape! So I just decided where Moomin's window would be, made a hole, and then built the window out of cardboard. The roof is removable so one can access the light switch, which is concealed inside the house.

The tiles are also cardboard, but instead of using them as they are, I peeled them apart, flattened them, and cut up the tiles. Then, I glued them on the roof, starting at the bottom and working my way up.

The chimney: cardboard and masking tape (for texture).

The doors, porches, and stairs are also made out of cardboard and toothpicks.

The rope ladder is made out of toothpicks and a thicker thread that was braided to give it more texture.

Before painting, I used a box cutter to scratch the surface on everything to give it more details and structure.

Then I painted it all black, inside and outside, before adding the other colours. Having a black base helps bring out the details and gives more depth to the other colours. Then, it was just layer upon layer of paint. When savvy with the blues, reds, and whites, I dry-brushed the whole thing with white paint. The windows got dry-brushed with brownish/grey paint. Then again, a little dry-brushing with black or brown paint to dampen the white dry-brush.

And that was that, I guess :) It took approximately 12 hrs in total to create, spread over a couple of days.

To sum it up: I used acrylics for the paint, hobby glue, and hot glue and like 4 different brushes (small ones to wide ones) A small box cutter, a pair of scissors, pliers (to cut the toothpicks), toothpicks, and masking tape The cardboard was an old box found in the local recycling bin.

Well, I hope this was somewhat helpful, and my apologies if the description is messy. I'm not used to describing what I'm doing, I just go by feeling :) So feel free to do what appeals to you and go for it ^^ Kind regards// ♡

[heavendear32]

A White Lie—C.Yj

Pairing: Choi Yeonjun X Fem!Reader

Summary: you have a perfect reputation, smart, kind, clean-cut but also boring. So you decided to spice your life up a bit but when a rumor gets too out of hand, life comes crashing down or a easy A-ish fanfic with Yeonjun

Word count: 5,352

Warnings: sexual themes, mentions of sex (no smut), swearing, mentions of underage drinking, sexual assault, reader is a bit manipulative, angst, prostitution (if you squint), lying, Virgin!Reader, a little fluff at the end.

“If you’re watching this you probably know who I am but if you only know me for my bra size or as the whore of the school then hi I’m Y/n Y/l/n and welcome to ‘the rumor-filled totally false account of how I ruined my flawless reputation.’” You said as you picked up a piece of paper that held what you just said

You weren’t sure how many people were watching but you hoped it was enough to get back some of your old reputation, “no more lying because I’ve learned how far white lies can go and I hope that with what little respect you have of me, you’ll listen and understand. there are two sides to every story and this is my story….the right one, and it begins during spring break.”

You never wanted spring break to end, you didn’t want to go back to your mundane and boring life you were use to but the clock kept on ticking down until you would be just Y/n again. There had to be something more to life, and so you made a plan. When you went back to school, you weren’t going to be just Y/n Y/l/n, you were going to be the Y/n Y/l/n. The plan started with a new look, some makeup and new clothes as well as a new attitude and some more confidence but the thing that was going to pull it all together was the story. You had gone to Busan, staying with your aunt and uncle (which was true) and there you had gotten new clothes and had a nice expensive vacation and went on a date with a really cute guy. Just a little white lie to make you seem rich and cooler, that was all, nothing too crazy and nothing that could get out of hand right? Boy were you wrong.

❤︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎

Standing here, in front of the school made your heart race. You were a nobody, a nerd, invisible to the opposite sex, just a background character in someone else’s story but not today you were going to make sure of it. Quickly you took a deep breath and closed your eyes.

“You got this Y/n, just be confident.” You whispered to yourself before you started walking towards the crowd

You tried remembering how to look confident, just the small things like don’t slouch and keeping your chin up and taking larger steps. The thing you weren’t too worried about right now was eye contact, the sunglasses gave you a “mysterious” feel and it was already working, a few kids stared and looked confused or surprised as if they hadn’t seen you before. Maybe you could be someone new and just go by your middle name, it could’ve worked if you hadn’t ran into someone. Your eyes went wide as you looked down at who you ran into, Jeongin was on the ground.

“Sorry about that.” You said in a calm tone as you reached a hand out. The boy stared up at you for a second before saying, “Y/n is that you?”

You smiled and nodded, I.N grabbed your hand and stood up. His eyes wander your body and a confused expression cover his face and all he could say was, “you look different.”

“Thanks.” You smiled. “It was good seeing you I.N. You should tell me about your spring break sometime.”

Before the boy could say anything else, you had started walking away. This was going to be fun, I.N was friends with Beomgyu who was one of the most popular boys in school and in high school secrets never stay secret.

“You went out with a boy!” Y/f/n squealed you giggle and said back, “yes but you don’t need to scream it out.”

Your friend quickly grabbed you hand and pulled you into the bathroom watching the door as it closed.

“Tell me everything that happened. Did you do it?” She whispered before gasping. “You totally did it, didn’t you?”

You were stunned for a bit, you didn’t mean to lie but how far could a little white lie go? So you answered, “yeah maybe.”

You laughed as you watched your best friend freak out. You calmed her down, wondering if their was anyone else in here.

“Shush, you’re so loud!” Your friend didn’t care but you both stopped hearing one of the stall doors unlock

Your eyes looked up seeing who was also in the bathroom. The only person you absolutely hated, Hae-won the religious and control freak of the school. She glared at you and your friends turning on the water, it was silent except for the water running.

“What are you staring at Virgin Mary?” Y/f/n snapped at her

“Some whores of Babylon.” She said and smiled before grabbing some paper towels and walking past you making you roll your eyes as she hit your shoulder

That day was better then most other days. You were noticed more, and once in class you asked for a pencil and 10 guys pulled one out. The next day was different, your lie about your virginity had become the talk of the town and you heard the rumor being spread in whispers. It was funny, before you were invisible now it seemed as though everyone knew your name.

Your heart raced and you felt like you were finally popular, the only downside was that you’d have to face Yeonjun at some point but you’d cross that bridge when you got to it. You had never felt like this before, and boy did you have fun with your new popularity. To Hae-won’s dismay, people liked you and it became easy to mess with her and also get things you wanted. The popularity was going to your head but you hadn’t had this fun in forever, you weren’t a monster though. You tried to use your popularity and lack of virginity to help your friends, particularly one guy you knew.

A guy named Si-woo who was gay and bullied by everyone. You used to talked to him, years ago when you were kids and before everyone became homophobic. So one day you were talking to him in detention (you got because you gave Hae-won a taste of her own medicine, she insulted you and you insulted her back but you were the only one who got detention), he asked how you got popular.

“How did you do it Y/n?” He asked

“Did what?” You asked as you looked back at him

“Become popular.” You just shrugged as he added, “I wish I wasn’t gay so I would get bullied.”

“Just act straight.” You doodled in your notebook

So-woo looked confusedly at you, “and how would I do that?”

“I don’t know, sleep with a girl.” You snapped at him

Detention moved by slowly but you were glad that you were talking to an old friend. You had told him that his house was always open and you were always there to talk, and so it wasn’t weird to see him in your room asking for a favor but you didn’t know that the girl he wanted to sleep with was you.

“No!” You said to his request

He got onto his knees in front of you begging, “please Y/n, help a friend out.”

“Si-woo, you do realize I’m a girl.” You pressed your hand against his chest. He stared up at you for a second before shrugging, “so?”

“YOURE GAY!”

You couldn’t believe what was happening right now. You didn’t think that lying about loosing your virginity would lead to a gay guy asking to have sex with you.

“What if we don’t even do it and I just say we did it?”

You leaned closer to him, “no!”

“I’ll pay you.” Si-woo begged even more. “I don’t want your money. Si-woo just leave.” You yelled at him

“I know I should just be myself and people will like me for me but I’m sick of getting bullied and I just wanted to be normal for once. I just thought that out of everyone, you would know what it’s like. I’ll see you at school Y/n.” He sighed sadly as he got up and started walking towards the door.

You had changed your clothing, your attitude, and your confidence but sitting here watching as your friend looked so sad after asking for help, one thing you knew you couldn’t change was your heart. You sighed and rolled your eyes calling to him, Si-woo stopped and turned around.

“I want a gift card to My Boon and you tell everyone I’m amazing in bed.” You said watching as a smile covered his face

“Thank you Y/n, so what do we do? Do I go and tell people?” He asked

You shook your head, “no if we’re going fake sleep together, we have to do it right. Lisa is throwing a party tomorrow night, all the popular people and your tormentors are going to be there. That’s when we’ll do it.”

❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎

Si-woo fidgeted nervously next to you, the party was down a block but your car slowed to a stop. The boy looked at you confused on why the car had stopped.

“Are we walking the rest of the way?” He asked

You turned to him, “let’s get the plan straight, we’re going to walk into the party together and acting drunk, I will ask Lisa for a room, and we’ll go from there okay?”

He nodded and gulped harshly as you added, “just follow my lead and don’t do anything stupid.”

The car pulled up to the house, music was blasting from the inside. You had been to Lisa’s house once before, you almost had your first kiss here but back then it seemed so much bigger, her house was already huge but it seemed like a castle when you were a kid. Si-woo quickly got out of the car and stood by you, it was silent for a second as you thought some more.

“Okay.” You finally said. “Put your arm around me and laugh like you just said something funny.”

Si-woo nodded and put his arm around your shoulder letting out a laugh that would sound real to anyone drunk. You pushed open the door, kids lined the halls and looked at you and Si-woo. They whispered and shot confused looks to each other, as you walked through the house. You stumbled a bit making it seem as if you already had a drink. Lisa’s eyes found you and she held the same confusion everyone else had.

“Hey, Y/n you came along with….Si-woo.” She said as Si-woo answered with a half fake ‘what’s up’

You giggled a bit, “I hope you don’t mind but we did have a few drinks before coming over.” You leaned forward closer to Lisa and said loudly. “Talking about drinks, Lisa, Si-woo was just telling me this really funny thing which was really funny and I was wonder if there was like, a room where we could go so he could finish telling me that thing that’s really funny, if you know what I mean.”

You smacked your lips before saying the last little bit. It was half to creep her out and half to make a point, Lisa pulled away and told you to use her room. You let out a squeal and drunkenly thanked her as you wrapped your arms around her. She pushed you away and quickly turned wrapping your arm around Si-woo and walked towards where her room was. Everyone started talking and walking after you, you smiled and slammed the door in their face locking it.

“Close the blinds.” You said to si-woo who rushed over and did what you said

You hands ran down your hips and under your dress as you pulled your panties off. Si-Woo’s face went red as he saw.

“Relax don’t get your panties in a twist.” You said turned to the door hanging it over the handle covering the key hole so it made it harder to see

Once you were sure no one could see you clearly you walked over to the bed and patted a spot next to you. You told him to grunt but as he did it sound more like he was constipated or going through labor.

“Moan.” You hissed at him. “Like, sex noises.”

You lightly hit his face and he let out a noise that was somewhat convincing. You smiled and nodded telling him to continue making that noise.

“Oh yeah.” You moaned out. “Oh fuck!”

You chanted those things over and over again before pulling him up onto his feet.

“Don’t stop!” You said as you started jumping on the bed and whispering to Si-woo to say something

The boy panicked and said, “I’m gonna turn you around and take you from the back.”

“That’s not gonna make people think you’re straight.” You told him as you stopped jumping. “You just sound like you want to fuck a guy.”

“Never mind that gayness because I’m a straight guy.” You rolled your eyes at Si-woo, there was no way he was straight

You continue moaning, saying any cuss words that came to your head that would sound natural. After a couple more minutes of doing the same thing over and over again, you grabbed Si-woo’s shoulders.

“You ready for the grand finale?” You asked with a smile as he nodded

This is going to be fun, you said to yourself as punched him in the groin. Si-woo fell to his knees as he yelled out in pain and you yelled out as well, “fuck!”. You should panted as you jumped off the bed and walked over to the boy who was still writhing around in pain.

“Come on, get up.”

He slowly got up and walked over to you, he was still groaning in pain. You messed up his hair and his shirt.

“Go forth as now you are a man.”

He grabbed your wrist, “thank you.” He said before walk up to the door which still had your panties hanging on it. You quickly grabbed them and stuffed it into his pocket.

“Evidence.” You told him as he opened the door

Everyone scattered as he walked out of the room. You were still catching your breath but walked out of the room a few seconds later, you needed a drink. Pushing past people, finally you reached the kitchen and started pouring yourself a drink.

“Y/n?” You heard your name so you looked up seeing Yeonjun

You smiled, “oh hey, Yeonjun.”

“I thought you hated parties.” The boy sighed before taking a sip of his drink

You bit your lip and fidgeted slightly, “yeah.”

It was awkward, standing here staring at your old best friend. You took a sip of the drink you poured yourself, feeling your cheeks heat up as Yeonjun looked you up and down.

“You look different.” You looked down at his words, Yeonjun was right. In any other circumstance you would never wear this dress and you weren’t sure how you weren’t trying to pull it down over your knees every second

“Does it not look good?” You ask getting self-conscious about the dress and did it get shorter?

“Uh no-no it looks good, you look amazing it’s just I’ve never seen you wear it.” Yeonjun answered. “I was also wondering if you wanted to hang out with me and my friends.”

You looked over at where he was pointing seeing the rest of his group, they were still the same. Taehyun had his arm wrapped around some girl, Soobin was arguing with Beomgyu and Kai was lost in dreamland. You forgot how much fun you had with them, smiling before looking back at Yeonjun.

You sighed, “I wasn’t going to stay long, thank you though.”

He quickly replied with, “well then let me take you home.” You smiled at his offer but seeing that he had been here longer he must’ve had more drinks then you so you shook your head. “I’m okay I’ve only had one drink. It was nice seeing you Yeonjun.”

You turned from him and walked through the halls and back out the front door, Si-woo had forgotten about you and now off somewhere so you just left. You felt bad for leaving Yeonjun but even now with your confidence boost you weren’t sure you could talk to him.

Si-woo kept his word, you got your gift card and the rumor spread to say that you were sensational in bed. The only bad thing was that your reputation of the clean cut good girl had been tainted and now you were known as the whore of the school or the better known one: a dirty skank. That should’ve thrown you off the path that you were going down but all you could think was “fine, I’ll be the dirtiest skank they’ve ever seen”

And oh if Hae-won could see your closet now, she’d have a heart attack. All your long sleeves had been thrown out, anything baggy was dumped, and now heels were your best friend. On every hanger was a corset, some black, some pink or white or blue but all your clothes had one thing in common: the scarlet ‘A’ decorating the barren design. It was supposed to be “a sign of shame” but it made you feel powerful.

❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎

The expression on your classmate’s faces were priceless, they all stared at you but no one stood in your way. A smirk on your face as you didn’t stop, hearing as they whispered before toying with some boy and it only became easier now.

In class, no one could pay attention to the teacher. At lunch, boys crowded closely around your table with their mouths wide open and Hae-won couldn’t even keep her eyes away from you. Glaring and always saying something about how she was praying for you. This was fun but your reputation suffered more and more, the good girl who had perfect A’s became more faded as “the whore of the school” surfaced.

The funny thing was that you never expected to make your “lack of a v-card” a job but one day a boy you barely knew, In-Ho a guy you used to be a mathlete with, asked you to do what you did with Si-woo saying that the boy told him the truth. You refused at first but what happened with Si-woo happened again and seeing that boy who asked for your help sulk away made the Y/n before the lie come back out so you agreed, and so you got an $100 gift card for second base.

That second rumor spread faster then the first and basically by the end of the day, you were in for business for those who actually knew and that happened to be a lot. Nerds, losers, and anyone who were like what you used to be, invisible to the opposite sex and you had a stack of gift cards from all your ‘clients’ but the more deals you made the more you just wanted romance. You wanted something from a kdrama, you wanted Hyung-Sik caging you in between his arms so “the world couldn’t do anything to you”, or Lee Seung-gi letting you dance on his feet, you wanted Song Kang to tell you that you were so pretty it made his heart flutter. All you wanted was to feel loved, you didn’t ask for much but even if it was just once, you wanted to feel like you were in a kdrama.

One with romance and a really good soundtrack. You could dream all you wanted but you weren’t the female lead in “Love alarm” or “Strong girl Do Bong-soon” hell you would’ve even taken “Vagabond” if it meant that you ended up with a man like Lee Seung-gi but hey you got to get one shampoo free if you bought another one so it wasn’t all that bad right?

Hae-won had started a group what you liked to call the ‘kick the fallen down’ group whose whole job was to torment you and try to get you kicked out of school. For once, since the whole lie started you felt hopeless and you had never felt more alone. It was funny, you were popular enough to have people saying that they slept with you but no one made the move to actually sleep with you. So you found yourself at another one of Lisa’s big parties, this time staying longer as you chugged down another drink trying to forget the whole shit-show going on with your life until a familiar face walked up to you.

“I’m starting to think you were lying about hating parties.” Yeonjun said

You smiled sadly, “yeah well the booze is nice and also gotta keep up my reputation.” You hated that stupid lie, but it had become you now so you had to run with it wether you liked it or not

“Me and some other people are playing seven minutes of heaven, seeing as you…um do you want to play?” Yeonjun cleared his throat in the middle of his sentence changing the topic, you didn’t know it hurt worse when it came from the guy you used to be friends with and your crush

You took another swig of your drink and nodded walking over to where they all sat. Beomgyu sat next to Soobin, water dripping from his hair and clothes and a towel had been thrown over him telling you that he had jumped into the pool. Some other guys and a few girls sat talking to each other grouping up leaving you lonely once again. Yeonjun sat down by Beomgyu and the game started, Beomgyu spun first going in with a girl next to you and by the expression of the girl once they exited nothing happened.

You watched as most of the people playing took their turns, Yeonjun’s turn came (hoping that the bottle landed on you but it didn’t) and passed until finally it was your turn. You took a deep breath and spun the bottle, it slowed to a stop landing on Jae-Hwa. You weren’t upset on who it landed on, there were worse boys but you were hoping it landed on Yeonjun. Slowly you and Jae-Hwa climbed the stairs and Beomgyu closed the door behind you, the time started now.

It was awkward for a bit as you stood in that room staring at Jae, he was nice and kind. You fidgeted a bit as Jae started talking.

“I’m glad that it landed on me.” Jae said taking a couple of steps closer to you as you smiled up at him, “oh really?”

He was inches away from you as he reached into his pocket pulling out a gift card as he said, “I’ve got something for you.” You looked at the gift card, it was a LINKO gift card. “200 dollars to LINKO.”

You put on a fake smile and gulped harshly, “I didn’t know this was a-“ you couldn’t get the rest out, to sad at the fact that the one time you thought someone had liked you it was just another business exchange

“I know it sounds kind of lame, but they really do have some awesome stuff.”

“So, what did we do on during this time?” You asked almost spitting at Jae

“Whatever 200 bucks gets me.” He answered and leaned forward pressing his lips against yours

It was funny, this was the exact room you almost had your first kiss in, and this was the exact almost way you had it but this wasn’t the guy you wanted to have it with. That guy was sitting downstairs right now, you pushed Jae away.

“That’s not really how it works.” You said to him but he just pulled you back in kissing you again, and so you pushed him away. “Stop! I’m not really having sex with people for money. I’m saying it but not actually doing it.”

“It’s okay. It’s all right, come on stop being such a prude.” Jae said trying to pull you closer his lips inches from yours

“Stop, no, no. You’re an asshole!” You yelled at him before turning away and opening the door rushing down the stairs as Jae ran after you. You stopped for a second to throw the gift card back at the man chasing you.

“Hey your seven minutes isn’t up!” You could hear Beomgyu yell but you needed to get away

Tears streamed down your face as you rushed out of the house as fast as your heels would let you. You stopped at the edge of the lawn hearing footsteps behind you.

“Y/n!” Yeonjun called, god why was it always him

You turned around trying to make it seem like you were okay. Yeonjun stopped as he reached you.

“Hey are you okay?” You nodded at his words trying to stop the tears

“Yeah I’m fine, I need to get home.” You turned around trying to walk away but Yeonjun grabbed your wrist almost begging, “please let me drive you home.”

You nodded as the tears returned to stream down your face. The drive was as peaceful as it could be.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yeonjun asked softly

“What else is there to talk about? Everyone thinks I’m a whore…and to be honest, I’m starting to believe it.”

“What why?”

“Oh come on Yeonjun, you know what everyone is saying.”

“Yeah I know that, but it doesn’t mean I believe them.” He smiled eyes flickering over to you

You wiped away your tears, “really, you believe me?”

“I know you Y/n, I know that you hate parties and that dresses make you insecure. But I know without a doubt that you have the biggest heart and can’t not help people because years ago there was a scared little boy who wasn’t ready for his first kiss and there was a amazing selfless girl who lied for him.”

You chuckled a bit, “you still remember that?”

“I wish that was my first kiss cause then I’d actually had enjoyed it.” Yeonjun said

You smiled as the car pulled up to your house. You talked a bit more to Yeonjun and the crappy feeling you had just a few moments ago slowly was fading.

“You know when I became popular, I couldn’t understand why no one liked you and I realize that it was because you were real.” Yeonjun stated. “You weren’t scared to be who you were.”

“Did you think about me like this before my transformation?”

“way before and if you wanted to stay this way that’s fine but would you stop pushing me away?”

You blushed, “you know if you had been here a couple of weeks ago, all of this would be different.”

Yeonjun smiled at that, it was silent for a second as his eyes flickered between your eyes and your lips. “Could I kiss you? I won’t tell anyone but I really want to kiss you right now.”

Your smile faded as you slightly shook your head, “no.” Yeonjun looked away and cleared his throat quickly apologizing but you responded with, “no I mean not like this. I look like a mess and with just having some guy try to stick his tongue down my throat. I’ve wanted to kiss you for years but I want it to be perfect. My life is a mess but if you give me some time to straighten my life out because I don’t want to drag you into it.”

“What if I wanted to be dragged into it. I can help Y/n.” You smile and leaned over pulling him into a hug before you got out of the car and walked into your house

One thing these past few moments had taught you was that even though there was shitty people, at least there was one kind and caring person out there for you. With that knowledge you knew this small white lie had to stop and so you knew one person who would set your story straight, the very first person you helped: Si-woo but it turned out that he didn’t need your help as he basically left his fake life behind. So that was one person down, and after that it was just getting all the guys you helped to come clean that it wasn’t true but after begging and begging for them to come clean, it felt like life was purposely doing this to you and if this was your punishment then you couldn’t be mad.

So it was finally time to put a end to the white lie that got out of hand once and for all and you were going to do that by telling your side of the story, all you had to do was get enough people to listen.

❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎❤︎︎

“And that’s why I decided to do this webcast. So here we go, part 5. Not with a fizzle, but with a bang. So today with the help of Yeonjun and unknowingly Hae-won, who lets say got to carried away with trying to kick me out, let me and Yeonjun sneak into the principal’s office letting me do the announcement and so with about 30 seconds, a minute at best to get everyone to go home and watch this I sang the only sexy song I knew and it worked so here you all are…waiting outside the bedroom door for me to kiss Yeonjun, listening to me pretend to have sex with Si-woo, paying me to lie for you, and calling me every name in the book. I took one thing out of Hester’s book but let me tell you that it sucks to be the outcast.”

You sighed just as you looked at the window seeing Yeonjun smiling from outside. You moved to the window opening it as he rested his arms against the frame.

“Have I ever told you that you’re so beautiful it makes my heart flutter?” He said making you giggle

“How did you know?” You joked

He shrugged, “just guessed.”

“You watched the live. I hope you know it’s still going on.” You pointed back inside

“Screw them. They’ve had enough of you. Figuratively speaking.” He said and climbed into your room

As he stood up, he pushed you against the wall by your window making you blush.

“I’ll protect you. Nothing can hurt you now.” He whispered and you laughed some more before looking over at the computer

“Give me a second.” You told him as he lowered his arms letting you walk over to your desk. “That’s Yeonjun. I don’t owe anymore confessions but this is just between you and me, I really like this guy and I might even really lose my virginity to him. I don’t know when it will happen, it could be in five minutes or in five years or on our wedding night but you know what, it is nobody’s goddamn business. Goodbye everyone.” You turned off the camera as Yeonjun walked back up to you

You giggled as he stood in front of you reaching his arms out as he raised his eyebrow, “care to dance my lady?”Yeonjun asked in a joking tone

You held up your finger and Yeonjun looked at you confusedly as you quickly walked up to your phone pressed a few things and turning it to full volume as a song started to play. You wanted your kdrama and so you hurried back up to Yeonjun.

“Of course my good sir.” You answered before placing your hands on his shoulder and stepping onto his feet adding. “‘You can’t complain that I’m heavy’”

Yeonjun just smiled and laughed leaning down and pressed his lips against yours before he slowly moved in a circle. When he pulled away, you hoped off of his feet before starting to dance more, Yeonjun twirled you around and dip you. Nothing mattered anymore, not your reputation, not Hae-won, or that stupid lie as long as you had someone who, like Yeonjun, knew you for you.

[gravehags]

impera ghouls' fav art medium bc I just dropped out of art school lmao I hope I didn't forget anyone (I kinda went overboard so it's a long one sorryyyy)

- Mountain's kinda obvious, but he really likes working with natural materials. Enjoys woodworking and land art. Despite his size, has very deft hands and is extremely delicate. Makes a trip to the farm each season to get some beautiful fresh and golden hay to weave it into ornaments and jewelry. And let me tell you that's a testimony to his skill cause I literally cried over hay last October and I had to soak it in water to be able to bend it. The texture was disgusting and I got destroyed at the critique anyway lol

- I've already said it before, but Cumulus is totally into stamp carving and linocuts. 11/10, very calming, probably has rough hands since you have to use lots of white spirit to get the ink of off the lino, and you gotta use a special rough scrub to get ink out of your skin. Puts her creations everywhere, gives you and the ghouls little cards and patches she printed herself :)

- Cirrus and Sunshine probably share the serigraphy workshop. It's a very delicate craft, especially when you go for traditional paper stencils. But worry not, ghoul claws are sharper and more precise than your average cutter. Though, a intricate multi-colored stencil implies there's a lot of drying time involved, especially on fabric. They always have some kind of brunch during that time, with tea and snacks and such. Invite you to join them if you happen to pass by. (it's them who print the merch I know it)

- Aether makes very cool metal sculptures. He's got both the strength and the patience for it. You know those adorable little bird-shaped garden ornaments made from scrap metal ? Yeah he did some because the local old ladies are always commissioning him to make them. Also the workshop's babysitter, has to keep on eye on Swiss and Dew when they start beefing with a circular saw on their hands.

- Rain is very skilled in needlework. Originally considered himself a better painter, since he's got a sharp eye and is good at color theory, but discovered all the ways you can use embroidery and sewing with an artistic approach during a workshop in his first year. Sewed a costume made out of dried orange peels and called it 'orange leather' once. Also interested in book binding. Will get snappy if the others call him a little grandma while he's embroidering.

- Phantom is a photographer, and a pretty good graphist as well. He's too shy to admit it, but he really does know how to present his work. Has the cleanest portfolio around, and is probably a huge perfectionist. I mean, perfectionism is kind of a must in art school but bug is an anxious wreck (give him a hug). Very gentle, handles the lenses and lights with lots of care. Mainly photographs landscapes and nature mortes, but enjoys taking portraits as well. Takes a lot of self-portraits and will very shyly ask you to pose for him. (I photographed myself as Judith in Klimt's Lilith II : Judith and Holofernes for an assignment and ngl would love to hold bug's head with my tits out on camera)

- Aurora makes little pop-up zines. It's a prefect way for her to give way to both her gentleness and chaotic nature. While pop-ups may look tedious to make, it's actually lots of fun, and you can get pretty chaotic with it too. Has a whole collection of patterned and textured papers, she made most of them. Probably has a 'cool paper stash' she hasn't touched because she doesn't want to 'waste them' and said paper is like Christmas wrapping paper from 2016 (it's me I'm guilty).

- Dew is more interest in contemporary art, especially sculpture. Little guy has no patience and likes to break stuff, I see it as a match made in heaven. Uses his fire ghoul abilities to burn different matters and experiment with them. Kinda see him as my friend who burnt a humongous quantity of human hair for a project. Was pissed no one cuddled him for two days because of the smell.

- Swiss is totally a performance artist. I mean, technically, all of the ghouls have a huge affinity with it, but Swiss especially. A big fan of contemporary composers like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as Bahaus performance art. He likes to let loose, have fun exploring his body's and voice's capicities in an artistic light. Probably submitted some kind of sextape as a project, but it's okay because the professor likes provocative stuff.

- BONUS : all of them probably were nude models for the evening classes at some point. I haven't included anatomical study in the hcs because no one in their right mind would enjoy sitting on a stool and drawing Greek statues for 8 hrs straight, but none of them would mind being the models for the 2 hrs 6pm classes. Although they'll probably ask you for a massage afterwards because of how tiring it is to stay in the same position for so long.

-unhinged family anon

These are GORGEOUS omg thank you so much for sharing these they’re all so on point!! 🩵

[world-of-wales]

red white and royal blue (the book) was amazing and i loved how it seemed to open up the romcom genre to queer relationships an entirely different way! it's so witty and heartfelt and such a fun but earnest read and perfect for a holiday or a day by the beach! (also definitely my favourite by the author so far, one last stop was cute but the time travel element was a little weird for me and i kissed shara wheeler was just a queer paper towns (the novel by john green) with unlikeable characters, but i'm excited for their 4th novel!) also, books i've really enjoyed so far this year (no particular order or genre): - the roughest draft by emily wibberly and austin siegemund-broka (romance about two authors who had a falling out but have to write a novel together to fulfill their contractual obligations) - pet and bitter by akwaeke emezi (coming of age novel and prequel about what choices we can make when society is in denial) - happy place by emily henry (fake dating exes spending time with their friend group at a beach house) - our missing hearts by celeste ng (novel about identity and rebellion) - yellowface by r.f. kuang (unhinged in the best way about a white author who steals their dead asian friend's manuscript and publishes it under a racially ambiguous name and the ramifications of that) - small worlds by caleb azumah nelson (book about growing up and finding yourself amidst expectations from your immigrant parents in london with a beautiful music backdrop)

what kind of books to you tend to read? and what are your favourites from this year?

Honestly same, I loved it. I read it in 2020 and I was hooked. Read it in one sitting and spent the whole night awake finishing it. Exactly I agree with this, there used to be books about queen relationships before but they weren't done so well till Casey put RWRB out there. I have read books before that too but that never dealt with the characters in such a good way. It's my favorite by her too, i read her other books too but theres just some magic in RWRB that's never been matched again as per me.

I get ur point about OLS but I did like the time travelling aspect of it though (it's the fantasy romance reader in me). Oooh paper towns >>>> haven't talked about that book in so long. I was such a big John Green fan in ninth grade, totally obsessed with his books.

Ooh all these books sound amazing. Definitely adding a few to my tbr. I have read Small Worlds and just read happy place last week. Loved both of them. And Yellow face has been in my tbr too, I have the kindle version just need to find the time to read it.

So I can read pretty much anything - romance, mystery, coming of age, fantasy, biographies etc. My book interests are all over the place honestly.

Currently I'm on my romance and mystery phase. So I'm trying to finish Catherine Cowles blacklist. This year I had a slow start on my reading thanks to this being my last term in university. So I only got properly into reading in June. Since then I have been reading a lot of romances (anything and everything), thrillers and suspense, fantasy even. Though I have been struggling to find good thrillers this year so that's in a bit of a slump.

So my favs of this year have been -

Crowns of Nyaxia (1st book) by Carissa Broadbent

From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapaata

The Spectacular by Fiona Davis

Loved loved loved Small Worlds

Finally read Things we never got over by Lucy Score

If this is love by Jewel E Ann

Magnolia Parks by Jessa Hastings

Dirty air series (4th book) by Lauren Asher

The guest by Emma Cline

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yaaros

A scoundrel of her own by Stacy Reid (need to complete her blacklist too)

[a-gay-old-time]

may i ask what you used to paint the cover of among ancient pines or how you did it? was it similar to your titling tutorial (with fabric paints?) thanks for your time! 💛

Hi! Thank you for your ask! 

I used the same kind of paints for this cover as I usually do (Jacquard acrylic fabric paints), but the technique was a little different. For this one, I didn’t transfer the images and just adapted a painting tutorial for how to paint northern lights to what I thought would work on bookcloth (mostly this involved ignoring the part of this tutorial where you mist the canvas with water because I didn’t think water + book would work out well, and instead I relied on a slightly damp brush). Essentially I laid a line of white paint down where the bottom of the northern lights would start and then took a damp fluffy brush (I actually used a blush brush) and swiped up along the line of paint in order to smear it upwards to create the northern lights effect. Once the white layer had completely dried, I dipped my brush into a tiny amount of the metallic blue/green paint I was using as the color and dragged it upwards over the white layer. 

This took a lot of practice to get right (see above), and I played around with different colors and techniques and learned a few tips. You want to make sure the white layer is totally dry before you try to go back over it with color, otherwise it lifts off the white layer as you go. You only want to use a very small amount of the colored paint, otherwise it doesn’t let you see the lines of the white through it and ruins the effect. You can also clean up the bottom edge of the northern lights with a damp paper towel while the colored paint is still wet in order to get a nicer edge. Also, I think this technique only worked for me because the bookcloth I was using had more of a plastic-y/canvas-y feel to it rather than a soft fabric-y feel to it. If it had been more absorbent, I don’t think the paint would have smeared in the way you need it to. Below is an in-progress shot of what this looked like.

Once I had made the nothern lights, I freehanded some pine trees using some black paint and then used the transfer method to paint the title text in the northern lights with navy paint to try to match the color of the sky/bookcloth,

Lastly, for the back cover with the summary I used my normal method, but for the swirly border, I first painted it in white and then went over the white with three different colors of metallic paint. I alternated them so that they blended into one another and sort of made a subtle gradient effect.

I hope this helps! 

[bluejayblueskies]

Hi!! I’m looking into bookbinding, specifically ficbinding- contemplating getting into it, not committing yet bc i know have a history of researching, investing in, then abandoning hobbies. Right now tho im still in the research phase, and I’m wondering how it went when you bound It Will Be This, Always - thats on my list of fics i want to bind (has made me cry more than once) and id like to know the size of the paper and font you used, so i can estimate how much hypothetical supplies id need to replicate it for myself 👀 also any tips you might have for someone totally new!! thanks for your time, have a great day :)

hey!! i love seeing more people get into bookbinding--it's such a fun and rewarding hobby, and one of the best things about it is how versatile it is. there are people who have lots of specialist equipment and get really invested in the materials, there are people who work with what they have around the house, and there are people (like me) who are somewhere in between.

resources and commentary under the cut!

first off, here are some helpful resources for getting started out:

How to Make A Book, by ArmoredSuperHeavy

Sea Lemon's video about how to make a casebound book (she has a lot of other good videos too if you go poking around that are excellent for beginners)

DAS bookbinding videos (a bit more complex but good for research purposes and incredibly detailed)

A reference guide for a wide variety of different types of binding

Casing in a textblock - this is the method I use for casing in and it works pretty well!

Free icons to use when typesetting

Join the renegade discord! You don't have to have bound any books at all to join, and there's a ton of super helpful info and resources in there.

you can pretty easily do a pamphlet-bound notebook using some copy paper, a piece of cover paper, and staples if you want to start small and work your way up. (i did not do this haha, but i've seen a lot of other people do it and they can be pretty nice first projects!)

for it will be this, always specifically, i did a half-bound case-bound book, which means there's three separate pieces of bookcloth--one for the spine and two for each cover board. that kind of binding is detailed in armoredsuperheavy's tutorial from start to finish, which is pretty much what i used (minus the 'sewing with tapes' part because you don't really need to for smaller books).

in terms of equipment that i used for iwbta (which is a case bound book), the main things were:

an awl, for punching holes in the signatures (household alternative: a thumbtack or a strong needle with some sort of cushion on the end, like an eraser)

a bonefolder, for creasing the pages (you can also easily just use the back of your thumbnail, a credit card, or any other thing that will crease the pages crisply without damaging them)

pva glue, for gluing the spine, the cover, and attaching the textblock to the cover (household alternative: elmer's glue. it won't last as long but is good for just starting out and is easier to find at craft stores)

gluebrush/paintbrush, for applying glue (you can use one of those foam ones in a pinch, but something with bristles generally works better in my experience)

ruler + pencil, for measuring

needle and thread, for sewing the signatures (you can use regular sewing needle and sewing thread [doubled up for more strength], or you can use waxed thread. i personally have a block of beeswax [purchased for ~$4 from a farmer's market near me] that i use to wax embroidery thread for large books and regular sewing thread for small books)

paper (i used 8.5 x 11 hammermill 20lb cream colored paper, but you can also use just regular copy paper. the difference is that bright white paper can look blue in books, but honestly, i've never noticed anything odd about it, and i definitely have some published books that use bright white paper. the one caveat for this is that 8.5 x 11 paper is long grain and usually you want short grain paper for bookbinding, but i honestly wouldn't worry about this at all unless you decide to really go all-in on bookbinding)

bookpress, for pressing your pages and keep everything flat and together (household alternative: a few heavy books work, or you can use C clamps and thin boards)

printer + ink (or a printing service like Staples)

bookboard, for the covers. this is essentially chipboard, which you can find at local craft stores. you can also cannibalize an old textbook/binder for the stiff boards there, or use thinner cardboard in a pinch (i used some sheets of thin cardboard for my very first book). those cheap thin painting canvases also work well but can be a bit on the thick side. for the spine, thin cardboard is definitely the way to go (i usually use bits of old sparkling water boxes)

exacto knife or boxcutter, for cutting things (i can't think of a good household alternative to this--you'll want something that you can use in conjunction with a ruler so you can cut things straight)

bookcloth and/or decorative paper, for covering. bookcloth is basically fabric with a paper backing on it. you can make your own using heat and bond, tissue paper, and fabric, but for just starting out, you can also just use either a thicker fabric that glue won't soak through or cover the whole thing with paper. i've seen people cover their first book(s) with paper bags or other things they just had lying around!

i have a few pics of some of my early supplies here if you'd like to take a look!

for the typeset, i actually don't mind sharing it if you want to use it as reference (or just use it in general)! you can find a PDF and a copy of the word doc here!

the fonts i used were Garamond for the body and a Andragogy for the title/author/chapter titles. i've actually shifted to using Perpetua for my body font lately because i'm not fond of Garamond's italics--you can play around with serif fonts and see what you like best though! that's a lot of the fun of it <3

and here are some tips i have for people just starting out:

when typesetting, you're going to want to pick a page size for your document that aligns with the size of one page of your book (eg. if you're printing on letter-sized paper and doing a full-size book, half-letter or 5.5 x 8.5 is what you're looking for) and then use this imposer to put your document in the correct form for printing. esp. if you use word don't use word's built-in booklet settings--this is much easier and more flexible

do a blank notebook first using cheaper materials to catch any mistakes

do test prints of your typesets on cheap paper to make sure everything looks the way you want it (esp. colors and gradients, which look different when printed, and printer skew, where the front and the back won't always line up quite correctly)

there are a lot of videos out there about how to do things!! if the ones i've linked don't work for you, you can shop around through youtube until you find one that does.

it can be really easy to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of information that comes up when you research bookbinding, so the best thing i find to remember is that a) there are many different ways to do this and while some ways may last longer than others or make more archival-quality books, ultimately, pick the way that you enjoy the most, and b) there are so many tools very few of which you actually need, so tbh you can ignore most people who try to tell you that you absolutely must have [xyz] piece of equipment

i hope this was helpful!! i've absorbed a lot of stuff since i started binding (and continue to absorb a lot of stuff, mainly from the renegade server) and there's a lot to learn, but it really can be as simple or as complex as you make it 💜

[allen309]

about me:

Hello! Welcome to my corner of Tumblr 💛.

My name is Allen (any pronouns). My blog is a mess of things that I enjoy/spur of the moment. On my blog you’ll see photos of my cat 🐱(Tabby), photos of nature (occasionally bugs, but no spiders), and once in a while I’ll post screenshots or talk about a current video game that I’m playing.

(Tabby)

Anyone and everyone is welcome to ask me anything. My Ask Box is always open and Mutuals are welcome to send me private messages. I’m pretty easygoing 💛.

(Wish we had more text color options)

links:

YouTube: Hope’s Vlog

*I don’t go by Allen on my channel

+ I’m using the free DaVinci Resolve 18 to edit my videos

+ I don’t have any plans to grow my channel. YouTube is just a fun hobby. Hopefully, I’ll get better at editing and overall making my content better

My Writing Link Page: Click Here 📝

my interest:

Playing video games and watching let’s play on YouTube:

+Currently playing: Splatoon 3 , Stardew Valley, and Paper Mario Thousand Year Door

*I have too many favorite games to list here. Feel free to ask me what games I like playing.

Starting to get into Anime’s/Manga’s (Anime, Horror, and Shrek were banned from my house because my mom just didn’t like that kind of stuff)

*I really like the anime Fire Force 🔥

*I enjoyed reading SpyxFamily ( I haven’t seen the anime yet)

I’ve seen a handful of Ghibli Films:

*My favorite Ghibli Films: Spirited Away 🐖, Kiki Delivery Service 🐈‍⬛, and Princess Mononoke 🐺

I’m also a fan of Hell of a Boss and Hazbin Hotel from Vivziepop:

*My Favorite Characters 💛: Alastor, Luna, Stolas, Husk, and Carmilla

I also like collecting pins and patches

I enjoy listening to music 🎵:

*Avatar, Ghost BC, Orbit Culture, Motionless in White, AJR, the Beatles just to name a few bands. (I won’t list all of the bands. I listen to so many different bands)

Reading Books 📚:

*I recommend Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (8 books total. Plus 2 novella) & Asylum Series by Madeleine Roux (4 main books, and 3 novella. *I haven’t read the 3 Asylum novella because I didn’t know they existed until now 🫠)

Updated: 5/31/24

[hanna-water]

Part 5 “I’ll Be Fine”: Talk about Popculture, Druck and Gen Z Popkultur Festival Berlin 2022, wednesday 24.08.2022 with Eren M. Güvercin, Nhung Hoang, Naomi Bechert (social media team during s5 – s6, writer of s7 and s8) Moderated by Aidan Riebensahm Naomi: (talks about how Gen Z gives her hope for the future and how the generations should work together to improve things. Then she says that millenials have kind of paved the way for Gen Z.) Eren: uhm wasn´t this also the generation before you, like your parents? Aidan: I wanted to add that actually. This were developments that took hundreds of years. And now things are finally progressing. Without putting all the pressure only on you because our age difference is not THAT big, right? Nhungi: I think that older generations also had a lot of similar demands but I think what is different is that we have been indoctrinated with this catastrophe-fetish. We get told “tomorrow the world ends.” all the time and then we say “shit tomorrow the world ends, then lets make the best out of it.”. And we try to solidars..... solidarise “damn shit”. (everybody laughs because she sweared) Aidan: “shit?” It´s ok I will allow it. Naomi: I`ve been told worse. Aidan: Eren said I witnessed ´68. (everyone laughs) Eren: I did not say you witnessed ´68 that was only a comparison. (laughs) Nhungi: yeah well, and because of the internet there is a lot of gun powder and we will try to change something. Eren: I think it is not like…. sometimes I think that our generation thinks too much of itself. And then I read about very interesting history, for example white boys (or wild boys?) 1920, google it. So many heavy things have happened even 100 years ago. Nhungi: do you remember? (to Aidan) Everyone laughs Eren: I think its important to think about who paved the way for the activism today. Aidan: (talks about how older generations were more forced to adjust and the younger generations are confident to just do their thing.) Naomi: (talks about how it is more normal nowadays to stand behind your values and the role of social media to encourage discussions) Aidan: How do you calm down and get the pressure off when everything is getting too much? Can you collect a few things? Nhungi: My best advice is to just go offline and go outside. See real people, learn to know real people, interact with them because what is shown on the internet and on your foryou page is not the reality. Its not what defines our society. I myself can easily lose myself in a rush of negativity, self-hate and negative thoughts when I don´t have a 15 minutes timer set up. And then I just turn everything off for a moment, go outside, talk to people, drink a coffee, meet my friends and its basically the best you can do. Its partly an avoidance strategy. Because then I don´t have to deal with those topics. But for me its like, how do I create a room for myself so that I can take this information in with a healthy mindset? Eren: I agree. I am more the type of person who likes to stay at home and does nothing. Turning the phone off, using no media in general and read a book and chill with it. Aidan: What are you currently reading? Eren: (laughs) recently I finished “21 lessons for the 21st century” by Yuval Noah Harari and now I start with “Feuchtgebiete” by Charlotte Roche (apparently the english title is “Wetlands”). laughter from the audience Aidan: I wrote a paper/essay about that in 8th grade. Naomi: That’s such a millennial book actually. Aidan: yes totally. Eren: I am fully excited. I am on page 1. Naomi: (talks about going to places in the nature to calm down) Eren: Or Falafel Halloumi. Around the corner of where I live, there is a Falafel restaurant where I just know, I can go there if I am not in the mood to do anything or if I have too much on my mind. Nhungi: support your locals! Aidan: support your local Fallafel Halloumi! Ok we will open for questions of the audience now.

[welcometothewarren]

i'm not sure if tumblr sent my ask, so hey, i'm the person who sent that ask about Jormungandr to not the some father!! i saw your comment there, but i'm very shy and decided to talk here 🥲🥲

well, i wanted information that could help me start worshiping them (Jormungandr). i know this is something that can vary from person to person, but i'm still not very good at it, so i wanted to at least know a little bit about other people's experience. hope what i'm saying makes sense lol

hey nonny! welcome.

that totally makes sense. you already know that worship is an individual experience and each person's relationship to a god is unique, which tbh is half the battle. what works for one may not work for you, and over time you'll also discover things that work for you and not for others you know. the key is practice, or experimentation, or however you prefer to look at it.

here's what approaching a new god looks like for me:

-read the myths. chew on them for a while. what resonates? what doesn't? what role do i think these stories might have played in the culture that recorded them? what's changed between then and now? eg, does jormungandr represent an adversarial figure to me or not? is thor wrestling with/fishing for jormungandr a story that applies to my life? how? is zie a boundary-crosser, or a boundary-maker, or a secret third thing? do i have big feelings about jormungandr's role in ragnarok, or is that less important to me? what do i think i could learn from jormungandr? do i want to learn it? expect to not have answers to most of these questions, but start asking them anyway.

-look to others for examples of how the god intersects with their life and practices, and compare and contrast to the above questions. eg, maybe i've determined that jormungandr is not An Adversary to me, and i've found someone who feels differently, but still worships or works with zir. what does that look like? do i know why they came to that conclusion? i don't spend much time here, because comparing your religion to someone else's can outlive its usefulness very quickly, it's just to get the wheels turning in my brain.

-make an offering. this can always be a standard offering like water, smoke, candles, etc. it definitely does not have to be something specific to the god in question, or be one of the "popular" offerings given by others. it can also be an action or an experience, not just a physical item. i use this offering to introduce myself, pray or speak directly to the god to state why i'm approaching them, what i'm looking for, invite their presence, whatever. this is a conversational opener.

some of the things i like to offer to jormungandr include: snakeskin (prints, sheds, or tanned hide), silver, decorative chains and maille, white tea, Water and all things related to it, fruits and flowers that grow on brambles like blackberries and wild roses, decorative eggs, salt, glass and stones (especially smooth, especially worn smooth by the sea), and certain crystals (heliotrope, serpentine, moss agate, merlinite/dendritic agate, sodalite, polychrome jasper, etc. i legit pick all of them solely based on color and not on any preexisting association these stones have in new age-y circles.)

-keep the conversation going. how did that introduction make you feel? are you starting to get a sense of what the god feels like *to you* and not just on paper? make more offerings, say more prayers. find art and media that you can see the god in and enjoy it. if there are social or environmental causes you associate with the god, get invested in them. spend more time together. refine your godphone, if applicable.

-rinse and repeat. your understanding of the initial questions you asked will change over time, and your understanding of the lore, and the relationship, and everything. getting to know a god is (or can be) a lot simpler than it seems at the outset, and it also kind of...never ends. the tl;dr is to just try it and see what sticks. ime you learn more by doing than by planning, and i don't honestly have anything to lose by trying. worst case scenario, an offering gets a "meh" instead of a "YES MORE," so it's not something i worry about being good or bad at.

i personally experience jormungandr as being very Old and Slow and Deep, and communicating without words, which can make zir difficult to describe. zie's a very somatic god, for me. my devotional tag for jormungandr is #zie of the sea cycle

i hope any of this is what you're looking for! feel free to come back any time with more questions or to let me know how it goes or whatever. good luck 💚

[chad-valorant-enjoyer-and-writer]

[ Chamber x Viper ]

[ Gilded Gold and Harmless Poison ]

Part-8

Phoenix and Jett just watched from the common room, as Sova hurriedly left with a large backback, the kind of backback used for camping in the snowy wilderness of Russia. He was a hunter after all.

"Man, what is goin' on round here?" Phoenix groaned. "Everybody's starting to go crazy."

Jett hummed, her he's din phoenix's shoulder. "Yeah... But in hindsight, at least Cypher's still paralyzed. We finally get some internet privacy around here."

"Oi! Don't you throw that blueshell, Jett. I'm warning you!" Phoenix threatened.

"What are you going to do about pretty boy?" she teased.

Jett and phoenix continued to bante over a very intense game of Mariokart.

Viper just watched from a distance. Somewhat agreeing with their prior statements. Perhaps she could use a break. Kingdom has been somewhat active but not worrysome– unlike Omega-Earth. They haven't attacked in a while. That was worrysome.

The whole predicament is related to Vincent. Everything was lining up to something. Something big.

"Brimstone, I need a word. " Viper said, entering his office.

***

Sova exited the teleporter, arriving in France. In his hand was a small piece of paper, in it was an address. An address to a... Coffee shop?

Sova entered the establishment to see it swarming with ladies, all fawning over the new cashier and waiter. Sova would've just ignored it if the waiter wasn't someone he knew. But it was. That was Chamber in disguise. A perfect disguise.

Everything was different compared to his usual self, like he was absorbing the persona.

"Monsieur, would you like to order?" He asked.

Sova looked up to the French man, who jad a well kept undercut and messily combed back hair. He was wearing thin, silver framed glasses and his eyes color was blue. His name tag was labeled: "Valentino"

"I would like to have a large cup of Creamed Chocolate Coffee." Sova politely answered. "With two creams."

Valentino smiled. "Right away sir."

***

Viper got permission from Brimstone for half-day break. He was reluctant at first, considering a few of the higher ranked agents were either on break, or currently unstable. But a half-day break seemed okay, nothing more.

She went to France. Why? No particular reason, but she saw the teleporter logs that Sova went to France. Trailing him from afar, she noticed him leaving a coffee shop with a satisfied smile and a large cup of coffee.

Viper was currently in her casual wear, a large green wool sweater and tight jeans and black, soft soled rubber shoes.

Usually, she would browse around libraries, but a coffee wouldn't hurt.

She entered the establishment, hearing the bell chime. She immediately noticed the Frenchman by the Cashier.

His white shirt sleeves were rolled back and his collar buttons unbuttoned. He was wearing a black apron. He seemed familiar but totally different. He had no tattoes of any kind.

Viper sat at the table closest to the window and watched as the man approached her with a pen and notebook.

"Would you like to order?" The man asked.

Viper looked at the menu and noticed a particular item. "A Dark Chocolate Coffee special." She replied, noticing the name tag.

"Iced or hot?" Valentino asked.

Viper thought for a second. Why not cold? France is cold this time of year, hence the wool sweater. "Hot."

Valentino smiled charmingly. "Right away, Miss..?"

"Sabine." She replied. Velentino smiled again be for heading behind the Cashier.

Viper watched as he began to work, both quickly and carefully as if the coffee was very important. Valentino arrived at her desk, not ten minute later with her steaming cup of coffee.

He served it with a smaller cup of creamer. "Please be careful, it's hot."

Viper thought that it was just etiquette, but it seemed genuine and caring. She just smiled slightly and nodded, also giving her payment. "Thank you."

Valentino came back to the Cashier and began to work again. Viper just looked at the sun in the sky, enjoying her hot cup of coffee and reading the daily newspaper, that was in French.

However, this was no problem, considering a certain Frenchman has been talking sweetly about her in French, his entire time back in The protocol. Viper picked up words here and there so it was not too difficult. At first it was annoying, because it felt empty words, now, she want so sure.

Before she knew it, rush hour had ended and the shop became morbidly empty, aside from her, the man and the old shopkeeper.

"Valentino, thank you. You work a lot. Go, have the day off." the old lady said, in broken English.

Valentino smiled softly at the lady. "Thank you ma'am. I will take you up on your offer."

The old shopkeeper smiled at him. "Have Coffee. You sleepy. Francis not show, you had work two shifts. Go have fun." She quite literally push him out of the cashier conceirge area after he made himself a large cup of coffee.

He then removed his apron to reveal his toned torso, which the white shirt hugged.

"Pardon the noise." Valentino chuckled as he approached Viper. "May I join you?"

Sabine nodded, setting down the paper. "Sure."

Valentino sat down acrros from her and slowly drank his coffee. He picked up a spare newspaper and started to read it too.

Sabine couldn't shake her gut feeling. "Have we met before?" She asked, looking at the handsome Frenchman.

Valentino looked up to her and was momentarily lost in her green eyes. "I'm not sure we have. Have we?" He asked, not entirely sure.

Sabine shook her head. "no, perhaps we didn't. You seemed familiar is all."

"I can say the same for you." He smiled. "Ms Sabine, are you perhaps a tourist in France?" Valentino asked.

Viper contemplated for a bit. She wasn't foreign, not was she familiar. "Yes I am. I am here on my paid leaves."

Valentino brightened up a bit. "I see, as I am free for the rest of the day, might I suggest I accompany you?"

Viper raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Valentino smiled softly, looking out the window. "I'm quite familiar with the city. It would be fun to show you around the beauty of Paris."

Sabine smirked. That was one roundabout way of asking her on a date. Gutsy, she'd admit.

It's her day off and she had nothing better to do. Why not?

"well, Mr Valentino, lead the way." She replied, getting up.

He got up after her and they walked out the shop together. They both wore happy expressions.

Unbeknownst to her, across from them was a camera, which was currently hacked by Killjoy.

"Oh my god." Killjoy said, actually baffled by what she saw. "Viper is on a date. Holy shit."

To be continued.

A/N: I'm legit rolling just writing this part.