#and also trying to add highlights instead of just shadows which was so hard on his hair for some reason

[bulletproofbanditsorbust]

Bulletproof.

ref pic (suggested by the lovely @arnold-layne ) under the cut

[saintjosie]

Ok from a transfemme to a trans woman - how do you makeup? I've been wanting to get into it for so long but the first time I tried was an absolute disaster, and I can't find any tutorials that go through the absolute beginner basics

tbh, you have to just keep on doing it even though it’s a complete disaster. i started my transition in 2020 but i was doing makeup and “cross dressing” for nearly 8 years before i considered myself to be trans. and it was years before i was able to do makeup to the point where i felt good about the way that i looked every time i did it.

that being said, there’s no guide that’s gonna be able to tell you everything you need to know but i’ll try to give as many tips and jumping points i can in order for you to try out things and figure out what to look up.

- make up is different for everyone - everyone has a different face shape, eye shape, cheekbones, jawline, complexion, etc. and the way to do makeup that looks good for you specifically is going to vary a shit ton based on those things. when you look up stuff, look up how to do makeup for a certain set of features. figure out what face shape you have, skin types for foundation, etc.

- there’s no one right way to do it - i do a bunch of things that are “technically incorrect” because i’ve tried it the “right” way and it just didn’t work for me. so i figured out something that i liked instead and make that a technique i used regularly. also even though people will say you’re supposed to do certain things, a different technique might yield a different result. as an example, conventional wisdom will say use primer, foundation, then a translucent or setting powder, then a setting spray. recently a very popular technique has been using moisturizer, then setting powder, then setting spray, THEN putting on all your other makeup and supposedly it lasts longer. there’s literally no “correct” way, it’s just whatever works.

- blend the shit out of everything. this is the one technique which pretty much applies for everyone. blend blend blend blend. i like using a beauty sponge. run it under the tap for a second (literally a second, you want it moist not wet) to wet the sponge and then use dabbing motions to blend your makeup.

- asking for help at makeup stores helps A LOT. i’ve had really really good experiences asking for help at makeup stores even though i was super uncomfortable with the idea at first. i found that a lot of people were judgement free and even very gender affirming even when i was presenting masc. and i live in the south!

okay now to more granular stuff - here’s the basics of what i would consider to go into a “full face” makeup routine - primer, foundation, concealer, highlight/contour, setting. eye makeup would add additional things - eyeliner, mascara/lashes, eyeshadow. lips add additional things as well - lipstick, lipliner. ill try to go through the entire process and add my fav products or two. (i should probably make this into a video series tbh)

1) primer - it protects your skin and makes your makeup stay longer and look better. use it.

- my fav: the ordinary - high fluidity primer

2) color correcting concealer - an optional step for transfemmes like me with darker colored facial hair. using a reddish or orangish color correcting concealer or lipstick over the areas where your facial hair shows through the skin will neutralize the shadow that shows through foundation. add a little bit, sparingly, blend with a sponge.

- my fav: la girl color correcting concealer orange

(the best one of these is made by dragun beauty who is a trans woman…but who did blackface…so don’t buy her shit)

3) foundation - figuring out your color is hard. look up a guide, ask in store, try a bunch of different ones. there’s a difference in coverages. full coverage means its made to cover everything. buildable means you need to apply and blend a few times and is good for if you don’t want heavy coverage everywhere. don’t use too much otherwise you’ll look like a plastic doll. unless you want to look like that then go nuts. blend the shit out of it so that it doesn’t cake up.

- my fav: juvias place bc it’s full coverage and actually has my skin tone as an asian person

4) concealer - this is different from color corrector and i usually do this after foundation. this is just a touch up for any blemishes, dark spots under eyes, pimples, shit like that. just use a tiny tiny dab and blend. this is also hard to get your color right so get help if you can.

- my fav: colourpop concealer, or nars concealer if you’re a fancy bitch

5) blush - i don’t really use blush much but blush is one of those things where you should look up a guide for how your face is shaped. positioning blush in different ways will help shape your face in different ways.

6) contouring - okay this is the hard one. i can’t tell you how to contour your face because this is one that varies a shit ton from person to person. the basic gist of it tho is that you are using a contouring stick, bronzer, or palette to add shadows to your face. when you put on foundation it makes everything an even color and makes you look flat, so contouring is basically drawing those shadows back in to contour your face. you can do this in so many ways even for your own face so imo, you experiment and see how you like it. typical places for contour to go will be under my cheekbones, on my nose bridge, sometimes under my jaw to slim the face.

- my fav: i can’t remember i’ll come back to this one

also i drew this diagram a long time ago to help myself get the idea of where i wanted to put it on my own face and i went from there. the brown was contour and the other color was highlight. i don’t do it like this at all anymore but it helped to get the basic idea at first.

7) highlight - the opposite of contour where you’re making certain parts of your face brighter to contrast the darker parts. typically goes on your cheekbones and nose.

- my fav: watts up by benefit

8) translucent powder/setting powder - okay so this one can either go after foundation, before blush, contour, highlighter, or here. basically it’s a powder that goes evenly over your whole face to help your makeup stay where it is. personally i usually do it after foundation instead of here but either works. basically you take a powder brush (the big floofy ones) and then put it all over lightly.

- my fav: nyx hd finishing powder

9) setting spray - it’s a spray that you put on last to help your makeup stay where it is. shake up the bottle real good and just mist it all over.

- my fav: tarte shape tape stay spray

okay i’m tired now and that’s plenty for now. i’ll update with lip and eye stuff later.

[msfcatlover]

Shadow Jason (Reverse Robins)

(Jason has... too many costumes, I literally cannot find a single reference page that has even a majority of them, let alone all of them. Massive pain in the ass to research this.)

Jason started out with just Tim's costume (he inherited it on incredibly short notice, so he didn't have time to do any modifications before he first hit the streets in it,) but over time he makes it his own.

Which is like...90% tributes & callbacks to Steph, Jason's personal hero. Jason does keep Tim's predominantly black styling and switches his highlight colors from purple & gold to blue & silver, but the blue is very much a dark indigo (cutting the middle ground between Steph's dark purple & midnight blue, and allowing different artists to draw him either leaning more blue or purple depending on lighting & personal taste.)

(Guess who found an even better bat symbol chart? Anyway, Jason's is the "Batman: Hush" bat symbol, and he trades the ribbon-border for silver stitching. Because Cass is right, the stitched look is badass.)

Jason keeps the black cloak with "purple" (now indigo) lining, but he replaces the gold ribbon trim for a thick silver stitching. He also makes the cloak shorter, hanging just below his knees rather than around his ankles. The trim also now traces the entire hem of the cloak, rather than just the hood.

(Once again, thank you Stephanie Brown Costume History page!)

I will add that though all past Shadow hoods have had a pretty basic silhouette, Jason wanted a droopy-pointy one, because he's a dramatic nerd.

(Basic hood vs Jason's hood)

Jason keeps the headset, but he switches Tim's visor out for glowing goggles in tribute to Steph's original Spoiler costume. He also brings back Steph's full-face mask, if a touch more armored than her original mask probably was.

(Jason's goggles glow white, though.)

Jason's chest piece is a lot less bulletproof vest, instead going for a segmented/borderline laminar piece. Somewhere between Duke's "White Knight" armor & Jason's "Gotham Knights: Eternal" chest armor. The panels are all black, but the base underneath them is indigo.

(Keep in mind that this is pre-growth spurt Jason, so while both of these chest pieces are for pretty bulky dudes, Jason's still on the short & lean side side of things. He's not trying to look bulkier, these are just the best references I could find..)

The sleeves are dark blue & fitted, made of durable slash- & stab-resistant fabric. Jason wears basically his RHatO Robin gloves, but without the weird loops on the sides. The gloves are predominantly black, but the red highlights are now indigo. He also has polished metal caps on his knuckles, echoing Steph's costume & buffing his own punches.

(Once again, it is really really hard to get a good reference shot of these gloves, but I think these 2 pages together give you a pretty good turn-around of them.)

I have not been defining utility belt styles, but whatever the differences between them have been, Jason rolls back to Steph's design. His is black with silver clasps/buckles, for the record.

I do like Jason's big pockets & cargo pants from recent comics, but I think he'd want to take Shadow back to its sleeker look than Tim's padded up & kitted out design. (Jason also doesn't need to carry nearly as much gear himself, since the rest of the family kinda babies him a little, so there's almost always one within shouting distance if he needs them.) I'd say he goes back to the padded leggings, but adds pouches that hang from his belt & strap to his thighs, mimicking both the look of Steph & Dami's thigh armor, and his own big-pockets look in recent comics.

(So imagine if those pockets were actually hanging from his belt the way his holsters are here, with a second strap around the thigh to keep them from bouncing around or getting in the way.)

I actually realized while looking at that Gotham Knights article that I wanted to give Jason the boots/greaves from the "Year One" costume, and while hunting for a better image of them found this awesome piece, which not only gives an excellent view of that leg armor but also actually has fitted pants with thigh-strapped holsters, to give a better idea what that should look like.

(Pants & straps should be black, red armor should be indigo with silver edges, which you even kinda get with the grey backing in this piece. Seriously, huge shout out to Damián Navarro Méndez, though, this design & render both look awesome! I hope they paid you really well for this one, and you didn't have to crunch over it.)

And that wraps up Shadow Jason! Hopefully it's enough of his own style to feel unique from the three other designs I've already done for Shadow, and like something Jason would actually wear. It's still recognizable as a Shadow outfit, and makes it very clear who Jason's primary inspiration was without directly ripping Steph off (or even being too obvious at a glance that he's shouting her out.)

I hope there's also enough echo of Cass & Duke to show that Jason's having to serve as kinda both Moonbeam & Shadow simultaneously; the guiding light & grounding dark to Gotham's Batman. Because Jason (like Tim) doesn't have a partner in this, but (unlike Tim) Jason doesn't have to stand fully alone in his efforts.

Phew! Thanks for sticking with me, folks, but we're done with Shadow now! Now I just have to do... everyone's grown-up designs...

(Don't worry, I'm still having fun and it's not nearly as daunting at it seems at a glance. It's just a lot, and their independent identities are going to be a touch harder since I'm basically starting from scratch—just a stack of references & a half-concept/half-vibe—where the legacy costumes have iterated on eachother, allowing me to start from a base every time I make a new one.)

[detailtilted]

Hi there! I've belatedly seen your question about coloring, and I'm someone who likes to tweak color, so in case it helps, I thought I'd write up some things I might do. I don't know if you have the same tools I have, but I saw you use Color Balance, so I've used that for an example below. I usually start by adjusting lighting levels so that the lightest and darkest points are where I hope them to end up. Then I'd adjust color hues which in your case was using the Color Balance tool. I might also adjust the saturation or vibrance because too much can cause colors to get extreme quickly. Here are some quick settings I did in Photoshop.

Levels: dark point=19, mid point=1.37, light point=249, output levels=18 to 255

Color Balance: shadows red+13, green+5, blue-4; midtones red-8, green-9, blue+3; highlights red-60, green-28, blue-25

Saturation: reds-8, master-4

Here's the result:

I know it can be hard to translate setting between different apps, so I wonder if this will be helpful at all, but feel free to ask me questions if you're so inclined 😊

~ Dani

WOW, your results are incredible! Thank you so much for taking the time to play with this and to offer some tips! Adjusting lighting before trying to adjust colors hadn't occurred to me at all.

I'm using Adobe Premiere for the video editing, so same software company at least, but I couldn't find any lighting level settings like what you described. Through Googling, it looks like a setting called "Lumetri Color" is typically used for lighting corrections and it's broken out differently.

I have to go to work pretty soon, so I haven't had sufficient time to really dig into it and play with it, but I did mess around with it a tiny bit. I'll play more this weekend and see if I can get closer to what you were able to accomplish.

For reference, my original adjusted version (which I can see now looks soooo horribly orangey compared to yours!):

As a starting point, I just clicked the friendly "Auto" button on the Lumetri Color tab to see what it would do. A little better, still pretty orangey.

Then I tried to make some of the color adjustments that worked for you. It looked like your adjustments had been based on my adjusted version, so I'm not sure if my attempt at making it a direct mathematical adjustment was the right way to go, but I tried to add your adjustment #'s on top of my adjustments. So for example, I'd had Shadow Red set to -10 and since you said you added 13, I changed it to 3. When I changed all 9 settings it didn't improve too much, definitely nothing like yours:

But while applying those changes, I noticed that before I applied the last two (highlight green and blue), it looked closer to what you had. Still not there yet, but closer.

Once I have time, I'll play with some of the Lumetri sliders and stuff a bit more. It may also help just to have your beautiful image as a reference point. Thanks so much!

Addendum: Additional Efforts

I spent some more time playing with this. I present two versions for your judgment.

The first version isn't exactly like yours, but it looked pretty close to my eyes. So I was happy for a minute or two. Then when I started watching the video instead of just staring at the still frame, I felt like it looked a little too green. Maybe that's because I've spent so many hours staring at my previous orangey version that my idea of what looks normal is skewed.

So in version two I adjusted the Tint setting. I feel like this looks a little better, especially when I watch the video, but I don't trust my judgment at all. My color judgment was bad before, and now I think my eyes are permanently warped from staring at different shades for so long.

I'm including both versions below. For each version I'm including a side-by-side comparison with your example vs mine. I wanted to include a video clip for both, but it looks like tumblr limits it to 1 video, so I only included the video for version 2.

Please don't be afraid to tell me they both look horrible! I feel sort of like the proverbial monkey hitting a bunch of random keys and hoping I might hit upon Shakespeare by pure random chance. 😅

Version 1

Version 2

[rockethorse]

Do you have any tips or resources for improving at texturing? The stuff you’ve been sharing is brilliant— you capture the maxis feel so well!

Oh, thank you for asking, I'm quite flattered you think so! I have mostly been figuring stuff out through trial and error, so I'm hardly a texturing expert, but I can try and share what I've found works for me.

Firstly, wherever possible/practical I just steal from existing Maxis textures, LOL. Makes sense since we want to recreate that Maxis feel, right? If I can remember an existing texture that could be tweaked to work, then I go grab it at least as a reference. For example with the retextures of Alexander's little shorts-suit that I shared for the GoS challenge, I knew I wanted an oversized, hand-me-down denim jacket vibe... so why not go straight to the source and just grab a denim jacket texture from an adult mesh? Then it's just a matter of figuring out the "gaps" in the mapping and filling them in with airbrushing, clone tools, etc. Sometimes the final texture is completely different, but having the reference helped a lot. I'll also take or reference textures from TS3 and TS4 conversions.

On that note, I think it's immensely helpful for anyone working from a Maxis mesh to grab a UV map if possible. This thread of Maxis UV maps is great, but unfortunately not comprehensive - I can't find elder UV maps anywhere :( But still a great resource! It's especially helpful when you're changing something like necklines and shoes, which are often mapped awkwardly and make it really obvious when seams aren't aligned.

Full disclosure, I was already a digital artist, so I had a leg-up on certain aspects of learning to texture. But I still struggled a lot with hand-painting textures and would often get frustrated because what worked for my art didn't work with The Sims. Eventually I found brushes that worked best for me - this might differ from artist to artist, but I found that scaling airbrush tools down gave me the best balance of softness even for "hard" lines like seams, trim, etc. Using a harder brush stood out as looking too "digital" in-game.

Whenever I'm hand painting something from scratch, I first make sure my idea is possible by editing the alpha. I'll make the texture a bright floodfill like yellow, flatten any bump map, and then tweak the alpha how I'm imagining to see what parts are "meshed on" and where. This helps me figure out the boundaries of collars, necklines, hems, etc. in ways that aren't always obvious on a UV map. If the alpha can be edited the way I'm imagining, then I move on to adding small details like hems, buttons, etc.

Once I have these rough details, I start by adding "shape" to a flat colour with the airbrush tool. This means gradually building up shadows to give a sense of 3D. I often start from the sides to make sure the seams will be the same colour, though I do think it's best to go in afterwards with your UV maps to lighten up certain patches. Then I'll add highlights with the same technique, and start carving areas away to make folds and creases, etc. I do this before I add any texture. Often I'll start with a grey colour, to make recolouring easier later, but if I have a very specific colour in mind I'll do that one first and then make a desaturated version for recolouring later. Since I work with Maxis Match textures, it doesn't matter as much if you lose some detail with this process.

This process of building up a sense of 3D gradually and softly with the airbrush tool and shrinking the airbrush tool down to make finer lines instead of choosing an actual fine-line brush are the two biggest tips that I think improved my handpainted textures!

Also, and I mean this sincerely, but I make it look a bit crummy on purpose. EAxis textures are a wonderful blend of genuinely beautiful hand-painting and abhorrent photoskinning, all of which are flattened and smeared to squeeze onto 2000s hardware. Sometimes stretching or upscaling a texture is exactly what a recolour needs to achieve the "Maxis feel", you know? So don't stress too much about it. I always kind of laugh when I find myself obsessing over a tiny stray pixel or a mis-matched seam in my own content and then find the tackiest suit on MTS from 2004 like "looks great, unzip it". It's probably never gonna look as good in-game as it does in your graphics program anyway. Hair textures are where I truly embrace the fug because I know anyone who wants them is coming for exactly that. If people don't want smeary, slightly-dirty, mismatched-colour-groups hair textures, then they've probably found a different hair system that works for them, lol.

Oh, speaking of graphics programs, I use Krita for all my digital art and retexturing. If anyone is looking to get into making textures and doesn't have access to an art program, I highly recommend it for being free, open-source and powerful. If you're a beginner, then remember also that BodyShop crunches textures, especially for darker colours, so if your textures look pixellated in-game try using SimPE to build the DXTs instead for slightly different compression.

If it's an object I'm retexturing, I'll often clone the object in SimPE and then recolour the clone so that I can preview how it will look in SimPE without having to load the game. This isn't perfect, since there's no lighting in SimPE, so sometimes you won't notice little details that are meshed-on, but it's certainly faster than having to load the game every time, especially if you're making lots of little tweaks or stretching the object's mapping to its limits. I had to do this with the blackboards, the City Living toilets, and the bear chairs.

I think that's about it! If anyone has any more specific questions I can try and answer, and I'll try and add pictures that explain what I'm talking about a bit better the next time I go texture something. But in the end, I think "trial and error to find what works for you" is the best advice, along with "steal from other textures A LOT".

[rosymiel]

💗 updated editing tutorial! 💕

i haven’t made an editing tutorial in a long time, so i thought it would be time to make an updated one!

before we jump in, i want to note a few things:

1) i use a drawing tablet for my edits, but editing is 100000% possible without one. that’s how i made edits for the majority of the time i’ve had this blog

2) i use photoshop 2018, there are places you can find where you can 🏴‍☠️ it

3) this editing tutorial doesn’t cover my rendering process & setting up scenes. if anyone wants to see how i do all of that, let me know and i’ll try to make a tutorial!

________________________________________________________

background

this wouldn’t be a necessary step for everybody, but 99% of my edits have a transparent spot somewhere in the background for me to edit a background into. once i’m in photoshop, i’ll start out with finding a background on pinterest and putting it behind my render/edit layer

________________________________________________________

fixing clipping/smoothing

next order of business is just fixing some clipping issues and smoothing out harsh lines i don’t want. i personally think it’s important to duplicate the layer i’m working on just incase i make a mistake/do something i regret later!

for blending things out, i use this brush and use straight (up+down/side to side) motions. personally whenever i use circular motions to blend with this brush, it always looks a little bit funky. i’ll also use this brush at 18%-22% strength

________________________________________________________

shading

for my shading layer, i’ll add a layer and set it to soft light blending mode at 65%-75% opacity. while shading, i’ll use the hard round pressure size brush with 35% smoothing (i’ll usually keep this same smoothing in every step of my editing process). after laying down the areas i want shaded, i’ll blend everything out with the same blending brush i mentioned earlier with the same strength. also, if you laid down shading on an area you don’t want, you can just go ahead and erase what you don’t want after blending!

instead of using black for shading, i’ll use a very dark blue if most of the highlights are yellow/orange. you could use a color wheel to see which color you might want to shade with (if your highlights are one color, you might want to pick its complementary color)

⭐ something i find really important with shading is to pay attention to the lighting. i don’t know how to explain it further than that, but if it’s something you struggle with there are guides/tutorials like these that you could sort of use for reference!

also, i messed up in my before image and forgot the nose shadow and some eye shadows before blending everything out. for the eyes, i’ll shade the under eye area and under the eyelid on the eyeball. for the nose, i’ll match the angle of this shadow to the angle of the neck shadow (i hope this makes sense!)

________________________________________________________

highlighting

for highlighting, i’ll add a new layer and set it to overlay blending mode at 100% opacity. i’ll use the hard round pressure size brush throughout this step. 

much like shading, i’ll like to use the complementary color for whatever i used for shading. in this edit, i’ll be using a very very light yellow for highlighting.

⭐ usually i’ll also do my hair highlighting in this step and on the same layer, but i’ll get to that here in a minute!

________________________________________________________

some extra goody bits

literally don’t know what else to name this step. for this, i’ll add a new layer with normal blending mode at 100% opacity with the same brush used in the previous two steps. now, what i actually do is add things like stark highlights (eyes, nose, etc) eyelashes, etc. just some extra goody bits

________________________________________________________

hair part 1

you know the drill, add a new layer. i set this layer at normal blending mode, 100% opacity, and use the hard round pressure opacity and flow brush at 60% flow. usually, i’ll set my brush size to 3-5pt, it really just depends on the edit. to add bits of hair here and there, i’ll mimic the motion of the surrounding hair and pick a color in that area (hopefully this makes sense!).

sometimes i’ll completely draw new large sections of hair, but that’ll be for another day since this edit doesn’t call for it.

hair part 2

remember how i said something about highlighting hair? here it is. also, remember how i mentioned using the same blending brush throughout this entire process? this is the only time it changes, and the only thing i change is bump the strength to 50%-55%. let’s go ahead and add a new layer set to the overlay blending mode at 100% opacity. the type of brush you use to actual put highlights down doesn’t matter, but i almost always use the same color as the highlighting i used earlier. also, the size of my brush tends to vary edit to edit, but typically i’ll use a smaller brush for alpha hair and a slightly larger brush for clay.

once i put down the highlights, i’ll take the blending brush and sort of go ham back and forth through the sections. when doing this, i always try to do my best to mimic the direction/flow of that section of hair while i’m blending.

⭐ if i want more stark highlights in some spots, i’ll add a new layer with normal blending mode at 100% opacity and take a brush with either white or a very bright highlight color. i’ll lay down smaller highlighting sections than shown here and blend the same way as mentioned before. i’ll also usually add some white/lighter strands of hair here and there

________________________________________________________

rimlighting

this step is a lot like the highlighting step, but instead of highlighting large section i’ll highlight edges (again, paying attention to the lighting in the edit). just like with highlighting, i’ll add a new layer with the overlay blending mode at 100% opacity with the hard round pressure opacity and flow brush and use light-dependent colors (like with the previous highlighting step, it’ll be a light shade of whatever color).

________________________________________________________

background

curves

as of writing this, i’m getting tired, so i’m sorry if my explanations are shorter and lazier. however, we’re moving on to editing the background now!! to make shadows and highlights pop in the background, i’ll utilize the curves adjustment layer (i don’t know what it’s actually called) and change the properties until it’s darker. in the sections that i want lighter, i’ll erase those parts on the layer!

some color! pizazz!

for this, i’ll add a layer set to the soft light blending mode at 100% opacity and literally just add some colors with the soft round pressure opacity and flow brush here and there where i want more soft/glowy lighting. if i want things to look more glowy, i’ll basically do the same thing but on a new layer set to the overlay blending mode and in smaller/more specific spots

________________________________________________________

finishing touches

i don’t think i really need to go too in-depth here, but to finish off an edit i’ll mess around with color balance, adding noise, and seeing if there’s anything in the edit i want to add/fix. for color balance, i really just mess around with the different tones until i’m satisfied with what i got. 

when adding noise to the edit, i’ll actually add a new layer set to the soft light blending mode at 100% opacity and either fill in the edit with a medium gray or slightly tinted medium gray. after that, i’ll add noise to that layer and set the noise to 7.5% amount. 

and there we go!! that’s about it for this updated editing tutorial. i apologize if it’s all over the place and if i haven’t explained some things clearly. if anyone wants a more concise explanation of any step mentioned here/anything else regarding how i edit, please let me know and i’ll do my best!!

[ghostputtyarchive]

Hi ky!! Every post you make about your OCs just makes me more excited for your story. Not even to mention your GORGEOUS portraits of your OCs. Could you maybe walk through a little bit of your editing process? Just like, in general, what you do for your portraits? Also, how long does it take you to do one of those portraits? (like the ones for your covens.) If you don't want to/don't have time to, that's a-okay!! I just thought I'd ask, since I very much admire your portrait editing!! <3 (also, do you take your pics in CAS or in-game?) Thanks so much, and I can't wait to read your story!! Love, Morri. <3

HI oh my gosh thank u so much ??!!! ur literally the sweetest please :,) i’ve been meaning to do an updated editing tut thing and i have some time tonight so here u go !

the main things i do are; repainting/fixing clipping, shading, highlights, extra highlights + touch ups, and hair usually in that order. it takes me between 1-3 hours for each one, depends on the complexity and what i have to fix. for the guild posts i took them in cas but either way i use srwe to get a cleaner image in game.

also i’ll link the brushes i use throughout the tut,  i use procreate but im p sure u can use the brushes in photoshop too if im not mistaken.

okay tut below the cut cause this got longer than i thought lmao

repainting/fixing clipping: so for this i usually go in w a hard airbrush (linked at bottom) and well.. repaint or i’ll cover up any clipping with hair or accessories. i also usually do this when the clothes look really pixelated, i like using the smudge tool as well. here’s some examples. i just follow what shadows n highlights are already on the sim for this and color pick from the selected area

2. shading: my general shading process is the same as this post here, especially w the areas. like i said above i usually follow what shadows reshade has already laid out for me but also i’ll add my own in where i see fit. 

the only things that have mostly changed from that post are; 1. i use a diff brush which i’ll link at the end, and 2. i use this color (hex code: e88d6f) on a multiply layer, gaussian blur 1-10% and layer opacity between 50-80%. just depends on what looks best to me. (oh also i shade clothes w a color pick on a multiply layer now instead of w black)

3. highlights: also pretty similar as above, i use an overlay layer, this color (hex code: ffded2) gaussian blur it, and set the opacity between 40-80%. again just depends on what looks nice. i also add a lil glow to the eyes on this layer w that color as well, makes them pop a bit.

4. extra highlights: so this one ur gonna want the highlights brush from this brush pack here (hair pack). it’s rlly snazzy, i use it on the nose, jawline, and eyes (examples below) usually using the same color as above for highlights or i’ll color pick from the sim. i set this layer to an add (linear dodge if ur in ps) layer, opacity varies, if it’s too bright i’ll just turn it down until it’s not lmao.

5. hair: oh boy. okay ur gonna want that brush pack from above, this thing actually saved my life w hair. i duplicate my base sim layer and alpha lock it. from there i’ll use the soft hair brush from that pack both as a regular brush and a smudge brush. my best advice here is to color pick when painting and follow the direction the hair goes. i’ll add a time-lapse below because i feel like showing is better than anything. i also use that highlights brush from the hair pack and add some lil stray strands. i can't tell u how many times i redo the hair, it can get annoying sometimes but just take ur time !!

last bonus tip is to have fun with it !! ur making art and it’s the process that makes it exciting, i like to always try something new when making an edit. i see it like painting (which it is actually now that i'm thinking about it lmao) but just go nuts !! i used to super rush my stuff and i never rlly liked it so w these i took it slow and found what worked for me. 

here’s the brush i use for shading and repainting but any hard airbrush would work just fine too!

[delldarling]

bearberry bargain | pyre

male arctic fox shifter x gender/body neutral reader 10,261 words lemon | older shifter, knotting, oral, penetrative sex, no choking but there is throat touching, tricks and bargains, getting lost note: this was the Story of the Month for December 2020 over on my Patreon! It is loosely tied into the same world as my dragon fellow Arroven, but reading Arroven’s story first is most definitely not required. 

————-　🦊　————-

The tundra is a gorgeous, but unforgiving landscape. You can hear the words on repeat in your head, clear as a twice damned bell. Worse than that, you can see Bristle, the orc woman that had served as your guide out here, in your mind's eye saying the words as she gestured to the fog drenched terrain. And The Mirrored Teeth are a little more dangerous than most. In the rain, or like now, in the fog, the stone spires gleam. They are beautiful, and all too easy to mistake for a far off porch light, or street lamp—but that isn’t what’s truly dangerous out here.

Bristle’s partner, a curly haired satyr by name of Rhim, with coins jingling in his carefully coiffed beard, had then stepped up to speak. Unfortunately, The Mirrored Teeth weren’t named for the teeth-like spires alone. The mirroring, or in this case, echoing, is the real danger. Voices carry strangely out here when the fog is thick, and if someone is lost? Our first instinct is to travel towards a light, or someone shouting. Whether the voices are our own, bouncing back to us from the spires or the mountains, or they’re the product of a still-living magical area?

They’d both spoken in unison then, smiling at each other with the ease of familiarity: Don’t follow the voices.

Each person in the tour group had been given a small token after their list of safety precautions, to serve as a tracker in case someone was separated. One person had asked if it was likely to get lost, and Bristle had snorted before she’d adopted her tour guide voice again. To come out here in the first place, everyone had been asked to sign a waiver because, inevitably, someone did end up wandering away. They followed voices that sounded like loved ones from past or present. They followed voices that sounded like themselves, calling out warnings. It was generally why people ended up taking the tour in the first place, listening eagerly for a voice they’d long since thought lost, or some kind of warning from their future self, so compelling and entrancing that they must be the product of magic. Most, though not all, of the people were generally found. Overtired and aching from sleeping on the ground out in the cold, but otherwise unharmed. Whatever caused the voices, magic or not, didn’t seem to hurt people, only leave them confused.

A few of the others currently with the group had come out for more academic reasons. Art and science in most cases, but otherwise those going on the tour were magic chasers, looking to record the fog voice phenomena for further study.

You might not have come out here with a recorder, but you can’t exactly deny that magic chaser applies to you as well. Claims of The Mirrored Teeth holding tangible residual magic are terribly rampant. You’ve wanted to witness it for yourself, to hear the voices, or feel the soft ache of magical energy on your skin, just the once. You’ve wanted… Well, it’s hard sometimes, not to want to feel the call of magic.

“And look where it’s led you,” you mutter, searching your pockets for the hundredth time. You know you won’t find the token, that you must have lost it when you slipped on some slick moss about an hour ago, but you can’t stop yourself now. It’s like trying to leave a loose thread alone once nervous fingers have found it. You keep reaching for the token, keep trying to find it, even though you know nothing you do will help any longer. You don’t recognize any of the surrounding terrain.

When you’d started out with the tour group, there hadn’t been anything but fog and the scrubby ground, hardened by a hidden layer of permafrost. You’d seen pictures of the teeth-like spires, but hadn’t been able to spot any when you first arrived. Now, every time you turn around it feels like you’re surrounded by the damned things. They radiate a soft glow, magnified further by the heavy mist and from far off? They look just like the teeth they’re named for. “Done in by moss,” you add, straining your eyes to see further through the fog. ”Not even by the voices!” Which, frankly, was disappointing. Not that you wanted to be lost in the first place, but hearing some of the voices the Mirrored Teeth are known for would have at least given you a better reason. An expected reason to be lost or wandering away from the group. Instead you’d simply slipped, brushed off a handful of withered greenery and pebbles, and had gotten back to your feet to find yourself alone.

You’d shouted yourself hoarse after the first half hour, calling out for Bristle and Rhim, staying in the same place, or assuming you’d stayed in the same place. You’d bent to find the token again, but even that had apparently been too much movement. Every time you lifted your head to look away from the ground, there was a different bit of flora springing up in front of you—and then you’d nearly smacked yourself head first into one of the spires, none of which are clearly marked on the map you have of the surrounding area. There’s always too much mist to plot them.

“Bristle! Rhim?” You call out again, cupping your hands around your mouth, not knowing if you should even hope for some kind of answer. What if they don’t answer because of the echoes? What if that’s the reason they’ve yet to answer in the first place?

The soft crack of a branch makes you whirl, throat growing tight when you spot the shadow of three figures through the fog. They straighten up, huffing, and the fog slowly spins away, shadows coalescing and revealing an older man shouldering a pack that he’s clearly just dug up from the ground. For a moment, he’s silent, staring, hand clenching tight at his pack as his eyes rove over your face. His gaze dips to your feet and lifts quickly back to your face before he wipes the surprise from his expression. “I hoped I was mistaken,” he grouses in a soft voice, tossing his head to get his ragged mane of salt and pepper hair out of his eyes. “But ‘lo, a human. Those tours are getting earlier and earlier every year, aren’t they?” He sighs, not asking like he expects an answer, but more like he’s just making an unpleasant statement. For half a second you have a retort on your lips, but the longer you stare, the more words vanish from your vocabulary.

The man has clearly tried to tame his ragged hair, weaving it into a messy, short braid that’s just long enough to hang over his right shoulder. There are earrings hanging from his right earlobe, dangly things that clink softly while he brushes impatiently at the dirt on his knees. His jacket, once a lovely heather gray, and obviously a match to a long lost suit, is patched and worn in multiple places. His jeans are nothing to write home about either, with frayed hems and patched knees. He has silvery stubble on his cheeks, and crows feet at the corners of his copper eyes, and—and a long tail, like a bottlebrush, fur standing on end. Until he sees that you’re watching. The tail vanishes behind his legs and your eyes zero in on his sharp nailed fingers, the backs of his knuckles covered with pale, soft looking hair. He grimaces, baring razor edged teeth, and promptly makes to stride past you, not even bothering to wait for you to get out of the way. He draws a rough breath as soon as he bumps into you, flinching away from actually knocking you to the ground, but it’s near enough to set your temper stoking.

Frankly? His manners are atrocious. But you’re also lost somewhere out in the tundra, and even if he doesn’t know where your tour is, he knows of them. You wrestle your temper into staying silent and rush after him.

“Wait! Hey, wait up,” you ask, ignoring the thrill that runs through you when you snag hold of his jacket sleeve and his tail bristles again. He’s not just hiding a tail either. His feet look more like great canine paws, which means—

The man whirls, and you spot two furred ears hidden under his uneven hair before he yanks his arm away from you, breathing far too fast. “Surely you know better than to grab at a shifter?” He hisses, leaning in close to your face. For half a second, he’s close enough for you to feel warmth radiating off of his body, but then his nostrils flare and his voice grows quiet. “Or are you from one of those backwater humans only villages in the East?”

“I’m—I’m sorry for grabbing you,” you blurt, mildly startled by his proximity to your face. “And while yes, that wasn’t a smart idea, I’m lost out here. Would it have been smarter of me to let you leave me in the dust before I asked for directions?” You take a slow step back, though you don’t let your eyes drop from his. You’re not going to take your eyes off of him for even a second if it means the fog is going to swallow him up and leave you all on your lonesome again.

The shifter narrows his copper eyes, highlighting the faint wrinkles in his brown skin. “Lost, you said?” He straightens, and keeps staring, eerily still. His frown only grows more pronounced when you nod your head. “You’re three days out from where the tours start. How long have you been lost?”

“Three days,” you repeat, uncomprehending. For another few seconds, the words don’t make any kind of sense. You’ve been separated from your group, according to your watch, for just over an hour. When you glance at the timepiece, only another handful of minutes have passed, but not enough time to even come close to explaining three days worth of travel. Your pulse is already racing, but it’s beginning to grow past the point of discomfort and into painful territory with how hard your heart is working. How the hell are you supposed to get back? “That’s not possible,” you breathe.

He doesn’t soften, but for a few moments he doesn’t look quite so irritated. “If you heard anything at all on that tour, then I’m sure you know it is possible. Residual magic, yes? It can do quite a bit more than just throw voices like a puppeteer.” He shifts his weight, like he’s ready to leave the moment you give him a chance.

“I’ve been lost for an hour,” you say, hoping that will spell out exactly how ridiculous you find his claims. “And I did my best to stay in one place. I’ve barely even begun to walk anywhere, and I didn’t—didn’t feel anything magical.”

“Isn’t it terribly rare to feel anything magical?” He asks, only gently mocking. “So few people even notice when something magical has happened to them. Now, it sounds as if the fog leapfrogged you through space,” he adds, wrinkling his nose. “Or did those green guides of yours not mention that something like this might happen?” He waits, but when you don’t immediately answer, the shifter sighs again, shakes his head and pivots, heading back into the still-swirling fog, ready to leave you behind.

You make another desperate grab for his sleeve, thankful that he only grimaces when he turns back to face you again. “In fact, yes, they did forget to mention! If you happen to have a satellite phone, or maybe-”

The shifter laughs and your grip on his sleeve grows slack. He’s rather handsome when he smiles, and looks like some kind of down-on-his-luck musician, dreaming of his glory days. You hastily let go of his sleeve, before he decides to yank himself away a second time. “Me? Ol’ Pyre, wandering about the tundra with a satellite phone?” He lifts his bag, clumps of dirt still falling from it. “I’m coming out this way to spend the winter in my other skin, and generally? Foxes have no use for phones.” He lifts his chin, scenting the air, and then nods his head in the direction behind you. “Head that way and the fog is likely to lead you right back.”

“Likely or certain?” You press, scowling. “Because there’s a rather large difference between those two options, and I’m not going to risk myself on likely.”

Pyre huffs out a sharp edged: “Which do you think?” before he registers the way your hands are starting to shake with nerves. His mouth opens, and then snaps shut. For a long moment he’s quiet, gritting his teeth, eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not prepared for more than an evening trek through the tundra, are you? Enough food for a snack and dinner round a campfire before they herd you back?”

A small wave of relief loosens your shoulders. If he’s asking, then surely he’s not going to turn tail and leave you all by your lonesome? You start to smile, ready and willing to ask for further help, but Pyre turns away with a quiet curse.

“Pitiful idiots,” he says, glancing up at the sky, even though he can’t see anything but the vague hint of daylight through the thick fog. “Three days. And leaving would be akin to murder.” He bares his teeth, still looking up for a few seconds longer before he turns a sharp look your way, fingers curling and uncurling at his side. “I’ll lead you as far as the Slavering river. If you stick to that and keep yourself from wandering off into the fog again, you’ll certainly make it close enough for those idiot guides to find you.”

Slavering, the river is called, Bristle’s voice picks up in your head again, because they once thought the tundra a hungry thing, with teeth besides. She’d gestured to the West, though none of the group had been able to spot or hear the roar of the water yet. It had just been another wall of fog over hard earth and low growing shrubs. We’ll end our hike there.

You offer Pyre your hand, still worried about the trek, still ill at ease with what the fog has done, but feeling decidedly less panicked. Residual magic my ass. As soon as I’m back, the guides are going to expand that little safety speech of theirs.

“Thank you, really. I appreciate it. If I hadn’t—”

“Save your breath for the walk,” Pyre mutters and fully ignores your outstretched hand, skirting around you in a wide arch so he won’t risk touching you accidentally. He doesn’t get more than a few paces away though before he’s turning to look at you over his shoulder. “And keep up. If the fog decides to deposit you somewhere else, there aren’t many other helpful shifters wandering about the area.” He saunters off ahead, trusting you to make your own way, but the fur on his tail doesn’t lay flat until you’re jogging to catch up with him.

“Are there dangerous shifters then?” You risk asking, thankful for your heavy coat and the weight of your own pack. Bristle and Rhim hadn’t mentioned any shifters in the area at all, but then they also hadn’t told any of you that the residual magic might move you without your knowledge. Perhaps they would have, if you’d been allowed to stick around, but it feels like a glaring oversight, now that you’re all the way out here. Maybe this is why they make everyone sign the waiver. Not because of some idiotic, siren-like voices, but because of magical fog.

Pyre’s ears twitch, visible for only a split second through his hair. “Don’t wander off,” is all he chooses to add before he falls silent, doing his best to stay several steps ahead of you to discourage speech.

“That’s encouraging,” you mutter, and his ears twitch again, but he doesn’t respond. The walk to the Slavering is going to feel like a very long one from the looks of it, and it isn’t just because everything looks much the same no matter which way you turn. You shove your hands deep in your coat pockets, watching the middle of Pyre’s back, and do your best not to unconsciously search for the lost token. You already know your pockets are still empty.

————-　🦊　————-

Despite Pyre’s desire for absolute silence, he mutters about things without thinking. He comments quietly on a hare speeding away when a noise startles you. He grabs up handfuls of wild berries off of the scrubby bushes you pass, promptly dropping any that are too spoiled to be edible. He flicks some of them away with soft, but mocking farewells until he recalls that you’re not far behind him, listening to everything he says. Pyre’s threadbare shoulders always rise with embarrassment, but after the third time it happens and he remembers you’re there, he sighs, shaking off his chagrin. He pauses just long enough to grab your arm and slap some of the berries into your open palm, doing his best not to meet your eyes.

When he speaks, he keeps his eyes on your fingers, touch careful and tense. “Eat those if you’re feeling peckish, or save them for this evening and you can boil them down into tea. Don’t dive into any of your stores if you can until sometime tomorrow.”

“What about you?” You ask, noticing that he’s barely kept any at all for himself. A berry or two slips away, rolling off of your hand and dropping to the ground.

Pyre arches a brow, closing your hand around the berries so no more can fall before he takes a step back. “I’ll be hunting as soon as I leave you by the river. I’m more than well equipped to look after myself out here. A few berries won’t make much of a difference.”

“Is this a regular thing for you then? Coming out here to the tundra once a month for shifting?”

“For the winter,” Pyre corrects in a sour tone, and then turns back to his chosen path again. “Coming out to the tundra isn’t a regular thing for you though, is it? Or was it just the magic that left you so frightened?”

The berries he’s given you are small and gleaming red, and you don’t much care for his continued irritable attitude. You pop three into your mouth while you ignore him, expecting it to be, at the worst, bitter. Instead it’s dry. You make a noise of distaste, which makes Pyre glance back again. He stops, confused for all of two seconds before his eyes widen and he chokes on his laugh. The sour twist of your mouth is clue enough. “Definitely not a regular traveling spot,” he states. “Unfamiliar with bearberries?”

“I hope that isn’t what they taste like when they’re boiled,” you mumble, doing your best to refrain from scrubbing at your tongue. “And no, the tundra isn’t really a prime vacation spot for me or most anyone else. The draw of lingering, tangible magic is a little too much for some people to ignore though. Maybe not everyone, but some of us.”

Pyre hums, tail raising when he hops over a strange looking crack in the earth. “Feeling a call?” He asks, voice far too even to be pleasant.

That’s a personal question in most places, and Pyre has already quietly mocked your interest in magic once. He does seem the type to poke at uncomfortable topics though, to try and get a rise out of someone. His tail is still bristled out as well, quietly hinting that he’s not in a pleasant mood. “Is that why you come out here during the winter? I don’t hear much about other shifters vanishing for an entire season, fox or not.”

“The only call I’ll ever feel is the one to shift,” he grumps, but he does smack his lips and slow down for a moment, letting you keep pace. “I make bad decisions,” Pyre finally adds, as if that clarifies anything at all.

“All the time? Or-”

“Smartass.”

“That wasn’t even hard, are you really going to fault me for that one?” You wait, patiently, but no answer is forthcoming, and then he rushes forward a few steps ahead. “I’ll take that as a yes?” You call out, but Pyre just keeps walking, like he’s reached the end of his tolerance for speaking politely with another living being. “Well, that was nice while it lasted,” you mumble, frowning when you spot his shaking shoulders. He’s—he’s laughing. Maybe he isn’t suffering from lack of manners entirely, but instead has been too long out of practice.

“Not all the time,” Pyre calls back when he trusts his rasp of a voice not to betray his amusement. “Just a fourth of it.”

For the season, he’d said. You snort and don’t even try to hold back a smile when Pyre tilts his head to look at you. His head immediately snaps forward and he shakes it, as if to ward off an unhappy thought. He’s grumpy because... he’s awkward and shy? The last of your fear, still borne aloft by the way he’s spoken thus far, by his quiet mutter of akin to murder eases immeasurably. You follow after him now in less strained silence, a bit more confident now that you’ll make it back to the tour group in one piece.

————-　🦊　————-

Your confidence lasts until early evening, when visibility is becoming a huge issue for you. No matter how well you might see in the dark, the fog feels like it’s pressing in on you from all sides. Pyre hasn’t slowed by much, but then you see the pale, rapid swish of his tail, moving so fast it looks for a moment like he has more and then you recall that he’s a shifter. His eyesight, as well as his sense of smell, are by far better than your own. He might be able to keep going well into the night, but—You grunt, catching your toe on a white rock the height of your ankle. Before you can fall, or do much more than exclaim in quiet pain, Pyre has his hands on your shoulders, keeping you up and steady.

“It’s dark,” he says quietly, by way of apology. “We’ll stop for the night just up ahead. Can you make it?”

“Without tripping over rocks or falling on my face, you mean?” You breathe in, and promptly swallow. He smells a bit like fresh campfire smoke and the faint citrusy scent of the bearberries and he’s entirely too close. You don’t necessarily want him to move away though, not with the darkness growing thick around you. “Probably not,” you admit quietly.

Pyre hums, breathing in slowly, and the sound is terribly intimate. “...you need a hand?”

“Unless you’d rather I trip and skin my knees and palms in the dark? Yes.”

“Humans,” Pyre says, amused, and clucks his tongue as he takes hold of your wrist, turning away to continue on and pull you after him. He only pauses when you try to tug your hand away.

“You can hold my hand instead of towing me along like a kid at the fair. I don’t even have sticky fingers.” You turn your hand, thankful when he lets you adjust his hold. His fingernails, thicker due to his shifting nature, dig a little too hard into the side of your hand before he reflexes his grip.

He pauses, tense, even though his palm is a soothing warmth against yours. “Not sticky,” he finally agrees. Pyre hesitates, like he wants to say more, but a low, strange voice calls out something from far off. As soon as you hear it, the voice has it’s hooks in you. Your entire body grows tense, hair prickling, listening as hard as you can to try to make out the words. “No,” Pyre says in a low growl, trying to interrupt your concentration. He’s only barely louder than the voice. “Don’t listen. It’s all too easy to-”

“That sounds like—”

“It sounds like nothing that matters. Even if you know the voice, it doesn’t matter.” Pyre grunts when you turn your head, trying to follow the fading voice with your ear alone. He rips his hand out of yours so he can take hold of your face, pulling you close until you’re nearly nose to nose with him, thumbs on your cheekbones, fingernails scratching gently behind your ears. “Right now, the only thing that matters is making camp for the night. We’re heading this way and you are not going to go looking for that voice in the dark.”

You suck down a fierce breath, closing your eyes as the last of the echoing voice fades away. As soon as it’s gone, your shoulders start to slump, and you feel strangely hollow. “That is why they make us sign that waiver?” You ask, opening your eyes to find Pyre still terribly close, his hands still cradling your face.

For a moment, he lingers, breath warm against your lips, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening the longer he stares at you up close. The bright copper of his eyes is muted in the darkness, but the white in his hair, in his eyebrows, stands out brilliantly, and you think there might be more of it now than there was earlier this afternoon. “I knew you’d be a bad decision,” he whispers, and inexplicably, you think he might be about to kiss you. Your heart begins to gallop around your chest, your hands lifting to grasp at his wrists, his own still on your face—and then Pyre pulls away, dragging his nails over your skin. He tangles his fingers with yours and leads you quietly through the dark.

You’re not sure whether you should ask about his other bad decisions again… But you desperately want to.

Putting together the camp is a chilly affair at best. The shelter you help Pyre fumble through in the dark, though of course he has no trouble navigating the process, is little more than a heavy tarp tied securely between two of the tall, white teeth. There isn’t much wind, but now the mist is heavy enough to dot your eyelashes and bead along your sleeves. You don’t quite believe Pyre when he says he can get a fire going, forcing you to sit next to the small ring of stones he’s gathered. “There’s a copse of trees not far from here,” he explains, tilting his head to your right, though you can’t see anything through the fog, and especially not in the dark. “And I’ll be able to scrounge up enough for a fire.”

You want to ask him if he’ll be able to find his way back to you. If he thinks you’ll be safe sitting here on your own, especially after the voice from earlier. Voicing your concerns feels a bit too much like an invitation for bad luck though, and you still don't know Pyre very well. He might be helping you out of the goodness of his heart, but he's already dubbed you a bad decision. You're not sure you want to push things. “Won’t the wood be wet?” You ask instead, chafing your hands together to stir up a little bit of heat.

“No fear of shifters,” Pyre scoffs, straightening up and pulling his bag off of his back. “No screaming at strangers when you're lost in the foggy tundra, but you're worried about damp firewood?" You scowl, knowing full well he can see your expression. That surprises a rough sounding laugh out of him. "I may choose to spend my winter as a fox, but that doesn't mean I don't turn back into a man when spring comes." Pyre brandishes a small box, a tin filled with what sounds like matches. He rattles them about for emphasis. “Charmed matches are a necessity out here, not optional. Even if the wood is damp, they’ll catch well enough to last us the night.”

Charmed matches aren’t exactly common. A package of them, when used only in dire situations, should last someone a score of years at least, and as the spells to make them are some of the few guarantees of still working magic… They cost a pretty penny. “...should you be wasting them on me when I’m supposed to find the tour guides tomorrow?”

Pyre shakes the box at you, silently insisting you take it from his hand. When you take it from him, there’s more hair, more fur on his fingers than there was earlier in the day. You wonder if it’s a conscious change to help stave off the chill, or if it’s simply too close to when he shifts. “We need some way to boil a bit of water for bearberry tea, don’t we? Unless you’d rather eat them plain.” He sounds like he’s smiling, but the dark is getting more oppressive and you can’t see it. Pyre’s tone turns a little more serious, a little more apologetic as he continues: “And using them seems to keep away the voices, so yes. As I’ve taken responsibility for your safety—”

“Responsibility,” you murmur, arching a brow, but you can’t exactly disagree.

“—I’ll do exactly as I said. You’ll get to the Slavering, and I’ll even give you a match as a gift. You can make a torch as you head back and the voices should leave you be.”

You don’t shake the tin of them, knowing that they’re valuable, but you stroke your finger over the top, following the raised patterns of letters. “Will they work, even if they’re unlit?”

Pyre waits, and you don’t know whether he’s reluctant to give you an answer or he doesn’t actually know. “Are you worried about me going to grab the firewood?”

Well, it was kind of ridiculous, trying to hide your nervousness from him anyway. You’re lost in the tundra with someone you don’t know. No matter how resilient you are, it’s going to be nerve wracking. “I’ve never felt quite as strange as when I heard that voice, even with you pulling me back from it…” You stop, a frown growing on your lips. “But the voice didn’t do anything to you. You had no problem telling me not to listen to it.”

Pyre crouches, his knees popping, and groans quietly, rubbing at the patch just under his left kneecap. You can see his hands, pale fur the only spot of brightness in the night. “They don’t much affect shifters. We’re…. We’re already rather full of magic ourselves, even if it isn’t the kind one can use by uttering spells or mixing ingredients in a pot. Whatever the reason, the voices don’t seem to like magic. So a box of those matches?” He reaches out to tap on the tin with one long nail. “It should keep you from falling prey for the few moments it will take me to gather wood. I still wouldn’t get up though, then you might risk dropping it.”

You don’t know everything about the tundra, even with what research you did before you came on the trip, and the talk of magic here? It’s still something people want to study. One of the ones that came with a recorder would probably be thrilled to hear this much about the place from… Pyre might not be a year-round local, but he knows quite a bit. If he can hold off his shifting, maybe you’ll ask him to talk to one of them. “I’ll be safe,” you say, extrapolating, “as long as I stay sitting here. You’ll be able to find me again?”

“...I’ll be able to follow your scent, yes,” he admits, like he expects you to be irritated with the thought. Far, far away, another voice echoes, much fainter than the one you’d heard before. It doesn’t sound pained or panicked though, it sounds a bit like—Pyre takes your fingers, almost crushing them around the tin box in your hands. The voice vanishes. “You’ll be safe,” Pyre repeats, and a breeze whisks through the area, catching at his wild grey and white hair.

“Then get the wood,” you say, before you lose your nerve. “I’ll wait.” Pyre’s hand, still curled tightly around your fingers, eases. He brushes his thumb over the valleys between your knuckles and then pulls away.

“A few moments only. I promise,” he whispers, and then his canine-like feet are scuffing through the hard dirt and lichen covered rocks.

As soon as he’s gone, you soothe yourself by running your fingers over the tin of matches, trying to figure out what words are written along the top in fine, curling letters. There are too many loops though and when you do your best to try and focus on it, bringing it up close to your face, all you can see is that places on the tin have been worn down. Whatever it might say, the color on the tin won’t help you figure it out. It feels like only seconds, but another noise echoes in the darkness, your heart jumping back into overdrive. You clutch at the matchbox, but then Pyre is stepping out of the heavy fog, dropping a heaving armful of twisted branches and thick tangles of what looks like weeds.

“Moments, I thought you said! What was that, 30 seconds?” You ask, trying to calm your racing heart.

Pyre laughs. “I think you were just lost in thought, hm? It’s easy to lose track of time in the dark.” He kneels at the ring of rocks, cursing, even though you can’t hear any popping in his limbs this time. “Now, give me the matches and let’s get things a bit warmer, hm?”

You hand them over, and then get to work. You feel more than see Pyre’s surprise when you start picking up the branches and weeds. “I may be human, but I can help do a bit of work. It’s the last I can do after you helping me like this, what with your shifting getting close.”

“Noticed that, did you?” He asks, tin creaking as he opens and closes the lid. You glance over, but other than his pale fur, you can’t make out what he’s actually doing. A second later and he’s striking one of the charmed matches over a rough rock, and then it blazes merrily in a bit of fire smaller than a penny. “I won’t be a danger. I’m old enough to keep my wits. My… I should warn you, my breed of shifting isn’t always so pretty as others though.”

“Is that why you come out here?”

“One of many reasons,” Pyre mutters and holds the match to the wood in the fire pit. The match doesn’t burn down immediately though, or even catch the weeds when he touches it to them. Pyre deposits it carefully in the exact middle of arrangement, planting it almost like a seedling in the wood and weeds. Only after he removes his hand does the match start to spark, and then fire twists open like a blooming flower. It’s gorgeous. You lift your eyes to Pyre, awe clear in your gaze, and then you have to blink. He’s still the older man you saw this afternoon. He still has a mostly human face, but his arms look longer now, and his copper eyes flash strangely in the firelight. He glances at you, and you see that his mouth has grown wider, the edges either curling back towards his cheekbones or… Or his jaws are elongating. “Frightened?” He asks, and then you realize that you’ve been staring.

“Mildly startled,” you correct, refusing to look away. Whether he’s a pretty kind of shifter or not, you can still see him in his eyes and the way he holds himself.

He chuffs, and the noise warms something deep in your chest. “Smartass,” he says, sounding very fond. “I’ll make some of that tea now then, if you’d like it.”

“Bearberry tea,” you muse, reaching in your pocket for the rest of the berries he’d given you. Pyre unearths a small cooking pot from his bag, as well as an earthenware mug, glazed some kind of deep green. He hands you the mug and then holds out the pot, nodding his head when you lift your berry filled hand over it. It takes longer than you would like. Pyre has to mash the berries down and then he surprises you by standing and tugging at the tarp edge of your shelter. Water, mist really, beaded so heavily along the taut plastic that there’s enough to fill the pot near to overflowing. It’s much more than you would have thought, but Pyre seems unsurprised, even though you’ve both been relatively dry since he started building the fire.

“Alright,” you finally say, watching Pyre stir the faintly pink water with a metal spoon from his bag. “You mentioned bad decisions, and I’m not wise enough to leave it well alone. What are all these ‘bad decisions’ that drive you out into the tundra for an entire season? And, I can’t not clarify, were they flings?”

Pyre stares at you, eyes gleaming in the firelight, his too wide jaw falling open due to your blunt questions. When he laughs this time, it’s a sharp bark and more fox-like than human. “Oh, you are one of them. Much more perceptive than many of the others.” He licks his lips, still human-smooth, but his ears have grown longer. They’re peeking out from the sides of his head, poking through his hair now. “Some of them were flings. Some of them were just… A way to stave off loneliness, even if they were unpleasant.”

“And where am I falling on that scale?”

Pyre arches a thicker brow, baring his sharp teeth in a slightly eerie smile. “I wouldn’t be opposed to a fling with someone like you, but your companionship is more than enough if that’s all you want to give.”

You can’t help but laugh. “Then how, exactly, am I a ‘bad decision’? Making friends isn’t a bad thing, is it?”

Pyre’s smile wavers. “No, no it isn’t.” He looks away, into the middle of the fire, where the charmed match is still blazing like a seed of flame. “The bad decision is that my loneliness drives me to go looking in the first place.”

You let a few moments pass in relative silence, puzzling over his words. It sounds more than strange, but you can’t put your finger on why. “What does that mean?” You finally ask, noting the way he’s digging his nails into his thighs.

He looks back at you. “Anyone who wanders out here is an offering, of sorts. To help bear the brunt of winter. The tours… They’re more like a ritual than those guides of yours realize.”

Your head feels strangely empty. Ritual, he’d said. Slowly, you think back to the myths linked to the tundra, to the Mirrored Teeth, to the folktales attached to cities and Serpent Towers. There had been something about bearing the brunt of winter, holding it back from sweeping over the land…

“Your time here will be no more than the three days I promised. You will be taken back to the Slavering, with only this time gone from the memories of others, and I will do nothing but what I promise: to lead you back, if that is all you desire.” Pyre creeps closer, long arms and long fingers bracing himself on the dirt. All it takes is a single stretch and he’s by your side, towering over you in his half shifted form. “The bad decision was that I was given the right to choose without any warning. That I could only claim those I charmed away.”

“You charmed me?” You whisper.

“You heard my voice,” Pyre explains and your heart beats painfully in your chest. He is why people vanish from the tours and come back tired and dirty but… But most of them come back unharmed.

“What happens to those that don’t make it back?” You ask, trying to quell your panic.

Pyre’s shoulders hunch. “Sometimes people react poorly, and they run. Running in the fog is never wise.”

“How am I… How am I supposed to help you keep winter from swallowing the world?”

Pyre barks out another laugh, though he’s grimacing. “Those years I don’t have a companion, winter escapes my hold. It’s much easier to keep in check with help.”

“Helping how?” You ask, voice going brittle.

“Companionship. You’re already bound to the three days,” he says quietly, nodding his head to the pot of slow boiling bearberries on the fire. “You ate three of them. If…. If you choose to help, to spend the winter with me, then you can drink. You’ll be with me through the entire season—”

“Out in the middle of the tundra, with nothing but a tarp and an evening's supply of food?” You ask, getting to your feet. You take a step away from the fire, nervous energy making you move, and then freeze when you hear a far off voice again. You glance down at Pyre, angry and convinced it must be him, but then you recognize it. The voice, low and soft as it echoes strangely through the fog, is you.

“The voices are possibilities only,” Pyre says, talking over the needy sounding moan. It vanishes, like nothing more than smoke on a fast moving breeze. “And I would take you back to my home, I wouldn’t make you wander out here and sleep on the freezing ground!” Pyre starts to get to his feet and then thinks better of it. He stays where he is, looking up at you, holding out a hand. “If you drink, all I require is companionship. Loneliness lets the ice creep further out, but friendship, or, or anger or passion keeps it at bay. With your help I can bind the overflow of ice in the teeth. But if three days is all you’ll allow, then I’ll find another, I promise. You’ll be free of this, and you’ll forget this ever happened.”

You’re out in the middle of the tundra, wreathed in magical fog and standing before a shifter, a… a spirit? A deity? That keeps winter at bay. You did want magic, didn’t you? You ask yourself. You look down to his open hand, brown palm calloused, nails long and sharp, white fox fur growing longer along his arm.

“No one will even notice I’ve been gone?”

“You’ll be lost in the fog for three days, according to them. What life you’ve missed will feel like a blink, but no. They won’t realize you’ll have been gone for the entire winter.” Pyre’s mouth closes, stubbled throat working as he swallows.

Slowly, you sit back down, picking up the glazed green mug and holding it out for Pyre to fill. “The winter then. If we end up hating one another? You have no one to blame but yourself.”

Pyre doesn’t answer, but he watches like a predator after he fills the mug with bearberry tea, copper eyes caught on your lips. You finish half the cup, and what chill lingered in your bones slowly fades away. Carefully, Pyre takes the cup back and downs the rest, long tongue licking stray droplets off of his lips.

————-　🦊　————-

You travel with Pyre for three days before you reach the banks of the Slavering, only when you do, the tour guides aren’t waiting for you. This is where the Slavering begins, the thick snowmelt coming off of the high mountaintops and rolling down through the craggy rocks to make a river. There’s a cave entrance not far from the rapids, covered over with weeds and just large enough for Pyre to stoop over and fit into. You stop at the entrance, with him close behind you, and stare into the far off dark.

“It’s not like a dungeon in there, is it?”

Pyre grumbles, somewhere between indignation and a laugh. “You always know just what to say. No, it’s not like a dungeon. There’s plenty of modern day amenities inside. I’m a shifter, not a beast.”

Cautiously, still not entirely trusting him, you head inside. It’s dark at first, and earthy smelling, just like a cave, but then Pyre strikes another one of his charmed matches and pulls you to the side so he can lead. There’s a lamp up ahead, the frosted glass globe just big enough for Pyre to reach in and set the match. Heat and light seem to roll through the entire area, a locked, wooden door revealing itself to the side of the lamp. The cave floor, still cold and a bit damp, is actually stones, pieced together into what looks like a strange little map. You frown down at the stones, eyes tracing the edges of a single, deep blue vein, wondering why the chips of pale rock surrounding it strike you as strange.

“The Teeth,” you murmur suddenly. “You have a map of the teeth in front of your door?” Some of the spots are much smaller than others, more like a pinprick of pale stone as opposed to some of the hefty chips. If you unfocus your eyes, the map looks like a reflection of the stars.

“Magic,” Pyre explains, though he doesn’t sound pleased with his own answer. “There’s plenty to talk about when it comes to the Teeth, and the voices, just… Let’s go inside. It’s going to start snowing soon.”

When he opens the door, all the lamps inside are lit. Much like Pyre himself, his decor is frayed and worn down. There are heavy furs on the walls, and tapestries too, both simple and grand, but fragile looking. There are furs on some of the furniture as well. There’s a large stone fireplace, with hooks over the mantle made of horn and a set of stone stairs that curve out of sight. There’s no sign of things like phones or televisions, but you feel like you should have expected that. Companionship through a screen probably didn't fulfill the parameters of his… his curse?

That’s something you decide to ask about later. After all, you have the rest of the winter to spend with him, and he explained plenty over the three day trip to the mountain. The teeth are made of contained winter. The larger the teeth are, the more someone helped Pyre through that season. Through friendship, or anger, or passion, they melted the ice and snow. Pyre would take the melt and bind it in magic-made spires, but he couldn’t build on only one. Each spire was the product of a different person, each fling or friend made or fight had melted the snow at different rates. If your help has already begun, then you know some of the snow must have melted already due to your anger over the past few days, but it’s not something you think you can hold onto. Pyre tricked you into the three days, gave you the bearberries and bid you eat if you were hungry. You’d eaten three of them. The rest of the winter though? That you chose yourself. At least for a while, you’re ready to try and enjoy a little bit of the magic, keeping back winter or no.

“It’s not quite past midday,” Pyre says quietly, voice a strange melding of fox and man. “If you’d like food, I will make it for you. If you’d like a rest, I’ll show you to your room.”

“My room?” You ask, only sounding mildly sarcastic.

Pyre narrows those coppery eyes of his. “Sometimes I think you say these things on purpose. Yes. Your room.” He heads for the staircase, his toenails clicking on the stone floor before he reaches the layers of rugs, the soft padding of his feet on them makes you smile. “I would hardly complain if you decided to join me in mine, but even so, you will have your own space.” He tosses his head, earrings catching in his hair and then vanishes up the stairs.

You move at a much more sedate pace, still examining your surroundings. There’s a very old looking table, covered with the remnants of a puzzle that looks to be from forty years ago at least. There’s a rack of old bottles, some of them look like wine, but others are clearly beer, and still others look like glass bottles of soda, the liquid half evaporated. Pyre’s house is going to be a treasure trove of history, of things left behind by others. The winter is going to be very long, you’re certain, but it won’t be forever. All of the people that left these things behind have obviously left and returned to their homes. You turn on your heel, slip your bag off of your shoulders and leave it at the foot of the stairs. You can come back for it later.

The lamps, all seemingly lit from that single charmed match, spiral up the staircase. There aren’t any doors that open up off the sides, only a hallway at the very top and three open doors leading to the far end. The first one you pass is a bathroom, with a large tub carved out of the stone of the mountain. There are elderly looking cupboards in there, and what looks like a wood burning stove, though it’s empty. The toilet, you assume, is behind the drawscreen, and when you peek your head farther in, there’s also a shining, copper mirror hanging on the wall. The second room is where Pyre is, hands fussing over the thick curtains around the bed. There’s a fireplace against the wall, and a nightstand next to the bed, and more furs draped over a chair made of wood and horn in the corner. There’s a worn desk, obviously hand-made by someone unskilled, but a beautiful bookcase next to it, filled with books in various states of wear. Some of the spines are cracked, but others still are pristine. To the right of the bed, there’s a single paned window. Snow is coating the sill outside, thick flurries weighing down the weeds that are growing in the cracked stone.

Despite the magic, despite the voices and his promise, it still hadn’t felt quite so real, wandering through the tundra with him. He’d said the snow would be coming down soon though.

“It’s lovely,” you answer, honestly, even if not everything is to your taste. It almost makes you want to laugh though, because it definitely looks like it’s somewhere removed from the normal world, some kind of strange mish-mash of time periods all pressed into a two story place. You wonder, without Pyre, would anyone ever find this place?

“Parts of it,” Pyre says, strange looking hands pausing in their tying of the curtains. He’s looking at the headboard, you realize. There’s a faint gouge in the dark wood, but it doesn’t look like it was from Pyre. It looks like a very human scratch. Warmth crawls over the back of your neck, though you’re not sure whether it’s embarrassment or eagerness. You’d been feeling a healthy dose of attraction with Pyre before he told you about everything, and it had taken a bit to sort through your feelings on the matter, even with you making the final choice to come here. You still don’t know how things will continue, but for now…

“Let me see what I can do to help make a few more lovely memories then,” you say suddenly. Heat is pulsing through you now, warming your cheeks and the tips of your ears and zinging down along your spine. Pyre’s head snaps to the side to find your hands working slowly at your clothes. He doesn’t move any further, doesn’t even tip back his head, just stares at you over the crest of his shoulder, pupils swallowing down the copper of his irises.

“If—you don’t have to do anything,” he insists, and his tail swishes, slowly, just the once. It doesn’t bristle out as it had when you’d first spotted him.

Your coat drops to the floor, and his eyes follow it. “I know. We were flirting though, before you told me about all of this, and I still…” You glance away, only for your eyes to snap back to Pyre as he drags his patched suit jacket off of his shoulders.

He slows when he realizes you’re watching, but doesn’t stop. A slow grin pulls at the corners of his wide mouth. “You still want to feel magic?” He taunts, and laughs when you roll your eyes. He stops laughing when the rest of your clothes hit the floor, the hint of a whine escaping him when you take a step closer, shivering when you feel the temperature of the stone on your bare feet. “My room,” Pyre says roughly, though you can’t tear your eyes away from him. He’s still a wonderfully strange mix of man and fox. His face is still humanoid, with lips and stubbled cheeks, and so is the shape of his shoulders through his holey t-shirt. There’s soft curls of hair peeking out of the stretched neck of his shirt, but along the backs of his arms it looks more like fur and his feet are still wholly canine. His tails, tails plural, are starting to grow longer too, and you recall the way he’d seemed to coalesce into one person when the fog had rolled back.

Pyre crosses the room, hesitating before he places his hands on your shoulders, thumbnails scratching gently at your bare skin. The chill of the room had been seeping into you, but at his touch, warmth chases it all away. When you slide your hands up his chest, Pyre’s eyes fall closed, gray lashes bright against his skin. “M’ room,” he repeats again, but pulls you into a kiss as he tows you out the door. There’s no more time for examining the hallway or the knick-knacks he might be keeping in his own space. There’s his lips and his stubble scratching at your skin and his hands splayed over the back of your neck and the base of your spine. He coaxes you into his room with deep, slow kisses that leave your head spinning, whispering things that make your pulse speed. “Want, want the smell of you on my sheets,” he says against your neck, dragging sharp teeth carefully over your throat. He growls when your hands dip to undo his trousers, your thumb following the trail of hair that vanishes beneath his underwear. “If this is, if it’s—”

“I agreed to the winter,” you remind him and then he’s turning you and letting you fall back onto his bed. You have a moment to register soft fur, and crocheted blankets, and comforters too, before Pyre is pulling his shirt off and tossing it across the room. He wrestles with the rest of his clothes, leaving you another moment to admire him. The hair on his chest and trailing down his abdomen looks human, much coarser than the fur on his arms and below his knees. Between his legs is a thick cock, hard and beginning to leak, with a small bulge near the base of him, and then your gaze is drawn back up as he crawls onto the bed, moving much slower than he had in the hall. He doesn’t press, doesn’t rush, just leans his body over yours to kiss you again, careful with his teeth. He groans when you reach up and tug at his braid, pulling the rough tie away and tossing it to the side. You comb your fingers through his hair, tangling your fingers in it to keep him kissing you and tense when his cock slides over your thigh, hot and hard and enough to make you buck up, already seeking friction. Pyre kisses you until you’re breathless, leaving you sucking at your own lips and trying to calm yourself as he urges you further up the bed, back to a veritable nest of pillows.

He isn’t slow when he settles himself between your legs, hands curling around your thighs and pushing them carefully back towards your chest. He isn’t slow when he drags his tongue over you, hot and slick and slightly rough. He’s careful as he can be with his teeth, but there are a few pinches that make you gasp and tremble. He laves his tongue over them, soothing the sting, but his nails are pressing hard into your skin and you’re fairly certain you’re going to bruise, simply from the continued pressure. Pyre is noisy too, whining and groaning as he tastes you, as you do your best to rock yourself against his tongue, hand tugging at his hair while he sucks and eats. The ache of orgasm, painful-but-sweet, is starting to build, starting to make you tense everytime he opens his jaw, teeth dragging over tender skin, leaving you wet and shuddering. He huffs when you whimper, and pulls away before you can come, copper eyes as bright as flame when he moves to sit back against his headboard. The loss of him feels sudden, and the cold is sharp without his warmth against you.

“That was on purpose,” you murmur. Pyre arches a brow, trying to keep from smiling when you scowl at his crooking finger. You still get up, on shaking knees and gasp when he tugs you over and onto his lap, your back against his chest, cock slick and sticky against your ass.

“I want to feel everything when you shake apart,” he murmurs, hand splaying over your sternum as he helps you arrange your legs. By the time you’re straddling his thighs, his fingertips are dipping into the hollow of your throat and his cock is rutting against your thigh and every part of you is on edge, desperate for more. You’d been so close. Pyre licks at the side of your throat, pressing his hand harder against your chest to keep your back still. “Lift your hips,” he urges, and takes his cock in hand, dragging the head over you as you do your best to listen. Like fitting a key into a lock, Pyre finds the correct angle, breathing raggedly as you press yourself down. As soon as you’ve taken enough of him, he lets go of himself and then presses on the top of your thighs, making you gasp out his name as you take him in deeper. He eases off after a moment, letting you adjust, letting you wriggle and groans out your name roughly as you do your best to ride him.

You think for a moment about saying something, about teasing him or trying to rile him up, but it’s all you can do to keep up what rhythm you have, heart beating terribly fast against the hand he has on your chest. He lets you move, lets you reach back and clutch at the messy locks of his hair, his breath warm against your throat and the top of your shoulder and then Pyre pushes roughly against your thigh again, thrusting up until his knot is grinding against you. “Fuck, fuck, Pyre, that—”

“Too much?” He asks, waiting while you shake, trying to steady your breath. You’re probably going to ache later, probably won’t want to do much but doze or take a bath in that massive stone tub, but right now? Right now you want to be greedy.

“More,” you get out and Pyre laughs, that eerie, fox-like noise echoing in your ear as he teases you with the knot, pressing you down and then pulling back his hips. Pillows cascade off the edges of the bed, spilling over the floor. You start squeezing, doing your best to drive him over the edge, so sensitive it almost hurts. “Please,” you whisper and then you’re too busy for speech. His knot stretches you and his hand dips between your thighs, stroking and his fingers press into the base of your throat. He’s not choking you, but he’s starting to squeeze and then you’re coming. Pleasure washes over you in a fierce, pulsing ache that shoots down to your toes and fountains back up your body. You shout out his name and shake in his arms, eyes falling closed as his knot expands, locking you in place. Your eyes flutter open and closed and drift to a steamed up window, much like the one in your own room. Weeds are still poking up through the cracks, but now it’s not snowing outside, it’s raining.

Pyre turns his nose to the space behind your ear, breathing deep, his own limbs growing loose. “The winter might well be softer this year,” Pyre mumbles, voice raspy, his hand smoothing down your sternum and over your hips. “And I have you to thank for that.”

“We still have the rest of the winter ahead of us,” you remind him, but you’re too sleepy to argue with him any further. Whether you end up enjoying the rest of your time here, you do know one thing: Passion will definitely be a huge part of fulfilling your bargain for the winter.

————-　🦊　————-

[dorimena]

𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖌𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖓𝖊𝖘𝖘

I should've been writing Bakugou’s late birthday post, but after watching the new episode a few days ago, I couldn’t help but finally confirm to myself that yes, I have a growing liking towards Kuroiro and couldn’t help myself. So, enjoy?

𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔱𝔢𝔯; kuroiro shihei

𝔴𝔬𝔯𝔡 𝔠𝔬𝔲𝔫𝔱; 2.6

𝔴𝔞𝔯𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰; afab!reader, handjob, masturbation, kuroiro’s a voyeur for you, subby!character

𝔬𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔞𝔤𝔰; sex toys mentioned, aged up character; Kuroiro is 18

𝔰𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔬𝔱𝔢; there isn’t much Kuroiro content, as far as I managed to find here, less if it’s smut. So, here we go, hopefully I make more. I still have much to learn on how to probably correctly portray him, in other words I feel like he’s a bit ooc.

He likes to hide in the shadows, whether as a harmless prank, to travel from one place to another, but it’s mostly to just easily sneak into your dorm room at night.

Right now, though, he’s still lurking in the shadows of your room, just watching you study at such an ungodly hour, just because you were upset with him accidentally scaring you the other day. He didn’t mean to, but the damage had been done. At least you didn’t leave your dorm room light on to stop him, just sitting there, all pretty, with the desk lamp.

He has no plans leaving the comfort of the shadows yet, not with how it helps not only hide his cute, creepy smile, but to not show off how hard he is. And for what?

All because you’re wearing the shortest shorts you could ever own, and he loves how your legs look with them on; so much longer, increasing how enticing and inviting they look, whether for him to trace words of dramatized affection or leave bite marks before he pleases you to sleep.

Then again, he’s not here to woo you with poetry; he’s here to apologize, for maybe the 6th time this week, and maybe convince you to cuddle on your bed before he’d have to sneak back to his room. After all, he has been leaving you small trinkets and gifts all this time since the incident, and you’ve never really uninvited him over, simply barely acknowledging him before you whisper ‘goodnight’, as if you’d think he’d never hear.

It kind of hurt, but he couldn’t blame you, and maybe it’s time he stops trying to scare you as a form to rile you up into some ‘fun’. There are other ways, right? He can come up with another scheme to make you angry enough to maybe choke him harder, scratch him harder, maybe slap him harder?

“Y/n~” He calls out your name as melodically as possible, as if trying to act like a siren to lure you here into the darkest corner of your room. All he sees, though, is you shuddering before hunching yourself more over your desk.

You only move your head in acknowledgment, humming softly as you turn a page in your book to continue highlighting. This makes him frown, racking his brain for any remark to make you look over here, look over at him. Please.

“My beloved, look at me?” He calls again, using the pet name you enjoy hearing; but you still don’t look over.

So, being the little shit he can be, he calls you out by something he rarely does, unless he’s meticulously teasing you for something in return. A certain name he knew made you flattered but embarrassed.

“Hot stuff, look at me.”

And that has you turning around to look at his favorite corner, narrowing your eyes to catch the sight of his white eyes and teeth. To many, this would make them shit themselves, but for you, it angers you just how proud he looks.

“What did you say?”

There it is, now you’re angry and riled up. And he shudders, feeling tremors going up his body until it reaches his head. He peeks his head out, his white hair finally being seen as he hums.

“Hot stuff, but this time, come here?”

You stand, not before grumpily placing your highlighter in between the pages and pushing your chair quite the distance from your desk. Walking towards him, you cross your arms as you stand intimidatingly close, staring at him as you quietly wait for whatever poem he has prepared this time.

You’ve heard them all, wondering if he knew how you’d stop whatever you were doing to listen closely what he whispers, murmurs, sings out.

But instead, Kuroiro leaves from the shadows and pulls you into a tight hug, a hand resting on your head as he murmurs how sorry he is, how he’s come to reflect his past actions from the incident and previous ones, finally taking into consideration your feelings and possible thoughts. But not without telling you how he’ll compromise his pranks with you as it spices up your relationship from the others in the dorm. He leaves out the part about riling you up until you choke him during sex.

Even if his voice sounds so quiet, so calming in your ear, you can’t help but shift a bit in his embrace until he suddenly goes quiet, a simple hitch of his breath grabbing your attention. What happened?

“Shi?” You ask, looking at him. Whatever anger was in your system quickly drained, in fear you might’ve accidentally hurt him. And what sucks about his quirk is that you can’t ever tell when he’s blushing, but only guess with how his eyes and mouth look.

You feel him grind back- wait, what?

Somehow looking down, you come to see a tent growing in his white sweatpants, poking at your leg.

“How… curious.” You hum, placing your hands on his hips to keep him still.

“Is this new or did you come with this? Is this why you’re apologizing so directly?”

He stutters, his embrace tightening as he subtly tries pressing himself harder against you. He doesn’t deny what you’re telling him, but he also doesn’t confess it’s the truth.

You’re giggling, and even though it’s cute, like, really-cute-he-can’t-wait-to-smother-you-in-kisses, he groans at your slight teasing.

“My beloved. Don’t laugh at my predicament! I cannot help but give way to the temptation placed in front of me.”

Oh, how lovely. But he has a point. You did put on these shorts to simply rile him out of the dark instead of lurk in and around it, but clearly you were still lured in by his, uh, interesting choice of nickname.

“Why’d you call me hot stuff?”

“To get your attention, which is apparently clear to me, it very much worked.”

“You wanted my attention to deal with you or your friend?”

“Both.” Humor sounds in his voice upon your question, pressing his forehead on your shoulder as he joins in on you staring at, well, his erection.

“Well,” you start, startling him as you push him against the wall, “do you want me to talk dirty or speak Shakespearean?”

“Oh, for the love of- mmnh~”

Now, he’s not… much of a sub, not really. But he compromises so well, so nicely, that even if he is a sly motherfucker, he can also somehow weave his agreement in something through his words. Or actions, like now. You’re in command, you can do as you please, he owes it to you. Either way, he’ll still be able to ask you about choking him.

But your thigh rubbing up and down so teasingly against his crotch? Not what he expected. Since when do you start slow?

But you’re starting with that for now, wanting to milk out what you could of his sounds, his twitches, his reactions. You love it when he shivers.

“Stop teasing.” Kuroiro breathes out, letting go of the hug as his arms fall against the wall, his back and head creating a soft thud as he stares at your head. You haven’t looked up yet, but better for him. He doesn’t… want to look too creepy now, not with how he’s blending so well with the dark..

“I thought I could do what I want?”

“Yes, but- hah~ Stop that!”

“Stop what? This?”

“Interrupting me- ah fuck.”

You keep pressing yourself harder and harder against him, the speed never-changing, but it’s enough for him to already let out such airy moans and small groans. His hips are slowly lowering themselves to keep adding more pressure, moving them subtly to fasten the speed. This doesn’t skip your attention.

“You’re this turned on?”

“Can’t help it.” A soft groan leaves him as he grinds down a certain way, enough to make his knees feel a little weaker. “Needed you, days ago. Couldn’t…”

Oh? He’s embarrassed?

“Couldn’t what?”

“... make myself cum- hnn.”

You giggle again, the sound making him lay his palms flat on the wall in case he’d need to escape something embarrassing. But you know better than to tease him verbally, not wanting to make him become too shy that he’ll ignore you, whether or not you’re his lover now. He’s always been and will be such a shy boy, yet a sneaky bitch. Such duality.

You stop moving your leg and hold him as still as possible, lifting up your head to look him in the eyes. He doesn’t look or shy away.

“You’re cute, you know that? You couldn’t look me in the eyes before we dated, and now you have the audacity to come every night asking for forgiveness, but for what? Truly because you miss me, or just to get your dick wet and satisfied?”

You’re waiting for an answer, your hands diligently moving to pull down his pants slowly.

“I… I missed you, my beloved. I felt incredibly lonely. Even the moonlight that’d enter my room wouldn’t sing me the same song your humming would, or reflect such beauty you seem to radia- holy shit.”

It took what you had of self-control to not laugh: such words being interrupted by such a vulgar phrase. Good thing he’s not heavily religious, or that Ibara was around. She sometimes… worries you, with her affinity with religion.

Your hand is fondling about with his brief-clad dick, making sure the fabric seeps out the precum you could feel, but sadly not see. For some, this could be a turn off, not being able to see a dick; but for you, it just adds to the mystery, adds with how sexy you could even see Kuroiro be.

There’s no more words exchanged, not with how you’re enjoying the feeling of his hips pushing themselves to make him feel more of your hand and thigh, have you do something to add more to his pleasure. His white sweatpants are hanging around his thighs by now, his underwear soon enough being pulled down enough to follow.

A huff of ‘hurry’ leaves his mouth, leaving you confused about what the hurry is about? What happened to being patient? Or is he seriously so hung up with not being able to cum this week that he just needs to? Wait, that's actually hot.

Nodding your head, you smile up at him as one of your hands wraps itself around him and the other pressing its palm to the tip of his dick.

“I’ll be quick, just hold on, yeah?”

Nodding, his eyes immediately close when you squeeze him, your palm slowly figuring out what motion would make him moan faster.

When he moans your name out loud with the circular motion, you press a kiss on his lips before doing it again, and again, and again. Faster every time, spreading his precum around while your other hand tries to pick up into a steady pace without messing up the rhythm.

Kuroiro’s using the back of his hand to keep himself from whimpering out, moaning, huffing and groaning but not wanting to embarrass himself further with such a weak-like noise. But seeing him struggle with that issue is enough to let it go, pressing your knee between his legs and against the wall to keep yourself balanced.

Faster, faster, faster. Your hands seem to keep moving impossibly faster as the room slowly fills with wet sounds, soft thumps of his hips helping place more rhythm.

He hasn’t opened his eyes yet, keeping them shut even if he feels like watching what you’re even doing with him, to him.

But instead, with his eyes closed, his brain decided to bring up what he saw a few days ago:

You didn’t even notice he snuck into your room, or bothered turning off your desk lamp as you lay shamelessly on your bed, pussy out for him to watch as you work a black dildo in you and your other hand placing a small vibrator on your clit.

And you were whining out his name so shamelessly, as if you knew he was watching. (And you did.) Again, you were fucking yourself with a black dildo, just as black as him. And that should’ve been enough for him to maybe relieve himself right then and there, or even beg for forgiveness as you grew closer and closer to your own orgasm. Fuck him, not a dildo! Or let him fuck you while you choke his dirty talk out of his throat!

Instead, Kuroiro quickly left and travelled back to his room, throwing himself on his bed as he almost ripped his pants and underwear off, fucking himself in his hands as he tries to convince himself that he’s fucking you, and even with a precum covered hand, he tried recreating how you usually choke him, claw at him, scratch him.

And he would very much like to fuck you now, but with how you’re touching him, the way your palm is grinding itself incredibly fast around his tip and your other hand furiously jacking him off, he thinks it’s not worth the idea yet. Not when he knows you’re forgiving him, somehow.

He’s about to cum anyways.

He’s trying to grab the wall, as if the darkness would be something he could grab onto like a bedsheet to keep him still, but it does nothing, just make his hands ‘melt’ into it.

His hips are chasing after your hands yet pulling itself away as his knees try not to knock into each other. His chest is rising and falling rapidly, soft sighs leaving with a small moan as an accessory.

And his eyes? He finally opens them, looking from the ceiling to then catch you staring up at him with your own smile, making his reminiscent one fade away as a whole new wave of arousal travels up his body.

Shuddering harshly, he feels his eyes cross a bit as a repeat of his earlier flashback plays, and plays, and plays. The sounds, the scene, the smell of your arousal-

“Y/n- I ahh think- close?”

“Sorry, didn’t understand that. You’re close?”

He just nods rapidly, blinking as he tries to keep his eyes opened to make eye contact, because for him, it’s sexy, it’s intimate, it’s reassuring.

He hears someone letting out weak whimpers, but he thought it was you, until he lets out a louder one and startles himself.

“Again, Shihei, again.” You moan out, feeling your underwear stick itself more to your cunt.

And if your moan of his name wasn’t enough to make him whimper your name back, he’s sure your sweet, sultry encouragement is enough to make his eyes cross once again, forcing him to close his eyes as his hungry hips just downright try fucking your hands without any shame.

He’s grunting how close he is, moans straining in his throat before being caught up in an intake of air, his whole body entering a strong tremor before small yet growing waves of them make him shiver. Without him realizing, his body’s slowly ‘melting’ into the dark, sinking into it as he groans out how he’s cumming.

You watch, taking your hands away from his dick as he spurts thin trails onto the floor, some onto his lowered sweatpants. But even once he’s done, his dick is still hard and twitching.

“What?” He’s confused. He’s not supposed to stay hard. You’ve already made him cum, but why does he feel so unsatisfied?

“M-my beloved?” He whispers, suddenly realizing how he’s more into the walls than pressing against them. Taking himself out of the dark and leaning back against the wall, he brings a hand to your face just as you grin wickedly.

“I think I ruined your orgasm.”

Well shit. Now what, you’re gonna try overstimulating him now? Well, with the way you're going on your knees and bringing him into your mouth, enough to make him wince yet moan, he’s pretty sure tonight he won’t get to fuck you.

[ofcloudsandstars]

April Magical Forecast

Welcome to April! This month seems to bring many days full of exciting transits, high energy aspects and a few aspects that really want us to heal and rethink how we exert our energy or seek control/submit to control and how to live more in balance and relinquish control on things that may not be so worth it. A lot of days have little to no transits just encouraging us to charge ahead, however on the days with notable transits we are tasked to heal and repair. Starting from the previous full moon in Libra which asked us to look at our relationships to others or our values and heal, we are lead into a new moon in Aries which wants us to start off the first lunar cycle of the zodiac year with self healing and reflection which will lead up to a super full moon at the end of the month which is has themes on power and restriction and our own source of empowerment. If you see the solar celebrations as a greater parallel to the lunar cycles, Spring Equinox and Aries season is similar to the first quarter moon phase where it is all about examining obstacles, planning strategies and facing challenges with courage. The April side of Aries season is about us finding strategy through healing and self examination where as Taurus season is when we make a solid commitment and charge ahead with our plans.

Week 1

1 - ☾♐ Moon enters Sagittarius

The first day of April starts off with the moon entering Sagittarius! There are no other notable transits today. When the moon is in Sagittarius we are feeling more optimistic and light hearted. This transit is good for taking time to enjoy yourself, socialize, working on expanding projects, channeling luck and prosperity and giving blessings.

2 - ☾♐ Disseminating Moon | Moon trine Sun Mercury in Pisces sextiles Pluto in Capricorn

Today may feel very reflective with the Disseminating moon trining the Sun in Aries and Mercury sextiling Pluto. The Disseminating moon already creates a theme of reflection of our progress during this lunar cycle. The Mercury x Pluto sextile adds depth and intensity to our thinking and conversations allowing our minds to penetrate deeper in our minds and others secrets. It's a good time for studying and research, uncovering the truth and shadow work as we may be able to understand the deeper hidden nature of ours and others motives clearer.

3 - ☾♑ Moon enters Capricorn

Today the moon enters Capricorn. There are no other notable transits so it will feel like a calmer day energetically. When the moon is in Capricorn it's a great time to get organized, tackle our responsibilities and to do lists, practice ancestral magic, mineral based magic (crystals, earth and metals), strengthening wards and boundaries.

_____________________

Week2

4 - ☾♑ Last Quarter Moon in Capricorn Mercury enters Aries

Mercury joins the Sun and Venus in Aries today bringing our mental focus to this fiery excitable energy. Our minds may be more focused on creating plans for quick action other than mulling things over. Communication becomes more candid and new ideas are more rampant. Though its an excitable time for new creations and charging forward, this placement is not too concerned with details and can make us dismissive to the fine lines of things which can end up in a lot of miscommunication and disharmony. As long as we are self aware we will have the mental drive to power through! This will be harmonious with the Last Quarter Moon's energy if we have any projects or goals this cycle to wrap up. We will reflect on our current obstacles with new insight and come up with new ideas to bring them to completion. Though Last Quarter Moon is great for reflection and meditation, with Mercury in Aries we may experience more excitable monkey mindedness than usual making meditation more challenging. Exercising reflection could come easier if we practice stream-of-conscious writing instead.

5 - ☾♒ Moon enters Aquarius

There are no notable transits today other than the Moon entering Aquarius. When the moon is in Aquarius it's a good time to try new things, expand our perspective, bring positive change our way, work with technology and experiment with storm and techno magic.

6 - ☾♒ Balsamic Moon | Moon Sextile Sun Venus in Aries trines Mars in Gemini

It will be an excitable day for socializing and dating with Venus trining Mars! This beneficial aspect brings balance to the loving harmonious sides of relationships to excitable physical interactions making it a great day for adventures with friends or exploring our sexuality with lovers. You can go after your desires, opportunities or even people you admire without coming on too strong as this energy brings balance to these areas. This energy is also fantastic for creative projects and our creativity will be stimulated. As the moon is waning, usually the Balsamic phase is great for clearing, cleansing and wrapping up projects before the new moon, however you can channel this energy towards your projects or adding some redecoration or beautiful pieces to your space. Creating something of beauty will give you much enjoyment and satisfaction.

There are some restrictions being lifted here (London) so it could be a good day to hang out in the park and catch up with a friend, however if you are in a safe environment where lockdown is over then it's a great day to catch up with people and have fun or meet a lover! (Attracting a new lover isn't a good time as the moon is waning but its ok for hookups).

7 - ☾♓ Moon enters Pisces

There are no notable transits today other than the Moon entering Pisces. However this energy is great to continue whatever you have been working on the previous day since the moon in Pisces can help elevate our creativity. When the moon is in Pisces it's a good time to be creative, artistic, work on art and water based magic, divining and dream oracling.

8 - ☾♓

There are no notable transits today other than the moon continuing it's transit in Pisces.

9 - ☾♓ Mercury conjunct Chiron in Aries Mars in Gemini squares Neptune in Pisces

Healing is key (literally ⚷) today as Mercury conjuncts Chiron in Aries. It will be a bit of a challenging day with Mars squaring Neptune to exacerbate things, however if we keep our distance, boundaries and practice self awareness, we should be fine. Chiron is a planet of healing but it shows us what needs to be healed through pain. If we have been overexerting ourselves or ignoring a health condition it can become center in our minds today. If we feel unconfident we can find ourselves stammering in our speech, not communicating clearly, feeling dumb or put down. However this planet has an alchemical power where it can take these areas that need help and show us where we can overcome them and even gain new abilities. If you take the time to do some shadow work and heal this conjunction can help us to learn how to speak freely and express ourselves. It wants to help us to own who we are and build our self esteem. It's ok to make mistakes and not everyone is meant to understand us, but don't let that shut you down. As you continue to express yourself you will be heard. An even higher manifestation of this conjunction is helping others to overcome their own issues with connection and communication. You can even find healing power in words. A great activity for this day would be to journal your thoughts. The Mars and Neptune square can stir up occasions for miscommunication and a fight from no where. This is a transit you would want to do energetic sheilding for and be aware of whos in your space. Especially with negative Neptune transit's it's a good time to protect your information and identity. This square can potentially bring suspicion, deceit, low energy, lies and scandal. Guilt is also possible along with self defeat. With this Chiron and Mercury conjunction this energy can weigh us down completely making us feel helpless. Yet through the low self esteem, paranoia and jealousy you can work through it and heal. Shadow work can help us to reveal any negative emotions we may be harboring and maybe scheduling an appointment with your therapist or someone trustworthy who has the energy to receive you could help. Do not over exert yourself today, Mars square Neptune can also bring us low immune defenses and illness (especially with the Chiron aspect). It's a good day to take it easy, practice self reflection, have boundaries and reach out if needed.

10 - ☾♈ Mercury in Aries sextiles Saturn in Aquarius Venus in Aries sextiles Jupiter in Aquarius Moon enters Aries

Today has two helpful sextiles which can make the day feel productive. With Mercury sextiling Saturn we will feel more organized and with Venus sextiling Jupiter we will be feeling more lucky and abundant than usual. Together we can find it easy to resolve issues with others, mentally focus on difficult tasks and learn hard material. It's a great day to review your finances or invest. We will have a lot of luck in the areas of money and abundance. With the moon in Aries it will feel like an excitable day. It's a great day to take advantage of by completing tasks and socializing.

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Week3

11 - ☾♈

There are no other notable transits today as the moon tours it's transit through Aries. When the moon is in Aries it's a good time for confronting any challenges, candle magic and other fire based magic. It's also a good day for clearing away anything before the New Moon starts a new lunar cycle tomorrow.

12 - ☾♈ New Moon in Aries Venus in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn

It's a new lunar cycle! The new moon in Aries sets off a new cycle where we are to focus ourselves and our challenges that we must overcome. This new moon is highlighted by a Venus and Pluto square which can be illuminating as it can show where we may feel the need to control others or where we can be controlled or manipulated by people in relationships. If you feel you are the manipulator this energy is helping you to look within yourself and see where there could be fear stemming from that is causing you to feel that you need a controlling grip over others. The tension is illuminating a condition within yourself rather than the partner involved. It could highlight where you may feel possessive due to having a fear of your own self worth or loneliness. Alternatively if you are the one being manipulated this square can show you how to empower yourself and rise above the situation. This Aries lunar cycle is all about confronting our challenges so this energy will help set the tone for the lunar month ahead.

Some good rituals on this day would be to meditate and channel in the frequency of Mars, write down your challenges that you'd like to overcome, candle magic to channel in helpful energy or burning away representations of obstacles in your path. It's also a great day for tarot and other forms of divination for advice and writing down your intentions or creating a vision board for the cycle ahead.

13 - ☾♉ Moon enters Taurus

The moon enters Taurus today. There are no other notable transits  today. When the moon is in Taurus it's a good day for earth based magic, gardening, kitchen magic and food spells. It's also a great day for rest and self care.

14 - ☾♉ Venus enters Taurus Sun in Aries sextiles Mars in Gemini

Today will feel bright and exciting with the Sun in a sextile with Mars and Venus entering Taurus. Venus is at home in the sign of Taurus. The energy here is very sensual, pleasure seeking, tangible yet possessive. This dreamy energy helps to ground us within the season of Spring and seek out everything sensually pleasing. Physical touch is the heightened love language of this cycle and we will feel more drawn to things of high quality or sensually pleasureful. With the Sun and Mars sextile we will feel a positive fiery push to confront our obstacles, gain a boost of courage and tackle anything that we need to get done. This is a beneficial boost to use to your advantage in any areas you feel needs extra energy to tackle. If you currently don't have any idea of how to channel it well, then reflect back on your Aries new moon intentions. Use this energy wisely!

15 - ☾♊ Sun in Aries sextiles Jupiter in Aquarius Moon enters Gemini

It's another day of great energy with the Sun in a positive sextile with lucky Jupiter. This transit brings optimism, good luck and happiness. There are a lot of opportunities for positive circumstances to appear in your favor and you will realize that positive thinking will attract good fortune. This energy is great for using attraction magic for good positive opportunities or wealth and abundance. This transit also favors travel or planning trips and socializing. Even if you are unable to use this energy in action to align yourself with abundance, you can channel it through your magic with a candle spell to attract what you need.

16 - ☾♊ Sun in Aries squares Pluto in Capricorn

It's the bi-annual return of one of the most unpleasant transits (it's worse in Aries season than Libra though). When the Sun squares Pluto it increases the need to be in control but leads to ego conflicts with other powerful people or authority figures. Butting heads can lead to huge blow out fights or destructive behavior. Such challenges can force us to make a major change or pigeon hole us in a corner. However like all challenging aspects this transit wants to help us to heal. When we are aware of the reasons why we need control we can make more logical decisions. We may either need to leave the environment, find a way to strengthen boundaries or find out that it could be related to triggering memories we need to let go. Aside from what you could be going through emotionally today, it's a good day for energy sheilding and keeping good boundaries from others you may have to be around.

17 - ☾♊ Waxing Crescent | Sun Sextile Moon Mars in Gemini trines Jupiter in Aquarius Mercury in Aries sextiles both Jupiter in Aquarius and Mars in Gemini

It's all about confronting your challenges today!! There are a bundle of fiery transits wanting you to push yourself to overcome anything in your way! With the Sun sextile the moon it's a great day to reflect on your new moon in Aries intentions and take action on them. The waxing crescent is a time for experimentation and first tries so don't worry about the details, just give it your all. Mars is in a super positive trine with Jupiter which gives us luck wherever we apply our courage. If you go after whatever you want today with full confidence you can get it. Lastly Mercury is in a sextile with both Jupiter and Mars. This energy will give us the motivational push to be driven to succeed and apply our mental abilities and planning. With mercury sextiling Jupiter it can make us plan more than we can deal with, however if this energy is used as a boost of optimism we can conquer anything today!

It's a super lucky day, the only magic I could suggest doing is positive glamour spells and attraction magic, yet it's a day best for taking action and going after what you need.

_____________________

Week 4

18 - ☾♋ Moon enters Cancer

There are no other notible transits today other than the moon entering Cancer. When the moon is in Cancer it's a good day for home based magic (bath magic, gardening, kitchen magic etc), cleansing your space, self nurturing, shadow work and emotional healing and water based magic.

19 - ☾♋ Sun enters Taurus Mercury enters Taurus Sun conjunct Mercury in Taurus

We made it!! We enter the middle of Spring as the Sun enters Taurus today! It's time for peace, for sensuality, for sitting under a blooming tree in some flowy dress eating sweets, for relaxing and less stress as Aries season comes to an end. Mercury follows the Sun into Taurus today and the two will be in conjunct. We will feel more perceptive of our mental state during this transit and able to retain more information. It's a good transit for learning, focusing and paying attention to details. When mercury is in Taurus our minds and projects come to a slower pace. However this cycle can help us to create a strong and decisive focus on one project or goal so we can see it to it's completion. We are less scattered, however we are also focused on the sensual and it's a good time to mind our finances.

20 - ☾♌ First Quarter Moon in Leo

It's time for reflection and strategizing with the first quarter moon. It's good to think back on our intentions set during the New Moon in Aries and it's themes such as our need for control or if others have been controlling us. The waxing crescent was about us confronting our challenges and taking action towards our obstacles. However if we've met any set backs or still feel restricted, that will be felt during this first quarter moon which asks us to go back to the drawing board and revise and strategize before moving forward. What is working and what isn't working in your current journey? This moon may bring out the drama and the power struggles as it shines in Leo. It can also help us to focus on ourselves in this journey, our creations and our self esteem. Where can we boost ourselves up in order to move forward? Some good activities for this moon is creating positive affirmations, tarot to divine advice and do barrier breaking magic to help undo obstacles in our way.

21 - ☾♌

There are no other notable transits today other than the moon in Leo. When the moon is in Leo it is great to practice self love magic, creativity and self expression as well as any light, solar and fire based magic.

22 - ☾♍ Waxing Gibbous | Sun Trines Moon Moon enters Virgo

When the Sun trines the moon it's a great time to take action as it's a lucky transit. It's very harmonious energy yet when used wisely it can help us to excel forward. Look back to your strategies and the themes of the First Quarter Moon in Leo. What do you need to work on and reaccess? Especially with the moon now in problem solving Virgo it's a good time to get organized and get tasks done.

23 - ☾♍ Mars enters Cancer Venus conjunct Uranus in Taurus

An energetic shift occurs today as Mars enters Cancer, changing our general feelings of motivation for the next two months. Mars is not it's most productive in Cancer. We may feel more passionate about our desires however our goals and plans are at the mercy of our mood swings. It's all depending on if we feel like doing it and if we aren't in the mood then it simply ain't getting done. Aggression is more defensive than offensive and we go about things whether its our goals or arguments in a passive way. Mars in Cancer is a great transit to protect what we love and uplift our loved ones. It's good energy to put towards your friends and community instead of focusing on individual goals. Today is colored by Venus and Uranus aligning in the sky bringing in an exciting yet potentially chaotic day of surprises in the areas of love, finances and our values. This can mean a whole array of possibilities depending on our paths. It can mean meeting a new partner (whether that be a friend or lover- this transit can bring new exciting encounters but they may not last long. Just someone to come in and spice up your day), having unexpected changes in our finance, either earning or losing money, changing up something in our relationship (especially if it feels stagnant there can be an urge to spice things up or break free), or even a sudden gift or new passion. Be wary with the elements of finance cause this transit can create impulsive shopping. Just remember to spend within your budget.

24 - ☾♎ Mercury conjunct Uranus in Taurus Moon enters Libra

There is great mental energy in the air today as Mercury conjuncts Uranus in Taurus. This union stimulates our thinking and adds extra excitement to our daily routines, ideas and creativity. We are more able to create something original or come up with great new ideas. This transit can also lead to flashes of insights and breakthroughs. It's a really good day to practice meditation and channel higher cosmic energy for new insight and to help expand our perspective. If you do feel like you are looking for the 'answers' to something or need a new perspective this is a good day to tap into Uranus's energy and meditate using binural beats that focuses on our crown's energy pool. It's a great time for experimentation but not so great for making plans. Unexpected news can arrive today but make sure to not jump into any conclusions yet.

_____________________

Week 5

    25 - ☾♎ Mercury conjunct Venus in Taurus Venus and Mercury in Taurus squares Saturn in Aquarius

There is energy today that is pushing us to make commitments to what we think is worth it. This energy is helping us to align ourselves with our true needs before we enter the full moon phase. With Mercury and Venus conjunct we will be able to easily express what we love and have everything and everyone that we love on our minds. This can make us more aware of our values and passions. During this transit we can make good negotiations and peaceful settlements with the energies combined and improved our troubled relationships. Both planets would be squaring Saturn in Aquarius forcing us to reflect on the foundations of our relationships and our energies spent towards our passions. If we haven't been giving enough energy towards it then we can feel more somber than usual but it's just a sign that we need to prioritize our time better. If things are going well this energy will push us to want to make amends to anything and put extra work towards the areas that Venus rule. The lunar energy is slightly inconjunct so there can be challenges and disharmony arising. These could be apart of the lessons shaking our foundations and showing us where we need to apply our focus. It is not the best time for any manifestation or attraction magic yet but just to amend anything that needs mending.

26 - ☾♏ Moon enters Scorpio

The moon is not yet in it's full moon phase but we will feel it nearly peaked and it will feel more intense than usual as it will be closer to Earth (making it a Super Full Moon once it peaks). There are no notable transits today other than the moon entering Scorpio. When the moon is in Scorpio it’s a good day for shadow work, energy work, spirit work and hedge witchcraft.

27 - ☾♏ Super Full Moon Pluto enters retrograde -until Oct 6th

We are nearly at the end of the month and the peak of the Lunar cycle with the Full Moon in Scorpio. What this full moon signifies in Taurus season is a chance for us to dive deep into our feelings and uncover truths. This moon will feel more intense than usual and appear much larger in the sky since it is a Super Full Moon. It will be closer in it's elliptical orbit to Earth. With the Scorpio full moon we are less interested in the physical material world and more about the emotional and spiritual as this moon seeks for us to confront any challenges bothering us on a deep level in our lives and finding ways to banish or transform them. This coincides with Pluto's retrograde that wants us to dive deep, connect with ourselves on a soul level, confront any fears that disempowers us and find our source of empowerment again. Pluto retrograde can cause us to surrender our grip of power on things that may no longer serve us or if someone else is manipulating or stifling us it's time for us to leave the situation. It is a time for elimination and our controlling habits, compulsions, addictions and possessiveness will be subject to fated events and or themes that will force us to change these behaviors. Pluto will retrograde until early October. We may see shifts in power happen globally and even shifts in currency (the Capricorn nature of it). On a macrocosmic level there can be movements to bring change to manipulative and oppressive systems. On a microcosmic level we will be asked to do this changes from within.

Some great activities on this full moon will be for banishment, deep shadow work especially in areas regarding your resources, self worth and abundance and attraction magic for what you need to thrive (just make sure its nothing that feeds the ego because with the retrograding Pluto energy that will just come with a karmic lesson you don't want).

28 - ☾♐ Moon enters Sagittarius

There are no notable transits today other than the moon entering Sagittarius. When the moon is in Sagittarius we will feel more optimistic than usual and very sociable. When the moon is in Sagittarius it’s a good day for abundance magic and luck spells.

29 - ☾♐

There are no notable transits today either other than the moon wrapping up it's transit in Sagittarius.

30 - ☾♑ Sun conjunct Uranus in Taurus Mercury in Taurus sextiles Neptune in Pisces Moon enters Capricorn Witches Night

Today will feel Exciting! Explosive! Full of Surprises!! There is high energy in the air today thanks to the Sun and Uranus aligned in the sky. This brings sudden surprises, eccentric encounters, unexpected change, freedom and rebellion. We will feel a need to break free from routine and spice up our lives. Just be wary to not rebel or cause chaos for the sake of it. Remaining flexible and open minded can certainly increase the chance of more thrilling experiences and opportunities for us to expand our sense of perception and greater awareness. To add to this energy Mercury will sextile Neptune making it a very magical and creative day. We will feel the mental push to be more artistically expressive, creative and seek escapism. This energy has a lot of potential for us to create something new and original or find greater insight while we could be astral traveling, dreaming or creating. It's a great day for art, healthy escapism through art and meditating.

Tonight is also the eve of High Spring or Beltane. In some countries and communities this evening is known as Witches Night. This is a sabbat celebrated when witches gather at the highest point (like a hill or mountain) and dance around a bonfire to welcome the lighter, warmer and longer days arriving while banishing the winter spirits and anything we no longer want to carry with us. Witches night actually has Christian origins (actually to banish witches and other evils using fire lol) yet it's become popular to celebrate in witch, pagan and occult circles and often is a fiery celebration to honor the Eve of Beltane as it has similar themes of welcoming the warmer half of the year. (Plus many celebrate Beltane using fire as well.) It would be a good evening to have a bonfire if you have access to a fire pit and celebrate the warmer months ahead!

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

Hello! I hope you’re having a wonderful day. I just wanted to know, what’s your drawing process? In case it’s too broad of a question or too confusing, what are the step by step processes? How do you sketch and what are your shading techniques? Your art is really good and I’d like some tips on how to get better, please.

Oh goodness I hope I can explain this well, cause I’m not the best at giving advice. I’ll give the basic rundown of how I do things. (Everything below the cut, cause it got a little long.)

I always start with a sketch of course, which helps me get an idea of the composition and the shapes in the drawing. I always use guide lines for human forms especially, which helps with proportions and making it seem three dimensional. It’s a crucial step for many. (unless you’re one of those people that go straight to lineart. Art wizards…) it helps you figure out the base for everything coming next.

Lineart is next, and this part can be a bit tedious if you like detail, like me. I go over the sketch and try to clean it up a bit, smoothing out any unintentional mistakes. This and coloring are typically what take the longest for me.

I color on a layer below the line layer, which I feel is self explanatory. Just choose what colors you want and color everything in. (Slight design tip, I recommend using two base colors and a complementary color for characters, to make it seem more interesting. Unfortunately I can’t get into color theory here, but there’s plenty of tutorials out there.)

Finally shading. First off, figure out your source of light. Figuring out where the light is coming from on the picture is crucial for realistic shading. I first do cast shadows and basically figure out where the strongest and clearest shadows are first before adding secondary shading, like making everything seem 3D. I recommend keeping the form in mind, such as thinking how an object would cast shadows on another. It’s hard to get used to, but don’t be afraid to search up references and tutorials. They will be your friend with shading. (Also I never use pure black for shading. Use complementary colors instead, like shading red with a deep purple, or green with blue. It makes it look more vibrant.)

Finally, highlighting and final touches. It’s basically the same process as shading, but instead finding the places closest to your light source. Highlights can really bring out materials, like how shiny something is. I also take this step and add small details, like eye shines, or fixing up any small mistakes in any of the previous steps.

I think that’s it! I tried my best explaining everything without visuals to help me, so I hope everything makes sense. But yeah, just do some research and find everything that works for you. This is all just what I do personally, so don’t be afraid to do your own thing.

[elminx]

Energy Update: Jupiter in Pisces, May 2021

I'm catching up on some of the astrology from last week - Jupiter, our planet of expansion, entered Pisces late Thursday afternoon. We will likely be feeling this strongly through this next week and then this increase in Piscean energy is likely to fade into the background noise that all of our current astrology is creating. There are two things to note about this brief Jupiter transit. Firstly, Jupiter is already in its shadow which means that it is preparing to retrograde during the months ahead. As such we are likely to touch on some of the more shadowy elements of Jupiter in Pisces energy during this time. Jupiter will retrograde back out of Pisces and into Aquarius again on 7/28 where it will remain for the rest of this year. All that glitters may not be gold at this time. This isn't to say that all that glitters isn't worth it - it's just a reminder that Piscean energy is prone to illusion and as this Jupiter retrograde cycle intensifies, you may need to take off your rose-colored glasses about a few things. The second thing is that Pisces is the last sign in the horoscope wheel and it tends to incorporate a lot - perhaps even all - of the energy of the 11 signs before it. Like the primordial waters in which the fishes swim, all aspects of life can be highlighted when Piscean energy is at the forefront as it will be through this week (you may feel it longer if you have a strong Piscean element in your chart). Think highest highs and lowest lows. The waters of Pisces flow in all directions and it takes a very strong will to direct them. It also takes a huge amount of getting out of your own way and trust - something that is understandable very hard for most people. I really think that this tweet by Page Turner encapsulates a lot of the Piscean experience. Pisces, as one of the dual signs, is represented as two fish swimming in opposite directions. One fish is swimming towards the shallow waters - aka the self, and the ego. The other fish is swimming towards the deep waters - aka the unconscious, the collective consciousness even. It can be difficult to master both directions and Piscean people, in particular, may have trouble finding themselves stuck on one end of that equation. Piscean energy comes with big uncontained emotions - they can move too fast to grasp on to, let alone quantify. In the shallow waters, this can lead to a lot of emotional dumping and emotional manipulation. Remember it is always okay to have your emotions - it's what you do with them that matters. Watch out over this week for situations where you are trying to force somebody to feel what you are feeling or trying to get others to make decisions based upon your feelings. (This is further accentuated by Mars in Cancer - a true watery double whammy - now is a very good time to remember to ASK before sharing your emotions with others) Fear may be a rampant emotion because Piscean energy will add to our feeling of instability among the moments of change that we all have to go through right now. On the deep end of the Piscean waters, you sometimes find people who are so concerned with being a part of the collective consciousness that they forget to think for themselves. Pisces can show up as both martyrdom and savior complexes. (And yes, if you've gone that far, you've probably come back around to the shallow waters again, but I digress). You often also find Pisces natives lost in relationships - completely devoid of boundaries between themselves and their others. At its best, Jupiter in Pisces can create a very real and tangible sense of universality. Needs of the whole - every human on this planet - fuck it, every creature on this planet - can rise to the forefront. The problem is that often when the ego steps in, it becomes "my needs" with the delusion that everybody else must either share them or not matter as much. As I mentioned, we are in our yearly Jupiter retrograde cycle now which means that we are going to transverse these first degrees of Pisces three times: first now in its

pre-shadow, then as it retrogrades back in July, and then again when it finally moves forward more permanently. This shows that we need to do some work around Jupiter in Pisces themes - need to become more aware of how our actions affect others, both our immediate others and the others all around us - the collective Other. I have already seen the beginnings of this coming to the forefront in the world this week. The head of the WHO chiding us, as Americans, for hoarding the vaccines and giving them to low threat targets instead of giving them to the world is a great example of the type of themes we are likely to see arise on the global stage. Apply to your personal lives as you see fit. Jupiter is a transitional planet - not as personal as our inner planets but still quite relevant to our lives and how we think and feel. It's worth spending some time to think about where you fall on the Piscean scale - we all have Pisces in somewhere in our natal charts (in a house even if we have no planets there). We will have to revisit this energy three times which gives us all a great opportunity to really pay attention and make revisions around these themes of universality, self, and other. What to watch out for: standard water things. Pay attention to numbing behavior (especially drugs and extra especially drinking). Pay attention to emotional dysregulation and projection. Watch your known shadow behaviors. Watch out for aggrandizing - thinking that you are more special/more deserving/more talented. And, on the other side of things, watch out for either claiming Savior or Victim status - both are signs that you aren't balancing Piscean energy very well and may need to take a step back and reevaluate. If Piscean energy feels like too much for you - try to balance it with earthy Virgo activities. If you feel really out of focus this week, try making yourself a list of what you need to do (Virgos love lists). Physical activity - anything that moves your body whether running, yoga, dancing, etc. - can really help to release any pent-up emotions. If cleaning makes you feel centered, this is a really good week to make a mess and then clean it up. Though this energy may fade quickly at this moment, it is going to come back around for review again in June-July-August and later in the year.

Do you like my work? Please consider supporting me by Buying Me A Ko-Fi.

[trulycertain]

fic writer interview

Tagged by @skogrr Thank you very much! It's a while since I've done one of these, and I've missed them.

Name: Tru/"Oi you" Fandoms (that I write for): Dragon Age, mostly. Still the fandom of my heart. Mass Effect, Deus Ex... uh, accidentally GreedFall? I don't know how or when that happened. Two-shot: Hmm... The actual last two-shot I wrote was Terms & Conditions, a very silly Dorian/Inquisitor modern AU where Gal is the guy Dorian hires to stop his late father's house falling apart. Recently? I suspect that's going to be Driftwood, which can stand on its own as a sort of weird post-canon first-meeting AU, but is trying to tempt me to continue it. (Vasco ends up going looking for Tír Fradí, which has disappeared - and finds it. He also finds De Sardet as a highly avoidant tree god of the island, post-Bad Ending, who transformed against her will. And he ends up falling in love with her anyway.) Weird tree gods! Pining by literal pine! An eventual happy ending! More grumpy commentary by Vasco!

Most popular multi-chapter: Either An Unquenchable Flame or Distraction, probably - both juggernaut pairings, the former close to the game's release and the latter with some fancy forbidden romance, so not so surprising. But surprisingly, Prague, 10:42 PM has done really well, considering it's for a small fandom (Deus Ex) and a rarepair age/rank-difference pairing that I thought would be a one-off experiment? I get it, guys. I like sad repressed stoics too.

Actual worst part of writing: Editing - which can be fun, but that "over and over" stage when you're about to post, especially in a longfic if you fear you've lost the spirit of the thing and the character voices and you can't see the wood for the trees. And when I have to remove a whole scene which Jenga-unbalances the fic, and then I have to redux from the top. Basically, most things to do with pacing. How you choose your titles: I like double-meanings and one word titles. If that fails: quote from a song. If that fails: quote from poetry, but very rarely. Do you outline: Only a little. A bulletpointed list of events or noted-down major lines of dialogue, that's usually it.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to but wouldn’t it be nice: Uh... oh god. I blame so many people for some of these.

Post-Destroy ending where John is attempting to build a shed on Rannoch because that's the kind of thing retired people do, right? and Tali is far better at it than him, and it's just... disgusting fluff.

Actually, just reduxing the early John/Tali stuff with a bit more nuance and a stronger style.

Eva and Kaidan, and their mutually wary first meeting. ("Wow, that's a lot of pomade." "Wow, that's a lot of death-glare.")

AU where Gal and Dorian never met in DAI, and after everything went down, Gal tried to fade into the shadows and leave. He ended up working in Tevinter as an occasional informant/odd-jobs guy the way he was pre-Inquisition. He ends up being a gardener for a bitter, wry magister who seems to hate the entire Magisterium, has recently lost his father to political scheming and murder, and wants to take down the entirety of the remaining Venatori with one staff and maybe his teeth if he has to (hi, Dorian). But first, Dorian's going to drink his own body weight in whiskey and be a recluse for a while and start thinking about time magic again. Gal is trying to keep his head down and should definitely not be falling in love with said magister. Who's someday going to end up at one of the more southerly ports, come across a statue of the great Inquisitor, and go, Oh.

Stuff on Jensen's PT and rebuilding himself post-augs. More of Proprioception, basically.

Mer-AU where Marie De Sardet is still a diplomat attempting to make new connections, just not a human one, and it's a disaster. An awkward disaster. Highlights include her being framed as the beast trying to drown their best captain; her attempting to wobble about on brand-new legs and Vasco's coat while everyone assumes the dear captain has had a few too many; her asking Vasco if his "fascinating markings" glow; them getting into a duel, and her (fondly) getting punted off the side of the ship going "Woo-hoo." OK, I wrote a bit of that, but only a 1k doodle I'll probably never return to.

Non-Naut court AU where Marie gets promised to Bastien D'Arcy, because he's a bit of a layabout but he's also rich, popular at court, and amenable to bribe - [cough] suggestion, and the D'Arcys have prominent trading links with the Alliance. Instead she falls for his far less of a social butterfly, tired, worried-numbers-guy brother Léandre, who's pretty damn uncomfortable around Nauts because he's well aware he nearly got sold to them and he is not the favourite.

Straight-up role-reversal AU (another thing where I've put down 1k that I'll probably never return to), where Marie's Naut name is Paz, and she's a fed-up second-mate who's tired of noble idiots and feels a little strange and conflicted about her mark (and has context for it, because they make frequent crossings to Tír Fradí). Also a little more jaded, without the love of her mother, and not nearly as much of a tryhard as Vasco in canon; she ended up here because she had nowhere else to go and the Nauts were like "Ooh, free kid," and she's well aware. She gets stuck escorting the D'Arcy brothers to Tír Fradí for their new venture and is not looking forward to it. Except one of them is intensely bright and wry and keeps asking questions about the ship and noticing shit he is definitely not meant to notice, and they keep ending up in strange conversations, even if he seems really, really wary and uncomfortable about Nauts.

Some vague stuff about Vasco's thoughts on Jonas and that whole side quest, considering he's also a sea-given and implies sea-given take some shit in the Nauts, and also how damn difficult it must be watching a sea-given's parents endeavour to get their kid back when he knows full well his didn't do that for him.

Actually, just more Vasco POV in general, even though he's damn hard to nail down. I've written much pining for him from Marie's perspective, and I'd like to try things from the opposite. This guy's idea of wooing someone perfectly normally is to panic and then recite Baroque poetry. You know he's sappy as hell in the privacy of his own head, even if he's trying not to be.

Jean and Síora having the "I'm a sad healer who just lost my mother and I'm trying so hard not to crumble under the weight of assisting the leader" mutual talk way too late at night around the campfire and maybe him crying on her shoulder a little, with mutual kindness and the beginnings of attraction, and her finally getting past his jokey-smug facade to understand him.

More stuff about Jean's past in general, and how he wanted to be a doctor before he was dragged away from it by looking after Constantin and being nobility.

Síora and Eseld and the ways they changed over the years; something like an exploration of grief and growing her own will and the ways they very differently view the renaigse. Also maybe more about the en ol menawi magic, if I can worldbuild well enough?

I'd also love to do a GreedFall soulmark AU - it's generally not my kind of trope, I'm not into biological determinism type tropes - just because names and aliases and assumed identities are such a mess in GreedFall and it's a repeated plot point. That said, I feel like it's been done so beautifully in this fandom before that I wouldn't have much to add.

Callouts @ me: So. Many. Commas. So much over-explaining everything. If they get out of the car, your readers do not need a five-page manual of "and then he undid his seatbelt and leaned over to grasp the door handle, and then pulled it, and then stepped a foot out before he almost thought better of it - but no, he was going to get out of this car. The other foot joined the first, and he nearly banged his head on the doorframe."

Best writing traits: People say I have a head for finding small-but-important moments. I'm also told I write likeable protags. People have more than once said my writing makes them feel safe or makes them smile, and I really couldn't ask for more than that. I'll take those.

Spicy tangential opinion: I don't think I have any, really? Oh god, that makes me sound so very boring. Oh! Um. There should be more tree body horror in fandom. And body horror in general. *thumbsup*

No pressure tagging: @artemis-crimson, @eridanidreams,@rainypixel, @aphreal42.

[ribghoul]

i saw ur tags on that last post and i am a beginner digital artist and i would love to hear ur tips ^-^ tysm!

hello anon! sorry it took me a hot sec to respond to this, i hope you see this aha

here are some tips i have for beginner digital artists! please keep in mind that i am not a professional, and that what is best for me might not be best for you! also i primarily use paint tool SAI and photoshop, for reference. i just have been doing this for a while so i have figured some shit out:

play with brush settings!! having different brushes with different settings to serve different purposes can make your life so much easier. my suggestion would be to have at least 5 different brushes in your wheelhouse set to your own preferences: custom all-purpose brush, eraser brush, pencil brush, airbrush tool, brush for blending (i have a custom paint brush to use for this but a standard water brush also works pretty well for this). turning whatever brush you are using into eraser mode will also be very helpful. for paint tool SAI users, i can share some of the brushes i use + what i use em for

map your undo keys (ctrl + z) to somewhere convenient, and set up your desk/devices to optimize your comfort. i work on my laptop, which i put on a raised surface on my desk so that i can sit straight and look straight ahead at the screen instead of hunching over my desk to work. i’m getting older and my back is so messed up so this important for me LOL. my drawing tablet has buttons, so i map my ctrl + z keys to the buttons so i can use the undo button quickly. this is a really simple thing to do and it helps to streamline your process by a LOT 

the magic wand tool is so helpful for filling in outlined spaces and streamlining your coloring process a little. it won’t be perfect but often i think it’s easiest to magic wand things spaces and then go in and fill in the gaps

for ALL stages of your art (lining, coloring, painting, etc) using transparent eraser functions are actually really useful. this one is hard to articulate fully, but instead of just repeatedly drawing a line and undoing it because it looks bad, it’s often a lot easier to get a little sketchy and loose with your lines and then go in and touch them up with an eraser. i use basically all my different brushes on the eraser mode to make things look more natural. if you are curious about this one i can try to explain further with visuals in a separate post

you can window your files so that you can work with your references right next to your art, which i personally find very convenient.

layers can be SO USEFUL!! they are something that really sets digital art apart from traditional art. you can compartmentalize different parts of your drawing into different layers, adjust each layer differently, move and transform layers independently, add different filters/effects to each layer, etc. i can’t really dictate to you how exactly to use your layers, because some people like to use a ton of layers and some people prefer to use very few to only one layer, but it is worth playing around with different methods of using layers to see what works best for you. personally, i am someone who uses like 30+ layers in a piece. if you use a lot of layers, PLEASE keep them organized and label them in a way that makes sense to you

transform tool (ctrl + t ) is your friend! i use this tool so much, it is excellent for resizing things, tweaking shapes, fixing perspectives, and more.

play with the hue/saturation and brightness/contrast sliders. those are really good for adjusting colors, shadows, highlights, etc etc

save often, and save multiple sets of your files in multiple forms. this shouldn’t happen too often, but sometimes your files can just arbitrarily get corrupted beyond repair and you just lose all your work. i’ve gotten into the habit of saving my works at various stages into .sai files, .psd files, and .png files. SAI files are especially vulnerable, i’ve noticed.

these are just some things i could come up with off the top of my head, it’s hard to be comprehensive in one post, but feel free to shoot me some questions! i can try to make some more helpful tutorials if any of you are curious about my process.

[simply-yelly2]

Maybe it was just me, but I felt my Hai needed a glow up, and...well I kind of hope this one works better. So one thing that bothered me was the eyes and I think the placement of them got me confused. But on the cover of Wyvernhail, Hai has her eyes partially closed? like she is looking down at Salem who is in her arms and her eyes are kind of half-lidded for lack of a better term. I decided to see if that could work and it did. Since some eye makeup did exist back then, I went with the old Egyptian favorite of using malachite for eye shadow. Yeah, it is poisonous but maybe Hai's falcon magic neutralizes the poison? Falcon perks, they also make being a falcon worth the other stuff. It kind of does make her pop and adds a bit of color that compliments the rest of her.

Another thing that bothered me about the previous version is the hair. Hai's hair on the cover was wild and all over the place (the result of her vision?) and trying to solve that mess was hard...Amelia once said that Hai has somebody to her hair which is kind of surprising since I always saw it as being straight. But while looking for colors for Darien yesterday, I stumbled upon a picture of a model whose hair was quite nice. Very long and straight with a bit of poof at the bother...it just screamed Hai and so I used that for my base for her hairdo now. Then just because, I added the armband that she is shown wearing on the cover. Silver because...I dunno, that or iron maybe or even platinum? depends on how healthy Wyvern's Court is.

I dedicate this piece to my dear friend @opal-tea who is an avid Hai fan and this is the star of my show. I will admit that I do not care about her in the original canon. I do think she is interesting, but I just can’t relate to her and I do prefer Oliza more (and Nicias x Oliza too). However, my Rewrite is making me a bit more fond of her and if I ever do write something down for it, then I will be happy to explore and share her new development. So I did use her depiction on the cover of Wyvernhail for a reference, although I think there may have been a miscommunication in regards to the hair. Amelia herself said that Hai has hair that goes well past her shoulders and it does have enough body to make it somewhat wavy. Maybe she cut it at some point, but then I must question that because a lot of people in Wyvern’s Court has long hair, A’isha’s goes nearly to her knees, so why would she feel inclined to cut her hair? Unless being comatose for years without access to a bath might lead to your hair is a mess and not sure how much work would be required to bring it back. Maybe cutting it would be justified then? I was going to go ahead and give her short hair, but I am going to try to be canon conscious and so she has long hair that has a slight wave to it. For the hair color, I chose to remove the highlights in favor of having her hair be a reddish-black color instead. I hope that I did a good job as I wanted her hair to obviously look back but have that slight touch of a red hue. Her nap feathers are those of a peregrine and the bands of crimson are...well basically, she looks like a weird peregrine and is a weird peregrine. What more can you say? So one of my big Kiesha’ra headcanons is that Hai is named after Sisal’s baby. Maybe Anjay told Darien this and when they both died, Darien decided to give that name to her daughter instead. Zane probably told Oliza this and the wyvern decided to name her daughter this instead of Keyi (which will later be used for Hai’s own child).

[sinnabonka]

Hey Hun! Lots of love to you. For starters I wanted to say that there should be no cell in your body blaming yself in any way. You and your blog were hope for so many people. You were the "you are not crazy" of the final weeks, and I'm forever grateful to you. Instead of dying of anxiety I managed to have a blast in this time of waiting, thanks to you. I passed my master thesis, because you gave me strength to see past the fear. I laughed in those weeks more than in last 5 years, and all of it because of the hope you gave me.

The rest of the msg is going to be pretty emotional rant about the awfulness of it all, and I know my opinion doesn't matter to anyone but I wanted someone important to me to hear my thoughts, if that's ok. It's also ok if you don't want to read it ofc. It's like my breakup letter to the show.

I hear many people cheering for the finale and i find it really hard to deal with. I always considered myself an open person who fights for healthy love as the only redeeming quality of the universe. I could see people's point of view, even if it didn't sit well with mine, and I would always try to hear them out respectfully until they weren't being respectful themselves. That said, I'm fully unable to understand cheering for this type of spiteful content and hearing those cheers makes me feel like the entire world is listening to "this is how you treat your fans, this is how to abuse your power over naive sheep, this is how to keep dumb, hopeful minorities in check" and taking notes.

It also upsets me that the people who gave this show all of themselves and tried to understand it to the core are given no resolution, are spitted on and buried under the rug for doing their best to appreciate the art and the story it was telling. Yet people, who just hang around and watch the show doing the dishes, with no consideration to it's story or characters, got as nonsensical ending as their whole idea of character development in SPN.

I know people say that it was good enough, because it leaves space for guessing and own interpretation, but I feel it's really undermining the extend to which the finale was awful and hurtful to the fans. There is no end that realistically could stop fanfic writers from finding way around it in the world of Supernatural, so saying it was thoughtful of them Is like excusing abusive partner because "they could hit me harder, but they didn't. That means they care"

Lose ends, characters being written in a way that is totally not true to them and their development (personally my biggest allegation), dismissing years of story development, proving that it was all 'queerbaiting' in big part in the end (hell, even the whole "Cas is in heaven so do with it what you will" is a shameful way of appalling to LGBTQ community after using them so hard.

In the pie scene, the roles should be swapped, it's Dean who should say that Cas is on his mind and Sam explaining him that it's only right to keep on living doing good in their name. That's what Dean told Sam at the beginning of the season, when Sam lost Rowena, so it would be at least a bit poetic. This would at least give us some truth from Dean for once, but he died how he lived, in shadow of his fear to be true towards his feelings and needs. And as he died, he bound his little brother to the hunting till the end of his days, by guilting him into it on his deathbed. Guess Dean took after his father.

Have you realised what that emotional "love speech" from Dean to Sam resulted in? It was writers taking back Cas' confession after they didn't need our viewership anymore.

They basically gave us love confession to get us to follow the finale and when they didn't need us anymore, not only they didn't commit to the confession, but they undermined it by having Dean's speech to Sam go the way it did with obviously higher emotional charge, successfully taking back the value of Cas' confession and making it about a bait for "Tumblr idiots"

Finale killed my feelings towards Destiel, not because it wasn't confirmed canon, but because from what I see in the episode, they canonically confirmed that

- for Dean, Cas was only means to an end, which is such an awful way of ending Cas' character arc. They gave him everything he was scared of and nothing close to consolation price and they dare to tell us he had a happy ending, "because they said so". Well, I didn't see him being happy, and knowing what i textually know i can empathise enough to say that he faced a miserable finish. Even Chuck got an end that was better than Cas' fate.

- Dean, given power to do anything he could dream of, chooses to not even greet Cas, after Cas gave his whole life to Dean, told him he loved him and died for him. I know some people consider the little smirk of Dean confirmation of his feelings, but let's be real for just a second. If someone you deeply loved for years confessed to you, told you they thought you don't love them back, you would be freaking running to see them and tell them how much you love them. That smirk to me reads as "I'm relieved to know you're not going to spend eternity in mega hell that i left you in" and we really need to stop giving credit to writers for scraps like this when it's the last episode ever and we know this isn't going anywhere.

Not to mention that by having Jack bring Cas back behind the scenes it just highlights the fact that Dean didn't ask him to do that in episode 19.

As result, I'm unable to look at any Destiel scene and not think "in here Cas already loved him and in here Dean already abuses the power he had over Cas, because of his one-sided love"

And yet, the episode and endgames for everyone (maybe not Sam, but he was seriously pinning for Dean his entire life. Wincest much?) managed to be so bad, that not even bringing Cas back or following up on Destiel would make a difference in my eyes. I know you believe that Destiel would save it, but for me as much as it would be a redeeming quality, it wouldn't be enough to save this awfulness that writer doomed characters with.

And all the Wincest scenes in the finale... I low key expected them to make out and it made me feel physically sick. Also, cutting Misha out because of coronavirus is a cheap excuse. We all know better than to believe that, so let's not fall for the self pity play from the abuser.

If you managed to stay with me till this point, thank you so much for hearing me out. I hope i didn't anger you with my monologue. I will always think of the lamp when i think of you. The reality is that you were the lamp for so many of us in this darkness.

Love you so much, wish all the best to you, take care of yourself and stay safe!

Oh my god, if I didn’t cry with the final, I definitely am crying now. And now I have to explain my partner why I’m staring at my laptop and sobbing ugly. What have you done? 

First of all, I hear you pain, my friend! I share it! I didn’t spend a second after the final without the feeling of my heart being shuttered into million pieces, being stitched back just to break again, and so on and so on. 

I had my first panic attack in two years yesterday, when I kept thinking about the message the show sent to the fandom via Dean’s fate. I have a few posts in my draft on the matter, but I am not sure I will ever share them, because it is one strong depresso, and I don’t think people following me should see how fucked up it really is (if they didn’t get it by themselves, of course). 

I want to remind you, my gentle soul, that the story belongs to us. We know Dean, we know Cas, we know Sam and others. We know that the final is not who they are! I know it’s hard to ignore the text, the canon, because it’s kinda godsent, but the truth is essential. And the final is not the truth.

The truth: 

Cas loves Dean, he sacrificed himself for him, he saved his life on multiple occasions, he told all those beautiful things and he meant every word.

Dean loves Cas, he was on his lowest every time he lost him, Cas was his “big win”, his best friend, his brother, his white light that lead him out of his anger, hatred and despair. He took a dog and called it Miracle, he was looking for a job to retire from hunting, he didn’t kill Chuck - all of that, because the sacrifice Cas made was not in vain! The message was clear. 

I choose to ignore the “Carry on”, the only attention it is going to get is me creating 20 more mails just to put a one star review there and to drop some more salty or bitter comments with it. Maybe I will read through some reviews, too, add them to my collection. 

Maybe I will one day write here an article from scriptwriting perspective how fucked up in was, because that’s what I can do about it, without throwing up. 

If you can’t ignore it, I understand it. It is painful, it is disrespectful, I hate it as much as you do, probably. 

If there’s anything I can do for you to feel better, just drop me a message, we can talk about it. I am on the lowest, too, but maybe we can help each other.

You say I was your lamp. Let me lead you our of the darkness one more time <3 

CW can suck my metaphorical dick (I’m tagging every angry post with it), but Supernatural is not just the show on CW, it’s a big family. 

And you can’t give up on it! You can’t give up on Dean and Cas, you can’t give up on Destiel! It’s so much bigger then the show itself.

Rediscover the show for yourself, remind yourself that Dean and Cas are real, it was never one sided, it was always something amazing. 

What is real? We are.

Don’t you ever change.

I rather have you, cursed or not.

It’s love, hun, and love always wins.