#but i have a couple of sock patterns i have saved

[typheus]

I've finished the 3rd clue on these mystery socks so now I've just been wearing half made socks :p

[loveshotzz]

My name’s Elvira, but you can call me tonight

steve harrington x eddie’sbestfriend!reader

Hell N Back

summary: A flash flood warning, a week of cancelled plans, and the night Steve Harrington shows up at your front door.

wc: 5.2k

warnings: 18+ mentions of weed smoking (r), thigh riding, fingering, oral (fem receiving) and you know I can’t get enough of making Steve cum in his pants.

A/N: thank you all for your patience with this one, and thank you for reading 🥹♥️

🎃<- chapter two | mini series masterlist

It felt like it had been raining for days, the downpour never ceasing until there were flash flood warnings lighting up the bottom of your TV screen by the end of the week. You hadn’t seen Steve since Tina’s party, every plan that your group had getting canceled by the clouds that never seemed to want to leave Hawkins. 

Heavy droplets hit your window in the living room in sporadic patterns, the wind outside making the howling noise you’ve only ever heard on your favorite horror movies. The flicker of your candles dance along your walls, mixing with the warm glow of your string lights just like that night, and for once you don’t try and stop the thoughts of him that threaten to consume the rest of your evening.

Laying bundled up on the couch in a pair of sleep shorts and an oversized sweater, the black and white sci fi movie The Empire of The Ants plays on your TV while Elvira’s bubble gum sweet voice cracks lewd jokes over the B rated film. The Halloween Macabre special was your only saving grace this week, that and the thick fuzzy Jack O Lantern socks on your feet gifted from Robin.

You giggle to yourself at a joke about her boobs in particular, the half smoked joint on your coffee table makes it easy to wonder if Steve would have thought it was funny too.

Jesus Christ.

You huff a little, pulling the throw blanket closer to your chin, eyebrows furrowing in a pout. 

How did this happen? When did this happen? 

Before you have time to think too hard about it, lights flash behind your blinds dancing across the exposed glass in the opening from outside. You keep your eyes trained on it until they cut and the darkness from before takes over, shrugging it off to it being your neighbor coming home from work. Shuffling your feet under your blanket, you burrow yourself further into the cushions finally getting the level of comfort you’d been searching for since the movie started, but it only lasts a couple of minutes. Three melodic knocks rattle your front door, scaring you out of your fleece cocoon and onto your carpeted floor.

“God dammit!” You grunt, pushing yourself up and tossing the blanket on the couch, “Fucking Munson.”

It’s only when you get halfway to your door that you realize it’s definitely not Eddie or he would have let himself in with the spare. Your footsteps stop as you remember that this is actually how every single horror movie starts out. It’s almost as if whoever it is can read your mind, and a familiar voice calls out from the other side.

“It’s Steve!”

Relief floods your system, and your shoulders slump as your heart rate starts to calm, but then the realization that Steve Harrington was on the other side of your door unannounced just kicks it back up again. Especially when you look down at what you’re wearing.

“If this is weird or you have someone over, I can leave!“ He talks loud enough to be heard over the rain, but it still threatens to drown him out.

“No!” You don’t mean to yell when you answer, clearing your throat, you try to play it off when you continue, “I’m coming, sorry I’m coming!”

Taking a deep breath you pad the few extra steps to your door, straightening your shoulders before your fingers wrap around the handle. There’s a silent count to three before you actually open it. 

The sound of the rain you’d only heard muffled from behind your window grows tenfold, making you wince at the difference at just how hard it’s still coming down. A chilled mist hits your exposed skin from the wind, sending a shiver down your spine and you’re met face to face with a very wet version of the boy you were just thinking about.

“Jesus, Steve! Why didn’t you call?!” You scold, stepping aside to let him into the warmth of your apartment. Shutting the door quickly behind him, a flash of lighting illuminates half the night sky followed by a low roll of thunder.

“I know, I know.” He gives, running a hand through his soaked hair pushing it out of his face. His smile almost looks victorious when he shows you the whites of his teeth. “My power went out.”

His Hawkins Community College sweater clings to parts of his stomach and chest, the worn heather gray cotton turning dark. The water makes the blue denim on his legs even tighter than normal, sticking to him like a second skin and you have to actively stop your eyes from lingering as he drips a mess onto your floor. His white sneakers squish, completely drenched down to his socks and he still somehow looks handsome as ever.

“Robin lives like two blocks away from you.” You arch your brow, flipping your lock to stop anymore horror movie cliches from happening, only for the string lights in your living room to flicker as you do. The energy in the air is laughing at you. 

Steve’s cheeks flush a deeper shade of the rosy pink they were from the cold of the storm, and that’s when you notice the shopping bag.

“Did your power actually go out?” The corners of your mouth twitch, crossing your arms across your chest. The bottom hem of your sweater lifts higher up your thighs and Steve licks his lips, following it.

“I don’t know why I said that,” he huffs out an awkward laugh, scratching the back of his neck. “What a weird lie, right?”

“Kinda,” you giggle, eyes catching the colorful packaging of the popcorn and Red Vines inside the plastic in his hand, the knot in your stomach tightens knowing that he’s been thinking about you too.

“I just felt like if I had called I wouldn’t-“ he coughs looking anywhere but you, “I heard from Eddie that Elvira’s Halloween special was on tonight and I just thought, you know we had kinda talked about it before-“

“Do you want to get out of those clothes?” You cut him off, making his eyes snap up wide. “I mean, wow, that came out a little forward.” 

It’s your turn to laugh awkwardly.

“Eddie just leaves stuff here all the time, I clean it obviously or it’d make my place reek.” You try to explain in an attempt to break the tension and it works when you get that lopsided grin that makes you go shy. “I’m sure I’ve got some sweats and a shirt that would fit, I can throw your wet clothes in the dryer if you want?”

Steve’s shoulders relax, nodding, pushing back that loose strand that drips falling over his forehead.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

——

When Steve hands you his wet clothes through the crack of your bathroom door, it makes your brain stop working for a second. You catch a glimpse of his bare back in the mirror, littered with more moles and freckles that would make the sky hidden behind the clouds jealous. With thicker thighs than your best friend, it makes the cotton of the sweatpants that hang low on his hips stretch tight over his butt. The dark patch of chest hair that’s always just been teased comes into full view right in front of you and your throat goes dry. Why did it look so soft? 

Steve catches you staring, the tips of his ears dusting red before mumbling a mess of sorry’s shutting the door again. You shout an awkward apology of your own, soft thumps on your carpet as you hurry the wet clothes to your dryer. Silently scolding yourself to get it together, feeling the heat rise from your neck to your face, even warming your ears. God, he looked even better without a shirt on.

“You’re good, everything’s chill, you’re totally fine it’s just Steve.” You whisper under your breath, tossing the clothes into the machine with a wet plop. The last part has you rolling your own eyes at yourself, throwing in a couple of dryer sheets for good measure. 

Your nerves make you want to keep busy, so you start rummaging through the bag he brought in the kitchen. Butterflies taking flight in your rib cage when it’s everything the two of you had picked out that first night. You bite your lip to hide your smile, opening the popcorn to put in the microwave when you hear the soft click of the bathroom door opening. His feet sound heavier than yours on the carpet,and you make sure to have your back towards him when he finally enters the kitchen. Plugging in the minutes, the loud beeps of your microwave only add to the tension that hangs thick, almost suffocating you in the air.

“I mean, everything fits… I guess.” 

He breaks the silence right as the low hum kicks on and you watch the small bag start to spin on the glass plate. You collect yourself quietly before turning around, not expecting the sight you’re met with to send you into a fit of giggles. Slapping a hand over your mouth in an attempt to stop it, you take in the faded black Iron Maiden shirt you gave him. 

You realize now with him standing in front of you that it's a size too small for the King of Hawkins, probably one of Eddie’s old one’s from high school. The worn fabric fits tight over his chest, making ‘Eddie’s’ face stretch distorted over his pecs. The sleeves look ready to burst at the seams, and the bottom hem refuses to meet the top of his sweats. Revealing a little sliver of his tan skin and the beginnings of the thick happy trail you’ve shamelessly thought so much about. 

It’s the cutest you think he’s ever looked, besides that one summer he worked at Scoops Ahoy. 

“Hey! That doesn’t make me feel very good.” Steve chuckles, his cheeks becoming a permanent shade of red for the night.

“No, no, you look cute!” You try to get out, but the snort he gives you in response makes you giggle harder. “I promise, I wouldn’t lie to you!”

The way your lips twitch when you say it makes his eyes roll, but even with a shake of his head, the smile on his face gives him away. He can’t be mad, not when you just called him cute.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say.” He runs a hand through his hair that’s already started to dry, curling in wisps behind his ears. The gold that kisses the tips shimmers in the low light of the kitchen. 

The unexpected first loud pops of the kernels stop any other words that sit on the tips of your tongues, making you both jump at the sudden outburst.

“Why don’t you go warm up on the couch, since you decided to come over for a date during the storm of the century and I’ll bring the snacks out.” You try to keep your tone as even as possible, refusing to meet his eyes after saying the ‘D’ word, busying yourself again with grabbing cups for some hot tea.

You wonder if he can hear your heartbeat from across the room in the moment of silence that follows. Not even realizing you're holding your breath until you feel the heat of his palm against the small of your back and it exhales through nervous lips. 

He smells like the rain that won’t stop pouring outside with notes of cedar from his cologne. There’s an undertone of the lilac from your dryer sheets. He’s spring in the middle of autumn, leaning in close to your ear.

“Only if I get to be the big spoon again.”

The way your cheeks push up, and your lashes flutter against the tops of them when he makes his intentions clear, he thinks he’d drive through a hurricane to get to you.

——-

When you get to the living room he’s lying where you were earlier, doing his best to get comfortable, but the size of the shirt has him pulling at the sleeves to get them to loosen up. Muttering under his breath, your giggle is what catches his attention. Big chestnut eyes look up at you, and all the annoyance on his face drains with a smile he can’t contain. 

“What? It’s literally cutting off my circulation.” He laughs sitting up, his hair now completely out of control. “You sure this is Munson’s?”

“Yes, but I’m starting to think from, like, junior year.” You try to hide your grin when his jaw drops in disbelief. 

“That explains a lot,” he scoffs 

You watch him lean forward to grab a handful of the popcorn, the fabric restricting him again, and both of you hear the faint sounds of a tear. His eyes lock with your in a dead stare making you throw your head back in a full bellied laugh. Rib cage tightening just like your chest with the realization of how much you actually like him. 

“I’m glad you’re having a good laugh, you’re lucky you’re so pretty, I’ll tell you that much.” He grumbles reaching forward for the popcorn again only this time is successful, probably due to the rip, and something shifts in the air when his words sink in. 

“Sometimes it gets me out of things.” You grin, a little shy just for him.

“I’m not surprised in the slightest.” He licks the butter off of his fingers, pink lips wrapping around the tips as he leans back into the cushions. He watches how it makes your thighs press, the corners of his mouth lifting in a smirk.

“Are you gonna keep hogging the couch or are you makin’ room for me?” You fake annoyance gesturing toward the way he's manspread on the cushions, doing your best to try and cover up how flustered you feel, but the way his eyes seem to light up tells you it isn’t working. 

Shifting himself back to lay on his side, he lifts the covers with raised eyebrows and the kind of shit eating grin you want to kiss off of him.

“I was just waiting to see if you were gonna stand the whole movie or not.” 

You make him snort when you roll your eyes, and he tries to play it cool when the smell of your apple blossom body wash fills his senses as you take the small space he’s made for you next to him. Swallowing hard, you leave a little bit of room between you, the nerves in your stomach starting to feel like an Olympic gymnast is competing for the gold. The heat of his breath fans against the back of your neck, his own insecurity making it come out a little shaky having you this close again. The tension breaks when he goes to wrap his arm around you and another sound of a rip hits both your ears.

“Jesus Christ,” he grumbles over your fit of giggles, his face turning a deeper shade of red that you can’t see. “I swear I’m not trying to take my clothes off but this is not working honey.”

His laugh puffs across your skin, making goosebumps rise when he shifts to sit up a little bit. Turning your head, you meet his anxious eyes over your shoulder.

“It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen you shirtless Harrington,” you tease, your own face heating up in memory of the view you got minutes ago in your bathroom.

“It’s not, like, going to make you uncomfortable or anything right? I swear this isn’t like a move - not that I don’t want to make a move -“ The boy looks panicked, his signature tell of running his hand through his hair coming into play.

“Steve, it’s fine, take it off” you giggle, “It’s clearly a size too small.”

He huffs out a breath he didn’t know he was holding, rosy cheeks deflating before a toothy grin spreads across his face.

“Okay, yeah, al-alright.”

You turn your attention back to the TV to give him some ‘privacy’, your heart going into overdrive when you see the fabric drop to the floor in front of you. The couch shifts under his weight as he lays back down, and for a second you think you can hear his heart over your own. Tentative hands find their way to your hips, fingers digging into your softness when he pulls you in, the warmth of his bare chest seeps through the thick fabric of your sweater and your body melts against it. You feel the way it makes him relax behind you, a stubble covered chin hooking over your shoulder while your feet tangle with his. A content hum, leaves from between his lips next to your ear, the tip of his nose nudging behind it as he snuggles closer and it feels like he’s breathing you in.

“Mmm, so what’d I miss?” His voice comes out a little sleepy, and you hate the way it makes your thighs press. You wonder if he could feel it.

“So basically this woman cons people to buy houses on this island,” you start, stuttering when you feel the tips of his fingers under your sweater that sits rucked up to your waist, “And when they get there someone had dumped human waste creating these giant ants that hate humans.”

“Oh that’s…interesting,” he tries, making you laugh and it has him smiling into the crook of your neck.

“It’s ridiculous, it’s okay, that’s why she’s making fun of it.” You grin, running your fingers down his forearm, finding his hand that's made a home on the curve of your tummy to give it a reassuring squeeze.

He takes the opportunity to keep you there, intertwining your fingers and pulling you even closer. The sound of the rain against your window gets heavier, and the roll of thunder gets louder. The flicker of your candles makes the storm raging outside seem relaxing from the inside, and you can’t believe he drove all the way over here in this, just to cuddle with you on the couch. Somehow trying to burrow yourself into him even deeper, the wiggle of your hips when you readjust makes the air shift. 

Your sleep shorts and the cotton of his sweatpants don’t hide what his jeans did. His grip on your hand tightens, and he bites his tongue to stop the moan that's begging to slip out when you do it again. His nose nudges harder behind your ear, exhaling a huff through it that makes you shiver. 

“Honey,” it comes out as more of a plea than a warning, his lips that you’ve yet to feel against your own ghosting against the sensitive spot on your neck.

The feeling of how much he wants you pressing into the small of your back is what gives you the courage to turn around in his arms, ready to finally do what you’ve wanted since the last time you found yourself here. He lets your fingers slip through his, always keeping his palm against your skin until it sits on the small of your back. Both of yours land on the dark patch of hair on his chest that's even softer than it looks, slowly sliding them up till the pads of your thumbs trace his collar bone. With your head resting on one of his arms, his other pulls your bodies flush together before his thigh finds space between your own sliding you close enough for your noses to brush.

His half lidded eyes meet yours, and your breath catches in your throat when you see how they darken. He takes his time, letting his hand roam on its way from your back, fingers tracing up your ribs before the warmth of his big palm envelopes the already heated skin on your cheek. His gaze flicks down to your parted lips, licking his own while his thumb traces the pout begging him for a kiss.

“Please,” he whispers ,not knowing he beat you to it.

The connection is soft at first, just your top lip brushing against his bottom but it’s enough to make every inch of your skin come alive. A low groan rumbling deep from his chest, vibrating against your hands. He meets your eyes one more time down the slope of his nose before he closes the distance with nothing held back anymore, kissing you in a way that makes you feel like you’ve never been kissed the right way before. It’s like he knows just how to make your toes curl when they slot together, the tip of his tongue wasting no time when you sigh giving him the opening he needs. The blunt ends of your nails dig into the warmth of his skin, leaving half crescent moons over his pecs that’ll be hidden by the thick chestnut hair that covers them.

Your tongue meets his eagerly, cedar and rain making you dizzy when the top of his thigh adds pressure to the heat between your legs. Your noses bump, teeth scraping together while his hand leaves your cheek to squeeze at your hips encouraging the small roll they start to do on their own. The mess in your underwear only gets worse letting you move against the hard muscle with ease, your fingers weaving in the soft hair at the nape of his neck when he flexes it for you. He growls low when you give the roots a gentle pull at the same time your teeth tug at his bottom lip, his self control to try and be a gentleman slipping away.

“Jesus Christ baby,” Steve gasps, the new nickname making you smile when you give him a softer kiss loving the way it makes his skin flush.

“You started it,” you whisper, watching the way his cheeks push up before he chases you for another one, which you gladly give, letting your lips linger when he hooks your leg over his hip. 

Close as close can get.

“Me?” He tuts, letting his hand slide up your thigh before squeezing at the curve of your ass, glancing down to see how you still roll against him “I don’t think so, you’ve been trying to take my clothes off since I walked through the door.”

He throws his head back with a laugh when you scoff, and you pretend to push him away only for his hold on you to tighten. His lips connect anywhere but yours as you play hard to get, trailing a wet path to your neck, teeth nipping at the spot that gets a sound from you that has him kicking up in his sweats. So he does it again, and this time he can’t stop the grind of his hips that meet yours when he gets you saying his name the same way. 

“And what do you think you’re doing now?” You try to tease but it comes out too breathy to be taken seriously, especially when he starts to suck where his teeth just grazed. 

He grins against your skin, nosing his way up your jaw before meeting your eyes again, something softening in the gold inside them that shines through the abyss. 

“You want the truth?” He asks, bringing his hand up to cup your face, the pad of his thumb tracing the small bags under your eyes with a gentle touch and all you can do is nod.

“I just want to make you feel good, god - it’s all I’ve thought about for so long. Just wanna treat you right, take things slow,” his thumb drags across your bottom lip watching the way your eyes glaze over at his words. “Take you out to nice dinners, watch all your favorite movies, hear about your day, but really what I want to do right now is make you cum on my tongue.”

“Steve,” his name comes out broken, the roll of your hips becoming more pointed, and the swelling in your chest makes you feel like you’re ready to explode.

“You want that pretty girl?” He whispers, leaning close so his lips brush against yours, his eyebrows furrowing when you grind a certain way, your clit catching his tip.

“Y-yeah,” you whimper, eyes big and pleading, turning into putty from his sweet words.

He gives you a kiss that’s more gentle than the rest, before sitting up on his haunches letting you fall into the empty space on your back. A big hand wrapping around your ankle, moving your leg out of his way so you’re spread with him in the middle. Leaning forward, his fingers curl around the elastic band of your sleep shorts, giving you one last look from under his lashes before tugging them down your thighs, throwing them on the floor with his shirt.

“Shit - baby.” He groans, running a hand through his hair when he sees the effect he really has on you. “Better than my dreams.”

All the blood rushes to your cheeks from his affection, as gentle hands run up your calves when he starts to lean forward, fingers curling under your knees to lift them over his freckled shoulders. Tucking your bottom lip between your teeth, you start to feel shy exposed to him like this for the first time. A kaleidoscope of new feelings settles deep in your gut when his hot breath hits your core, thighs tensing that the pads of his thumbs try to soothe. 

He looks up at you, from between your legs pressing a soft kiss to the place where your hip meets your thigh, making your back arch.

“You okay?” He whispers after another kiss, only this one on the inside of your thigh.

“Yeah, just nervous,” you giggle, feeling the warmth on your cheeks with your hand. If anyone would have told you that you’d have Steve Harrington between your legs begging to taste you a year ago, you’d have laughed in their face.

“Want me to stop?” He rests his cheek right where he kissed, looking content just to be doing this.

“No.” You smirk, reaching down to run a hand through his hair that was just begging for it, pushing back the stray that falls over his forehead.

He smiles, closing his eyes leaning into your touch for a minute before he turns his head, lips meeting your soft skin where he starts a path to where you want him most. You feel his breath and it sends a shiver down your spine, the tip of his nose spreading you apart first. He applies the kind of pressure against your bundle of nerves that makes you gasp, letting his tongue follow, collecting what you’ve already given him. 

“Oh my god, Steve,” you whine, when he flattens the pink muscle doing it again, groaning loudly at the taste of you. 

“So fuckin’ sweet, god, honey,” he mumbles against your cunt, replacing his nose with his lips, sucking your clit in a greedy way that makes your eyes hit the back of your head. 

His fingers dig hard enough into the meat of your thighs, that you’re sure they’ll be bruises in the morning. The tip of his tongue tracing your entrance that flutters around him, threatening to suck him in and he can’t help himself, giving your body what it wants. Both your hands find their way to his hair, tangling your fingers in his honey colored locks searching for purchase when he starts to taste your walls, creating a steady rhythm that has you rocking against his face for more.

“Yeah, you like that?” He grunts, extending his tongue as far as it can go, drool and slick starting to drip down your thighs as he starts to lose himself in you.

“Uh-huh,” is all you manage to get out, jaw going slack at the way he feels like he’s eating you from the inside out, like he’s thought about this longer than a few weeks.

One of his hands lets go of your thigh while he starts to focus his attention back on your clit making you gasp when you feel the thickness of his finger press itself against where his tongue just was. The stretch makes you keen when he pushes one knuckle deep with ease, distracting you when he pushes the second one in as he starts to suck on your bundle of nerves.

“God - baby,” he gasps, when your walls take the third knuckle in by themselves, and it’s only then you notice the way he’s rutting against the couch in search of his own friction. 

Your head pushes back into the cushions when he curves it, hitting the spot that only you’ve ever found on your own, and it has you babbling, your hips rolling up greedily for more which he gives you when he adds a second finger.  He sets a pace that has your lashes fluttering against your cheeks after he lets you adjust to feeling so full.  

“Come on, I can feel it, you’re close huh?” He asks against your clit, making you shudder, nodding your head when he starts flicking it with a wild tongue.

“Steve, Steve, Steve,” you whine, eyes closing tight, the band inside of you going taut, your hips grinding against his face without abandon as you try to take his fingers even deeper.

The sound of his name leaving your kiss bitten lips like a prayer makes a moan rumble deep from his chest, and it vibrates against your cunt, giving you just enough extra stimulation to make it snap. Vision going white behind your eyes, your body tenses while your mouth opens in a scream that falls on deaf ears when nothing actually comes out.

“Honey, honey, honey,” he babbles, his hips stuttering while his tongue refuses to stop despite the way your body shakes. 

You murmur his name in a daze, trying to push his head away as you reach the verge of overstimulation and it takes him the third shove for him to finally listen, addicted to the way you taste. Feeling empty when he pulls his fingers out, your body betrays you trying to get them to stay.  He kisses the inside of both of your thighs, smirking against your skin when your legs twitch because of it, slowly sliding his body up the length of yours. Skin flushed, and lips shining, you’d be embarrassed if he didn’t look like he just won the lottery.

His nose nudges yours before his lips steal a kiss that you eagerly give despite feeling so spent. Your fingers finding their way back into the hair at the nape of his neck, a smile tugging up the corners of your mouth when you feel the warmth of his own release in the cotton of the sweats.

“I hope you have another pair of pants for me.” He laughs, embarrassment making the tips of his ears turn red, the warm color only deepening when you grin and you realize you have more than just a crush on Steve Harrington.

[matrixbearer2024]

Tiny Vox part 2?

Idk if you'll use this but I just want to give it to you.

I kind of headcannon tiny vox the be dumber, because the unprepared small body can't load all his data very well. So I imagine Vox, being stupidly in love, trying the help them when they are doing the dishes or working on their hobby bit he is just making more of a mess and smiling dumbly in love. Like when reader likes to draw heb grabs a random coloured pencil and bring it to them. You know just adorable but unhelpful.

Pocket-sized Partner: VoxPet™️ Care Guide

Tiny!Vox x Reader

A/N: So uhhh- here's a teeny little Headcanon thing while I write the continuation for the VoxPet series because I love smol TV guy. That and I'm starting to slightly feel the burnout, well- I can't tell if that's the right term since I'm starting to look at my ideas and realize that they're starting to lack the coherence and polish they used to. ANYWAY! Here's a Headcanon list for the small guy before I post the continuation for it- so I hope you guys enjoy! Happy reading!

So given Vox's mostly bionic/mechanical biology, it makes sense that he doesn't necessarily regenerate the same as other more organic(flesh-based) sinners.

Instead, he has spare bodies to upload his consciousness and switch into if the one he's using gets damaged and needs repairs or is just not worth saving.

Hence he has a couple spares lying around.

It's just in this instance, the only spare he had left was in a less than desirable condition-

And the others were still broken or just beyond repair.

Having a his brain be it's own practical digital entity also plays into this, I'd think in his paranoia he'd have copies of his own data stored in cloud servers all over the pride ring too.

So it won't be easy should someone try to get rid of him.

Anyway, back to the body switching.

So this new body Vox took is a very underpowered and overutilized little thing.

Imagine running a Skyrim with over a thousand mods on the highest graphics using a 7 year old dell laptop.

Yeah. That's what Vox is currently doing.

The small body is already running at full capacity with his overload of data and it's not even all of it.

Just the basic necessities like his personality and habits.

Like, what make Vox- vox.

Everything else like his schedules, alarms, work, etc.

They're just uploaded to a cloud server with the rest of his complete data.

Oh I forgot to mention, in his haste to make this tiny cute form-

He totally forgot to give it the ability to form even basic speech patterns.

Hence the squeaking and beeping.

He actually can't talk, not that the small body would even have any more processing room if he did do that.

Vox merely figured that you'd probably find some enjoyment anyway in his predicament until the new spare parts arrived and he didn't want to keep moving around dripping coolant and blood accompanied by some sparking wires.

Let's not even mention the cracked screen.

His face being messed up was probably the least of his issues there too.

So you kind of had to take care of him as that small little guy in that hastily put together body.

Also, because it's so underpowered and practically at it's peak use-

Vox can't actually really use his powers much.

Which he didn't realize only until after he flipped out when Velvette and Valentino found him when the staff were panicking from him suddenly going AWOL.

In this tiny body, he only has his generally human memorization skills to recall important things.

Not his flawless computer memory, which was lumped in with the data this body couldn't hold.

He did thank his lucky stars that you weren't so upset about the state he was in though.

You'd often flip the hell out when he got hurt or just had blatant disregard for his own wellbeing.

I mean, when you can switch bodies like the socks on your feet would you be careful too?

I wouldn't, I'd try every single way to die just out of sheer curiosity and boredom-

Anyway, after you got over the initial shock of seeing your boyfriend all plushie sized and everything-

You better bet he got fucking spoiled.

Literally like a chihuahua in a purse moment.

Y'all know those build a bear clothes and accessories?

Yeah no you'd dress Vox up and down in those tiny things and he just couldn't stop you.

He could figure out how to delete all the photos you'd taken when he got back to normal.

But if being treated like a doll was all it took for you to just drown him in kisses and hugs-

You better bet this man would go ahead and pull something like this again.

Plus the compulsion to just aggressively cuddle the life out of him-

Well he's already dead but the point stands.

He can't help but soak up your affection like a thirsty sponge though.

You do eventually realize that he actually has to be plugged in to recharge though.

Plugged in by a port on the back of his teeny head.

What, where did you think he'd put it?

You're glad that Vox tends to leave all sorts of cords of different lengths around your apartment.

Something to do with his work?

You had half a brain to tie him up with those said cords sometimes-

It was irritating at first but after you organized them to keep, at least you didn't dispose of them since you needed them now-

For once the hardware spaghetti was actually useful.

And thank goodness for the long wire, because he'd become extremely clingy after all the attention and affection you'd given him.

Tiny dude was sitting on your lap being pet and coddled while charging.

All while you were reading a book.

Yep. He was a spoiled little shit.

You also realized that he didn't need to eat because of the charging thing-

But he could if he wanted to.

As proven when Vox just took a small part of your meal and slowly ate it.

It wasn't even a full bite for you but it looked comically big in his tiny hands.

He installed a proper digestive system but not a text to speech thing.

Sometimes you wondered if your boyfriend's priorities were a little more wayside that you originally took them for.

He was so cute trying to help you with the dishes though.

Couldn't really do much because of how small he was-

Not to mention the fact you didn't even want to risk any more damage to him since electronics and water are generally not a good mix-

But he tried, and you'd count him being adorable as helpful emotional support anyway.

Even if he really didn't do anything aside from play with the bubbles and smile cutely at you.

If he didn't have an empire and corporation to run you might actually just keep him like this-

Even when you were looking over at some documents his secretary sent over to sign-

You guessed it was because Vel mentioned that Vox was in your care for the time being.

He was wobbling around holding a pen that was probably half his size.

Again cute as hell, but an unhelpful distraction-

Now when you went to sleep?

You plugged Vox in again and just cuddled him against your chest.

The same thing happens when he "sleeps" whether big or in this form anyway.

Screen dims and then his company logo screensaver pops up.

Anyway, I say sleep in quotations because Vox doesn't actually sleep in the conventional sense.

It's just one of the many ways he can physically recharge.

So if he does sleep it's often by choice or because he just passes out.

If he wanted to keep going physically, Vox could just directly connect himself into a power outlet and not ever run out of juice.

Mentally though- it's why he actually needs our version of sleep.

Or periods of system shutdown where he can actually mentally recuperate.

Otherwise he'd be a cracked out delirious mf hyped up on caffeine.

Which he is sometimes regardless.

Either way, you'd pet and cuddle him until he fell asleep before you would also succumb to slumber.

When you woke up though, he somehow ended up cuddling your face.

You had no idea when that even happened.

He greeted you with a happy beep and a heart on his tiny face when you woke up though.

It was probably selfish as hell but now you really wanted to keep him like this just a little longer-

[reds-writings]

Ooo any grump/sunshine day to day with old man Rust!!! Maybe fluff prompt pt.2 #3 or #6!

You’re writings for Rust are incredible please never stop! <3

i mostly combined 3 and 6 with this ask and went with something kinda new?? this features a nurse!reader with a bit of an age gap taking place but nothing crazy. i love the sunshine/grumpy trope so i hope you enjoy!! (also I'm trying out using a placeholder nickname for the reader so i don't have to use y/n as much so pls let me know if y'all enjoy that at all)

When Marty first sprung the idea of a temporary at-home caretaker on Rust the man had half the mind to think the blonde was just being a tremendous chain-yanking shit. But his friend was dead serious and it was less of a ‘think on it’ idea and more of a ‘I got Maggie to pull some strings and a nurse will be coming in next week’ idea. No matter how much Rust reared and protested Marty insisted that he have someone to keep an eye on him since Marty couldn’t be his personal maid for much longer given that it had already been a couple of weeks since their hospital visit courtesy of that fucker Childress. 

Rust didn’t want a damned nurse. He wasn’t some pathetic geriatric fuck in desperate need of some lousy assistance. Sure, anytime he moved too much or stood for too long he felt like he’d pass out from the pain of the wound that nearly took up his whole abdomen but that didn’t mean jack shit. Marty brushed off any complaints without so much a blink and kept reassuring that it’d do the grump some good to have company other than himself or the neverending onslaught of his usual doomsday-esque thoughts. The day you showed up at Marty’s door bright and early on a Monday morning with a smile too genuine for Rust to fully comprehend, you were not at all what he was expecting. 

Not that he really had any expectations to begin with. Maybe that you’d be older. More seasoned. Not nearly 10 years or so his junior. Certainly not possessing such a radiantly pleasant disposition that no one else seemed to harbor anywhere around these parts. He wasn’t above immediately clocking the beauty you exuded but eyeing younger women was more of Marty’s MO than his own. 

You seemed untouched by the vast ugliness of what the world fostered. There weren’t many moments where you didn’t have a look of general felicity painted on the soft planes of your face. It was a habit of yours to wear brightly patterned or colored scrubs that he, at first, deemed a semi-loathsome eyesore (which then eventually grew on him). An array of silly patches and pins allowed on your work bag full of the necessities you slung along for the day’s endeavors with him. Kitschy socks you kept as a hidden surprise within the confines of your clogs that you’d show to him even if he never gave the inclination that he cared about something so trivial. Your unmoving cheeriness translated to a certain form of naivety that had something ugly burning beneath the prison of his ribs. At first, he thought he just felt this brand of annoyance towards a preconceived notion of cluelessness you carried but over time it found itself melting away into a subconscious need to shelter you from the horrors of earth. 

It took plenty of time to chip away at that impossible exterior of his but with your incessant refusal to let his initial gruffness and straight-up disregard of your presence deter you he had no choice but to give in to your efforts of friendly engagement.

Given that there wasn’t much to do for him care-wise besides keep his wounds clean, change bandages, make sure he didn’t collapse, and keep up with any meds he was prescribed post-hospital stay you took on the role of making the passing days a little more interesting than they’d usually be if he were by his lonesome. You’d find little non-exertive exercises to do in the afternoon to keep his muscles from getting too weak. Drag him along to the grocery store to shop so that you could try out some new recipes you saved online. You were steadfast in making g sure he wasn’t just surviving off the cigarettes and beer he’d stubbornly sneak behind your back. You also made it a goal to keep up with trimming that bristly mustache of his and making sure his hair didn't get too unruly. You’ve gone as far as to bug him about letting you practice your braiding skills so that you could fulfill your niece’s creative hairstyle wishes but no dice. One day you’d wear him down enough into agreeance. That was becoming easier, though, wearing him down for just about anything. One look at those doe-ish eyes and the battle he was prepared to fight had already been lost. Rust had a feeling you were more clever than anyone probably gave you credit for but there was no use in acknowledging that your stare was having an increasingly strengthened hold on him. 

To say Marty was absolutely tickled by the noticeable change in his friend’s demeanor throughout this new development was an understatement. It was about time there was something Rust somewhat enjoyed besides stewing over the point of humanity’s existence or yapping on about unsavory ideas involving shit like damnation. It didn’t take long for your attitude and delightful qualities to earn you the nickname Sunny. Marty deemed it exceedingly fitting and even Rust found himself playing into it much to everyone’s surprise. Hearing it from him had a splendid giddiness sparking throughout your system more than you’d like to admit. 

Today you’d driven him out near the water where you both could sit and read for a while. You always stressed the importance of fresh air doing him some good and he never complained. If it meant getting him out of Marty’s bachelor pad here and there he’d let you drag him anywhere as far as Timbuktu. As chatty as you could be, you stayed mindful of any moment of solitude he may require during these daily visits. Sometimes it was nice to just exist and absorb the ambiance the outside world had to offer in each other’s presence and for that he was grateful. 

“You’re starting to walk better on your own, Rusty.” You broke the bubble of serenity, looking up from your book –some light read of a romance– to fix him with a small smile that quirked the corner of your lips. The sun’s fading light drenched your figure in the hues of impending dusk and some nagging part of him found it to be an effortlessly alluring sight despite its simplicity. You’d have to be calling it a night soon but what was a few more stolen moments in each other's company? 

“Yeah, s’gettin’ a bit easier I suppose. Soon enough I’ll be back to mostly functional as opposed to some lame cripple.” He replied in dry amusement, dog-earing the page he was on to bring his full attention to you. Marty often gave him flack for his outgrown hippie look but it added some sort of rugged appeal in your opinion. Not that you’d ever find the courage to forgo any sense of professionalism by making your whims involving Rust Cohle known. But as he looked at you now with weathered blue you couldn’t help but give in to the ideas of something beyond this current format of companionship. 

“Cripple is a bit of an exaggeration. You’ll be up and at em’ before you know it. Though it sucks I won’t be of much use no more.” There was a twinge of sadness in your voice and he hated the frailty of it.  

“Ah…don’t worry, Sunny. There’ll be some other helpless old soul who’ll need you around.” 

“That’d imply you’re just some helpless old fart in the throng of said souls. Which you’re not. Plus, none have ever entertained me as you do.” You chirped in that playful matter-of-fact way you often do. 

“Entertainin’. Hm. That’s new.” He shook his head before looking out toward the water. 

“Even if your physical health will no longer be of issue I’ll make it my new mission to spruce up that self-deprecating brain of yours. Not that I’m necessarily trained within the realm of mental health but I can youtube it or something. I have my ways.” You wiggled your fingers in jest as if casting a spell. In truth, it was as if you already had when you came around all those weeks ago. 

“Can’t get rid of you that easily I’m guessin’.” He shot back in a lousy attempt at a joke. Whether you could read his poorly hidden desire to keep you around or not, he couldn’t tell.

“You know by now I’m like a leech. A cute, fun leech! It’ll take a lot to get rid of me for good,” You paused with a bout of slight insecurity, “unless you don’t want me around to bother you longer. I know I can be a bit much sometimes-”

“You can stick around, Sunny. Can’t have Marty as my only friend. That’d be plain sad.” He was playing it off cool, unaware of the barrage of butterflies he had set off in your chest with that simple statement. 

“I might have to alert the masses now that you consider me a friend. This is by no means a small feat– wait does this mean I can practice my braiding finally?! My niece is getting antsy and I-”

“Don’t push your luck.” He had to look away from the blinding beam of your cheek-splitting smile as he moved to stand up. Without fail, you rushed to his side to place your dainty hand into his so that you could help. The small action sent lightning down the length of his spine. The warmth of your joking jabs about your newfound title of friendship encased his whole being. He couldn’t help but think back on the conversation he’d had with Marty outside of the hospital, about light versus dark. Perhaps you manifesting into his orbit was another indicator that the light just might actually be winning. 

[rebeccathenaturalist]

So. My partner and I have a holiday tradition where we go to at least one, sometimes multiple, bookstores and buy each other piles of books. It's a fun once-a-year splurge, and so we both usually end up with a great array of new and secondhand books to enjoy throughout the year. We ended up delaying things until Powell's had their Friends and Family sale, and hit up a couple of their locations along with a few other local bookstores. I got some pretty awesome stuff this year, but this has to be my best find:

It's exactly the kind of thing one would use to bait a trap for me (along with assorted cheese and warm, cozy wool socks). I collect field guides, and this one is delightfully niche. I almost put it back after reading the title because I've been trying to cut back a little on adding to my pretty, artistic vintage field guides in favor of up to date books for research. But then I looked inside:

Look at that. This isn't just discussing the general fur patterns and textures of mammal hairs. It's a bunch of microscopic photos of each type of hair of each species listed, showing unique cuticle textures that can be used to identify an animal based on a single hair. I mean, this is one of those areas of nature identification I knew existed but had just never really delved into myself.

Oh, and it's been out of print for ages and is basically impossible to find online. The chances of me finding this again were pretty slim. And for fourteen bucks less 30%? SOLD.

I really appreciate how several canids were included, like the gray wolf, coyote, coydog, German shepherd, and Labrador retriever (really cool to see how the textures of the two domesticated breeds differed!) I can also see where this would be really useful if you have some sort of pack-hunting canids going after livestock and you manage to find a bit of hair; I wonder how many wild species would be exonerated in cases where it's actually domestic or feral dogs causing trouble?

I'm also really intrigued by this note on the porcupine's page. Is it caution over issues identifying porcupine hairs, or did Moore et. al. write an entire study (or book) on reasons to exercise caution when collecting and examining a porcupine's hairs? (Probably best to save the examination for hairs that are not still attached to said porcupine.)

Anyway. This is a really cool addition to the field guide collection that's got me wanting to break out my microscope once I have the book manuscript done and have a little more time.

[ofallthingsnasty]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-KciIbk_oA&pp=ygUWcG9tZXJhbmlhbnMgdHVnIG9mIHdhcg%3D%3D

This is one of my new fav videos of two Pomeranian puppies playing tug of war and I just imagine basement wife having TWO purse dogs and they’re playing tug of war like that. She thinks it’s so cute and adorable until she realizes what they are trying to rip to shreds is one of Crocodile’s ties whoops 😬

(I love how the doggos in this video are literally just…potatoes with legs)

link to the video - oh goodness, that is so cute 😭💕

part one, two and three of basement wife and puppy, minors dni

Hold on, hold on - first we have to talk about the fact that he got you two puppies, not one? My, you must have been exceptionally good for him. Husband of the year award would probably go to Crocodile if it wasn't for the fact that you're with him against your will 😭

Two little dogs... How much they'd light up your drab life. Always playing with each other, chasing the other through the halls, vying for your attention. You could just watch them all day, even while they're napping. You'll probably try your best to put together toys/parkours with what you can get your hands on (but always careful not to damage anything, you put everything back into the proper place lest Crocodile catches you). Bracelets and heavy jewelry get re-purposed to drape them on your little poms, anything to tickle your brain and get a least a smile out of you. Whenever he's in particularly good humor, he leaves some treats around so you can train them (or at least try to, with how inconsistent it all is) - paw, spin, jump, and your favorite: kisses - they're pretty much all you have and you pour all of your love into them.

But you're not the only one getting bored - it's not like you can take them out for adventures, so your territory is also theirs. And a little dog explores that all too quickly, especially a sassy one like a pom. You'll find them going through cupboards you never knew they'd be able to reach, hiding under the sofa or sitting smack-dab in the middle of it, ruining the bed, fighting over your socks like they're made out of precious metals. It makes you a little sad to see them confined to the same hamster wheel that you are, but all you can do is let them have their fun and clean up after them. (Because when Crocodile catches on, he likes to punish both you and them by keeping you apart. The dogs, like you, are decoration, something to put a smile on his favorite possession's face, so they better not piss into some corner or tear apart the expensive cushions of his favorite chaise.)

So when you notice that the fabric they're fighting over is way too tight to be a sock - and worse yet, finely patterned in a way you recognize - you try to save the remnants, desperately telling your tiny pups to stop, stop, stop before their little teeth can tear the tie to shreds. But it's too late - it's already full of dog saliva and clearly chewed on at the edges, coupled with the distinct smell of animal, not your husband's favorite cologne.

He's not a man you want to hide this from (not to mention that you have no place to tuck it away, nothing truly belongs to you in this place), because he'll figure it out as soon as he'll search for that particular one some day. A punishment is inescapable - but would turn way worse if kept away from him. Disobedience and dishonesty are grave offenses to a man like Crocodile, offenses that might result in you losing your little companions if pushed too far. So you gasp and bear the bloody welts on your ass and the cock shoved down your throat out of frustration right afterwards - anything to make it up to him, anything to keep them.

[fastwiemagie]

I had a mighty itch to sew something new for this year's Vienna pride parade! I have my amazing rainbow dress of course, but I kinda wanted to add to my rainbow closet. I have a couple more clothing ideas, but due to what fabric I could find last minute I went with a rainbow flag skirt, with the 6 classic colours.

(So, red - orange - yellow - green - blue and purple.) Doing something with the updated flag would be cool aswell, though I see that one more as a top. I don't know why, but that's how it is! Anyway, for this year's new rainbow skirt I went with linen fabric - because linen is amazing and I love it dearly. Linen always makes me happy and I DEFINITELY need more linen clothes for sure!!

The skirt is made up of 12 stripes (/rectangles) of fabric: each 66cm wide and about 70cm long. I used the pre-made edges of the fabric for the hem, because I like the effect that gives the hem (and it also saved me a ton of work with hemming the almost 8m hem circumference the skirt ended up with!!). Each of the 12 stripes of fabric was gathered down to about 16cm at the top, (after sewing together all the sides) and then attached to the purple waistband.

And yes of course the skirt also has pockets!!!

There was a hole in the green fabric, which I immediately had to mend before it gets bigger. I covered it with a fabric patch cut from a scrap of the green fabric (see pic 5 for what I did, I folded the scrap around the paper shape I've drawn, removed the paper and hand stitched it over the hole).

[id]9 pictures in total:

First two show freshly bought fabric in rainbow colours: red - orange- yellow - green - blue - purple arranged in semi-rainbow-shape on a wooden table. The fabric is folded up in different rectangles. Under the fabric are 5 rolls of satin ribbon arranged. The satin ribbon is in the colours of the lesbian pride flag.

Pic 3 shows the washed fabric hanging on a metal drying rack, so it can air dry.

Pic 4 shows the cut to lenght individual pieces of fabric lying next to a purple/violett sewing machine, all ready for action!

Pic 5 is a close up of a paper pattern piece about to be cut out, with a pencil, a cute purple ruler, sewing thread and a brown muffin shaped pin cushion arranged aesthetically.

Pic 6 shows the rectangles already joined into a skirt, with the top edge gathered down, lying on the wooden table next to the sewing machine.

Pic 7 and 8 are close ups from the pride parade: they show a young fat white woman with long brown hair wearing a sunny-yellow summer top with big poofy sleeves and a red sports bra underneath. She's got classes and for accessories magenta coloured felt flower earrings (with yellow flower middles) and a rainbow flower necklace. You can see her friend in the background of the close-up (with her head cut off). It's a thin white woman, wearing a shiny silver-white close fitting cropped bodice and a circle skirt with pink, white and purple srtripes on it. Pic 8 shows the above mentioned two young women hugging and enjoying a moment of peace. There's a rainbow banner ceiling above them.

Finally, Pic 9 shows the young fat white woman with long brown hair standing ontop of a relatively empty pride parade truck, she's smiling and showing off her rainbow flag skirt. A green cloth scarf is tied like a belt around her waist and you can now see that she's wearing dark red velvet shoes with socks in a very similar colour. [/id]

[sidney-latrobe]

I am not the girl

Summary: You have a bad habit, and its name is Xavier.

Word Count: 692

Warning: kinda depressing, smut if you squint, toxic relationship vibes, short, midnight thoughts

I am not the girl

His hands on my waist, calloused fingertips from excessive painting roughly pushing my shirt up, his mouth against my neck, thin lips kissing and sucking at the skin, his warm breath fans against the wet pools where his tongue darted between his lips and when he breathes against them, it feels cold and electric like jumping into cold water. I chuckle as his fingers fumble with the buttons on my blouse. I suppose I could have dressed more simply. Despite his skill with his brushes and fingers, buttons appear to bother him, especially when his mind is otherwise occupied. Xavier growls in despair and pulls his lips away from my bruised neck to concentrate on my clothes. I bite my lower lip as I watch Xavier, shirtless, his chest glistening with sweat, struggle to free me from my garment, and when I chuckle again, he jerks at the white fabric until it rips and buttons fly across the room.

            “No bra,” hums Xavier, pleased, and lets his eyes roam over my exposed chest.

            “I didn’t want you to get frustrated again,” I grin.

            “I think you got excited sneaking to my room half-naked,” smirks Xavier before he connects our lips. I savour the taste of his mint toothpaste, the softness of his long hair, and the way he pushes his nose against mine to instruct me to move my head and give him better access. “You’re such a good kisser,” he praises and kisses me again. “And your lips are so fucking soft.”

            “It’s Vaseline.”

            “It’s heaven.”

             My heart swells, and I hate myself. No matter how many sweet nothings Xavier whispers in my ear when he is buried deep inside me or pulls me against his chest underneath the covers, they will always just be that; sweet little nothings.  

            Xavier wastes no time to free me of the rest of my clothing without ruining anything else, but I don’t care. He could tear my jeans and socks and underwear into shreds and burn them for all I care. I suppose there really isn’t anything I won’t forgive him. I moan and throw my head back, and Xavier smirks before he increases the strength of his grip on my thighs, pushing his shoulders between my trembling legs to keep them from collapsing and closing. If he thinks my lips are heaven, his tongue is hell.

            “Is it okay if we —”

            “Yes.”

            “You don’t even know what I was going to ask.”

            “You sent me a text saying, “U up?” at 2 in the morning. I think we both knew how this was going to end. Can we skip the part where you pretend to have feelings for me and just have sex?” Xavier furrows his brows, and I sigh. “Look, if you’re not into this anymore, I can just go.”

            “No,” said Xavier too quickly, and I scold myself for the hope that somersaults in my stomach. “I don’t want you to go.”

            I don’t want to go either. I want to stay here, with you, in your arms, but I don’t say these things to him. I did once (maybe a couple of times), but Xavier always said the same things: “We’re just friends that fuck sometimes”, “You’ll feel different in the morning”, and “I don’t see you that way.”

            “I’m here,” I tell him and look at the long-memorized pattern of the few freckles across his nose and cheeks. “I’m not going anywhere.”

            I'll be stuck with him forever; I'll respond to his text in the middle of the night within minutes, but he can't even be bothered to answer when I call his name across the Quad. I'll always spread my legs and welcome his wicked tongue because I enjoy it. But I dread waking up before him in the morning because when I do, I see the person I absolutely despise because I fell for them, and I leave to save him the moment of realization when the spell of lust is broken, and he wants to kick me out of his room in the kindest way imaginable. It’s pathetic. And so am I.

[unfinishedsweaters]

(They’re fancy because they’re very soft, not because of the elaborate stitch patterns they simply do not have etc. Intended as luxury post-fishing/wading socks for someone with smaller feet than mine. I am pretty stoked with how they’ve turned out and just deeply hoping they get worn til they wear out, rather than saved.

Honestly, for myself, I still feel like I’d rather have a pair of very plush manufactured hiking socks than anything, but right now, I’m getting to a point where my own little collection of handknit socks is pretty satisfying. I like it when they’re all clean and folded up together and then I’ve got a full week of fairly decent socks. (The black and grey ones are just the right amount of silly. Like! They barely look striped, but if you know you can absolutely tell the last couple stripes are a print faux jacquard yarn that doesn’t match anything else. Kind of nice to have silly socks that suit you.) I like that the oldest ones are still wearable after at least a decade, although they’re getting additional thin spots and need some preventative duplicate stitch again, and the socks o’ Theseus joke is pretty old by now. I also definitely like putting a dent in the accumulated sock yarns and finally converting them to useful socks.)

*Kind of one of those “dude, if you didn’t warrant the cashmere I wouldn’t’ve used the cashmere” situations, but I probably need a politer way to say it as this relationship is a little too formal for that.

[woollywooloo]

So I am becoming less and less interested in following patterns and more interested in kinda bumbling along and making up my own (a big part of that is also about saving money honestly lol) I have a 25 hour flight coming up in about a week and I want to make some thigh high socks, I have already ordered the yarn for it earlier and it'll get here a couple days before I need to go! in the mean time I need to take measurements and figure out just how to go about knitting them so that they will actually fit and not be weirdly shaped tubes lol

since I have only one knitting friend I figured I would ask the wonderful world of tumblr for some help and direction on where to start SO would it be best to measure around my thigh where I want the socks to come up to and then measure my knee, the biggest part of my calf and my ankle, then the distance between each and figure out the rate to decrease and increase based on those measurements?

[luthiest]

Could you please recommend knitting tools/supplies and other things for first time/beginner knitters? I’ve seen how expensive some things are and it’s a little overwhelming. Thank you❣️

hi!! yeah knitting is not exactly a cheap hobby… there’s definitely a point where being able to make and mend things rather than paying top dollar for quality assurance and design can be more cost effective, but that point is pretty far down the line.

as far as tutorials go, there are a ton of good youtube channels out there, but NimbleNeedles and SoWolly are two of my favorites. nimbleneedles is one i like for technique explanations and tips because the colors are very crisp and the explanations are trimmed and easy to understand. sowolly, i like for exploring new stitch patterns and textures, which are a pretty low stakes brain/technique exercise that you can do with any kind of yarn and needles.

for tools, there are a couple things you will be needing for just about every project: needles, a darning needle, stitch markers, and a small crochet hook/stitch fixer. (technically, everything but the needles are optional, but these tools all save you a ton of time and effort as you go on) most of these things can just be found at a local craft store for pretty cheap, but for stitch markers, id recommend getting a bunch of these bulb pins ! they serve just about every purpose imaginable.

needles:

these are categorized by shape, material, and size. the basic shapes are circular, straight, and double pointed (you’ll see these called “dpn’s”). when shopping for needles, be aware that they are labeled generally with the diameter of the needle either in mm or a US#, and the length of the needle or cord in cm/in. you will need the diameter to match the recommended needle size on the yarn u have! (usually found somewhere on the label where it has the gauge. example: 10cm x 10xm = 20sts x 23 rows)

circular: connected by a flexible cord, best for knitting in the round (aka knitting in a continuous circle to make a tube) but can also be used for knitting flat.

straight: straight with a bulb at one end, are used to knit flat pieces.

double pointed: straight with points at either end, can be used to knit flat, but are best for knitting in the round, particularly when the size of the tube is variable, like in hats or socks.

for a beginner, the most cost effective needles will depend on the projects you’re undertaking. if you plan on getting your feet under you with just flat knitting for the time being, a pair of bamboo straight needles will serve you well! in my case, the majority of the projects i did starting out were in the round, so i actually began with a set of circular needles. i found this blog post that has a great overview of needle types and price options for increasing experience levels!

when knitting in the round, you’ll find that the majority of your expenses going into projects will be rebuying needles of the same size but different lengths and cord lengths. if you plan on making lots of projects with circular needles, i would recommend buying only 1 pair of needles in the appropriate size with a long cord, (more than 24 inches) perfecting first the traveling loop technique, then magic loop. these 2 techniques will save u a lot of money on downsizing circular cord lengths. (arguably the same can be done by using dpn’s, but i personally think these techniques minimize the risk of mistakes early on)

so however you decide to start out, flat or circular, i think looking for bamboo needles will be the most cost effective and beginner friendly material, since they have more friction than plastic or metal needles, and stitches will not slip off as easily. also, if they are too pointy or not pointy enough, you can always modify the tips easily with sand paper.

your other main expense will be YARN. and boy is it expensive. you’re going to have to experiment with a lot of fibers to see what you actually like knitting with, but this post from nimbleneedles is a fantastic place to start. his breakdowns of fibers and gauge are great, and i totally agree about wool being the most agreeable and versatile fiber to start out on! i would avoid cotton and synthetic fibers while you’re still learning.

i hope this has been helpful!!! i’m no expert by any means, but i definitely made a lot of ill-advised purchases early on lolol. please let me know if you want a second opinion on a purchase, have any burning questions about a pattern abbreviation, or if you’re struggling with something and want to know if there are other ways to do it—odds are, there are. (this last point is specifically about norwegian purling. iykyk, it blew my mind last month)

edit: link to the instagram of the 2nd hand fiber arts shop !! @swansonsfabrics

[simplefelicity]

What I bought in 2023

this is the first in a series of posts in which i reflect on my 2023 from a financial perspective, using data from my financial journal.

initially i wanted to just list everything i paid for chronologically, but then i realized that data without analysis is not going to be much useful. so here is all i bought in 2024, divided in categories!

these are all unnecessary purchases (so no groceries, rent, etc).

material stuff

a kpop photocard. i’ve already talked about this, i think. there were a couple of months at the beginning of the year in which i desperately wanted to collect photocards of this particular kpop artist. i already had 2 but when i finally decided to buy this third one, i realized that i was quite underwhelmed. i do appreciate them and look at them from time to time but the itch to spend even more money on them disappeared. i’m glad i did buy it, though, because otherwise i would have spent months obsessively thinking about wanting to buy one. giving in once meant peace of mind afterward.

plastic reusable water bottle. kind of a fail. i would love to use it more, but i’d need to hand wash it (if i don’t want the water to taste like soap) and i just can’t be bothered. i’m sure i’ll use it while traveling. also, it was super cheap for a reason! the nozzle is too big and uncomfortable. oh well, you live and learn.

new passport photos. that was unfortunately necessary & they are horrible photos too. frustrating.

socks. i was on a trip and forgot to bring socks, so i had to buy some there.  

jewelry box. got it secondhand on Vinted after much thought. i don’t have much of a jewelry collection (if any) but i’d like to. i also wanted to get rid of all the small boxes and condense everything in 1 place. which worked for a while, but then someone gifted me more boxes and i can’t get rid of those ones, so that was kind of a fail.

2 secondhand books. i seriously do not need more books (i own like 20 that i haven’t read yet) but i have already read & resold one book so i’m not bothered about it. my rules with book buying are: 1) only if it’s secondhand, 2) only one for every secondhand bookshop i visit, 3) only stuff from my TBR list (that’s a more flexible rule, though). i’d say that it pretty much worked.

1 manga volume. I've been collecting this series for years because i love the art but, i've come to realize, not so much the story. i've decided to not purchase the next volume and am debating whether to sell the whole series as well.

yarn. i bought yarn for a sweater, for socks (three times), and for a cardigan (and its pattern). all in all, i’m satisfied with this amount. knitting can get expensive but i only bought yarn for planned projects, used my stash for at least another small 5 projects and i don’t think i’ll have to buy sock yarn for a while! money wise, i only had one doubt. a friend who also crochets told me that the website i buy my garment yarn at is too expensive compared to others. i thought long and hard about it & finally remembered that my friend’s cheaper yarn is super itchy. which is fine for her, as she mostly crochets bags, but i don’t knit bags! i knit sweaters! i’m fine with my yarn being a bit pricier if it makes for a comfier sweater.

25 padded envelopes. i used them when i sell my stuff online. i bought them new but secondhand on Vinted for a good price.

gifts. i bought 1 gift for a birthday and 2 for graduations. at the end of the year i tried to be smart and knit 2 gifts, but then i had to pay for shipping anyway so it didn’t save me any money. still, you know. it’s gifts and it’s my friends and i won’t be cheap with them.

immaterial stuff & experiences

i ate out with friends 3 times this year. the other times we just met and sat on a bench and talked.

movie ticket for Barbie. my only cinema going experience this year. that’s depressing. i’d love to go more in 2024.

underground ticket. that one time i forgot my underground card. ugh.

subscription to one of the secondhand book-selling websites i use. it’s the only one i pay for and it’s only 2€ a year. basically, it allows you to list more than 50 books at a time. i have 63 right now, so i’ll have to pay again this year, but hopefully in 2024 i will sell enough books to get under 50 & not have to pay again in 2025 :D

a very small charity donation. i sold more books than usual that month and decided to contribute a little to (hopefully) make the world a better place. it felt really good and i would like to do it again in 2024. but i need to set some rules or i might end up donating all of my savings.

trips

i went on 3 trips this year.

i bought train tickets and meals while there. i didn’t have to pay  for accommodation as thankfully i went to visit friends and stayed at their houses. i also bought some souvenirs (in moderation!), like a fridge magnet and a christmas tree ornament.

in conclusion & plans for next year

well, damn. i spent way less than i thought or expected! there were even 2 months in which i actually spent 0€. which i’m sure felt great at the time, but i quickly forgot about it & thought i'd never accomplish something like that, ever. queue to feeling guilty over spending money.

my only true indulgencies were while i was on a trip. and i remember feeling quite guilty about spending money while there, as well.

but that’s why i save money: to buy expensive yarn and enjoy myself while traveling. so why should i feel guilty about doing exactly that?

basically, i want to spend a bit more money next year if it will make my life easier or happier, without feeling guilty. I've tried to do that during december already but finding the balance between overspending and being a Scrooge is going to be tough.

[imsparky2002]

Ghoul Squad - Marinette

Marinette - Witch

Age - 14

Species - Human

Appearance - Shoulder-length black hair with a tint of blue tied into pigtails, bright bluebell eyes, freckles on both sides of her face and the bridge of her nose.

Attire - Long black jacket, bat earrings, black eyeshadow and lipstick, white t-shirt with splashes of black. Black pants with gold Fleur-de-Lis embroidered on the hem (in the style of Yin-Yang.), platform Mary Janes, black purse with leather strap, white fingerless gloves, black painted nails, grey stripey socks.

Personality - Spooky, earnest, sweet, confident, outgoing, mysterious, playful, dramatic, helpful

Likes - Gothic culture, all things horror, magic, scaring people, defending her Ghoul Squad sisters, practicing spells with the Witches of Wisdom, gothic fashion, helping her parents with work, gaming, spiders and all sorts of creepy crawlies, Adrien and Kagami

Dislikes - Bullies, conformist culture, bigots, monogamy, Hawk Moths, people mistreating those who had been akumatized, snobs, Chloe and Lila, witch hunters, those who willingly harm bugs

Marinette is the only human member of the Ghoul Squad. She’s learning magic from the Witches of Wisdom, and uses it while out on patrol.

The Ghoul Squad found her on the first day of middle school, and protected her from bullies. Ever since, they’ve been thick as thieves, with Marinette being the first to not scream upon meeting them. She immediately ran to them when finding the Spider Miraculous. They watched her meet Arachni, her kwami, and become the Spider-Witch hero, Zhīzhū. She also told Adrien her identity upon meeting Cat Astrophe.

Marinette happily trains to become a mortician like her delightfully creepy parents. They’re so proud of their macabre daughter and her ghoulish friends. She’s also a lot more confident, taking her clumsiness with stride and easily ignoring pests like Chloe.

Marinette is a goth with a passion for all things creepy. She cherishes and collects bugs, with spiders being her favorite. She’s been known to frighten her classmates, either as herself, or as her alter ego. Zhīzhū is creepier, more playful than Ladybug, she’ll save you, but scare the pants off of you at the same time.

Her human friends are Kim and Nino, who she’s known since they were little kids. They refer to her as “the cooler Wednesday Addams”. Not that she minds, Jenna Ortega rocks. She’s also in a relationship with her lovely ghostly girlfriend Kagami. They don’t care about monogamy, and both shared attraction for Adrien. He then joined their relationship and they all became a polyamorous couple.

Quotes

I suppose I've always had a delight for the macabre.

Time to catch this akuma in our web of Justice!

Ah, nothin' like the sound of screams in the morning.

Girls, what do you think of my new design? I was really feeling these spiderweb patterns!

(To Adrien and Kagami) I may be a witch, but it seems the two of you have enchanted me.

Marinette: Even the most harmless-looking of spiders can have a nasty BITE, Chloé. (Grins creepily)

Marinette swings in as Zhīzhū, and she’ll cast a spell on you if you aren’t careful. It’s so much more fun if Marinette’s as spooky as her monstrous friends. You’ll be seeing a lot more of her soon, along with her other Ghoul Squad girls. Thanks to Weeby for helping with the quotes and parts of the backstory! Make sure to reblog, reply, post and ask to share the content.  @artzychic27 @msweebyness 

Marinette: Don’t be scared to come back soon! We love when our friends swing by for a visit! (She takes out her yo-yo and swings away)

[potionsprefect]

The Best Present

Pairings: Ethan Ramsey x Victoria Clarke

Word Count: 879

Summary: Victoria and Ethan exchange Christmas presents

Rating: Teen

Category: Fluff

Victoria brought in hers and Ethan’s stockings from their bedroom, both of them in their pyjamas after a delicious Christmas dinner.

Neither regretted the decision to work today, it meant that those who had young children could spend the day with them. Ethan and Victoria hoped that one Christmas, that would be the case for them.

Maybe this time next year, they would have a child of their own to celebrate with.

“Here you go. Now fair warning, you don’t have to like anything I bought. I’ve prepared myself for your eye rolling.” Victoria laughed as she sat down beside Ethan on the couch and handed him his stocking.

“You know I’ll love anything from you. You’re my wife after all.” Ethan laughed pressing a kiss to Victoria’s cheek. He picked up his first present and opened it.

“You’re going to hate me for this one.” Victoria laughed.

Ethan held up the item. “Socks. I knew I should never have told you my worst Christmas present.” He laughed.

“At least these aren’t eccentric in colour.” Victoria said.

“That’s one thing. And because they’re from you, I love them.” Ethan pulled Victoria into his arms. “Thank you.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“You always need to keep your feet warm.” Victoria smiled.

“Very true. Open one of yours.”

Victoria picked up one present, it was soft. She opened it and laughed. “Socks as well?”

“So you don’t put your cold feet on me when we’re in bed.”

“You secretly love it don’t you.” Victoria giggled.

“Absolutely not. You’re so annoying when you do that.” Ethan rolled his eyes.

“Whatever, you still love me.”

“Of course.” Ethan laughed.

The couple continued to open their stocking presents, Ethan had gotten a bottle of scotch and medical diaries from doctors in the field. For Victoria, Ethan had stuck with what he knew she loved, chocolate and alcohol. He had even found her favourite chocolate from the UK.

“Okay, now it’s time for your main present. I wasn’t sure what to get you, so I thought I’d broaden my horizons a bit. I hope you like it.” Victoria said.

She got up and picked up an envelope from the kitchen counter, handing it to Ethan as she sat back down.

Ethan unsealed the envelope and pulled out what was inside. He unfolded the piece of paper to reveal a picture of a beach.

“Where’s this?” Ethan asked.

“Madison in Connecticut. A week in June, far away from the hospital for just the two of us. I went through so many options and thought staying on the East Coast would be the best.”

“This is great. And some alone time with my wife is perfect.” Ethan grinned as he pressed a kiss to Victoria’s cheek.

“This is the hotel.” Victoria grabbed her laptop and found the website. “I thought we might as well stay in luxury so I went with the Hilton. We have our own balcony overlooking the beach.”

“They could’ve chosen better carpet.”

“Is that really your only observation?” Victoria rolled her eyes.

“It’s a decent one. I hate patterned floors.” Ethan shrugged.

“Well hopefully you won’t be looking at the art in the room.”

“No, I’ll be looking at the art on the bed.” Ethan grinned as he pressed heated kisses to Victoria’s neck.

“Good save Mr Ramsey.” Victoria giggled.

“Thank you Mrs Ramsey. And thank you for this present. I can’t wait for some alone time with you.” Ethan pulled her into a hug.

“Me too.” Victoria pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

“Time for your present now. And I’m proud of myself for this so I hope you like it.” Ethan smiled as he handed Victoria a small bag.

Victoria took out the tissue paper and picked up a small box. She opened it and gasped. “A bracelet? Ethan it’s beautiful.”

“That’s not all. There should be another box in the bag.” Ethan replied.

Victoria looked inside and Ethan was right. A much smaller box sat at the bottom, Victoria took it out and opened it. It was a charm, in the shape of a wedding shoe.

“You can add new charms every time we hit a new milestone. I thought the perfect one to start with was a wedding shoe to represent our marriage.” Ethan smiled.

“I love it. Thank you so much.” Victoria replied pulling Ethan in for a hug. “Will you help me put it on?”

“Of course.” Ethan took the charm and the bracelet and carefully attached the two together.

“How comes there’s a penny there as well?” Victoria asked, having just noticed the small item in the box.

“I got the charm from a shop in the UK. I thought the penny was a nice touch.” Ethan smiled.

Victoria looked at the bracelet on her wrist, a big smile on her face. “I love it. And I love you. Thank you for the best Christmas ever.”

“The first of many. I love you Mrs Ramsey.” Ethan smiled.

“I love you too Mr Ramsey.” Victoria smiled as she attached her lips to his.

The couple basked in each others company, kissing as snow began to fall outside their window.

Their first Christmas was perfect, and going forward so would every Christmas that followed.

Merry Christmas Eve! I thought I’d post this today to get everyone in the festive mood!

I will defo make some edits of their trip to Madison

Tagging in reblog

[20dollarlolita]

Why not do a coord breakdown, I guess? Here's what I wore today.

With some Bodyline shoes that--wait for it--had fallen apart and needed to be put back together. (Bodyline shoes I've had to do that with, 5/7).

Anyway, I'm doing this breakdown because I actually put a decent amount of thought into this coord and I'd like to just share that. This coordinate had to fact the Sacramento Summer Convention problem: it is like 100F (38c) on a normal Sac summer day.

Part a) the dress. So one of those things that I do to keep budget lolita in line is that I put restrictions on what I buy. For example, I don't buy dresses that are over $100 unless it's a very specific circumstance. And my recent one is that I'm not going to buy dresses unless I can get a matching hair accessory. So when someone on the 20dollarlolita pattern school discord (message me if you want me to post a new link for that) pointed out that Closet Child had this for like $80 with the headdress, felt like it was suitable for using the lolita fund on. With my current job, I just make a point to save a little from each pay check to occasionally buy new lolita just because it's a deal. I don't have serious dream dresses because I don't want to give myself permission to spend a ton of money on a dress because it's "fulfilling a dream," so I just have a fund for "ooh I like that and I have enough". Having this level of flexible income isn't a thing that I've had until a couple of years ago, so I'm very grateful to have it now.

This is Meta's Princess Wardrobe Lace-Up JSK, which was originally sold in a set with a blouse and socks and a bag. It's often called "Lace Up Doll" because that's what Meta sometimes called it when it was released. It's a really cool textured fabric and unlined in the bodice. The fabric is almost a gauze texture, but it's 100% cotton with an unlined bodice, and that means it's suitable for Sacramento in the summer. This dress was sold in two different lengths, which is the Mid Length and the Mini Length, and I did not check which one I was getting when I bought it from Closet Child. I have the Mini Length.

I'm honestly really bad at hair accessories. I had neon pink hair for so long where the hair basically was the accessory, so I could get away with it, but now I've started to have to get more serious about my hair wear. That's part of my new policy with getting the matching hair accessories. Anyway, I don't wear flat things like rectangle headdresses too much, and this one was wider than I'm used to. I got a bit tripped up in it, to be honest, and you'll see.

Part 2) A theme. So there's a TON of historical time periods within lolita, even within certain sub-sections. You can identify the difference between 2010 sweet and 2016 sweet very easily. One of the major differences is the usage of synthetic and sheer fabrics, which is a newer development in lolita. In my early days of lolita, raschel lace overlays were realllllly pushing it in terms of edgy. Your fabrics were opaque, your lace was plain, your necklines were high and your elastic was minimal. My first thought was that this was that flat headdresses were common in old school, so I could try styling this more with old(er) school accessories. We'd do a nice plain chunky heel and a solid blouse. Solid blouse loses points on, "it' Sac in the Summer" but hey, indoor con, hope I don't get covid again, we can wear the solid blouse. We can pair this with some knee-high socks and get kind of an old school vibe.

So many of y'all are familiar with the selfie mirror I've been using for like a decade now. Well, this time, I didn't even need to get down the hall to know that my idea didn't work:

Pardon the piles of stuff. Y'all know how I am at this point.

so

I got this far away and knew how much this wasn't working. This was also the point where I learned that there was a mini length and a mid length for this skirt.

So, having armed myself with the information that this styling didn't work, we have to ask what will work. The first thing that I knew was that I wanted an underskirt of some kind, because that was like my entire ass on display there. The gap between my socks and the hem of my skirt was much too large.

This is one of those cases where building a lolita wardrobe like a magpie can be really helpful. If you just kind of add things to your arsenal because you like them and think they might work with lolita, you'll have a plan B to change into.

I know what underskirt I have is actually a vintage petticoat. I knew for a fact that it was my only underskirt, and that it's a large tulle lace ruffle. If I put this in my coord, then any thought about old-school influences is out. And if that's out, well, let's lean pretty heavily into that being out.

So, we break out the sheer blouse, thank fuck, because it's Sac Summer, and now we need to think about balance again. I have a sheer blouse, and I have a semi-sheer ruffle hanging out of the bottom of my dress. If I do opaque socks, that's going to put a lot of heavyness into the bottom of the look, and throw off the balance.

So, we get lace tights to match the lace blouse. One of the nice things about lolita is that balance being such a heavy part of it, certain things will just grow their way into being what you need. You just have to learn its language.

I should probably to bed because my seroquel is going to kick in. Welcome to #pinkafterdark everyone. I'm going to keep writing.

Anyhow, I felt like this made a more mature looking coordinate. These also allowed me to wear these Bodyline shoes instead of my similar Demonia ones, because the Bodyline ones are just a little bit more comfortable and I've already got an ankle problem to deal with.

There's a lot of different ways to coordinate a similar look, and if you study different time periods in lolita, you can find inspiration for how to get a coherent look through time periods.

Part III) The Rest. Okay. There were some things that I knew I wanted to accessorize this with. Notably, I have a small battery-powered sewing machine that I wanted to carry like a purse. If a Usakumya Pouchette is a purse, then a children's toy on a cross body strap can be a purse, right? Unfortunately, this wasn't ready by the time of the convention, so it didn't happen. The other things I'd bought specifically for this coord was jewelry in the shape of scissors. I have a little necklace and some cute earrings that are scissors.

And then I had the section that I'm always bad at, which I'm going to call Is This The Kitchen Sink? 2.0. This is the section when I look at a coord and have to decide what's missing. I have some sad little wrist cuffs that I made, which were a good choice for getting my wrists covered and extending the level of detail down to my hands. I have a couple of pretty good generic stretch bracelets that I will stick on a lot of coords. I need to get into having coordinate-specific jewelry, but today was not that day.

And then I have that choker necklace. This is such a weird thing for me, because four years ago that would not have flown in lolita and would have been ita as hell. And nothing really changed in lolita to make it acceptable. What changed was mainstream fashion, where chokers once again became acceptable jewelry for everyday wear. I just thought it was an interesting case of one fashion lending change to another. I kind of tried it on as a half-attempt to figure out what was going on in the coord, and I felt like it really worked. YMMV but I was very fond of it. Lace up choker to match Lace-Up Doll, right?

Everyone's heard of my "faking it" card, where you can kind of get away with some things not being perfectly lolita if you coordinate them properly. You only get so many in a given coord, and I might have used one on this, but I really liked the result.

Part 7) Conclusion. I've said before that you can have an amazing outfit that you love, and have it miss the lolita mark. It not being lolita does not mean that you have to love it any less. Even if you intended it to be lolita, if it didn't read as that, well, that's a bummer, but you can still love it as an outfit.

I think what I don't talk about enough is how you can have an outfit that checks all the lolita boxes, and have it be perfectly fine, but if you have to add a little change or a little something extra to make you absolutely love it, well, that's also important. Loving an outfit doesn't make it lolita but doing something to make you love your lolita outfit can still make it better.

I had a moment where I saw my reflection in a window and realized that I looked exactly like I wanted lolita fashion to look on me when I first started. That was so cool.

So yeah, there you go, just wnating to let everyone know that when you start thinking that you're going to get knocked out by your bipoarl pills you should probably put off finishing th epost until morning.

G'night.

[cedigcrafts]

Item 3 of the Halloween costume is complete - the vest/cardigan!

I originally had a different idea of what I wanted the vest to be, but then I spotted a picture on Pinterest for one I liked but it wasn't linked to a pattern for it so I spent some time working out how to make it, and managed to as well!

Next on the agenda for the costume is to sew the skirt and the apron, but I am saving the sewing for my couple of weeks off the day job so I can spend the whole day at the sewing machine

In the meantime, I am still working on the purple balloon sleeve shrug and have some more socks to make for the Odd Sock Collection so I won't be idle!