#but... having a gallery that looks Properly like a Body of Work

[monster-noises]

I want! I want to be able to tell people i make art wnd write comics and have something to Point Too y'know?

Like sure i have art but it's not like... Art (not in a self-degrading way, just in a way that says a majority of what i've made is very casual and disparit, and lacks a cohesion of intent I see from many of the artists I admire)

And there's an embarrassment that comes with telling people 'oh yeah i'm an illustrator and I'm writing comics when i'm not at work' and then being able to show... Nothing of serious import.

(again not to degrade my work, I like what i draw otherwise i wouldn't habe drawn it. It's just most of it does not necessarily satisfy the set up of "I Illustrate and Write Comics")

[aurumacadicus]

"Miss Widow, I need you to be my partner in crime," Peter said, dropping from the ceiling. He waited for a beat, expecting a rolling of eyes or an exasperated sigh. When he received nothing but a raised eyebrow, he hesitantly asked, "Aren't you going to correct me, or..."

"It's good that you have some fear of me, Peter," Natasha told him simply. "Has the crime already occurred? If you want a body buried, ask Bruce."

"...Hmm," Peter hummed, deciding he wasn't going to unpack all that. "Mr. Hawkeye said that you're the resident matchmaker."

Natasha sat up straighter. "Oh?" she asked, raising her eyebrows at him.

Peter thrust his phone at her. "I have video evidence of Captain America being totally gone on Mr. Stark."

"Explain," Natasha said, clipped, even as she opened up his phone.

Peter did not ask how she knew his nine-digit code. Instead, he dutifully recounted, "So Mr. Stark decided we should swap playlists, ostensibly so I could listen to 'good music' but I think he wanted to see what the kids are into. I get some of my songs from TikTok and I think one of them is a bit of an ear-worm for him."

Natasha thumbed open his gallery and went directly to his last video, taking only a moment to turn the volume up. In it, she saw Tony in the common kitchen, fixing himself up a cup of coffee. He was swaying slightly like he did when he was humming. Steve was sipping a protein shake at the table, as if he was not glancing at Tony every other shift back-and-forth.

"I, wish I could synthesize, the picture perfect guy," Tony suddenly mumbled out loud, in that way he did when he had no idea his brain-to-mouth filter had stopped working. "Six, feet tall, and super strong--"

Steve perked up, sitting straight from where he'd been leaning on table.

"--We'd always get along--"

Steve flopped back onto the wood surface and took a morose sip from his protein shake.

Natasha felt her mouth drop open in shock as she watched Tony, oblivious, go back to humming and turn to leave the room. Despite Steve's obvious disappointment, it didn't stop him from tipping in his seat to be able to see Tony's ass properly.

"I'm going to kill him," Natasha decided.

"That's not the crime I wanted to be partners for," Peter cut in.

Natasha lifted her gaze to him, scowling. "He will express his feelings for Tony or die."

"...Hmm, " Peter hummed again. If he remembered correctly, both Sam and Bucky had said that Natasha expressed her affection to the people she cared about with cheesy jokes and threats to their lives. Steve would be fine, probably. "He didn't even sing the best part," he sighed instead.

Natasha slanted another sharp look toward him. "Oh yeah?"

"'He'd pick me up at eight, and not a minute later, 'cause I don't like to wait,'" Peter recited. "'Kind, and ain't afraid to cry, or treat his mama right. That's right, that's what I like.' Which, like, Captain America would rather bleed out than cry, but he doesn't sound constipated when he tells other people it's okay. Also I wish he would be less punctual," he added mulishly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Aunt May keeps raising her eyebrows at me when he shows up to pick me up for training and I'm not ready."

Natasha bit back the urge to howl in rage. Of course Tony would get a song basically about Steve stuck in his head and not notice. Of course he wouldn't notice Steve panting after him like a dog. They were both stupid. That's why she was there, though, she supposed. "I will do the actual crimes," she told Peter firmly. "And you will keep your mouth shut."

"There will be actual crime!?" Peter yelped.

Natasha ignored him, instead returning to his phone and scrolling for more blackmail on Steve. He was the weakest link in this chain of idiocy. "Keep that up, Mr. Man."

"Oh boy," Peter sighed, shoulders sagging. There was some regret in his tone.

Good. It would solidify that modicum of fear he should keep about her.

[sarcastiaa]

𝓝𝓪𝓷𝓪𝓶𝓲 𝓚𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓸’𝓼 𝓦𝓪𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓢𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓐𝓯𝓯𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 2

I wrote a part 2 as some of you wanted! Thank you for loving the part 1.

♡ On the days when you’re sick and he’s working from home, he’d sit on the bed next to your sleeping body and work on his laptop. When he looks at you, he would simply turn his laptop off for a moment and stare at you, admiring your beauty even though you’d call yourself a mess at that time. He’d like to admire you and your beauty even when you feel the worst about yourself, you drooling during sleep, your messy morning hair, your thighs and stretch marks that you hate, he’d look at them, kiss on them and admire them everyday.

♡ He knows you have ADHD and you can’t focus properly while talking to him or doing anything. So when he has to tell you something important or wants to talk to you about something he’d take you to the bed and make you sit while he’d go to the dresser and bring one of your nail polish. He’d sit in front of your feet and paint your nails while talking to you and that’s his way of making you focus on him and the conversation. You’d see him sitting on the floor painting your nails and all you can do at that time is to caress your hand on his hair and talk to him. He knows how to control you <3

♡ Kento would sit and stare at the ring on his finger. The wedding band. He likes to hold your hand while you sleep just to feel your little hand on his and to listen to the sound of both of your wedding bands clinking. That sound was his second favorite, first was always when you moaned his name~

♡ After having steamy nights with Kento, you’d find yourself lay on the bed, tired unable to move. Kento would bring washcloths to clean you up on bed and then he’d change the sheets before sleeping as well. He’d do anything to give you the rest after all of that.

♡ Before getting married, Kento would occasionally call you “Wife” just to see your reaction. The way your cheeks and the tip of your ears used to get rose pink, the way you squinted your eyes while smiling, the way you looked away and your hair flipped with the turn on your head, he’d enjoy that. Now he’d call you “Mommy” occasionally to make you feel the same way. The way he said “Mommy” is not sexual, he initiated it as his baby’s mom.

♡ Kento would secretly take pictures of you when you’re zoned out, working or doing something and he has a whole folder in his phone called “My Love ❤️” where he keeps them. At work when he feels frustrated or tired he’d open his gallery and go through that folder to see you and to remind himself at the end of the day you’re at him waiting for him.

♡ Kento rarely calls you by your name. It’s always “Sweetheart”, “darling”, “love”, “my girl”, “my princess” or something that he uses and that makes you fall for him over and over again.

♡ When you’re standing in front of the mirror after shower trying to dry your hair with a towel, Kento would make you sit in front of the mirror and plug the dryer. He’d tell you how you shouldn’t always leave your hair half dry cuz you get sick easily. Then he’ll use the dryer on your hair while giving you little lectures on how you should always take care of yourself.

♡ Kento would look at you standing in front of the mirror and hug you from the back making out feel safe in his arms then he would rub his hands on your belly and remind you how beautiful your body would look when you’d be pregnant with his child. He’d just rest his head on your shoulder and look at you and him on the mirror for minutes.

♡ When he’s turned on he can’t really ask for it or say it to you. Instead he’d just start acting clingy or poking you. He’d stare at your face or just randomly kiss you on your neck, put his hands on your waist and squeeze it tightly. And after being with him for so long you’d understand what he wants or what he’s initiating. You would just look at him with a smile and drag him to the bedroom and slam the door close knowing things would get even better from there.

♡ On an arcade date when you see one specific teddy bear and told him you wanted that, you would see him putting all of his heart and money out to get that one teddy bear. You’d go around the arcade playing other games while he’d be stuck with that one claw machine until he gets the teddy for you.

♡ Kento would never tell you to not wear revealing dresses even when it bothered him a little. He would simply just try to cover or walk in front of you when he notices some men staring at your cleavage or he’d just make you hold something on purpose and give excuse like he needs to tie his shoe or something. So that you move looking towards him and the men pass by without staring at you. He believes he’s taller and stronger than anyone so even if anyone stares at you or bugs you he’d always be there ready to fight.

Part 1:

[hearts4jean]

‎♡₊˚ 🦢・₊✧

- jean - art exhibition - modern au -

synopsis: jean makes an art exhibition based off of you; his muse ♡

Think of the relationship between an artist and muse. It is common to assume that the muse’ purpose was to serve the artist as they play a pivotal role in said artists work. This is far from the truth as muses often have great power over their artists they have inspired. The significance a muse stands as for the artists includes bringing emotional support and never-done-before creativity to achieve the artists objectives.

Jean, a struggling artist struck with everything but a hint of inspiration has been stumped with being unable to come up with any art pieces for an exhibition he was commissioned to create and curate; until he met you that is. He got the type of spark that every artist does when they find a specific specimen they desire to be included in their work and further explore and understand it. This first sighting is what made him to be infatuated with you.

While dating, he doesn’t ask if he could draw or paint you, much rather he does it in secret as his art isn’t something he enjoys to blatantly show off. Not only this, Jean is caught up in the fear that he’ll “mess you up” and does not want to deal with the embarrassment of showing it to you; he is fine with the pent-up frustration instead.

On multiple occasions, this has caused him to feel discouraged in his work as he does not to desire to make anything else in his artwork but you. How was he supposed to be the Alfred Stieglitz to your Georgia O’Keefe if he couldn’t even properly capture his accurate perception of you in his work? At least Stieglitz was a photographer, he would’ve had no issues with that. Jean would mainly work in oil and acrylic, ceramics if he feels like it. Any medium except pastels, over his dead body he’d opt for pastels; he says to himself. He takes a wide interest in love stories between artists and their muses as he likes to think that is what has happened with you and him.

This was the case until you found him in the indoor garage in his home he calls his ‘studio’ (which you were not aware of until this very moment), hands and knees on the cold concrete facing a ridiculously large canvas of an incomplete piece. You watch the man express his pent up frustration in spilling a string of cuss words in French, surrounding him a wooden paint palette with a pool of various hues, squeezed and almost finished paint tubes. You examined the space more and pinpointed the scattered photos of you and him together from past dates, you were able to make connections to those photos to the elephant of a canvas. It was you. To Jean, it was not. Not an accurate presentation at least that is up to the young artists standards.

After this coming across this sight, you then find yourself on that same cold concrete in front of Jean with his head buried in your shoulder as you cradle him. He was non-verbal for the time-being. He was embarrassed that you had to see him in such a state but also relieved that you were there with him.

“Please don’t look at the canvas” he utters.

“I won’t, but why?”

“Just don’t.”

“I never knew you were an artist.”

He scoffs. “Some artist I am. I can’t even paint you right.”

You continue paying all your attention to your lover rather than the dreaded canvas he won’t allow either of you to glance at.

“Say, how about you explain the hidden art talent to me later. Right now, do you mind explaining what this canvas is and why you refuse for me to look at it?”

Jean slowly lifts his head from your shoulder and looks at you normally. Even while you both are leaning he is taller than you, only now his posture is slouched more than usual.

“I was commissioned by an art gallery to make a collection they would like to display at their venue in the next year, and the only description they added in with it is if was able to make it personally significant to myself on an emotional level. I asked if that meant that I could do it about someone that was personally significant to me rather than merely basing it purely on myself. They said it’s fine as long as it fits the stated criteria. I wanted to create the pieces based on our relationship. Well, based on my love for you basically” He felt his face getting hot.

“Jean-“

“Will you allow me to make you my muse?” He says with a stern look in his eyes.

“Well, of course. I mean, I’d love to if it’s so important to you.”

You watch his eyes light up. “Really? Oh my god thank you, love”

“No problem, but why am I finding about this whole artist thing just now? You seem very passionate about it all” You state with a short glance at his previous works hung up on the wall like trophies.

“Yeah, no one really knows except my mother and with exhibitions and stuff I go by a code name. Connie and Reiner knew I liked art in high school but those assholes made fun of me for it. I guess that stuck with me and just made me not wanna be able to freely speak up about it. I was planning to tell you eventually but I just..” He sighs.

“Just what?”

“I just wish you didn’t find out this way, especially with a piece I’m not proud of. I mean, look at it. It’s not doing you justice at all.”

You laugh. “You grant me permission to be able to look at it again?”

He laughs back. “Yes, I grant you permission to look at my shitty work”

You both look at the unfinished work for a second. It is a hyperrealistic acrylic painting if you want to get specific on its qualities.

“It looks fine to me-“

“Yeah no, it’s pure shit”

“Jean!”

“That wasn’t towards you, rather it was towards my poor skills of not being able to capture your righteous appearance in my work.”

“Either way I’m not letting you insult yourself like that”

“…”

It goes silent between the two of you for around 20 seconds until he lets out a sigh and returns to his original place of his face being buried in your shoulder again. You don’t mind it at all. It’s a type of habit he has when he’s upset or just simply fatigued.

You speak up. “You know, this could still be presented in the exhibition but maybe in a different manner?”

He looks up again. “How so?”

“You could have this as some type of statement piece, like displaying this whole scene from the dirty white sheet to the worn out brushes scattered in front of the canvas. It could like display your pent up frustration on attempting to perfect this exhibition. It can be called “The Failed Muse” or something along those lines. You can have a little plaque beside it explaining it all.”

He looks at you with a deadpanned expression. “Are you saying I’ve also failed with painting you with that name?”

“OH! No! I’m sorry I didn’t mean for it to sou-“

You’re cut off by his laughter. Oh how you adore it.

“Kidding, kidding. I know what you meant. I’ll keep that in mind actually.

For the rest of that time on that cold concrete floor, the both of you discuss the other works that should go into this exhibition.

You were both able to come up with a few together.

The first artwork he plans to create is another portrait of you that will hopefully succeed in accuracy to your appearance unlike the last one. Assuming it will, it would’ve been because you were there in his presence, and you being there gives him some sort of reassurance that it will turn out fine. Alongside the words and actions of affirmation (little kisses and telling him that he’s doing great) that he will receive from you during the making of it. The way that he intends for this work to be sighted is that it is the first thing he wants the viewer to look at. Jean wants it to have that same captivating aura as the Mona Lisa; you just seem so attached to it and you don’t know why. Similarily to the Mona Lisa, it will be displayed on its own seperate wall that is a diluted version of your favourite colour to make the connection between you and the painting stronger.

The exhibition would also include specific monuments of your time together.

For instance, he would do is something related to your favourite flowers. Since flowers are not man-made, it’s hard to display them in an exhibition setting due to the bugs living inside them and they are considered a threat to the other works displayed. He would instead make wire-works of your favourite flowers as an alternative. Flowers are especially symbolic to your relationship with Jean as he gives you a bouquet every chance he gets. I think we have already settled that he is a huge giver.

Something you personally share together is your music taste. It is one of the things that first drew you closer to one another. In the exhibition, he would have a table set up with a record player and vinyls of albums you enjoy listening to together. The collection would be a mix of his own and a few borrowed from his parents. For instance, The Smiths; give or take.

One of your most treasured moments with him is when he tried to teach you French back when you were still in high school. A table and 2 chairs would be perched up. On the table there is a range of French dictionaries and literature. He will attempt to make it as accurate as possible to your memories of his moment, even down to the very positioning of the books and how they were stacked up on one another.

Another idea you were able to to come up with each other is a sculpture of two figures hugging each other; reenacting your “First Embrace” with one another in which is what the work will be called.

[katiekatdragon27]

Does anyone still care about this idea? No? Well I don't care you get more stuff anyway.

I am working on the playing cards dw, but this has been sitting in my gallery for months and I wanted to get it done.

(It is HIGHLY RECOMENDED that you read the first part of this au story thing. It provides a lot of context for the world and some other characters that are mentioned here.)

Also some updates on that: This story is now called "Rayman: The Sacred Dream" and it is the concepts for a possible fangame. If people show genuine interest in these characters or this Rayman prequal's story, PLEASE let me know. I would love to construct a team to make this idea a reality.

Anyways: To the character cards!!! (Please read below I worked hard on the ref sheets)

Xavior the Athletic Monk:

Xavior is a teensy who utilizes a special kind of elemental magic over anything else. Choosing to hit hard and dodge over magic blasts, he has learned to manipulate the magic inside his own body to shapeshift into a gelatinous water version of himself. Ze is incredibly resilient and moldable too, able to fit through almost any space and dodge most attacks with ease. He is one of Umber's closest friends. They and he often spar to release energy and get better at combat in general. Ze is also very kind, but lacks a filter, so often comes off as rude unintentionally.

Fier the Furious Paladen:

Fier is a teensy with fire in his heart. Literally. Being a resident of Gourmand Land, they have never turned down a hearty meal, especially if it's spicy. His love for spice was so high that it turned his teal skin yellow, making him look the way he does now. They're personality is no less spicy. He is a hot head with a stubborn thought process. They swing first and questions people after, often challenging Aurthr for leadership of the group. He is not blessed by Polokus, but he does have some sort of deity watching him. It's rumored one of the four wild kings has given him their blessing. He does make a banger meal though, so he is allowed to stick around.

Ellixer the Mysterious Cleric:

No one knows Ellixer's story, nor do they ever share it themselves. They are the only naturally yellow teensy of the Glade, with has made them a puzzlement for most who come across them. They are a very talented magic user, but it can only be used for good (such as healing and boosts). Their inability for proper fighting has made them an easy target for capture, but to their captor's surprise, they always escape undetected. Some even assume that they are Polokus themselves, but they deny it. However, Ellixer did manage to help Aurthr with his bubble magic, so they're not beating the allegations.

Zoron the Cursed Druid:

Zoron was not always the old grump he is now. There was a time where he was a thriving showman, bringing the magic of snow and combat to the hot climates of the Glade. His best clients were the minotaurs, a kind group of hell-dwellers just wanting to cool down and have a good spar. However, while traveling to one of his events, he got into a fight with a mother frostbite, who lost her life in the battle. From that day on, Zoron had been cursed with not only her primal hunger, but the ability to turn into any creature he has fought before (which has been a lot). He was also burdened with her kits, although this is no bother to him now. After learning how to control his hunger through Soria, he's been staying isolated in caves, not wanting to hurt anyone else.

Pyren the Rouge Artificer:

Pyren is one of the strangest teensies around. Whereas most are born with large amounts of magic, Pyren was born with none. This lack of magic has made his life incredibly hard, making it almost impossible to properly bond with his peers and defend himself alone. As a result, he started utilizing his real talent, his brain. Learning that plums are quite flammable and explosive, he learned to harness their power into artillery like bombs and makeshift guns. He also sells these weapons to others, good and bad, who also struggle with no magic or are willing to pay the pretty gem. However, insecurity leads people down dark paths, so when a large, dark-hearted nightmare strikes a deal with Pyren for him get magic in exchange for his loyalty, he becomes his biggest weaponsmith.

And with that, the cast has been fully shared! Yes, there is going to be like 10 main characters in this, but some are more main than others lol. If anyone has any questions at all, I will be more than happy to answer.

Thank you for all the support and have a wonderful afternoon!

[seat-safety-switch]

Do you like jigsaw puzzles? What if only half the pieces were there, and you had to make your own pieces to fill in the missing spots? What if some of the pieces that are there are corroded beyond recognition, or a little thin, or got dented by a Hyundai Genesis GV80 3.5T Prestige AWD? That’s basically what being a bodyshop is like.

When you buy a new car, chances are that the body shop can get new parts for it. They’ll call up the dealership, order some fenders. For really nasty jobs, they’ll call up the dealership and order repair panels. These are basically the chunks of metal that your car was originally made out of, and all the bodyshop has to do is cut out some spot welds (or glue) and slap that thing together with the new parts, after giving the rest of the car a few ugga-duggas with the frame machine.

When you have an old, shitty car like all of mine, you can’t do that. In some (most) cases, the company that made them no longer exists. At best, maybe you can get some ill-fitting reproduction panel from whatever Luxembourger holding company is currently producing quasi-legal clones of the car for the Chinese market, and spend a few weeks getting it to fit. In the end, no matter what, you’re going to end up fabricating your own panels.

This is one of those skills that looks very easy on YouTube, like brain surgery, but is in fact incredibly difficult, like making an omelet. While your car’s doors may look flat to you, each and every one of them have hundreds of subtle curves that need to be reproduced, or things will look super weird. You will dip into a sort of makers’ mania in the months it will take you travelling through the hell of making a replica panel. Piles of cardboard, razor-sharp chunks of unused steel, and elaborate new metal-cutting tools will fill your work area. And when it’s all done, you will get your reward: having to fill, sand, and paint your great work, hopefully only once.

All of this is a huge pain in the ass, so I’ve chosen a third option, between “develop a spectrum of artisan’s skills and a lifetime of experience” and “buy a new car.” It’s called Bondo, and you can slather that shit on all day. If you put on a couple inches of it and cut it back, your car will look pretty much identical to one that was repaired properly. At least for a couple years.

Sure, body shop technicians will know, but their curse is to know everything about every car. Plus, the skill set for sculpting an entire car out of Bondo is more transferrable: art galleries are not full of precision-cut quarter panels for a 1988 Mercury Topaz.

[armpirate]

UNDER HIS SKIN || JJK || Ch. 40 (Finale)

Pairings: tattoist!jk x fem!reader

Genre: smut, angst, friends to lovers, tattoo au, virgin reader.

Summary: They say there are two versions for every story, and it's important to hear both of them. Everybody is hearing your side of the story, but it's just fair to get to know his.

After breaking up with his girlfriend, the only thing he wanted was to have fun with no attachment. You wanted to get rid of your virginity, and he wanted to tick you off his list. What he didn't expect was getting so emotionally attached to you that he would regret the deal.

Previous

MASTERLIST

Aprox. time of reading: 12 minutes

*One year later*

I look back after a few minutes of feeling I'm talking on my own, finding Y/n at the bottom of the stairs while she's holding her side and fighting her own body to be able to start breathing properly. She isn't going to make any more efforts to reach where I am. I know it by the way she's looking around to find the perfect place to sit and regain some strength. 

Instead of leaving her by herself, I start walking down to where she is, tilting my head while looking at her with a funny smile, thinking of something to say to piss her off. 

—See why you need to work out with me?

—I'm fine like this, thank you —she answers, breathless—. Besides, it's not like, back in New York, I'll do something that will make me feel like my lung is escalating my throat. 

She throws her head back, as if that way the air would get through her nose better, while her hands are cupped on her hips. 

—Do you need some water or anything? —I attempt to take the bag on my back, but she quickly shakes her hand and head.

—No, it's alright. Let's go —she encourages me.

But instead of leading the way again, or following her, I stop her. She looks at me confused, and even scoffs when I take off the bag and hand it to her. 

—I know I said I was okay, but is it really necessary? —she whines— What wrong did I do to you to deserve this?

Instead of answering right away, I walk past her, getting one step behind her so she's slightly taller than me. Her hand quickly squeezes my shoulder when I turn around, my back facing her while I wait for her to hop on my back. 

—Love, I'm okay already.

—And you'll be close to passing out in a matter of five seconds —I tease her—. And if we keep stopping, we'll get there by midnight. And it's already late enough. 

—It'll be hard for you to get to the tower if I hop on your back —she mutters.

—Cocktease, you weigh nothing. I'll handle it —I assure her.

—I promise I'll be able to get up there by myself —she assures me again.

—Babe —I stop her—, just get on my back. You know I won't move from here until you do. 

She sighs, finally giving in. And when I look over my shoulder, I see her hanging the bag before she gets ready to jump on my back. I squeeze her thighs when I feel their warmth around my waist, looking up to her right after to give her a comforting smile. 

—This is so cruel —she comments, as we start making our way back to the top. 

—You're acting like you're forcing me —I chuckle—. Also, you're feeling bad about this, but not about the time you made me get up at five in the morning to pick you up from the airport?

—You said you didn't mind —she whines again—. I told you I could've picked up a cab back home, but you insisted.

—Babe, I was messing with you. I spent all night awake because I couldn't wait to see you. 

The more experience she got in the gallery, the more Jin trusted her to do trips all over the country -and even overseas- to make deals with different artists, or just to buy a painting he wanted to expose. And every time she leaves, although it's only for a few days, we always spend most of the time stuck to our phones.

I have the feeling we speak even more during those times she's away, but also the reunion is so special every time our eyes meet when I pick her up. Whoever sees us at the airport would think we've been months without seeing each other, and that we aren't living together at all back in New York City. 

—I'll give a good back massage to the birthday boy when we get to the hotel tonight —she kisses my cheek. 

—Just a back massage?

—Whatever my boy wants —she kisses my cheek again. 

I end up regretting ever coming up with the idea of picking her up to the top. It's true I can carry her easily, but not while trying to go upstairs to a place I barely was able to get to without losing my breath a few times. Although it's all worth it when I feel her squeezing my shoulders with her arms while managing to give small pecks on my temple randomly. 

The city of Seoul has never looked as pretty as it is right now that she's looking at it from the top with a bright smile. After putting my hands inside the pocket of my leather jacket, I open it and hug her from behind, covering part of her body with the fabric. 

—I'm so happy to be here with you —she confesses, eyes still fixed on the small lights in the buildings far away. 

And while I'd want to answer back straight away, I get lost on her side profile and the way her eyes are shining even brighter than the lights lighting up the place. 

—I'm definitely happier.

She frowns when she hears me saying that, turning to me for a brief second before her eyes go back to the landscape. 

—You always have to win —she pretends to be annoyed, rolling her eyes with her comment. 

—I won with you though —I kiss her neck—. You've given me the best year of my life. 

—And there's many more ahead —she assures me—. Together though. Because if you leave, you'll be miserable. 

—Who says?

—You won't? —when she turns to me, she looks upset. 

—Babe, I was messing around —I try to hug her back, but she steps back. 

—So you're saying you won't feel sad if we ever break up? That's what I am to you? Someone you can get over?

—It's not like that...

Everything I was getting ready to say, all the comforting words I was going to air out to calm her down and make her feel good, got stuck in my throat when I saw her mischievously smiling at me. 

—I was kidding —she playfully pushes me—. I thought this was the best place to pull a scene. It's very k-drama-like. 

—Remember me to stop you from watching any of those shows when we get back home —I beg her. 

—You should've seen your face —she cackles, pointing at me—. You were like "It's not like that".

Her features exaggerate to mock mine, before they go back to their nature as she laughs and giggles at my reaction. And even if she's being the most annoying right now, I can't help but smile right now. 

—I was just messing with you, love —she squeezes my side with two of her fingers—. Besides, I still had to get back at you for what you did to me at the hospital.

—You still remember that? —my eyes open wide at her confession.

—Of course I do. I was worried about you, and you were playing around with something so delicate. Who in their sane mind would do something like that?

—How can you be so rancorous? 

—I'm not.

—And you bring this up on my birthday? —I raise my eyebrow— What was even the reason for it? You thought it was fun?

—Kook —she tries to reach for my hand—, I was just messing around. I didn't want to upset you.

She doesn't have time to finish her own sentence, because she tries to hide her face on my chest while her arms wrap tight around my waist. 

—I didn't want to start anything, seriously —I hear her whining. 

—Gotcha, baby —I whisper in her ear—. You really thought you'd get at a Korean to roleplay a k-drama?

—You asshole —she pushes me away suddenly, annoyed at my comment—. I was feeling bad for you.

—I know. Your voice started shaking like it always does when you get nervous —I move my thumb over her lower lip, but Y/n moves her head away—. You know I love you, even if your rancorous ass messes things up. 

I forced her in for a hug, hiding her face back on my chest while I wrap my arms around her tight to keep her from stepping away. 

—I'm not.

—Shh, baby. It's okay —I play with her hair—. I love you anyways. 

—You know I'm really considering what are the pros of loving you right now —she answers, still not hugging me. 

—I'm husband material —I whisper—. I cook, I clean, I'm attentive, I'm cute and sexy, I fuck you just about right...

—Yeah, and you're so humble, too. Don't forget that. 

We both just giggle at the same time I sway her body in my arms, encouraging her to wrap her arms around me under the jacket. I hear her breathing deeply, calming herself down at the same time my palm finds its way to her nape. 

—I do really really love you though —she finally whispers. 

—I do really really love you, too, cocktease —I kiss her forehead—. Thank you for being around and sharing your life with me. 

—I know I don't say it a lot, but you make me feel really lucky —I can feel her smiling against my chest—. You made all the wait worth it, almost as if I was destined to meet you at Tae's pub. I can't imagine what my life would be like if you hadn't been there, and I don't want to know. 

—Thank you for letting me under your skin, cocktease —I whisper.

She scoffs at that comment, hiding her face even more -if possible- on my body. It's not like we hated our guts from the very beginning, but I can't imagine how things would've worked if we hadn't had all those small bickerings we had at the beginning.

Probably we wouldn't be here right now. 

—Babe —she calls me.

—Hmm?

—Why don't we get married?

The way she so casually drops the question makes me step back to be able to look at her and make sure she isn't joking. She actually seems serious. Or, more like, neutral. As if she hadn't asked something so serious. 

—Married? Married like...

—Soo and Mark —she shrugs—. Married with papers and rings, and the whole ceremony, yes. 

I squint my eyes, still thinking she's pulling another joke at me. 

—Your parents are living in New York, and my parents aren't so far away either. Or, like your mother said, we could do it somewhere in between so it's equal for everybody. 

—You talked about this with my mother? 

—She was the one who brought it up a few months ago —she confesses.

While I try to process the fact that my mother and Y/n are so close to be discussing this without my knowing about it, I see she's still talking about it. 

—I also talked about this with your father —I interrupt her—. And we even found the perfect place for it. 

—You talked about this with my father? —she mirrors my previous reaction. 

—It was during one of those barbecues a few weeks ago. I told him how serious I was about you, and asked him how he would feel if we ever decided to go further. We're already living together, you know, so the next step would be to make it completely official. And he said there was no one else he could imagine you ending up with, and then he started giving me all those ideas on how to propose and stuff. 

—So we both had this conversation with each other's parents —she sums up. 

—What was your conclusion?

—I do want to marry you —she nods, smiling big while those words left her lips. 

—I do want to marry you, too —I'm unable to hold back my lips from curving—. We need to start saving money. 

—Yeah, maybe it'd be a better idea to have this conversation in a few months. We're still recovering from the car, and also the trip. Let's give it two or three months.

I hug her again while chuckling.

—Do you realize how unromantic this was? 

—It wasn't the official proposal. This doesn't count —she assures me—. Today we'll focus on something else. 

I don't know what she's talking about when she unhangs the bag from her back, looking for something in it. Although I fight to control my expression when she turns around with a candle lit on a Bungeoppang.

So this is what she wanted it for. 

—Make a wish, birthday boy —she encourages me. 

I look into her eyes, seeing my whole future in them while I think what's the best wish I could ask for right now. 

Let's have a healthy life together, cocktease.

After I blow the candle, she takes it away from the pastry and hands it to me. I've mentioned several times how much I loved this when I was living here, and how I'd lose count of how much money I've spent buying this whenever I wanted a snack, so I'm not surprised she bought it before we got here to celebrate my special day. 

—I don't know if the owner of the shop found me ridiculous or endearing while trying to speak Korean, but...

—Thank you, cocktease.

I eat half of it, because I know that Y/n will probably want the other half once she tastes it -even if she never even thinks of asking, because this is supposedly for me only. We hold hands, walking around the place until we see all the locks hanging on the walls. 

I remember when I was younger I always thought I'd do this with my girlfriend, and that that would mean I'd be with that person forever, but not a single time since I started dating I ever thought of seriously putting a lock here with neither of the girls I dated. It might seem dumb for some, but there's a reason why you close the lock and throw away the key. That love should last forever, just like some of the locks here have been hanging for decades. There's no point of making such a promise with someone you aren't sure you will end up with. 

She squeezes my fingers, that are intertwined with hers, getting my attention back on her.

—We didn't propose, but let's hang a lock —she seems so excited while saying it.

—As an unofficial proposal? —she quickly nods at my question. 

—This is our ring in Korea —she brings up the lock she used for her suitcase—. I'll buy a new one tomorrow —she adds, aware of the way I'm smiling. 

—This is the unofficial promise that we will get married.

—When we have more money —she adds. 

We both find the right spot, managing to hang the lock together and closing it. Inevitably, I end up hugging her from the back when we're done, walking with her up close while she just giggles and cackles at how clingy I am. 

—Let's get to the hotel —I whisper in her ear. 

She suddenly stops before we can even make our way to the stairs, back to the route where we came from and turns her head at me. 

—But let's take the car cable now, please. 

And while she sits next to me in the car cable, I'm aware of what love is like. It's the understatement of the small gestures that show how much you know that person, and the actions that lead to make that person happy when you fill their needs without them having to say a word. It's on how the space seems so filled with their energy, that you don't need anyone else but that person. And it took me so long, but I finally found the person I'm able to feel that way with. She always manages to make me feel all types of emotions, so passionately and intensely that sometimes I even doubt they're real. 

She's the love of my life. I know. 

I will just be forever grateful I got to annoy her to the point of getting under her skin, but also having her under mine with no previous warning. 

Thank you all so much for all the support and love you've shown to this story!!

[anincompletelist]

happy smutsgiving! :D

had no idea this was a thing but figured I'd share here in the final stretch of the day kjshdkjhs. as the title suggests, this is NSFW! 18+ only please.

here's a scene from hitman au! I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving! <3

+

“Your fucking mouth, sweetheart,” Alex grunts, his head tossed backward into the wall, “should be illegal. How much time do you think we have before someone comes looking for you?” 

“Mm, probably, like, half an hour?” Henry mumbles where Alex’s pulse is still caught between his teeth. “Maybe less if they finish up dinner early.” 

“Gonna have to make this quick then, hm?” 

Quick? In the past when Henry’d managed to get this far with someone they’d frantically gotten each other off with their hands and then promptly redressed and headed for the door before Henry could even get his clothes back on properly. All of those times had taken ten minutes at the very most. It’s always borrowed time, and never truthfully something Henry wants to take his time with. 

But Alex seems persistent in his quest to keep Henry both literally and figuratively on his toes, always hanging on every syrupy, sprawling syllable like some kind of fixation, the likes of which Henry typically tries valiantly to avoid. 

He eases back from Alex’s neck once he’s certain he’s left behind a sufficient bruise, a little shocked at his own eagerness. His fingers loosen where they’ve bunched up the material of Alex’s suit jacket at his shoulders, the reminder that he has no right to hold so tightly heavy in his temples as the shame works it’s way up his chest and onto his cheeks with a blush. 

Alex is blissfully ignorant of the sentiment though, and he tugs Henry closer to him with firm fingers and a seeking mouth, all muttered expletives and heat and the jagged cut of his teeth tugging at Henry’s lower lip.  The bite of pain keeps him present, keeps him steady, and Henry clings to it, gasps into Alex’s mouth when he squeezes roughly over the curve of Henry’s hips underneath his shirt until there isn’t a stitch of space left between them. 

It’s exhilarating to be wanted so openly, even if they are hidden away in an off-limits gallery away from prying eyes. Alex kisses him like he might die if he doesn’t, and that’s- Henry’s only ever been kissed indifferently, if he was even kissed at all. Alex’s hands keep gripping and tugging at different parts of Henry’s body like he can’t decide which part he wants to explore first, and Henry hates himself for hoping that it’ll take far more than just tonight to finish the expedition. 

Alex slides his shoulders down the wall a few inches and the motion juts his hips forward, one of his thighs, thick and muscular, settling in the space between Henry’s legs. Though Henry usually prefers the control, he’s helpless to stop the way his knees threaten to give out at the pressure of Alex’s own hips pressing firmly into his. 

He keens and topples forward, his nose glued to the space just behind Alex’s ear, and Alex catches him easily with a hand around his waist, slowly urging him back and forth. He presses a wet kiss to the part of Henry’s cheek that he can reach, then smooths a dangerous grin to the same spot. 

“Yeah? S’that feel good?” he coos, his voice deceivingly sweet before it dips into a filthy drawl, his teeth bared and fingers digging into flesh. “Come on, baby, ride me. That’s it.” 

The heat coils and simmers in his belly, his hands back to clutching fistfuls of Alex’s shirt as he abandons his resolution to remain unaffected. It doesn’t matter that they’re practically strangers, that Alex - Ander? - doesn’t seem to exist in any of the records or on any of the guest lists. Henry knows it’s the kind of thing he should probably bring up to the security staff, that he should leave well enough alone and stay away from Alex even if he is frustratingly alluring and by far the most beautiful man Henry’s ever seen. It’s risky and it’s dangerous and it’s stupid and Henry knows it. 

And yet. 

He feels mindless as he grinds forward into Alex’s hip and then back down onto his thigh, the pressure so dizzying that he has to keep his eyes shut, his mouth open against Alex’s shoulder, a bit of drool gathered on the material. Henry can’t remember the last time he’s ever felt so out of control, but it isn’t as terrifying of an idea as it always used to be with the others

Not when Alex is equally as affected, the outline of his cock straining stiffly against the bulge at the front of Henry’s own trousers, a bead of sweat trickling down the side of his neck. Henry’s chin tilts and his lips part on instinct, gathering the salt onto his tongue with a quiet moan. 

“Fuck,” Alex hisses, nudging Henry with his head until he can look him in the eye, pushing the hair back from his forehead with his hand. “You’re gorgeous, you know that? You think you can get off like this?” 

“Probably,” Henry admits, his voice trembling. “It’s- it’s been a while. For me.” 

“Baby. That’s so fucking hot.” 

His hips stutter on Alex’s thigh, a crease forming between his brows. “It is?” 

“Fuck yeah, it is,” Alex growls, fingers digging into the flesh at his waist and urging him forward, back into a bruising rhythm as he breathes directly over the shell of Henry’s ear. “Knowing you think I’m worthy of getting to have you like this? Thinking about finally getting you all to myself after dancing around each other for months? Knowing I’m the one that gets to take you apart with my lips? With my hands? With my teeth?” Henry gasps, gripping frantically at Alex’s shoulders as he sucks a reciprocative bruise into the side of his jaw, the sharp line of his teeth marring his pale skin and drawing the blood to the surface. “Picturing you so desperate for me that you had to pull me away from the party and abandon your princely obligations just so you could have your fix?” A breathless chuckle lands somewhere against Henry’s collarbone, condescending pleasure mixing with the sweetest hint of pain. “S’a fuckin’ dream, sweetheart.” 

“Alex,” Henry groans a bit too loudly in the quietness of the room, shuddering at the lofty implications of his words, but Alex doesn’t shush him. 

What would they say? Henry wonders deliriously. How scandalized would people be to see the Prince of England’s Hearts with his own stuck in the confines of his throat, desperate to be handed on a silver platter to the man with his hands underneath the waist band of Henry’s trousers, the other wrapped around his neck? To see the picture of prim propriety panting and debauched, rutting mindlessly, desperately, on the brink of losing his meticulous control? Handing it over willingly?

“Yeah, baby. Say my fuckin’ name.” 

“Close,” Henry chokes. 

“Yeah? You gonna come for me?” Alex grins again, his eyes half-lidded as they roam lazily over Henry’s face, the antithesis of the punishingly quick, sharp snaps of his hips. “Wanna hear you, Henry.” 

“Yes,” he gasps, and Alex leans forward to fill in the gap between his lips with his own once more. 

It’s too much and too fast but he’s loath to stop it now, and suddenly he’s melting into molten heat headfirst, Alex’s heady eyes blazing and fierce, his grip tight and his rhythm unrelenting as it crashes over Henry in waves. He shivers and bucks and falls forward again, shaking in Alex’s arms as his eyes dip backward and flutter closed against the rush of heat. 

The world is still a little hazy around the edges when he registers Alex reaching down between them to undo the front of his trousers and get a hand around himself, pausing to lick a stripe up the center of his palm before he’s stripping himself in hurried strokes, flicking his wrist and rubbing a thumb over his slit, and Henry can see how much he’s leaking each time the flushed head of his cock fits through the top of his clenched fist. If he weren’t so lax-limbed and shaky, Henry would drop to his knees right this moment. 

He’s not as good at talking as Alex evidently is, but he’s always been intuitive with his body, with his lovers, though he’s not usually given the chance to explore or appreciate that. But Alex is here, right in front of him, gorgeous and desperate and close, and Henry can’t help the way he brings a trembling hand forward to grip at the newly exposed skin at Alex’s hip that’d been covered by his pants only moments before, only inches away from where he’s aching and swollen, and Henry curves a thumb into the jut of bone and soft flesh, and presses. 

“Ah, ah, fuck, Henry-” Alex comes with a stutter and a loud groan, clinging to Henry like a vice as he chases the feeling and then draws away, like it’s both too much and just on the precipice of too much. Henry understands. 

He strokes a hand down the back of Alex’s head until he calms, pulling back enough to look Henry in the eye and press their mouths together, softer than he had earlier. When he moves to clean them up Henry pushes him back against the wall with a gentle hand to his shoulder, ignoring Alex’s cocked brow as he reaches down on autopilot. 

With a soft sigh, Henry indulges himself in yet another fantasy he’s never been able to act on. He grips Alex’s dirty wrist from between them and drags it up to his mouth, eyes shut as he curls Alex’s fingers over his tongue and cleans each of them thoroughly, from his fingertips to his knuckles and back again, warm flesh and piquant release soothing his frayed senses. 

“Holy fucking shit,” Alex chokes, the breath knocked out of his chest. “You’re fucking perfect.” 

Henry hums and continues, pulling off of his fingers to drag his tongue across the veins and tendons running through the back of Alex’s hand that lead down to his wrist. He doesn’t stop until there’s no trace of Alex left on him, then eases a soft kiss to the center of his palm, leaning into it when Alex uses the same one to grip his cheek and pull him forward again. 

“Thank you,” Henry murmurs against his mouth, his gratitude eagerly accepted and returned by swollen, salacious lips.

+

[utterdrip]

Hi hi hi <3 I wanted to ask, I wanna install mods to bg3 but I only find guides from months ago and since we got new patches, I was wondering if you could help me ? Thank u and sorry to disturb you <3

hi, sure!! i will say that 1) things shouldnt have changed so much with new patches. mods do break, but the mod authors are usually quick to rectify them so they work with the patches (check your downloaded mods in nexus and change the order to most recently updated and dl it. bg3mm is rly good at just overwriting old mods with the newer versions w/o having to do anything but import them)

and 2) i am just. a layperson doing my best when it comes to modding. i dont know shit so this is just my experience!

NECESSARY FOR MOST MODS TO WORK

BG3 MOD MANAGER

BG3 mod fixer

bg3 community library

compatibility framework

companions – old shaders

improvedUI release ready

player and npc - old shaders

script extender

shivero’s icon gallery

trips’ old shader pack

tutorial chest summoning

unique tav

vfx library

Okay, i just copied and pasted this from my mods page because this is a good starting point methinks. I don't mod through nexus' program, so i can only guide through bg3 mod manager (bg3mm)

alright lets start with the easiest types of mods: paks. PAKs are what bg3mm are able to export directly into the game without us having to do anything but i'll break it down

PAKs are typically: additional gear, hairstyles, earrings, weapons, faces, horns, eye colors, makeup colors, dyes, dice, new spells, new classes, new potions, and the like. they're things that dont need to override things in the vanilla game in order to be added, however, order is still important in bg3mm

find some shit you wanna dl. i'm gonna use tav’s hair salon as an example. they dl as zip files

i recommend having all of your dl-ed mods moved to a specific folder for you to keep track of

open up bg3mm and go to >file>import mod

4. select the mod/s you want to import

5. they will get loaded into bg3mm on the RIGHT SIDE (inactive mods)

6. you just have to click and drag the mods you want over to the right side to move them to active

7. certain mods need a special load order in bg3mm. ex: tav's hair salon needs to be above (a lower number) and it's icon patch needs to be below it (a higher number)

7a. unique tav should be loaded at the bottom of the load order(a higher number) and any "unique tav patches" that you need for other mods should be loaded beneath it (a higher number than unique tav)

8. press export at the top to the game file path and you should be all loaded in

yay okay now, to mods that need to be directly overwriting game files. you need a zip extractor - i use winrar

it will be in the mod description whether or not you need to add these manually, but they are typically: unique tav, different makeup or tattoo styles, different body types or body tattoos, etc. i'll be using soft body for my example because i lov it<3

a lot of work needs to go into getting soft body to work, and it has to be done in a certain order so that things are replaced and loaded properly

trips’ old shader pack needs to be dl-ed AND installed first. extract it. anything that needs to replace files will do so in the DATA folder for bg3 OR if it's unique tav, their specific folders

companions – old shaders is next, and fortunately the two files for this mod is now 2 paks, and can be added to bg3mm easily

soft body is finally to be dl-ed, extracted, and moved into the data folder. you have to enter the extracted folder and move the GENERATED folder created from the mod into the DATA folder for bg3. every time you install manually, you will get a prompt to overwrite the files. click YES as that is what is allowing the mods to exist

as u can see, i like pinning the data folder to the quick access so i can just throw the generated folders in when i need to

and this is what ur mod folder should look like for bg3

ok yeah thats all i got hopefully this makes sense or is helpful lmk if theres anything i missed

[monstercampus]

Yessss I loved the werewolf gangbang so much <3 do you think now that we've fucked the entire team, the Balrog coach would be impressed? At least a little bit? Enough for some deepthroating? Or just some sloppy kisses if he's too big to get completely in there? 👉👈 🥺

oh of course >:)

(cws: balrog coach, demon/human, gn!student, dramatic size kink, lewd photos + sex tapes, fingering, limit breaking, mention of drugs/monster pills)

wc: under 1k

It might take a little while, but word will spread around the team. They'll chuckle and murmur amongst themselves in the locker room after practices, reminiscing on the cute, pretty human they got to absolutely decimate into submission. They share the photos and videos with each other but tuck their phones away when someone else comes in--but that only lasts for as long as it takes for one of them to accidentally leave theirs on the bench, right out in the open and unlocked for their coach to happen upon when he's doing a sweep after they've all gone home.

He just plucks it off the bench with one of those massive hands that makes the device look like a matchbox, casually flicks the screen up to see which of his boys it belong to, and bam--there's a picture of you pulled up in his gallery, hot and glossy-eyed and stuck like glue on a fat werewolf knot.

And it's not just that he recognizes you, or that you look so fucking enchanting in your obvious state of bliss, it's also the fact that he can hear a bathroom door swinging closed and a soft humming as the taps squeak and someone washes their hands in the next room. That's what has him erect in moments, the scent of you making his cock twitch like mad and strain a deep curve in his pants that he doesn't even try to conceal--because let's be honest, you've shown interest and you're clearly so sexually loose that you'll probably want to emulate those scenes captured on this phone with him. And he won't stop you if you do.

It doesn't even occur to him how tiny you really are until you're knelt between his legs, pawing at his cock under his shorts and smushing those soft lips against the curved tip. You're trying so hard but you just can't fit, you can't even open wide enough to get the tip in your mouth without breaking your jaw. How sweet. He's at least willing to commend your effort, if not by giving you what you want in the moment then lifting you up off the ground and pushing his hand down your shorts. The way you squirm has him growing even harder, even hotter, his fingers barely fit inside you but it's no longer a good enough reason for him to spurn you, even for fear that he'll split you in half. He saw a glimpse of what you could do, and you cum so easily--two or three times just standing there, getting stretched open on his fingers that must feel like cocks to someone as tight as you. You get so slippery that you might fit, he has to find out if you fit, so your shorts have to be torn off your body and you have to be picked up and held over his lap for him to finally find out.

Obviously he's a little mean. Murmuring about what the big deal is, how you're so pathetic when you whimper about him only pushing you down on the tip--but it makes you wetter, it makes you stupider, and he likes it so much his cock spasms again and you slide down further all on your own. He can tell by then you can't get much deeper than that, even though he's only fed a few inches inside and you're only warming about a third of his cock overall. It's cute that you can't stop cumming though, your precious body growing tighter at the intrusion and your legs shaking as they dangle uselessly off the floor. Maybe he'll have to swipe one of those pills from the Dean's office to help you with his size, because you've shown you can do all the work, no? You're just too small and cute to take it like a demon would...and his mind runs wild with thoughts about fucking you properly, of claiming you like he would a pitiful demon that he wanted to breed with.

You've got a long way to go from here to there, considering you're practically mindbroken just listlessly swivelling your hips, trying hopelessly to fuck something that's just too big for you. You can't even stand a touch from him, each stroke of his blazingly hot fingers between your legs makes you jerk and cry out and cum harder around what little amount of cock you can sit on. But maybe once he cums, your body will drink in that demonic seed and you'll understand your place. Even if he has to use you like a too-tight fleshlight, and wrench you off with one hand to jerk himself to his end all over your face, he'll get you a taste of what you've been missing so it'll get you hooked--and hell, maybe he'll even get to hear you seducing the Dean in a pathetically horny attempt to get those coveted pills....which would be quite the convenient way for you to find out just how good they work, and how far your body could really stretch if given the chance. And when you're done, and he kisses you so warm and deep that you're practically choking on his tongue, you can come crawling back to try and take him whenever you want. Pills or no pills--he can always try to stretch you out the old-fashioned way, and he's sure his wolf pack would adore helping you along.

[my-plastic-life]

A(nother) Feudal Fairy Tale: Behind the Scenes

Welcome to the behind the scenes footage of creating my Azone Pure Neemo Character Kagome Higurashi! To see the photo gallery, click here!

Step one: Make sure the outfit can be made. Because this will all be in vain if that can’t be done. Once again, I consulted my dear friend Elenpriv and asked if she could make a second Kagome uniform (she’d made the one for the Barbie body) for a Blythe body (Azone Pure Neemo doll bodies are identical to Blythe, or at least very close). She said yes! WOO!

Side note: Azone has made several outfits for their dolls, including a lot of sailor style school uniforms. They’re perfect - but none of them are green! There is a dark blue/navy one, a black one, I think a red one... all kinds of options, but not a green one. Dang it! LOL

Anyway, next up was finding the perfect doll candidate. I didn’t want to use one of the actual character dolls because, well, they’re already a character from another series lol. So my first step was looking at all the 1/6 scale dolls with black hair. Creating a doll without a reroot was ideal.

There were several options to choose from, but even though they had black hair, there were some other issues.

For one, Kagome’s face is more “pointed” than round. I felt this particular face/head shape was too round.

I did start with her, but the slightly smaller mouth just didn’t say Kagome to me lol, especially when I kept looking at these pictures for reference:

So on to the next candidate! This one is nice, she has a nice face shape and a wider mouth:

I like her, but... her eyes don’t go quite high enough, I don’t think. And I need a template, since I can’t draw to save my life, so I wasn’t going to remove the eyes and start from scratch. She also has a side part, and try as I might, I couldn’t get the bangs to shape properly to hide it. I kept her on the back burner just in case, though. I looked into a couple of other ones like these two:

But they both have dark brown hair, not black. And the second one has too round of a face as well.

I went back to my original choice and attempted to style the hair. Well, one thing about Azone dolls - their hair is saran. That means it doesn’t work with heat very well, and it’s hard to style (or dye, apparently). At least, that’s been my experience. Nylon hair works much better, and is much more heat-resistant.

So at this point, I figured I’d have no choice but to do a reroot. Luckily for me, I’d already done a complete reroot with Olivier Mira Armstrong. So this would be my second one!

But I still needed a doll. As I looked at option number 3 more, I absolutely loved her face. The shape was right, and she had the wider smile. All of these dolls would have the same issue of needing their eyes repainted due to how their irises are compared to Kagome, so I wasn’t even looking at that.

Well, I didn’t want to buy one of these dolls (they’re designed for collectors, so they’re not just cheap play line ones you can get off a shelf - plus they’re all from Japan, which raises the price tag) just to “tear up.” So I looked in my stash and discovered I had two of one doll, and it happened to be the one with that face! So here’s the winner:

Her hair is actually the same color as mine in real life lol. That’s super hard to find... but not with Azone! They’ve designed several with that hair color, to which I say hallelujah. I’ve seen maybe two Barbies with that hair color. Come on, Mattel, get with it!

Anyway, the first step was to make sure I could pull off the reroot. I’d repainted Kagome’s face before (plus Sango’s, which is pretty much the same except for pink eyeshadow as well), so you’d think I’d be an expert at that. (More on that later).

I cut the hair off and then used small needle nose pliers to pull out the rest. Azone doll heads, it seems, don’t have glue on the inside - the hairs were all kind of weaved together inside the head. And there was one large piece where the part was that kind of held it all together, so I was left with a larger hole than I liked when I got all the hair out. But I did use some Loc-Tite to close it, just to be safe, and it seemed to be okay.

Next I painted the scalp black to match the hair she’d be getting. Of course, I forgot to use acetone to remove the original paint, and then I forgot to seal the black paint. So during the reroot process, it kept chipping away. Oops. I’m still new at this lol. Fortunately, you can’t see any of that with the final product.

So, during this rerooting process, I kept reminding myself of how I had to go back and add more hair to Olivier a few times because I’d made it too thin. So this time I went all out, even though most rerooters say you don’t have to plug every single hole (even though the factory did)... there’s a head in here somewhere LOL.

Once I was finished with all that hair, it was time for the boil wash. It never fails - whenever I do this, loose hairs that didn’t get plugged always come out. I need to figure out a method to prevent that, as well as prevent the hair from becoming a big stringy mess during the reroot process.

Of course, I probably should have taken a batch of hair and cut it so it didn’t wind up this long because I knew I’d have to cut it anyway:

Anyway, once the boil wash was done, it was time to do the bangs. Bangs have always been tricky for me. I don’t know how I managed to give my Anastasia Steele bangs without much of an issue... but perhaps it was because I used the method in this video, which I repeated for Kagome. I got them cut into shape (and again, they have such an odd shape compared to other characters - they’re almost triangular whereas all the other girls have straight bangs), then used the method in the video to get them to lay flat. When the face was done, I used some of my Volks doll hair spray to help the bangs stay in place.

Speaking of the face, that came next (I cut the hair first to make it easier to work with, with the intention of styling it later). Another difference between Azone dolls and other dolls I’ve worked with (particularly Barbie and Disney Store) - their eyes are stickers. Maybe other dolls are too now, but these particular stickers come off very easily if you rub them with a toothpick. Which I tend to do quite often when painting doll faces/eyes because inevitably some paint will stray from the brush and go where I don’t want it.

But I did use this to my advantage because the doll I chose had eyes with lashes that were pointing outward a little too far to match Kagome’s shape. So I used my toothpick to remove them, giving the eyes a more rounded appearance.

My original goal was to just draw over the eyes already in place, essentially changing the color from light brown/gold to dark brown. Well, Azone doll eyes have large pupils and smaller irises, and the white parts are smaller yet. The Inuyasha art style is different, with a large white part going from the top to the center of the eye, surrounded by a little bit of black and an almost horseshoe shape made up of two different shades of the iris color. Yeah, I studied that a lot. :D Plus, in many instances, Kagome’s eyes don’t look perfectly round, but more oval/oblong. But I did have to work with the shape of the sculpt/eye socket of the doll, so I tried to give her the appearance of having the “taller” eyes with the shape of the iris. And then there was the fun issue of getting those eyes even and the same size! I literally painted over the entire original eye with white paint, then went back in with the blacks and browns. I did discover that watercolor pencils will color on acrylic paint, so that helped me sketch out the design and go over it with paint again. It took some time, but finally, the face was ready! Mod Podge sealer applied!

The next step was styling the hair. You’d think I’d have it down by now, but noooo. Kagome has the most complicated hair of all the Inuyasha girls, I think. Sango and Kikyo have simple hairstyles and straight bangs. Kagome has triangular shaped hair all the way around. It ends at a point in the back, as do the bangs. Sigh.

So I got the hair trimmed into the proper shape using a layering method, which made her look like she stuck her finger in a light socket in the process. :D Once I was satisfied with the shape/length, I attached the head back onto the body, which already had the uniform on. Success!

Except...

The hair looked too thick, and a few people confirmed this when I showed it to them. Yeah, I was so worried about not having to add more hair later that I actually added too much.

It was also too long at this point as well. So then I was frantically trying to figure out how to salvage the situation without completely starting over. Some people suggested using a razor to thin it out. Yeah, I think they meant a straight razor like a barber uses, because my Dollar Shave Club razor didn’t work very well...

Then someone suggested shearing scissors. I’d previously purchased a hair styling set with two types of scissors (one of which was shearing) and combs. I’d never used those scissors before, because I didn’t know how the heck they worked. So I dug them out and used a practice doll to see what they did. And they did what I needed them to! Instead of cutting the length of the hair, it just cuts pieces to thin it out.

So I took these shearing scissors to the hair and made it a lot less bulky. Then I used my curling iron (and a spray bottle to get the hair completely soaked to be safe) to help shape the hair in the back. Of course, that’s easier said than done... there’s that pointy shape at the end, but the primary view will be from the front, so I had to be wary of that as well. And I didn’t want to cut too much, either. Kagome’s hair is most often seen above the waist, about mid-back under her green collar. It’s definitely shorter than Inuyasha’s. I was afraid I’d cut it too short when I applied the curling iron, but I took some of the curl out a bit and it seems to be okay now. Whew! I really didn’t want to have to redo all that... why didn’t I just send the head off to be rerooted professionally? Because I hate the post office and don’t trust them not to lose the head, and these dolls are, again, meant for adult collectors, so they’re not cheap. No way was I risking losing it. Plus, I wanted more practice anyway, and it did save me money. A professional reroot is worth it, but for this doll, I wanted to do it all by myself (except the uniform because no way can I do that lol).

So, finally, after playing with the hair a bit, I added some of the Volks spray and mousse (used to prevent flyaway strands), and she was ready! Woo!!!

But she wasn’t done yet! She still needs her accessories. :D She’ll be sharing her backpack and bike with my Barbie size Kagome, but I wanted to give her a bow for sure and maybe even some better arrows. Well, what luck - hubby got me a 3D printer for Christmas! And I managed to find a 3D print file for Kagome’s bow, arrows, and quiver on Etsy! These were cosplay size, but the seller was able to size them down for 1/6 scale for me. (The seller has since closed her shop, so I can’t post the link here, unfortunately.) Those little arrows were super delicate, but they look better than my first batch! Well, the arrow heads do, anyway. My first batch was the perfect size all the way except the arrowheads, which I attempted to replicate out of Crayola Model Magic. And it didn’t look good lol. So now I’ll probably try to print some more heads and glue them to the Barbie ones so they look better.

But first, let’s get the Azone one done, shall we? Because these were all 3D printed, they were one solid color and needed to be painted. Well, that was easy. I’d kept notes of all the colors and color combinations I’d used for my other dolls, so I just dug those out again and got to work. I glued some thin twine around the quiver like before, as well as a strap to go over Kagome’s shoulder. The bow string is made of black thread.

(Notice how she has her finger pointing to guard her aim! See - interchangeable hands!!!)

I painted one arrow head to look like a sacred arrow. :D We attempted to print probably six or eight arrows, but some of them fell apart because they’re just so fragile. The heads survived, though, so they’ll be good experiments for the Barbie arrows lol.

So, remember how I said Azone dolls are meant to have their hands changed? Yeah, that made for some awesome posing. Kagome can actually properly hold her bow and arrows now! (Okay, the Barbie can too, but removing those hands requires heat and more muscle since they’re not designed to be removed like that.)

I’d originally planned to give Kagome a 26cm Obitsu body. The Inuyasha doll is about 30cm, so 26cm would be about right for Kagome if we’re going in terms of actual height. The Barbie is technically a bit tall, but I’m still satisfied with her. Plus she has the proper skin tone to match the Inuyasha doll. The Azone dolls have two skin tones - flesh and white. Both are much more pale than the Inuyasha doll, so she’d wind up looking more like Kikyo in the long run. Same with Obitsu bodies.

Anyway, why didn’t I go with the Obitsu body? Well, all would have been fine if the shoes had fit. :D Obitsu feet are wider/larger than Azone, despite the bodies being almost identical in height. So with her socks on, the shoes would not go on the Obitsu feet. So back to the original Azone body! But hey, she’s a “true” Azone Pure Neemo Character Series doll now - all the character dolls have either Pure Neemo Flection (this one) or Emotion (more articulation but significantly smaller/thinner) bodies, so this makes her accurate to the series. And she’s not really meant to go with the Inuyasha doll, honestly; she’s my interpretation of another doll line that I love. And many of those dolls only have character made from the series, not all of them. There are a few exceptions like K-ON! and Love! Live! Sunshine! But mostly, it’s just one character like Nezuko and Asuna.

Size comparison to the 12″ collector doll and the Barbie size Kagome I made to go with him:

So for that reason as well, I am not going to make more Azone dolls lol. Or at least, I don’t plan to... we know how that goes LOL. But for right now, I’m content with my Azone Kagome! She may not be perfect, but I’m proud of myself for doing everything completely on my own (except the uniform). It makes her even more special!

[ghostykapi]

chaeyoung + angst 👀

what if I (never) told you I had fallen?

chaeyoung & idol!fem!reader // angst

y'all when I said I want to scribble scribble I didn't expect to write ANGST for my biAS (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

when training for your debut since you were a teenager, all you've ever knew about everything else that wasn't school related or idol related was absolutely useless to you. even relationships with others seemed so pointless to you. amongst the teenagers who still seeked love among their goals, all you did was place that love into your training.

even in the company that you stayed in, that helped you make a debut, had more freedom regards to their artists' love lives. you were one of the few who had choose to not bother with that and threw themselves into work.

it had taken years for your members and staff to finally let you do other things aside from work. they had enough of it after seeing you walk out of the studio, finally burnt out of creative juices and work.

still you can't stray away from art, even if it's not in the form of music. so you had taken a liking to visual art, where you would walk in art galleries to simply admire the work or take pictures of nature.

this led you to her, your first taste of what it was like to fall in love. son chaeyoung

you had bumped into her when you were on your way to get a tattoo for the first time. you both were surprised to know that the tattoo parlor that she frequents is the one you're going to.

"you want to go together?" she had asked you that day, her infectious grin also making you smile "we can even get some food afterwards if your down for it!"

then your meetings with her, planned or just by pure coincidence, had become more frequent. from seeing each other at the han river to movie nights at your place. the more she came by, the more you continue to slip

it came to a realization on a chilly night, right after your practice you had requested the company driver to drop you off at your favorite ramen shop. it barely took a few steps out of the van for you to see her inside, talking to a random man.

you didn't know what the disturbing emotion was stirring up in your chest, but you had pushed it down and took a seat far away from them. hoping to sheild your eyes from seeing her acting too happy with him but still seeing them in the corner of your vision

you had already figured out that she was on a date, from the way he had been complementing her to the way her hand found his and mindlessly fidgeting with his fingers. it was all in the body language and you hated that you can still see it in the corner of your eye

it was when you finally managed to finish your meal and get out, that you realized what you felt and why you felt that way. it had made you scared to the bone, this new revelation changing your life.

it had brought you to nights where you lie down in bed, questioning if it was worth it to at least confess. it had brought you days of practice where everything is on auto-pilot, quite not trusting yourself to be there properly in the fear of messing up the steps. it brought concern from your members, questioning if you were trully ok, even if the light in your eyes was mixed with conflict, dispair and fear.

where this feeling had brought you new things, it had also left a hole in your heart. you knew you didn't have a chance with her ever since you saw the date at the ramen shop.

you had quite convinced yourself to try and move on. when you did try, she had always managed to find a way to bump into you, throwing you off track every time.

it was getting tiring, and you heart couldn't take it anymore. still, you were quite the stubborn person. so even if she came by your place, to ask for help to get a gift for her boyfriend, you couldn't say no.

"unnie" you groaned, your eyes finally giving up on you for looking at your phone for so long "please let's brainstorm later! my head hurts from thinking too much"

"please y/n/n!!" chaeyoung pouted at you, trying to get you to stay on the couch to help her search the net "this is really important to find a gift tonight"

you let out a dramatic sigh, this girl really knows your weakness huh

"fine" you couldn't help a smile take over your face as she did a small cheer "you owe me a good some son chaeyoung"

"I do y/f/n" she smiles at you. you swear this is the smile that's gonna break you "i just hope he's gonna like whatever I give him"

you barely see her this worried, so even if you dislike the man, you weren't blind to see how much she trully loves him.

"chae" you gently remind her "he's your boyfriend, your lover. he would love anything that you give him, just remember to trust your gut and make it a bit personal ok?"

she scoots over closer to you, and despite feeling your chest tighten, you give her a hug to try and ease her worries.

"you are son chaeyoung" you tell her, letting your mind say a portion of its true thoughts and a fragment of your feelings "you don't need a fancy gift to show him how much you love him, all you just have to show him something you know that's of your love and that he can chrish. he loves you chae, with gift or no gift"

she hums in appreciation for your comfort and pulls away, and even just for a silly little moment, you let your mind think that she was yours, even just like this. even just for a bit

"you always know what to say" chaeyoung says, now she's holding your hands and you know she had a hold on your heart as well, even if she doesn't know "I'm still surprised to not see anyone pursue you at all"

"what can I say" you smile, letting the words get in your head "maybe I'm just better off single"

because i can't handle it if it's not with you

"don't say that" she frowns, the softness of her voice reminding you how much you love to hear her talk "you'll find someone"

"maybe" you give her a smile and an empty promise "you'll be one of the first to know if I do, I promise"

in the next comeback, your group releases a new song, and chaeyoung questions if you were lying to her. seeing you on her phone screen, in an interview, explaining the last chorus of the song.

"what if I told you I had fallen?" (oh, nevermind.)

[autumnalwalker]

Magic System Inspiration Tag

Thank you for the tag, @blind-the-winds.

Passing the tag to @cljordan-imperium, @talesofsorrowandofruin, @ceph-the-ghost-writer, @writernopal, @druidx, @anthros-vanitas-archive, and an open tag for anyone else who wants to share.

Rules: list the inspiration(s) for your WIP's magic system and, if you want, go into detail.

So, both The Archivist's Journal and Empty Names qualify as fantasy and have magic, but really only Empty Names has a "magic system" per say.

The Archivist's Journal is more like "try to keep individual elements internally consistent but otherwise throw supernatural odds and ends at the wall and see what sticks." How or why anything magical works in that world is intentionally meant to be ultimately unknowable and barely comprehensible (at least to the Archivist) and making peace with that inability to know is something that I've come to realize wound up being something of an overall theme. And whether anything really even is magic and not some combination of placebo effect, hallucination, and/or disguised/misunderstood science and technology is a bit of a recurring background question.

In that vein then, I suppose one might point to some Lovecraftian cosmic horror influence, but with the twist that the unknown has just as much - if not more - capacity to inspire wonder and whimsy as it does horror and madness. Meanwhile, things like the nature sprite's fey trickster vibe and the tendency for objects to take on unusual properties after being cared for for a very long time have any number of precedents in folklore and pop culture, so it's hard to point to any one source of inspiration.

As for Empty Names, well, at the end of the day there's really only one magic system/concept at the core of everything, but it's one that can be extrapolated out to a number of things, allowing me to play fast and loose with "rules" for magic and enabling what looks like multiple conflicting magic systems to be running at once.

Going to hide the rest of this under a "Keep Reading" line because I expect this to turn into a rambling essay.

The core magic system:

So, anyway, the core "magic system" in Empty Names is that reality is influenced and defined by belief and perception, both of the individual and of the collective human consciousness. This ultimately started as me trying to come up with an explanation for why magic stuff needs kept out of the public eye in an urban fantasy setting. That explanation being that having an entire "anchor world" full of people that fundamentally believe the universe to be stable and bound by physical laws gives enough stability to allow other worlds to be more fantastical without reality breaking down altogether. It was an idea that I'd sort of played with of and on over the years in various iterations when trying to come up with ideas for TTRPG campaigns to run, but it wasn't until I came across a certain Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) image gallery (those are something of a guilty pleasure of mine) that made use of this concept in an extremely similar way that I found a good way to properly define and articulate it.

Once I had that down, everything else magic-related in this setting was ultimately able to tie back to that. All the different magic systems at play here are essentially just "it works this way because the mage using it expects it to work that way, and so do enough other people that follow that tradition of magical practice." There's probably more than a little bit of the Warhammer 40K Ork tech principle in that idea's genealogy.

The Autogenesis Principle:

The Autogenesis Principle (or just "autogenesis" as it more often gets referred to in the text) is probably the most original thing I came up with for the setting. Taking the "reality reflect perception" idea and applying it on the individual level instead of to the world so that the internalized view people have of themselves physically manifests as changes to their bodies. I think I originally came up with it as an explanation for Eris having the superhuman strength and durability to be able to throw down with monsters barehanded and then ran with it as an excuse to give Lacuna alternating hope/angst about gender dysphoria stuff. Or maybe it was the other way around. And when planning on doing an episodic monster-of-the-week type of anthology (as was the original plan for the project), playing into the classic trope of "person who does monstrous things literally turns into a monster because of it" gives a convenient source of monsters to deal with. But similar to The Archivist's Journal recasting unknowability as potentially good and wondrous, that aligning of body with perception has the potential to be wonderfully affirming too (see again, the hopeful wish-fulfillment side of Lacuna's gender hope/angst).

Also, some of the capacity of autogenesis being tied to reality stabilization stems from the endless and tiring internet forum arguments of "Why don't people in <Insert Setting Here> just use magic to boil blood/cause an aneurysm/suck air out of lungs/<Insert Other Cheap And Brutal Auto-Win Strategy Here>?" The implicit explanation of "your self-image doesn't usually include being on fire, so autogenesis protects you from mages internally combusting you" preemptively fills that potential plot hole.

Crossherd and other pocket dimensions:

Crossherd, "the largest and most connected-to pocket dimension in North America" and "collective wistful dream of every small town that could have been a metropolis if only history had gone a little differently" owes its meta-existence to two primary influences. The first is from a campaign I ran for the "Glitter Hearts" magical girl genre TTRPG. That campaign's setting was a bit of a thought experiment of "What if a couple key local historical events went differently so that my own small hometown had grown into a major metropolitan center for the region?" and the name "Crossherd" is itself a butchered AU-ified version of my irl hometown's name.

The second major influence for the Empty Names version of Crossherd as a pocket dimension haven for the supernatural within the otherwise seemingly mundane anchor world is Three Portlands from the SCP wiki, particularly as it appears in the "Third Law" canon. Actually, a lot of Empty Names is influenced by "Third Law" and the adjacent SCP tales and canons, seeing as I'd just finished reading every article linked from that canon hub when I started jotting down the initial notes for this project. And while I'm at it, not technically "Third Law" or magic system related, but special shoutout to Aldon from the "Learning the Alphabet with Aldon & Finnegan" collection of SCP tales as being an influence on Lacuna's search for a way to get herself a new body after learning that magic exists.

Meanwhile, Carnette's eclectically adorned and bigger-on-the-inside Bridgewood Manor draws its biggest inspiration from the player housing in the MMORPGs AION and Final Fantasy FXIV and the exploits that some players would get up to in order to create far more impressive displays than the designers ever seemingly intended. And just like the high-end players who have saved the world several times over spending all their time post-campaign breaking the game to make the coolest house possible, Carnette Bridgewood - the world's most powerful mage - spent her days experimenting with how to best break reality itself over her knee for the sake of interior decorating. There's also traces of House of Leaves in the manor's inspiration. There's even a labyrinth out behind the house, perfect for a Minotaur.

Rituals, Enchanting, and Lacuna's tech approach to magic:

Another big magic sub-system for Empty Names is the use of elaborately drawn magic circles and long involved chants for rituals to produce magical effects without needing to be a full-fledged mage. That general idea of magic circles and slow elaborate rituals instead of wizards just casually tossing fireballs around has a long, long, history with any number of mythology/folklore/pop-culture examples, but I think the D&D 4e and 5e approaches to it as it explicitly being a way for non-spellcaster characters to do magic is the most immediate influence for me here. And then there's plenty of RPG (video game and tabletop) influence on being able to use rituals like that for drawing glyphs onto objects as enchantments to buff equipment.

Lacuna's particular method of using a digital projector to perfectly draw her ritual circle in the first chapter and then her later work with using AI to make real-time adjustable circles and sped up computer-generated chanting to do ridiculously complex rituals in a short amount of time once again draws inspiration from the SCP wiki, with similar technology showing up in the "Third Law" and "All That Glisters" canons. Also, the fleshy laptop Sullivan gives her is rather directly inspired by the so-called Osteotronic Cubes from the latter canon.

Going back to the "magic works how your expect it to work" thing, Lacuna being a huge anime nerd with a fondness for Fullmetal Alchemist is low-key part of the reason the glyph-circle based magic works so well for her. And, drawing from some of my own irl experience with coming on board late into legacy code bases and programming, Lacuna's got no idea how the innermost workings of that AI system function, she just has faith that it does and knows what surface-level components she can modify and add onto without breaking it. This probably won't wrap back around to "belief shapes reality" and accelerate the AI system into a nascent machine god singularity or something.

Not quite Lacuna's field, but magic and tech related, there's some background worldbuilding of technically mundane tech in Crossherd being sped up decades ahead of the mundane world via techniques inspired by the Theosophical Society and attempts at Occult Chemistry to use clairvoyance to divine the atomic structures. RevaTech, the company that Lacuna left, is short for Revelation Technologies as a nod to this. Meanwhile, actual paranormal technology getting referred to as "paratech" is another SCP reference.

Ashan's magic:

The world that Ashan learned magic on is based on a homebrew D&D campaign I ran once and has some tendency to follow similar D&D-esque classifications of magic into schools/styles based on effect. The similarity to D&D's magic system mostly ends there though (aside from the aforementioned rituals). The real inspiration for Ashan's particular spellcasting style of drawing/painting his conjurations into existence comes from the trend of early games on the Nintendo DS and Wii to make gameplay gimmicks of incorporating the stylus or remote respectively to have the player draw things on the screen. I never actually played Okami myself so I might be off base with it, but it's the big one that always jumps to mind for me as an example.

That random necromancer Ashan fights in Chapter 2:

This particular application of necromancy as manipulating flesh and bone rather than raising the dead was mostly inspired by Tamsyn Muir's "The Locked Tomb" series.

Culescu and Flesh-shaping:

A world that gets mentioned a bunch in Chapters 8 through 12, known for its inhabitants' secretive mastery of a brand of magic that easily transforms and shapes living flesh in spite of autogenesis normally making that incredibly difficult. That was all born from a heavily reflavored (but mechanically unaltered) psion class character I played in a 4th Edition D&D campaign over a decade ago. Jero, who shows up in Chapter 12 is the most recent iteration of that character. I ended up reusing the character and the concept in several of my own homebrew campaigns over the years, expanding on it into a world/culture as I went (even if my players hardly ever directly encountered any of it).

The biggest inspiration on that is my own personal tendency to react to the body horror genre and Geiger-esque art with fascination instead of horror or disgust. Asking the question "What if instead of such dramatic bodily transformations being horrible, painful, and traumatic, they were painless and willingly initiated as a way to experiment with new physical sensations, explore the relationship between mind and body, and allow for self-determination and affirmation of one's identity?" "What if this was easily accessible, reversible, and normalized?" "What if it were elevated to an art form?"

The art of Lucian Stanculescu (aka hypnothalamus), particularly circa 2010-2014, was a big influence on how I'd often pictured such artistic application of flesh-shaping often coming out. Enough so that the name of the world is an homage to that artist.

Also, the manga "Franken Fran" is a somewhat more twisted version of this vibe and something of an influence on Jero's tendency to walk the line between chipperly helpful and deeply unsettling.

Cosmology and travel between worlds:

While I don't expect it will get too much screen time or explanation in Empty Names proper, aside from the early-mentioned bits about "anchor worlds" the biggest influence on my perception of some worlds being "closer" or "farther" from one another despite them being different dimensions/universes rather than a separation of physical space (and their surprising fragility) comes from the webcomic "White Noise" by Adrien Lee. I tend to imagine the stations in Crossherd for traveling between worlds as looking similar to the portal stations in that comic as well.

As for the space between worlds (and again, their surprising fragility) there's definitely a Lovecraftian cosmic horror eldritch monster all-is-the-dream-of-Azathoth type stuff going on. The "Void Without" that Sullivan swears by. Well, if I'm being really honest, it's perhaps even more directly inspired by that concept but as portrayed in the dream bubbles and Horrorterrors of the Furthest Ring in Homestuck.

Names and name-based magic:

Once again, there's no shortage of sources to draw inspiration from in pop culture and folklore when it comes to stories about faeries stealing people's names, or names otherwise being stolen or sold, often with the result being some combination of the new holder of the name controlling, taking the form of, or abandoning the original owner to be an empty husk. And once again, the SCP wiki's takes on this was one of the biggest immediate inspirations for how this plays out in Empty Names. The memetic geass NDA contract that Lacuna had to sign when leaving her old job was similarly inspired by the "Third Law" SCP canon.

The biggest inspiration for the workings and inclusion of nominative magic in Empty Names however are the various short stories, poems, and social media posts I've seen speculating on how such a fey theft or sale of a name might affect a trans person trying to get rid of a deadname. Lacuna going through such a bargain in order to bind a fairy into her service as a familiar by trading it her deadname was actually one of the first scenes I wrote a rough draft of. It'll be a long time until the main story gets to that point though.

Xenocolors:

There have been a couple of offhand mentions to specific weird colors that produce certain effects when seen. This is less "inspired by" and more "referencing" Fallen London's Neathbow.

Whatever is going on with Sullivan in Chapter 11:

Kirby, but simultaneously human-shaped and more explicitly Lovecraftian.

[cythion]

May DWC 2023

Day 6 Gleaming

Warning: some swearing and sexual themes

Cythion was excited for this night. Vixxy’s Elemental gallery gig was the talk of the town and many entertainers like him had vied for the chance to secure a spot as one of her performers or escorts. Cy was here on both those counts. He had been assigned to the Fire room.

It suited him well enough. Floggers, fire and fucking. Yes, that suited the tall kaldorei just fine.

Taking one last look at himself in the mirror as the music started up to welcome guests in, Cy grinned at his image. He looked fine if he did say so himself. “I’d fuck me.” Decked out in red leather chaps that might have been painted on with a black leather jock strap under. Silk threads embroidered on to look like flames up the sides. He ran his hand over his washboard stomach testing the paint and fire-resistant glitter gel to be sure it was dry enough and wouldn’t smudge. His pink skin has an array of flame-colored hues that when he moved in the lights of the room it almost gave an illusion of flickering over his skin. A black leather chest harness and black leather knee high boots completed the clothing portion of his ensemble. His long magenta hued hair was coated in golds and red paint and more of the flame-resistant glitter. The locks bound in braids and pig tails and arranged to look like a flaming faux hawk. The eye makeup completed the look, dark lashes and bright colors making his cloud blue eyes pop.

Cy made his way to the stage he had been assigned for the first shift. It was a little to the side, as the main stage was to feature Dicenne, whose skill at fire whip was well known. There were a few other strategically placed small stages here and there, that performers would take turns working throughout the night. Cy’s schedule was to work the fire floggers as a set of poi, spinning the flames around him, then to work the floor and invite people to experience the performance firsthand with sexy little fire flogging tasters. The further the night progressed the more free form the schedule would become and the sexier. Cy was pretty certain he would be naked before the night was over and probably entangled with one or more of the guests. He reached down to adjust himself in the jock strap, looking forward to when it would be removed from him.

Rolling his shoulders and neck as Cy took his stage. There were no guests here yet. They would take a bit of time to work their ways into this final room, but they all had to look like the show was in full swing when they did. Cy spun the dry floggers around him. They were a matched set, a wooden handle with a short chain then the falls of soft braided fireproof fabric that would hold fuel but not burn. Unlit they weren’t very impressive. Their magic came with the addition of fire.

Once Cythion felt warmed up enough, he dipped the falls into a small closed container of fuel. He was sure to close it up properly before taking the floggers to a fire proof mat to light. The burst of flame was intense, but he was unfazed as he took up the still cool handles and began to spin them. That was after all the only safe way to hold them now, as anything over the falls would face the full brunt of the fire's wrath. He smiled in spite, or maybe because of the added danger and need to stay focused as he moved around the stage, the flaming mops making easy arches around him. No need to hype it up until someone was watching.

When the first guests began arriving, it was Cy's time to shine. Sure, there were other performers here, but he always liked to imagine the patrons' eyes were only on his sleek, muscular form. He twisted and turned his body as he danced with the flame, spinning the falls faster around him, letting them kiss at his own skin. A devil paying for his sins at his own hands. This devil though loved it and every time the heat flickered over his body, he felt the same thrill rush through him. Arousal and need, fire and flame. Firelight gleaming off the gold paint, oil and sweat on his skin. He directed his body and the flames in a primal dance around the stage, being sure to catch the eye of every patron at least once as the flames began to die down. With the last of their light, he spun fast on his heel and threw the sputtering floggers down onto the stage in a small burst of fire then instantly dark. The stunt looked far more impressive than it was as that spot had a fire nullifier spell on it and was there to ensure tools were fully cool and out before each refueling.

Cy grinned at a few gasps from the watchers and took a bow. He straightened and took up the floggers again and hanging them on a wall of equipment before turning back to the room with a wicked grin. Time to meet the patrons.

@daily-writing-challenge @dicenne

[generalsnivy]

This Dragonite is just floating in a swimming pool with their new floaty and they're having a nice, relaxing time enjoying the breeze and the Summer sun without a care in the world!

I got the idea to draw this after viewing one of PokemonGems most recent tweets on Twitter. The tweet was so adorable that I couldn't resist drawing this cute little Dragonite! This was fun to draw, but drawing their face properly was a pain and I had to redo it 3 times in order to make it look right! The rest of Dragonite wasn't too bad, but the wings were a bit of a roadblock in of themselves. The first wing went fine, but figuring out how to go about drawing their 2nd wing was something else. After looking around the gallery of Dragonite posted on Bulbapedia's website and after seeing a cute screenshot of a Dragonite from the Pokemon anime, I managed to figure it out and I think it turned out great! I also had a lot of fun drawing the Dragonair floaty as its snake/serpent-like body made figuring out how to turn it into an inner tube very easy and it looks natural!

When it came to drawing the environment, I had some fun with the watercolor brush within MediBang Paint as it was an excellent substitute for the brush I normally use in Krita when adding details to the water. It was also great for adding details to the sidewalk outside the pool to make it look like other people and Pokemon were walking around the pool while dripping wet from swimming. When it came to drawing grass, I couldn't do it as I don't know how at this point in time. So, I decided to turn the "grass" into little bushes instead. (Besides, Krita has a couple of grass-like brushes included in their software where MediBang Paint, doesn't.)

Overall, despite the setbacks and roadblocks, I love the way this turned out and it was a lot of fun to draw! Considering that this is only the 2nd time I've ever drawn a Dragonite, I think I did a good job with them!

Reference used for the creases and stitching on the Dragoair floaty/inner tube (This reference is highly suggestive and may be considered Not Safe for Work! Proceed with caution!)

[sonicasura]

Barbara's Unique Family

I figured why not expand on this? There will be five little scenarios where our favorite badass doctor gets herself a kid. Three has Jim being neither species shown in Tales of Arcadia while the other two is a sibling under the same circumstances.

Let's get started?

Thingamajig and the Doctor

Yup! I'm starting with a Rayman flavored Jim as I honestly think it would be more hilarious when he kicks his rogue gallery's ass. A lot of them already underestimated him as a human so why not make the guy even more 'looks harmless but can kill you'?

This Jim will have other traits than the standard Limbless since I tend to make subspecies for a lot of stuff. Pointed ears, horns, thick werewolf style fur, claws, tusk like fangs, the ability to harden his skin alongside hair into thick blue bedrock similar to troll hidden, blue stripes that expand into said bedrock coat when activated, and a spiky crystal ball that follows him around as if attached to an invisible tail.

Now Thingamajigs are a pure magic species related to dreams. So Jim has dream/wish magic to put properly. It's only as strong as his belief, imagination and magic reserves. He can turn himself human but not poof Bular out of existence type range. There's also the normal Thingamajig abilities such as the Haircopter, running on walls, shrinking and not needing air.

Barbara finds Jim when he's two years old. He got himself stuck in the trashcan looking for food and she heard him crying. James is already out of the picture but I will say if he was there then the man will be gone. Either because he left on his own volition or she kicked him out for being heartless to a lost baby.

Jim becomes friends with Toby when they're four as kids tend to wander off and he's no exception. Barbara has him take online classes albeit any video call lessons have the monitor off or other excuses about his inhuman appearance on screen. Jim is around 11 years old when he finally able to hold onto a human disguise for more than twelve hours a day.

He attends public school afterwards which definitely earned him some attention for awhile. Like no one has seen Jim's human face before and assumed his 'big nose' persona is just a computer filter. Also for any Jlaire fans, they kiss with his human disguise or rub noses(kunik or 'Eskimo Kiss') in his true form.

Jim still freaks out a bit when Blinky and AAARRRGGHH break into his house. Although that's because there are two strangers in his home than them being trolls. Jim might use his Limbless nature to be a weird little shit. Back when he was little, Barbara had to check her bags before leaving for work as he tended to slip in there. Whether she got just Jim's head or his whole body is a coin flip at best. He was a clingy baby and later been teased for that with baby pictures.

Barbara's Tiger Son

For this one, Jim is getting a brother in the form of my OC Léi Yún. (Old doodle that I plan to redraw soon. He's based on a species called Azafuse/ Bakaneko(version based name) from a different series called Ushio and Tora.)

Léi Yún is a wanderer who has a habit of stealing an unsuspecting person's food. Albeit he made a bad mistake when he decides Barbara's attempt at egg salad would be a good target. Imagine her reaction when she caught a five year old Jim patting the back of an ill tiger yaoguai hung over the kitchen sink.

Barbara's food made him so sick that he can't exactly fly away or even use magic without feeling queasy for a few days. Enough time to find out Léi Yún is essentially a child and adopt him in seconds. The Azafuse follows Jim to school by turning invisible to those who aren't spiritually attuned. Basically the school doesn't know they have an extra student, at least until the last two episodes. He met Toby by stealing Nana's cookies and Tobes caught him.

Now yaoguai tend to age quite strangely between each individual. Most mature normally like humans, take centuries like trolls but some have certain requirements that need to be done first. Léi Yún is one such yaoguai as he's actually 600 years old despite his child appearance. He needs to haunt someone or a place to properly reach maturity. What better people than the Lakes?

Léi Yún's species can get quite big so in his 10 year stay, he matured into an near adult around AAARRRGGHH's size. Of course he can make himself feel weightless like most spiritual based entities. Thus Léi Yún could do this despite the size difference between him, Jim and Barbara.

Also Barbara is sooo finding out about Jim's Trollhunter role as a certain older brother will tell her. Léi Yún ain't dumb. He knows Jim's new double life gonna drag everyone in the crossfire whether he wants it to or not. Plus its better to have a medic for any lethal injuries. Just because Barbara taught Léi Yún first aid doesn't mean he can handle broken ribs. Also that binding spell is the only thing keeping the Azafuse from zapping Strickler like he did to Bular and Draal(for being a dick to Jim earlier).

Even a Beast Deserves Love

For this one, Jim is gonna be a Lamortmon mainly to fit the Beast motif. (Lamort means death in French. Fitting when this Digimon is known for extreme berserker tendencies with the smallest slight unless calmed down. Jim was taught anger management at an early age.) I'm going for the Digimon Fusion rules so he hatched from an egg and grew up in this form.

Barbara found Jim's egg hidden by a dumpster when out shopping. He hatched at home and she raised him as her own. In a sense, Barbara is his Tamer but a Digivice has yet to form...for now. Her relationship with James doesn't last long when he discovers a one year old Jim and practically runs. House is later renovated to make him more comfortable such as having enough room to move around alongside cooking without issue.

The young Lamortmon does befriend Toby by sneaking into his yard. Unlike the others, Arcadia ends up finding out about Jim when a nasty fire broke out in a store. He was hiding inside Toby's phone while his best friend was looking for snacks. The 10 year old rescues everyone who been trapped inside and became a precious secret hidden from outsiders by the townsfolk.

Barbara had him doing online classes so Jim integrating to public school wasn't difficult. He's usually in a small handheld carried around by Toby except for classes outside or inside the gymnasium. Strickler definitely spat out his coffee and had a WTF moment seeing Jim at school.

Why is this strange creature out in the open??? Is he trying to get everyone's attention? Nevermind the fact a 15 year old Jim is just a mere two feet shorter than Gunmar. He might've gotten a glamour mask by an anonymous source *cough* Strickler *cough* mainly to lower the risk of Bular and the Lamortmon meeting.

Now as for Jim's missing weapons and armor for his species, the Amulet will be providing his twin blades alongside the metal gauntlets than just the Trollhunter armor. He does tell Barbara about the trollhunting business since he rather not have her oblivious to the dangerous responsibility now shoved onto him. Man needs some more hugs.

Loving Shadows

Another OC this time with my undead magical experiment Ling Shēng. (Another doodle I plan to revamp.) He's a runaway failed clone of the Six Eared Macaque, a Celestial Primate whose six ears can hear the past/present/future, made via stolen magic alongside corpse magic. Personality wise, Ling Shēng is a lonely 7 year old who rather play leap frog with an actual frog and be helpful but is scared to interact in fear of being hurt.

Barbara discovers him one day when she notices a 5 year old Jim's shadow is acting strange every night before bed. Almost if someone is standing behind. Quick google search leads to the conclusion of a Diao Xue Gui or "hanging on boots ghost", a mischievous but mostly harmless spirit. Barbara manages to gently coax Ling Shēng out of hiding.

She didn't expect the ghost to actually be a small monkey child and is quick to adopt him. Ling Shēng is the only one who can actually use healing magic but also purification magic. A nice boon when it comes to dealing with a certain evil sorceress and troll warlord with a mind control fetish alongside stone poison issues.

Ling Shēng is introduced to be Toby through Jim as he figures his new brother needs more friends. The undead yaoguai takes online classes but does follow his human family and friend through the shadows. Since he's a clone, it doesn't take long for him to mature into a young adult in those 10 years.

Ling Shēng is still a shy stuttering mess who loves family hugs and sweets despite being a 7'11 tall undead monkey yaoguai built like Bruce Lee with a Día De Los Muertos skull bearing piercing violet eyes for a head. He does tell Barbara during the Win, Lose or Draal incident. Ling Shēng doesn't want these secrets to hurt his family further.

Mother's Wolf

We're going for a werewolf Jim or to put aptly, a Wolfssegner. A type of Wolfskin from Fire Emblem who can switch between a human and beast form. Although Jim will have to cover ears, tail, alongside have an excuse for his more hairy body. Now Wolfskin require a gem called a Beaststone to manage their transformations better. Jim doesn't have one so he has to learn the ropes while he grows up.

Barbara finds him in the woods when he was just a baby. James already dipped as she caught him being unfaithful once coming back home. Jim doesn't shift until he's five. A playdate with Toby goes awry when a mountain lion house breaks into his the Domzalski's backyard.

Jim transforms to protect his best friend, the animal runs off clearly intimidated by grizzly bear sized werewolf. This leads to a lot of camping trips so Barbara can help her son become accustom to his other form. It might've started an urban legend known as the 'Giant Horned Wolf of Arcadia Forest'. (A 15 year old Jim's beast form is nearly the size of a small bus.)

He attends public school but wears a hair brand to make the illusion that his ears and tail are fake. As for his fur patches, Jim has the Werewolf Disease excuse. Basically the only thing that'll blow his mom's thought out cover plan is him transforming. If he needs to use his other form, Barbara gave Jim the idea to shift one or two of his limbs than a full transformation.

He does tell his mother after the Win, Lose or Draal episode. Mainly cause she would easily find their new troll protector in seconds. Jim's puppy brain got him into some nutty shenanigans when he was younger so Barbara will definitely find out if he's hiding something in the house.

And that's it! I probably do one with Strickler later. Draal too as we know Barbara would've adopted him if she could. Until next time folks, I'll see you back in Arcadia.