#darcylightninglewis

[bartowskis]

"I hope you're pleased to see me." "Very. For several reasons."

— BERTHA & GEORGE RUSSELL in The Gilded Age, 2x02, "Some Sort of Trick" (2023)

[barrowsteeth]

Mr. Russell is not a weak man, and there's no point pretending otherwise.

The Gilded Age (2022 - ) 2.03 | Head to Head

[usergif]

(insp.)

[astorytotellyourfriends]

First off, sorry you're having a bad brain day for anything. Secondly, maybe Hellcheer have been on the same bus and totally *not* noticed each other but then “We’re on the bus and I’m really not trying to take up your space I’m sorry I just have really really long legs” Use any of that you like. :D

aww thank you!! i appreciate u 💛 and as a fellow long-legged individual, i relate to eddie's struggle lmao

also this turned out way longer than i expected so enjoyyy

Eddie's relieved to have snagged the last empty row of seats on the already-crowded bus. He knows this route well enough to know his stop is far from the busiest, so getting a seat at rush hour is close to winning the goddamn lottery.

Every person who got onto the bus after him purposefully avoids taking the seat next to his, which amuses him more than it offends him. He knows someone is eventually going to be brave enough to sit down next to the scary guy with long hair, but maybe he'll get through a stop or two before it happens.

For the time being, he takes advantage of the space and stretches his right leg into the footwell of the empty seat. He lets out a soft groan of relief and rolls his neck from side to side, already thinking about how good it's going to feel to collapse into bed when he gets home.

When the bus rolls up to the next stop, Eddie doesn't move his leg. Anybody who spots the empty seat takes one look at him and hurriedly looks for somewhere else to sit, bringing a grin to his face.

His plan's working out pretty fucking well, actually.

Until someone gets onto the bus who doesn't look away. She makes her way down the aisle and up the steps so quickly that Eddie just barely has time to move his leg to let her sit down.

"Thank you," she whispers as she pulls her bag off of her shoulder and sets it on her lap.

"Y-Yeah," he says, offering her a smile as he struggles to fit his stupidly long legs in the small space between his seat and the one in front.

Fuck, have they always been this small?

Eddie clears his throat and looks away from her, propping his arm up on the ledge next to the window and trying to focus on the outside world rather than the pretty girl next to him. He's seen her before on this bus, but only in passing. He's tried not to stare at her, not wanting to get caught being a creep, but there's just something about her that keeps drawing him back in.

He tries to look at her out of the corner of his eye, his curiosity piquing when he thinks for a moment that she might be looking at him, too.

No, she's probably looking out the fucking window, you idiot!

Eddie turns his head as nonchalantly as he can, and to his surprise he catches her looking right at him. She blushes and drops her eyes down to her lap, but Eddie's so taken aback that he completely forgets how to function. His right knee knocks into her leg and they both jump at the collision.

"Shit, sorry!"

"I-It's okay, really--" She laughs a little as he tries to twist himself up like a pretzel to give her more room. "You don't have to."

"Don't wanna encroach on what little space you have," he says with a chuckle, somehow sounding way more cool than he feels right now.

She offers a little shrug his way and smiles. "I'm pretty tiny, so. Feel free."

Eddie laughs. Is she serious?

She twists to the right, offering him half her leg space, and Eddie shakes his head.

"Really, I'll survive."

"I don't mind," she insists.

Eddie sighs, laughing softly as he admits defeat. "Okay, okay."

He moves his right leg, groaning a little as his knee pops. She presses her hand to her mouth, probably to hide a laugh, and Eddie chuckles under his breath.

They both stay quiet as the bus makes another stop, and as someone passes by their seats, the girl's leg presses up against Eddie's. He doesn't say anything and neither does she, but he figures once the bus starts moving again, she'll pull away.

But she doesn't.

"I'm Eddie, by the way," he murmurs, ducking his head and leaning towards her. She turns her head and smiles as she offers her hand.

"Chrissy."

"Nice to meet you," he replies as he shakes her hand.

"Likewise. I, umm, I like your rings."

"Oh, yeah?" Eddie lets go of her hand to show off his right, wiggling his fingers as she laughs.

"Yeah. They're cool." Chrissy gently touches his fingers to admire the rings and then looks up at him with a smile. "They suit you."

Eddie grins. "Thank you."

He doesn't pull his hand out of her grasp, and it takes a minute or so for her to seemingly remember she's holding it. She blushes even more than before, and now Eddie finds it impossible to look away. He compliments her sweater and they fall into a simple, easy conversation as the bus continues on.

Eddie's so wrapped up in talking to Chrissy that he almost misses his stop. He just happens to glance up at the front of the bus as it pulls up to the curb, and he curses under his breath.

"I gotta--" he says, gesturing to the door as people around them start shuffling around to let other passengers off.

"O-Oh," Chrissy says as she rushes to get up. Eddie's loath to leave her, but he squeezes past anyway.

"I'll, uhh, see you around," he says, wrapping his hand around the nearest pole to stay upright amidst the wave of people climbing off the bus.

"Yeah," she says with a smile. "I hope so."

Eddie offers her a wave as he joins the shuffle out the door, kicking himself the moment he steps onto the sidewalk.

You could've just stayed on the fucking bus. What's a couple more stops to keep talking to a pretty girl? You'll probably never see her again now, you fucking--

"Eddie?"

He whips around, hardly having gone more than ten steps away from the bus stop, and there she is.

"Do you, umm..." Chrissy hitches her bag up onto her shoulder and laughs bashfully as she tucks her hair behind her ear. "Do you maybe want to get coffee?"

A wide grin spreads across Eddie's face.

"Hell yeah, I'd love to."

[staceymcgillicuddy]

If you’re still taking prompts for the writing one, 2 or 23 mayhaps? 💖 No worries if not. 😘

I am, in fact, still taking prompts! And I'm going to answer both of yours! Here's number 2, and I'm going to start work on 23 now. I'll tag you when I post it!

“Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

The concept is so ludicrous, so ridiculous, so beyond the realm of comprehension that Eddie has never considered it in the three months he’s been privileged enough to call Chrissy Cunningham his girlfriend, his sweetheart, his one-and-only. Like, he’d prostrate himself at her feet daily if she’d let him, and maybe he’d tried once or twice before she’d “oh my gosh-ed” at him in a way that had him swooning and grabbing at her knees and kissing her ankles and yeah, alright, he worships the ground she walks on. Fuck him, right? 

So, the idea that Chrissy could be jealous? Does not compute. Beep-bloop, broken robot, bye-bye. 

Yet, there Chrissy sits, arms folded and a frown on her face, in the front seat of his van where he’s giving her a ride home after Corroded Coffin’s standing weekly gig at the Hideout. Chrissy can’t always come—her mom and dad aren’t exactly down with Eddie, so her attendance is contingent on whether she can sneak out—but she was there tonight, looking perfectly delectable in one of his old Dio shirts that she’d cut up and turned into, like… some girl shit where her boobs are pushed up and fantastic and it nips in at the waist, and yeah, he’s gonna eat her out. He’s gonna eat her out so hard, what with the flippy black skirt that’ll be so easy to get underneath.

Only that’s not looking so likely, judging by the way her bottom lip is shaking. 

She also hasn’t answered the question. 

Eddie pulls the van into the curb, ignoring the indignant crash of a loose cymbal. 

“Chrissy,” he says, reaching for her hand, only she turns away. “Hey. Baby…” 

“You were flirting with her!”

“With Alice?” Eddie is stumped. Shboggled. Stupefied. Alice is like… the bartender. That’s it. She’s not even a girl, really. Or, well, she is a girl. He’s made out with her twice, and she gave him a handjob once. But she’s older—in college in Indianapolis—and she only picks up shifts at the Hideout when she’s home on break because her uncle owns the bar. And, like, yeah, she has a great ass and a cool haircut, and she’s fun to talk to, but he wasn’t flirting. He was just, like, kidding around. Teasing her a little. Coercing her into a free drink and a smoke and…

Huh. Yeah. Now that he thinks about it, he can see where Chrissy’s coming from. 

“Allie’s just like, my buddy, though?” He offers by way of explanation. 

“Eddie, come on,” she says, and her chin is still wobbling. 

“I’m serious, though! You don’t have anything to worry about.” 

She rounds on him with a glare, and he’s suddenly quite sure that he’s stepped in a pile of dogshit. “Oh my gosh, I’m not worried, Eddie! I’m embarrassed!”

“Th—why?” 

“Because it’s humiliating to have to sit there while my boyfriend flirts with another girl in front of his friends, is why!”

Oh. Huh. Eddie never thought about it like that, but then, he never had a girlfriend before Chrissy. But, if the tables were turned and she was being real cute with some random dude while he had to sit there and watch, he probably wouldn’t be thrilled with the situation, either.

“Fuck,” he says. “Chrissy…” 

“Don’t do that crap, okay?” She blinks, and there are tears in her eyes. Eddie officially wants to kick his own ass up one side of the street and down the other. “It really hurts my feelings.” 

“I’m sorry, sweetheart,” he says, and he means it. “That was a dick move.” 

Chrissy softens slightly, and this time when he reaches for her hand, she lets him take it. “I don’t care if you… if you have friends, or whatever. But don’t flirt, okay? Don’t do that.” 

Eddie nods, and if the gearshift wasn’t between them, he’d have flung himself across the seats and onto her lap by now. “Got it. Yeah. Totally. Just… new to this, you know?” 

“Uh-huh.” She shrugs, then offers him the tiniest hint of a smile. “You want to make it up to me?” 

“Depends.” 

“On what?” 

“What you’re wearing under that skirt.” 

Other prompts from this meme!

[erythromanc3r]

OOOOOHHHH. So happy to see this! On the House?

YAY thank you for the ask! 🥰

On the House is my Secret Santa fic written for @kats-meow-fic! the basic rundown is that it’s a modern AU where Chrissy is a social media dating/romance guru who takes her clients/dates to this one specific restaurant where Eddie is the server. They grow closer and start to develop mutual crushes. It’s got idiots in love! Notes on the toll emotional labor in the service industry takes on you! Building meaningful connections with people in spaces where it’s nearly impossible to act like a human being!

Here’s a snippet from the third act of the fic (that I will be publishing on ao3 soon I promise I PROMISE)

“Christine! You never come in this late!”

“Yeah, it’s just gonna be me tonight,” she shrugs, sliding into her usual booth. “I’d love an affogato. And…maybe some company, if you’re not too busy?”

Eddie is quick to return with the espresso and a heap of creamy vanilla ice cream in a chilled dish. So quick, actually, that she doesn’t have time to surprise him with the gift she’d come in to give him in the first place. He’s seated across from her, and it’s casual. Like they’re just two old friends. Like they’ve been working together for months. Hell, haven’t they?

“What’s buggin’ you?” He asks, his knuckles rapping little rhythmic knocks on the wood of the table.

Chrissy pours the steaming espresso over the ice cream, watching milky trails of it melt into the bitter liquid. “I’m just so busy taking on all this…work. Between making videos, studying, the sponsorships, the coaching. I think I might’ve forgotten about myself. D’you ever get like that? Just…exhausted?”

[hangon-silvergirl]

Thank you for all your hard work & creations!!! ✏️, 🤡, 📌

🥰🥰🥰 thank you!

I hit ✏️ in this post, but for the other two:

🤡 What’s the dumbest thing you’ve written?

I have written some dumb stuff, but here are a couple of extra dumb blurbs from fics I'm working on:

From honey:

"Give up the ghost, Eddie," she says, rolling her eyes as she flicks the tip of his nose. "Goodbye, ghost," he replies with mock solemnity, and without flinching. Then a big ole' grin splits his face and he all but giggles as he tugs on the neck of Chrissy's shirt. "Helloooooo titties!"

From bitch:

"You want me to die on the toilet?" Eddie's eyebrows are lost to his hairline, and he lays a reproachful hand on his chest. "Is that what you want our children to see?" Chrissy shrugs. "It was good enough for Elvis," she tells him.

📌 If all your fics/WIPs fell off a ship and were drowning (go with it), and you could only save one, which would it be?

Oh god. Um. Probably the two partially finished next chapters of Marigold? I'm partial to what I'm working on right now, but there is still a part of me that is intent on returning and finishing Marigold. Someday. Maybe. But that's the better part of like, 15K total word wise? So I might actually die a little if I lost it.

(From this list of Fic Writing Asks.)

[enoughtotemptme]

This was so difficult to choose buuuuuutttt....wanna have ur babies / love is here to stay (walk this way)

Thank you!!! This one's been on the back burner for a while, but I want to come back to it soon! I swear there was a tumblr post in my likes that inspired this, but can't find it. General idea, drunken love confession during which Eddie tells Chrissy, incredibly earnestly, that he wants to have her babies. Also, they're neighbors.

“Anyway,” she says, forcing cheer into her voice. “Tell me something else about college! Any friends? Girlfriends? Boyfriends?”

“Chrissy,” Matt groans over the phone.

“What? Bloomington is a whole new world! You can’t go it alone!”

“My roommate Hank and I hang out,” he sighs. “He’s friends with some of the frats, so I meet a lot of people at the parties.” 

“Anybody interesting?”

“No,” he says, aggrieved, then says, “What about you? Is your boyfriend still walking you home every day?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” she sighs, then shrieks when a hand snakes around her to steal her tasting spoon.

“Holy shit. Chrissy, are you alright?”

“Who’s not your boyfriend?” Eddie asks, eyebrows knitting together as he scoops an overflowing spoonful of red sauce out of the pot.  

“I’m okay,” she tells her little brother, then glares at Eddie. “None of your business, creeper.” 

“Okay, first of all, I knocked, you just didn’t hear me, and second of all, did you or did you not say I could come in at any time?” He slurps the sauce, then hums in appreciation.

“I did,” she acknowledges, and steals back the tasting spoon. 

“Is he there?” Matt asks, glee lighting up his voice. “Is that the guy?”

“It’s Eddie,” she says. “Giving me a heart attack.”

[ebongawk]

💭👽🤐 (💗💗)

💭: How do you come up with your story ideas? Do you like prompts? Do you like visual pictures for inspo or written dialogues?

Honestly I feel like I come up with stories in a variety of heinous ways. Like, reddit posts are a personal favorite lmao but I'll also randomly remember moments from my or my friends' lives that I'll spin into a prompt, or I'll come up with something and not write on it for enough months that I'm assuming people forgot I ever posted it in the first place. I do LOVE prompts, though, and I'm typically more inspired by dialogue than I am photos but anything that gets the mind churning is well-loved and thoroughly abused by me.

👽: What's the weirdest idea you've had for a story?

lmao define weird. Maybe I'm too desensitized by being in the reylo fandom for so long but I don't blink at things that would make a lesser person clutch their pearls these days. My unpublished Hill House AU was pretty weird, ig, bc Ben really thought for a while that Rey was a ghost and he was still dtf. A hellcheer AU I'm working on referred to simply as "the cuckolding AU" is pretty fucking weird. Anything a/b/o is probably weird to anyone else but it's my favorite trope (and the one I'm worst at writing). Give me EXAMPLES of weird lolol.

🤐: Do you like keeping projects secret or do you like talking about them?

I feel like I'm always unintentionally cryptic about what I'm working on but if someone asked I'd be relatively open about it??? Idk I like to worm in surprises but if I got a message asking about, "What's the cuckolding AU?" "what's your a/b/o AU that you've teased so many times and never posted?" I wouldn't just ignore it, y'know?

 (💙💙)

[stcreators]

Sorry to bother, but when I click the link to join the server it says it's invalid.

try this link?

[absentlyabbie]

Hiiiiii. How'd you change your desktop? Is it an extension?

Honestly I made what tweaks I could with the current version of xkit rewritten to make it even a little more bearable.

and i zoomed in to 130% to make the dash feel less claustrophobically crammed in the middle.

i still hate it and it still sucks, just a very little bit less.

and every day i log on and they've fucked up something new, like today's adventures of "who the fuck is everybody where are the icons" and "reblogged from: " FROM WHO??? IT'S BLANK

i need them to Just Stop

[bartowskis]

— BERTHA & GEORGE RUSSELL in The Gilded Age, 2x07, “Wonders Never Cease” (2023)

[barrowsteeth]

I'm surprised you were allowed back into this house.

The Gilded Age (2022 - ) 2.02 | Some Sort of Trick

[thyla]

Hi there! I was wondering if you had any tips for coloring Eddie's performance? Your edit (post/705347354650427392/stranger-things-409-the-piggyback-bonus, really all your piggyback Eddie gifs) the coloring is absolutely SUPERB, truly that scene has been the bane of my existence and any tips you would be willing to share would be appreciated.

first off, thank you!!!! and secondly, so sorry this took so long. i didn't know how I would do this tutorial and then life happened and I weirdly got busy. lol but here we are now!! let's get to it. (for this tutorial you’re gonna need basic gifmaking skills)

i'm gonna show you some how I colored these gifs:

so they pretty much have the same coloring but i tend to go in a tweak stuff around. So in this tutorial i’m just gonna show you what layers i use and what order (that totally matters). and some other tips that i found helpful.

after i do that i go and stack all my layers i’m gonna use.

i learned that channel mixer is my new best friend it comes to coloring the upside down. once i have those stacked i actually start with curves.

click the bottom curve layer and click the white eyedropper

and then on the gif click the part of the scene you want the lightest. so i usually look at the whites points on the gif.... for example i don’t remember completely but i’m pretty sure i clicked the whites in eddie’s bandanna. it it could be something in the background to a person’s face... just depends. and you can always adjust the opacity and fill of that layer if it’s too intense.

and now click on the black eyedropper

and click on an area you want the darkest... and it should come out something like this

after that i go to the brightness/contrast layer and adjust it... which changes to scene to scene so just play with it.

NOW COLORING!!

i start with hue/saturation

and because this gif i’m using as a lot of blue in it naturally... i’ll go where it says master and hit that arrow down and go to the cyan & blue and play with those adjustments... for example:

this is also helpful if you wanna change the bluish coloring to like pink or purple or green... etc... ALSO, for that eddie performance if.... i’ll turn up the red saturation too!

now we have this..

from here i kind of move around in all the other layers... i don't really have step by step... i would suggest maybe playing around in selective colors. and in selective colors... i start with black and work my way up. after you do that... i would play around with the levels layer and the exposure layer...and this is how it comes out to look like:

NOW after those... it’s time to go in with the channel mixer... its a game changer (at least for me haha)

here’s what my red output looks like but click on where it says red and play around with the green and blue output and after that i get my final look for my gif!

i hope that all makes sense! i wanted share a good amount and also let you have space to play around and learn too.

[astorytotellyourfriends]

Thank you. In dire need of some enjoyment/something to look forward to (no matter how distant :D) spicy narrators au?

i am here for u!!!!

here's a lil snippet direct from the plot doc 🥰

wip game

[staceymcgillicuddy]

*wraps you in a blanket, hands you a hot drink, kisses your forehead and gives you fuzzy slippers* take care of yourself, okay? It’s rough out here. Asking for hellcheer-historical. ♥️♥️♥️

Myyyyyy sweet friend, thank you so much!

Hellcheer-historical is a fantasy-ish thing I've been thinking about that involves an arranged marriage because I'm a sucker for shit like that, but I can't figure out how to make Eddie canonically Eddie while also being someone who Chrissy's father would marry her off to. Unless maybe it's for his name and she's bringing the money or idk. I mostly just am a sucker for "oops, married now" tropes and nervous virgins so that's where that one came from.

Ask about WIPs