#glass fusing tutorial

[rocketroseart]

Glass Paperweights! Made from What?

When I mention glass paperweights I'm sure you'll have visions of murrini paperweights. That's not what we'll be making, but ours are still quite interesting.

When I mention glass paperweights I’m sure you’ll have visions of murrini paperweights. That’s not what we’ll be making, but ours are still quite interesting. In this project video, I’m making two glass paperweights from bottles, using something you probably have in your house right now, for the mould. So please have a look at the video and give me your opinion on the project and the finished…

[aniharas]

𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥!𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘹 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘩.𝘤.'𝘴 (𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦)

pairing: obsessed!down bad!felix catton x fem!reader

summary: felix's lack of control over his deep feelings for you, his revisions partner, begins to spiral him into a sick and twisted sense of keeping you as his.

warnings: explicit language, sexual tension & content, themes of purity and corruption, use of cigarettes and alcohol

wc: 2.1k+

Maybe Felix Catton wasn’t the mindless pretty boy at Oxford like everyone had chalked him up to be. Maybe he was, at least until he saw you.

At first, he wasn’t exactly the most excited when he found out his revisions partner was you, a scholarship girl. A first-class student. Always buried in textbooks nonstop, always holed up with nerdy little books doing your nerdy little homework. He never found people like you any fun, so he braced himself for a snoozefest as you plopped down into the armchair beside him.

But Felix couldn’t have ever been more wrong about the pureness that was you. Sickly sweet, serene you. Skin tantalizingly covered by whatever shoddy arrangements Oxfam provided. Black-rimmed glasses with a prescription so high, it made your bambi-like eyes bulge out of your head. Voice so sugary, he could taste it on the tip of his tongue. You were a prude by all means, but you made it look so damn good. God forbid the tutor asked him anything about your essay, it was fuck all in his brain. And god forbid anyone asked him to make sense of what he felt for you.

And so he eagerly showed up to each revision. It started with the simplest of gestures. Holding the door open for you, carrying your books. He noticed you always walked home alone after each session at night, so he took it upon himself to escort you back to your dorm safely. 

And then it was gifts. Things that he could nonchalantly pass off as having extra of. Packaged sweets from the dining hall, an extra No. 2 pencil. He even tried to offer you a cigarette as the two of you strolled across campus. Of course, being the modest girl you were, you refused. He was glad that you did. You were responsible, you were good. He loved that about you.

But it wasn’t enough. Those brief, one-hour sessions were far from enough. Being the workaholic you were, you were hard to find around campus; that bit irked him. The whole “girl” thing was second-nature to him. They came to him in swarms, in fact. Why were you never there? That was fine with him, he liked the chase. He’d find a way.

“Tutor you? Felix, I think you’re doing fine–” “Codswallop, and you know it. You, on the other hand…you’re exceptional.” “I don’t think I’m exactly qualified enough-” “I do.”

And these newfound tutoring sessions were far better than what he had been getting. He never thought he’d look forward to being in a tutorial for hours in a stiff library chair, but the very thought consumed his waking days. Because it was you, dressed in your hand-me-down school jumper, brows adorably furrowed as you hastily scribbled notes across the margins of his essays. He wasn’t exactly the best at writing, but he occasionally found himself misspelling words just to see you get irritated with him. 

“Sometimes it slips my mind that you’re a rich kid. Until I remember we’re at Oxford and this is what you wrote,” you had said one time. Had it been from anyone else, he would’ve blown a fuse. But it was you, who always snuck in bites of your Crunchie between each sentence. You were so genuine, so oblivious to the world around you. He could never be upset with you.

Which is why he felt responsible for you. But how could he protect you when you were so elusive? He considered himself blessed if he found you at King’s Arms on the weekends, or anywhere at all. And blessed he was, on a Friday night, just before Oxford let out for the holidays.

It was you, accompanied by your trashy roommates. “Come on, just once before you go home,” they had whined as they pushed you through the doors. Upon this rare sighting, Felix decided that the story he was entertaining his table with was pointless, ceasing his conversation. It was like he was in a trance, the way he stood from his seat and gravitated toward you. Wordlessly, he plucked you away from your roommates. He figured you were better off with him.

It was clear that you weren’t used to any sort of bar culture, and while he found that endearing, he made sure to look over you. He booted a girl from his group just so he could seat you next to him, all while making sure you didn’t see the nasty glare she gave you. 

Assigning himself as your drink-sitter, he carefully scrutinized whatever you ended up drinking. Any strong liquors that came your way were quickly confiscated, much to Farleigh’s disdain (although he was placated once the extra shots were passed along to him). All you had to your name was a modest mug of beer, which you sipped at tentatively as you tried to make sense of the conversation around you.

You had gotten through one beer, though you were struggling about halfway through your refill. Despite that, Felix was in awe of you. The whining as he took the cup away, the mindlessly giggling at a joke one of the girls told, the fidgeting with the hem of your jumper. How could someone make drinking look so innocent? 

“My face is hot.” “You’ve got a buzz going. It’s quite a look.” “A good one or a bad one?” “A bit of a naughty one.” He quickly earned a punch in the arm from you.

And this was far better than the revisions or the tutoring. To finally discuss something other than academics with you was refreshing. He found himself recounting all of his stories, even the ones he had already told that night, just so he could hear you laugh at everything he said. It was a melody in his ears, a tiny bell jingling beside him.

Once the company began to fall out, Felix took you to get a breath of fresh air just beside the entrance of the pub. “D’you need anyone to take you home?” “Nooo, my roommates are heading back anyways.” “You sure? I can–” “Oh, you’re too kind. Why don’t you have a lover yet?”

The question was so forward and sudden, he couldn’t help but be surprised. You were definitely tipsy.  “Huh…haven’t given much thought to it.” “Well, you should.” “And that means?” “They’d be lucky.”

Felix couldn’t help it; he was out of control, cradling your face into his hands as his heart threatened to leap out of his chest. They were indeed hot, you weren’t lying about that. There was silence, anticipation with a bated breath, and then your lips were all that he felt. If anyone was watching, and they most likely were, it was like he was holding himself back. Jaw tensed, muscles taut, brows scrunched. It almost looked like he was in pain.

And he was in pain, his restraint being tested every second he kissed you. Trying so desperately to not have his way with you, to take you home and screw you into his dorm mattress. That’s not the type of person you were.

But boy, did you make it difficult. The mere act of placing your hands against his chest, pressing your body against his. Again, painfully obvious this wasn’t something you did often, but that made it all the more perfect to him. He intended to keep you that way, which is why he let go.

The confusion that overtook your features made him regret his decision more and more, twisting his insides with guilt for leaving you hanging. Your lips, donning a soft shine, mouthed his name, but any sound went fuzzy in his ears. The more he stared at them, the more that forbidden feeling stirred inside of him.

Mumbling an apology, he abruptly stepped back, not even sure of what he was even doing. He had to get away, head home. It was ironic, to long for you so deeply but to hold himself back from indulging in you. He was never one to shy away from what he desired; it was his very nature, his reputation. But he couldn’t just use a girl like you to scratch one of his sexual itches, how could he bring himself to?

And so, Felix turned his back on you, not uttering another word. He pushed through the crowded walkway in a blind frenzy, ignoring the people who tried to strike up conversation. Never once looking back. 

Soon enough, he heaved the grand doors open to his hall, ready to sleep off the feeling until a sultry voice called to him from his right. Annabel. Apparently she had been waiting for him.

It wasn’t long before she was straddled across his lap, basically eating away at the lower half of his face as she eagerly fumbled with his belt buckle. That’s what turned him off about her. Too eager, too annoying. It played a part as to why he had kept his distance from her, but for that night, she was better than nothing.

As she slipped off his lap to kneel on the messy floor of his dorm, his mind drifted elsewhere. The desperate girl in front of him disappeared, then you were there, just as he left you. Staring up at him behind your obnoxious glasses, your bottom lip trembling. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Would you even know how to do this sort of thing? 

If he allowed himself, he’d guide you, gripping a part of your hair. Not tight enough to hurt you, of course, just enough to get leverage. He’d watch as your pretty lips parted to take him in, taking your sweet time. Your mouth would be soft and hot, your tongue shifting about awkwardly underneath him. He bet that you’d have it down quickly; you were good at most things, being a quick learner. Perhaps there would be a few scrapes from your canines as you bobbed up and down, if he were to be realistic. But the sting was more than alright with him.

Felix always prided in himself for his ability to give a girl a good, long time. Why else would they flock to him by the dozens? So what was so different about you that made him feel like he was already about to burst the seams?

Because it was still you, sickly sweet and serene you, lips wrapped around him and devouring him like the candy you always loved. Your eyes would water, but he’d gladly wipe away each drop that managed to escape. It left him a whiny mess. Sweat prickling at his forehead, ragged breaths heaving his shoulders up and down, white-knuckling your hair.

And when he’d come close, he’d let you know. You didn’t like being caught off-guard. Your heavy disdain for pop-quizzes or his endless pranks of sneaking up behind you made that apparent. But he prided himself in knowing these things about you, that he was able to gather it all from your little ramblings. 

You liked American reality TV. Disliked gel pens. Loved your chips overdone. A ridiculous query crossed his mind. Would you like spitting or swallowing? Or would you rather it all over you? From how your lips were glued to him, it seemed like swallowing. But that made him hesitate. You would never like such a thing. You were squeamish around anything sticky or slimy. Cough syrup, oily or tacky lotions…you hated them. As much as it dismayed him, why would this be any different?

Because it wasn’t you. And as soon as the girl he had taken back to his dorm reappeared, he knew that she could never be you. Nobody could. He was disgusted with himself for dirtying that memory of you. He had turned something so innocent into something so grossly erotic, and he knew he had crossed a line. How could he ever see you the same way again?

He was also disgusted with how Annabel seemed to not care despite his disillusion. She might have been the only girl he had seen that got off on merely sucking someone off. It was genuinely pathetic. Her head was swiftly yanked up, her lips making a “pop” sound.

“Alright, get out.” “What? But we’ve barely done anything, Fe–” “I don’t fuckin’ care. Piss the fuck off!”

Felix thought he would feel bad about kicking Annabel out, especially after she left in tears with her clothes haphazardly buttoned. But he could genuinely not have cared in the slightest; he was already preoccupied, mind filled with guilt after what he had done to you. But did he feel regret? No. That’s what ate at him the most. Someone like him shouldn’t have gone for someone like you. 

Perhaps it was better to try and forget that he kissed you. Kissing you meant opening the floodgates of his feelings, his debauchery. He had to keep that closed so that you could stay as pure as you always were. His perfect girl.

And he would do anything to keep you that way.

to be continued!

a/n: dutifully fulfilling this request by my lovely anon. i wanted to delve more into the selfish, savior complex that he was and i DEFINITELY intend to take it deeper for the next part. again, thank you for the ask! co-written by @hellb4ts! leon, thank you for the many wonderful ideas. and you're welcome for introducing you to saltburn <3 inbox is open for any asks or reqs !

masterlist

put yourself on my taglist here!

@vannyangelxoxo @lilyrachelcassidy

[alizalayne]

Hello! this will be a quick process post so that you can see how I needlefelted a fursuit head!

I began by following the "bucket head" tutorial by Matrices, then added a layer of polyfill so that I wouldn't use as much of my merino wool. This is how I typically make a doll head, my "core wool" is often polyfill because it really likes to clump together and fuse.

Overall, this project took about two months of my spare time. This is the first fursuit head I have made, but not my first needlefelt project.

I would really like to encourage other people to try making masks this way! You can do any kind of subtle color with wool and the wool fiber is very cheap. If you wanted to make a fursuit head with the entirety of starry night flowing over it, or a head with tons and tons of complex colors, I think wool might be the best material. I also did not need to know how to pattern or sew in order to make this-- it was sculpture rather than sewing, which I am bad at.

The rest under the cut!

Another angle where you can see that I am building up the structure of the head.

I then made the ears, which are translucent because they're felted, just like real ears!

I wasn't happy yet with the proportions at this point, so I spent a lot of time figuring that out and deciding where and how I'd be placing the eyes.

I made a pair of sculpey follow-me eyes by using a little soy sauce dish as a concave circular mold and tried a foam clay nose and teeth. The sculpey eyes could be more successful, they took a lot of shaving and adjusting to get right and they eventually cracked from the strain I'd put them through while making them more shallow. For a while, I intended to make wefts of white wool to use on the sides of the head, but I ended up preferring a domestic shorthair head shape because it reads the most clearly as a cat vs any other animal.

I originally intended to have the eyes behind clear plastic domes and used "shaker domes" that people use to make greeting cards to cover the eye, but in the end they made the eyes too dull. I made foam clay housing for the eyes and painted it pink with acrylic paint. I used stick-on car window tint to create the pupils. My visibility inside the head is really good!

Finally, after fiddling, one of the eyes was deeper than the other and I had to re-set both to account for it. I added spot glitter on top of the acrylic paint on the eye using some gold watercolor paint I had, which was silly because I'll need to wash the head at some point. I will probably seal the eyes before washing and hope for the best. I intend to spot clean the head until it absolutely needs to be washed, at which point I'll remove some pieces or find a way to protect them while soaking the head in a cool dr. bronner's bath.

I glued down a layer of felt fiber on top of the foam clay "tear ducts" and then felted new fiber over the tear duct skin and cheeks to blend them into the face. I also removed the teeth and closed her mouth because I didn't have time to adjust the teeth as much as I wanted before the con that my friends and I attended. I would like to modify this head so that she can open and close her mouth.

Lastly, I added wire whiskers with little glass beads looped onto the ends and paper eyelashes that I also watercolored and sealed, like the insides of the eyes. Like I said before, it's gonna be a problematic wash, but I'm confident I'll figure it out, and I can always repair her or replace her lashes if something goes wrong.

Last thing, to keep the inside of the head nice and cool and prevent fogging since in the end I closed the mouth and had sealed eyes, I made a snorkel out of a snorkel mouthpiece fitted into two collapsible auto funnels.

I would say that realistically this entire project cost me less than $150. I had some materials lying around, like the wire and the beads and the sculpey.

I added two ear vents on either side of the head so that I had options on where to feed the snorkel out. If you look at the other pictures on the blog of me wearing the head, you mostly can't even see the snorkel mouth. However, it was a little problematic to let go of the snorkel to talk. it would be perfect for a silent suiter, but I'm lucky that so many people wanted to talk to me. I'd like to try and replace the snorkel mouth with something I can talk in, but I'm not sure what to use. It should be something that can create a seal to keep my breath out of the head. it's possible that I will be able to make something with a painter's mask.

I hid the "seam" between the head and my body with two yards of tulle tied into a big bow and sewn down onto the neck so that it wouldn't move around.

I hope that if you try making something similar you'll show it to me!

[giddydelphiresearcher]

I needed jagged glass for tutorial 3 so I fused six glass shards into a shuriken. Patient got fuckin attacked by a ninja. Who also gave them tumors. For tutorial reasons

Also there's a sprite(s) for the threads of the stitched closing wound but not for the actual thing so I put a laceration under it to make my own

[ourskiesaboveus]

Hi (: tell me about gods play

okay! it's the project with paya's blessing / the curse

the bulk of the lore was done three years ago and was recorded on a video that now has no audio, so. i'm only going over what i actually solidly have (this is going to be long oops)

there's a world called peripetasmata. kind of. most call it mata, more pious or older folk call it magnam stravi tapetibus pictis (but that's a mouthful and a half). it's a universe that contains countless dimensions within itself, but there are four main dimensions.

simplex timor - basically the tutorial level where everyone starts out. all powers are limited. once you reach a certain level of power, you can leave, but it's harder to return the more powerful you are. even finding it from the outside is difficult, but there have been a few people who have gotten lost who ended up in simplex. it's not actually an independent dimension (it's a part of a larger one), but it's separate and significant enough to be considered one of the main four. there are natural sources of food and water here, but they are scarce.

naturae timor - the larger dimension that simplex is a part of. it's the most populated one, as the people there usually either don't want to bother with leaving or can't navigate between dimensions. it looks like another overgrown Earth, but all naturally growing plants are poisonous. there are ruins of a vague ancient civilization covered in vines. there are patches of fertile land and many pocket realms that hold blessed lands, but it’s a whole dimension so they’re hard to find and often claimed.

ars timor - basically just hell. the dimension with the least people, with a thriving population of firebrands (more on that later) and wild animals with various deadly modifications. most of the dimension is made up of scorched wasteland or glass, with various seemingly man-made structures fused into the ground at an angle. there are settlements and false groves that have sources of food and water.

abyssi timor - a dimension that consists of many floating islands. it is sky and sea in one-- if you fall enough, the air turns thick and cold, and if you swim up enough, the water lightens and warms. it is the most bountiful of the four dimensions, but there are consequently deadlier things that inhabit it. monstrous guardians patrol the void and guard particularly choice islands. there are many temples and religious-looking structures that seem to have been abandoned millennia ago-- many groups end up inhabiting these for the convenience.

so in mata there are powers and magic and all that fancy stuff. the origin of all that are the "gods" of the universe. i am saying "gods" in quotation marks because they are... complicated. not all of them are quite the same thing.

they are called "patrons". why? well, because they grant power to "protégés" in order to increase their own powers. a combination of faith, story, and literal fuel (physical or magical) keeps them running and growing. the proportions vary based on the patron.

there are quite a few, but i'll go over some more plot-relevant or interesting ones

patriarch yaamin / "paya" - a humanoid patron that vaguely resembles an angel, if angels had no eyes and were fully covered in golden ring-like marks.

his followers (who call themselves "the living") view him as a god. this is strange, as no other faction views patrons as true gods-- most are split between seeing them as spirits or as particularly advanced creatures, still as mortal as the rest. the only other patron with a following that views him as god-like intentionally cultivates his image to be so, and even then he can't achieve the level of piety that paya invokes. it's a combination of his gold and white angel imagery along with the fact that he really doesn't interact with humans much

also his didn't cultivate his following on purpose. reverie (another patron, not relevant) did it on a whim, partially as a favor. he could not care less about the living, but he won't actively do anything about them, as they do help him out through their faith.

his protégés don't get any higher level of regard either. in fact, he doesn't even choose them. instead, he plants "shrines" around mata that designate the first person to encounter them as his protégé.

here are the requirements to be paya's protégé:

not already a protégé or sought after by someone else

see above

the reason that this method works out for him is because of his unorthodox way of granting powers to his protégés. while most other patrons see their patronage as some sort of investment in the person, paya doesn't care about the people he grants power to because they aren't supposed to be particularly long lived.

instead of indirectly granting powers via something like a contract, he directly fuses a fragment of his essence with his protégés. this leads to stronger magic overall, but the human body isn't meant to contain that type of power. it takes time to fully process the fragment and completely realize your potential. however, that comes with drawbacks. since paya is obviously stronger than a normal human, as you gain more access to his power, his power gains access to you. your body morphs to become more like his-- gold rings spread across your body starting from your left or right hand (it depends on what you used to touch the shrine, doesn't necessarily need to be the hand) and your eyes lose function and twist. as the process goes on, you experience personality changes, memory loss, decline of finer motor skills. eventually, you become fully taken over and become a mindless beast. they're referred to as "blessed spirits" by the living and "golden" by most other people. they're basically wandering boss monsters that attack anything that doesn't hold part of paya's power and that doesn't visibly outclass them. their presence warps the world, spreading paya's influence and infecting plants and animals with his golden rings. when they die, paya gets that bit of essence back and starts the process over again. paya benefits twofold from this-- he siphons energy from the souls they release and he gains power from his infection being spread.

how powerful the golden are depends on their compatibility with paya's essence. their behaviour depends on mostly the mental strength/state of the person who was infected. they can range to completely bestial and mindless to humanoid with some memories and free will. being golden only means that you've fully adapted to paya's essence-- you're at the peak of your power. the state is variable to an extent. if you keep your mind when you turn golden, you can still lose everything if you stop fighting. you can't get better, only maintain your state or worsen.

paya's protégés often try to isolate themselves from others for obvious reasons, especially later on. there is, however, one group of late-stage protégés (the sunmarked) that band together to protect themselves and others. there are two measures they take to do so.

there is a certain kind of gemstone-- "oryxian gems"-- that delay the adaptation process. (they're part of the influence of another patron.) without them, the process takes about a month to complete, but with them, the process can be slowed by up to five years, depending on when they're first used.

they've developed a technology that kills people as soon as they fully turn golden. there are collars that the sunmarked wear in their final weeks that siphon paya's essence from them and converts it to usable form as soon as it's fully expressed. this kills them, as at this point in the process, their soul and body are too connected to the essence to survive without it. typically, sunmarked go out with a bang by fulfilling a particularly hard task with the enormous amount of power they have before they die

the sunmarked are lead by darren annin, a sunmarked perpetually frozen at the final stage of development. he claims that he found a particular flower that saved him from falling. (in reality, he's completely golden, just with enough mental strength and an anchor to keep his free will. he doesn't tell anyone else because he doesn't want to risk others trying to save themselves and fail-- few people are aware that golden can keep any part of their minds at all)

the angel's blessing (paya's patronage) grants the afflicted with a great variety of powers that increase as time goes on. varying levels of invulnerability, night vision, holy and nature magic, and more!

RIOT - a demon-esque patron that kind of looks like hoopla? like the pokémon? he's made up of several floating parts-- a one-eyed, horned head, many limbs, and a screen in the place of a torso. each of his limbs has an eye on them

RIOT is not an infection like paya-- he feeds off of strong negative emotions. things like shock, fear, anger, et cetera.

he is the patron that interacts with humans the most. while other patrons inhabit their own locked dimensions and mostly descend in incarnations or visions, RIOT mostly hangs out in ars timor and often ventures out into the other three main dimensions to wreak havoc. people try their best to avoid him.

RIOT usually sets up elaborate spectacles in order to horrify people. if you see a random circus or theatre where there hadn't been one before, probably don't go there! he delights in specialized torment served to a wide audience, like one of those death games with your personal secrets up for grabs. he's a riot.

his relationship with his protégés is more standard-- a contract signed. he grants them magic and the ability to feed as he does in exchange for a certain amount of power a month. it's like they're renting

if they can't pay up, he takes the payment directly from them. if it ends up being a reoccurring thing, he destroys the contract and his former protégé.

his protégés are called "firebrands" (see, it did come back up) and usually work alone. particularly successful firebrands can become almost as powerful as the sunmarked! his only standards for decision are "look fun", but to be fair, he eliminates everyone who doesn't meet his expectations, so he doesn't need to be that discerning with the process.

firebrands get: extra limbs (optional), limited tracking (enhanced awareness of emotion around you), dark and illusion magic, limited mind reading

the untitled - just humanoid. this man is a normal guy. there are times when he looks like a biblical seraphim, but that's just a guise to intimidate

he goes by the untitled and doesn't reveal his name under normal circumstances but i'm not going to write it out every time sorry. his name is heun. (he thinks it is, anyway.)

heun is a transmigrator, a sad victim of truck-kun. he was an ordinary office worker who read trash webnovels before getting distracted in the road and getting run over by a truck. fortunately, mata's creator understood how tropes work and shuttled him over to mata with a system like the ones in the webnovels he read!

he's the weakest of the patrons and the others mostly look down on him, but his system protects him enough that no one outright tries to get rid of him.

his protégés are the strongest. no question. though they start out relatively weak, he keeps a personal eye on them and they're able to grow pretty quickly. he only invests in one protégé at a time, and always a low number (i'll get into that later), so though he's the weakest, he's able to put everything he's got into his heroes.

heun mostly subsists off of the legends of his heroes past and rewards from his system when his current hero achieves certain goals.

he has a decent following that see him as a sort of god-- they await his prophecies and follow his hero whenever they are designated. though they view him as god-like, they see the other patrons as nothing more than spirits, in contrast to the living who see all other patrons as gods, though fallen ones.

his following is cultivated by his system. to be perfectly honest, he'd be nothing without it, but where's the fun in that?

he's extremely lax with his protégés. he's like a dad who strives to be your best friend above all else

his heroes can eventually get partial invulnerability, any magic affinity, summoning abilities, flight, shapeshifting, the works. he's experimented with martial arts and standard wuxia leveling as well.

alright this is getting too long. i only got through the men i'm so sorry women and cool guys i'll get you next time. paya why do i have so much on you i even omitted some stuff for time reasons.

okay! more about the actual story itself and related tidbits

alright so what was i talking about with the low number thing? well, mata, believe it or not, has a rather high death rate. and it has a rather small population of humans, as least for the space they have. and mata never came with humans pre-stocked, as it were.

enter the sacrifices !!

100 of them a year are imported directly to mata in groups of 10. (1000 in the first year.) the reason why they are sacrificed is. complicated but long story short they're from a post-apocalyptic world and it's part of an agreement to sustain their communities.

each person in a group of ten gets a number from 1-10. this number is pretty much random, and everyone gets their own number. numbers obviously repeat across groups, but that doesn't matter.

this number shows the order you will die in. 10 is the first to go, 1 is the last. this is why heun chooses low numbers for his chosen ones.

the count in one group does not affect others-- it isn't the case that all 10s must go before 9s can die.

obviously, knowing the order in which you die is helpful. in the early stages, groups protect their higher numbers and sent out lower numbers to do riskier jobs. the person designated with the number 10 is not often allowed to do much. it doesn't guarantee safety, as you could easily be stuck in a near-death state, waiting for all higher numbers to die before you are released from your suffering, but it's better than nothing.

there are a couple cases where higher numbers are captured and forcibly kept alive in order to preserve a lower number from their group, but those cases are pretty rare.

numbers cannot be fully concealed using things like gloves or long sleeves. they must be open enough to be recognizable as their numeral and no other. if they are not, the number can and will show through clothing.

you cannot tell when higher numbers in your group die, so it's common for numbers close to each other to stay in contact even if they split up. it's just polite. of course, as time goes by, fewer people remember to do so, as they blend into new communities and become detached from their original group. who cares if you can die or not? you should live the same either way, and the end will catch up eventually, so keep the mystery as you would in the original world.

no force can counteract the numbers. it's just not done. there have been patrons that have tried, but to no avail.

y'know what this is too long. i'll keep this post to just these bits of worldbuilding and maybe have another post with story and the actual characters in the story. oops

[kumarprakash]

The Craftsmanship and Style of Mosaic Mirrors

Mosaic mirrors are beautiful works of art that have the power to completely change any room in addition to being useful objects. These ornamental pieces give a distinctive touch to interior spaces by fusing the exquisite patterns of mosaics with the reflecting beauty of mirrors, which makes them a popular option for both designers and homeowners.

A mosaic mirror: what is it?

A mosaic mirror is one that has a frame made of tiny bits of glass, ceramic, or other material that has been artistically set around the mirror. Originating in ancient cultures, the mosaic method has been around for thousands of years and has become a prominent style of contemporary art. The dazzling pieces exquisitely capture light, resulting in a kaleidoscope of hues and reflections that can elevate a space's visual appeal.

The Background to Mosaic Art

The Background to Mosaic Art

With origins in prehistoric societies like the Greeks and Romans, mosaic art has a long and illustrious history. These societies created elaborate patterns for floors, walls, and even ceilings using tiny bits of glass and stone. Mosaic-making became popular throughout Europe and the Middle East over antiquity, giving rise to a variety of styles and methods. This age-old craft is still practiced today with mosaic mirrors, which let contemporary artists express their originality and artistry.

Versatility in Design

The adaptability of mosaic mirrors is one of their most attractive features. You can easily select one that matches any décor because they are available in a variety of sizes, shapes, and color schemes. There is a mosaic mirror for every taste, ranging from striking, vibrant designs that act as headline pieces to more somber, minimalist ones that fit in perfectly with a room.

Traditional: Traditional mosaic mirrors can arouse feelings of nostalgia and the past because they frequently have elaborate designs and subdued colors.

Contemporary: Geometric patterns and vivid colors are prominent features in many modern designs, which make them eye-catching focal points in any space.

Rustic: Natural materials or aged mosaic mirrors can provide warmth and charm to a room with a rustic vibe.

How to Make a Mosaic Mirror

For people who prefer doing their own crafts, making a mosaic mirror is a fun and satisfying endeavor. Here's a quick tutorial on creating your own:

Supplies Required:

A simple mirror

mosaic tiles made of stone, ceramic, or glass

(Glue or tile adhesive) adhesive

Grout—optional, based on the style—

Tools: safety glasses, a sponge, and tweezers

2.   Actions:

Create a Layout: Arrange the tiles on the mirror in a planned manner. You can draw pictures, patterns, or abstract artwork.

Fix the Tiles: The mosaic tiles should be glued to the mirror frame. Firmly press them down.

Grouting (Optional): Use grout to fill in the voids left by the tiles. After letting it harden, use a moist sponge to remove any remaining material.

Final Touches: Hang your mosaic mirror and take in your creation after everything has dried!

Upkeep and Scenario

Cleaning your mosaic mirror on a regular basis is crucial to maintaining its best appearance. To clean the mirror, use a soft cloth; do not use abrasive cleansers as they might cause scratches on the glass or harm the tiles. If grout is used, sealing it on a regular basis could be required to stop moisture damage.

In summary

Mosaic mirrors are compelling works of art that showcase the beauty of handiwork, not just mirrored surfaces. A mosaic mirror can improve the décor of any room in your house, whether you decide to make your own or buy one. It adds a sense of style and individuality. You will find that there are countless opportunities for creativity and self-expression when you go deeper into the world of mosaic art.

[candidoptronix]

Fiber Optic Fusion Splicer Online Demo

Candid Optronix provides you with information and guidance on fiber optic fusion splicers.

Fiber optic fusion splicers are used to join two optical fibers together by fusing them using heat. This process ensures a low-loss connection between the fibers, enabling efficient transmission of optical signals. While we can't provide you with a live demonstration, I can explain the general steps involved in using a fusion splicer:

Fiber Stripping: The protective coatings on the ends of the fibers need to be removed using a fiber stripping tool to expose the bare glass fibers.

Fiber Cleaving: After stripping, the fibers are cleaved using a fiber cleaver. Cleaving produces a clean, flat end face, which is crucial for achieving a quality splice.

Fiber Alignment: The fusion splicer aligns the fibers precisely using an automated or manual alignment mechanism. This ensures that the cores of both fibers are aligned for optimal signal transmission.

Fusion Splicing: Once the fibers are aligned, an electric arc is generated to heat the fibers and fuse them together. The heat causes the fibers to melt and merge, creating a permanent and low-loss splice.

Splice Protection: After fusion splicing, a protective sleeve or heat shrink tube is placed over the spliced area and heated to provide mechanical strength and protect the splice from environmental factors.

While you may not be able to experience a live online demo, you can find various resources online that provide video tutorials and demonstrations of fiber optic fusion splicer usage. These resources can be helpful in understanding the operation and techniques involved in using a Sumitomo fusion splicer.

Additionally, We offer virtual training sessions through expert Sumitomo Technical Service Engineers, and you can schedule demonstrations of Sumitomo fiber optic fusion splicers. You can check with specific companies in the field to see if they provide any online learning opportunities.

Remember, when working with fiber joint splicers, it's crucial to follow the authorized Sumitomo manufacturer's/authorized distributors' instructions and safety guidelines to ensure proper usage and prevent damage to the equipment or fibers. Our Sumitomo Service Center in Nirankari Colony Delhi, Nehru Place, Noida, Raipur, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Siliguri, Patna, Jammu & Kasmir, India.

[jinxxsims]

So... you've gotten down the basics for converting objects from Sims 4 to Sims 2 and now you're ready for something just a little more complicated. If that tiny, little complication is called glass, this tutorial is for you.

Full disclosure once more. I am not an expert in... well... anything. I can convert items with glass, however. This is how I do it. There are probably better, more technical ways to do it, but I don't claim to know them. I am all about the best possible result for the least amount of effort. That's what I'll be teaching here. If that's what you're looking for too... Keep reading! Also, bonus end table download at the end!

For the purposes of this tutorial, I'm going to be converting the "Attention-Worthy End Table" from Growing Together. This tutorial is going to assume you have the necessary programs for converting (Sims 4 Studio, Blender, Milkshape, and SimPE), that you have a rough idea how to use them, and that you already know the basics of extracting a mesh and textures from Sims 4 Studio.

Step One - Separate the mesh and the Glass in Blender.

By playing with the eyeball next to each of the s4studio_mesh_#'s, we know what each of the layers is responsible for. I'm going to go ahead and discard the shadow layer so I'm left with the two parts of my mesh.

Like so. Now we need to isolate and extract the metal part of the mesh and the glass part of the mesh. To do this, I'm going to start by deleting the metal part of the mesh (s4studio_mesh_1), which leaves me with:

Export the glass portion of the mesh by going to File > Export > Wavefront (.obj).

Remember to uncheck "Write Materials" then change the filename to "glass" and hit Export OBJ. Once the object has been exported, it will take you back to the screen with the lonely glass layer.

Press Ctrl-Z. This will undo the deletion of the metal layer. This time, delete the glass layer of the mesh (s4studio_mesh_2). You'll be left with just the metal portion of the mesh.

Go to File > Export > Wavefront (.obj).

If you unchecked "Write Materials" with the glass, you won't need to uncheck it again. Just adjust the save name to "metal" this time, and hit Export OBJ.

Do not just hide the layers. You must delete them each individually just like this. If you hide a layer and export it, the resulting .obj file will not recognize that a layer is hidden and just treat it as a fused object, with glass and metal all as one. You'd either have to start over in Blender and separate the mesh out like this anyway, or try to separate it in Milkshape, and speaking as someone who has done that before I knew any better, it's a lot of pointless and unnecessary work that goes wrong more often than it goes right. So long as you do it as laid out above, you won't have a problem.

At this point, you can close Blender and delete the blender file that Sims 4 Studio created.

Step Two - Launch SimPE and clone an endtable.

At this point in time, you have two options. You can choose to clone an endtable that already has a glass part to it (like the Gliteri & Co. Trieste End Table from the Base Game, for example) or you can clone an endtable that does not.

Cloning an object with a glass part to it already will mean there's less to adjust in SimPE. There's already going to be a "glass" layer in your GMDC, SHPE, TXMT, and MMAT, so all you're going to have to do is replace the preexisting glass with your new one after you've taken it to through Milkshape.

The downside to this method is not everything you could be converting has a Sims 2 equivalent with a glass section to it. Or it might not have a base game equivalent, if you care about making your conversions base game compatible.

So, for the purposes of this tutorial, I'm not going to clone the Gliteri & Co. Trieste End Table, so I can teach you how to add a glass section when none exists to begin with.

I'm going to clone the "Curvaceous Colonial End Table," because why the heck not? This is a one-subset end table from the base game.

After I've cloned the end table and let it load, I'm going to do all the stuff I'd normally do for any other object. Give it a new, unique GUID. Adjust the category placement if I need to. Quartertile enable if I want to. Then, I'll replace the old texture with my Sims 4 texture. If you have a question about any of this, you can find the detailed instructions in my previous tutorial.

Step Three - Extract the old mesh for Milkshape.

Highlight Geometric Data Container (GMDC) in the Resource Tree, click on the name in the Resource List, and make sure the box next to your mesh is checked. Click export. I don't rename this mesh, but you can give it a name like "old mesh" or something similar if it helps you keep track of what is what.

Do not check the boxes next to any shadows. When loaded in Milkshape, they just come up as a bunch of large, unnecessary squares surrounding your object that are going to get in the way or end up being deleted anyway.

While I'm on it, you can delete shadows from an object permanently by going into the "Groups" tab on this window.

Once on the "Group" tab, highlight the shadow you want to delete, click delete, then click commit. You can also remove them from the SHPE, TXMT, and TXTR (it will reduce file size very, very, very slightly if you do so), but so long as you remove them from the GMDC, there will be no shadow in game.

I don't play with shadows on personally, so I'm never very concerned about keeping them when they don't already match the object I'm converting. My advice on this and any other Sims 2 topic is always going to be: DO WHAT IS BEST FOR YOU AND YOUR GAMEPLAY.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Step Four - Import the Meshes into Milkshape.

I always start with the mesh I'm replacing. Go to File > Import > Wavefront OBJ... and select your mesh you just exported in SimPE.

If we click on the "Groups" tab, we see this mesh has a name of "table."

Now, go to File > Import > Wavefront OBJ... and select your "metal" mesh you exported from blender.

In the "Groups" tab, it's going to be given an automatic name of "default." In any two-part mesh like a mesh with a glass part, we need to change the name to anything other than default before loading the next part of mesh. If you don't, when you import the glass, it too will be named "default," and Milkshape will kind of fuse them back together because they both have the same name.

Highlight "default" under the Groups tab. Down under the Group panel, type a new name for "default" next to the button that says "Rename." In this instance, I've named this part of the mesh "metal." Once you've given it a new name, click on Rename. That will officially rename that part of the mesh.

Now we can add the glass part of the mesh. Go to File > Import > Wavefront OBJ... and select the "glass" portion of your mesh.

Just as you did for the metal portion, go ahead and rename the glass portion "glass." It'll make it easier to keep track of all the different parts going on right now.

Once you have the three different meshes all labeled differently, go to Face > Smooth All.

Step Five - Line Up the Meshes

While still in the "Groups" tab, in the list of each layer at the top, highlight "metal" and choose Select.

Once you've Selected the metal part, highlight "glass" and choose Select.

As you can now see, the Sims 4 mesh is all-around smaller than the Sims 2 mesh. For objects to be placed properly on the end table and not be floating oddly above it, we need the tops of the tables to be even. We can make this happen by changing the size of the Sims 4 table.

Highlight the "Model" tab and choose "Scale."

A panel will open at the bottom of the Model window with options for changing the scale of your selection (with the selection being the red parts highlighted). X will impact the mesh's width (side to side), Y will impact the mesh's height (up and down), and Z will impact the mesh's depth (front to back). Whenever possible, it's best to increase or decrease the scale evenly across all three to maintain original proportions, but it's also not strictly necessary. Again, do what looks best to you.

Whether I'm increasing or decreasing the scale, I usually set it to 1.01. It makes for a very gradual increase, but there's less of a chance of overshooting my mark and then having to decrease the size. Once you've entered your numbers for the X, Y, and Z, click the Scale button beside them to watch the mesh get bigger (or smaller, if your values are less than 1) until you have it the size you want.

For me, my 1.01, and this end table, eight clicks of the Scale button was perfect.

Highlight "Move," then click and drag your Sims 4 mesh up so the tops and bottoms of both end table align.

Step Six - Export your mesh parts.

Go back over to the "Groups" tab. Highlight "table" in the list and choose "Delete." Now you should only have "metal" and "glass" in the list. Go to File > Export > Wavefront OBJ... And save a file. I name this combined file "mesh," but you can call it whatever you want or override one of your previous files.

You can now close Milkshape.

Step Seven - Import your mesh to SimPE.

On the Mesh Group Importer window, both the glass and metal parts need to be accounted for. The "glass" layer is going to be a new layer, so we're going to leave the "Action" on "Add." Do not click OK yet.

Highlight "metal." Change the Action to "Replace." When the new drop-down menu pops up, choose "table."

Click OK.

When it goes back to the GMDC's Generic Rcol Editor, click "Commit."

Step Eight - Add the new mesh part to the SHPE.

Highlight Shape (SHPE) in the Resource Tree. Highlight the name of your SHPE file under the resource list. Highlight "table" in the window that appears and choose "add."

This is going to create a duplicate "table" in the list. Highlight one, and change both the Subset Name and the bit at the end of the Material Definition File following the ]_ to glass. Then click Commit.

Step Nine - Save your file, then close it.

Step Ten - Find the glass you want for your glass element.

In the Sims 2, glass is seldom actually an image/TXTR file. Instead, it's a series of numbers and commas and settings and just general weirdness in a TXMT file. It's not really something that's recolored (hence why we don't need it to be its own subset most of the time), but there are different "shades" (for lack of a better word) of it out there.

You're probably most familiar with it when it comes to the windows in the game. Some windows have like a blue glass tint. Others are more gray. Some have kind of a shiny effect while others are flat. Chances are there is a glass you especially like and that you have in mind for your project.

If it's a specific Maxis glass, go back to the Object Workshop in SimPE and make a clone of the object that has the glass you want. You don't need to give it a new name or description, nor a genuine save name, you just need the file to load. If you like a glass from a piece of CC, just open that file in SimPE.

For the purposes of this tutorial, I'm going to use my own conversion of the Oh-So-Fine China Hutch from Discover University (it can be found here).

Once I load the file in SimPE, under the Resource Tree, I'm going to choose Material Definition (TXMT). Then I'm going to highlight the "glass" file in the list. Right-click and choose "Extract" and "Save."

And now you can go ahead and close out of (or delete if you made a Maxis clone) that file.

Step Eleven - Add the TXMT to your file.

Open your conversion file again.

Choose Material Definition (TXMT) under the resource tree, then in the ResourceList panel, right-click on an empty space and choose Add.

Select the file you just extracted. It will likely have a weird name consisting of a bunch of numbers and a few letters thrown in. Choose open.

Once it's loaded in the panel, click on and highlight any of the other lines of the TXMT. Once they've loaded in the Plugin View, highlight and copy (Ctrl-C) the first part of its filename.

Highlight the "glass" TXMT that you just added. Paste (Ctrl-V) the name you just copied in front of the _glass_txmt.

Click Commit.

IMPORTANT NOTE - If the glass TXMT that you extracted does not have an ending of _glass_txmt, change it as well to _glass_txmt. If you don't want to change it to _glass_txmt and would rather leave it as-is, you need to go back to the SHPE file and alter the glass layer to point to whatever you have it named.

STEP TWELVE - Fix Integrity. I cannot emphasize this enough. FIX INTEGRITY. Tools > Object Tools > Fix Integrity.

Save your file. And you're done.

At this point, you can make your recolors or load up your game and check out the finished product.

A Few Notes - If you cloned an item that already has a glass part, basically once you finish the Milkshape part, when importing your mesh to SimPE, Replace both the mesh part and the glass part with the glass portion of the mesh, and you're done. Fix integrity, save, and you're good to go. You don't need to adjust anything in the SHPE or TXMT.

If you're converting an object that has a custom glass with an image (I converted a coffee table from High School Years that had a rainbow-y, actual-image glass), when importing it, use DXT5Format for the best results. Also, make sure the TXMT file has the stdMatAlphaBlendMode set to "blend" instead of "none."

BONUS - Download the Attention-Worthy End Table

[rocketroseart]

You Voted for a Fused Glass Project. Who is the Winner? A little Unexpected.

Here are the results of your vote on design options for that fused glass project. Very interesting and a little unexpected.

Here are the results of your vote on design options for that fused glass project. Very interesting and a little unexpected. The majority vote wins, and now I have two designs for you to vote on. I will make the winner, based on your choices. If you have any questions or comments, please enter them in the Comments section for the video. Continue reading You Voted for a Fused Glass Project. Who…

[timextoxhajima]

haknyeon x gender neutral reader — soulmates that keep meeting in different centuries/eras

⭗ once upon a dream

⭗ tbz haknyeon

⭗ soulmate! haknyeon x gn! reader, angst [SFW]

⭗ cursing, maybe diabetes

⭗ 1.8k

⭗ a/n: ngl you got me good with this one. took me awhile to crack it out and think about something worth writing even though I already had an idea - I wasn't sure how to piece it tgt into a one shot but here it is!

"oh, it's the duke of the east!"

"the duke of the east!"

keeping your eyes on the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, it's the gasps and the exclaims that pull you out of your trance. shoving the coin back into your pocket, the trumpets start to blow and music erupts all over the hall, the crowd of people starting to part like Moses parting the red sea.

"May I present... duke lee hyunjae!"

Next, it was the small, minuscule squeals that paint a slightly disgusted wince over your lips. But you smirk it off as your hands come together, with the duke at the top of the stairs bowing.

the ball begins with the duke initiating a dance, with one lucky duchess from the other side of the country. but you are unbothered - you were only invited as a royal escort, meant to keep tabs on the pair of twins- a young prince and a princess - here.

soon, the twins are taken into the hands of some older royalties present at the ball, giving you a breather where you slipped out through the balcony. the gentle wind gushes through your hair as you close the balcony doors behind you, glancing through the tiny gap of the curtains to make sure your responsibilities were still in the dance hall.

the moat around the castle glistens under the night sky, the cool air resting in your nostrils and bringing calm to your nerves.

and yet even that is short-lived when the door behind you clicks open and someone steps out of the dance hall.

"your majesty," immediately bowing, your eyes fall to the floor.

"oh, no! no no!" ju haknyeon hurriedly bows too, rushing towards you and resting his palms on your shoulders to pull you back up. "it's okay! i saw someone going out so I got curious."

"oh, well, I should escort you back in then-"

"no, please. i just... wanted some peace and quiet."

with a gentle nod, you let him past you and lay his hands on the rock platform of the balcony, far extending into space and almost giving you the feeling of falling over and into the moat below.

"beautiful, isn't it? the moon?"

"it is a full moon tonight, your majesty," you join him at the edge of the balcony, hands placed behind your back by instinct.

"it's just... it's so far and yet so bright," he pauses. "well, I know it's the sun, but... it definitely has its own honor."

silence engulfs the space between and around you, and your eyes gradually drift from scanning the curves of the architectural stone to the royalty standing before you.

but the silence is again, interrupted, when the young twins burst out through the door and approach you, smiles on their faces.

squatting, they squeal as the duke of the party runs after them, and they pull you backwards despite you already squatting.

"oh, your majesty," standing to bow, you lower your head as the young prince and princess cling to your clothes.

"why are you all doing out here?" lee hyunjae turns to haknyeon, who lowers his head just a tad bit. "party's back inside, so come on in."

then the children yank on your hands, pulling you along and back into the dance hall. you hear a clink - it's the coin that you had been fiddling with before the duke had shown up. turning very quickly in a bid to look for the coin, haknyeon gives you one last grin before you're pulled beyond the curtains.

your eyes bolt open upon the sharp ring that slices through the air.

stupid alarm, you think to yourself. the sweat's attracted your hair to your neck and your oily face and you look down to remember that you hadn't changed out of your clothes from the night before.

"y/n!" your mother's shrill voice replaces the alarm, then your brother blasts the loudest version of stayin' alive by the bee gees you've ever heard.

"oh, for fuck's sake! eric!"

"what?!"

"mom!" you scream, pulling yourself to your feet as you process the afternoon sun flooded all around the room. your groggy eyes scan the floor for any stray pieces of clothing before you randomly pick a grey tank top and switch it out with your flannel. then you begin yanking your pants off your legs, nearly falling over the carpeted floor.

"don't yell at me like that!" she yells back when you yank open door. in her hands was a basket full of laundry, then her eyes fly up and down your body, catapulting you into an instinctive panic.

"why do you look so haphazard?"

"I just woke up," you frown at her, running your hand through your hair as the music continues blasting from eric's room. "who do you think I am? mick jagger?"

"excuse me-"

"oi, eric!" now, your fist is running into his door, your fuse slowly burning out by the second. "do you think you could become any more hard-of-hearing?!"

"fuck off!"

with a sharp bang, you ram your clenched fist into his door once more before your mother loses her head. ripping eric's name label off the door, she's screaming at you with the laundry basket in her hands, trailing after you while you take 2 steps at a time down the stairs in your house.

it's like you don't bother to brush your teeth or worry about your appearance before you get the front door open, ready to throw yourself out onto the middle of the road in a bid to be the rebel you are. hurling the label to the ground, you step in it and start kicking it around on the asphalt.

"what the hell do you think you're doing?!" she shouts from the front door, almost throwing the laundry basket to the floor. "get back here!"

"ask eric to turn down the fucking stereo!"

"get off the damn road before-"

"y/n!"

the third-party voice catches your attention, eyes immediately turning your whole head to look behind you.

"hak?" a frown falls across your face when you realise you were facing directly at the sun. "what are you doing here?"

"um," he lifts a bouquet of flowers and a paper bag. "ran errands for my mom."

your chest heaves, thoughts floating around in your head when you feel like you just saw him the night before - but you were sure he hadn't been out getting wasted like you did.

"hey, um, did we- did we hang out last night?"

"last night?" haknyeon raises a brow, then shakes his head. "nope." the pause lets you observe his quick glance to your mother still standing at your front door.

"weren't you busy last night? homework or something right?"

you're confused at first, but his wide grin afterwards settles it.

"ah!" feeling your own eyes light up, you turn and rest your hands on your hips. "yeah, I was working on- on homework last night!"

"I didn't ask," your mother shakes her head, unable to bring herself to reprimand you in the face of the nice neighbour down the street. "get back here!"

sighing in defeat, your tongue pokes the flesh on the inside of your cheek. you turn to side-eye haknyeon, watching him mouth a tiny 'sorry' to you.

"it's fine. you tried."

haknyeon provides you one more timid wave before you kick eric's label one last time and trudge back to the house.

you're jolted awake when one of those free-falling sensations slap you awake from your drooling. the music blasting in your earpieces start to register in your head, the lyrics somehow still not making any sense at all with all the numbers in your tutorial workbook.

with a dry throat, you gulp and yank out the earpiece, pushing yourself off the chair and struggling to get to your numbed feet. you find haknyeon snoozing on the sofa of your shared apartment, the television still turned on and blasting the late late show where harry styles was babbling on and on about.

after getting a glass of water, you stand with one hand on your hip, taking your time to dampen your throat while watching harry talk to kendall jenner. but you turn when haknyeon shuffles, and you notice a thick book - something like looks like scrapbook - by his arm where his hand was limp.

something glimmers in one of the transparent pockets, so out of curiosity, you tip-toe over. craning your neck to find an angle where you can scan the item clearer, you take awhile to process the item.

it's a coin.

a squint shrinks your eyes, fingers reaching out for the booklet. you turn on your heels, letting the ceiling light shine on the metal much clearer.

1932.

"it's just... it's so far and yet so bright... well, I know it's the sun, but... it definitely has its own honor."

naturally, your eyes dart to haknyeon when you hear his voice in his head, but you're sure you're not hearing it from memory. by choosing to take a leap of faith and let curiosity get the better of you, you flip it again, this time finding something much stranger and difficult to explain.

it's a door label with a horribly drawn typography on it, and for some strange reason, you recognise the way the letter 'e' was written.

"ran errands for my mom."

with a thud, the scrapbook meets the floor and you stumble backwards, hands covering your mouth.

in your peripheral vision, haknyeon jumps to consciousness, hands by his hips on the cushion of the sofa when he notices your astonishment.

"hak-"

"no, wait-"

"what the hell are those? why- why do I- oh my god!"

"y/n, please, just calm down, alright? i can explain."

your heart is thumping in your head when he stands, slowly inching towards you with his hands out. you're not afraid of him, but about what's going to come out of his mouth.

"do you recognise the coin and the name label?"

"i- they look familiar- and i-"

"okay, good. means it's coming back to you."

"what?" the shakiness in your voice is worrying. "what does that mean?"

as he sucks in a deep breath, you hold yours.

"y/n... I've been alive for more than a hundred years, and ever since i found you in 1902, I've never let you out of my sight. not once."

[itsuki-minamy]

FOUR SEASONS OF K: “UNCLOUDED BLUE”

Translation: Naru-kun

Raws: Ridia

"Can you recruit new recruits?"

"Scepter 4". In the captain's office, Fushimi shook his eyes as he listened to Munakata next to Awashima.

"What are you talking about? Captain, you can't install anymore."

At the end of January of this year, the Dresden Slate that chose Seven Kings and gave them strength was destroyed after the battle with “Jungle”. As a result, the Kings lost Damocles' sword, a symbol of their power and much of their power.

The power that only the "King" possessed, the power to perform the installation as his own clan member, is gone.

"That's right. I still call myself the 'Blue King', but I can't get any more Clansmans."

"If that's the case. For logistical support, you can use the police."

"Captain, I also wonder. Certainly, in January, humans around the world temporarily became Strains, and many people still retain their power, and it is a fact that the number of Strains related cases has increased dramatically since last year. However, it is too dangerous to hire an ordinary person as a member of "Scepter 4" because it requires personnel. As Fushimi says, strengthen cooperation with the police.''

"No, they are average people."

Gently obstructing Awashima's words, Munakata said. Fushimi and Awashima open their eyes.

Munakata got up from the office desk and went to the window. Gaze at the outside world, filled with bright spring light.

"As Awashima-kun says, the number of Strains in the world has increased significantly in January. The existence of Strains, who had long been under wraps for control of the information of the Golden Clan, came to light, and the Strains' case became familiar to people. However, are all the talented people and survivors the cause of the incident? The answer is no. There are many people who want "the order to be an appropriate member of society by controlling the extraordinary power that has arisen over themselves". Don't you think giving them a sword of justice helps us and helps to form an orderly society?"

Fushimi widened his eyes.

"You mean, trying to get Strain as a member of Scepter 4?"

It is common to find Strains and make them a member of the clan. Good examples are Anna Kushina, the Red Clan, and Miyabi Ameno, Neko of the Silver Clan.

But when it comes to accepting Strains without being able to install, the story is completely different.

Awashima was also confused.

"Physically, it would be possible for a compatible Strain to physically act as a member. However, it does mean that those who do not belong to the Captain's blue power are called members of "Scepter 4" and a member of the Reisi Munakata clan. The definition of clan will be broken."

"You can collapse."

Munakata replied in a low voice.

"I no longer have a Damocles sword in my head. The definition of "King" has already collapsed. Although the responsibility for "Scepter 4" has increased, the support of the organization "Scepter 4" is being lost. We have to change."

Awashima took a deep breath, then hardened her expression to change something inside of her, and corrected her disposition.

“A person harboring the Captain's cause, even if the Captain does not live, is called a member of the Blue Clan. "Scepter 4" will change to such an organization.”

Munakata is deeply framed in Awashima's words.

"That's right. The new members are no different than the "Scepter 4" members. I think our blue doesn't even have a single cloud.''

"Okay."

Awashima stretched out her back and saluted. Munakata's line of sight turns to Fushimi, who remains silent.

"…I get it. Well, originally, I'm not in a position to call different people.”

In response to Fushimi, Munakata laughed.

++++++++++

The registration ceremony was held in early April, as was the general opening ceremony.

It seems that the star of the human eye drawn as a member was already attached when I speak to Fushimi and Awashima. Three days after Munakata went to the scout and Fushimi and his friends spoke, they were all there.

The new members, dressed in brand new blue uniforms, are now meeting at the barracks with Strains. There was a burning air that flowed between the members of the special body of "Scepter 4" that watched over there.

"How will we deal with the Strains members?"

Kamo crossed his arms with a difficult face. He laughed because Domyoji was empty.

"I think it's okay to do normal. Right?"

"Oh, yes. We will serve as a role model for young people doing our job as usual."

"Well, there are probably a lot of boys with different types of abilities than us, so I have to think about how to teach for each boy."

Akiyama and Bensai make serious comments about each other. Fuse asked the new members to be vigilant.

"Wouldn't you put your ability out of control...?"

"Fufu. I wonder if you didn't come in so it wouldn't happen. It's an orderly clan, so it's just a matter of teaching how to control."

"As Goto said, at least coming here is a guy with guts trying to control his power and help the world."

"They are the right people for the Captain's glasses."

On the side of Goto, Hidaka, Enomoto and others, Fushimi was reviewing the resumes of the new members with a tablet. They have a variety of backgrounds, but they are all young people who have been tense due to the January madness.

"Oh!"

One of the new members rushed in and made a strained voice.

A young member who looks like a child. However, when he reviews the resume, it was older than Fushimi. Although he decided on a job offer for a major company due to a new graduate of four top graduates, the job offer was canceled due to the effects of Strain. After that, he called Munakata and decided to join "Scepter 4".

Fushimi looks at the new member with some pity. He blushed slightly on his cheeks and bowed to Fushimi in a quick posture.

"Fushimi-san. Do you remember me?"

"I do not remember you."

"Oh, yes! Well, Fushimi-san saved me!"

The new member had a shocked face for a moment, but immediately recovered and smiled.

“In the case of the Strains in January, my power got out of control, luckily I didn't hurt anyone, but I was shopping, so I did a lot of damage to the store at the time. I was not supposed to be arrested or claimed for damages because the property damage caused by the outburst of powers could not be dealt with.''

The government promulgated from the beginning that "criminal punishment would not be necessary for the damage caused by the outbreak of powers", due to the swift action of Isana Yashiro, the Silver King and the Golden Clan.

He thought that it would not be so if he were grateful, but the new member laughed with a slightly bitter look.

"But I didn't lose my ability even after that day. So, the eyes of the people around me saw me as a dangerous person when I was wrong, even the company that gave me the job offer told me that they couldn't run the risk and they couldn't hire me. If I was lost, it was because I was confused and the powers exploded. I was wondering what to do, what should I do when the overflowing power destroyed the surroundings, and Fushimi-san rushed towards me and grabbed my hand to stop the insurrection of the powers."

There was such a thing when told. Fushimi frowns as he recalls the story of a passionate new member.

"Think of a sword. Drop the image that power is runaway. It is not something you can handle. Think of a sword that you can control and put in your scabbard." You told me to try to imagine my power to spread like a single sword, and then the power would fall within my will and the sword would fit into my scabbard. As you can see, the power has stopped coming out. After that, Fushimi-san gave me a valuable tutorial.”

The new member smiles with a big smile. In the background, Domyoji yelled, "Hey, Fushimi-san!" It made him want to hit.

"Then I started to think that my power was not just a nuisance, but something that, if controlled, could do something. At that time, you helped me and I never got lost. Thanks to Fushimi-san. I am very grateful to you!"

The new member tilted his hips at a right angle. Fushimi inadvertently clicked his tongue due to the situation.

"I was just doing my job."

"And during the January paranoia, there were many people who were helped by people dressed in blue. I wish I could be one of them..."

In response to Fushimi's naive response, the new members raised their heads and turned bright faces towards Fushimi and the members behind them. Fushimi, who became troublesome, left Akiyama's place behind him and pressed the newcomer's response.

Akiyama steps forward and touches the new member's shoulder with a refreshing face that Fushimi cannot.

"Our job is to keep order with the cause in mind and help people. Now you can become someone who helps."

"Yes."

Awashima, who was reviewing the saber to be delivered at the enlistment ceremony, giggled a little as she looked at Fushimi and approached the edge of the floor while listening to the heat sensitive exchange on her back.

"You did a good job."

"I don't remember saying that."

It is uncomfortable. Fushimi is not good at teaching people things. At that time, he feels like I've been thinking about how to lead him. He was really cursing.

Munakata, Awashima, narrowed their eyes and looked at Fushimi, then they looked at the sky. It was a clear blue cloudless sky.

"The sword will no longer float in this sky, but the path we have taken, led by the Captain, will be the mark of "Scepter 4" in the future."

Awashima briefly closed her eyes longingly for Damocles' blue sword.

They can hear the sounds of Munakata's shoe.

Recognizing Munakata walking slowly from the barracks building towards them, Awashima shouted out loud, saying, "Line up!"

++++++++++

Although he was unable to empower the clan member, the enlistment ceremony was carried out as before.

The new members are called one by one, and they walk in front of Munakata to kneel down. Awashima hands the sword to Munakata, and Munakata releases it from its scabbard. Munakata places the sword on the new member's shoulder and speaks quietly.

The saber is clad by Munakata and presented to the new members.

"Promise to act with the pride and belief of a swordsman, and take up the sword."

The new member vows and receives the sword to wield it. Until now, at that time, Munakata's blue power was bestowed with the sword, and blue light was transmitted from the sword to the entire body, but now that phenomenon does not occur.

This ritual has no special meaning; it is only one way. However, Fushimi knows that Munakata values ​​"form". He believes that for a human being it is worth the formal weight and makes clear the will of a person.

After the sabers had been awarded to the new members, Munakata slowly looked at each of the new aligned members.

"As of today, you are members of "Scepter 4". One day, suddenly, you were given some powers, unlike the other members who had the ability to be prepared and willing. Fufu, in that sense, you can be more like a "king"."

The new members are looking at Munakata.

A breeze blew and the lined cherry blossoms scattered petals across the ground.

"You who have gained power regardless of your choice, however, have decided to obtain a sword of blue order by your own choice. Not a sword to hurt, a sword to control and protect. You are like-minded, members of the Clan. Blue. Get ready."

At the same time that Munakata slightly admired, Awashima ordered.

"All the staff, Batto!"

The members draw the sword one after another. New members do the same. The blades shining in the sunlight received a forest and turned towards the sky.

"Control the sword with your sword. In our cause, there is no cloudiness!"

Under the clear blue sky, Munakata's voice sounded high.

[kilnformedglassworks]

The Gap, a fused glass tutorial by Cristina Grumezescu

[mycoffeeandstudy]

Quality Car Stereo Installation Company

Our well-informed specialists, useful sales affiliates and also huge display screen showroom will help you make the ideal choice. If you're comfy taking the front screen of your automobile apart and also purchase a standard cars and truck stereo, you need to be able to carry out the upgrade for around $100. Yet we can produce terrific sounding systems with the understanding of acoustics, basic electronic devices, and the offered items. Nonetheless if you desire greater than just a common CD gamer with some fundamental features, you will end up paying a lot more. Perhaps the integrated radio, CD, car audio installation or MP3 gamer with your auto is all right. Blaupunkt as well as Sony are other well well-known manufacturers of top quality MP3 auto stereos. Today, MP3 cars and truck stereos have SD, USB and also iPod links to give better solutions. They all have a front face size; you have to choose the ideal one. One of the finest means to accomplish this is to adhere to a number of musicians that you truly like from venue to venue (one environment to an additional). That is why several cars and truck sound lovers will certainly tell you that this is a task best delegated pros. Through constant, fantastic solution, One Stop Car Audio & Accessories guarantees experienced installment of all of our services as well as items.

Because 1989, One Stop Car Audio & Accessories has actually been servicing South Jersey's complete lorry needs. Welcome to One Stop Car Audio & Accessories, situated in stunning Northfield outside of Atlantic City. If the getting rid of in your automobile isn't so undoubtedly after that you are most welcome to investigate our youtube channel where you can locate video tutorial concerning hot to eliminate your car radio device! • If you are unable to loosen out the old stereo, take some assistance on the proper way to eliminate it from your dashboard where the new vehicle stereo will certainly suit. Remove the manufacturing facility door panel, loosen a speaker, link the new one, after that screw it in place. If you desire you can also use the manufacturing facility speaker holes and to boost the audio top quality you can build a fiber glass baffle. This process can be actually huge problem because if you don't link it effectively you can make a number of additional issues. This connection cable trouble can be different from auto to automobile version. The greatest problem transpires vehicle stereo installation procedure. What are people claiming regarding Car Stereo Installation services in Colorado?

The manufacturing facility speakers are reasonably regular and also have 6.5-inch woofers and also tweeters in the sail panels. If you do not have this four numbers combination after that eliminate the radio and unlock it via our universal radio code generator. If you have it excellent! For an auto stereo and setup to be a excellent or good system as well as installation, it should go beyond the customer or satisfy's expectations. Individuals anywhere are searching for wonderful rates on these stereos and that is why I created this post regarding getting really great bargains. Power home windows can be set up to replace the taxing as well as unsightly guidebook window systems. As a result they desire to keep the quality of the systems as high as feasible. For the very best referrals to compare to your auto stereo or any various other, experience live music in as various settings as feasible. For the finest stereo installations as well as automobile setup devices, let us show you just how we set bench in our industry. Whether if you desire a new automobile radio mounted, or a bass box and also automobile amplifier installed, our expert vehicle stereo installers do the job right!

You may desire a lot more audio speakers than what the system current has, or you could desire an amplifier to really offer your system some bass as well as power. Assumption of noise is subjective per people, equally as some people might discover black automobiles more appealing than other shade vehicles. You will certainly locate some atmospheres that you like over others, if not a favored. When buying car TELEVISION antennas, stereo installation choose one that features the largest regularity variety you can find. Make your life much easier as well as purchasing a wiring harness. Do not fail to remember all the packages you need as well as from Sony, you can obtain wiring kits for amplifiers, power as well as ground cable, capacitors, car stereo installation near me fuse owners as well as many others. You need to come see us if you desire your whip done up as well as you want it done right. I will compose a condensed version when I'm completed with the several areas I've already begun (see below). After that we will certainly send you the initial guide just for your vehicle! After that we will certainly send you the initial step guide just for your exact vehicle type and also stereo. In the marketplace for a brand-new automobile stereo setup in Colorado?

[nny11writes]

Master Post: How to Do Things and Stuff

Alright, it’s done. Here’s a list of resources, blogs, websites, books, and master posts to help you draw, write, adult, learn ASL, wtf is make up and what do you use it for, and eating of $4 per person per day (Yay SNAP benefits). Honestly, I’ve been doing this for a few hours and I’m too tired to keep going on right now. Might reblog again another time with updates/additionals, just let me know what you want tutorials on! In the interest of not making a super long post, here’s the viewable google doc. Full list below the “keep reading”. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1crJphYIqvPUI1dd0pd_8lsJdAycLhwChfrOc76IX1Ls/edit?usp=sharing

Art:

·         Painting Tutorials – My Modern Met

·         Drawing Pretty Much Anything – Javi Can Draw!

o   I’ve been watching his videos on Youtube, but he also has a website which I’m linking to

o   Tutorials he puts out includes the research he did and tutorials he found provided to you as well so you can see multiple tutorials

o   Includes:

Drawing Human Figure, Gestures, Facial Expressions, Hands, Feet, Shoes, Clothes, Glasses, Dynamic Poses, Perspective, Backgrounds, Color/Shading, and more

·         Hand & Feet Tool – Line of Action

o   All the Line of Action tools are a series of images that you can view for as little or long as you’d like to practice drawing from references. Class Mode allows warm ups and breaks otherwise it’s all the same length.

·         Animal Drawing – Line of Action

o   You can select for all animals, all mammals, no insects, insects/arachnids/other creepy crawlies, reptiles & amphibians, and more!

·         Faces & Expressions – Line of Action

o   Like both above you can select what kind of expression and also select for male, female, or all models.

·         Figure Study Tool – Line of Action

o   Choose from all, nude, or covered for all, male, or female models

·         How to Draw Fire – envatotuts+ by Monika Zagrobelna

o   I found that the tutorials from envato tuts+ all had some hefty “material requirements”, despite that I’m linking them because I think there’s something to be gleaned from the step by step process show.

·         How to Draw Ice and Icicles With Pencils – envato tuts+ by James Butler

·         How to Draw Dragons – Monika Zagrobelna

·         How to Draw and Animate Wings – Monika Zagrobelna

·         Lip Sync Mouth References - DarkmaneTheWerewolf

·         Best Free Drawing Software for 2019

o   Yes this is a top 6 list, I found it useful to at least learn about a few options before diving deeper into a program

·         Beginner’s Guide to SketchBook Pro

o   I’ll be taking a look around for other types

·         Getting Started with Krita – David Revoy

o   Krita is a free software for digital art, this tutorial is older and somewhat out of date, still some good advice for using it is included. I’d also rec looking at krita’s website for some of their more specific tutorials.

·         MyPaint Manual/Wiki - MyPaint

·         8 Colored Pencil Techniques for Beginners – My Modern Met

·         Digital Coloring Tutorial – Martina Naldi

·         A Guide on Digital Shading for Beginners – Leigh G.

·         Digital Brushes - AaronGriffinArt

 Writing:

 ·         Writing With Color: Writing and Resources centered on racial & ethnic diversity – tumblr

o   I can’t sing the praises of this tumblr enough, please check them out! They offer not only resources and writing about/by poc, they are also open for Q&A

·         Fantasy Name Generator

·         Developmental Milestones birth-5 years

o   Writing kids is hard

·         General Writing Tips from a Beta Reader- Julia Writes Books

·         Traumatized Character Profile

o   A read only doc you can download to help serve as a quick reference for teen/adult characters with trauma. This includes a section to choose what complicates trauma, any PTSD symptoms, comorbidities, triggers, symptom details, the traumatic event(s), some world building options including stigmas, groups, media presentation, and more, and outside support for the character

·         Writing Travel – Jean Johnson

·         Writing Muslim Character - missandaei

·         Writing Jewish Characters – writingwithcolor

·         Branches in Judasim – Rose Lark Publishing

·         Resources for Writing Sketchy Topics

o   Medicine, Characters, Illegal Activity, Black Market, and Forensics

o   Be careful, this has potentially triggering information/descriptions

·         Torture, Interrogation, Physical Evidence, Techniques, Survivors, and More - ScriptTorture

o   Be careful, this has potentially triggering information/descriptions

·         Writing Medicine/Medical Issues - ScriptMedic

·         Poetry Structure & Devices – Words N Stuff

·         Resources for Describing Emotions – Words N Stuff

o   This includes showing emotions (not telling), body language associations, hiding emotion, writing extreme emotion, emotion without making character self aware, how to write specific emotions, emotional wounds, and motivation

·         How to Info Dump without sounding Like It – It’s A Writer Thing

·         The Thin Line Between Character Strengths and Flaws – Jami Gold

o   How tempting was it to post EVERYTHING from Jami? V E R Y!

·         General Posts About Writing Skills/Concepts to Improve Stories – Jami Gold

·         General Posts About Editing Your Story – Jami Gold

·         Writing Prompts – Writing Prompts Tumblr

 Adulting

Giant How to Master Post including:

·         Household skills (budgeting, fix blown fuse, unclog toilet, sharpen knife, etc)

·         Cooking Skills (is produce ripe, expired foods, sanitation, to make rice/pasta/eggs/etc, using ovens/stand mixers etc, putting out grease fires, and more)

·         Health Skills (CPR, self save if choking, treat frostbite/burns/bleeding, signs of Stroke)

·         Mental Health Skills (recognizing problem drinking, how to choose therapist, coping with grief, etc)

·         Relationship/Social Skills

·         Job Hunting Skills

·         Misc (sew on button, change oil, jump start car)

 Make Up for Beginners (Huda Beauty)

This talks about different kinds of make up and what they are for

 Learning ASL

ASL Rochelle has free youtube videos to get you started

 Good and Cheap by Leanne Brown – Eating on $4 per person per day

This is a link to the PDF of the book, no purchase necessary, designed for people living on SNAP and as a resource to help people out and not as a challenge.

[alitheamateur]

The Grind- Chapter 26

“You sure about this place, babe? How come you don’t just wanna grab some coffee from The Grind and go back to crash on the couch at home?” I asked as Colton pulled open my passenger side door to walk hand-in-hand with me down the sidewalk.

Luckily, I cautioned Tia’s persistent advice at dinner last night, and limited myself to only three glasses of wine, and one measly shot of Patron. So, Colton’s 7 a.m. feisty bite to the exposed skin of my cheek under the sheet as my wake-up call, wasn’t ruined with a blistering hangover. He was adamant about taking me to some diner he’d heard about from one of the guys at the bike shop to try their German potato pancakes that he was just so certain I’d love, and I was a sucker for a languid, sweatpants breakfast date every now and then. 

“It’ll be fine, Livvy. Let’s enjoy some good grub, then I promise we’ll squeeze in a nap before we head to the gym later. Deal?”

He kissed the fingers that were interlocked with his own, then smiled mischievously as we slipped inside, escaping the rustling winds of the morning. We didn’t stop at the ‘wait to be seated sign’, instead Colt scanned the room, peeping over the full booths and tables around the room.

“C’mon, I see an empty table over here, babe.” he pointed, tugging me not so gently to the left of the hostess stand.

“Colton, we have to wai-,” I started to argue with his bullish, bizarre behavior, but before I could state my objections, reality slapped me across the face.

Seated with their backs to us, both sipping on a black cup of the house blend, were two Indiana natives, very far from home. Mom turned around to investigate the bustling approach over her shoulder, and stood to push herself from the seat with an unsure smile.

“Wh-..how did you guys get here? What’s going on?” I babbled wrapping a halfhearted, confused embrace around her neck, searching for an explanation from someone in the party of 3.

“It was all sweet, Colton, Liv honey. He arranged the whole thing. He insisted we come.” mom confessed, admiring Colton with a look of appreciation.

“I wanted ‘em here to see you fight, baby. And to see the house and everythin’. They got here yesterday afternoon, and I got them all set up at Westin, and ate dinner with the both of ‘em last night to get familiar.”

The pieces started to connect then. Why Tia was so snarky with keeping me away from the bottle, why Colton was so incessant about dragging me out of the house before 9 a.m. this morning, and why there was a button-down dress shirt discarded into the hamper when I did laundry after a late return home last night. I internally tipped a hat to his successful undercover moonlighting, though.

“Kid wouldn’t take a dime from us, either. Paid for the tickets, a ride from the airport, and our room, too. Seems we owe this one, sweetheart.” I heard dad say as I took one of the empty seats across the table from he and mom.

Their visit may not have been on my terms, or my timing, but I did feel complete having them here. Although there was a suitcase of nerves that landed on that plane along with their arrival to Pittsburgh, it just felt, right. The four of us, together, all in one place had me swelling with a sense of gladness and completion, all courtesy of the mysterious man in blue seated to my right.

“I can’t believe you did all this, Ritter. I expect a play-by-play when we get home, ya’ big box of lies.” I leaned to kiss him sincerely.

“I’m pretty impressed with myself to tell the truth.”

The meal consisted of bacon all around, mom whining about the cold temperature, those potato cakes Colton was correct about me losing my mind over, and a general calm, steady flow of conversation. I was impressed at how normal, and interested Tony and Liz seemed to be the entire time. Dad never brought up a single utterance of basketball, and mom pounded me with questions about my match, and what it would be like. I felt a connection so genuine that had been minuscule for so many years, and I knew Colton played a tremendous role in the healing psychological wounds.

“You guys should come by the house and spend the afternoon with us. All my stuff is moved in, and it doesn’t look like a construction site anymore. Mom, we could swing by the food market to get what you need for gran’s jambalaya for dinner, too!”

My inner, overly-eager, rambunctious childlike manner took me over, and I instantly began bulleting out an itinerary of events. I’d have to take mom to meet Andrew, and she would die over the Americana at The Grind. And dad, maybe Colton and I could take him to the trolley museum and a PNC park tour in the next couple of days.

“Livvy, we’ve got to try and get to the gym for a few hours today. It’s down to crunch time, babe,” Colt reminded me with apologetic tone. “But, we can check them out their room, and settle ‘em in at the house first, okay?”

Of course, the gym. This week wouldn’t be one of family dinners and touristy adventures with the fight countdown fuse burning low. And now, I had even more work to do down at Temple Fitness with my parents in attendance. The weight of potentially letting Colton, Tia, and the rest of my corner down was sickening enough, now add the weight of Tony and Elizabeth and you’ve got one wound tight Liv. Perfectionism is a weakness not all can relate to, and of that they should be eternally thankful. I failed my Warrior teammates and the rest of my small-town not so many years ago, and that disappointment in itself nearly disconnected me entirely. I may have grown and evolved in many ways since relocating to the Pittsburgh, but the will to please my loved ones was a quality I would undoubtedly live with until my final breath.

“You do whatever needs to be done today, sweetheart. I know these next few days are crucial, so don’t mind us. We’ll take whatever time you can give us.” my mom pats my hand from across the table, and shot and thoughtful smirk.

“We’re just happy to be here, Livvy. You’ve got a good one there.” My dad’s opinion of the man I loved was never considered to be a worry I had, but in that moment, I couldn’t have been more prideful in how truly wonderful Colton had been to them, and to me for organizing this little surprise.

 After dragging my parents’ belongings up the front steps of our home, and leaving them the keys to my car in case they got the pangs to explore around a bit, Colton and myself dutifully reported for in for a session down to the gym. The last couple days I had been studying up on a submission move I really wanted to try out. The Omoplata essentially was a move to apply unbearable stress on the arm of your opponent, inevitably resulting in a tap out. Tia, nor Colton had introduced me to the technique, but it was one I had stumbled upon doing some research on my own one afternoon during some down time at the Pilot office. Having never actually seen it done in reality, I only had internet tutorials, and other martial arts circuit fights that had been posted online to educate myself.

Upon trucking into the somewhat crowded parking lot, and settling my duffle into a locker down the hall from the ring room, Tia had called to say something had soured in her stomach, and she wouldn’t be making it in to train with us today unless I wanted to mop up her throw-up. Naturally, I insisted she stay in and recover, leaving me in the hands of Colt.

“Grab the rope, let’s warm up for 10 minutes after you stretch, babe.” my handsome trainer instructed as he downed the settlings of a pre-workout drink at the bottom of his cup.

“Did you remember to tell dad about the construction on Liberty bridge in case they decide to venture out of the house?” My voice vibrated as I bounced with the whip-like jump rope.

“Yep, as we were walkin’ out the front door, Liv. Don’t worry, ‘ight? They’ll be fine. I gotta say though, I wasn’t expectin’ ya’ to be so thrilled about ‘em being here.”

I was fairly flabbergasted myself in that matter, but I had no explanation for my nervous excitement. I guess, maybe it was the common cliché of not knowing how much you in fact needed something, until you had it.

“Thank you, handsome. I really am glad you did all that. Although, I’m a little concerned with all the unsuspected sneaking around you were able to get away with.” I smirked, dropping the braided rope to adjust the tightness of my messy bun.

“It nearly got the best ‘a me lying to you like that, but it was for good reason, at least. Except, them being at the house every night for the next few days may turn out to be a little problem. Seein’ as their daughter can’t keep her greedy little hands off me & all…” he teased unnlacing his trainers to pull of his socks before we moved into the ring. He was knelt on one knee just a foot or two behind where I stood, then inched over in that crouched position to friskily bite the pert cheek of my backside, and grabbed a handful of the other.

I’d never get tired of those stout, mitt-like hands of his touching my body, and I let my head drop backward a bit to sigh into his touch. If by some unfortunate event, things between us happen to fall to pieces again, no man would ever live up to the bar set by the infamous Colton Ritter.  

“I can manage a little self-control, you animal. Let’s make a bet on who caves in first, shall we?” I said, stepping over the middle rope of the mat.

“You better be careful playin’ with fire girl. You may get burned.”

 We had bounced around, grappling and rolling for nearly an hour already, with just a couple rushed breaks for water, and I still hadn’t built up the courage to try the move I had been so eager to crack at. I welcomed the respect that Colton had to never half-ass me when we did train one-on-one, however always extremely careful to make sure I was never harmed in any way. His insights, and words of wisdom related to the cage were something I considered to be a matchless gift, and I loved him eternally for offering it up.

Just as I was about to weigh the Omoplata to be the impossible, especially considering my mock opponent at the current time, Colton let down a wall, and broke his own most crucial ‘golden rule’ of fighting. He attempted to tangle me, but instead, mistakenly gave me his back, awarding me the perfect moment to pounce. I pinched his shoulder between the bones of my knees, then swung one leg hurriedly over his head. Colton’s arm was trapped between the center of my limbs, essentially hooked around my left thigh as I crossed my ankles. I flattened his chest and face to the mat with speed I didn’t know I had, and swung my legs to the side, easing into a squat with his helpless arm still locked in. The stretching pressure of his muscle grew the higher I raised, and defeated, Colton yelped out with a tap.

Instantly releasing, I tumbled to my back, and laid to rest with exasperating breaths. Executing the technique on an individual with such a powerful strength, was equally as exhausting on the attacker as the victim, and I could feel my blood tingling, and rushing through my veins like the Colorado rapids.

“I sure as hell don’t fuckin’ remember teachin’ you that, 2-1,” my captor said still face planted onto the canvas, almost cackling. “But you pulled it off with damn near perfection. I’m impressed, baby!”

“That one is just a little something I picked up on my own. Coach…” I replied, mounting his back to massage his shirtless shoulders.

Colton flipped, doing a 180 to now laying on his back, with me still atop him with a sweaty, rosy face.

“Oh, so she thinks she can pin me now, huh? Don’t get too comfortable up there, Elliott. You know I don’t do bottom.”

TAGS: @torialeysha @eap1935 @littleluna98 @mollybegger-blog

[thesevenseraphs]

Update 1.2.3

Solstice of Heroes

Moments of Triumph

Moments of Triumph bounties will become available in-game for the Solstice of Heroes event starting July 31, 2018.

Players may access a set number of Triumphs on Bungie.net prior to the event beginning.

Players can complete Triumphs to earn points that they can trade for rewards such as emblems, a Sparrow, and a code to purchase a special T-shirt.

When the summer event becomes available on July 31, 2018, players can receive these Triumph bounties from the special summer event vendor and will have the entirety of the event to complete them.

Triumphs are based on account-specific data; once a Triumph has been claimed and redeemed for points, it cannot be claimed for points on another character.

All Triumphs can be tracked via bungie.net; the highest values of a character on that account will be displayed.

In-game rewards will become available on July 31, 2018. Stay tuned to @Bungie for announcements of availability.

NOTE: All information concerning Solstice of Heroes: Moments of Triumph may be found at help.Bungie.net.

Investment

Bounties

5 Crucible bounties a day will now be available from Shaxx.

5 Vanguard bounties a day will now be available from Zavala.

These bounties rotate on a daily cadence.

Bounties can expire after you obtain them. Expiration of individual bounties is shown in the tooltip.

Exotic Masterworks

Catalysts for Legend of Acrius, Telesto, and Sleeper Simulant are now available as rewards from Prestige “Leviathan,” Prestige “Leviathan, Eater of Worlds,” and Prestige “Leviathan, Spire of Stars,” respectively.

Exotic catalysts from Heroic strikes now have slightly higher drop chances.

The Skyburner’s Oath Exotic catalyst from the “Leviathan” raid now has slightly higher drop chances.

The catalyst for Sturm can now be found by defeating enemies on Nessus.

Miscellaneous Quality-of-Life Changes

Adjusted Escalation Protocol weapon reward chances to be more deterministic

Players improve their chances each time they defeat the boss.

Once all Mercury Forge weapons have been obtained, they become available for direct purchase from Brother Vance in the Lighthouse (second vendor page).

Momentum has been removed from Heroic adventures.

The “Pursuits” inventory bucket has been moved to the top of Inventory categories.

Fixed an issue where unequippable emotes could be selected.

Fixed an issue where no sound would play on increasing and decreasing the handicap on Challenge Cards.

Commas have been added to large numbers as separators on the IGCR and PGCR.

Fixed an issue which prevented the Season 3 Dead Orbit Gauntlet Ornament from receiving progress from Arcstriders using the Way of the Warrior subclass tree.

Armor may now be purchased from Iron Banner and Faction Rallies vendors.

Strikes

Strike Modifiers

Blackout: Now increases enemy melee damage significantly but is no longer a guaranteed one-shot kill for all players.

Glass: Slightly reduced the health and shield penalty.

Grounded: Significantly reduced incoming damage when you are airborne, to account for odd geometry that Guardians may not have any control over.

Developer Insight: The goal is to ensure these modifiers are noticeable, but when Guardians advance their Power and stats, they can notice themselves overcoming the debuffs.

Nightfall

The Nightfall tutorial experience for new players has been updated to no longer call out pre-1.1.3 Nightfall mechanics.

Destinations

Mars

Fixed an issue that was preventing some players from accessing Mars adventures.

Fixed an issue that caused some open world chests on Mars to not drop Glimmer or Mars tokens.

Fixed an issue which prevented prophecy materials for Brother Vance from dropping from chests found on Mars.

Sandbox

Exotic Armor Updates

Hunter

Lucky Raspberry

Increased the chance to fully recharge Arcbolt Grenade on Arcbolt Grenade hits.

Now guarantees a full recharge when Arcbolt Grenade hits four targets.

St0mp-EE5

Increased benefits when using Strafe Jump and Triple Jump.

Young Ahamkara’s Spine

Now also improves Tripmine Grenade’s blast radius and throw speed, and makes your Tripmine Grenades harder to destroy.

Solar ability hits now grant some Tripmine Grenade energy (33%).

Added new FX treatment to the improved Tripmine Grenades to differentiate them from normal Tripmine Grenades.

Removed target-marking functionality.

Titan

ACD/0 Feedback Fence

Now grants Fury Conductor stacks on melee hits instead of kills.

Now reduces melee damage received while you have stacks of Fury Conductor.

More stacks of Fury Conductor further reduce melee damage received.

Doom Fang Pauldrons

Void melee kills now grant more Super energy.

Shield Throw hits now grant Super energy.

Dunemarchers

Reduced the time to activate Linear Actuators while you’re sprinting to 1.5 seconds (down from 5 seconds).

Increased the damage of the chain lightning effect (+70% in PvP, 440% in PvE).

Warlock

Crown of Tempests

Collapsed the total number of stacks of Conduction Tines to 3 (with the same total effect).

Conduction Tines now also reduces the speed that Super energy depletes while Stormtrance is active.

Karnstein Armlets

Melee kills now instantly heal you, then grant continuous healing for 8 seconds.

Removed bonus resilience, mobility, and enemy highlights on melee kills.

Starfire Protocol

Empowered weapon damage hits now grant some Fusion Grenade energy (20%).

Armor

Plasteel Reinforcement Mod now includes “Trait” in its tooltip, to have conformity with Restorative and Mobility Enhancement Mods.

Corrected stowed Hand Cannon position on the Haakon’s Iron Strides ornament.

Dragon’s Shadow now has an audio cue when it reloads your weapons.

Updated tooltip presentation of some Warmind Exotic armor item intrinsic perks.

Updated the perk description for Sanguine Alchemy to better reflect its functionality.

Fixed an issue that was causing targets marked by Sanguine Alchemy to produce orbs when defeated.

Fixed an issue that caused Wraithmetal Mail’s active perk to appear in the UI without an icon.

Fixed an issue that caused Starfire Protocol not to work with the Dawnblade Attunement of Sky ability path.

Fixed an issue that prevented Warlock melee attack damage when players were using the Ophidian Aspect Exotic and Hive Swords or orb carry objects.

Abilities

Fixed an issue for high framerates on PC that caused players to suddenly lose momentum after activating Supers and aerial dodge abilities.

Exotic Weapons

Increased the number of rounds granted to Crimson on respawn.

Weapons

Fixed an issue that allowed empty swords to drop heavy ammo bricks on death in the Crucible.

Fixed the Rapid-Fire Frame intrinsic perk on Basilisk (Dead Orbit Shotgun).

Fixed an issue that impacted the recoil of West of Sunfall 7 and the Trials of the Nine Hand Cannon, A Cold Sweat.

Fixed an issue causing the Iron Banner Hand Cannon, Finite Impactor, to not properly track Masterwork statistics.

Raid

Prestige Raid Lairs

Each week, there is a curated weapon suite and a global activity modifier for Spire of Stars and Eater of Worlds Prestige. The weapon set and modifier will be the same across both activities.

Prestige Eater of Worlds will become available at 11 a.m. PDT on July 17, 2018.

Prestige Spire of Stars will become available at 10 a.m. PDT on July 18, 2018.

Prestige raid lairs will drop weapons at 400 Power and Exotic catalysts.  

Raid armor ornaments will become unlockable.

NOTE: More details concerning the Prestige Raid Lairs can be found at: https://www.bungie.net/en/Explore/Detail/News/46981

Misc

Fixed an issue which prevented Hunters from receiving some loot chest rewards in the Spire of Stars raid lair.

PC

Clan Chat

Adds a new in-game text chat channel that allows online Destiny 2 clan members to communicate (in real time). This chat channel is separate from the companion clan chat channel.  

Director Map PC (Mouse) User Experience

Scrolling area reduced to the edges of the game window.

Cursor is now restricted to game window when a map is active (mouse capture).

Edge scrolling now freezes when game window loses focus.

Misc

Fixed an issue which caused bluetooth headphones to not play sound properly on some PC configurations. For more info, please see the Vital Information section of our Destiny Audio Guide.

Crucible

Iron Banner Updates

The Iron Banner game mode now uses Iron Temple fire pits as capture zones instead of standard Control flags.

Added new Power Play rules unique to Iron Banner:

Upon capturing a third zone, all three zones lock for 20 seconds.

After 20 seconds, all three zones reset to neutral and must be recaptured.

Added new audio for fire pits and Power Play alerts.

Updated score and time limits to match standard Control now that Quickplay is also 6v6.

Private Match Bug Fixes

Private Match is no longer available to trial users.

Crucible Lab Update

Added "BETA" to the activity tooltip.

Added support for more Labs in the future.

Added end-of-match rewards.

Crucible Playlist Update

Quickplay

Increased player configuration to 6v6 and updated playlist description.

Removed Supremacy.

Updated Clash win score to 100.

Updated Control win score to 150.

Control Zones are initially neutral.

Competitive

Updated playlist description.

Countdown: Bomb Fuse timer lowered from 40 seconds to 35 seconds.

Rumble is now available full-time.

Supremacy is now a rotating 6v6 playlist with a score to win of 150.

Crucible Ranks Update

Players can now earn Valor Rank from the following playlists:

Competitive

Crucible Labs

Iron Banner

Joining a game in progress now protects your Valor Win Streak for that game.

If you lose: No penalties incurred to your Valor Win Streak.

If you win: Valor Win Streak increases.

Players will now be matched using their Glory Rank.

This means your opponents will be of similar rank to you.

The higher you climb, the tougher the opponent!

Glory Loss Streaks have been re-tuned to be less punishing over time.

Consecutive losses now decrease the Rank Points lost instead of increasing.

Streaks still cap out at five.

All Rank Streaks no longer reset once they hit their cap.

Fixed a bug where Rank Up toasts were not firing once a player hit orbit.

Fixed a bug where players who logged into a character for the first time after a weekly reset would incur the Glory Rank weekly award/penalty.

Fixed a bug where players were incorrectly hearing the rank points increase/decrease sounds where there was no rank attached to the activity.

Audio

Miscellaneous adjustments to increase the readability of enemy audio cues across all modes.

Eververse

Summer Event Engram

For the duration of Solstice of Heroes, players will earn a bonus Solstice Engram with each Prototype Engram earned through Prestige level-up.

When decrypting Solstice Engrams, players will receive new items until they’ve unlocked all items in the box. Once all items have been acquired, additional Solstice Engrams will award duplicate items. Players may track what items they’ve earned from the Solstice Engram through the engram’s preview.

New item type: armor glows. Players who earn the Solstice of Heroes armor sets may use armor glows obtained from Eververse or the Solstice Engram.

Armor glows illuminate portions of the Solstice of Heroes armor and shine brightest when the element of the armor glow and the Guardian’s subclass align.

Once obtained, armor glows may be used and re-used on any Solstice of Heroes armor piece, regardless of class.

During Solstice of Heroes, players may purchase event-exclusive items from Eververse for Bright Dust.

Prismatic Matrix

The Prismatic Matrix has been temporarily removed. It will return in Season 4.

Prismatic facets have been deprecated. Dismantling deprecated Prismatic facets will grant Bright Dust.

Other

HDR Calibration

Adds a calibration screen for HDR on all platforms. It can be accessed through the Brightness video setting when HDR is turned on.

GDPR Compliance

Updated LSLA screen in bootflow, including link to GDPR resources.

Item Preview Updates

Players can preview spawn effects and Sparrow contrails in their inventory.