#good shit if you use procreate already!!

[dammjamboy]

BETTER CALL SAUL!

[seakicker]

brainrot about naga reader its v incoherent...

wwhat do u think of a pretty little naga reader... soft and small and nesting in her soft bed of stolen blankets when in heat.... then wake up to see big naga hunter childe standing in front of her, groping and petting her tail and tummy, trying to take her home to take care of her because he knows its mating season but getting sad when he remembers he cant give her eggs... but if he remembers correctly,, he has a friend whos a dragon hybrid...

ANON (GRABS YOU) (YANKS YOU IN CLOSE) (KISSES YOU) i have NOT been able to stop thinking about this ask since i got it holy shit. monstergirl reader is always a major bonus!

fem reader, reader is a snakegirl/lamia/naga (however you’d like to call her), zhongli has two cocks, exhibitionism (childe watches it all happen and eventually joins in), threesome, breeding, oviposition, heat/rut, and pregnancy below! also some references to some dark undercurrents like poaching, the illegal pet trade, and murder. i might have made this story a little darker than you intended, so i did my best to keep it to a minimum! but will happily elaborate on childe and zhongli here if asked

also crossposted to ao3 after some cleanup and editing to make it more consistent with the style of my ao3 works, as i tend to be a little more casual here (ie using first person and no capitalization)

i’m thinking about a reader whose heat maybe came earlier than expected or just otherwise failed to get a mate before mating season began, and now she’s left to suffer all alone and unbearably horny in her den in a hollow cave… the only comfort you’re provided comes from the blankets and pillows piled below you, but it does absolutely nothing to calm the hot spell raging through your body. lamias don’t sweat either since they’re cold-blooded and don’t self-regulate their body temperature, so you have no way of calming yourself down whatsoever— just a poor, whiny little lamia reader bemoaning the fact that she doesn’t have a mate to give her the comfort she so desperately needs… the only thing that would calm you down now is a lover breeding you full of his eggs as any good little mate should be receptive to receiving.

you’re so desperate you’re crying and whimpering as you try as hard as you can to take the edge off your heat by masturbating, but it’s pointless— it’s not pleasure you need, it’s breeding. lamias aren’t like humans in the sense that having sex purely for pleasure rather than procreating is a common concept— while there are surely lamia and naga couples who have sex for pleasure, especially ones who are already mates for life, that doesn’t mean it takes priority over true breeding the way it might for human couples, so to speak. your lamia instincts demand that you attempt to breed every single mating season, and the fact that you don’t have a mate this time seems to be hitting you especially hard. you've been at it for hours, hurriedly rubbing at the outer lips of your cunt and spreading them open for your other hand rather than to entice a partner into breeding you silly, and yet it's all proving to be a downright fruitless endeavor in your quest to satiate your heat.

you don’t realize that you’ve fallen asleep in the midst of your exhaustion— being kept up for a consecutive thirty hours or so by your raging heat will lead to such an outcome— until the soft, loving touch of a foreign hand rubbing against your long, scaled tail wakes you. were it literally any other time of the year except for mating season, you’d already be twisting yourself into a defensive position, ready to pounce on the foreign intruder for encroaching upon your den, but that’s the last thing on your mind right now.

what you’d really like from this visitor rather than his immediate departure are his eggs in your belly, but you can barely muster up the energy to even ask. all you can manage is a tilt of your head as you gaze up at your visitor, your bare chest falling with each shaky, heavy breath you draw. modesty is irrelevant to you, as horny and needy as you are now; if anything, you hope it arouses him into giving you exactly what you need.

“hey, it’s alright,” a cheery, masculine voice whispers, soothing you with soft movements that don’t trigger any of your danger alarms. “i won’t hurt you— i’m not so evil as to kill someone this helpless. the fight is what makes a hunt fun, y’know?”

ah. a naga— or perhaps just a general exotic beast— hunter. exactly what a lamia at her most vulnerable needs; not only that, but he's a human, meaning he won’t be able to meet your needs. though there have been many, many stories of humans being impregnated by monsters, the inverse is a rarity considering the relative weakness of humans as breeders... as far as beastfolk are concerned, humans make better incubators or hosts than breeders. additionally, in creatures that don't have live births such as lamias and mermaids, impregnation from a human lover is generally outright impossible.

despite his outright proclamation that he’s generally someone who kills your kind, you still can’t quite find it in you to feel afraid or territorial— were you in a more clear state of mind, you’d probably feel somewhat embarrassed by the fact that the only thing running through your mind is breed me breed me breed me breed me breed me as your new visitor continues to talk. you know that he can't breed you, but it doesn't matter— your mind is too far gone to be rational.

“besides, mating season brings its own kind of fun for hunters,” he adds with a grin, licking his lips and tracing his hand up the softer scales of the frontside of your tail to make his way to your more human bits. he rubs a palm over your belly, pressing against the space where your woefully empty womb rests. “if only i could solve your problem for good, right? i know someone who could help you, though, if you wanna come with me.”

agreeing to let a stranger—and a hunter at that— take you from the safety of your den and into the uncertainty of his home is something only a dumb, desperate, pliant, needy, and hormone-drunk lamia in heat would do… which is exactly why you’re agreeing to this stranger’s offer because the promise of getting bred stuck in your mind far more intensely than any hint of danger might have.

he’s exceptionally gentle with you despite the aura of danger a hunter innately carries with him— he doesn’t sling you over his shoulder like a sack of flour as he carries you into his home, instead he wraps one of your blankets around your shoulders (for modesty’s sake, one would assume, though you heatedly wonder if it’s his way of comforting you with a familiar object as he brings you into an unfamiliar environment) and gently carries you all the way to his home. aren’t you and your yards and yards of tail heavy?

then you figure he’s used to this. he’s used to hauling lamias away from their dens to either fuck them or kill them or fuck them then kill them, because that’s what hunters do… but that’s none of your concern right now. all you can focus on is the excitement of being able to be filled with eggs, assuming this stranger’s offer was a promise rather than a trap.

it's difficult to dwell on possibilities or any apparent danger when the only thing your mind can seem to focus on is your biological instinct to be a mother.

“you’re beautiful,” he purrs, eyeing your emerald scales with the same greed and scrutiny as a jeweler admiring his stones. “xiangsheng’s going to love you. such a lovely little lamia… you’d fetch me a pretty penny if i were in the market of selling exotic pets; you’re surely lovely enough to be one! i’m sure he’ll be excited to be with someone more similar to him than a human is.”

a naga male?

“please, i…” you gasp, clawing at your blanket to uncover your breasts, the sensation of even a shred of fabric on your body proving to be claustrophobic. “i need it, i need him, i…”

“so desperate,” he hums, gently lying you down against his bed once he’s managed to get you up the stairs. “oh, you’re just my type. really, it’s almost cruel that celestia didn’t make me a naga so i could breed you myself… i’ll be sure to have plenty of fun with you once xiangsheng’s done giving you what you need.”

the man offers you a wink and turns to leave the room as you settle back into his bed, clutching his pillows with your clawed fingers as you pant and writhe against the covers. even just the smell of a human male is driving you downright mad— he smells of the forests you're familiar with: earthy, rich, and strong. archons, if you don’t get bred right this very second…

“childe, you know i have no interest in your… hobbies,” another voice admonishes from just past the doorway, finally assigning a name to the man who rescued (or perhaps doomed) you. “i was unaware that this is what you were planning when you first invited me over.”

“but xiangsheng,” childe protests playfully, bringing the other man back into the room to greet you. “you couldn’t let a poor little lamia go so lonely, could you? lamias and dragons are friends, right?”

not a naga male, but a dragon male? though lamias and dragons—both being reptilian beasts—certainly have their similarities, there's no doubt in any lamia's mind that dragons are much stronger, wiser, and more well-respected than other reptilian beastfolk. dragons are touted as the destroyers of villages and entire armies, bringers of ruin and destruction, keepers of knowledge and treasures, and guardians of nations and nature, and the most representation lamias get in fantasy tales comes in the form of seductive temptresses preying on innocent, unassuming travelers. to receive the honor of carrying a dragon's clutch... the natural order of things spurs you to sit up a little straighter and whimper at the scent of his innate reptilian pheromones, gasping and pleading once more for what you need.

“please!” you cry, gripping at the pillows behind you. you don’t miss the way ‘xiangsheng’s’ pupils dilate in response to your body and your pheromones— he certainly seems to be a man more than capable of keeping his emotions in check, yet nothing is stronger than the forces of reptilian biology and instincts. he doesn’t appear to be in his own rut— does he already have a mate? does dragon mating season occur at a different time of year than other reptilian beasts’ mating seasons do? do you not arouse him past the scent of your pheromones?

"he brought me all this way here... so i could..." you manage between heavy pants, one of your hands wandering down to trace the outer lips of your cunt. it sits just above where your reptilian scales end and meet human skin at your hips, flushed and wet like a human's might be when aroused, yet yours is so discreet when unaroused that it’s practically unnoticeable; the bloodflow as a result of arousal is what makes it noticeable and enticing to mates.

the man known to you only as xiangsheng casts childe a suspicious and disapproving glance as if he knows something you don't— childe only raises his eyebrows and smirks in response.

“this wouldn’t be your first time with one of my sweet little prey, right? you don’t need to act all dignified,” childe laughs, patting him on the back and gazing over at you again. “look at her. she’s soaked. i’ve never caught a lamia more willing and desperate. help out one of your own kind, will you?”

“serpents and dragonfolk aren’t as similar as you seem to believe they are, childe.”

“you both have scales. you both have claws. any supposed difference past that is nothing more than humans having different eye colors,” childe dismisses him with an indifferent wave of his hand. “besides. you can give her what she needs; i can’t. she wants to be a mommy, xian— no, zhongli. help her out and i’ll make it worth your time, alright?”

childe pulls a coin out of his pocket and flicks it into the air with his thumb, an act that catches the other man’s attention momentarily. "and why, may i ask," zhongli asks, turning back to face you as you lie helpless and quivering against childe's bed. "are you so insistent upon aiding this woman if your hobbies typically involve... capture and execution?"

childe only grins at him again, humming a light tune as he moves to sit on the edge of his bed. he runs a hand up the sleek, shimmery scales of your tail, whistling in approval at the texture and luster of them. "because she's a beauty, that's why. and i like to help the needy, you know? such a sweet, desperate little thing can't be left to her own devices for the rest of mating season... that'd be cruelty!"

zhongli signs with resignation and joins the two of you on the bed, taking care to avoid sitting on your tail as he makes himself comfortable. he meets your hazy gaze again, his molten amber eyes burning with very apparent desire as he joins childe in sliding a hand up the smooth expanse of your tail.

"you are lovely," he nods in agreement, prompting a delighted hum from childe.

"i told you so," childe adds, grinning at you. "i told you he'd adore you. xiangsheng has a real eye for beauty, you know... he's accurately appraised more gemstones and jewelry than every last jeweler in liyue put together."

"their intentions lie with creating a profit, not appreciating the beauty of each gemstone for what it is," zhongli says matter-of-factly and almost somewhat proudly. "much like you, childe."

"right, me," childe feigns offense by placing a hand over his chest, "but let's save the insults for later, alright? i'm worried our sweet girl will just burst if you keep her waiting even a second longer for what she really needs. isn't that right, dear?"

you nod frantically, parting the puffy lips of your cunt with two of your fingers to helplessly show off how soaked you are. you've been soaked since the moment you first caught whiff of both childe's scent and, more effectively, zhongli's draconic pheromones.

"getting drenched just like a human girl," childe laughs, reaching over to tease at what he assumes is your clit— he's always surprised by just how similar lamia reproductive anatomy is to human reproductive anatomy on the outside; all the differences seem to be internal. his fingers rub and prod at your clit in ways that make you cry out and wiggle against the bed, the tip of your tail twitching rapidly as you try to steady your breathing. "what a doll. a prize catch, if you ask me."

zhongli removes his gloves and cufflinks and sets them aside, his jacket and belt joining soon after. childe seems to be following suit despite the fact that he won't be breeding you— he sheds his outer coat and belt, shamelessly groping at his growing bulge as zhongli takes to teasing your cunt instead.

"have you ever been with a dragon mate before?" he asks you simply, running his fingers down the slick inner lips of your cunt and collecting your wetness on his thumb. you shake your head, too worked up to attempt forming words, your tail gently wrapping around his thigh in a display of serpentine affection.

"then i'll be gentle," zhongli replies, kneeling over the apex of your tail where scale meets skin and freeing his cock— no, cocks— from the confines of his underwear. two cocks... naga males tend to have two as well, and the downright delicious sight of them makes you salivate. "dragons can be a little more... vicious than naga lovers are."

it's familiar, that much is for sure. his cocks stand tall, proud, and flared; the flares and ridges are more dramatic than naga males' are, and you're genuinely twitching with anticipation as he gently guides his cocks towards your sopping cunt.

"yeah, be gentle with her," childe warns. "don't want to hurt her when she'll fetch me a..." he trails off, clearing his throat and groping roughly at your exposed tits instead. "when she's being so good for us, i mean."

zhongli nods in response, and you're breathing so heavily an unexpecting onlooker may assume you to be hyperventilating as he eases both of his cocks into you at once. while the stretch is by no means comfortable or easy, it's at least something you've experienced before in past mating seasons with your naga lovers— though zhongli is far, far thicker than any of them ever were.

"feels good?" childe murmurs, leaning down to kiss your forehead as you whimper and clench around zhongli's cocks. "so cute, look at you... you wanted this so badly, huh? poor little thing, almost went an entire mating season without someone to help you feel good and give you what you want... what do you have to say to xiangsheng for being so nice to you?"

you lift your head off the pillow so you can get a better look at zhongli as he begins to hammer away at your cunt, his cocks effortlessly spreading you open and filling you up all at once. "thank you," you wheeze out amidst your moans, squirming helplessly when childe pinches both of your nipples.

zhongli's hands grip at your waist as he fucks you as quickly as he can, low grunts and groans leaving him on each thrust. he looks just like any mate should as he pounds you— assertive, commanding, domineering, and brutal. jaw clenched, eyebrows furrowed, and eyes lidded as he downright uses you, you've never been more satisfied in your entire life. your future naga lovers will never, ever be able to hold a candle to a dragon lover ever again.

"then show your gratitude by bearing my children," zhongli groans, losing himself to his own reptilian instincts as his mind becomes clouded with nothing but the idea of breeding a pliant, submissive, and wanting mate. childe grins down at you as he slips his cock past your pretty lips, stroking your cheek with his thumb as he begins to slap his hips against your mouth.

"and watch those teeth of yours," childe teases, lovingly pinching your cheek. "fuck, you're good... that tongue..."

you gasp around childe's cock as you feel the push of zhongli’s first egg into your body— you whine as you can feel one of his cocks expanding to accommodate the egg as it passes into your womb, settling nicely into you.

this is what you've been wanting all this time. this is what you've been needing and craving ever since your heat first began. this is what you were made for, what you're best for, what you're only good at— and knowing that you were able to catch the eye of a dragon only adds to your belief that this is truly what you were made for.

childe reaches a hand down to lovingly rest against your belly as zhongli continues to pump you full, your belly rounding out further and further with each egg that pushes into your womb. the sensation makes you moan out with ecstasy each and every time, your body finally, finally calming down now that you're finally, finally being bred nice and full.

"that's it," childe murmurs, spilling his load into your mouth, enjoying the way you cough and gag on his cock as you do your best to swallow as much of his seed as possible. "good, good girl. you're almost done; zhongli's just got a few more, right?"

you shyly reach down to cup your swollen belly as zhongli pushes his last egg into you, and he's stuffed you so full that you're somewhat amazed your body was able to make room for just one more. archons, it's heavy... though your exhaustion is partially at fault as well, your tummy feels so heavy and full like this that you couldn't even lift yourself up off the bed if you tried. you can only gaze proudly at your tummy as zhongli pulls himself out of you, leaving a slick trail of cum along the way that drips from your hole and down onto the sheets.

"you did so well," childe chirps, giving your belly a loving pat. "get some rest, okay? i'll wait to have a go at you until after you've gotten some well-deserved sleep."

you nod dumbly and oblige, allowing your heavy eyelids to fall as you drift off into a comfortable, happy slumber, body and mind satiated and heat effectively quelled by zhongli's efforts. what you feared would be your most barren mating season to date has become your most successful in only a matter of a couple of hours— getting two lovers in one day who are so, so very gentle with you?

you just can't wait for the next season... will childe and zhongli keep you until then?

you sure hope so.

"fifty-fifty works for you again, right?" childe asks zhongli, glancing over at your sleeping form as he redresses himself.

"you know better than to discuss business in front of the product," zhongli replies firmly, fixing his tie and cufflinks dutifully.

childe moves to gently pluck one of your scales from your tail, holding it up to the light of the bedside oil lamp to watch how the keratin reflects the light. "don't worry about that," childe smiles. "she's out like a light. a good girl... we should keep her around for another season before we get rid of her. i'd feel bad about losing a product this nice too quickly."

perhaps you'll get your wish to be with them for one more year granted.

[blakbonnet]

Artist of the Week!

So last weekend, I announced that I'd like to feature an artist every weekend for both new fandom joinees who might not have seen some of this art and older fans who like the nostalgia. This week's artist is Ash @aha-my-villainous-thoughts 💖 who also, wonderful that they are, agreed to answer a few questions for me!

Which App Do You Use To Draw When I’m at my big set up I use Clip Studio Paint, I love it so much. It’s very straight forward to dip straight in, has all of the bells and whistles you need from an elite drawing program, and the community elements where you can see assets and brushes is a lot of fun - although I still to this day have no idea how to earn coins to buy assets?! I use a XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro Graphics Tablet to draw into the program, although my best tip with graphics tablets is to get a screen protector, mine got covered in marks before I noticed. Recently I also got an iPad 10.9 to use as a digital sketchbook I can carry around, and while I am enjoying Procreate, I think CSP is a better art program overall.

Fave Brushes? On iPad I stick to the technical pen, studio pen and the soft airbrush, along with the textures and the light pen. I don’t think Procreate has great ‘painting’ brushes, whereas on CSP I would marry the Gouache brushes, I love how they blend and texture as you work.

Your favourite piece you’ve drawn? I’m a super self indulgent artist, I try to draw the kind of stuff I like to look at, so it’s a lot of colour, a lot of fabric and details. My fave piece for detail is the one I did for the OFMD RBB last year - Crescente Devotione, there’s a blushing sentient stool in it! For colour I’m in love with this sleepy time Ed in a lil negligee and a Holly Golightly eyemask, he's my lock screen because I'm trash.

Who harder to draw: Ed or Stede? Oh for sure Stede. I love Rhys Darby, but the man has like no lips. I stand by this meltdown.

One essential tip for beginner artists? Comparison is the thief of joy, don’t measure yourself against others - particularly when you’re finding your groove. Be self indulgent af. Also get a screen protector for whatever digital screen you draw on, and BACK. THINGS. UP. Whether in an online account, or on an external harddrive - or both?! BACK THAT SHIT UP.

Why OFMD? I’ve been in a few fandoms in the past, always as a pretty passive enjoyer, little fanart here or there, little fanfic sprinkled around, but there’s just something about the way this fandom feels? It feels like a group of friends who’ve got their own lives and their goals, but they still exist in each other's orbit, it’s like this feeling of returning home to somewhere you’re always welcome. There’s so many good moments in the show for both comedy and some gut wrenching pathos. Sign up for the hot guy in leather and get got by this beautiful delicate little love story. It’s something about queer joy of thriving, not just surviving. Something about finding love and romance no matter your age or what’s past before. Something about found family, and unlikely friendships, and community and silliness. I was already a goner when Taika put on the wig, but then when he teared up in a blanket fort while trying not to die? Excuse me sir, I did not need feelings that powerful. It was literally waking me up at night thinking about his last shot weeping in the nook - like are you kidding me?! I’m supposed to finish watching and be normal after that??

[genericpuff]

Alright, update on the tablet situation, I do NOT have good news but there are some silver linings.

First off, thank you all so much for your patience. That one week I took off to relax seemed to be an invitation for the universe to fuck with my shit because my tablet literally chose the worst time to get on my nerves ( This is totally not something I'm gonna bring up with my therapist as proof that I'm not allowed to rest /s) I've tried just about everything to get it working again, I got a replacement 3-in-1 cable and even that didn't do anything, so I've ordered in a new pen, but that's not due to show up for another week or two.

However, I do not want to wait a week or two on the off chance that a new pen even solves the problem.

So the GOOD NEWS in all this is that I do still have my iPad. It wasn't setup with Clip Studio Paint because I own a perpetual license for my PC, but seeing as how now I can't use it on my PC (at least not with my tablet pen) I've gone ahead and setup the mobile version on my tablet, thankfully I got a discount because I already own a perpetual license but it's still gonna cost me $10/month so that's yet another subscription to slap on the 'ole credit card.

Now that does mean I have to go through the painstaking efforts of moving everything from my PC onto my tablet, but thankfully that issue is easily solved with cloud backups and transferring. Really all I need to be able to do is draw, I can still do speech bubbles and text input and texture overlays and all that post-production stuff on my PC, but anything that requires actual drawing I'm gonna be using my iPad for. So please, don't mind if you notice some weird little art differences between Episode 30 and 29, I'm adjusting to a new workflow! It shouldn't be too bad because I'll still be using the exact same brushes and textures and all that fun stuff that I do on my PC, it just comes with the adjustment of drawing primarily on iPad, which I don't normally do (I usually only draw on my iPad for tattooing and that's in Procreate which I still suck at using outside of lineart LMAO)

This is a very stressful situation that I'm hoping will only be temporary until I get that new tablet pen, and if THAT doesn't solve the issue, then I'm gonna have to start shopping for a new tablet entirely, and that's not something I can do immediately because I'm already starting to struggle financially due to the slow season creeping in at work and I'm still paying off that new PC I put down on layaway (which I'm regretting already). All that said, if you want to help a pal out, please consider tossing a dollar or two at me on my Ko-Fi, it's all gonna go towards a new drawing tablet if I need it (and if the pen solves the issue, then you'll be helping me stay afloat so I can keep bringing you guys the good shit LOL)

What's wild is that in all my Google searching, I found a thread from two months ago with literally the EXACT same issue, under the exact same conditions, in which OP's tablet pen unexpectedly stopped registering with their Huion Kamvas 22 Plus that they had owned for two years. According to them, it did start working again, after resetting the PC and re-installing the driver over and over again, but I've already done that myself a ton of times and I'm tired of being let down and that doesn't seem like a "real" solution beyond luck, so I'm gonna take a break from doing that while I get my iPad set up. I have the sneaking suspicion this might have to do with some recent Windows updates that just rolled out, my PC had definitely gone through a couple leading up to the malfunction. This wouldn't be the first time Microsoft has fucked with my tablet functionality so I literally wouldn't be surprised if it was something like that. Either that, or the '2' in Kamvas 22 stands for "will only last for 2 years before stopping entirely" LOL

Anyways, that's all for now. Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding through all this. While I don't want to have to reduce the quality or frequency of what I put out for you guys due to technical issues, I also don't want the comic to stop entirely, so if this turns into one of those desperate situations where I'm delivering you guys episodes of Rekindled drawn on a Nintendo DS, so be it. I'm not gonna let this beat me.

[eldritch-spouse]

Breg during the heat (rut?) period?

(Or: how to save your life, a manual in headcanon format)

[Aight, let me get the PowerPoint ready.]

(Minors dni)

TW: Mentions of violence and death, implied dubious consent in multiple sections. Not for the faint of heart.

How to survive Breg's rut!

A barely coherent and tediously lengthy guide by yours truly.

When does it happen?

One every two months babyyyyy. Guaranteed.

You may think that's overkill. And you'd be right! Breg's species, although naturally already considered to be hypersexual, has been genetically engineered overtime via constant artificial hormone tampering, to be even more sexually driven. This was done as a reckless and amoral means to ensure faster procreation of the species stock, by constantly triggering heats in them. What you end up with is not beautiful or easily manageable. This was done without thinking of the consequences, of what would happen if these hybrids one day achieved freedom and mingled with the common crowd- Said crowd being completely unaware of the hypersexualized nature of their newcomers.

If none of this had happened, Breg would have three heat seasons per year tops. Now though? Every two months, he can't escape the inevitable. And he never will until he ceases to be fertile, or experiments with unstable treatments.

How long does it last?

One week. Two at most.

The only good things about these frequent episodes is that they are thankfully not that long. In fact, they're much shorter than the near month-long frenzies his kind endured naturally.

However, the problem here is that it's not nearly as smooth as it should be. Because, you see, heat is already a stressful state to be in, where a lot of bodily modifications take place. Now, what happens if you take these changes that are supposed to happen roughly in the time period of a month, and you stuff them all in a week's schedule? Calamity at its finest. This is why sometimes it may last a little bit more than anticipated, it's a little irregular, given how crazy it gets in Breg's organism.

What are some signs heat is close?

It starts subtly. Pay attention to his priorities. Breg will start dedicating a lot more of his time taking stock of the food you have at home, and likely bugging you to go get more with him. He's going to start eating in stupid proportions. Now, Breg can have a bit of an appetite, but never in this scandalous way. He's shoveling shit down that gullet until he stuffs himself. Think of a bear preparing for hibernation, but the bear is a procrastinator and has to do all that work in like one day. Problem is, since Breg eats way too much, he depletes the supply of food he's working so hard to maintain, hence a cycle is generated. He also hydrates excessively. Now, Breg is doing this as a way to prepare his body, and it's not really a conscious choice- It's impulse, pure impulse. Not only is this "preface" period used to store up energy in his body, it's also very effective in clearing out any sicknesses in the organism.

When heat is close, Breg is relatively easy to deal with. He's low-energy all the time, going as far as to spend almost entire days sleeping. It's only natural, as his body changes to accommodate what's coming. He wakes up only to eat and take care of his other basic needs. The moments where he is actually fully awake are rare and he downright refuses to leave the house or do anything that requires too much focus/strain. Faced with these rather innocuous symptoms, akin to a common sickness really, one might make the mistake of assuming the rest of Breg's rut will be similar. You couldn't be more wrong...

Because honey, from this point on, shit spins 180 degrees in the blink of an eye.

Do they come to you when they know heat is starting?

Only to warn you. He has to. It'd be very cruel of him to not explain to you the absolute madness shit will escalate to. It's a bit hard to take Breg seriously when he's too tired to speak without slurring his words or falling asleep in the middle of a sentence- But I stress that you should pay close attention to everything he says, because he'll give you handy advice on how to make it through his heat mostly unscathed. You should listen, because he's not fucking around. And even though Breg will hesitate to tell you this directly, you are in danger, possibly.

And no, you can't simply distance yourself during this time. Breg would have done that himself if he could. Since the connection has already been formed in his brain that you're his mate, the moment Breg starts going into heat, he will inevitably seek to secure you by his side. He'll hunt you down if he has to, and it's not pretty. You're lucky he's not too ravenously sexual during this preface period. Breg will mostly just insistently make sure you're somewhere in his vicinity, the need to mate comes later.

Does it start suddenly or is it gradual?

Physical changes are gradual, but mood alterations happen basically overnight.

Granted, it could be a lot worse. It starts slow, but consistently picks up the pace from the first day on. What you'll notice right off the bat is the drastic change in Breg's demeanor, which without going into too much detail, flips one eighty degrees. Usually, Breg is a very mellow if not mildly timid monster, and sexually speaking, he is not very domineering either. These traits will vanish as soon as the first day of heat begins, and you'll be faced with a far cry from the breeder you know. This brand new and very much dangerous bravado of his will last for the remaining heat and I suggest you learn how to best deal with it. For your safety.

The more gradual aspect of his rut is the physical one. In fact, while some are blatant, you'll need sharper eyes to see some of the other ones. What you should be concerned with the most at this time is the way Breg's metabolism speeds the fuck up like he's on crack. This is why he's constantly eating and hydrating, it takes a lot for him to keep up with such a maddening, unnaturally exacerbated metabolism. If Breg slacks off too much, he can very well die. He's aware of this because he has seen other males perish from self-neglect during heats. This knowledge only serves to keep Breg more agitated and volatile than he already is, hence more dangerous and less merciful.

Perhaps if his species wasn't as forcefully tampered with as it was, and continues to be, heats would be much easier on their bodies. As of now however, you need to understand that it's a very serious ordeal with a lot of risks and insurmountable discomfort.

Constant need or waves of desperation?

Though there's always a pretty strong buzz of arousal, what you really gotta watch out for are the waves of pure impulse that sort of make Breg jerk to life.

Breg will be in constant need the entire event. His slit will leak for almost concerning amounts of uninterrupted time and he's likely to stay erect for borderline painful periods as well. This obviously causes extreme levels of desperation and Breg will accordingly seek any available methods of relief. However, you're not always being hounded for sex, because this need sometimes takes the background to other instincts, thankfully. Breg will often cease trying to get off in order to consume things, groom himself, posture, arrange the "nest" and inspect random stimulus that sets him off (such as loud unknown noises, which will make him defensive).

Every once in a while, Breg will experience sharp jolts of feverish need. These translate in almost humorous views, such as Breg springing upright and pacing because of excessive body heat. You'll know one of these episodes is starting because he usually chirps or groans at the top of his lungs. He is absolutely uncontrollable in this state and will hunt you down for immediate relief. These are the times where you really must not come off as challenging, Breg needs to feel in control and be under the assumption that you are completely submissive. Otherwise, he'll fuck you far more harshly in an attempt to assert dominance. You cannot hide nor fight your way out of the encounter.

Essentially, you could say Breg experiences both. Which should serve to keep you in the very tip of your toes around him.

Can heat be purposely triggered?

Triggering a heat purposely is possible, but extremely ill-advised.

The only way you can do so is through either artificial hormone injections that jumpstart the process or inducing extreme amounts of stress in him. Obviously, you don't have access to the hormonal concoctions which are given to males at the "facility". If Breg ever notices that you are intentionally inducing stress in him via attempts to enrage or put him in danger, just to trigger a heat from him, he'll be extremely confused. He'll begin having sex with you more often under the assumption that you're just too prideful to admit you want it more frequently, but if you insist, Breg will eventually tell you to knock if off because you have no idea what you're messing with. And he's right, there's no benefit to be gained from forcing a heat.

Natural pseudo-heats can be triggered, if Breg somehow enters a deep panic. This doesn't necessarily mean he'll want to fuck something right off the bat. Say he's in near mortal danger because of a threat, he'll enter a primal level of aggression that'll take time and effort to come down from. Meaning he'll be feral for a good while, and feral males of his species are notoriously sexually aggressive. These periods do not last more than a couple hours and are not nearly as intense and complex as the real deal.

If you work for it hard enough, you can sort of Pavlov Breg into entering sudden quasi-heats on command without much if any external stimulus. Breg will not be one bit happy about the situation though.

What is their general mood?

Temperamental is putting it lightly.

To reiterate, Breg is usually a kind monster at heart and generally being with you puts him in stellar moods, but- You can kiss that sunshine version of him goodbye as soon as heat kicks in, because Breg will turn into one mean motherfucker. Very very very on edge the entire time, super paranoid, way too irritable. Not only is this the product of his aggressively-coded lineage, it's also the culmination of being stuck with other equally aggressive males during ruts, which caused Breg to be in near constant stress and have to fight for his life frequently. This demeanor of his only gets more intense now that he's secured a mate (you), he spends every second just waiting for someone to intrude and challenge him.

You can't snap him out of this mood, and he'll only relax if you do exactly as he wishes. In general, the most you can do to decrease his high stress levels is make sure no one enters the house, stay as close to him as possible even if it seems like he's fuming, and make sure there's always something to eat readily available or he's gonna start hunting. And lord knows what dead thing he'll drag home if left to his own vices...

Submissive or dominant demeanor?

Dominant from beginning to end.

There's no room for negotiation here. As soon as it starts, Breg is on top of everything and you are not, under any circumstances, to challenge his position. Things as subtle as raising your voice to a certain threshold or waving an arm too high will rise aggressive reactions out of Breg, which can range from growled reprimands to full on incapacitation. Do not toy with him, your best shot here is to be pliant, quiet and slow. Don't move too fast, don't scream, never ignore him or his commands.

If you follow those simple rules, everything should be fine here. There's no reason for you to be terrified of Breg, even if he ultimately does become more of an intimidating presence. He's not sadistic and can occasionally relax fully around you. If he notices that you're extremely nervous or afraid of him, Breg will actually curl around you and trill, maybe even shrink in himself a little to seem less threatening.

That being said, sex is no exception. He's on top, he's in charge. This is good in a way, it means he does most of the work and positioning, which you'll be very thankful for when you can no longer move your numb limbs. Any attempts from your part at starting intimacy, even if done in a very submissive manner, will likely be rejected. Breg is not brutal, but he can overlook some of your limits, during which you should either cry or whimper, those responses will always get his attention amidst the concoction of hormones.

Any physical changes?

Not many, and the ones that take place aren't very noticeable. Aside from the blatant change in pigmentation that is, he switches from the white form to the black form in day one.

In spite of how much he consumes and the mess of hormones in his accelerated metabolism, Breg does not exactly "bulk up" during heat. His overall look remains vastly the same. The changes here are dispersed in the details. There will be a large increase in bodily secretions, especially saliva but also sweat- Breg is constantly sweaty yet jarringly cold to the touch (excluding the excessive body heat episodes). His claws gain a negligible length augmentation, his slit is almost always somewhat puffed and slick with lubrication.

What's more interesting here is the noticeable boost in sensory experiences. Breg sees much more sharply, he hears things you can't detect- Which oftentimes leads to him freaking out over seemingly nothing to you. His scenting ability goes through the roof and he is a lot more temperature sensitive than before. Breg is always left feeling cold in this state, so he will hog you for warmth 24/7, which is gross because he's gonna sweat a storm on you. Under the instinctual assumption that you are also freezing, he'll drown you in blankets and trap you in a boiling inferno inside the nest. Which is not a good time if this is happening during Summer.

Any substantial changes in stamina/spent/etc…?

This is basically where most of the physical changes manifest.

First and foremost, Breg is supremely sensitive around this time, any light embrace can make his focus fizzle to nothing. This makes touching him at all a risky act because his arousal will inevitably skyrocket the longer you maintain contact. Nonetheless, play your cards right and Breg will melt. When in angered states, his resistance to pain triples and he does not feel most injuries.

With his accelerated metabolism essentially in emergency mode, Breg will sport a whole lot more stamina than usual, which is really bad news for you because he already outlasts you by a landslide. However, this comes in short bursts, meaning he will collapse after climax and not have enough composure to pull that stunt again for a good while. To combat this, Breg sometimes spends hours having the laziest fucks ever.

You will understand another reason why he eats and hydrates constantly when you feel the ludicrous amount of jizz he pumps inside you. There is no way in Hell a single shot can fit in you. It's just too much, his ejaculation prevails long after Breg's orgasmic high starts to fade, your womb will swell and the rest will make a horrid mess. Breg will actually get frustrated that your body cannot handle the amount of spent he offers, regardless of how much time he wastes trying to keep your legs up or fingering his cum back in.

Do they exhibit impulsive courting behavior?

Posturing is a big part of it, yes.

One of the first things he does is make a nest. This is almost always stationed in your bedroom but occasionally the bathroom as well for some reason. Breg takes every piece of clothing, blankets and pillows he can find, wrangling them in chaotic but somehow still orderly ways to establish said nest. Do not tamper with it until he's done. Any attempt to remove things will not end well for you. After he's done constructing this mess of fabrics and has rolled around in it like a fucking mutt- He'll be hellbent on showing it to you. Because the nest is not for his comfort, it's to impress you into wanting to mate him. I suggest you don't antagonize him much and at least pretend you're awed by his efforts. Breg will continue to perfect it along time, though if you appear reluctant to enter it, he'll steal items he knows you make heavy use of and put them in the nest as a trap.

Aside from that, Breg postures a lot in mostly three ways: One, he will rapidly flicker his skin pigmentation between black and white at you, it's actually a fascinating sight; Two, while he also typically puffs up a little, he's more likely to display his flexibility and height by either stretching out to his full length or curling into a contortionist's wet dream. Again, horrifying but interesting; Three, Breg will emit occasional low trills or either sharp high-pitched chirps- Do not call him a parakeet, he'll throw a tantrum.

Aside from these, he will occasionally dump you in the nest with him and bring various food items, which would be kind of mundane, until he starts touching you while you eat that is. It's a very primitive trick used by males whose females tend to be feisty during heat, distract them with food so that you don't end up mince meat. It's hilarious because you could never put a dent in Breg yet he still instinctively plays it safe.

Bizarre mannerisms?

I hope you're ready to be trapped in a makeshift nest with him, inside a room that's hotter than a sauna. You're not allowed to leave it until he says so. Seriously, he'll consecutively hunt you down if he notices you escaped the perimeter. His entire posturing methods are obviously bizarre to you, given the species barrier makes it hard for you to properly interpret what Breg is signaling.

Mimicry is also to be expected at the very peak of his rut. You see, at a certain point, Breg's brain is just going to be too mushy to prioritize standard social activity and verbalizing will be swiftly nulled. He won't understand much of what you say and he won't be able to answer you. To properly get a message through, you'll have to rely on facial expressions and universal gestures. Breg will pay a lot more attention to the tone of your voice rather than the words themselves. The reason he starts poorly mimicking your speech is to let you know he's always ready to interact with you. Avoid prolonging it or he will assume you want attention. It's kind of funny, because Breg cannot control this at all and you can make him repeat the silliest shit ever. Sometimes speaking excessively will make him nervous, since he can't comprehend what you want, and Breg will start looking for things to shut you up, primarily food.

How conscious/in control are they?

They are fully conscious of what's happening but have very little control over anything. Breg did warn you about all this. It is also a warning not to get too cheeky, because Breg will remember a lot of what went down during his rut, and he'll be able to interpret things you did better.

Self-control is a very fleeting privilege here, Breg may hold himself back in the first day, but he soon becomes a slave to his own lower-brain whims. In a sense, some concepts remain during this time, but only things he has drilled into his own brain over time. For example, Breg more often than not does not attempt to stuff both his members in your body because he has internalized the notion that you are often incapable of welcoming the two without thorough preparation. This does not mean he won't try it at later stages, when he's barely aware of himself. By the time he stops vocalizing properly, you should assume Breg is unable to measure himself at any capacity- And while he is conscious, you are essentially dealing with a stunted shell of a person relying mostly on archaic instincts.

Are there pheromones to encourage potential mates?

Yes. Do they have any effect in you? Nah. But you can still smell the oddly heavy odor they release. In fact, Breg smells fucking awful around this time. It's not like he's been rolling in mud, but the excessive sweating of his crack-speed metabolism creates this suffocating male musk that will absolutely root itself in your home in a matter of days.

Regardless of it affecting you or not, in heat, Breg will still seek to cover you in this scent. It works as a claim of sorts, and it would also elicit some arousal from you if you were one of his kind. Rest assured that the "nest" he fabricated will also be soaked in that smell. Fair warning here, Breg doesn't groom himself enough in this state, so hygiene may become a problem. He will not accept baths and expresses clear distaste when you bathe as well. The only way he'll accept any cleaning is if you do it (be warned, he'll try to get you to lick him) or if you keep him stimulated.

Keep in mind that carrying someone else's smell on you in any way whatsoever is a big no-no during ruts. Breg will get inordinately upset, especially if that someone happens to be male. He'll be very volatile and start pursuing this person after ensuring you are trapped in the nest. Other than that, know that Breg will do disgusting things like rub his cum into your skin or lather you in drool- He encourages you to do the same to him but it's not recommended because it gets him really horny and thus perpetuates the cycle. Fun fact, this type of thing riles him up outside of heat as well.

How demanding is their rut?

Hahahah, you poor thing...

Breg's libido is already a handful to deal with outside of heat episodes, this is basically cranking the notch so far up that it breaks off entirely. Your poor holes don't stand a chance, unless you are clever enough to distract him with less invasive methods. But to be fair, after being with Breg for a while, you'll develop strategies to deal with hypersexuality- This won't be news to you. What is actually demanding here is his shift in attitude. You need to adapt, and fast. Being constantly on your toes is not an easy feat, and Breg's volatile state implies you need to be ready to shift gears at any moment. Dealing with this pussy-drunk horndog and his ritualistic drives will demand a lot of patience, understanding and cleverness from your part. The first heat is obviously going to be the most challenging.

This process is also very taxing on Breg, as you can imagine. He always becomes exhausted whenever a rut is over, his body takes a day or two to fully normalize after such brutal metabolic changes take place. Breg can potentially walk out of this process malnourished or wounded in ways he was not aware of during the rut. To say he dreads it almost as much as you do is an understatement. He's also terribly scared of hurting you in some form or another, or that perhaps his beastly demeanor will make you fear him from then on.

The rut is demanding in a lot of ways, not just Breg's constant helpless search for bodily relief.

How uncomfortable/painful is the experience?

Really depends on how clever you are about it, but there's still a pretty big possibility you'll get physically KOd eitherway. Uncomfortable is a given, soreness and numbness are two things you'll get very familiar with early on, though Breg will occasionally display enough awareness to seek less straining positions or be much slower than desired to avoid further inconveniencing you.

Pain... Well, there will always be a little bit of pain here. Though his slit lubricates excessively, Breg may sometimes attempt to penetrate you much too suddenly. Or he may grip too tight. Biting is common. The pain of climaxing repeatedly is also something to expect at certain points- Even Breg suffers from that one. However, depending entirely on your attitude, there may be even more pain added to the mix. Blatant rejections or attempts to antagonize the breeder will result in the use of force to keep you pliant. And though the objective here is not to maim you, Breg's lackluster self-control might very well end up inflicting injury on your person.

I would say that Breg is ten times more uncomfortable and pained than you though. His body is constantly overheated yet cold, he has to deal with persistent erections that almost make him lightheaded, he's always starving and smelly and sweaty and thinking is out of the question.

How dangerous are they in this state?

Very. There are some pretty serious risks here, including getting your limbs broken or maybe even being fucked to death. Granted, you need to be intentionally cruel to end up dying from this.

It's worth noting that although you will always be in a certain degree of danger, taking things carefully and canceling plans to stay home with Breg will reduce a significant portion of that risk. It's all about timing really, for it to go swimmingly, you'll need to plan weeks ahead.

Here are some tips though: whenever possible, avoid penetration of any sort. When Breg seems dazed by pleasure, try to leverage things in a way where you end up on top for more control over the situation. If possible, remove any slack grip from your body, so as to avoid Breg unintentionally crushing anything. Do not be afraid to use spit to your advantage here, there will be times where natural lubrication is simply not enough.

Most importantly, make sure people don't wander their way inside your home. That's a death sentence to whoever dared go inside, Breg will kill them if given the chance to and distracting him is not worth the risk, lest you confuse his muddled brain and he ends up mauling you instead. He will also be very agitated after the encounter and likely be very rough with you out of possessiveness or jealousy. It's something you should avoid at all costs. If it makes you feel better, Breg is always more dangerous to others than he is to you...

How well can they handle it on their own?

Not well. Understatement of the century, feral doesn't do it justice either. Right now, it's impossible to make him deal with his own heats since Breg will pursue you whenever he's separated from his mate. Nothing can stop him in this state.

Before he met you and subsequently became infatuated with you, Breg experienced heavily monitored ruts inside the facility. These were Hell, he was never allowed contact with any females due to his aggressive nature and spent most of his time surrounded by sterilized walls, strapped to relentless machines where he's drained to a horrid, swollen, numb state. He got neither his physical nor emotional needs met during such a vulnerable time and spent the following days a hollowed out shell of himself. It's safe to say Breg does not want, under any circumstances, a repeat of that torturous treatment. Even if you're being a brat about it the entire time, the heats he spends with you are ten times more normal and satisfactory than the shitshows he endured inside the facility. Knowing the desolate Hell Breg used to live in, it's easy to see how just being in your presence sends him into states of euphoria.

If Breg were not the product of selective breeding and genetic manipulation, withstanding heats on his own would not be nearly as stressful and harrowing as it is. During the first day or so he attempts to stay a certain distance from you. If you hear him scream or banging his head against something, know that's just Breg trying to control himself for your sake.

Do they tend to isolate themselves or prefer to roam?

Isolation. The only way they're willing to burn energy is through fucking your brains out.

Breg plays it very fucking safe. There is no reason to roam whatsoever unless he senses intruders nearby. Besides, he's absolutely unwilling to leave you out of his sight for more than five minutes in total. Yes, he does get antsy from being in one spot for too long, but he refuses to leave the place he nested in. You can try to drag him out, won't happen. Attempt to leave the house yourself and Breg will rope you back inside faster than you can blink. No roaming. Just no. There are other, much more productive, ways to burn excess energy. Isolation and quiet ensures there's way less possibility of anyone noticing the two of you, Breg is expending way too much fucking energy just being alive right now- His body's in emergency mode, he's always hungry, always stupid with lust, that is no condition to pick fights in. Even if he wins (which he most likely would), the damage of putting even more stress on an already overworked organism will leave its mark.

Roaming in itself would tire Breg out too much, aside from making him stand out like a sore thumb that is. In his mind, if someone comes after him when he's in heat, Breg assumes said monster/human will likely be coming for you next. He's very insistent that you stay put in one very specific space, that you stay quiet during nights and never, ever leave his sight. You'll notice he has a lot of ways to mask your presence, rubbing his smell off on you isn't just a claim, it's also a form of suffocating whatever odor you emit.

How do they handle you?

Again, depends on what you signal.

Though it'll never quite be a dignified affair, Breg has the potential to be gentle if you tread lightly with him. An attentive person will easily figure out the mannerisms that seem to pacify Breg the most. A scaredy-cat prone to outbursts will have to smarten up if they wish to make it out intact.

In this state, Breg treats you like a very exotic sort of animal that's fragile yet dangerous and must be supervised at all times because someone'll take it from him if he's not looking. If it weren't for his ceaseless need to be stuffing you in some manner or another and his sluggish thought process, some parts of his rut could almost be considered pleasant. Who doesn't like laying around a huge pile of soft fabrics, just eating and cuddling up to their partner?

If you prove to be docile in his mind, you'll be in for a lot of gentle lazy fucking, sweet nuzzling and honestly lots of sleeping in between. If you're a handful, you'll get fucked apart left and right, trapped suffocatingly against him and only know sleep when you pass out from excessive sex. He's going to be very upset with himself if things went wrong, but he did warn you what could happen.

Are markings of any sort involved?

Yes, and it's fucking gross. Get ready.

First and foremost, you have the aforementioned scent marking, where this sweaty fucker just rubs and ruts himself at whatever inch of your skin he can find. Don't worry, you'll eventually become nose-blind to Breg's musk. I wouldn't bother to shower very often during this period, because he'll consistently mark you and be quite upset to find the smell of body wash on you as opposed to his own.

Much in the same vein, Breg is prone to licking you up and down. It's guaranteed he'll do this both during sex and whenever you lie down with him. Just try not to let him get drool on your hair. He will try to get you to lick him back, it's sort of like grooming but he does not taste good at all. Be warned, he's also a biter, they're usually just chaste nibbles, but he will occasionally decorate certain sections of you with bleeding bite marks. The less you struggle, the softer he is. If you try to bite him back, he'll put you in your place but also fuck you stupid because it still turns him on.

Is there a way to calm them down without intimacy?

Nope. Put out, one way or another.

I'm not sure what you were expecting, he's hypersexual. The most you can do to calm him down during this state is feed him by hand and take naps with him in the nest. Both of these have a wild potential to backfire since he's very easily aroused. That's not to say you can't cheapskate your way through many encounters. Sometimes he will settle for hands without much of a fuss, the warmth of your thighs also makes for a good fucktoy. Breg does have a fondness for your mouth and will let you suck your way out of penetrative sex often, that's not to say he'll be very gentle on your poor throat. Ultimately though, you have to spread your legs regularly. Breg will plug your pussy for hours on end if you let him, though he occasionally expresses a bit of incoherent discomfort about having his second cock not stimulated. Again, keep him busy or he'll try to squeeze both inside in a lustful stupor.

Sex toys are of no interest to Breg during heat, unless they smell heavily of you. And even then, it's more of a compulsory act to fuck with them than anything else. Breg knows they're not you, but certain parts of his base brain demand he claim them either way. Other than that, he won't touch them at all. You can use them during sex with him, but he won't care or react much. You should probably get lube though, I'd go as far as to say that's a priority here.

Is it possible to restrain or subdue them completely?

Don't get any ideas, it'll blow up in your face.

Breg is keenly aware of your attitude during heat, as I've told you. He does not tolerate any challenge whatsoever and is not likely to let his guard down long enough for you to try anything. If he senses you're tense or vaguely hostile, Breg will quickly deploy methods to fatigue you too much to do a single thing. Namely intimidation and constant dickings in positions that strain your muscles.

Restraining Breg is also not an option, he still sees it as a challenge or ill-intent from your part, which means he can panic and hurt you gravely as punishment. The only way you can achieve this is if you ask Breg to chain himself somewhere before heat starts. However, this makes him very volatile and infuriated during heat, it's also torturous and implies a lot of maintenance from your part. You'll have to be attentive, since verbal communication will be off the table at a certain point. If he makes it out, he'll immediately pound you in two and proceed to clumsily build a nest. Then pound you again.

Once in their grasp, can you feasibly escape?

Yeah, eventually. Will you pay for it dearly and cry for mommy when it comes back to bite you in the ass? Also yes.

Escaping is like the cardinal sin you can make when Breg is in heat. It's like a total rejection of him as a mate. Not only will that deeply wound Breg's self-worth, he's in such an emotionally volatile state that he's going to be very vindictive when he inevitably fishes your ass back home. In his mind, either he hasn't postured well enough or he's not meeting your physical needs. You should absolutely never let him think this way, because his solution will be to pester you more thoroughly and fuck you with brutal amounts of intensity.

Escape is temporary and pointless. Trying such will only succeed in making Breg livid and complicating an already very complex and dangerous situation. It's also very hard to do so in the first place given how alert Breg always is and how the two of you are confined within the bedroom for the most part. You'll have to hope Breg collapses for some reason or another, these episodes are rare and short, make full use of them if you wish to flee for whatever reason. Even if you made it out, no one in the right mind would help a breeder's escaped mate, it's a death sentence to even breathe in the same vicinity as you. There is no help.

How do they react to strangers or threats?

Immediate aggression. If he can't kill it, he'll flee with you over his shoulder to only God knows where.

Again, due to their constant modification and selective breeding, only the meanest and most cruel of the kind get perpetuated. Breeders are notoriously and helplessly vicious to any perceived competition, not to mention paranoid during heat. Even just a male being anywhere near you will cause him to throw a massive, violent tantrum. If the perceived opponent happens to be considered frail in the monster's eyes, like most humans, Breg will take the opportunity to merely corral you against himself, cover your neck with a hand, clutch your waist with the other and hiss at them with his jaw fully unhinged. That should be enough to send anyone sprinting away.

If they happen to be a little bigger than usual or a monster, Breg will instantly throw himself at them like a charging bull. Fair warning, he won't stop until either he kills the competition or they somehow manage to leave his sight. Most of the time, they have no alternative but to meet a gruesome end, not even the most pathetic of surrenders will halt his fury.

If Breg meets an opponent he cannot feasibly kill, he'll make a very hasty retreat with you in his arms. This is horrific, because you have no idea where he will choose to hide the two of you away and making it back home is basically impossible until his heat ends. Even then, there's a good chance Breg will not even remember how he got there in the first place. Very awful and risky situation, needless to say.

That's all folks!

[i--antimony]

didn't poast last week so this is a two-week extravaganza post! con: got roped into DMing dnd pro: none of these fools have read mdzs so i can steal plots from there. hope the party is ready to be lead on a quest by a disembodied arm!

listening: oh shit SO many things. i will not be linking to all of them.

depeche mode: basically just their top songs on spotify, not any specific album. strong shoutout to 'shake the disease' and 'wrong' (which featured in my secret samol post!)

disturbed: ditto

franz ferdinand: albums 'hits to the head' and 'tonight'. throwbacks

phoenix: 'wolfgang amadeus phoenix' ditto throwback

inxs: 'x' DITTO throwback. doesn't hit the same as when i first listened to em years ago unfortunately

streetlight manifesto: album 'somewhere in the between'

boy and bear: 'harlequin dream'

sammy rae: 'let's throw a party', 'the good life', and their 'everybody wants to rule the world' cover

hozier: 'wasteland baby' and 'unreal unearth'

paramore: album 'this is why'

grizzly bear: 'veckatimiest' and 'painted ruins'

haken: their newest album 'fauna' because i'm thinking about whether or not to go to one of their shows in feb (leaning towards yes right now)

my SO's pinecore playlist

shosty symphony no 5 (<3)

and, finally, a lot of borodin symphony no. 1 in e flat and the last two movements of rimsky-korsakov golden cockerel because that's what the youth orchestra i'm volunteering with is playing right now haha

for podcasts, i've listened to the new counter/weight prequel eps! i'm so charmed to see these characters again. i still haven't finished millenium break holiday special because i lost my spot when a bunch of an episode played without sound by accident so i finally went and scrubbed back to the beginning of the episode (it's the second to last part) so by next week i will FINALLY be out of holiday special zone.

reading: finished rereading tgcf lol,,, in loving memory of square checkbox: apparently apple is switching to circle ones? hateful wikipedia page for kessler syndrome my friend @celestialtourguide sent me a dm to ask about a few of the characters in this manuscript and i was immediately charmed by it. it's so pretty, i loved the informational blurbs, just really cool stuff. it was already on waybackmachine but i've gone ahead and updated it.

watching: kurtis conner looksmaxxing. weird little subculture peek. rewatched sideways' why the music in cats 2019 is worse than you thought because my roommate was interested. this led us to the same channel's why avatar has the most ironic soundtrack of all time because roommate misread ironic as iconic and she really likes that movie. no accounting for taste, but aight. much more interesting than i thought it would be. that video then lead us to tony hinnigan's woodwind demos because hell fuckin yes. big-ass panpipes.

i've been keeping up on dunmeshi anime in little watch sessions with my SO, and also am working through kill la kill with him! i've seen it before but he has not so i'm really enjoying that.

playing: fallow.

making: i managed to finish my secret samol gift in time for reveal day!!! comics are fuckin hard dude!!!! i don't know if i'll be doing it again but it was a fun challenge. i decided to use a New App for some reason instead of procreate because procreate has not been hitting right and i wanted comic half tone brushes for this project. app is called sketchbook, it's an orange icon with a pencil on it. shrug! it's fine! i'll probably keep using it for a bit. started working on an english paper piecing project! soliciting tips for that because right now my method is: cut out hexagon using pattern piece i made to be 1/4 in larger all around than the template, gluestick template onto hexagon, baste edges down neatly, whip-stitch right sides together. remove template once all six sides have something attached. i'm sure there's a better way to streamline this process, i'll have to experiment. this will end up as a dice bag i think.

finally, pottery starts again this week! so next week will have some of that in here

eating: ah beans i did not do a good job keeping track of this. uh. made the ground pork & cabbage thing again because my roommate got SO much napa cabbage for making kimchi and we had a shitload left over. napa cabbage isn't as good as a more standard cabbage for this imo, standard cabbage tends to be a little sweeter i think once it's cooked in? idk. had some stage 5 mental illness moments last week trying to cook dinner on a very short time scale with lots of other shit to do, following a recipe because fucking of course my roommate wanted me to cook with a recipe that night. anyways.

misc: like said at the top, somehow i managed to sign up for Another Activity god damn it. so now every saturday evening i run dnd. tl;dr i'm in a group irl that meets biweekly, someone who i give a lift to for that was complaining in the car that their other online group's dm ragequit after his encounter wasn't well-balanced (skill issue) and before thinking about it i just was like oh well i could probably step in if you need! god damn ittttt lol i have missed dming so it should be fun. i vibe checked them for a session 0 last week and they seem chill and honestly shouldn't be too much work on my end, especially if i yoink plots from mdzs ha ha ha. other than that, all is basically well. i've settled back into a schedule, applied for some summer positions (!), and absolutely hate the amount of busy work in one of my two classes. yippee

[montauk-koolaid]

I have an AU where the SCP GoI are personified into anomalous humans. Strange but they are fun to design and make headcanon and sometimes stories about.

So when two hyperfixations mix this is the result of that.

Drew a human Children of the Scarlet King or Cotsk (that I will uses to refer to him as for the rest of this post.)

Below Keep Reading is talk about what I did with the design and seven basic headcanons I have for him.

So I designed around the Cotsk logo. which is where the chain daggers (seven around his waist), wings, and arm scales came from. I also took Scarlet King's horns and crown to emphasize where the worshiping is coming from. Even though Dipesh said what the cult is actual worshiping is not the Scarlet King because the majority of the cult is worshiping the SK than it shows through in the design.

I gave him seven rings, they are currently these basic gold rings as I don't know how to design rings as of right now. There is four on his left hand and three on his right hand (which is minus the middle finger for a ring.)

I tried to make him as deranged as I could for a facial expression. I think it work. Wish I could push it further but I didn't want to add black shadows over the eyes and forehead.

I wish I could make the hood more detailed for the taller/adult version of the design but didn't know where to go with it. The book was already covering up the waist chains which was also a problem.

I don't have much to say about the child version I think its better in its simplicity.

Okay Headcanons:

Has wings but he flies like shit. He can just about hover and if he tries real hard he can slowly rise in a straight line to higher places. The wings are really to small for him to fly but they do anyway because human GoI are weird.

Has a harem. Its a complete mess. Usually made up of 14 people but they die often needing to be replaced. Its worse than you think.

Can change from Adult to child and vise versa. This uses the GoI personifs inner workings of "you think there for I am" to make them think one way or another with propaganda to there own churches.

Drinks warm alcoholic koolaid. Its his secret recipe that he intrinsically known. (Reference to my other project where I turn SCP into Food.)

Everyone hates him. There are very few that tolerate him. One of the more useful relationships is that The Factory wil take stuff off them if they think the offer is good (mostly the trading of people.)

Wants to get back his 'Witch's Son"

Has basically children out of his sects. GoI children are like sub departments getting a human form, they work for the main organization; they get called children of that organization which ever needing to procreate. The sects get called "Children of Children."

I do have many many more headcanons. If anyone wants to hear about them just ask preferably here but Main is fine.

[emletish-fish]

The Lawrence-Diazes in season 5 Or what I would have done instead of karate-baby arc.

Baby plots, eh?

No shade meant to anyone who does enjoy them, but they are very rarely my cup of tea. They can occassionally be done well, and they often come at the very end of a narrative (which I guess is a clear sign that Cobra Kai intends to wind down after season 6).

Pregnancy/Future Baby plots normally are about giving a character a typical ‘nuclear family’ happy ending. (This also a very Christian American outlook, and Cobra Kai is uniquely american in many respects. But as a non-american and non-christian, the nuclear family thing doesn’t always connect emotionally with me.)

Babies in TV are normally used as a blank slate or tabula rasa. They symbolise a hopefully better future  - and I get why the writers would want to give Johnny these things, because they do love him as a character.

But I think this might be a case of the writer’s pet, or the writer’s enjoying a character too much - because they are giving Johnny what he Wants, rather than what he Needs. 

Johnny may want a blank page, but what he really needs is to look at what has already been written (accept his mistakes) and then figure out how to make a better ending  - just like that therapist lady said to Kreese (Johnny’s template that he rebels against and succumbs to emulating).

Damn, I love mirror story-telling motifs.

Johnny’s Wants Vs Needs - Let’s go!

Look, just to get it out of the way  -  The last thing Johnny really needs is another kid.  He’s already got two beautiful boys.

Also Johnny really needs therapy, rehab, parenting classes and gainful, secure employment  - like there is a lot that dude actually needs, but that won’t be the focus of this meta.

(That is a whole can of worms on its own).

All that aside, let’s look at what the baby-plot with Johnny is for? What is the purpose narratively?

It’s crucial in several ways.

It serves as a motivation for Johnny to try and get his shit together and clean up his act/get a job.

It completely grounds and focuses Johnny’s story this season on family.

It is dropped on Robby and Miguel after they’ve reconciled to solidify the fact that they are going to be a family and therefore MUST get along.

It is used as an excuse for everyone to go out and celebrate and get drunk (and the party limo shenanigans)

It is used as motivation for Johnny to take out the room of baddies in ep 10.

But...Robby could have been used for pretty much all of these narrative functions.  I’m way more invested in Robby and his happiness than I am in a plot-contrivance fetus.

(Sorry fetus, but you are a plot contrivance to me until proven otherwise. I’ll see what happens next season, but so far my reaction is best summarised by anoush’s sarcastic ‘congrats on procreating’.)

Motivation for Johnny  -

Johnny and Robby just reconciled! Like, they’ve just had this really fun roadtrip,  They got some great stories, got into shenanigans together and had a little adventure together. Some of their issues have been aired but not really dealt with in depth. We haven’t seen them really tackle the elephant in the room regarding their issues - but Robby has made it clear that he wants and needs his Dad in his life.

Imagine if Johnny took this olive branch as the amazing thing it is, and decided he wanted to be more present for his already existing teenage son and turn his life around for Robby’s sake.

 I’d also like for him to realise that he needs to set a better example for both boys because they both need him and look up to him. (Like they’ve both come to him crying and needing dad-reassurance? Neither of them are subtle about how they need Johnny to step into the dad role.) 

Imagine him trying to get a good job so he can better support the boys? Imagine him trying to fix up his apartment so it’s nicer for when Robby comes to stay?

Imagine how much more impactful Johnny’s conversation with Lyle could have been if it was centred around Johnny trying to learn to provide for the two existing teenagers who already need him and learning how to put their needs first?

Lowkey how touched and validated would Robby be if his Dad started making this effort explicitly for him? I think it would ease a lot of his conflict if he finally got treated like he was someone’s priority.

I also think I would help explain his relative chillness in other areas, if his main source of emotional turmoil was being so clearly tended to?

Also wanting to be a better dad to Robby has been Johnny’s Want and Need from the beginning of season 1, so.... you know, follow-through on story arcs and narrative pay off etc etc.

Centering the narrative on family -

I always kinda figured Johnny learning to balance both Robby and Miguel would be a challenge for him, but this was glossed over pretty quickly by the discovery of the baby - which narratively forces both boys into a family situation and they both kinda stop giving Johnny push-back over that from that point on.

but instead imagine if the time was spent on creating a more solid found family vibe? A situation where Robby and Miguel don’t need the spectre of a future half-sibling to get along, but they genuinely connect and feel like brothers of choice?

I love the olive garden and the lame-ass escape room. Dude even roped Rosa into it and I loled. that was all great - I would take a whole episode of this idiot trying to get Robby and Miguel to bond - and how hilarious would it have been if the thing they initially agreed on was how dumb Johnny’s escape room was?

They didn’t need a baby to seal the deal so to speak, when they already share custody of a moron.

I would have preferred it if after Robby and Miguel talk it out on the balcony, Johnny is overly-excited to celebrate them burying the hatchet. I would have him do something off-the-wall like take both the boys to disneyland or whatever. They will bitch and moan about how lame he is (but secretly neither of them have been to disneyland and are actually super excited too.)

I’d have a fun scene or two in disneyland, they boys jointly roast Johnny and discover they actually have a simmilar sense of humor. Maybe the fact fighting over this idiot was the main reason for their antagonism towards each other could be vaguely alluded to. We could see the start of their emerging friendship. They’d take a picture with all three of them and we’d still get our hug.

I would prefer this to PC fetus tbh.  Even though we don’t get a baby, a blended family where everyone gets along because they genuinely like eachother and have dealt with their issues  rather than because an accidental pregnancy forced them into the arrangement is just more emotionally satisfying for me personally.

This season, where the importance of children, biological children was really hammered - it feels like PC Fetus was a shortcut to creating a ‘real’ nuclear family. (At the expense of spending the narrative time to establish a more durable found family).  

Like, I’m completely okay with a blended family for Johnny and I don’t think he needs to have a kid with Carmen to make it a ‘more real’ family.

An excuse for everyone to go out and get drunk and celebrate?

Hello, they just won the sepai taki or whatever. That is reason enough. I love the party limo posse and we can still have that.  Just let them celebrate their incredible achievement and have some fun together? Louie can still get his limo guy and get in on the celebrations and everything else can still proceed as planned.

It is used as motivation for Johnny to take out the room of baddies in ep 10.

This is where I would use the disneyland photo instead of the ultasound photo for extra motivation, but otherwise the scene would play the same.  Sprinkle in a bit of wisdom from Lyle (you’re doing it for them) and Chozen (It’s about what you are fighting for, not what you are fighting against) - and Johnny coming to place where he really wants to fight to keep living because he wants to be there for Robby and Miguel. He wants to be present and be a dad for them and have a future?  He doesn’t want to die and leave them.

I would have been in buckets of tears - like that shit legit gets me.

So yeah, that is what I would do instead of PC Fetus. 

All that said, PC Fetus is my only quibble with what was otherwise a pretty strong season. (It was a wild ride and so much fun).  And my biggest complaint is that it is unnecessary narratively because all the functions of PC Fetus can be done by Robby and/or Miguel.

Johnny worked though a lot of his issues because of approaching PC Fetus this season, but PC Fetus is a blank slate. I feel it would have been more impactful if Johnny worked through his issues with Robby - where he has definitely made mistakes - and begun to really make it up to that kid and accept and grown into his fatherhood role to Robby and Miguel. 

I dunno, I just think that would have been more healing for all of them, but especially for both Robby and Johnny.

It also would have added so much extra depth to Johnny’s final rejection of Kreese. (Rejecting the source of his toxic masculinity which led him to have so many fuck-ups in the fatherhood department - yes please).

I’m not even opposed to Johnny and Carmen having kids in the future, but I would have preferred PC Fetus not take up so much narrative space.  Like, PC fetus can be tacked at the end of season 6 and I’d have no issue with it. I guess the writers felt like they needed to give Johnny a ‘motivation’ to really turn his life around, and PC Fetus is what they went with....

but like, the man already has two boys who need him, who have both broken down recently in his arms -  partly due to his actions?  And he loves them both so much? Couldn’t that be motivation enough for him to try and be better?

As always, YMMV and this is just my interpretation.

[nicetrynicetry]

80

Thursday is a good day. The weather remains stubbornly loyal to summer rather than autumn, and I wake late and haul it to the Whitechapel gallery to see Nicole Eisenman’s survey with S. As handsome and quick to blush as ever, he meets me in the show’s third room slightly rained-on. We talk about the joys of Asia, tax, and the time he got his drink spiked in Nebraska last spring. The Eisenman show becomes mere background noise to the conversation, except for a wall label that details a dip in her career: “she had no assistants for years to come”. S points at it and we laugh. The thing is that S himself is my favourite living artist, so the only show that could distract me from him would be his, but if we were walking around his show he would be so nervous and red-faced that I could focus on neither. That’s the dilemma

After I set up to work a little, I get a surprise visit from W (different W to yesterday). We spend an hour together and manage to heal whatever awkward wounds were inflicted during our pseudo-date earlier in the year where he ate multiple plates of chicken in front of a roaring fire while I sipped tea and watched and wondering what I was doing there. Perhaps there is some comfort for me in being on home turf that makes me less guarded, or perhaps it’s that W recently broke up with his 25 year old Morgan Stanley intern girlfriend and is naturally more vulnerable. He tells me that he needs to have children as soon as possible and that someone so young was not the person to do that with. Yeah no shit, I say, and add that my male friends seems surrounded by women who are anxious to procreate, so there isn’t a shortage. “They’re in their mid thirties, right?”, W asks, as though women only come that old in sci-fi literature, or like it’s a rumour he heard but didn’t believe. This is the man, also, who shaved 8 years off his age on Raya despite a simple Wikipedia search revealing him to be 51. Though instead of rage, I decide to see W as a loveable idiot. I weigh up whether to offer to have kids with him as a joke, but don’t, in case he doesn’t think I’m kidding, and in case I realise am not kidding. We laugh and talk about sobriety and I show him how to take the train to his next destination rather than suffering an hour of traffic in a car. “Get off at King’s Cross St Pancras!!”, I text him as his carriage pulls away. I take a separate train to an osteopath recommended by V’s friend, carrying my evening clothes in a bag and praying that I leave the osteopath’s office in a better state than I enter

And I do. The osteopath is surprisingly young and surprisingly funny. He asks my job and tells me that “you artists are the worst” from a joint and muscle perspective. I lie on the bed as he locates sore spots I didn’t know existed. I wince and jerk around and he says “I know”, continuing with the same ferocity, “but just remember, it’s all your fault”. I laugh, because it’s true, and because nobody ever says it. He recommends I install gymnastic rings in my studio and hang from them every day, and packs me off with the promise that I’m not permanently ruined. I enter the street with a new lease on life, head straight for a drinks party, listening to J Paul and walking with supreme confidence

The drinks are hosted by two art world men who make a podcast that has for the last year served as my greatest guilty pleasure. I sit down and drink sparkling water with an older couple who I will realise too late are part of the Rubell family, collecting titans and museum owners. By the time I learn this I have already asked them why anyone would ever want to live in Miami, whether they buy art, and vented heavily about museums being incompetent and hypocritical. They leave for dinner with the fake email address I give them, and the party fills up. 1 in every 10 guests is someone I have either pissed off or been pissed off by, but I don’t care, because the other 9 are people I like very much. I even bump into V, since neither of us knew the other would be there and perhaps assumed this wouldn’t be either of our type of thing. Everybody is in high spirits, despite people saying for a while now that London frieze was on its last legs. You wouldn’t know it. I stay til the very end, just me and two new yorkers who are working out where to eat dinner. They go, I find a bike and ride home. When will I admit to myself that I’m an extrovert who loves the art world? I guess now. Sue me!

[fandomartdumpblog]

Your Kent Parson work is incredible!! How do you paint something like that??

Thank you, Anon!! It look me like nine hours to finish it - I’m very proud.

If you’re asking about my actual process, I typically rely on a few reference photograph images for the actual pose bc I’m a cheater and life is short. I outline the overall location and angles of the body parts using the reference photographs, but ofc end up making a million changes to fit the face/hairstyle/body type for the character.

From there, I draw out the features - sometimes pulling from reference photographs, more often by hand (Kent was by hand, though the expression was definitely inspired by the pose model lol). Transform tool and layers are definitely your friends here.

Then the important next step is to lay down a whole lot of block colors to establish where bone structure/facial angles will reflect light in different ways. I use a LOT of photograph references from different angles for color blocking because I’d have to be a master artist to do that shit from memory lmao.

Once I’m happy with my blocking and the general feel of the character, I’m finally ready to paint. I don’t like obvious outline lines in my digital paintings and tend to prefer using color to create the features instead. So I usually mute my outline real low and go WAAAAY too deep down the rabbithole of recreating the effect of lines and definition for each feature. It takes FOR-EV-ER, but I love the effect:

(Sorry for the crappy jpg lol - this is actually the slightly blurred mastered version bc I always forget to duplicate my raw layers before mastering them 🤦‍♀️)

I hate drawing hair with every fiber of my being, but it’s generally the same process. I luckily have a good brush to save me some time. Thank god.

I usually try to create clothing using a similar process, but I got lazy on Kent’s drawing bc I was already 8 hours in. So I just pulled a photograph of a hockey player wearing a white jersey and literally trace-colored the jersey. Hence the weird hyperrealistic effect on that element of the work. I’m cringing just looking at it 😅😅

Last step of painting is to use the transform tool to make any edits to the features of the piece, if something seems weird when looking at the overall effect. Embarrassed to say there’s usually a LOT of transform tool use at this stage.

To master, I apply a blur effect to mask any weird pixelation resulting from Procreate Whimsy™ - it makes the piece look a little better and more “painted”. Then I usually throw the work through an Adobe Lightroom filter to help with any weird coloring issues.

…and that’s about it! It’s definitely a technique native to digital art - there is no undo button or transform tool on paper - and I still see a million mistakes with every work I do. But it’s certainly a fun hobby!!

[youareinbarbados]

"How do I build Faith ?"

You call Bob the Builder, OBVIOUSLY. What a DUMB *and* STUPID question. He can build *ANYTHING*. Have you not seen the show ?

***

Ok, so that was a joke. But hear me out.

***

First off, we have to be very careful not to conflate "FAITH" with "HOPE".

The distinguishing element between the two is "Time". How ? "Hope" implies a temporal separation. It implies that the fulfillment IS COMING.

"FAITH", on the other hand, "knows" that it's ALREADY HERE. There is a breathtaking difference between the two that it would behoove one to appreciate. *Hope* has a bunch of implications, like "fear", "uncertainty", and even implies a *lack* of faith. Bringing your ideals to objectivity is built on certainty. It's the dynamo that powers the whole mechanism. So we don't want to *hope*. We want to *know*. Knowing powers *Faith*.

>*And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.* (Mathew 17:20) (KJV)

So now we got dat mustard-seed faith.💥💥 💯🔥🔥💯💯 It's good. But we want something a little more grounded. We want that sturdy faith that lets us sleep well at night. So we have to build it. Why ?

Because *Faith without works, is dead.*

So now we have to get on our #sigma #boss-babe #grindset and wake up at 3:58 in the morning and do squats before even brushing teeth, and eat shit for 10 years every day , no friends, no weekends while blasting stoic-youtube.

That was also a joke. No. We don't have to do that.

"Works" and "Acts" are synonymous. We build faith by doing what Neville tells us to do. "Live in the end." Act, FROM. How do we do that ? By doing what we'd do if our wish were objectified this second.

My first post here was riddled with a bunch of examples of questions one would ask to stay in their Fulfilled state. ANYTHING you do that implies fulfillment is a "work". ANYTH💦ING. *Wipes spit* sorry

Want $200,000 ? Google an interest yielding account until you're sure what bank you're going to use. Want a Tesla ? Find electric charging stations or a nice tarp to cover it for when it rains. Want a nice apartment ? Start picking posters. Faith is built by acts that imply possession. There's this idea that if you're down to your last dime, you need to spend it, to show how strong your faith is. NO. RELAX. OK. DONT DO THAT. Neville still had to serve in the military for a while even after his SATS put him back home in NYC. Be smart, folks.

Anything you do from premises of fulfilment is a *work*. The worst thing we do is we do what were called to do, but then sit there and wait for it. This Almost always fails because of the "Amazon effect." The second you click order, you're at your window WAITING for the DHL asshole. (Those ppl work hard..be nice. Tip well. I'm jk ok) You order an ipad ? Don't wait for it. Start looking for a nice case. A screen protector. An apple pencil, because you know you want to mess around doodling with PROCREATE™.

Like my first post, these acts feed faith INDIRECTLY. You don't have to affirm of your ACTING. Some people can affirm and be fine. Someone need movement. Do works that imply fulfillment. This will further vitalize your sense of knowing, passively.

The last thing you want to do is wait and think. These two are the twin-destroyers of Faith. Think and Do from. It's the little things that add up.

This is third rant this week, and I'm gonna take a break and drink some water that I didn't drink today. That's not good when you're 35+. Please Hydrate. 🌊

[csmeaner]

(Aphex) Mod shit can we straight up get a design shitting edition for InsaineMembrane's designs?? APHX-714, APHX-666, APHX-667, APHX-838, APHX-1263, APHX-843, APHX-1341, APHX-1032, APHX-1737, DPHX-1431. in order of how they have them on the website. Love u sorry for torturing u </3333. Tried not to grab any dupes that have been on the blog before but if I got some that have been featured before please roast me to death. Also hope I'm using pronouns they're comfy with but let me know if I'm not

at first i was going to tell you to go fuck yourself because i dont want to but then the bus got delayed so here i am. this one has the faintest hints of a good design actually and that's probably because it's not a clusterfuck of shoddy textures and glaring colors. still not that impressive but considering who makes these it's almost passable. the spikes always look terrible and jut out from weird places, and it took me a second to realize the black clouds on the eyes are wisps but i have less to shit on this other than it's just a touch ugly instead of glaringly ugly

of course they have the 666 one and it's as needlessly edgy as it could be. not even that edgy either compared to the usual clusterfuck. the legs remind me of big bird and its hand behind it looking like it's trying to pull out a wedgie really decreases the edge factor. on the nose also looks like a nose clip for people who go swimming. most of it's just repeating patterns for the sake of filling space

i might just have very low standards but this design is completely fine. the right version gets to the weird overcomplicated nonsense but the one on the left has nothing wrong with it. right looks like it got a disease

I kind of appreciate the various poses these are drawn in but this one's closer to what i expected. a shitton of spikes and zigzagging segments that is more confusing than anything, on a pose that is clearly either eyeballed or traced somewhat because anything that has to be drawn from scratch has incredibly low skill. they've gotten better at color placements though. idk i feel i just have to reward actual progress. this does not stop it from looking a lot like a chicken or the fuckugly hands though

im glad you discovered the darken layer in procreate now can you learn some better things too. same spikes though im unsure if these are standards for the species or whatever. idek what the effect is trying to pull off or why the right wing looks broken. in fact both wings appear broken because they just out of the wrist when usually wing membranes are connected to the hand themselves. the eyes almost look like trypophobia and the amaazing stamp brush used for the circles

click on the link because this one couldn't be assed to be properly colored in at bits or even have the lineart connect. idk what the reference was but why is it doing a weird look over the shoulder. points i guess for trying to copy what a flail looks like even if it's incredibly obvious. the horns don't make a lick of sense and nothing is even which is almost a breath of fresh air compared to the over used symmetry ones. almost, it still looks bad.

idk which part of it lets it have two bodies with entirely different designs but sure let this person make more bad designs. these would actually look fine if anyone else was designing them, though right one is very hard to see because it's mostly black god forbid this be drawn with any shadows or you'd lose the bitch

this looks like a crook because of the mouth and limb situation. the lines aren't smooth at all do they do this with a mouse

another common sign a person's a beginner is their overuse of a single interesting stamp brush. it works for the wings but does not work as well for the wrists or ankles. the tail is very hard to see past the two octopus tentacles in face they are covering it entirely. the webbing on the forearms make little sense

another attempt at a plague rat. the limbs are already jacked up but they couldn't even make them look attached or like they'd even bend properly. also apparently the mask is a trait too. the subtle tint of gross piss yellow adds a nice touch for infected sewer rat just fix the anatomy and this almost could be decent

[sinner-as-saint]

we can’t stop, we’re enemies.

Bucky Barnes x Avenger!Reader AU

Run-through: After the events of the last battle against Thanos, you teamed up with Sam and Bucky to carry on your superhero duties. You got along with Sam just fine, he was a really good friend to you. Bucky however, was not. From constant banters, to unnecessary hand-to-hand combat, to purposely getting each other in trouble during risky missions, to being the main cause of Sam’s migraines; it was safe to say that you and Bucky considered yourselves to be each other’s nemesis. Although that soon changes when, courtesy of your silly banters, a certain mission goes slightly wrong - one which involves strong chemicals which, unbeknownst to you, were designed to mess with the brain and hormones, thus encouraging the need to breed and procreate amongst all those who inhale it...

Themes: enemies-to-lovers, smut, sex pollen trope, dirty talk, swear words, fluff

“How is it going up there Sam, talk to me.” 

You spoke, waiting to hear from Sam through the ear piece. 

The three of you were on a mission on unfamiliar lands. Rumor had it that some shady organization was conducting illegal experiments. The whole location was spooky, and you needed to be thorough and quick. So Sam decided to get an aerial view along with Red Wing, and see if there are any threats coming your way while you and Bucky decided to check out the underground laboratories. 

The whole place was shadowy and old, it almost seemed like no one had been here in a long time. But still, these people were criminals so you had to gather every evidence you could which would lead you their way. 

And so far, after exploring the place for the past half an hour, you found nothing major. Just weird laboratory glassware filled with liquids and what not. 

“Sam?” you called out again into the ear piece, keeping your gun at the ready. “Say something damn it.” 

His reply came. “There’s something sketchy about the building at the back, I’m gonna go check it out. But you have to promise me you won’t kill each other by the time I get back.” 

You and Bucky sent death glares at each other in disgust. He was on the other side of the lab, flipping through files and papers, while you were searching the cabinets and drawers. The two of you were separated by a steel workstation. Dark leather jacket, metal arm exposed; you’d find him handsome if he wasn’t so annoying. 

“Sure, whatever.” Bucky mumbled, being his grumpy self. 

You frowned at him, “Dude, drop your fucking attitude.” 

Bucky rolled his eyes at you, “Don’t tell me what to do.”

Sam roared through the ear piece, “Enough! Focus, you two are in the labs and we don’t know what’s in there. Just, maybe look out for each other. Okay? I’m going in.”

“Be careful, Sam.” You spoke, sending another dirty look at Bucky. 

“Yeah y-,” 

Sam got cut off. All you could hear was some static noises and then complete silence. 

“Sam? Can you hear us?” Bucky tried reaching out but neither of you could hear him. “This isn’t good.” 

“Damn it!” You cursed. “Maybe he flew out of range. Or maybe we’re too deep under.” 

For once in his life he nodded, agreeing with you. “Let’s just hurry up and see what we can find. We need to get out of here as fast as we can and get to the Jet.” He said, flipping through more and more files and papers, his metal arm glistening in the poorly lit room. 

You sassed in the same tone he used before, “Don’t tell me what to do.” And you earned yourself another glare from him. 

Fifteen minutes later and you two still had nothing to work with. 

“This is useless. There’s nothing here, this is just bullshit.” Bucky complained, slamming down a file on the workstation so hard that it made you jump. 

You were annoyed. You slammed a cabinet shut and turned to face him. “Oh I’m sorry princess, is work getting too tiring? Do you need a break? Hmm?” 

“Shut up, you’re the one who keeps whining all the time.” He wasn’t wrong. 

You stepped forward, grabbing the edge of the cold workstation. “Well maybe if you’d quit complaining and actually do your part of the job, then I wouldn’t have to whine about always doing everything on my own and you taking credit for it in front of Sam.” 

He leaned forward, his metal arm already denting his side of the edge of the workstation. “Maybe if you’d stop bitching about everything and everyone all the time then maybe we’d get along and actually get shit done.” 

You leaned in too. “Or maybe if just me and Sam teamed up, we’d work better. I still don’t know why he keeps you around. Take your metal arm away, what are you? Exactly, just a hundred year old, confused man.” 

He smirked. “And what are you? Just a spoilt, whiny brat who knows how to use a gun?” He knew just what to say to get the reaction he wanted out of you. 

In less than a few seconds you had your loaded gun out in front of you, aiming it at his forehead. “And guess what, she never misses a target.” You spat at him. 

You had done this before; aiming guns at each other until Sam comes to break the tension. But Sam wasn’t here this time. 

Bucky knew you would never pull the trigger on him so he gave you a handsome, arrogant smirk which only pissed you off even more. “Come on, shoot.” He provoked you. 

“Stop pissing me off.” You warned. 

“Or what? You’re gonna shoot me for calling you a whiny, spoilt brat? See, that’s exactly what brats do.” 

“James, stop.” Oh he was getting on your nerves. You were agitated. 

He just smirked and went on. “I actually believe that that might be your superpower, destroying people by annoying them to death with how much of a brat you can actually be.” 

You glared at him, unmoving, furious. You placed your forefinger on the trigger. “Say brat one more time and I will blow your fucking head off and when Sam asks, I’ll make it seem like an accident.” 

He leaned closer, aligning his forehead to the barrel of your gun. He stared at you with his stormy, ocean blue eyes; inciting you to just pull the damn trigger. He watched you with mischief in his eyes. “Brat.” He mouthed, smirking right after and waiting for your reaction. 

You clenched your jaw and shifted your aim just a little so that the bullet misses him but still shoots right by his ear. You pulled the trigger without hesitation, shooting at the shelf filled with dark red and brown liquids behind Bucky. 

Bucky maintained his calm and composure despite the loud sound of the shattering glass falling on the tiles right behind him. “Brat.” He said again, out loud this time. 

“I hate you.” You lowered your gun but then noticed something behind Bucky. Smoke, or some sort of vapor oozing out of the broken flasks and test tubes. You froze for a second. “Bucky, look.” You walked around the workstation and joined him on the other side. 

The vapor quickly filled the room like thick fog, reducing visibility and making your throat burn a little. You coughed; once, twice. You looked beside you and Bucky was standing there with a look of horror on his face. 

The moment his supersoldier sense got a whiff of the vapor, something in him ignited. No… 

“We have to get out of here. Now.” You heard his voice, then felt his cold fingers wrap around your wrists as he tugged you along, making his way out of the lab. He tried to hold his breath but he couldn’t hold it very long. He tried to find the door to exit the room but that was hard too because neither of you could see properly. 

“This stuff,” you spoke in between coughs, “will probably kill us, won’t it?” You held on tightly to his arm. “You need to get us out of here now.” The vapor was reducing your visibility more and more. 

He felt the side of the wall, looking for the metal handle of the door through which you entered the lab. “It won’t kill us.” He growled as he looked beside him. You were standing close to him, so close, holding on to his arm tightly, a thin layer of sweat covered your face. 

It was almost funny how you had your gun aimed at him just a minute ago and now you were relying on him for protection. 

“How can you be so sure? Do you know what this stuff is?” You asked. 

He sighed. He knew. “I have a hunch, but let’s hope I’m wrong.” He felt warm. Deep inside something stirred in him. Animalistic, primal, feral. It was there, pressing and burning. Guess he wasn’t wrong. 

He finally found the door and he pushed it open, letting the two of you out and you took off running at once. You tried to reach Sam. A couple tries later, he finally responded. “I got some names, I think we got what we’re looking for. Where are you guys?” 

“We found…. uh, nothing. We’re on our way to the jet, meet us there.” Bucky responded, running beside you. 

You were confused out of your mind, not to mention you felt feverish. Hot, and you were sweating more than usual in places you’d rather not think about. Something in you was yearning to break free. You felt chained, you needed release. You felt like something had awakened inside of you; a deep hunger. Aroused, you felt aroused. Or was it just the adrenaline rush? 

By the time you tried to figure out what was actually going on with you, you both had made it to the Jet. 

“I feel sick.” you mumbled, stumbling on your way inside the jet. “I think… I think that smoke poisoned me.” You placed your palm against the side of the plane to hold on so you don’t fall. You felt like gravity wasn’t pulling you down anymore. You were a little out of breath. 

Then you felt a cold hand on your shoulder. You grimaced as it only ignited the fire which you just found out had been burning inside you since you left the lab. 

“You’re not poisoned. You’re not sick, you’re gonna be okay. We just have to… we have to get home.” Bucky was worse than you were. His enhanced senses allowed him to feel everything you felt, times ten perhaps. 

His heart raced as he got a whiff of your fading perfume, mixed with the adrenaline pumping through your veins and your natural, raw scent. He could feel your arousal from here, and it pulled him in so easily. All he wanted to do was to tear your suit off, pin you up against the side of the Jet and fuck the living hell out of you, stretch you out and just rail you until you could no longer take it. 

Fuck. 

You looked up at him; heart racing, palms sweating and even your mouth was salivating more than usual. “You know what that thing was, don’t you?” You asked, ignoring the way his cold hand upon your shoulder made you want to lean into his touch even more. “What was it?” 

You saw the look in his hooded eyes. Bucky sighed, pulling his hand away from you and the loss of contact made you whimper ever so quietly. You felt warmer and more and more breathless with each second that passed by. 

“They used to make those substances, long ago back when I was with HYDRA. I didn’t expect to find those here. They were used to… to try and see if they could get super soldiers to procreate naturally.” Bucky explained and waited for your reaction. 

“Sex pollen. Correct?” 

He nodded, “Yes.” 

You were a little shaken, but relieved knowing that at least it wasn’t poison and you wouldn’t be dying a painful death. “That’s… I mean, it could have been poison.” You didn’t know how to react after you pieced it all together. “How long before it wears off?” 

“Twenty-four hours unless...” 

“Unless what?” 

“Unless you fuck it out of your system well enough.”

That had you surprised. “Oh. Well that’s just great, isn’t it? Fucking perfect. I’m screwed.” 

Bucky tried his hardest to refrain himself from leaning in and biting that sassy mouth of yours, shoving his tongue past your lips to shut you up, to hear you moan and gasp and cry out his name as he takes you however he wants to… 

“We.” He corrected you. “It’ll get worse every hour.” He replied. 

You sighed and moved away from him, unzipping your combat suit partly and removing the jacket because you couldn’t handle the heat. Bucky cursed as you stripped into just a tank top and tight pants, right in front of him. He felt his cock get harder. 

“Can you not?” He sounded pissed off again; frustrated. “This is all your doing. The least you can do is make this a little bit easier for both of us.” 

His words made you turn around and glare at him. “How is this my doing? I didn’t even know what was in that lab.” 

He stepped forward, instinctively. The sight of your exposed neck and your soft skin was making him think of unspeakable things that he wanted to do to you. As he advanced, you tried not to look down at his cock, straining against his zipper. Your heart raced as you took in the size of his bulge. Enhanced super soldier indeed. 

“Had you not been a spoiled brat who can’t take a joke, you wouldn’t have tried to shoot at me nor would you have shot those flasks!” He argued, feeling more and more warm as he got closer to you. 

You took a step forward as well, fueled by annoyance, lust and anger. “Who was it who provoked me into doing that because they couldn’t keep their fucking mouth shut, huh? That’s right, your annoying ass!” 

Bucky pushed you against the side of the Jet without a second thought. He grabbed your wrists and pinned them above your head with his hand while pressing his body into you, his metal arm circling around your waist and pressing you further into him. 

He hadn’t thought this through. He hadn’t thought about how your warm breath would feel against his skin, or how warm your body would be under his touch. You felt feverish, having him this close. His tall, large frame and his tight grip made your whimper under him. Your body reacted to him naturally. 

All you felt was warm, his body heat, his scent. The feeling of his cold leather jacket against your flushed skin. You wanted him. Or rather, your body did. 

“Don’t you provoke me now, you fucking whiny brat.” He whispered, menacingly into your ear. 

You tried to ignore the shivers his voice sent down your entire body. But he saw it. And you could feel his erection press against your crotch. Just to mess with him, you discreetly moved your hips against his, making him hiss loudly. 

“What are you gonna do about it, dipshit?” You sassed, knowing that given his intensified senses he must be feeling much worse than you. 

He groaned as you kept grinding against him, your pulsating core rubbing against the bulge in his pants. And that only made it worse for both of you. 

“Fuck…” Bucky swore, before quickly pulling away from you, but not releasing you yet. “You’re such a bitch.” His body was screaming for you, each nerve ending of his was on fire. A fire only you could douse. 

You were just the same, on the edge and wanting to reach out for him; knowing he would satiate your hunger better than anyone could. Your body was throbbing as you stared into his eyes, your gaze lowering down to his dog tags. How you wanted those dangling right above your face… 

You heard someone clear their throat. It wasn’t Bucky. 

“Something you two need to tell me? Or is this just your new way of trying to kill each other?” A deep voice asked from behind Bucky. 

“Sam! Are you okay?” You escaped Bucky’s grip and rushed to Sam. 

He seemed alright to you. He nodded. “Yeah, we just need to get home. I need to notify the team and see what we should do next. What was in those labs?” 

You glared at Bucky. His smug face alone was pissing you off, but God right now you wanted to ride that man until the sun came tomorrow morning. 

“Just a bunch of useless experiments. Nothing major.” He glared at you as he said the last bit to Sam. 

The ride back home was one of the most painful, annoying and frustrating situations you had ever undergone. Each time you felt like someone was watching you, you’d turn your head to the side and find Bucky staring; and his stares would make your body tremble in need. 

Meanwhile he was having a hard time too, in more ways than one. He could feel his blood rush south even at the brief sound of your voice whenever you sighed in annoyance or talked to Sam. Luckily the latter could not pick up on the thick, sexual tension. 

Once at the compound, you each hurried to your own rooms and that’s where you stayed until the evening. Sam found it weird that you both skipped dinner but he didn’t need another headache today so he went to bed, telling himself that he’d deal with you two tomorrow morning. 

Bucky was a mess. Even after an hour under the cold shower his body was still calling out for you. He tried taking care of his business on his own, but that wasn’t working. He was still so hard it was painful. Nothing could make this better, nothing could soothe the pain - nothing but you. He needed you so badly it was driving him insane, like he was an animal in heat being asked to suppress his feral desires towards his mate. Being away from you was painful. He couldn’t help but hate you for no reason at all usually, but he’d do what it takes to be inside you and make you scream his name right now. 

You were equally as troubled at the super soldier. You tried taking a warm bath and tried to think of other things you could focus on, but nothing worked. Your toys didn’t seem appealing tonight, you needed him, all of him. You shivered at the thought of his taut, virile body under yours, or above. His masculine scent, the sound of his moans, would he bite?… fuck. You could feel your arousal leak out of you every now and then, it was insane how aroused you were. You couldn’t look at him for long without getting unnecessarily annoyed, but you would do anything just to have him rearrange your guts right now. 

What made it worse was that neither of you could stand each other at all. Enemies, you called yourselves. But right now you couldn’t help but crave each other in the most salacious way possible. 

Fuck this. You couldn’t take this anymore. You decided to swallow your pride and make your way to his room and ask him if you two could come to an agreement on how to fight this thing because it would be impossible to go another twenty hours feeling like this. You were burning from the inside. This was unbearable. 

Just as you opened your bedroom door, you were slightly surprised to find Bucky standing right outside your door. His metal hand up midair, as though he was to knock on your door and you happened to open the door just in time. You almost drooled at the sight of him; sweatpants and a tight, white t-shirt. You swallowed and cleared your throat. 

“Hey.” You greeted him, not knowing how to deal with this situation. You felt so drawn to him in that moment, so damn restless and needy that it was hard to breathe right while looking at him. 

“I was, uh, about to knock…” He didn’t know how he got here, he didn’t remember. Maybe it was the chemicals messing with his brain and turning him into a hungry beast. He didn’t care that he was knocking on your door in the middle of the night, he wanted you. He was craving you and that’s all he knew. Also the oversized t-shirt, the only you were wearing at the time, was not helping at all. 

“Yeah, um…” you rambled then stopped talking the moment you found him staring into your eyes with a wild look in his eyes. 

That was it. 

You grabbed him by the waistband of his sweats and pulled him inside, shutting the door behind him. Before Bucky could process anything, you had him pushed against your closed door and your mouth was on his, kissing him hungrily. Your hands slowly slipped under his tight t-shirt and you lazily trailed your hands up and down his toned abs. 

His hands gripped your hips on either side as he kissed you back with just as much ardor as you did. His body ignited the moment he felt your lips and hands on him, yet the heat was weirdly satisfying; it stimulated him but calmed him down at the same time. It felt perfect. This was just what he needed, you. 

Your movements were rapid and passionate, fiery. Hands roaming each other's body, touching and feeling and exploring; making each other moan like you were both touch-starved. 

You let out a soft moan when you felt his tongue slip past your lips, stroking the top of your mouth while his metal hand slipped under your shirt. Your body was tingling wherever he touched you. His touch made you feel way better than you had felt in the past few hours and you were grateful. Your moans sent his mind straight to the gutter and he couldn’t wait to be inside you. 

“I need you…” you whispered against his lips as you pulled away to catch your breath. “I need you to fuck me… right here, right now.” Your demands made him smirk as he looked down at you with lust in his eyes. 

“Oh?” he managed to still find the energy to be an ass to you. “Why don’t you go on and beg for it, then?” 

You scoffed, leaning in to lick his lips while you hand dipped into his pants. You grabbed his erected cock and gave it a little, gentle squeeze. He moaned like he hadn’t been touched in forever. Like he was desperate for one thing and one thing only; you. You whispered, “You need me too, Bucky. I’m not gonna beg you, I’m doing you a favor here.” You slid your closed fist up and down his length and made him moan some more before you let go and watched him groan and clench his jaw in annoyance. 

He looked down at you, panting in need just as you were. His hand slid into your hair and he gripped it, tugging on it just enough to make you gasp in pleasure and pain. “Still a fucking brat with that annoying attitude I see?” He leaned in to bite your exposed neck, making your cry out in pain before he licked the spot, soothing it. “Don’t worry doll, I’ll fuck all that attitude out of you.” 

He let go of your hair but tightened his grip around your waist as he placed his mouth back on yours. Kissing you like there’s no tomorrow; biting your lip and bruising your already swollen mouth. He was wild, and you needed it and more. 

He pushed you down on your bed, and stood back to watch you for a moment. How did he never realize that you were so naturally beautiful? He looked down at you like a predator looking at his meal; fiercely, ready to ruin you and make you scream and beg and satiate his hunger. As well as yours. 

“Well, if you’re done staring…” you knelt on your bed and reached out for him, grabbing him by the neck and pulling him closer. “I want you in me. Now.” Your demanding tone riled him up. 

Bucky grabbed you by the hair and tilted your head back again. “If you wanna get fucked, you’re gonna ask nicely. Understood?” 

You glared at him, shooting death glares right at him while your hand palmed him through his sweatpants. “I fucking hate you.” You spat at him, whimpering as he pushed you back down on the bed, quickly climbing on top of you this time. 

“I hate you too.” He knelt on your bed, straddling your waist as he tore your oversized shirt in half and off your body, throwing the pieces of fabric somewhere on your bedroom floor. You laid beneath him in just your underwear and he growled. 

“That was my favorite shirt, you fucking idiot.” You whispered, breathless, shivers dancing down your spine as he traced your mouth with his two fingers, slipping them past your lips once, then twice then trailing his now wet fingers down your neck, till your belly button. 

“You think I care?” he leaned down and took one of your breasts into his mouth, kneading the other with his metal hand. The contrast of his warm mouth around one and his cold hand around the other was driving you crazy. He bit, and tugged and licked; making your back arch off the bed as you purred in pleasure. 

Your hips moved on their own, grinding against his erection again to try and alleviate the pain. You were desperate. Bucky pinched and rolled one of your nipples while he lightly grazed the other with his teeth, and you let out a loud moan. 

“Please… please, I need you. Please…” You muttered under your breath, knowing he could hear you. Bucky smirked as he pulled away from your chest, ignoring the way his cock throbbed. “What’s so fucking funny?” You grabbed him by the throat, pulling his face closer to yours. 

His metal arm reached down in between your legs and he ripped your underwear off. The fabric hurt just a little when it tore against your skin. “Just that it's the first time I heard you asking for something so politely. It’s not so hard after all, is it?” 

Now he was pissing you off. You wrapped your arms around his shoulders and flipped the two of you around. You got on top of him and straddled his waist, trapping him under you like he had you before. You had better control like this. 

You grabbed him by the jaw and leaned in to kiss his lips, fiercely. “Stop fucking playing, Barnes.” You whispered against his lips, grinding against his hard cock again. He closed his eyes and hissed in pleasure as you kissed down to his neck, nibbling on his skin along his throat. 

He moaned, hands gripping your hips and guiding you as you rubbed your bare core against his clothed erection. “No? I thought brats liked games?” He mumbled. 

You pulled away from his neck and looked down at his smug face. “You are so fucking annoying.” You reached down in between your bodies and lowered his sweatpants all the way down until he kicked them off. You grabbed his cock and stroked him gently, agonizingly slow. He moaned shamelessly, and eventually caught on that you were just teasing him even more. 

“Don’t tease me…” he sounded just as breathless as you were. 

“Why? Not so fond of games anymore?” you sassed, rubbing your throbbing core against his thigh while you stroked him so gently that he felt like he was losing his mind. 

He growled as he grabbed you by the waist and flipped the two of you around, him being on top again. “Enough,” he growled in your ear, “Spread those legs for me.” He ordered, settling in between them as you spread your legs to accommodate him. He grabbed your thighs and parted your legs even more as he aligned the tip of his cock to your opening. “Now stay still, don’t move.” 

You braced yourself for him, but nothing could have prepared you for that. His length stretched you open until he was seated deep inside you, filling you up entirely to a point where you couldn’t even think of anything else other than him being balls deep inside you. 

You moaned as he removed himself entirely and pushed himself back into you, and watched in awe how you struggled to adjust to his size. He lowered his face again, and leaned into your ear, “Fuck….” you heard him moan; panting and swearing under his breath as he rocked into you. 

You were a moaning mess under him in no time. He kissed your open mouth while he rammed into you over and over again, making your eyes tear up. The burning need subsided a little bit as his cock brushed against all the right spots inside you. “Buck… faster, please,” You whimpered. 

He chuckled into your ear, “Needy little brat…” he mumbled as he sped up into you, making you lose your ability to focus on anything else other than him and his body. He pulled away from your face to look down at you, his metal hand coming up to wrap itself around your throat. “This is what you wanted since we left that lab, huh? For me to fuck your greedy little cunt? Hmm?” He taunted as he stretched you out completely. You lifted your legs up and wrapped them around his waist; allowing him to thrust deeper into you. 

You felt tears escaping your eyes as he pulled you closer and pressed his forehead to yours fucking deeper into you. He was relentless; each moan which left your lips only encouraged him to get more and more rough. 

You felt a pressure form in between your hips, your body begging for release. “Bucky… please.” You moaned, begging. For something, anything. You’d take anything at this point. But right when your walls started clenching around him and when you were just about to come undone; he pulled out. 

“Please what?” He surprised himself with how he was able to tease you in this situation when all he wanted was to make both of you cum over and over again. 

“I need to cum, Bucky please,” you cried, with tears in your eyes. 

Bucky leaned in to kiss your swollen lips, not minding the tears. “Do you deserve it?” He asked, and you nodded immediately, your body shaking with how bad you needed to cum. “Oh you do, do you?” 

You nodded again. “Please…please...” 

“Well since you asked nicely…” Bucky flipped you onto your stomach and pulled you onto your knees by your hips and pushed himself inside you again. You felt his muscular body press against the curve of your ass as he filled you up again. 

He rocked into you from behind. His hand found its way to your front and he pressed the palm against your lower abdomen. He liked how he could feel himself deep inside you with each thrust. And he liked how that drove you insane, he could by the way your walls gripped his cock. 

“Feel that, little brat? That’s all you’re good for… to take my cock like a good little slut.” He whispered. 

You groaned at the sound of his raspy voice, his words making you milk him even harder. “You wish, you dipshit.” You moaned as he sped up when you least expected it. You whimpered, and he chuckled now that he had you at his mercy. 

His hand travelled all the way to your throat and he choked you gently as he bent down to whisper in your ear, “I can assure you that no one is ever gonna fuck you this good,” he boasted as he very gently squeezed the side of your throat. But hard enough to make you lose your mind.

You could only moan and whimper in response while he kept pounding into you incessantly. “Fuck… please....” you cried. 

You felt the pressure in between your hips grow until you couldn’t hold back anymore. You felt him quicken his pace as he chased his own orgasm. “Cum for me. Now.” 

You didn’t have to be told twice. You came undone, hard and fast; moaning his name as you did. Bucky came right after you. 

You collapsed onto your bed, sprawled unevenly and not even caring. Your eyes were shut in fatigue, your heart racing and you could feel Bucky’s body heat right next to you. He was catching his breath too, mumbling something under his breath which you couldn’t catch. 

For the first time in hours, you felt at ease. Your body wasn’t yearning anymore, but the hunger was still there. So when Bucky got up to leave, you grabbed him by the hand and pulled him back into bed with you. 

He smirked as he fell helplessly onto your bed again, right next to you. “You want more, you greedy little brat?” 

You punched his arm before getting up and getting on top of him again, sliding your body down his cock. He hissed as you did. 

“Just another round.” You whispered, loving the sight of him under you. His tan skin against your white sheets, him moaning as you slowly lifted up and sank back down on his cock. Oh fuck… 

You placed your hands on his muscular chest to hold yourself up as you sped up, riding him like you’ve been dreaming of this whole time. His hands gripped your hips, guiding you up and down his cock until you both found a pleasurable pace. 

You weren’t going to last too long, but you just needed to have him buried deep inside you again. His thick, girthy cock stretched you open as you took him as best you could, moaning and whimpering desperately as he groaned and gasped under you. 

Your walls gripping him and milking him like they had earlier, not even a few minutes ago. You felt the pressure forming nicely in between your hips again. You let out a loud moan as you felt his cock reach places it hadn’t before, turning you into a mess. 

His grip on your hips tightened as he brought you down on his cock with force each time and thrusting upwards to fuck you deeper. “Cum for me.” He threw his head back, growling. “Cum for me again…” 

Your hand grabbed him by the jaw and you leaned in to press your lips against his, claiming his open mouth and muffling his animalistic growls as you came undone around him again. Your orgasm then triggered his. 

You fell limp on top of him right after and he instinctively cradled your head. “You okay?” 

You nodded, your sweaty bodies pressed against each other but neither of you minding it. “Yeah.” 

Bucky gently rolled to his side, letting you down on your side of the bed. You tried your best to calm your racing heart. Not to mention you felt much, much better than earlier. 

Bucky got up to leave again, and you grabbed his hand before he got completely out of your bed. He turned to face you with a smirk then groaned dramatically, “Woman please, I’m not a machine. The pain will subside now, I believe we’ve done pretty good at fucking it out of our systems. I can’t go all night, seriously.” 

You were in a haze so his words made you giggle. “You’re really leaving?” 

He looked down at you, sprawled on your bed. Your face was glowing, you looked ethereal. “You want me to stay?” He asked, wondering where the sassy brat in you went. 

You nodded. 

He smirked, getting back into bed next to you, “What, now you're obsessed with me?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Shut up. I’m just saying since I might need you again in the morning, you might as well just sleep here.”  

He pretended to be hurt. “Wow.” He didn’t mind that at all. He got under the covers with you, “So… is it just the chemicals or are we…?” 

You snuggled closer to his side, he wrapped his arm around you, tucking your head under his chin. “Shh, I still hate you.” Your tired, soft voice reminded him of a sleepy kitten. 

He held you closer. “Of course.” He looked down at you and saw that you had already fallen asleep on his chest. He cracked a soft smile, whispering under his breath, “Brat.” 

[spoopy-fish-writes]

—Vampire biology and stuff to explain their existences idk <3

Tw: Blood, mentions of procreation, mentions of trying to changes ones genetic makeup, biology stuff, probably scientific inaccuracies, this is quite long actually

Notes: This is all specifically in relation to ikevamp || This is the kind of shit I fixate on. That's normal 😌 Sebas and Faust would love to have this information || Feel free to ask me to further explain any of this stuff because it may not make that much sense and I'll gladly clarify anything for you as well as make it make more sense for myself too. Also feel free to add anything else, I want to hear you guys's opinions. || The idea that vampirism is caused by a gene that gets activated is credited to @leonardhoee, I just added some extra stuff (I hope you don't mind, if there's anything that you want me to remove please tell me)

Not actually very quick explanation of how I think vampirism works:

I am currently under the impression that vampirism is caused by a gene that exists in human beings/ vampires which is dormant in humans but active to different degrees in the different types of vampires. 

This gene needs to be triggered in a human to turn one into a lesser vampire and, upon the genes activation, it overtakes the aspects of a human that make them age and exist as they do. For example, the effect that free radicals will have on a human being and the effect that polyphenol and other substances will have on these free radicals. Of course that isn't the only thing that affects humans and why they grow and die and stuff but that's the one that first comes to mind for me. 

However, it can only have so much of an affect which I'd why vampires can still get sick, the gene only having a large affect on aging and development of the body but having so much of an affect already that it is unable to take an affect on things like illnesses  to some degree meaning that the vampires aren't granted complete immunity 

The strength and speed enhancement is just magic or a permanent stimulation of the way that adrenaline will take effect on the human body to an extreme degree and with less of a negative physical drawback because of the stronger immunity but I'm not too sure about that because that's not what I study so that probably has to be checked to see if this makes sense but I can't be bothered bothered do that. 

However, they still get the drawback of anxiety that often comes with adrenaline which seems to become their 'protective instinct' per say or how they get bad feelings about things which seem to usually be right because their senses are constantly heightened as a result of the anxiety. 

Concluding from all of that, they're not actually dead or undead necessarily considering that they still have chemical reactions occurring in their bodies via natural processes and the energy that they would need kind of need stuff like blood as well as needing blood to keep your brain working and stuff if we don't want to just use the excuse of magic because I'm trying to make this all logical for some reason and, seeing as they still blush, it would mean means they have blood pumping around their bodies and, by extension, a heartbeat. This would also mean that they still grow hair and their nails still grow too but potentially at a faster rate because they grow because of blood if it has nothing stopping it which I won't go to much into detail about because this is already long enough (this is literally just for my wish for the vamps to have long hair and/or stubble because they would look good like that). 

More on each species separately:

| Purebloods/greater vampires

Purebloods are most likely born with the dormant gene activated and have never had to have the human part of of overtaken by the vampiric gene in the first place which is why they're more powerful and don't have the same degree of mortality that lesser vampires do because they have a weaker link link that human part of then which still technically exists in in them some degree. 

In terms of how they age and grow since they literally start off as babies since they're just born naturally and Comte and Leonardo aren't children, I'm guessing that purebloods will physically age until they reach a point where they look the most physically appealing considering the nature of their bites and the physical appeal on top of that would be a beneficial survival factor for them as it also allows them to better pass as humans and keep them at ease so they don't panic as much when they're being bitten kind of like how a vampire bat's bite will.numb the area that it bites so the animal that it's biting doesn't feel it and panic. This same idea in relation to a vampire's physical growth also applies to any other type of vampire that is born naturally which will be mentioned later on. 

| Lesser vampires

Considering that I am assuming that a human turning into a lesser vampire is caused by magic of some sort in pureblood venom that triggers some kind of dormant gene in a human which causes the reactions that lead to a human becoming a lesser vampire. 

This is why lesser vampires are less powerful that purebloods; it's because they have a stronger bond to being human as they have had to have the vampiric gene take over rather than already be embedded. 

These vampires can also be born naturally which will also be mentioned later on. 

| Demi-vampires

I am assuming that this is where the gene has possibly mutated or become somewhat denatured when it was triggered at least in the case of the biting to make a human a lesser vampire but, in the case of a contract, a demi-vampire occurs when the contract has been tampered with.

In relation to there being a mutation in the gene, its more of just the person themselves that just had something off with the gene rather than it being something wrong wrong the venom because turning humans into vampires is kind of a crime against nature and nature doesn't exactly want you doing doing so it will occasionally make people where the vampire gene just has something wrong with it so it manifests wrong when is it activated. With contracts, it's purely magic based. Like, I can't explain it much further than someone doing something to the contract or conditions or there just being something off with the pureblood's magic which causes the gene to activate weirdly. 

They can also be born somewhat naturally through procreation which I will touch on a bit later on like I've said like 4 times. You're probably bored of hearing it at this point. 

The effect of a pureblood bite on the other vampiric types: 

I think a vampire bites doesn't really have all that large of an affect on the other vampiric types, at least not in the short term. If there was ever to be any enhancements in a vampire from a pureblood's bite, it would only occur after probably years of consistent biting and even then the effect would be almost unnoticeable because if how far the vampire's mostly human body has already been pushed with the introduction of the gene in its system. 

However, it works differently when the vampire is dying but it depends on how they are dying. If it was poison or an injury, the bite would temporarily boost their immunity and regeneration rate so they would (theoretically) heal faster but, in the case of poison, because the pureblood would be taking blood, it may also transfer some of the poison into the pureblood's system. 

If it was old age and their time had simply run out, then the bite wouldn't have an effect because it has already affected the body enough and has its limitations due to the vampire still technically being partially human. 

Lifespans and deaths: 

| Purebloods

These vampires really do literally live forever. Their bodies are timeless when they reach their age of maturity and they will not die as a result of old age. They can however be killed though this is extremely difficult. 

Starvation: 

Starvation will kill the pureblood within a few decades but this is highly unlikely as they enter an uncontrollable state of bloodlust after around a year or so depending on the pureblood's self control to get the blood that they need which makes them virtually impossible to starve. 

Injury:

Injury is an unlikely way for a pureblood to die but still possible. However, these injuries must be extremely severe and the type that will not heal without the pureblood consuming any fresh blood (not rouge or blanc) which will eventually cause the pureblood to reach a state where they can no longer regenerate and eventually die of blood loss 

Drowning: 

Purebloods still require air to survive so there is only a limited amount of time that they can go without breathing so drowning is perfectly plausible. 

Poison:

There aren't a large number of poisons potent enough to kill a pureblood but there are a few that, with prolonged intake, will eventually kill a pureblood as it would a human 

Fire: 

Fire can kill literally everything and a pureblood cannot regenerate the lost cells fast enough to be able to stop themselves from being burnt to death. 

Cutting their heads off: 

This doesn't need explaining. A pureblood, while they are able to heal and regenerate cells, they are unable to regenerate severely damaged tissue as seen by Vlad's scar or limbs so chopping the head off is probably your best bet 

| Lesser vampires

A lesser vampire does not live forever. Their life spans are simply extended by 2 or more long human life spans added onto theirs so most will live for usually between 150 and 300 ish years on top of the years that they lived as a human occasionally around 500 yeara if they're turned by a strong enough pureblood so they do eventually die as displayed by how they are constantly said to only be given a taste of immortality. 

They can be killed by all of the same methods as a pureblood but are much more susceptible and weaker to all of them so they will die faster. 

| Demi-vampires

Demi vampires have an even shorter life span than lesser vampires. They will on average live around one human life more and live for about 80 to 90 more years before they die of old age and have an even weaker immunity to the above causes of death than lesser vampires do. Idk what was happening with Napoleon tho, he's just an outlier. 

Creating an artificial pureblood: 

In theory, all someone would have to do is find a way to make the activated gene in the lesser vampire more powerful or make the more human aspect of the person weaker, in the literal sense and not liberal "inhumane actions and mindset" kind of way. 

I'm assuming that you'd have to somehow saturate (concentrate?) a lot of pureblood venom and fuse it with the gene that activates when it reacts with the pureblood venom in the first place to make a human into a lesser vampire which has a lot of issues with it because it would be a crime against nature and nature doesn't like that. 

Faust could probably do it if he wanted to though. 

A pureblood would be the natural version. Nature doesn't like it but it's better than the artificial pureblood variant so it kind of leaves them alone. 

Artificial purebloods have a higher change or kind of just going bust. Like  the gene just messes up because it's been overloaded in relation to the human genetic makeup that the vampire still very much possesses and it almost forces it out which can cause the artificial pureblood to either revert back to its original vampiric type or just die on the spot because of how much ups messing with the genetic makeup and there's only so much you can do to someone's dna because it all ruins itself  

Procreation:

| Purebloods + purebloods: Pureblood 

Any being born of a pureblood and a pureblood ends up being a pureblood because pureblood + pureblood has nothing higher to go to but it would make the pureblood more desirable to the pureblood community because they're 100% pure and stuff. 

| Purebloods + lesser vampires: Pureblood 

Any being born of a pureblood and a lesser vampire ends up being a pureblood who is a bit weaker than the usual pureblood and will have a generally lower tolerance to most methods of being killed but still technically lives forever until something kills it because either more human than a normal pureblood would be. 

| Purebloods + demi-vampires: Lesser vampire 

Any being born of a pureblood and a demi-vampire ends up being a lesser vampire because its just the in-between space between the two and acts as a common ground to balance out rhe vampiric and human.an aspects of the two. 

| Purebloods + humans: Lesser vampire 

Any being born of a pureblood and a human ends up being a lesser vampire. They are one the same level as normal lesser vampires but have longer life spans, often around 1000 or so years and will have accelerated healing and are naturally faster and stronger than a normal lesser vampire due to how much stronger the vampiric gene in the pureblood is in comparison to the human genetic makeup in the human 

Any being born of a pureblood and a demi-vampire ends up being a lesser vampire because its just the in-between space between the two and acts as a common ground to balance out rhe vampiric and human aspects of the two. 

| Purebloods + humans: Demi vampire 

Any being born of a pureblood and a human ends up being a demi vampire. They are one the same level as normal demi vampires but have longer life spans, often around 300 or so years and will have accelerated healing and are naturally faster and stronger than a normal demi vampire due to how much stronger the vampiric gene in the pureblood is in comparison to the human genetic makeup in the human.

Any being born of a lesser vampire and a lesser vampire ends up being a lesser vampire because nature doesn't like it when things become more powerful when they're already gone further than the level of power that humans have. 

| Lesser vampires + demi-vampires: Demi-vampire 

Any being born of a lesser vampire and a demi-vampire ends up being a demi-vampire because, past the point of lesser vampires, the type will usually go down for the same reason that I stated above. 

| Lesser vampires + humans: Demi-vampire 

Any being born of a lesser vampire and a human ends up being a demi-vampire. These demi vampires will often have slightly longer life spans and will have a slightly higher tolerance to poisons. 

| Demi-vampires + demi-vampires: Demi-vampire 

Any being born of a demi-vampire and a demi-vampire ends up being a demi-vampire themselves. However, they have either two ways of ending up; either with stronger vampiric traits or weaker vampiric traits. This aspect is not of the parents doing but is simply something that occurs within the vampire that cannot be influenced in any way. 

| Demi-vampires + humans: Human 

Any being born of a demi-vampire and human would be a human due to how close demi-vampires are to being humans so the human side of them plus the human of the human cancels out the vampire part of the demi-vampire almost entirely. However, the human does retain a stronger immune system and slightly escalated healing and occasionally are naturally stronger but is a normal human beyond that. 

| Defects in vampire offspring of purebloods and other vampiric types (Thank you @alby-rei for this addition 💜)

Purebloods having children with other vampiric types are often discouraged and frowned upon due to both the idea of pureblood supremacy (which is discussed in my rambling about Leonardo and his parents here) and because this increases the chances of a vampire being aberrant like Isaac. This is as a result of the stronger gene in the pureblood having to either fuse with or nullify the affects of the gene from the other parent which causes a chemical imbalance that affects the way that a vampire will intake and handle blood in their system.

Contracts: 

I honestly think that contacts are purely magic based because there's no other logical explanation because they aren't bitten or have anything done to them physically beyond the actual transformation. Magic is a completely different topic in this situation hat I'll write more about separately but it kind of just activates the gene that way idk but it can be tampered with by a being of an equal level of magic like another pureblood or even a mage if you want to get into that kind of stuff but other creatures aren't explicitly stated to exist in that universe so we'll keep that away from this for now

Blood intake and affect: 

They have to consume blood purely for the nutrition that they are not getting from the human food. I'm guessing that, because of their state permanently being in one similar to that of someone being in an adrenaline rush, they burn through any energy and nutrition that they may get from human food really quickly so it basically does nothing for them which is why they say that they technically don't need it. 

The blood would, in theory, be stored in their body for a longer period of time in comparison to the human food hence why some vampires can go without rouge or blanc for really kong amounts of time but kind of at different rates. 

I feel that the way that blood is accepted and stored in the vampire is based a lot off of the vampire's subconscious or frontal mental state and more extreme emotions will require more energy for them to burn through so it all kind of runs out at different rates for them. Like, Isaac is really anxious all of the time so he kind of just needs a lot of energy to process this anxiety without his body slumping over like he's died or something while Vincent is just chilling hence why he pretty much only drinks blanc. 

However, this is where I start giving up a little bit and start using magic as an explanation for everything because that explanation might not actually make sense and I can't be bothered to Google it. 

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[dateamonster]

please give us an unreasonably long answer about what your favorite classical monstery trait is, why you like it, and your favorite examples of it please please pl

i dont know if this is like a classic monstery trait or even rly what that entails but um im rly into like parasitism and/or monsters whose supposed body is actually just a host.

parasites used to be a big special interest of mine as a kid and even tho it isnt as strong as it was then i feel like that interest has sort of mutated and fused with my current interest in horror (which feels appropriate doesnt it) applying real life parasite logic to monsters sort of forces you to think about stuff like: what does this monster need to survive? how do their habits serve that need? and providing the monster in question is a sapient creature, how does it feel to be something whose existence demands leeching off of other living beings? physically and psychologically. how would that affect the way this creature relates to the world around them?

it also sorta gets me like reverse engineering some of my monsters. "i want this one to have a cool retractable proboscis under their tongue" ok cool now what purpose does that aspect of its biology serve? why would something evolve like this? if it uses it for feeding, what does that indicate about the food source and the method for feeding? and how does that affect their other behaviors?

obviously monsters dont always have to adhere to the rules of reality, but i like when they sorta. pay respect to them. creatures whose biology is subtly reminiscent of real life animals that we already know instinctively spell bad news for humans have sort of an instant advantage in the scariness department just because of that connection. which i think is neat-o!

theres also lots of potential there for exploring some fun body horror stuff (big fav of mine) as well as imo a kind of transhumanist existentialism. like ok if i am a creepy lil monster bug whose biological imperative is to burrow into a living human body and rewire their brain to help me feed and procreate, what is my relationship to this body really? (again assuming the creature in question is sapient ofc)

is it my home? my ride? my friend? unwilling friend maybe but maybe im also pumping said humans brain full of dopamine whenever they help me. does that make us friends? does that make the relationship mutually beneficial? or does that make me an oppressor, overwriting their will to fulfill my needs? and what about my will? arent i, this hungry little insect, just as much a slave to my own bodys demands as them? if, like so many species, i hatched into this body, warmed and nurtured by it, is it my mother? whats the meaningful distinction between me, the controlling parasite, dominating yet fragile, who would die without the flesh i inhabit, and my host, a mind trapped inside the limited mortal flesh it was born to spend its entire existence trapped within?

aaand so on and so forth. honestly im not even a transhumanist i just think the philosophy gives us some cool thought experiments.

anyway my favorite real life parasite is the leucochloridium (even tho i constantly forget its longass name) which infects snails and makes their eyestalks pulse and flash colors to attract predators so it can get eaten, which it needs in order to continue onto the next phase of its life cycle. im not an expert or anything i might be muddying the facts. i just think that shits crazy. natures crazy.

anywayy x2! um um if this interests u i guess i recommend the masters of horror episode "sick girl", "peeps" and "the last days" by scott westerfeld (to be fair i havent read these since middle school and idk how well they hold up but like westerfelds stuff usually goes p hard regardless), "bloodchild" by octavia butler, aaaaand i guess my short story "daja vu"! wink!

thansk for coming to my ted talk happy autism to all and to all a good night

[bwideau]

Painting Tutorial!

Hello and welcome to a kind-of tutorial for my colouring technique! I’d like to preface this by admitting that my art style is a mess of actual things I learned in art school mixed with ‘things that look good but idk why lol’ and some lazy shortcuts thrown in for good measure. If something doesn’t make sense it’s probably because it was never meant to, and I’m just winging most of this with no coherent plan. Cool? Cool.

Program used: Procreate (I use the same techniques in Photoshop, so they should work in programs like CSP, Krita and Sai)

Brushes: 

-Derwent for sketching (Procreate default) or your favourite sketching brush

-GvW Elder 2. 0 1 for shading (from Georg’s free ink set)

-Basic round brush

-Basic airbrush

Step 1: The sketch (Derwent Brush)

Today we’re painting my favourite murder boy, Loki! I won’t go into much detail about the sketch, because this is about colouring, not sketching. Make sure you have a solid sketch before starting on your colours. I know it gets frustrating to work on a sketch for so long, but anything you fix in this stage won’t need to be fixed later. 

Use references for anything you’re not 100% sure about, and flip your canvas often to make sure nothing’s wonky. Your brain gets used to staring at the drawing, so flipping it lets you see mistakes you might otherwise miss.

I like sketching in colour because black just feels daunting to me. We’re gonna change the colour later anyway, so just pick any favourite!

Step 2: Clipping Layer

This is one of the most important stages. All your colour layers for the character will be clipped to this one so you don’t have to worry about going outside the sketch. I usually have a single clipping layer for organic portraits, but my lined pieces will have a layer for each section. We’ll be painting over the sketch eventually, so go ahead and clip the sketch to the base layer as well. It’s also time to pick your base background colour. I decided to go in a completely different direction than the reference image, so I’ll mostly be making the colours up.

Step 3: Base Shading (Elder Brush)

I know this looks like a big jump, but bear with me! All I’ve done is add basic shadows to the form. I’ve picked a midtone for each section of colour, and added a basic shadow and light. 

Go ahead and start by locking your sketch layer and changing its colour. I’ve used dark reddish tones in the face, and left the rest blue. I like how the blue pops up here and there when I get to painting over the sketch.

To pick your light and shadow tones, look at the colours you’re using in the background. Something useful to remember is that warm lighting will cast cool shadows, and cool lighting will cast warm shadows. In this case, since the background has a cool tone, the shadows in the face will be warmer in comparison. 

Always remember that your character and your background exist in the same environment; the colour of the background will influence the character. Here, the light source has a pinkish tinge to reflect the character’s environment.

Look at your reference to see where light hits, and squint your eyes to determine the big geometric shapes of the light and shadows. At this stage, stick to three tones maximum: a base, a shadow, and a light.

Step 4: The Shit Stage

This is when the feeling of ‘oh no this looks like garbage and I hate myself’ will hit. Don’t let it fool you! Paintings look like trash before they get better. In the early stages, you’re just laying in the foundation for the details that will come in later. Just push through!

Here, I’ve started adding tones in-between the light and shadows to make the shapes blend into each other and look rounded and softer. This is all done on a layer over the sketch, still clipped to the base layer.

I pick my midtones by zooming in and colour-picking at the border between two shades I’ve already laid down.  It’s a little tricky since the brush I use doesn’t have an opacity setting, but I like the sharp chunky look it gives my pieces.

Remember: Skin is not one uniform colour, and light will peek through in some places. This is called sub-surface scattering, and it’s the key to beautiful, alive-looking skin. Light will scatter under the surface of the skin, and certain parts neighbouring the shadows will look more saturated because the blood vessels under the skin are illuminated. This piece doesn’t use bright sunlight, so it’s more subtle but still visible.

Notice the strip of warm saturation right before the shadow? It’s going to look orange under sunlight, but for Loki I’ve gone with a pink since the light is cool.

Step 5: Slightly Less Chunky

I like the chunky look in my paintings, but if everything is equally as sharp, nothing really stands out. A wise tip from one of my painting professors is to smooth out the shadows, but keep the lights sharp.

Use a mixture of more colour-picking and the blending tool to round out shapes. You can also use the airbrush if you’re more familiar with it. 

Be careful of overblending! Blending too much is a common mistake in digital art, and can make a face look flat and off-putting. Blend some areas, and colour-pick them before going back over them in with your solid brush. This will make your shadows look softer, but not too soft. 

Texture is extremely important and often forgotten. It gives your eye something to look at, even in a seemingly smooth space. Remember: Unlike in traditional art, digital media has no surface texture. 

A smooth gradient on a cotton canvas is never completely smooth, it will always have the canvas texture underneath it that keeps it from looking too unnatural. In digital, you’re working from nothing. When working digitally, any texture you want, you need to create yourself. This is why depending too much on the blending tool will make skin look unnatural; you need to compensate for the lack of interesting surface underneath.

Step 6: Lighting

Interesting lighting can go a long way to make your painting spectacular. Note that the light source was chosen in the third step; this step simply enhances what you’ve already done.

In this piece, I’ve picked a primary light source (where the majority of the light is coming from) and a secondary light source to keep things interesting. Since the background is cool-toned, I picked a warm orange for the main light source to contrast it. The secondary light source is a cool blue, so it doesn’t quite have as much contrast. I want the secondary light source to be noticeable, but I don’t want it to be fighting for dominance with the main light source.

I clip a colour dodge layer on top of the colour layers, and put another unclipped colour dodge layer over it. 

The clipped layer is the secondary light source, because I don’t want it to bleed into the background. Leaving the primary light source unclipped will give a glowy effect to the lighting, since the area around the character will also be affected. I use a large airbrush for this step.

If there are areas that need more contrast, you can deepen the shadows with a clipped multiply layer underneath both colour dodge layers.

Step 7: Details

This is the time to add little things like a more refined eye shine or little flyaway hairs. The eyes also looked a bit wonky to me, so I fixed them up. Not much else to say about this stage, just add little things that will tie the piece together.

Since the face is the focal point, it’s painted in more detail than the armour. If the piece was equally detailed everywhere, the viewer’s eye wouldn’t know where to look! You don’t have to slave away over details in areas where they won’t be noticed or would be distracting.

Step 8: Finishing Touches

This is the final step! Once the painting itself is done, I like to merge all my layers and apply a bit of noise to the whole image. I find it adds a bit of grain and texture that makes the piece even more cohesive. Don’t add too much though, or it will grey out your colours.

In certain pieces, I also add a slight chromatic aberration. I don’t add it to all my pieces, and I use it differently every time. Be careful though, it can become an eyesore if you overdo it! Keep it away from the focal point of the image (in this case, Loki’s eyes) or it can actually make the painting off-putting and difficult to look at.

Since my drawing program has a dark background, I like to export the image as a test and see if it still looks good in my photo gallery with a white interface. Sometimes things look really bright against a dark interface, but will look dull and too dark when put against white. If your piece needs adjusting, use the curves tool to adjust the contrast.

All that’s left to do is sign your artwork on a separate layer (so it can be moved or removed if need be), and voilà! A lovely portrait!

—

I hope you found this tutorial helpful! If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them in the notes or message me! If you’d like to chat about art, (or anything really) my ask box and messages are always open to new friends!