#i don't /think/ I need to completely redo her...?

[bookwyrminspiration]

it does look like sophie!! if you wanted to help her look a little more youthful, you might try adding some roundness to the cheeks and emphasizing the cupid's bow a bit more

ty catherine I love you forever and ever dedicating this piece to you and you only <33

me vs the roundness of sophie's cheeks is an ongoing battle I keep trying but she is staying stubbornly a little angular. actually almost everything about her is fighting me.

I think the reason it's not quite doing it for me is that she doesn't match the other individual in the piece. Who has a certain *essence* to them, a style that Sophie doesn't have. So while she technically looks fine and like Sophie, she doesn't look like she belongs in the same piece as them. and I very much want the two of them to go together. Will continue trying, even though I have class tomorrow and will. get a bunch of homework </3

also!! thank you to everyone else who made comments and suggestions as well :)

[trinnityn]

Abby Anderson HCs

Warnings: 18+ NSFW and SFW content below the cut. gf!abby, tribbing, strap usage R!receveing, kinda? Gymrat!Abby, Dom!abby, abby is lowkey a perv

A/N: Based on the poll results! ill post the Vi hcs right after this one. i lowkey think this is hot ass cuz i wrote it half asleep... mb chat pls dont flop😭

SFW

Honestly acts cold towards you, and not cause she doesn't care about you, she's actually very attentive to each and everyone of your needs. your heels are hurting you? she'll carry you if needed, you feel sick? she'll nurse you until you're completely healed, you're tired? next thing you know you're tucked in bed with her hugging you. half of the time you don't even need to tell her anything and she'll notice.

"baby. stop."

"what do you mean-"

"i can tell they're bothering you. ill carry you to the car, and dont argue with me on that.

Her being aloof doesn't mean she isn't clingy. Definitely isn't a huge fan of PDA, though, but she has her own way of showing her affection publicly without it being too prominent. like, sharing her food, giving you her jacket whenever you're cold, glancing at you to analyze your expressions at any given moment to see if you are uncomfortable or if you are upset, and hugging your waist to pull you close anytime it looks like you just simply need her.

is always confused about what to do whenever you're upset or you start crying cause she's not exactly good at sorting out the appropriate words to reassure or comfort you but she tries her best. most times she tries to cheer you up instead like, showing you her childhood photos, bringing you your favorite food, playing funny videos, showing photos of her dogs, and the list goes on tbh

"shh.. baby I'm right here, okay? cry all you need."

"do you wanna see little me? my dad used to take lots of photos of me when I was a kid. I have a whole album."

favorite time of the day is whenever you offer which you don't even need to do cause she'll say yes anyway to redo her braids for her or even style her hair differently. she starts getting so excited that her inner dialogue keeps running on and on about how heavenly your hands feel whenever they're threading through her blonde locks, how gentle every move is to take care of her hair, and just how she adores everything that you do, every breath, every move, and every word that you utter from your lips. everything about you Is just so loveable in her eyes.

As I said, she is probably not the best when it comes to expressing her love and affection to you verbally, so at the time when she confessed her feelings to you and ultimately asked you to be her girlfriend, she handed you a bouquet of your favorite flowers and little snacks she had picked up from memory each time you both hung out, and you plainly said "I like this" she'll take note of it and get it for you every chance she can.

"hey. I've been meaning to say this for a while, but I have feelings for you and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you do too. Do you wanna be my girlfriend?"

Every habit of yours is just engraved in her memory. Bonus points if you're clumsy because she can always tell when a fall is about to happen, even before you realize it. If you almost bump into something, she hastily pulls you to her side so you avoid it.

NSFW

has broad shoulders. and always makes good use of them. like when she's fucking into you deep with her 7 inch, Baby pink strap that you picked out for her. or she just needs to hit that spongy spot, she hikes up one of your legs up to her shoulder, the plush skin of your thigh resting against her chest you were nearly folded in half before she adjusted to a harsh, punishing pace. her hand finding home on your other thigh as she kept a bruising hold of it.

"need me to go deeper? yea, thats what i thought."

purposely leaves her braid on at any chance she fucks you cause you'd tug on it, her nose nudging your sensitive clit as she redoubled her efforts, tongue licking and probing your sensitive entrance. hips bucking up as a feeble attempt to feel more of abby's tongue. Undoubtedly loves to jerk on your hair, ass up, face down as she fucked her thick fingers into your tight passage. She grasped onto a fistfull of your hair, using it as leverage to lift your face up as she ogled at you. Panting harshly with swollen lips, a string connecting your lips to the drool pooled up onto the pillow beneath that muffled your moans.

Likes sex with half of your clothes on, maybe even fully clothed. just something about hiking your skirt up and pushing your panties to the side to slip in a finger inbetween your already wet folds or slithering her hand into your shorts all the way into your panties to finger fuck you just turns her on so much.

Prefers skin to skin more than anything. dare i say shes a huge fan of tribbing. having you ontop of her, grinding and swirling your hips slowly as she felt her soppy cunt against yours, your clits rub against eachother. pure heaven. her hands take a hold of your hips as she encouraged you in a breathless voice

"yeah, good girl. ride me harder, baby. i know you're close."

"fuck. you're a natural, arent you?"

Uses your sextapes as preworkout or just on any occasion you send nudes, a video and she cant come over to touch you she starts acting like a prepubescent boy. basically starts working harder with the sole thought of building up more stamina and being able to fuck you harder, faster, longer the thought of it just lingers as her grip on the weights in hand makes her knuckles go white, supressing her urges while her thoughts go against her with the dirty pictures of you engraved in her mind.

I can see her as both an ass, and boobs girl tbh. gives fair attention to both, spends most nights just crawling up her hands to your bossoms before unclasping your bra, she squishes, squeezes, rubs, caresses both of them as she cherished the feeling of having both of her hands full. she abruptly takes one small bud into her mouth as she ravished it with attention, letting it pebble underneath her ministrations. on the other hand, in any chance she gets while your bend over on the kitchen counter, she ruts into your ass, the friction making you stir in your position as a hand crept to tug your shorts down, bringing your panties along. she delivers a stinging slap against one cheek

"count, baby. dont miss a number or we'll start all over again."

mostly tops, only lets you top on certain, special occasions like valentines, your anniversary and so on. it doesnt mean she doesnt like being pleasured, she just favors in taking care of her girl first, and when you try to defy her? best believe she'll put you back in your place. her hands trailed to remove every modicum of clothing on you, baring your body under her gaze as she sloppily kissed you. you're pinned down agaisnt the bed before you make a sudden attempt to pin her down. to your surprise it worked. Abby let out a dissatisfied grunt as you took over, her tongue fighting for the advantage against yours as your hand leads to cup her dripping sex, pressuring her clit against your palm.

her hand gripped your wrist to withdraw from your flimsy movements as another grasps your hips to twirl them around, bringing back the original position as she hovered above you, pulling away from the kiss slightly. she murmured with her lips an atom away from yours

"dont try to fight it, baby. im the one who takes charge here."

A/N: Hi chat.. please if you can.. leave me requests. i need it ❤️

XOXO, Trinnifer 💋

[yup-thats-me]

— Trust • P. Seonghwa

𐙚pairing: bf!Seonghwa x fem!reader 𐙚summary: ❝Y/n trusts her lover completely❞ 𐙚warnings: somnophilia, fingering, piv, cockwarming, humping 𐙚a/n: hope you don't mind me adding smno, noonie😋 also the description is pretty bad :")

✮ ⋆ ˚｡𖦹 ⋆｡°✩

"Y/n," Seonghwa whined, falling face-first on the girl. "I'm so tired."

Humming, Y/n raked her fingers through his raven locks. "Awe, my baby."

Feeling her lover smile against her skin, Seonghwa snuggled his face deeper into the crook of her neck. "Am I not heavy, love?"

Y/n shakes her head. "I like it, actually," she grins.

Seonghwa's eyes widen, looking at her curiously. "You do?"

"Absolutely. My human weighted blanket," she giggled, caressing his face.

Smiling smugly, Seonghwa holds her close, pressing his ear to her chest. The light thud of her heart beating. The man sighed, matching his breathing with hers.

"....babe?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I," he pauses, shaking his head. "No wait. Nevermind."

Y/n sat up, making Seonghwa fall off her body. "No, I mind. I really mind. Tell me right now or I'll literally combust."

"Damn. Just wanted to ask...if I could fuck you while you sleep," his voice growing quieter by each word.

Y/n smiled, pulling on his cheek. "Of course," she nods.

"Really?"

"Yes," she confirms. "I trust you, Hwa."

And the man could feel his chest tighten. Nodding, he pulls her close, resuming their position.

Y/n however, didn't think he'd size up on her permission this quick, though.

"Darling," Seonghwa called out softly as he treaded lightly into the bedroom. The man face-palmed himself mentally when he saw your form peacefully sleeping.

He didn't mean to be late, though. Finishing up recording as quick as he could, he took the ride home to you.

Sighing, he took his place beside you, snaking his arm under your stomach pulling you flush against his chest. Breathing in your scent, his fingers played with your hair.

It was a hard day at work today. Redoing takes after takes, the man was tired. But he couldn't help his cock growing stiff against your thighs, the shorts you wore riled up to your waist.

And he tries, tries to not get hard when you're sleeping so peacefully right next to him. Taking a deep breath, he lightly humps against your bare thigh, the feeling making his head dizzy.

But it isn't enough. Carefully, he pulled out his cock, rubbing the head to your soft skin, the precum leaking from his tip making it easier. When even that wasn't enough, he slowly lowers your shorts, rubbing himself against your pussy.

Sucking in a sharp breath, Seonghwa pushes himself off the bed, deft fingers running up and down your glistening pussy. You shifted a bit, your body instinctively reacting to his touch.

Seonghwa watched, eyes trained on your face for any sign of discomfort. When he finds none, he slips a finger inside you, feeling your gummy walls clenching around him.

"Hwa," you mumble in your sleep. His fingers stops. He really did not want to wake you. When he found no further reactions from you, he slipped another digit in, slipping them in and out of your now wet pussy.

"Fuck," he muttered under his breath. He needed more.

Aliging his tip to your slick opening, he saddled up behind you, resting his arms either side of your head for support.

He groans as he slipped in without restrain, his head falling back in ecstacy.

"Won't you hold me?"

He grins apologetically. "You awake, love? Sorry."

"Mm," you mumble. "Now hold me."

"As you wish, darling," he grinned, leaning down as his hand snaked around your throat, tilting your chin to make you look at him.

"So good, my love," he praises, kissing your lips. You moan around him, in need of more.

Seonghwa pants, hissing. "Raise your hips a bit, love."

And you oblige, allowing him to thrust in deeper into you. "Hwa," you gasp, sleep erased from your features.

He smirks, leaning down as he kissed your neck. "You're doing so good, Y/n, always so good for me."

"Coming," you whine.

"Come, darling," he said, kissing back of your neck sweetly. "Come for me, love."

And you do, gushing all around his cock. But the man doesn't stop, fucking you through your high. It doesn't take long for him to finish, a few lazy thrusts and he spills into you.

His eyes flicker to where you connected with him, your explosions spilling out of your stuffed hole. He licks his lip, slowly trying to slip out before you grab his wrist, stopping him.

"No more, Hwa," you say, knowing what he was about to do. "Sleep," you say firmly.

And Seonghwa is surprised but he obliges nonetheless, laying down next to you. He was about to take his cock out of your pussy but you stop him for a second time. "Stay, feels nice."

And the man smiles, nodding.

"Your wish my command, darling."

do not copy, steal or translate my work on any other sites. All rights belongs to yup-thats-me© on tumblr

⋆.𐙚˚reqs are openᝰ.ᐟ

[frostblightsunbite]

Another Cass drawing, for the soul.

Had a concept I wanted to sketch out, I'll probably redo this some point in the future.

Rant under cut :)

This isn't the best, but I don't completely hate it so its fine. This was a sketch, as you can probably tell from the shitty line work, but then I experimented with colouring and kinda liked it, so its weirdly disjointed. Also I resized the image so literally none of the line weight is consistent so...

Anyway, cape turning to night sky. neat concept. probably done a lot before, but I can't think of any examples rn.

I messed with the pose a lot. I think there might have been a reference originally, but it now Does Not look anything like it.

I hate the clouds. and the sky part. I hate drawing/painting those in general, so I should probably do a study or something, but I really don't want to

Oh and fun fact, This blog was supposed to be under a different name, but when I tried to make it, it was already taken. as it turns out, literally exactly 11 months before I had made that account using a different email. I'm so dumb.

I'm trying to make this somewhat coherent, but it's like half 3 in the morning, and I need to wake up at 7. I'm so tired idk why I didn't just finish this tomorrow when I would be happier with it.

as a side note, I think every time I draw Cass her eyes get bigger. which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I fear the day when her eyes will envelop her whole. also it kinda functions like a spiderman mask, so thats fun for expressions.

[abrillustrated]

hi my name is august and for the past week or so i have become so consumed by thoughts of avatar the last airbender that it is actually ruining my life and relationships.

yeah so unfortunately i can only be completely insane about this so i have to stop before it consumes me or at least manage the fixation i have for this early 20s zutara au

+ mai bc its really a shame that they didn't resolve her story outside of her relationship to zuko. so i think she starts fight club. which gradually turns into a gladiatorial ring

edit: im typing up everything that i wrote in the drawing bc it just occured to me that not only is my handwriting a mess, but it's also cursive

Image 1

katara: How do you live in this hot ass country.

zuko: What about that literal glacier you live on, hm? Do you see me complaining?

Image 2

Zuko: my plan right now is to soft launch democracy for the Fire Nation. like, i don't think we can do that now because we're so weak, but 10-20 years down the line?

Image 3

Zuko: Honestly, my plan right now is to rule for a couple generations and fix everything that my father and my grandfather did , and then establish a democracy.

Katara: why not a democracy now?

Zuko: because the people of the Fire Nation don't know the truth about their own history. they've been fed propaganda for a hundred years. they need to be able to make informed decisions before i can do that.

Katara: and after that?

Zuko: after that im fucking off to the earth kingdom to take over my uncle's tea house and you will literally never hear from me again

Image 4

from left to right "katara" "need to redo the face" "this is chief katara to me. this is her at around 19/20 to me" "Anime katara. this anime shit is easy" "fire nation katara. putting her at about 14 y/o" "this is a screencap redraw"

Image 5

me: hello greenpeace

katara: after my mother died i had a lot of unchecked rage for the world, so my dad signed me up for tai chi classes to, like, calm me down but i ended up still angry but also really good at tai chi

katara: i feel like im doing well all things considered

me: katara is so special to me. she is a fully realized creation to me. so casual. so passionate about the world. one thing about her is that she is an activist. she has a strong sense of justice. fuck. the train jumped lol

image 6

mai: zuko, im starting a gladitorial ring and i don't know the legality of it so if you could just change the laws as i go that'd be great

zuko: yeah sure that sounds great

zuko, but smaller: wait what.

image 7

mai: REF, ARE YOU BLIND?! WHAT KIND OF CALL IS THAT!

background guy: woah holy shit

captioned: "Mai starts a gladiatorial fight club

[rallamajoop]

The Complete Guide to Eye Colour In Resident Evil 7

An addendum to my guide to eye colour in RE8: here's everyone from RE7 too! Getting close-ups of these was way harder than for RE8, because RE7 does not come with a model viewer, so I'm stuck using in-game screenshots and promotional images.

Once again, we'll start with the cheat-sheet version:

The whole Baker family: Blue (except when...) Mia: Brown (FOR NOW) Eveline: Green Alan: Hazel/green Deputy OneSceneWonder: Brown Chris: Hazel/brown (FOR NOW) Clancy, Andre and Peter: Brown Ethan: Still hazel

But it can never just be that simple, can it? So, further notes below.

The Baker Family

The Baker family all have blue-grey eyes. In fact, post-infection, they all have the exact same blue eyes (see top line in comparisons below). You could maybe put this down to genetics for Zoe and Lucas, but when Jack and Marguerite have the same eyes as each other too, that's when you start wondering just how many backwater-hillbilly-stereotypes are in play here.

Mind you, they do have slightly different eyes in the pre-mould flashback that is the Daughters DLC, which you can see in the second row above. All are brighter blues, pre-infection, and Jack gets smaller pupils while Lucas gets a slightly larger iris (Zoe gets nothing, as she's the viewpoint PC and we're not redoing her face if you're not going to see it). So maybe we can hope there's some genetic diversity in the Baker-clan (renders of their eyes in their actual faces also look a little more distinct, but maybe that's a lighting thing). Either way, the Bakers = blue eyes! Got it!

And then we meet Uncle Joe in the other DLC who... has hazel eyes?

IDEK, maybe Uncle Joe's real dad was a different mailman.

Once we get deeper into mould-monster territory though, things do get a little more interesting.

Both Marguerite and Lucas appear with much creepier whitened eyes later in the game ‒ Marguerite's during her boss-fight transformation. Lucas, however, remains steadfastly human-shaped throughout the main campaign, but his eyes are whitened in his video message to Ethan, and in his (pre-monstrous transformation) DLC appearances too. Jack, by contrast, doesn't seem to get new eye textures even after blowing off the top of his own head, or in the boss fight that follows (monster!Jack from the fight in the boat house has completely different eyes, of course, and more of them). Mia, too, has her own set of creepy-alternate-mould-monster-eyes, but they're completely different again.

So what's the internal logic here? I could speculate that Lucas' eyes-only transformation is a sign he's in control of himself in a way Jack and Marguerite aren't, but it doesn't quite add up. If anything, those eyes make more sense as something Lucas was given because we never see him transform like Marguerite, or blow pieces of himself away like Jack: Lucas may look human, but the eyes are there to remind us he's not. There'll always be some details that end up being more about effective storytelling than cohesive lore.

Interestingly, though they don't appear in the game, there are also promotional pics of all four members of the Baker family with glowing white/silver eyes, which are definitely a supernatural feature. It's tempting to try and associate the effect with Rose's glowing eyes from the Shadows of Rose DLC, or perhaps even the general pale-grey-eyes of Miranda and the Lords (more on both in my post on eyes in RE8). But that's territory that really needs its own post or we'll be here all day.

Clancy, Andre and Peter

These are the three ill-fated crew of the Sewer Gators tape you'll encounter early in the game. You may notice Peter (rightmost in the pic above) seems to have even more dilated pupils than the majority of the cast. Amusing as it might be to theorise that he's just on drugs or something, I think there is an explanation: the closest shot we see of his face (and the first shot of the tape) is a close-up into a camera while the team is outside in the dark. His pupils would naturally be dilated in this sort of environment.

So why aren't Andre's dilated too? Well, the closest look we get at his eyes (also pictured) are the final shot of the tape, where he's already dead, and his eyes are covered by a red film. Medical plausibility aside, dilated pupils presumably didn't add to the effect here, so Andre gets regular pupils.

Speaking of assets, there is actually one photo of the three of them in the game, from the pamphlet you can find in their van at the start. You can even almost make out Clancy's face!

Clancy's own eyes are their whole own kettle of worms, but we'll get to that below.

Chris Redfield

Is an odd one: I can't share an eye-texture asset for Chris, because he doesn't actually have a character model at all in the main RE7 title. And explaining that one is gonna take some context.

While RE8 renders nearly all cutscenes using in-game models, RE7 stores far more of its major cutscenes pre-rendered in .wmv format. The opening is pre-rendered, video messages from Mia and Lucas are pre-rendered ‒ even the big moment when Eveline blows out the windows of the tanker and throws Mia into the river is pre-rendered. Not all cutscenes work this way, but basically anything that would require loading a lot of assets that aren't needed in gameplay (eg. the view of the river and tanker for outside) seems to have been pre-rendered as a video instead.

And since Chris' only scene in all of RE7 is in the pre-rendered ending sequence, he doesn't have a model at all (or at least, I couldn't find it). We do see Chris in openings and endings of the Not a Hero DLC as well, and the End of Zoe ‒ but these too are just .wmv files, presumably for all the same reasons.

Now, obviously, Chris is also playable in the DLC, so he does have a character model there. But we still don't get eye textures for him for a couple of reasons: firstly, he wears a face-concealing mask that only comes off for opening/ending cutscenes. But even without it, we might just hit other weirdness surrounding player character models...

As I've already noted, both Chris and Mia get completely different new blue eyes in RE8, but back in RE7, Capcom seemed a little more aware that brown or hazel eyes were a real thing regular white people do have sometimes.

A note on player-character models

Although we mostly just see the hands of whoever we're playing as (usually Ethan), gameplay still uses a full-body model, presumably to aid in rendering dynamic shadows, and give enemies something to cover in blood. Things get weird around the character's head, which isn't actually visible so it can't get in the way of the camera floating inside it, but will still cast shadows and still has textures associated with it (though usually in much lower resolution than other models we'll actually get to see). There are three playable characters in RE7 proper: Ethan, Mia, and Clancy (from the video tapes) ‒ each with their own model and textures.

Ethan and Mia also have more detailed 3rd person models, since we see plenty of Mia playing as Ethan, and a little of Ethan playing as Mia (if only from behind).

Why does this matter? Well, distinct as the three PCs are otherwise, their player models all have the same eyes ‒ top row above shows Ethan, Mia and Clancy, in that order. And they look nothing like Ethan's and Mia's eyes have ever looked elsewhere, which you can see in the comparison below.

I mention this mostly because it's pretty easy to find Ethan's player-model in the game files, note those generic-hazel eye textures with it, and go, "hey, you got his eyes wrong!" But these aren't the same eyes that come with his higher-res texture, or the ones that were copied over into RE8. In fact, the existence of the player-character-default-eye-texture back in RE7 is one of the reasons why I do tend to take full-res Ethan's eyes as 'canon', even though we never see them in either game: someone took the time to repaint Ethan's eyes for his full-res model, and make them distinct from the low-res default used for everyone in 1st person mode. That at least suggests there was some real, intentional effort put into deciding what colour eyes Ethan was supposed to have.

This does leave poor Clancy in more ambiguous territory, however: as he's never seen by any other character, he has no high-res model, and thus no eyes but the default-hazel that Mia and Ethan are rendered with in that mode too. So is this to be taken as Clancy's official eye colour? It may as well be, I suppose. We see so little of Clancy in any form that I was genuinely surprised to find out his he's actually got a player model which is completely distinct from anyone else in the game, with curly greying hair, a neckbeard, and a baseball cap worn backwards.

Render by nightsatkendalls over on deviantart.

I do not have the skills to produce a render of this quality myself, but I can tell you that the cap he's wearing has the logo for the RE Engine on the front (the in-house game engine behind all the modern RE titles, and many other Capcom games).

You'll never see it in game, of course ‒ you'd need both a freecam mod and a mod to make his head visible. But it's there as a weird little easter-egg nonetheless.

Eveline

Eveline is perhaps the only character whose model may not have been updated at all for RE8, but given she's only a hallucination or ghost, that stands to reason. In RE7 though, she also appears as her aged 'grandma' self, who pops up around the house in her wheelchair looking spacey. Grandma-Eveline has two different eye texture assets ‒ one far more washed out than the other. There's next to no good official pictures of her, but fortunately, since she doesn't move around or attack you, she was one of the very few characters I was able to get a decent close-up shot off with the free camera mod. And inasmuch as you're ever in a position to look her in the eye in game, only the faded version of her eyes ever seems to show up. Is the clearer version actually used somewhere I didn't catch? I have no idea.

What really stands out about granny-Eveline's eyes, though, is that they don't look anything like her child-self's eyes do. Child-Eveline is basically the only character in either game with distinctly green eyes. But Granny's are hazel, and not even a particularly similar shade of hazel.

In fact, they look far more like the generic-default hazel of the player character textures than they do like her younger self. Close-up comparisons below.

You could speculate that it was deliberate that Granny-Eveline's eyes don't look anything like kid-Eveline's eyes to avoid tipping off the player that they're one and the same ‒ but realistically, no-one without free camera mods is ever going to get a good enough look at either of them to notice. And it's kind of a shame they didn't just take young-Eveline's eyes and apply the same kind of distortions they seem to have applied to the generic-hazel template to age them up ‒ that would've been a lovely, creepy little detail to find in these textures. But no, generic old hazel it is.

Then again, whatever the real logic at play, the fact Granny-Eveline's eyes are effectively a faded, distorted version of the very same eyes the player themselves never does get to see in the mirror is a pretty creepy idea itself. And intentional or not, that's what I've got to leave you with.

[kedreeva]

Spicer???

Yeah Randy Spicer from Spicer Ornamental Birds. He's been a complete DICK in every interaction I've ever had, and EVERY time I talk to someone who brings him up, they test the waters to see what I think, and then are relieved to find out it is not just them he was a major twat to.

Around... at least 5 years ago, maybe closer to 7 (I'm not sure of the exact date, but it was not super recent), he took over as president of the Michigan Bird and Game Breeder's Association (there was some kind of dust up with the last president and finances, but obviously I don't know the full story there, just what the current president let on), and his wife took on one of the other roles (I think she's Secretary now, I don't know that she started there), which included taking on the facebook page for the association.

And this Association, which has been around as an Association since like the 80s officially, started to almost immediately fail at... everything.

You have to understand, I've gone to these swaps since I was 18, that's 20 years of going to these swaps at this point, and when I started going, they were HUGE. Tons of people showed up, the aisles were PACKED with people, there was a huge variety of birds and game animals. They had raffles every swap, advertising, the people running it would walk around and chat with vendors and people showing up and make sure everyone knew where the next swap was, etc. It was, as far as I could tell, thriving.

And then this guy takes over, and all communication stops. The facebook page started only making ONE post per year, with the dates for the shows, and sometimes not even in time for the first swap. The website stopped updating in 2021, and hadn't been updating in a timely fashion for a couple years before that. The raffles stopped. The Association merch that used to be at a table at swaps disappeared. The shows got smaller and smaller, the aisles between vendor rows grew sparse. Until last year, I went to one of the swaps that's traditionally been pretty big.... and there were SEVEN vendors (including me), and maybe 10-15 people showed up. This is an event that normally has 30+ vendors and hundreds of people.

That was the point where I tried to contact the association, but the "email" listed for them was just Spicer's email, so I was totally ignored. So at the next swap, when they came to collect the table fee, I asked if anyone had gotten my email, and the guy fetched the Association president- but it was NOT Spicer. It was a little old lady named Kim, and she was perfectly happy to accept help in redoing their website, and start talking about how to improve the association.

And during our talks, it became clear that Spicer had been purposely attempting to drive the association into the ground. He'd actually outright said to someone that he wanted to destroy the association and take the money they had for various costs and give it to 4H instead. He's still the VP because they hadn't had the ability to vote him out, especially since they had no one to take his place (because, dying association).

So, I gave her contact info for people I new that would be willing to step in as needed, and I redid the website, and I've got a LAUNDRY list of things the association needs to be doing to stay active and help its community. At the end of April, at the next swap, they'll be having their first annual meeting (which they were supposed to have in January...), which will hopefully include a vote to kick Spicer (and his wife) out, and vote in new board members.

And I am (if all goes well) going to be there to see it go down. Where's the quote about living long enough to see your enemies fall? It really is the sweetest.

[rei-ismyname]

I loved your Exodus Was Right essay and wanted your thoughts abt if/when Hope summers will be back. Exodus and Hope were my favorite duo during Krakoa and I really thought it was gonna be her in the last Krakoan egg

Hey there! 

Thanks! It's a piece I'm really proud of and had a great time researching and writing it. In case you missed it, here it is. Oh boy, do I have thoughts!

Hope and Exodus are faves of mine too. Hope was mostly a background character before Immortal X-Men while Exodus had a mini arc/great moments and generally being extra, he didn't receive a lot of depth. Fortunately, Kieron Gillen saw the opportunity for an odd couple made up of the mutant Messiah (who thinks it's bullshit/has already done the job) and the true believer whose remixed Catholicism has her superceding The Prophet Magneto and Jesus Christ The Nazarene Mutant in importance. 

Fuck, I love them so much and could talk about them forever but I should answer your question. TW a shit load of blasphemy below the cut.

I miss them so much.

My cynical answer is 'in about 3.5 years when they decide to stripmine Messiah Complex and/or Second Coming and redo it with a new coat of paint.' 

My slightly less cynical, more pragmatic answer is 'in some dogshit event/time travel one shot/mini that undoes the wonderful White Hot Room utopia like they did with Tempus in Timeslide.' I don't trust editorial to recognise the extradimensional Krakoa's importance as the one solid W the mutants got. Children and C listers left behind while the main characters fought for the future of everything, nobodies who learned from the mistakes the Quiet Council and others made. Just mutants who lived without the threat of genocide or capitalism and built a post-scarcity society then resurrected ALL the dead mutants and came back for everyone else. 

Just as R-LDS shits on the mutant miracle (and makes Hope/The Five look incompetent) I fear that Marvel has difficulty telling superhero soap opera with oppression analogy and endless misery apart. I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to drag it out the back and shoot it in the head. Err, maybe that one is even more cynical. 

The thing is that Hope was a really interesting character concept that had solid development and an interesting arc until about the second act of AvX. Generation Hope was especially great. After that, she spent a bit of time in X-Force but it didn't last very long and she didn't have a hook. In many ways, Messiah Complex to AvX was a complete arc for her as the Messiah who reversed M Day with Wanda, even though they didn't really stick the landing.

She languished for a few years and eventually showed up leading the MLF murking populists with Zombie Banshee. I thought her actions were in character and her disillusionment with life in general was a fantastic beat. She shot Cyclops in the eye and optic blasted Logan away - I love that for her. Unfortunately Rosenberg didn't do much with that and she was mostly just there for the rest of the run though interestingly Age of X-Man had her as a pseudo-religious figure and symbol. part of the creation myth.

HoxPoX was huge for her as a symbol and plot device that made her the most important person on the island, but she wasn't really explored as a character. The Five were in the background here and there, often in resurrection scenes. They got a closer look in X-Factor but weren't part of the cast. Hope was mad at young Cable for killing her dad, but it only came up once and she didn't spend much time on the moon. Gillen zoomed out and looked at her whole history, identifying that her story wasn't done yet. The Quiet Council wasn't a representative body, but Hope (nudged by Exodus) insisted that she be The Five's voice on the council. It was a genius idea, as she was a counterpoint to their feet of clay and it put her centre stage. I really need to write about Immortal X-Men more as it's fantastic and underrated, with Hope and Exodus' dynamic a highlight. After Judgement Day they really started to hit it off and Sins of Sinister drove a wedge between them, though it didn't last. Hope kicking the shit out of Exodus was excellent, but the peak was them as leaders in the White Hot Room (with Destiny as a almost a Greek chorus hating every second.) 

When X-Men Forever, RotPoX and Uncanny 700 was done and dusted, her arc really was complete and all her history welded together to make sense. An unbroken circle of fire with the Phoenix - birth and death - willingly sacrificing herself so everyone could live. That her presence is felt in the WHR closes the loop and writes a coda for her decades long Messiah arc, even the shit parts. 

Exodus begging to die in Hope's place

A big part of me really wants to let that be the end of her story, a comic book character who truly gets to end on a high note. It sucks that she died but at least she had agency and went out with a bang. Her story has been told and now she's a symbol, or at least she should be. If they bring her back I'd want that to be established first. 

How I'd do it is to have Exodus' religion actually take off. They're a great couple (not like that) and squeezing more juice out of that orange is definitely possible. Hope didn't really like the Acolyte thing and thought Exodus was crazy (he kinda is NGL,) though she eventually leant into a little bit. I wanna see how she'd react to a full fledged religion with her as the Messiah figure. She's been struggling with those expectations since Second Coming, hated by strangers, resented by unbelievers - heretics who thought she was the antichrist tried to kill her before she was even born. Consider what Scott Summers' attitude towards Hope was right from the start up to AvX - he believed without proof that Hope was destined to save the mutants. That's faith right there. He lost his faith when The Romans The Avengers meddled and created The Phoenix Five but Hope was the real deal. 

As I detailed in Exodus was right, Hope rebirthed the Phoenix and the Phoenix impregnated her mother. Immaculate conception shit. She saved the mutant race in AvX and all of existence through bringing the Phoenix back. Her presence in the White Hot Room can be felt in an unexplainable way - enabling resurrection of 16 million slain mutants, some of whom returned to Earth. That's beyond miraculous, it's divine - Hope is much better than Jesus, lol, and Exodus somehow called it. As much as he can be trusted as a reliable narrator, he had a vision of The Phoenix in the 12th century. He reconstructed his faith around it and faith is a powerful thing. Religions have been started from a lot less and all Hope's miracles have proof. 

Rasputin IV would join up in a heartbeat, maybe Cypher the golden idiot too. Not sure how Exodus would do as self-appointed Pope but he's grown a lot and there's a good chance he'd reconstruct his faith again without the Catholicism. Human nonsense. Jesus has been holding out on a second coming for 2000+ years, whereas Hope had access time travel and did it in a few years. Jesus resurrected a couple, that's a lazy afternoon for Hope. She shoots bad faith assholes like Selene in the head and Jesus would never. Jesus died for our sins, but Hope died for our lives. There were 250K Krakoans and 16 million mutants returned in the White Hot Room - that's a huge base of potential followers. I'm an atheist but if Hope resurrected me and I watched her die rebirthing the Phoenix I'd believe the hype. Maybe even subscribe to Exodus' newsletter. 

No boring holy wars or wackadoo fundamentalism. No exploding communion wafers written by someone who doesn't understand religion at all, let alone Catholicism. No inquisitions or crusades, except against Mister Sinister. Schisms, though? Hell yeah. I wanna see Exodus get excommunicated for declaring himself an anti-pope. I want arguments over the canonisation of Magneto, a reformation to include Louise Spalding as a prophet and objections to Apocalypse as Satan. Quibbling over Exodus' translation of scripture and the disaster of writing the new new testament. A rando former Zoroastrian getting all Manichean. Jean being like 'sure, I'm the Holy Spirit. Glad you're having fun.' White Hot Roomers and Krakoans with very different perspectives, maybe even an East-West Schism deal. Exodus trying to canonise his dead boyfriend. Everyone calling bullshit on his vow of celibacy (Krakoa is for lovers!)

I need it to break containment ('wow, that really is some Messiah shit') and then another schism over whether humans are allowed. Mutant supremacists becoming the minority. Reverent predictions of the Second Krakoan Age. Sure, we could take the obvious predictable route of having it be a violent disaster, but I want it to go really well. It's the mutant link to the numinous and metaphysical, not some dreary temporal modern nation state. It's Hope, faith, love, and saving the fucking world. Everyone is important. 

That should be democratic and complicated! Secularists with purely cultural involvement trying to decentralise the faith. Pagan offshoots that celebrate Krakoa the miracle genius loci but reject Hope's divinity. A strong movement from Buddhists arguing that they have a duty for a Bodhisattva Vow - to bring the Second Krakoan Age to the entire universe. 

Arguments - Is Cable, who raised the Messiah, a prophet? What about Cyclops, the prodigal Grandfather who's married to the Phoenix and hosted the Phoenix when the Messiah doubted herself? The rest of the Phoenix Five? What about Destiny? Sure, Hope is the Messiah, but is Phoenix the Holy Spirit? Is Mass/Scripture in English or Latin? Or Krakoan? There's plenty of other gods cruising around and wandering the earth - how do they feel about that? Someone would float the idea of a polytheistic pantheon. And on and on and on. 

So yeah, I'd set that up, make it a wondrous thing that unifies a lost people. Then have Hope return for some kind of save everyone mission, and be like 'what the actual fuck dude? Stop kneeling and chanting please, I'm not the fucking Messiah. Get out of my way, I need it to do the thing to save all of existence ... ... ... FUCK! Goddamn it. What's that? Yeah, I did that. No I haven't been in Heaven, I've been in the White Hot ... God fucking damnit. How many of you motherfuckers are there? I can't deal with this.' Hope manifests some Phoenix flame in anger and believers start speaking in tongues and chanting 'Exodus was right' in Krakoan that's drifted 15-20 years from the Krakoan Hope knows. 

I want to really lean into the Messiah thing and explore the tension of a living Messiah. The awkwardness of being worshiped and the inevitable ecclesiastical drift. I want to see Exodus committed to building the mutant church and dealing with people actually listening to him for once. Continuing his growth as an altruist who cooperates with people - balanced against the fact that he is literally a prophet. This will never, ever happen, but I would love it so much. Would she reject it completely? Her messianic works and link to the divine are empirical, plus it seems to be a positive force in the world. How would believers react to the rejection, to her presence? Does it matter?

It'd be the equivalent of the Second Coming of Christ, except he's a gun girl that grew up drinking piss who DEFINITELY performs miracles on the reg (even by mutant standards.) Exodus would be delighted yet troubled. A symbol that's walking around swearing and picking their nose is more complicated than a perfect dead Messiah.

[faithsxoxo]

hi ! i hope you’re having a good day :) could you write a reagan ridley x fem/gn reader one shot, totally up to you ! i don’t really have anything in mind so feel free to play around with it however you like, would love if it had a bunch of fluff though ! thank you sm, stay hydrated and take care of yourself <33

pairings :: reagan ridley x fem!reader (established relationship) warnings :: none note :: my girl needs WAY more wlw appreciation (i love her)

The mechanical door to Reagan's office slams open, making you flinch. The brunette storms in, clutching a pile of crumpled papers.

"Hey, Reag, you alright?" You stand from your designated spot near her desk.

"I'm fine. No big deal, just my dad screwing me over as always," She grumbles. "He's decided that my work from the past month isn't up to 'Ridley standard' so I have to redo it all."

You can see Reagan visibly crumple as she flips through the pages she spent so long on. You didn't have a clue what any of it was about, but you knew it was complicated.

"I'm sorry," You whisper as you wrap your arms around her torso.

"It's not your fault," She mumbles, leaning into your touch.

"I know. Maybe I could help?" You rest your head in the crook of her neck. "We can go home.. have a spa day.. watch a movie.. stop worrying about this bullshit."

Reagan grins softly and shakes her head. "Tempting, but I have a deadline."

With that you can see the shift in her demeanor. She frowns and pulls away from your hold, reaching for the papers once again.

"No," You grab her arm and gently pull her away. "Not happening. We're going home if you like it or not."

"But-"

"No. I suddenly came on with an illness because I spent too long in the genetics department, and you came to take care of me. No buts," You link her arm with yours and lead her to the door.

"Twenty four hours, no work. Got it?" You give Reagan a stern look.

She shakes her head with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah. Got it."

Barely twenty minutes later, Reagan is sitting cross legged in front of you.

"Ugh, it's cold," She winces as you apply the face mask.

"Its hydrating. Alright, pick out a movie. I'm gonna go check on the popcorn," You finish with a peck on the lips, before skipping off to the kitchen of your small apartment. She had only moved in with you a few months prior, for your one year anniversary. Reagan had been desperate to escape from living with her dad any longer.

You take a moment to admire her while shes distracted. Reagan in her full beauty, splayed out on your cream couch. Her face is painted green, yet in your eyes she's still the pinacle of perfection. You take note of how relaxed she looks compared to the tense bundle of nerves she had been previously.

"Are you going to get the popcorn or are you going to keep ogling me?" Reagan calls across the room.

"I dont know, ogling seems pretty tempting," You grin back.

She rolls her eyes with a small huff, but you can see the corners of her lips turning up slightly. You swiftly grab the popcorn and return to your place on the couch.

"Hey," She grins softly at you as you curl into her side.

"Hey. What movie did you pick out?"

"Space Jam."

"Ugh, seriously?" You shake your head and giggle.

"What?" Reagan protests. "It's a good movie!"

"Suuuure. You gonna bring out your old prom dress with it?" You tease.

She smacks you on the arm playfully.

"It would be an honor to see me in that dress, I don't think you deserve it."

"Oh, right, after I've spent all this time giving you a spa day this is how you treat me," You cross your arms and begin to pull away.

"Maybe I'll just go eat popcorn by myself."

Reagan pulls you back towards her, wrapping her arms around your midsection.

"Too late, you're stuck with me," She announces, giving you a kiss on the cheek.

You sigh, leaning back into her.

"I guess I can live with that."

Reagan turns on the movie as you snuggle into her. With the dim light of the TV, both of you eventually drift off in eachothers arms, finally in complete peace.

[the-fandom-is-now-my-life]

Because I think I might get around writing for most of the men at some point for the future au I wanted to see or already arrange how many kids they would have

Jin would have two kids in complete accident, he was very happy by his father's discontent at his heir's lack of kids but things happened, the person who celebrated them the most was the grampa. Maybe two boys or a boy and a baby girl.

Thoma screams girl dad, doesn't he? Just imagine him braiding her hair for evening tea and being a menace to any boys she brings home with Alan if they break her heart, he is still a delinquent at heart.

For Luca I'm split between wanting him to have two boys to mirror him and his brother or a spoiled girl he plays knight for, sigh, such a hard decision...

Kaito, how did he reproduce?

Alan, two kids, one of each, no hesitation, he has a ‘little princess’ who he is nervous of hurting accidentally when he holds her but is as much of a wild beast as his brother. They like going hiking and getting chased by their dad when they get too close to a lake or too far away from the path.

In Leo’s scenario i see him with a daughter that managed to soften out his meanness (while she is around so she doesn't pick up on much of his sass, kids don't make miracles) and left him with another on the way that I also feel would be another girl. He is just a bit annoyed he doesn't have to redo the nursery for content but whatever.

Sho I KNOW that in his fic I said ‘nephew’ but imagine a baby girl that was playing with her family before she was even born and had you two scattering to find a girl's name at the hospital. It's just the beginning of her mischievous streak. Sho thinks it's his karma from being a thug as a teen.

I don't know why but I can see Romeo having three kids? Maybe because Gucci had like five kids or it's to a certain degree to assure himself the MC wants to stay with him and wouldn't leave out of the blue 💔 attachment issues bb.

Ritsu originally only wanted one child, he was an only child and was happy getting all the attention, but not everything went as he planned so he got twin boys.

Taiga, why would you do this to yourself??

Haru already has a son, peekaboo, but when he grows up he accidentally has a boy who he starts giving some minor tasks around, separating some leaves for the animals, brushing peekaboo’s hair, plucking weeds, etc etc. Don't look at him like that! He need all the help he can get.

Towa has girls! They like fairy tales with happy endings and always bother their dad to tell them your love story. When they become toddlers they go through a vegan phase to mimick him and will cry if they have meat or egg on their plate.

Ren was 99% sure he was going to die a virgin. He ends up with a girl he plays games with everyday after work. Borderline ipad kid.

Can grandpa Ed even have kids? Lol if he has I think I could see him with just one vampy baby that sits next to him and drinks tears off a sippy cup while his dad watches iceberg videos. Another ipad kid.

Rui (if somehow you broke his curse) is someone who I don't think would have kids, or at least not planned jajs but maybe one girl that he ends up overprotecting from playboy men like him in his youth.

Lyca I want to say they have a litter just for the joke of him being a werewolf but he doesn't seem to have any siblings so the joke doesn't get far :(

I see Subaru with only one child if any. He loves the little thing but feels he is intruding on their privacy, whenever he touches his preteen/teen kid he feels sorry enough to apologize.

I see Haku as someone who would be pretty chill with his life after Darkwick and go along with it as it happened. If you two had a child, great; if you didn't, great too. Very go with the flow parenting too.

Zenji he is dead wth jajajaj

Yuri NEEDS a little child that is always so impressed with their papa and he gets to brag about being the best or something. Please just don't let him be a strict teacher so your kid will follow his steps, he thinks it's for the best of their future but you can coerce him into just giving a very lengthy lecture about anomalous medicine without tests.

Jiro HAS to have a boy that is so similar to his uncle 🥹 always cooing since he is able to vocalize and chasing his dad around to get uppies while he tends to the backyard filled with herbs.

[glassladyoftheopera]

In Stars and Time as a Musical Follow Up: Costumes

Okay, a topic I may have enough thoughts on to make a full post about; costumes! (and a little bit stage craft in some places.)

This is mostly about what people would do if they wanted to actually put on a live version of this, versus treating it like a concept album. I am however going to mostly ignore cost restraints outside of like, truly ridiculous stuff.

So first, some general notes.

The color palette: we will still have all of the costumes and sets be in grayscale, with the red used in the 'say it's name' and Act 5 sequences probably mostly being done through lighting. We will not have the actors use skin paint though. I'm not that mean. The audience can buy the idea that the world is meant to be black and white just fine without it.

Materials: I would avoid overly synthetic looking fabrics to maintain the 'vaguely fantasy medieval' vibe, but I wouldn't worry about using actual natural fabric. Comfort and cleaning are higher priorities.

Ensemble: Not much to say about them! Just that the production would have to be careful to make sure everyone is in truly neutral grayscale and not let too warm / cool of grays slip in.

Okay, let's talk characters.

Siffrin is tricky basically every option for interpreting the cloak has it's own pros and cons. Having sleeves means better movement options for the actor, but they only show up in a handful of images in the game. Full poncho means we get Full Triangle Vibe, but it would hamper movement a lot. Cloak with a pinned closed front means we see more of the rest of the costume more often, which I wouldn't mind, but it does break up the classic triangle silhouette. It's honestly still my pick though. Then there's the eye patch. I know some shows just give characters eye patches, and as long as you're careful staging the dances it will probably be fine? But I assume semi-mesh eye patches for performers are a thing, so I'd try to find one of those. Lastly, hat. It probably couldn't be as absurdly big as in game without casting major shadows we don't want on Siffrin's face, so they'll need a slightly narrower brim and we'd keep the hat pinned in a more back position.

Mirabelle's outfit probably wouldn't need to change much, but her little fingerless gloves would need some reinforcement at the top to keep them from falling down her arms. There's also the matter of her needing to have her sword with her most of the show; it might need to be a little smaller than a true rapier, but Shakespeare shows have duels and such so we can make something work.

Odile wouldn't be particularly difficult to costume as long as you don't make her sweater / jacket too heavy and put some straps on her shoes. Fake glasses aren't hard too bad, but some rigging in the back to keep them on will be helpful.

Isabeau I'm sorry but your sleeves have to be a little less gigantic, it will get in the way of the audience being able to read your gestures / get caught on stuff. They can still be long and loose though. Also, in real life the stripes on his pants being that wide could be an issue in terms of reading where he is on stage with the set / looking kind of goofy, so I might make them just a bit thinner.

Bonnie... I do not know how to make your weird pillow hat work in real life. For most game accurate version you'd have to make it completely from scratch. Something like a beret in terms of construction but... big. And probably held up internally with stuffing and wire. The alternative would probably be a big sunhat, and if you want to include Bonnie getting a new hat just slightly redo that scene to find something else that's similar.

Heck yeah its time for Loop! Now, we're definitely not doing a full star head, that wouldn't let the actor do any of that good emoting. But! I think a lower face mask could still work. You might have to hide the actor's mic under there to make sure they could be heard, but it's definitely possible. They would definitely need a custom wig for spikiness, plus a star-like head piece to top it off. Now the rest of it... I mean, you could go full body suit. I'd probably do that as the first choice, though maybe adding a wispy loin cloth or tie around the middle for modesty depending on your performer / venue. But! Different productions could get really creative with it, as long as the base still has them black and covered with stars and there's the star in their chest. Add in some specific design quirks that are only elsewhere found in Sif and The King's costumes, but just tiny little detail type things? Chef's kiss.

Speaking of the King! He unfortunately does need to be Very Big, but thankfully Broadway shows can pull that off! Something similar to the Wizard head in Wicked could work here, where only some parts of the set piece move (mechanically or via puppetry) and the actor is a voice over. The hair could be a mix of practice and projections. The tears that show up in the fight would probably also need to be projected. The hard thing would be getting it to disappear quickly enough. Maybe the last bit before the loop resets is always in front of the curtain? Could be cool. A less well funded production would probably have to either use mostly projections or re-work to use less moving parts.

Last up Euphrasie! Since she has a long dress getting her some extra height wouldn't be too hard, and she doesn't have to dance or anything so that helps. But! She does need to do the Act 4 finale dramatic kneel down, which is harder to work around. If we cast a tall actor and just use lifts in her shoes, it could work. She wouldn't be as super tall as she would be if we used hidden stilts, but I like the image of her cupping Sif's face, it goes all the way back to the comics, I gotta keep it.

What about y'all? How would you dress everyone? Any little details you'd want to see? And tricks to deal with the problems I thought of? Have fun!

[king-candybug-backup]

Do you have any writing tips? I wanna get into writing my own fics and such but im really not sure how to start all that

Especially when it comes to pacing a story.. </3

UMMM oh man, this is a hard question lmao, I'm actually not very skilled on a "technical" level, so I always struggle figuring out what kind of advice to give 😅 I guess my main piece of advice would be to brainstorm about the fic you want to write before actually WRITING it, like, I had a whole thought map in the early stages of planning Kill Switch where I'd explore different paths the story could go in, different kind of interactions people could have or where I'd want overarching plots to lead to, basically just write down whatever ideas come into your head, and then from there, you can clean it up and refine it until it feels like a doable story. I had a lot of plot threads for Kill Switch that I ended up scrapping because it didn't feel right to the characters, or completely redoing them until it felt like it all connected fairly well. I also wrote a lot of scenes out of order, like how I mentioned before with chapter 8, I actually wrote the vast majority of chapter 8 before I even finished chapter 2, since that was where my motivation was strongest at the time. It's okay to write stuff disconnected and out-of-order, you can always connect things later! Sometimes I'll write a scene, end up not liking most of it, but will find spots to fit smaller parts of the scene or use pieces of dialogue elsewhere or something, so basically, just write whatever inspiration comes to you in the moment, and you can always repurpose it later if it doesn't end up feeling right. Another thing I'd say is to deep-dive into content about the characters you're writing, rewatch scenes with them until you have a good feel of how they talk and how they act, that sort of stuff. (I'm lucky in that I have a 2-hour character analysis video I can jump back to for inspiration, but y'know. 😂)

As for pacing, that kind of thing is entirely dependant on the kind of story you want to tell. Since I'm doing a long and painful deep dive into a character's mental issues and having him build unlikely connections with people he's hurt severely, that kind of thing needs a LOT of build-up in order to be believable. If everybody just started getting along with Turbo at like, chapter 5, it would feel really rushed and cheap, especially given how much baggage the whole group has with him. (Particularly Calhoun (in that trusting a Cy-bug feels COMPLETELY irrational and like a death trap waiting to happen) and Ralph (in that he's SEVERELY protective of Vanellope, and Turbo basically gaslit him into breaking her kart in front of her and totally destroying their relationship, ON TOP of the fact that he ruined her entire life for several years, like... yeah, would need A LOT of convincing in order for him to believe Turbo has the potential to be better. That's where you have to sit and think "Okay, how can I sprinkle in character development in a way that the other characters can actually see happening?"))

It's figuring out little details like that, what kind of relationships you want to develop and in which way, that makes up what the pacing should feel like. You can't rush trust, you can't rush meaningful, believable relationships, you have to build them up naturally. If you're working with characters that already have a good relationship established in canon, then that's great in that you don't have to worry about that part, you can just have fun putting them into whatever scenarios you want! I would recommend not jumping into long, multi-chapter fics right away though, as those take a lot of patience and work. Try doing some one-shots or shorter-form fics to get a feel for what you like! At the end of the day, the only advice I can offer is the only advice I ever truly take to heart, and that's making sure you're having fun first and foremost. It sounds cliche, but there's literally no point in writing fanfiction if you're not having fun with it. Just go wild! Even if you start out "bad", literally everybody does, you HAVE to write some "bad" stories before you can really get into the groove, lol. If you've had writing experience before, that's definitely a big help, but don't worry about it if you haven't, there's no time limit in regards to when you have to start writing ofc. :) Just dive into it, try not to overthink things, and HAVE FUN! (And always keep in mind, you creating something yourself will forever make you superior to the incompetent shitheads that think using gen-AI makes them "artists/writers" lmao SO YOU'LL ALWAYS HAVE THAT GOING FOR YOU! (half-joking but not really 😂))

[bersford]

MAFIA X COP

mafia boss!clay beresford x cop!reader

warnings: NSFW / SMUT ; sex tapes ; kidnapping ; (unprotected) PIV sex ; slow burn

writers note: this is all fiction and probably won’t happen in real life, im not too educated in the whole mafia stuff so if there are any inconsistencies i am sorry !

You're a detective for the NYPD (new york police department) and you're running an investigation on a robbery - when you realize clay, a very powerful and dangerous man, had done it, you quickly shut down your investigation, not wanting to get involved with him. you're completely oblivious to the fact that clay had already found out every single detail about you the day you joined the force. from your appearance, to your favorite color, to a super top secret sex tape you made in college…

Clay is sitting in his hotel suite, nursing a whiskey as he watches you on top of some scrawny guy. the footage is black and white and shows you bouncing up and down on the boys lap, your back arching at a certain angle that makes your tits look amazing.

Clay sets down his drink once he feels the stirring in his pants. he grabs the phone and dials a number from memory,

“Vinnie, get me y/f/n y/l/n.” he says firmly and quickly. “Get you her…” Vinnie repeats with his thick italian accent,

“how, boss?” He asks, needing more info so he doesn’t screw anything up.

“Just bring her to my suite, as soon as possible. And listen, vinnie… be gentle, yeah?” clay replies, his tone softer than usual.

the next day, as you’re walking briskly to your apartment building, two men emerge from the shadows. one clamps a gloved hand over your mouth, before you can scream, while the other puts a bag over your head.

you get thrown into a van with three other men, the two that had kindapped you and the driver.

The men carefully guide you to sit on the van's bench seat, their grip firm but not painful. One of them speaks in a gruff whisper, “Don't make this harder than it needs to be, Detective. The boss just wants to talk.”

“W-who are you?” you ask, your voice cracking.

“Name’s vinnie, that’s marco and the driver there isn’t important. We’re taking you to clay beresford.” Vinnie grins, as if he had just told you incredible news.

“Beresford…” you repeat, the name familiar on your tongue.

Vinnie chuckles darkly. “That's right, dollface. Beresford. Now, you're gonna come with us nice and quiet, ain't ya? No fuss.”

You sit quietly, leg shaking in … fear? anticipation? just anxiety in general maybe?

They bring you to clays hotel suite discreetly. Vinnie knocks on the door and as expected, clay opens it. “leave us.” he waves off vinnie and marco.

Clay undoes your blindfold and it takes your eyes a moment to adjust to the light, your pupils dilating. “Clay,” you greet him coolly.

“Y/f/n,” he greets with the same cool tone. his gaze travels up and down your body, stopping shortly to take in your heaving chest before continuing down to your hips. “you have no idea how long i’ve been waiting for this.”

“What do you want?” you ask, trying to mask your fear.

Clay steps closer, his hands roaming over your sides “I think you know exactly what i want.” his hand reaches to unbutton the first button on your blouse.

“You want to fuck a detective?” you ask in disbelief.

“It’s more than that, darling.” he murmurs, his finger popping the button open, “I want you to be mine. To be my wife. To carry my name. To bear my children.”

You reach up to redo the button on your blouse. this is crazy. you’re a cop, for gods sake! you can’t just marry a mafia boss. i mean- it goes against everything you believe in! “I can’t do that.”

“Can’t or won’t?” he lets his hands drop to his sides, “last time i checked you weren’t spoken for. No husband, no boyfriend.”

“Just because im single doesn’t mean i can be with you.” You state firmly.

Clay chuckles darkly, “and why not?” He moves closer, slowly sliding his hands around your waist to pull you flush against him. “i can give you everything. money, power, protection, anything you want or need, i have it ready for you.” He murmurs against your lips, leaning in to press his against yours.

You lean up, ready to lose yourself in his lips before backing away. “no, no, i can’t do this.” You rub your temples, frustrated.

“Come on, what’s stopping you?” clay asks, crossing his arms.

“I just can’t.” You furrow your brows, confused as to why this is all happening and how it happened so quickly.

“Your lips say that, but your body says otherwise.” you’re back in the position you were before, with his arms around your waist and bodies pressed together “Can’t you see it? our bodies fit together perfectly, we’re made for each other.” Clay chuckles, exaggerating his words in a playful manner.

You back away again “i- i took an oath to serve and protect-,”

“Fuck oaths. Y/f/n, im telling you that you can have everything in the world if you just say you’ll be mine and you’re thinking about some oath?”

You stay silent, feeling way too many emotions to say anything.

Clay rubs his temples, unsure of how to convince you. “Look, i know this is a lot to take in, but i’ve been fascinated with you since the day you joined the force. I promise you, if you just say yes, you’ll be the happiest woman alive.”

He leans in close, too close, close enough for his lips to touch yours. To his surprise, you don’t pull away. He smiles softly against your lips as your tongues tangle around each other.

You’re both left breathless and panting when you pull away, “you’re a crime boss..” you whisper against his lips. “I’m a businessman.” he corrects you before claiming your lips again and letting his hands wander all over your body.

Clay lifts your leg up to hook on his hip, sliding his hand down to your ass then lifting you up. “Wrap your legs around me, darling.” He murmurs against your lips and you do as he says without thinking twice.

He carries you to the bedroom and lays you down on the king sized bed, one hand on your waist and the other spreading your legs. He starts unbuttoning your blouse eagerly, his lips still pressed against yours.

His lips wander down to your neck, sucking and biting gently. Your blouse is now half open, your tits almost spilling out of your bra.

“Say you’ll be mine, y/f/n.” he murmurs against your lips as his hands slide down your unzip your skirt. “say it.”

You pause for a moment then murmur “I’ll be yours..” against his lips.

Those three words seem to heighten clays desire, his movements become more hungry and less calculated. He slides your skirt down then takes a moment to admire your naked form.

“Holy…” He breathes then presses a kiss to the center of your chest, then your stomach, then just above the waistline of your panties. “a body like yours deserves to be worshipped.” he murmurs then crawls back up to kiss your lips.

You kiss him back hungrily, now starting to undress him. once his dress shirt is open he shrugs it off and reveals a set of toned abs. his hands swiftly unbuckle his belt and slide his pants off. your gaze drifts down his body in appreciation, stopping at his boxers to appreciate the bulge.

“Like what you see?” he smirks then hooks his fingers in your panties, silently asking for permission to tug them down. you nod and he pulls them down your legs then tosses them on the floor, reaching his hand behind your back to undo your bra.

His gaze zeros on your tits, he leans in and presses a kiss or two on your breast before sucking on your nipple gently. He releases it with a soft pop then hooks your legs over his waist.

Clay aligns himself with your entrance then slowly pushes in “stop me if it’s too much,”

You throw your head back on his pillow and moan at the feeling of his length stretching you out.

Clays eyes are shut and his brows are furrowed as he groans, pushing deeper and deeper until his base disappears inside of you.

“Oh god” he moans, stilling inside you for a moment before he starts thrusting slowly “you’re so fucking tight.”

His hands guide your hips, moving them at the same speed as his thrusts at an angle that hits your perfect spot.

“Right there!” you throw your head back, your back arching slightly, signaling that you’re close.

“That’s it, baby, let go.” he smirks and keeps thrusting, gradually getting faster and harder.

You let out a high pitched moan, your legs twitching beneath him as you find your release.

Clay feels your walls clench around him and the feeling is… incredible. “fuck” he moans, “good girl.”

He holds back, determined to make you come again before he does. his fingers slide down between your thighs, rubbing and teasing your clit as he watches you writhe beneath him.

His thumb presses down and rubs your clit in time with his thrusts. His focus solely on your pleasure. “god, you’re gorgeous” his gaze locked on your face as you moan his name.

Clay lifts your hips higher, hooking your legs on his shoulders and thrusting in again, the new position allowing him to hit that perfect button inside you.

You let out a loud moan, biting your lip afterwards.

“That’s it, let me hear you.” he smiles and kisses your lips gently.

Those words make you break, your body shuddering beneath him, your back arching and your eyes rolled back. clay feels your walls clench around him once more and he lets himself let go. “fuck… fuck, FUCK!”

He stills.

Clay pulls slowly pulls out, his sheets now soaked in both of your juices and cum leaking out of your pussy.

He takes a couple of deep breaths then gets up, grabbing some paper towels “let me clean you up” he says softly and start wiping.

Once you’re both somewhat clean, he lies down next to you and pulls you close, “Thank you.” he murmurs against your neck, leaving a soft kiss on the back of it.

“For what?” you smile, amused and a bit confused.

“For agreeing to be mine.” he places another kiss to your neck then settles against the pillow, ready to fall asleep with you in his arms.

[voidsquidd]

I've made an analysis of mikaela's issues with blood drinking in ons before, but I want to redo it on tblr becuz I can write more and organize my thoughts better, so that's what I'm going to do.

TW// ED, SA

1. Vampire blood

Firstly, someone on twt brought up if Mikaela could survive off krul's blood forever.

In my opinion no, he couldn't.

Despite having access to vampire blood, he still craves human blood. The pain, the thirst, it's all still there. This gives me the impression that vampire blood isn't as good as human blood, that a vampire cannot survive off their own kind and must drink from a human at some point. He also has to question how long the blood will work. He wouldn't need to do this if he could live off it permanently. Vampire blood is not enough.

Additionally, he still attacks ppl while having access to vampire blood. Even dropping a vial of krul's blood to instead attack a human.

If her blood was able to dissolve the thirst, he wouldn't be struggling even while drinking. He would be able to control himself properly becuz he wouldn't have any need for human blood. His body wouldn't crave it if it didn't require it.

I'm not saying Krul's blood completely didn't work, it's shown to make him stronger several times in the series, but it never seems to last as long: he drinks but then it's shown he is back to being just as thirsty/more thirsty a while later.

He has to carry around a bag of vials with him to give him strength. The other vampires don't appear to have this. While they can drink from humans they find, they don't know when they'll be able to do this, since there aren't many humans around. So it seems they're kind of expected to just deal with the thirst, and Mikaela has special treatment from krul.

To me, krul supplying Mikaela with so much extra blood shows he needs more than the vampires who drink human blood. This is backed up by the fact he asks krul for more of her blood.

After losing control, he asks her to increase the amount she gives him on his next mission. So, while he may have lived off the amount she was giving previously, it seems the dosage he needs increases overtime, as his body goes an extended period without proper human blood, the need for energy worsens and so does his thirst.

He even says on some of the panels I've shown that her blood isn't working anymore (I genuinely don't know how it could be up for debate whether or not he can live off krul's blood. This literally confirms he can't).

Another thing I noticed is that the amount of times he's attacked ppl for blood has also increased.

In season 1, he drinks a vial of vampire blood and is able to resist the urges the whole fight with guren, even overpowering him while holding back slightly (he only needs help from ferid when he underestimates the humans and gets caught in a trap).

He even gets hurt -- stabbed twice -- and has no issues.

Later on, he snaps and attacks several children, or at least struggles not to stare, and almost gives in to the thirst. The vials of blood aren't working, and he is thirsty still, to the point of almost hurting ppl. He struggles to walk in some scenes in the anime and it's noticeably getting worse, even with the extra blood krul gave him -- it is worse.

He didn't struggle like that in the earlier chapters/season He wasn't seen staring at humans or attacking them like that despite being near them multiple times. It's only in season 2 that this behaviour begins to grow noticeable.

2. Reasons

I think it's pretty clear that his issues with drinking blood stem from what ferid did to him and the way he percieves the vampires. I've made a whole analysis on what ferid did to Mikaela so I won't talk too in dept about it here.

The way he was treated would make him have a very negative connection towards drinking. It's mentioned drinking is pleasurable and he would most likely be reminded of what ferid did to him whenever he felt that pleasure again. This would cause him to avoid that feeling as much as he could, because he doesn't want to remember that.

Not only is it a reminder of what ferid did to him, but it's also a reminded of what he sees is the cause of his family's death. He went to ferid to try and escape, and got everyone killed.

In that moment, there would be a feeling of powerlessness.

When ferid drank from him, he felt powerless, like he didn't have control of the situation. When he watched his family get killed, he begged ferid to stop; he had no control over that situation.

Blood, the pleasure from drinking, has so many connections to control and loss of control for Mikaela.

And I do think having control matters to Mikaela. One reason is how he gets seemingly happier once he regains more control.

When yuu relies on him to make a plan, when they agree to not get used by anyone again, to do what they want instead of having to follow someone else's plan, falling for other people's traps. And when Mikaela is a demon and isn't losing his control to thirst. He seems to get a little less serious and takes things more lightly. He isn't stressing about yuu as much and seems to act a little bit more like his childhood self.

I've seen some ppl say this is removing his character development to make him go back to that personality, but I genuinely think he's acting like that again becuz he's happy he isn't a vampire anymore. He isn't being controlled by his thirst, it isn't a constant battle. He is regaining control of himself and the situation.

He wants to be reliable and he couldn't be when he was a vampire, at least not as reliable as he wanted.

This shows he struggles with needing to be in control, which relates back to blood drinking.

This is also where I start making connections between his behaviour and some aspects of eating disorders. While not all of it can be connected, I think there are correlations in the way he starves himself out of fear of drinking + a need to show control, and the way certain eds cause ppl to starve out of fear over various things + to control something.

Another reason for it is that he doesn't want to see himself as a monster. Yuu and the other children, Mikaela himself too, were all victims of the vampires and how they treated humans. Yuu especially seemed to hate them, openly talking about how he would save everyone.

Mikaela wouldn't want to be seen as a monster. he had no idea how yuu would feel if he found out Mikaela was a vampire. They didn't have contact for 4 yrs and after what happened to their family + Mikaela thinking it was his fault, it would make sense for him to believe yuu would hate him for it. Whether he was a full vampire or not he could believe it makes sense for yuu to hate him. So obviously he would try to remain at least a little human

"I don't want you to see me as some grotesque creature."

Another reason is that he never wanted to be a vampire. He was ready to die with his family, like he deserved. He was the one who led them into that trap to begin with and all except yuu were dead because of his plan. He deserved to die by his family's side, to stay with them in the afterlife. It's what was best for him after getting them killed, it's what he wanted, to be with them forever.

Krul didn't let that happen and he was forced to drink blood, to be a vampire like the one who killed his family. This is, again, a moment where he loses control. He isn't even given the choice to die when he wants, when he has nothing left. He is forced by someone else to live as the thing he hates.

He didn't want that, so he would be fine dying of thirst, showing he was able to resist it until death. That would seperate him from the vampires, show his self control. Even if he wasn't ready to die until he saw yuu again, he was still shown to be ready to die once they met. All he wanted was to warn yuu and he would let the thirst kill him becuz that was better than drinking human blood, better than becoming a monster. He would hate himself even more if he did that and that intense hatred would have given him so much aversion towards drinking.

I will be making a part 2 discussing more about his character

I can't post anymore images so I'll be leaving this here and writing a second part going over some more things about his character.

Mikaela is one of my favourite characters ever so I really want to go over every aspect about him

[blaberid]

@look-back-month-challenge day 15!

Have you ever made a custom?

Oh boy, I guess I have to show my mime Pullip to the world. Don't zoom in. She's my first ever full doll repaint, from nearly 20 years ago, and I went in pretty blind so with those factors considered… I don't think she's completely heinous. That said, I would like to wipe her and redo her someday.

I guess my 3D printed figures would count as customs? I didn't make the 3D models, but I painted them myself. Here are Shep and Pietro with an official amiibo figure.

Then there's my trio of Hairdorables from a few years back. I liked their sculpts, but not their default faceup styles, so I repainted all three of them. Please ignore the condition these are in; I'm not sure if there's a place for them in my collection so I've just been keeping them in my WIP pile. Also, the face paint one on the left is melting so she definitely needs to be completely redone lol. I did use a different type of paint on her. Duly noted.

I have done a few minor repaints as well, my most recent was giving Magic Mixlings Pixlings Wynter brown eyes. <3

[notdefendingtaylor]

I don't understand how and why swifties and Taylor herself think of Reputation as a rock influenced album. Last night I listened to it and it's top to bottom EDM with taylors voice laid over it. Specifically in songs like Gorgeous, Dancing with Our Hands Tied, King of My Heart, and ...Ready for It?

YES. I was just gonna post about rep because they previewed "reputation (taylor's version)" on handmaid's tale.

i've always maintained that the production on rep is actually some of the strongest across all of her albums - like you said, it's got an EDM, dance, slightly club feel (although doesn't push that sound so far that it's not easy to listen to). while joseph kahn is controversial, he boosted this feel a lot with the endgame mv- tay hanging out with ed sheeran and cool-looking extras, drinking and dancing late into the night.

to your point, wiki characterizes rep this way: Swift produced the album with Jack Antonoff, Max Martin, and Shellback, to create an electropop, synth-pop, and R&B record with elements of urban styles such as hip-hop, trap, and EDM. no mention of rock!!!

circling back to the rep tv preview - it's exactly what i predicted, a completely useless redo of her strongest production at that time. she doesn't need the money, 'owning' the original recording at this point feels goofy since she can reperform the music without restriction at shows, and it does feel like it undermines the original work, to me. taken as a microcosm of her life, her need to recontextualize and rewrite her history is sad to me. why not celebrate the album for what it was at that point in her life instead of trying to undercut scooter's pennies per replay?