#its nice doing this and not having to adjust it to a specific character but rather your url

[pathfuckery]

Pathfinder 2e New Player Resource Masterpost

Hey there! Looking to get into PF2e? You’re making a great decision, but you may not know where to start! I’ve put together a handy list of resources you can consult while getting into the game. As always, if you ever have questions about PF2e, please don’t hesitate to reach out! I love this system, and I love helping new players!

Official Resources

The Archives of Nethys are the official host for the PFSRD. You can find ALL of the rules of the game for free there. Literally everything that is not Golarian specific is on the Archives, and all of it is laid out incredibly well. It may not look quite as flashy as beyond, but its search functions and layout are superior. 

If you buy one product from Paizo as you get started, I HAVE to recommend to BEGINNER BOX. This thing is fantastic. It simplifies the rules, gives you GORGEOUS character sheets that highlight all of your abilities, and have a fun little adventure that dovetails nicely into either their Troubles in Otari or Abomination Vaults modules. (As someone who has run both of those now, they’re both fantastic as well and I highly recommend them.) 

Beyond the Beginner Box, I would also suggest picking up a Core Rulebook. It is true that all of the rules information is already laid out in the Archives, but having a CRB on handd is nice for the art, plus the book is laid out incredibly well. If you can’t afford a CRB at this time, though, you’ll still be good! You might also watch for Humble Bundles, as they often have great Pathfinder packs on there, and sometimes it includes Physical CRBs, in addition to a load of other great PDFs. 

When looking to GM, I recommend the following pages in the CRB first. I’ve also linked the corresponding Archive pages: 

Introduction, Pages 7-31. This will give you the rundown on key terms, how characters are created, the base flow of the game, and the action system (the best part of pf2e!)

Playing the Game, Pages 443-481. This is the longest section of the rulebook to read, but there’s a lot of great stuff in here. This will give you the rules for checks, combat, conditions, resolving actions, and the differences between encounter, exploration, and downtime mode. The most important is encounter and exploration mode, so you can feel free to only skim the downtime mode section of this part. 

The Gamemastering section has a lot of great stuff, but for a GM, your two most important sections will be the following:

Encounter Building, pages 488 and 489. The rules for building encounters work in this system, and they work WELL. Obviously, environment, terrain, and how a specific groups strengths and weaknesses compare to a monster affect things, but if you budget a moderate encounter, it can be expected to be moderate. Just be sure you recognize that Moderate encounters are still meant to be challenging in this system, and Severe encounters are potentially deadly. Extreme encounters should be used incredibly sparingly. Maybe 1 or 2 times per campaign.

DC Charts and Adjusting DCs. Pages 503 and 504.  If you ever need a quick DC, these charts are your friend. You don’t need to memorize them, but you’ll want to have them in an easy-to-reference spot.

Youtubers

There are a lot of great youtubers for PF2e. I’ll only be highlighting a few of my favorites here!

How It’s Played  is probably the best resource for a new player, and helped me a ton with all of the rules when I started GMing. They do close looks at different subsystems, and clearly break down how the rules apply. You don’t need to watch all of their content before you jump in and play, but if you watch a few of their main series on PF2e between each session, you’ll be a rules master in no time! 

I also really enjoy The Rules Lawyer. He always has well-reasoned takes on things going on in the hobby, and and has an enjoyable calm/measured tone. I highly recommend his “Combat Tactics” videos, as he highlights some of the major differences with 5e and what things are now expected to survive. A lot of common 5e tactics are a way to a quick death in PF2e, but you do have the tools to survive!

The final Youtuber I’ll be highlighting is Nonat1s. He’s puts out quite a variety of videos, including skits and other fun things, but is also a wonderful ambassador for the game and gives great character advice as well. I want to highlight his “Welcome to Pathfinder Second Edition” video, which is just perfect!

Other Resources

I can’t create a list of resources without calling out Pathbuilder! It is hands down the best character builder, and its available on desktop and mobile. It’s mostly free, with a small donation being required to unlock premium features. At this time, there is no crossover between the web app and desktop besides being able to save and access characters from google drive.

The Pathfinder 2e Subreddit  is a wonderful community of people, and it’s a great place for discussion. There’s weekly question megathreads, discussions about releases, people highlighting great builds and fun things in the system, and it’s probably the quickest place to keep track of announcements. There’s also a lot of love for 3pp there!

Speaking of 3pps, I LOVE the Battlezoo line! One of my players is OBSESSED with dragons, and they have a whole book that was tailor-made for him, and it’s incredibly balanced and fun. They’ve also got a whole bunch of other cool stuff that’s been kickstarted and will be releasing soon. 

What VTT should you use if you’re playing online? My hat is thrown into the ring for Foundry VTT. It’s my VTT of choice. It’s wildly powerful with the Pathfinder 2e system, and a wonderful community of devs have gotten the system almost entirely automated so you can focus on RP! It’s a breeze as a GM as well, and the only difficulty is in self-hosting, but even that isn’t too bad. Their site has a great set of guides, starting HERE with the ways you can host. If you choose to self-host, you only need to make a 1-time payment of 50 dollars for the software, and only one person needs to actually do the hosting. Split between a group? That’s incredibly affordable, especially considering there is no subscription!

I’m gonna shout MYSELF out here. I put together a List of Actions you can take in combat that isn’t just moving or attacking. Coming from 5e, it can be easy to get stuck in the loop of move and attack, but there are so many more options, and those options are very crucial. This isn’t comprehensive, but covers the basics characters can have access to with only minor skill investment.

[marciaillust]

Heyooo! It’s me again (i hope i’m not bothering you by asking questions like these) I started making a comic and I’m struggling with the typography

Any tips or recs to look? I really like your work and that’s why I am asking :)

Heyo!

I can dish out a few tips but they aren't really hard rules so take them with a grain of salt and artistic freedom.

The most important thing imo is the presentation of the text on the page. The shape and number of speech bubbles will be registered way before any of the contents so it needs to looks the part. 

The first tip would be generally avoid the speech bubbles being overly thin and long. The example below is pretty tame but believe me, I’ve read comics with the wormiest of speech bubbles and they tend to not look good.

Sometimes the automatic alignment of the text will look closer to a square (especially if there are many short words in a sentence) so feel free to go in and move the text around via the enter key so it looks more like the rhombus. You won't always be able to achieve it especially if the first word in a sentence is long (e.g. the word "hypothetically") but a rhombus should be the goal.

While we're on the topic of speech bubbles I like mine to have really short "tails" (the bits that indicate who is speaking), unless I REALLY want to make sure the reader knows who is speaking in a scene.

 Also I always make the tails point directly towards characters mouth unless it would make the scene confusing (for example if two characters have mouths really close to each other or something, I might make one tail point a bit higher/lower/to the left/right to differentiate between the two speakers. But that’s like a super specific problem and could be avoided with proper frame layout.)

And like, never skip the tails unless its the same character monologuing at length. Nothing breaks emersion more than when you have to stop and turn into an investigator to determine who is speaking in a scene.

Now for the fonts themselves, in my opinion the size of text should be unified between speech bubbles and across pages when it comes to a single font. Example, all casual speech - arial, 14; all thought bubbles - Calibri, 15. 

That is of course unless there is artistic merit to changing the font and/or font's size. Making someone yell, suggesting a threat or sarcasm, indicating a playful tone or something akin to that -  lean into what you're trying to communicate visually.

All fonts are not made equal and sometimes you will have to adjust things manually e.g. letter spacing or line spacing. Generally I try to keep the spacing the same regardless of the font, e.g. "yay exciting" had massive gaps between the lines which I've shrunk to make it look more visually cohesive with the rest of the dialogue. Same with these ones:

At the end of the day typography and everything pertaining to speech bubbles is design work and what designs do is communicate a message and serve a function. I’ve had this picture saved on my pc for years now (reverse google search doesn’t tell me who made it but it’s like the bible to me so I will share it, I am almost certain it was made by tryinghuman but I might be wrong):

Really every part of a speech bubble can be “designed” down to a single word. The position of text, fonts, the shape of the bubble etc. And every change will culminate in an effect and the goal is to have that effect reflect what you’re going for.

Make it legible or illegible, make it see-through, capitalise one word, cover speech bubbles up with other objects, make them crack or fall apart. Not every speech bubble needs special treatment! But once in a while it’s nice to throw something different in to spice things up.

Also, and this is a rule that was bestowed upon me during a graphic design class, don’t use more than 3 fonts per page (again, unless there is artistic merit to it like e.g. purposefully trying to communicate a sense of chaos. Otherwise it just looks a bit unprofessional. In my opinion anyway.)

And the last thing I will say, and this mostly applies to comics in English, is some “speech” fonts include capital “I”s both with and without serifs. The serif I should generally be reserved for the pronoun “I”.

There is so much more when it comes to text in comics like the flow of bubbles across pages, splicing text across bubbles for communicating speech patterns or intentions of the characters, and there are tutorials about it out there but I wasn’t able to find my favourites on command............. sorry................ But I’m peppering this in just so you’re on the lookout for all the other cool things that go into comic making :)

Hope this helped!

[5eraphim]

"we can start with a kiss" for scout? 👀

Link to the Dubcon Prompts

Title: Red Sky at Night (alternative title "Just Like Playing Pretend")

Character: The Scout 🐇 (Team Fortress 2)

Rating: X (MINORS DNI, GO PLAY OUTSIDE)

Content Warnings: Dubcon, taping/armature, corrosion, delusional yandere (slightly reciprocated obsession), forced intimacy, panty huffing, biting/marking, fingering, very brief passing incest joke, i guess? (just like one line, a part of scout being annoying and a creepy), soft-mindbreak, degradation, TOXIC RELATIONSHIP, lap riding

Word Count:

MASTERLIST

TIP JAR

"What feels like work to you, is playing to others." Lenfantvivant

"Hey, I'm home."

Entering the house, you instantly noticed no lights were on. As well as the lack of noise you'd never expect when Scout was home alone. It couldn't be much later than 6, but well into the fall season, the sky was black when you pulled in. Once inside, you noticed the sole lights on in the house were those in the bedroom. Though rather than the typical warm-white light you were used to, a bright red escaped the crack between the door and its frame making you equally curious and uneasy.

It wasn't just the silence that made you uncomfortable or the odd darkness. Still, the combination of those things specifically had your nerves on edge—today marked the six-month anniversary of your relationship with Scout. Given his careless, self-obsessed nature, one would think he'd be the type to forget about this kind of thing, but he never did. You half-hoped to luck out today while unable to shake the suspicion Scout had something planned for later.

You crept closer but couldn't hear anything but a bit of movement from the other side. When you were at the doorway, you took a deep breath, stealing your inner resolve before using your fingertips to push the door open to peep inside gently.

It took a moment for your eyes to adjust to the odd lightning inside. To your surprise, there weren't actually any red lights on, but rather some red towels hanging over the bedside table lamps, turning the light from the white bulbs deep red as well as dimming them slightly, emphasizing the long dark shadows in the room, making the entire place feel seedy. Even the window had a red sheet drawn across the curtain rod, rendering the whole night sky invisible to you, save for the light of the half-moon and a few bright stars.

Scout must've missed the sound of you coming home as you caught him fiddling with something on the dresser with his back to you as you entered. But now, in the same room with him, you instantly caught his attention, making him abandon whatever he was doing to greet you with a crushing hug. "Hey, you're back!"

He kissed your cheek as you limply returned the hug, going through the motions of letting him kiss you and forcing a loving smile as he wrapped his arms around your waist. As you let your arms slip away from his shoulders, stepping back to break the hug, you couldn't ignore how odd the room looked, bathed in bright red. "Scout, what is all this?"

He didn't answer your question, just beamed at you with a big smile, "Ya like it?"

You raised an eyebrow, "It looks fine, but why?"

Scout inched a little closer, slinging one arm around your shoulder and pulling you to his chest, "C'mon, don'tcha know what day it is?"

You nodded, "I do…"

"Well, six months is a long time, ain't it? Thought it's 'bout time we did somethin' a lil extra special to celebrate!" He didn't really answer your question, feeling content enough to have his arm around your shoulders, holding you nice and close to his chest while he admired his handiwork, turning the unwanted-ly shared bedroom into something even sleazier.

But you knew better than to tell him you thought the room looked tacky or pornographic. Your brows creased as you tried to follow wherever he was going with this, "Celebrating with red lights?"

"Red lights aaand-" Using his free hand, he gestured with his thumb to where he was standing before you entered.

You followed his thumb with your eyes, realizing it wasn't something on the dresser he was messing with before you showed up. It was a camera on a tripod, about the same level as the dresser, pointed at the bed. "A camera?"

He didn't respond, but he didn't need to. That dumb look on his face, as well as the red light on the camera indicating a recording in progress, the shabby lighting, covering the windows and giving no indications he had anything in mind, waiting until you were home and exactly where he wanted you before showing you all this, were all the clues you needed to piece together what he had in mind for tonight.

"Scout, you cannot be serious!" You sidestepped away from him snappily, making the arm previously around your shoulders slide right off. Scout looked genuinely surprised to see you acting so resistant. You never wanted this relationship, you hated Scout, but he knew how to keep you compliant. Before you agreed to the relationship, he was constantly bugging you, blowing up your phone with calls and texts, which was annoying but not difficult to brush off. For the longest time, you saw him as just another creep and nothing more, more persistent than most you knew, but hardly anything special. You had yet to learn how far he would take things.

Even when he pestered you and acted immature, you never truly thought of Scout as a bad guy. You wanted to believe deep down he was sweet, just a bit misled. But when loved ones began turning up in the hospital, almost died from blunt force trauma, or when personal belongings turned up smashed to pieces, you knew who was behind it all, but even worse, you knew what you had to do to make it stop.

And it was under threat of violence to yourself or the ones you love that kept you quiet and obedient for the longest time. It wasn't a good situation to be in, but it sure as hell was better than the alternative. The past 6 months were essentially a blur when it came to your personal life; you would go home, and there he was. That was all there was to it. Scout wasn't a complete monster, and occasionally, you'd even catch glimpses of that "good boy" you thought he always was deep down. 

This must've been the first time you tried to resist him in ages. "If it took this long for me to stick up for myself, is it bad I can hardly remember what the hell I was agreeing to before now?" You wondered to yourself.

Scout rolled his eyes, grabbing your shoulder with one hand to keep you from slipping away any further, "I don't get why you're acting like it's a big deal- it's just this one time, c'mon!" You'd admire his audacity if it weren't so infuriating. You weren't sure how many more" just this once-s" you had left in you. It was hard to stomach the disgust and guilt for playing along and letting him get what he wanted, but trying to refuse him was even more challenging, and you already knew no matter what you had to say, he'd get his way by the end of the night.

Eyeing up the camera, you crossed your arms over your chest. Scout's grip on you was too tight for you to escape entirely, "You're not gonna make this… weird, are you?"

He chuckled, "How weird are we talking'?"

You frowned, "Like gross weird. Like, you're not going to make me pretend to be your sister or something creepy, right?" Maybe giving him ideas like this was wrong, but you were already so uncomfortable you didn't know how much worse things could get.

You recoiled as he laughed, clearly not bothering to take your concerns seriously. "I wasn't gonna! But I mean, hey- if ya wanted, I don't mind playin' big brother-"

You grit your teeth, fighting back a chill of disgust. "Don't you dare finish that sentence!"

Scout gave your shoulder a reassuring squeeze, perhaps not entirely oblivious to your discomfort, "Relax, relax, I'm just messin' with ya! Just wanna help loosen up a lil before I start rearranging your guts and all."

You blinked, not entirely sure how to respond to that. "Alright then… So what do you want me to do?"

Scout leaned over to kiss the top of your head, "All ya gotta do is get on the bed and look real pretty. Leave all the rest to me."

You nodded, prepared to get all this over with as soon as possible, about to step past him and make yourself comfortable on the bed when you felt his hand on your shoulder, "Hang on, I wanna make this count. Can we start with a kiss?" 

You turned to respond, but before you could say anything, you felt his palm against your cheek, guiding your face to connect with his. If you were unsure if Scout wanted to go through with all this, you weren't questioning it anymore. Keeping one hand resting against the side of your face, his other hand blindly ushered the rest of your body to draw even closer, finding the small of your back to pull you in nice and close. He wasn't the best kisser and almost always lost himself in the spur-of-the-moment excitement to the detriment of his technique and general lack of experience. But clearly, he was at least trying to hold himself back a bit, trying not to overwhelm you. For only a moment, you pondered his change in demeanor, only to feel a chill running down your spine as you realized you forgot to ask earlier if the camera was already recording or not, or even worse, just how many other cameras he might have set up you'd yet to discover. 

Scout's fingers toyed with the bottom of your shirt's hem for a few seconds before his hand slipped under your top, stroking your lower back with his fingers slowly, wanting to savor the moment, trying so hard to fight off his own impulsive desire to slam you against the bed and make you moan his name like a porn star. You broke the kiss with your eyes remaining focused on his lips, feeling a confusing affectionate stir in your chest from the lopsided toothy grin staring back at you. 

Scout wanted you to play pretend with him and go along with his "directing" for tonight. It made your head spin, trying to remember if you were supposed to act as his adoring lover or a sexy actor for his adult film in a cynical, morbid way. Though you knew you could sell the character easily enough, you already had so much experience pretending to go along with his possessive, often violent whims in and outside the bedroom; how could this be all that different? How could (hopefully) one camera make all that kind of difference?

Trying to put on a soft and needy voice, you whispered, "I don't wanna wait more- can't we get into bed already? We can keep kissing there, can't we?" It never took more than some doe-eyes and a breathy "please" to get Scout to do what you wanted. When it came to the bedroom, he was almost always all talk.

Scout smiled, letting you pull him into bed, but stopped you when you started to undress yourself.

"Lemme do it," he nodded at the camera, "Gotta make sure you're doin' it nice and slow." 

It was hard not to roll your eyes, but somehow you managed. Settling down into bed with your head at the pillows and your side to the camera while Scout crawled on top, peeling off his own shirt in the process.

Honestly, it was a bit more awkward and stiff to lay back and let Scout undress you than actually discomforting. You consciously avoided looking at the camera while he worked, as though it would do anything to salvage your dignity. It saddened you that no matter how much you hated him, there was always that frustrating little part of you that still felt arousal for Scout. That little part of you that would always want him, no matter how you hated him or how he humiliated you, it was never enough to make you stop wanting him. 

With your compliance, Scout could slip off your shirt overhead, followed by your bra, intentionally dropping them to the floor in front of the camera for dramatic effect. But when he popped the button on your pants, his excitement picked up slightly, tugging the fabric down your legs. Lowering his head to your navel, bracing himself on hands and knees around you, Scout gripped the top of your underwear between his teeth, straining the fabric against your body before tugging down.

It wasn't hard to help move your legs as he worked them down your legs with his mouth, but you weren't expecting to see Scout still holding the little bunch of fabric between his teeth as he looked back into place overhead, sitting back on his haunches, almost straddling your hips to keep both his hands free. He waited until he had your attention until your eyes focused on his mouth before pulling them free and keeping his eyes on your face as he pressed the fabric directly under his nose and huffed. 

The subsequent moan of satisfaction made you cringe, keeping your eyes screwed shut and looking to the side as you made a sound of disgust. You hated how you could still hear his heavy breathing and cruel laugh, how he could prolong your discomfort without laying a hand on you, without being seen.

"Wassamatter? You wanna turn?" He pulled the cotton away from his face just enough to taunt you by dangling the garment over your head, tickling your cheek slightly.

"I'll pass." 

Scout pouted, "It's your loss, ya know." He balled them up slightly with his fingers before squishing your cheek with his finger like he was teasing a baby. 

"You sicko…" Eventually, with a sigh of disappointment, he tossed them to the side, lowering back down on all fours, his face much closer to yours. You were shocked to see an almost gentle, loving look on his face, his hands falling over yours at your sides on the bed. Before speaking, he gave them a soft squeeze before guiding your dominant hand into place over your sex, the other resting against the top of your hip, fingers brushing the very tip of your thigh.

"I'm only teasing' ya. C'mon ya know I love ya, an' you drive me freakin' crazy, lemme make ya feel real good. Tonight, we can start slow."

You flushed at the unexpected sweetness. Nodding once, you felt your breath hitch when Scout started to pulse his fingers over yours. Closing your eyes, you allowed yourself to pick up on the buzzy feeling deep inside, feeling extra sensual under the moody, red light. 

True to his word, Scout followed your pace and mirrored your gentle touches. "Don't worry about going all out. Let's just getcha warmed up first, alright baby?" He said, kissing your forehead, grazing his lips against your forehead with every word with such a gentleness you managed to let yourself believe Scout could be trusted, imagining the gross scenario into something romantic. Like the two of you were innocent sweethearts fooling around behind closed doors, this wasn't anything grave, just a bit of naughty fun now that he had you all to himself. Or you were back home safe, and your loved ones were waiting for you just beyond the bedroom door. 

But as the pleasant fantasy unfolded, it began to take a dark turn as though your own brain were acting out, trying to punish you for taking pleasure in such an undignified situation at the hands of such an awful person. A primal, unforeseen, and unmanageable fear flooded your mind, making you too scared to open your eyes, heightening all physical sensations. In your mind, you imagined the scene playing out. Your naked, weak body spread wide for all to see, the warm red lighting turning into hellfire, the man in bed with you into a demon. You weren't in your bedroom. You were in hell! Humiliated and treated like a whore by a demon, leered at by perverse faces who watched hidden from the shadows.

Abruptly, you locked up, your hands flying from between your legs, and you sat up, backing up against the wall to avoid knocking heads with Scout, feeling suddenly cold all over, like someone just poured an icy bucket of water all over you. 

Scout looked at you confused, "Hey, chill out will ya! You're alright- What's wrong?"

Looking around the room self-consciously, you cleared your throat. The primal feeling of "something is wrong" had lifted, making you blank on exactly why you did what you just did. The feeling is much like suddenly snapping yourself out of a nightmare. You weren't in hell; there was no demon in the room with you and no shadowy figures watching you from the corners. You were right back in your unpleasant but expected reality. "Sorry, I uh- Just forgot about the camera for a second…"

He nodded, surprised to hear such a mild reason for the dramatic reaction. "Oh. You want me to cover it with a towel or something?"

You slackened, raising an eyebrow. "Will you cover the lens too?"

"Nope!"

Nodding, you sighed, "Never mind, I'm fine, I can keep going."

"Atta girl!" He congratulated you for going on with a pat on the shoulder as he sat up, crawling over to the lip of the bed where he could spread his legs and let them dangle down the side of the bed. Scout looked over his shoulder and gestured with his head, beckoning you to crawl closer as he patted the bed beside him. You realized a beat too late. Scout positioned himself, spread his legs wide, right where the camera lens was pointed, and waited for you to hurry up and get into place to do the same. 

Softly, you padded closer on all fours as he spread his legs a little wider the closer you crawled. You were about to straddle his lap, facing him as Scout so often begged of you, when he put a hand on your shoulder, forcing you to pause.

"Nah, not like that- get on facing the camera. I wanna get a good view when I watch this back!" He didn't even really sound perverse as much as he sounded genuinely excited, but the hard-on between his legs was all the reminder you needed of his true intentions here, not to mention how overheated his body felt so close to yours. Awkwardly, you tried to situate yourself on his lap in this new position. It was too embarrassing to look at the camera and do this, so you kept your eyes down as you crawled out from behind him, letting Scout use his arms to help you stay balanced and guide you into place.

You must've looked as nervous as you felt. Scout leaned his face right next to your ear as he whispered, "Don't be shy, I've gotcha, I'm not gonna letcha fall. You're gonna look so sexy on tape, babe." His fingers drummed over and smoothed against your sensitive skin as he spoke, making it prickle.

With your weight balanced well enough on his lap, Scout's hands slithering up from your sides to cup your chest, groping against your tits with a teasing kind of playfulness. Even if he's wiry, he's so warm it makes you melt. Prompting you to mindlessly press yourself even harder down on his lap, feeling his stiff throb against your ass. His breath ghosts against your neck between kisses, you try to sync your breath to his, feeling the way it quickened every time you squeezed and palmed up his thighs.

The feeling of harsh teeth and a humid, wet tongue on your neck make you wince, mindlessly rolling your heat against Scout's lap, the instant reaction spurring him on all the more, as he took a hard nick to the side of your neck. You can feel Scout's trademark wonky teeth, coated with enough saliva to ooze out of his mouth, leaking all over you, forming thin trails connecting his lips to the wet spot he created, even as he pulled away. You were painfully pinned into place between Scout's mouth and his crushing grip on both your tits, making you groan in frustration as you felt trapped but unable to get any proper relief from either direction. But just as you were about to try and wriggle away, to get just a bit of space away from the man to catch your breath, Scout returned for another bite. 

Intentionally, Scout aimed to target the already irritated skin. The pain intensified, and you felt yourself yelp as you began wriggling even harder to try and stop the pain. But Scout clung to you like a feeding leech, refusing to budge an inch. 

The pain in such a sensitive area turned you on, but when you felt him drawing blood, your fear overtook your arousal. You didn't like how bold he was getting in front of the camera."F-fucking hell! Scout!"

To your disappointment, your attempts at stopping his abuse had the complete inverse effect. He let out a shallow moan, huffing as the breath got caught in his throat, grinding against the slick-with-sweat flesh of your backside, almost laughing with delight, "Beg again, just like that!"

"Sco-out! God! Please, more!"

"Beg harder- I wanna-God, I wanna hear you whine-"

You responded instantly, your brain well-past cock hungry and unaware of how pathetic you sounded, "Scout, Sc-scout! C'mon, please!" Fortunately, your muscles didn't have to strain much longer in that position, as Scout responded to your plea by thrusting fully inside, an action which would've been painful if not for your lustiness.

Feeling that maddening yearning between your legs finally satisfied, you couldn't help but let out a breathy sigh of relief, allowing your body to go limp, bouncing slightly as he continued to pound against your motionless body. 

"Start touchin' yourself again, just like before- Go on and show off how freakin' hot you look when you come." Scout didn't need to tell you twice. One hand latched over one of his hands still covering your tit as you gripped the mound of skin through his hand while your dominant hand found your clit. Rolling the nerves between your fingertips, you felt the pleasure pick up in waves as your body relaxed into Scout, allowing him to keep your body nice and propped up for the camera while you chased your orgasm.

From the inside, Scout could feel how close you were just as well as you could. The end was so near for you, but you wanted it now, wanted to feel Scout fuck you even harder, treat you like an animal, and go as hard as he could. To encourage him, you begged again, "Hard as you can, Scout! Feels- ah! You feel so fucking good!"

In truth, you didn't even know if you gave him enough time to react before you were gripping down on his prick and riding out your high for all it was worth. Scout was so focused on not bursting before you all night that the sight of you at last climaxing over his lap practically made Scout come on the spot. But after watching you come to settle down from your orgasm, Scout was able to regain his thoughts well enough to complete a few more deep thrusts between your thighs before everything went white. All his muscles tensed as he came before slackening, forcing him to wrap both arms around your shoulders to keep from flopping backward. Scout's head felt all light and dizzy. He needed to take a second before he was ready to move. Keeping his eyes closed, he mindlessly buried his head back into the crook of your neck to continue panting heavily, offering a few more sloppy, gentle kisses as he caught his breath.

It was easy to stay like this. Scout wasn't acting pushy or demanding your submission; all you had to do was sit and support him. Usually, Scout could manage a near-instant recovery, but tonight, he sounded more spent than ever. And eventually, you lost track of time the longer you sat there.

After all that, your mind eventually began to wander. While you were responsive, aware of the space around you and what was going on, and even communicative in a small sense, broadly speaking, your mind had checked out. Despite all the invasion of privacy, lack of dignity, and bodily coercion, at some point, that little voice in your head that continued to remind you this was wrong, the self-blame and feeling responsible for letting him do this to you, apathy began to roll in like a stormcloud and block out your distress. 

You were so tired, and on a primal level, you found the presence of another warm body in bed with you soothing enough to relax you, lulling you into an almost tranquil state. Your exhausted mind was no longer worried about Scout's hungry eyes against your naked body or the harsh red LED from the camera locked in on your location. The red towel covering the lamps and the red light illuminating the room stopped looking garish. It wasn't natural, but it felt oddly cozy and warm. You stopped paying attention to Scout altogether and became lost, staring out the window covered by the red blanket. Even behind the heavy fabric, you could make out the outline of the half-moon and a few bright stars in the clear sky. 

By the time Scout finally pulled himself off the bed to clean himself up, you realized you had no idea how long your mind went blank staring at the wall. He offered you a hand out of bed, which you accepted, feeling pins and needles in your stiff joints as you followed him to the bathroom, trying not to look at yourself in the mirror while scrubbing yourself clean. Scout continued to chatter as he returned to bed, trying his hardest to get you nice and comfortable before he settled down.

Wrapped in a soft blanket, curled up at his side, you were at peace. A boundary was crossed tonight, and you knew you'd likely regret all this come morning, but at least it was over, and sleep wasn't far away. You weren't uncomfortable or in pain, but something in your gut didn't feel quite right. This wasn't how relationships were supposed to go, and boundaries like this weren't ever supposed to be broken, but then again, could you even remember the last time Scout had treated you like a boyfriend "should"? 

He held you in his arms, told you he loved you, and called you beautiful, but it wasn't good enough. Nothing about tonight, about the relationship, and to be honest, almost nothing about Scout himself was quite right.

Nestled like a little chick in its nest, you allowed Scout to cradle your compliant body, feeling thankful for the soft fabric separating your body from his. You couldn't try to fight him back at all like this or defend yourself, but after all you'd just been through, what was the point? At least like this, it was all the easier to do what he wanted of you: lay back, keep quiet, and pretend you were hopelessly in love.

[msfcatlover]

I have been thinking so much about Jean-Paul Valley in my Reverse!Robins AU. Specifically, how he’d react to Steph’s return.

Because, listen: here is a man who had his autonomy stripped from him. Had his identity stripped from him. By the cult his father secretly raised him to serve, while letting Jean-Paul think he was having a normal childhood (and he did. That is one of the things I like about JPV as a character; in the original “Azrael: Fallen Angel” & “Knightfall” stories, he had a perfectly normal childhood… aside from the hypnotic brainwashing implanted while he slept.) This guy who was tricked into murdering several people, when he never, ever wanted that.

He gets saved by the Bats. And they help him. They really, genuinely help him, and sure, Duke & Damian are still teenagers (JPV’s like… 20-22 at this point in my mind,) but they’re also his anchors to reality. Damian, who also was raised to be a weapon by someone he should’ve been able to trust. Damian, who has experience with cults & rebuilding your identity after losing everything. Damian, who’s basically JPV’s “Brainwashed Cult Assassins Anonymous” sponsor. Duke, who also had a normal childhood. Duke, who knows Gotham like only a kid who was raised in its heart can. Duke, who agrees that this whole situation is certifiably fucked, but never hesitates to help Jean-Paul potentially recover a lost memory or find a new one, because it’s not just about who Jean-Paul was before the cult of St Dumas got their hands on him, it’s about remembering that he’s a living human being right now.

They take him in. They save him. They help him save himself. Bruce offers to pay for him to go back to college, for fuck’s sake!

They gave him his life back.

Jean-Paul can never, ever repay them. They tell him they don’t need it, but he wants to and he can’t. He feels so selfish to take & take without giving back, but how do you pay someone back for all that?

So his couch is always open to them, whenever they want. He’ll be their ally, their friend, their confessor, their confidant, their homework editor if need be. And when newer batkids join, well, Jean-Paul would’ve done his best anyway, but the fact he’s entrusted with Duke & Damian’s apprentices is just. It’s something else. And it’s hardly a hardship—the kids are a delight. Obnoxious, sure, and messy, and pushy, and constantly interrupting, and sometimes they break his stuff, and always they eat all his food, but Jean-Paul has more civilian friends now, and they tell him that’s just what kids are like.

What matters is that he loves them. He loves them because Duke & Damian love them, and then he loves them for being them.

And then. Stephanie. Dies. (Because Jean-Paul is broken, he’s a sinner, he can never make up for what he’s done, what he is, and he can never have nice things. Because Steph was sunshine & rage & stubbornness, because she joked that “We blondes have to stick together!” Because no one was there for her when it mattered most. This has to be punishment, right? He got too close, and Steph paid the price.) (His therapist says he’s being irrational again, but it doesn’t feel irrational. They say they need to adjust his medications. Jean-Paul knows better than to trust himself, but he can trust in Bruce to make sure the therapist is safe, so Jean-Paul doesn’t fight it. He’s not happy, but he doesn’t fight it. Because if he starts hallucinating again, he knows it won’t just be his father hovering over him, demanding to know why Azrael refused to avenge them. So yeah, sure, adjust the meds if you think it’s needed—he doesn’t miss Steph that badly. Yet.)

And then. Steph. Comes. Back.

She’s not dead. She’s not dead, but she’s different, she’s so very, very different. Damian says she fights like she spent time with the LoA, that same cult that raised Damian which he’s told Jean-Paul so much about over the years. Training like that takes time, but it’s been 6yrs, and she’s back, risen & gifted back to them! And she’s killing, but Jean-Paul’s killed before, and he’s been kidnapped by a cult before, and he thinks he knows how this goes. Death Mask isn’t Azrael, but he thinks it’s close enough.

And. And. And. He can save her. Because he knows what to do now, after nearly a decade in recovery. He can make up for his sins, he can bring her home again, and maybe, finally, he’ll have finally managed to pay them all back! He can give Steph her self back to make up for—(“You didn’t kill Stephanie,” his therapist reminds him, “you never laid a finger on her. Remember? You didn’t hurt her. It’s not your fault.” But it feels like it is, it feels like it, he can’t shake the idea that he did)—and he can give the Bats their sister back to make up for all that they’ve given him over all this time! A life for a life, and yes! This feels right!

He cooks up scenarios, imagines Steph reaching out in a moment of lucidity, or showing up injured on his doorstep guided by muscle memory, or running into her on the street or in a cafe and the look of alarm & recognition in her eyes as she—like he did, still does occasionally—knows that she knows him but can’t remember. He imagines the conversations they could have, all the different variations, and knows that it will take time, but patience is a virtue and Jean-Paul’s gotten rather good at it. He can be her anchor.

He just needs to figure out how to start.

(And meanwhile, Steph’s on the other side of Gotham like, “Why are my ears burning, and why do I feel like I’m staring down a tsunami-level wave of second-hand embarrassment right now?”)

[uroboros-if]

seeing your rant about how difficult it is to be somewhat rude without ruining your relationships in ifs WAS SO RELATABLE! It doesn’t feel real to be always good or nice to characters to be liked

I’m not saying you should be able beat them up and still romance without consequences but romance/relationships aren’t always perfect and peaceful!!! Disagreements/arguments should be something that can happen without it being at the cost of the relationship itself ugh because that’s normal come on >:| as an angst enjoyer, its so hard to have fun without the character being like “you dont agree with me? perish then”

so I’m even more excited for the game now that I saw your take on it because LETS GO!!!!!! <3

You succinctly explained what I struggled to! 😭

I will confess it's half self-indulgent, because I really enjoy relationships where the two must confront their conflicting ideals! I understand most seek other like-minded people, but what of characters who like to be challenged? Characters who can't help but be attached to someone they shouldn't be?

Even setting that aside, you are completely correct! As long as that topic isn't sensitive to someone and neither party is inflexible, people won't automatically like you less.

So not only does such an approval system lose out on angst potential, sometimes it's also unrealistic. There is truth in it as our opinions of others do adjust based on their actions, and those things add up! However, it's a problem when it's applied to even arbitrary choices, or it unnecessarily severely impacts your approval.

Under the read more is my "theory" on why some ROs in IFs are defined by a dynamic trope (rivals to lovers, childhood friends to lovers, etc)!! 💕

It is difficult, if not impossible for a numerical approval system to qualitatively judge your relationship dynamics; it can only judge based on the weight of each choice. It can't, for example, see you've transitioned from being rude, to softening up to the character after realizing they're not so bad. The game only sees the sum of all your negative and positive points.

Without a way to label your actions by anything but a number, a system that purely relies on numerics is incapable of interpreting the dynamics of your relationship, and therefore customizing future interactions with the RO.

Of course, I think most IFs don't purely rely on numbers. Some do a hybrid in which important decisions are tracked qualitatively and lesser ones are tracked numerically. However, even then, some romance is limited by a baseline approval you must achieve in a certain timeframe, and that leads to pressure to meet that mystery number.

Furthermore, these qualitative "important decisions" often have more to do with the plot than how it defines your relationship specifically -- things like "did you kill their father?" rather than "What were their first impressions of the MC?"

So I believe that without a way to interpret the MC's actions meaningfully, there's only one way to play a romance route. There's only one dynamic with that character, one way the relationship can really be. You can be different genders, have your relationship contextualized differently as the story changes from your actions, but rarely does it dramatically differ solely on personality. Rarely does it examine how your relationship varies from the different ways you interact with that character.

I think it's fine that some characters are like that! In fact, it's realistic that some dynamics don't suit certain characters. For example, it's not possible to have rivals to lovers with Salvatore, because they have no reason to see you as a rival, even if you hate them or try to compete with them.

However, taking Sal as an example, your relationship can vary widely by your attitude towards them. It can be a case of friends who lost touch and regret having lost touch; it can be one-sided, as Sal may view MC as a friend, but the MC is bitterly jealous of them. Perhaps MC doesn't think much of them at all.

That's the kind of meaningful interpretation of relationships I aim for--different dynamics rather than boxing in Sal as the typical childhood friends to lovers. There is no one way to play their romance; it should change as the MC is different.

I see how it's not for everyone, and I acknowledge that it is a Herculean task that may, in time, reveal the full extent of its complexity. But I strive for it because such a complicated relationship is central to the conflict of Uroboros. There is nothing more important an undertaking than character relationships in the IF.

Extremely long theory and rambling, but I am so happy someone shares my thoughts, at least as far as disagreements with the ROs!! ❤️❤️ Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to share even more of my opinion, Anon! I'm thrilled you are so excited for the story!

[tokkishouse]

If requests are closed ignore this but can you do xiao x reader?

The reader is an adeptus as well one xiao wasnt aware existed till the chasm incident when he saw a small crystal fly coming towards him before zhongli saved him.

How would he react and fall for the reader?

Fluff please? I've read too much angst

Requests are not closed! I was a little confused about what specifically you were looking for so if I need to adjust, by all means, let me know ❤️ I tried to make this fluffy but I think. I made it too solemn. Also, thank you all for 300+ followers. I'm so glad you all enjoy my writing. It really motivates me to keep at it 😊

(Sfw) Falling for You

Characters: Xiao x GN!Reader

Warnings: Spoilers for the 2.7 archon quest, reader is an adeptus with a pyro vision, it's fluffy?? To an extent? A bit of a somber end but no one necessarily dies

WC: 1.6k Words

Check out Pt. 2 Here! (nsfw)

Xiao felt his body grow weaker as he fell deeper down into The Chasm, the panicked voices of his allies but a distant sound. He had put all his energy and power into sending them back home-- he had done his duty faithfully. There was no need to feel regret or fear for the inevitable.

Just as his eyes slowly fall shut, a small red crystal fly flutters towards him. Only for a moment, a glimpse of life before his eyes. Before he can focus too hard, a glimmer of yellow shines, and geo-energy shoots right at him. Warmth encases him and as he closes his eyes, the crystal fly disappears.

Soon after, he appears outside The Chasm with the others, who hurriedly run over to check on him. His mind is racing and the residual energy is buzzing off of him. The words of concern from his allies fall on deaf ears-- all he could focus on was what he saw as he was falling.

That crystal fly...why is its energy so familiar...

✦✧✦✧

The next time Xiao feels that familiar energy, he's out patrolling the beaches near Wangshu Inn. One of the renters at the inn mentioned a hilichurl camp that was giving trouble to passersby and he wanted to investigate for himself. When he arrived, he saw you standing there, back facing towards him, in the center of what he can assume is the remains of the camp.

Smoke and water vapor rise around you and the smell of burnt wood and flesh floods his nostrils. You made quick work of the camp, as there was barely a mask left behind in the wreckage.

"I'm glad to see you are able to be up and moving fairly quickly, Alatus."

Xiao tensed a little-- you never turned around and yet you knew who was behind you.

"I'm an adeptus. It is not easy to take me down," he replies, tightening the grip on his spear. "Who are you?"

You finally look back at him, wearing a smile that does not quite reach your eyes.

"I am Y/N. Nice to meet you."

Xiao's breath hitches as he meets your eyes. There are speckles of red in your iris, reminding him of embers flittering off a flame. The longer he holds eye contact with you, the more intense the feeling of his heartbeat gets. It's loud and rumbles like thunder. He was sure there were no other adepti, and he definitely did not sense your presence in the chasm before. So how...

"I'm quite new actually. Only a few hundred years old-- nothing compared to your age I'd imagine," your voice pierces through his head, breaking him out of his thoughts. "I signed a contract with Morax and was spending my time in Natlan. However, when he told me what you were up to, I made my way back here."

Xiao studies your face, looking for any trace of deception. But your smile, while ingenuine, revealed no such thing.

"Then, you were the crystal fly?" He questions, and you nod, your smile widening.

"Ding ding ding-- we have a winner! I help Morax figure out where you were so he could rescue you. Although, I'm sure he would've found you all on his own eventually. He is the Geo Archon."

You pull out a pocketwatch from your bag, clicking your tongue when you see the time.

"It appears that I'm running behind on another errand. You'll have to forgive me, Alatus," you apologize, putting the pocket watch away. Just as you're about to run off, he stops you.

"Xiao. Call me Xiao," he insists. "That name carries memories and a history that is no longer relevant."

You look back at him, eyes scanning over his features properly. After a bit, the warmth from your smile reaches your eyes, and you nod.

"I'll see you around, Xiao."

✦✧✦✧

You and Xiao meet up more after that day. At first, you'd make bi-weekly trips to Wangshuu Inn, relaxing on the rooftop under the shining moon with Xiao as you recount your adventures to him. You remind him of Ganyu or even Yanfei, with you all having closer proximity to humans and even the mannerisms you've managed to adopt.

On one particular evening, you both exchange your favorite meals: he lets you try almond tofu, and you offer him a delicacy from Natlan. Neither dishes are to the other's taste, and you laugh it off as a result of "different environments." Nonetheless, you always bring him something to try and he does grow fond of the spicy and sweet candies that come from the land of pyro, along with the adeptus that guards the nation.

It wasn't until you had been coming for about 4 months that the yaksha finally realized his feelings for you. It was during the Lantern Rite Festival-- everyone was coming together to celebrate the memories of those who had passed. The streets were bustling with life and joy-- a sight that he knew you would not want to miss

Currently, Xiao is walking around the streets, searching for you. You promised that you would be there to release a lantern with him.

"Where are they?" He ponders to himself as he watches festivalgoers walk past and interact with the merchants.

A sudden warmth fills his chest, startling him a bit. He looks up and sees you standing on the roof of one of the buildings, holding a lantern. You flash him a grin and leap off. Catch me if you can, your actions read. Xiao grunts and he leaps after you, not wasting time.

You two race across the city toward the harbor, jumping over congested roads and excited patrons. It's not long before you land at the edge of the dock, Xiao landing right behind you.

"You're a tad too slow, Alatus," you tease, turning to face the yaksha. He grunts, looking away.

"You had a head start."

"Is that what we're going with? The 'head start' excuse?" You laugh, and Xiao is reminded of the bells that ring as merchants push their carts down the streets, selling their wares. A familiar and welcoming sound.

"You already have a lantern," he comments, deciding the change the subject.

You look down at the object in your hand, the heat from the candle inside warming your palms. It was carefully crafted, with a fire-breathing dragon painted outside. The way the flames danced inside made it look like the dragon's fire was alive and moving.

His, on the other hand, had a large peng bird painted on the outside, its wings spread to wrap around lantern. As the fire danced, it gave off the illusion of the wings flapping.

"Shall we release them together?" You ask, and he nods, stepping closer to the edge of the harbor.

You both stand there, waiting for the people in the city to release their lanterns first. You enjoy the environment around you-- a cool sea breeze blows past and you can hear the soft creaking of the nearby boats. The waves crash against the harbor walls and if you listen really closely, you can hear the slow breathing of you and Xiao as you stare out to the sea.

"You confuse me," Xiao states, earning an amused look from you.

"Oh? How so?"

He swallows thickly, his gaze focused on the ground and his mind racing as he searches for the right words to say. How does he explain the unnatural feelings he's felt all this time.

"You leave me wanting to see you daily. The time spent away from you has me feeling more irritable than usual. When you are here, it's like my karmic debt doesn't exist and I am allowed to simply be," he starts, slowly looking up to meet your gaze.

"I find needless chatter about everyday occurrences needless, and yet every time you're near I wish to hear you speak more. My head hurts and my chest aches, but they pain me more when you're gone...How does that work? Is it an adeptus ability you have trained to weaken me?"

You stare at him, gaze unwavering. It's overwhelming-- it's suffocating. You don't react or respond right away, and it's making Xiao feel like you're tearing everything he said apart, piece by piece. Why won't you look away? Why do you keep staring at me with such firey passion? Why oh why do I still want you to look on, to only keep your eyes on me?

"Alatus."

He gasps at your sudden proximity and nearly stumbles back. Your voice is light-- if the wind blew harder he'd have an issue hearing what you have to say. The embers in your eyes burn brightly.

"Do you want to know what those feelings mean?"

Amber eyes stare back at you, revealing millions of thoughts scrolling by. You can feel his breath against your lips, and your heartbeats are like drums beating in synch. Time seems to slow down and it's just you two in the harbor. You both wait with bated breath for his response.

"Yes," he breathes out finally.

Your lantern is released, floating up into the sky to join the hundreds of others that spread across the starry night, and warmth spreads across Xiao's lips. You taste of jueyun chillis and sugary rice pudding, and it's all he can taste. All he can feel is your body against his and the inviting movements of your lips on his. He releases his lantern next and wraps his arms around your body, the firm grip a reminder of his desire to not let you go. Not yet at least.

Under the sea of golden light, you two share a lover's embrace. Duties are but a second thought-- the first being entirely devoted to each other.

Requests (both sfw and nsfw) are open~!

[inkblackorchid]

Hi! How do you feel about the Crashtown mini-arc?

Ahhh, Crashtown. Honestly, I’m extremely in two minds about the arc. See, here’s the thing. When I watch it, it’s a great deal of fun. It’s a very self-contained little story that has all the necessary setup and payoff built into itself, and the cowboy aesthetics in Crashtown’s unique setting, while technically still being part of 5Ds’ largely futuristic canon, are absolutely hilarious. Not to speak of the excellent dramatics, what with Kiryu being in his depressed bitch era and needing the Power of Friendship to remember why it’s nice to be alive. So, in isolation, I find Crashtown very funny and its self-contained story compelling.

However, sometimes, I get a little frustrated knowing how many episodes this arc takes up, because where the larger narrative is concerned, Crashtown accomplishes… Well, nothing, unfortunately. It doesn’t interact with the main plot in any way, doesn’t develop Yusei’s character in a particular way (because we already knew he’s a special kind of loyal-as-a-dog-devoted when it comes to Kiryu; if anything, Crashtown only shows us that he’s also a little more gullible than usual when Kiryu gets brought up), and while it does give Kiryu meaningful character progression, he’s sadly never relevant again after this point in the show (literally the only two times he shows up after this point is during the flashback of everyone cheering Yusei on during his duel with Z-ONE and in the epilogue as he loses to Jack). Worse yet, the whole arc begs the question of why only Kiryu and no other dark signer got this kind of tying-up-loose-ends treatment. (The answer, I believe, is that he’s specifically the dark signer who has the strongest ties to Yusei in particular, which awards him special treatment. That does nothing to justify why Carly, who I’d go as far as saying is at least equally important to Jack as Kiryu is to Yusei, doesn’t get anything like this, though, and is instead sidelined because she has amnesia. You know. Amnesia. Everyone’s favourite trope. Which Kiryu, curiously, also doesn’t have.) And considering how often I lament about the things I wish 5Ds canon had spent more time on, I don’t think it comes as a surprise that it leaves a slight, bitter aftertaste in my mouth that an arc like Crashtown that adds nothing to the larger plot or any character other than Kiryu gets so many episodes while many things I wish the show had addressed don’t get a single one.

So, Crashtown’s kind of a mixed bag for me. I think the best way to sum it up would be this: If you handed me the reins for a full 5Ds rewrite, one of two things would happen. Either the show would gain another twenty or so episodes where I’d try to give all the other dark signers similar treatment as Kiryu in Crashtown, developing both them and the main cast members they interact with more (and also try to make them at least show up one more time before the Ark Cradle arc, even if only to cheer Team 5Ds on during the WRGP), or Crashtown would be left on the cutting room floor entirely, because if the only way to improve the main cast and plot were to find time for all the necessary adjustments within the exact same episode count we already have, Crashtown (and all of the pre-WRGP arc’s pure filler episodes) would be the first thing to go.

Don’t get me wrong, the yeehaw arc has excellent aesthetics, excellent dramatics, and is great fun every time I rewatch it, so I don’t fault anyone for loving it to bits, I absolutely get it. My inner overanalyst/canon rewriter just can’t unsee how many episodes it took up that were desperately needed for other stuff sometimes.

[calware]

I love your young!Rose design with the braids & hair beads, it reminds me of the Black girls i knew in elementary school (2005-2011), so its deffo “period accurate” and also a delightful choice. The way you draw the human kids in general is really nice, youre really good at conveying specific features with minimal lines (like her & Mom’s nose shape). Do you have any tips for how you draw faces to make them not same-face or repetitively “white” features, especially when drawing in a less “realistic” style (i dont wanna say your style is cartoony but idk what i would call it tbh)? I took a life drawing class back in 2019 but we mostly drew the same two models or our classmates, and it was both a limited pool of features plus feels hard to translate into art that isnt attempting to be 100% realistic.

Sorry if this is rambly. Congrats on 10k. Love ur new icon, tho i miss the Horb. Do you take commissions? I think i asked this before but i forgetful af.

thank you for the ask :)!! i'm really flattered that you think i'm good at avoiding same-face syndrome because i am VERY LAZY when it comes to drawing and i could definitely be doing a better job ;^^ i'm also not the best at drawing people diversely(?), it's just something i have to get better at. there are people way more qualified than me to give advice about this... but i can try giving some tips

the first is that, like with anything, if i'm not confident that i can accurately portray something or a specific feature i will usually look up a reference. i like paying attention to things like the position of the browbone, height of the cheekbones, shape of the chin, shape of the eyes, length/width of the face, width of the nostrils, shape/position of the bridge of the nose, roundness of the cheeks, etc. when i draw characters (specifically the homestuck characters i like, because i think about them a lot) i have an idea in my head of how they look and how they differ from one another. for example i see jade with a longer diamond-shaped face while rose has a shorter heart-shaped face, so i do my best to depict that in my drawings

(idk if this illustration makes ANY SENSE bc like i said i think that i also struggle with pushing myself in regards to this and i think i still have more to learn/practice)

i think it comes down to paying attention to the proportions/types of specific facial features and adjusting them each to create a unique face

that said when it comes to stylizing what you see from photographic references, i understand that it can be tricky to simplify it. i really don't have any advice for this.... i just play around with it until it looks good while also being recognizable as the specific thing i'm trying to draw.......... so in that case i think it helps to use other people's art as a reference too! i don't really care about sticking to one "style" so i don't mind drawing in a slightly different way if i want to do something another artist is also doing. so for example if you're struggling with drawing 4c hair i recommend looking at other people's drawings of characters with 4c hair that you like and playing around with if you can incorporate their techniques into your own art.

i hope this all made sense ;^^ there are definitely a lot of tutorials out there that are way more informative than this one

also, to answer your last question, i plan to open up a few commission slots next week! (as long as i have enough time to that is)

[redr0sewrites]

Self Care With Aaravos Hcs

🥀CW: the writer is ridiculously not ok over aaravos, fluff, mentions of non-sexual nudity and bathing, mentions of shaving

aaravos is someone who prioritizes self care alot, and has a lot of self care products. especially within his imprisonment, in the beginning he was very neglectful of himself and lowkey depressed but after he eventually understood the situation and adjusted he would prob start doing self care at least to occupy the time

he has the silkiest, smoothest, thickest most luscious hair uve ever seen and has like a billion products for it

his haircare routine is probably like 40 steps alone 💀 not to mention all of the time he spends styling his hair and brushing it through

aaravos has a wall of all the products that he uses and its all neatly labeled and organized in sections depending on what its used for

if u want to help him with his hair, he will gladly let you wash it for him however will instruct u on the specific process and will make u use all pf his products in a super specific order 😭😭😭

he would also wash ur hair for u too, and is super gentle if u have curly hair like me

i wouldnt say this is a self care hc, but when hes out of his prison he definitely styles his hair a lot more than just leaving it down! i hc that he would probably wear it in so many styles, and will spend a lot of time in the morning braiding it or tying it up and adding in accessories :)

i feel like he would do skincare too, i remember seeing this one silly comic on the official tdp website that you can find here, but its basically a (joke) comic ab aaravos dealing with a pimple that i just found hilarious and i feel like would it be very in character for him to have a super good skincare routine

if ur someone who has/had really bad acne and skin like me, he would definitely do skincare with u and would teach you about elven products that he likes (only if u wanted him too tho)

he likes doing face masks with u and the both of you love having self care and skincare days where u guys just chill

its so funny when u walk in on him relaxing with a face mask on and cucumbers over his eyes, but its also kinda endearing that he trusts u enough to be so relaxed and vulnerable around u!

aaravos has a lot of body washes and soaps, and when the two of u bathe together its like a whole mf spa he will pour in bubbles and use all these nice smelling soaps like omfg hes so spoiled but u both love it

along with that, i feel like hes the type to use a lot of body scrubs so he always smells nice yk? i also feel like hes the type to shave and keeps his body hair to a minimum, but doesnt really care what u do ab that he just feels more comfortable without it

when yall bathe or shower together u cant help but admire him cuz hes just so,, pretty and its so mesmerizing to watch him go through all the steps of his self care routines-

im imagining him gently running his hands through your hair as he washes it, humming softly to himself and gently holding your head and cupping your face as he rinses the soap out, placing soft kisses on the back of your neck and shoulders auugh. he then proceeds to carefully wash your entire body, softly rubbing his body soaps across your back, down your chest, on your legs and wherever u want, hes very content in just washing u and worshiping your body. aaravos will trail kisses all over ur body after washing u, hes so devoted to u do mi ti why not me im gonna cry why arent u real

i also feel like aaravos would have very pretty hands and uses a lot of lotions and oils for his hands and nails, he does nail and hand selfcare and will do your nails for u if u want him too!

i feel like he would keep his relatively short but still a little long, and would absolutely ROCK glittery silver nails!!!

he will kiss u on the back of ur hand when hes done doing ur nails for u hhhhhh im not ok

he loves it when u use his hand lotions, or any of his products really. theres a possessive part of aaravos that is very pleased seeing u enjoy his products, and the fact that u smell like him and smell good is a bonus

u both will have self care date days and will take care of eachother the whole day, taking turns doing all of ur routines and having a whole spa day and relaxing with soothing incense burning in the background and its just a wonderful and relaxing time with ur lover <3

what i would do to have him be real.... i put WAYY too much effort into this even with the knowledge that nobodies probably gonna read it cuz the aaravos x reader tag is so dead 😔pushing the acts of service aaravos agenda today 🤭 why isnt he real oh my god why isnt he reallllllll people better read this omg i spent so much time on this i put my whole heart soul and pussy into writing this

[boleynns]

i feel like some of you have never suffered through multiple seasons of your OTP having full-on romantically-framed relationships with other people, with no sign of the OTP getting back together and the only hope is in your imagination, and it really shows 😅

like, they are the main romantic pairing in this show, even when they aren't on screen together have had countless parallels between their individual scenes, have already made out on screen, and are guaranteed to get married and have children within the next 16 days. Them not being together for one episode, or caring about the other parent of their children who they've spent years with, is just so not any kind of reason to be worried or all sad about.

and to be a LOT more verbose in order to show you how easily the show could have framed Daemon and Rhaenyra's dynamic completely differently, if they really had wanted to go the "political" route or make Harwin and Laena more central romantic figures, please find 3k words of meta beneath the cut that I wrote while drinking cosmos at 1AM last night:

the writers SO EASILY could have adjusted the characters/storyline to be a million times less romantic -- and it would have been the more palatable and acceptable option for the locals too, so it would have been easier in so many ways. They so easily could have had Daemon be much more self-interested from the beginning, much more predatory and power hungry, and painted him as a person who was only interested in Rhaenyra for power -- but they didn't, even though that would absolutely have been a very easy decision to make given the General Audience's "ew incest, age difference, etc. etc." default settings. But they didn't!

That first scene in the throne room? Hell, maybe Rhaenyra has already been the heir for YEARS like she is in the book, so Daemon has a "reason" to be nice to her. When Harrold Westerling is shocked at Daemon sitting on the throne, have Rhaenyra look nervous instead of amused. Have their banter not be banter, but rather Rhaenyra being more uncertain and Daemon being more intimidating. Change the line-reading of "I brought you something" from genuine affection to a more cold, calculating vibe. Change Rhaenyra's reaction to him in general to be more nervous. Tada, the dynamic is now negative and predatory instead of romantic!

The funeral scene? Do not have Daemon comforting her, or trying to bridge the gap between her and her father, or even speaking to her in Valyrian. Honestly, don't have them interact here at all.

Dragonstone Bridge Scene? Have Rhaenyra be wrong about his motivations. Daemon is in love with Mysaria, they are getting married, she is pregnant, and that is why he wants the egg - and Viserys is the one who confronts him instead of Rhaenyra. Tada, no romantic "You know you could never actually hurt me, so where is this temper tantrum actually leading?" moment between him and Rhaenyra.

Episode 3 and its bloody and violent parallels between Daemon and Rhaenyra? Idk maybe that still exists because even in a scenario where the writers are trying to make their dynamic unromantic, they can't help but accidentally write romantic parallels without even realizing it.

Episode 4? Would need to be different in every single way. No way are they starting the episode with Rhaenyra listening to shitty suitors while playing with her necklace, or romantically gazing at Caraxes and Daemon flying after knocking her over. Maybe she is more focused on Crispin in this version -- during the suitor scene she's not wearing the necklace, but keeps looking at Crispin. On the boat when she's injured, she is flattered by Crispin's assistance. Post-family-barbeque conversation is more focused on her inexperience, and maybe even mentions her resistance towards getting married specifically to segue into her wanting Crispin. So then the Flea Bottom Date is really about showing her a Brothel so she doesn't feel intimidated to try and seduce Crispin. And The Brothel Scene itself? Well, no cutting between that and the Viserys/Alicent Sex Scene - because in the actual show, they were contrasting the lack of lust and choice between Viserys/Alicent with the major lust and consent of Daemon/Rhaenyra.

So in this non-romantic version, Rhaenyra isn't having that much fun. Daemon verbally convinces her to go to Flea Bottom with him, instead of just leaving her the disguise and a personal note/map for her to decide on her own. They watch the play, but he doesn't give her genuine good advice. No running and laughing through the streets.

Perhaps Harwin is even framed as an opportunity for rescue that she mistakenly doesn't accept, in order to set up that romance as the "real" love, where he has a little time to be like "I don't think you should be here, let me help you" rather than "LOL targaryens, have fun I won't tell anyone!". Definitely no smiling and holding hands.

And The Brothel? Do you know how easy that scene could have been framed so badly???

Like I said, no flattering contrast between that scene and Viserys/Alicent. Don't have Rhaenyra smiling or willingly following Daemon, but instead have her looking freaked out and uncomfortable and stuttering like "I don't--no, where are we going…" And once they are in the Sexy Times Room? Daemon's excuse in this version is to teach her to be more confident for Crispin, so instead of "I hate marriage, you hate marriage, but who cares because we want each other and we can do whatever we want" he would be like "Crispin would probably like if you did this to him".

And their first kiss(es)??? No, Rhaenyra will not be looking at Daemon's lips multiple times to indicate her interest, he will instead turn her around and surprise her with it. No cutting to Rhaenyra's hand clutching his neck, or Daemon caressing her lip while staring into her eyes - just Daemon moving her and her looking shocked. And obviously Rhaenyra is the one pulling away, not Daemon. In this version she is just an opportunity for power, and Rhaenyra is uncomfortable because she really wants Crispin -- so once they're against the wall she panics and runs away, and sleeps with Crispin in order to be comforted after the terrible evening Daemon put her through.

Episode 5: Daemon is a power hungry maniac who kills his wife, and shows up at the wedding to drive everyone insane. Rhaenyra is pining for Crispin, but turned him down with actual tears and sadness and is upset at marrying Leanor because of her conflict between wanting to do the right thing by her station and ruling, and her love for Crispin. There will be zero puppy-dog-eyed cuts between Viserys' speech and Daemon looking at Rhaenyra, but instead he will be glaring at Viserys. And when Rhaenyra's dancing? No heart eyes and clapping, just anger at Viserys for denying him more power.

And then, because even one-dimensional villains like Daemon need character growth, he ends up dancing with Laena. He looks genuinely taken by her, and there is direction/editing to indicate his attention being drawn away from "power" (a.k.a. Rhaenyra) to real emotion (a.k.a. Laena). Daemon and Laena have more than one five-sentence exchange, and Daemon is distracted by her even when he has his talk with Rhaenyra.

And his talk with Rhaenyra? He looks at Laena when Rhaenyra says "Marriage is only a political arrangement, I hear" to indicate that maybe his mind is changing about his previous words, because he's just met Laena. And Rhaenyra? Doesn't confront him on the impossibility of his romantic, if extremely unrealistic at this point, plan - but instead confronts him to say that he's ruining things with her and Crispin, and that his advice that she could have a side-piece when she's married backfired because Crispin doesn't want to be her whore.

All of this kind of framing could have led into a post-Laena-funeral world where Daemon is much more power-hungry and bitter from losing his One True Love, and a world where his and Rhaenyra's union is based in politics, like "Hey, I loved Laena more than anything, but you are the heir and I want power and you want power -- lets get married in the Faith of the Seven with the explicit permission of the crown and only have sex one time once we're married to produce an heir, and then we can just leave each other alone and the audience can be comfortable and grossed out by our union because we also don't like it".

I don't know if you've noticed, but that has not been the story so far.

Their scene's in episode 1? Immediate comfort with each other, to the point that Rhaenyra is making fun of Daemon to his face and he is happy about it, Daemon is literally walking down to her level and softly and affectionately bringing her a gift (WHEN SHE IS NOT THE HEIR BTW, HE HAS NOTHING TO GAIN FROM THIS), and connecting with her on their Valeryian heritage. He speaks with her at the funeral with absolutely no agenda other than comforting and trying to help her. Not to mention that they are the two main characters of this episode and are the first two dragonriders we see and…

…by Episode 2 the locals are expecting, and are completely correct to expect, that the main conflict will be Daemon vs. Rhaenyra. Because why would they not be the main rivals??? But they absolutely are not made to be the main rivals by the narrative. Rhaenyra is wearing that fucking necklace all the time, she immediately clocks that he has lied about getting married and having a kid, knows he won't hurt her, and confronts him about all of it AND gets back the egg -- because Daemon is a complete simp for Rhaenyra, even back then.

And Episode 3, the episode that they do not interact, somehow still pairs them up in romantic parallels!! Obviously the stabbing of the boar and the bloody walk through camps, paralleled with Daemon's beating up the guard/killing Crabfeeder and the blood-covered closing shot, but also Rhaenyra's whole conflict this episode is being unappreciated and uncared for because "no one is there for [her]" (and literally Daemon is not there) -- and Viserys, during a conversation in which he is like "Ok, fine, choose your own husband" also says how alike Daemon and Rhaenyra are.

AND EPISODE 4, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME???

The episode starts with Rhaenyra playing with The Necklace while listening to suitors, a.k.a thinking about Daemon while being proposed to. You guys, this one scene would have fed me for an entire 22 Episode Season in shows-past. Like, FOR REAL?! SHE IS THINKING OF HIM WHILE ON HER "FIND A HUSBAND" TOUR OF THE COUNTRY. I am going to need you all to soak in that and appreciate it way more than you are currently appreciating it.

AND THEN THE BOAT. Daemon's nearest romantic "rival" in the narrative at this point is Crispin, and Rhaeyra is like "Fuck off with your concussion protocol, I want to stare romantically into the distance at my hot uncle riding his dragon."

AND THE THRONE ROOM. You guys, the blocking of Rhaenyra walking through the crowd and keeping pace with Daemon as he walked down the center aisle? I HAVE WATCHED IT 40 TIMES, and back in the days of network TV 24 episode seasons that would have ruined like 3 months of my life from the romantic tension.

and then Rhaenyra is like looking at him at the garden party? And he is staring at her as she wanders off being lonely?? And then he's soaking in the sun and she's ASKING HIM "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" AND HE TOUCHES THE NECKLACE HE GAVE HER AND SAYS "HOME, I WANT HOME, AND YOU, BASICALLY"???? and then gives her genuinely beautiful life advice that yes, her mother's death was a tragedy, but don't let that stop you from experiencing the best that life has to offer.

And then, with no pressure, gives her the option to meet him, takes her to a play that shows her what the common folk think (AND stares at her romantically without her noticing, AND gives her real Girl Power advice about people thinking Aegon II should rule just because he's a boy, AND tries to communicate to her that what the common folk think does matter).

Ok, and then The Brothel. Daemon obviously wanted them to be seen, hence the removal of the beanie because it would be (in his estimation) a surefire way to regain a position of respect by maybe marrying Rhaenyra. I think Daemon is good at planning exactly (1) step ahead, so I really do think he took Rhaenyra out initially after the Garden Party Convo in order to show her a good time, and then at the Brothel was like "…but what if someone saw her here with me and WE got married…". So all to say, he is impulsive based on how he's feeling: and he absolutely wanted Rhaenyra. But then it was ~INTENSE~~

Like, tell me, how often before has Deamon EVER been on equal footing with a sexual/romantic partner? We never even saw him and Mysaria kiss! We know now he and Rhea never slept together. So he has literally maybe ONLY slept with people who have been paid to sleep with him. And now he is here with the closest person to him, who actually cares about him and knows him better than anyone and who he actually cares about and knows better than anyone, and he's about to kind of use her to piss someone else off AND maybe to trick her father into marrying her to him AND because he wants to show her that she can have whatever she wants AND he wants her -- and that is all too much, because this is easily the most emotionally-involved sexual moment of his life.

So Deamon leaves, get absolutely hammered afterwards (because he clearly wasn't exuding "I am super drunk" energy when he and Rhaenyra were having their almost-sexy-times scene). And Rhaenyra is left horny and unfulfilled and sleeps with the first guy she sees.

And Daemon is beyond hungover, and yet is like "Rhaenyra is a grown woman, she can do whatever a man can do, out of anything in the world I want you to let me marry her". A more calculated and power-hungry Daemon would have not pissed Viserys off so much, maybe would have just manipulated Viserys to annul his marriage to Rhea Royce and made Rhaenyra "choose" him. A more calculated Daemon would have actually slept with Rhaenyra. A more calculated Daemon wouldn't have even taken Rhaenyra out on the town, but would have instead pretended to be nice to Viserys and just asked for Rhaenyra's hand without her involvement at all.

And Episode 5? Daemon, again thinking only one step ahead, heard Viserys' main objection to him marrying Rhaenyra: that he already has a wife. Great, lets just get rid of her! So he does that, but then is again confronted by reality through Rhaenyra's words: is he really going to ruin Rhaenyra's claim to the throne, make enemies of the Velaryons, end his relationship with his brother for good, kill a bunch of people, and exile them together in order to get what he wants right now? He acts off of emotion and instinct, but not in the face of Rhaenyra being like "Are you really willing to go as far as this will require?"

And that brings us to Episode 6, and beyond, which I haven't seen: the writers have done everything in their power to set up Daemon and Rhaenyra as THE main romance. There is no other romance in sight as far as the narrative is concerned, and both his and Rhaenyra's long-term partners are only going to be around for 1 episode as their long-term partners, even though they absolutely could have adjusted the timeline/writing prior to this point to make it like Laena and Harwin were THE main loves, and that Daemon and Rhaenyra were each other's consolation prize after the people that they really wanted died. But they didn't do that.

We are literally going to see Daemon and Rhaenyra getting it on right after his wife's funeral in like 8 days, and then by the end of the episode they are going to get Valyrian Blood-Mixing Hardcore Married right in front of our faces. They could have had the same boring-ass wedding ceremony with the same boring-ass vows as every other couple in this world, but they are going to do some insane "our souls and blood are bound for the rest of eternity" kind of shit!

The first 5 episodes of this show have ONLY framed them in a romantic light, even though they could have easily chosen not to. So I beg you, stop falling victim to your pessimism and just enjoy what is happening right in front of your eyes!

ASoIaF is a tragic world, and this pairing is basically as "OTP Written in the Stars Insanely Romantic and Meant to Be" as a relationship could ever be framed, so just enjoy the ride and stop handwringing about any little hint that they had comfort from other people, that were the other parents of their children, for a single episode. They are allowed to care about other people, especially when they've been apart for so long! If anything, knowing what its like to love other people only makes what they have together even more special. Because they did have good relationships when they were apart, so they know what that is like -- and yet still they yearned for each other, and take the literal first possible moment to get together so they don't waste any more time.

tl;dr: this is a buffet of romance they are serving, stop ruining your own enjoyment of this awesomeness by falling victim to paranoia

[baby--b4t]

hey man it’s fishies again !! been having a hard time feeling small recently so i’ve been thinking about this little scenario for comfort :3

despite being a caretaker for many children, it’s been a WHILEEE since she had to take care of someone younger than the age of five. so she’s a little clueless(idk if that’s the right word) when it comes to taking care of her regressor who’s usually around 0-2 when they’re small :)

-🐠

theres no specified character so im assuming youre talking about arlecchino? im not all caught up with genshin stuff but ill try my best >:D she would seem so lost at first and just pat them on the head

“just uhh… do whatever babies do, i guess?”

(fic under cut <3)

Arlecchino was a force not to be messed with. It made sense who so many would fear her very presence. She was a Fatui Harbinger, for gods sake. Who wasnt scared of the person so many children called ‘Father’?

Somehow, Arlecchino was faced with a regressor that regressed past her usually seen age range. She was no stranger to age regression, finding it a nice way for the orphans to let go of their inner child, but she wasnt very used to specifically babyspace.

“Hello, little one.” Arlecchino crouched down in front of where you sat. You had been sitting in the corner for the past half hour, crying and pushing away most who approached you. She gently reached out and used her thumb to delicately wipe away some tears. “You seem quite small, no? Hm.. Lets get away from this noisy environment.”

With that, Arlecchino hoisted you into her arms. It was no surprise that someone like her could carry you so effortlessly. She glared at those who dared to judge you as she brought you towards a small room she made into a quiet room. Since she knew others regressed as well, the ‘Quiet Room’ was for littles and those who were overwhelmed. It was a place to calm down and feel safe.

“Here we are.” Arlecchino said softly, setting you down on a nearby play-mat. She studied you for a moment before crouching down in front of you again. “Can you… Speak?” She asked. Her tone wasnt judging or harsh, but rather soft and curious. She was met with some whining from you as you had tried to cling onto her again. “Ah, youre the clingy type, I see.” She chuckled, sitting down and shifting you onto her lap. Her hand idly brushed through your hair.

“Hm.. What do little ones like you need? Its not like you come with instructions.” Arlecchino thought aloud. She looked around the quiet room for something that may help with your upset mood. A green pacifier caught her attention. She knew all of their pacifiers and teethers were cleaned regularly, so nobody would spread germs. She picked it up and held it towards you, trying to catch your attention.

“How about this? The other little ones seem to like chewing on everything, even each other.” Arlecchino chuckled slightly. She watched as you moved to take the pacifier into your mouth, adjusting to it before squeaking excitedly. The excitement in your body language told Arlecchino all she needed to know. She gently brought a sea themed blanket close to you, wrapping it around your shoulders.

“That little pacifier can be yours for the day. Maybe you would like to take a nap with it. How does that sound?” Arlecchino knew from past experiences that meltdowns and tantrums often took a lot of energy out of her littles. Almost all of them needed a nap after one or at least some time to lay down and regain their energy. There was a small protest, but the swaying motion she started with you started to convince your brain otherwise.

A small yawn escaped you, nearly making you drop the pacifier from your mouth. Arlecchino laughed softly as she saw the momentary panic on your face as you thought you were going to drop it. She stood up carefully, keeping you firmly in her arms.

“Why dont we just lay down then, hm? Just to relax for a while.” Arlecchino walked to a rocking chair over in the corner. She was sued to the routine of rocking one of the younger littles in her lap after a tantrum or meltdown, so it was no surprise how easy it was for her to sit with you in her arms in the chair. The gentle rocking motion, her hand rubbing circles into your back, and the soft rumble of her chest when she spoke were all aiding the weights pulling on your eyelids. They felt so heavy and droopy, causing you to rub them a bit.

Arlecchino felt as your little face nuzzled into her shoulder. She let you get as comfortable as you needed, not interrupting your movements. It only took minutes for her to feel your breathing soften and your body relax. You were fast asleep, taking a nap your body and mind desperately needed. She let out a breath she didnt know she was holding, letting her own body relax a little bit. She knew she would be here for a while but that didnt matter. What mattered was that one of her youngest littles was feeling better than they did before she found them.

[tomatoart]

mwah your art is good and nice :>

can I ask for some advice? no worries if u don't want to answer.

do you have any tips on how exactly to practice art? everytime I ask for art advice everyone always says "practice" but idk what to practice first! do you have any strategies for learning how to draw something? do you do excercises? and if so how do they work?and are there any beginner mistakes I should look out for and change specifically?

thank you so much!! have a wonderful week :>

thank you so much! im ok w answering! i dont want to speak as if i am an expert on how to draw things in general as i am learning as well and definitely am not completely learned, so i might not be the best person to ask since im not very professional w my art as I do it as a hobby (and I can only speak on mostly digital cartoon matters) but i reallly hope to try and help u out even a lil ! im really happy that you’re eager to draw :] I wish you so much luck muwah muwah

i also hated when ppl told me “just practice” and i dont wanna inflict tht on u EITHER LOL but also thats just what i ended up doing for awhile but i tried to find some things to help ^_^

tips for practice: My number one rule is that practices should be challenging but still fun, I know it can get frustrating trying to redraw a pose over and over trying to get it perfect. And over time it rlly is all about muscle memory, the longer you draw the more your eyes will pick out specific shapes in everyday life and convert them into its own vision of them! or at least its good to look at life that way, try to pin point key shapes and stress less on details in practices. after you look at key points, THEN you can go over what you have and draw in and over it to make it more “complete.” To stop practices from getting too stressful I recommend starting out drawing what you want a little more simple looking than ur desired finished product. This helps eliminate the pressure of everything not looking “perfect” and keeps your art more loose and fun. Doing this a few times is gonna get ur brain to recognize patterns in art and how things look/flow in anatomy and such. dont get stuck in ur own head abt perfecting everything to the point you either 1) give up bc ur not at a level capable of it being 100% “perfect” or 2) focus so much on making it perfect that you end up saying the work looks “wonky” or stale in dynamics, So while I do think studies help, don’t get too lost in them. I always practice with media I enjoy too, whether it’s characters or fashion I enjoy.

Strategies learning to draw something: people get mad abt this one but I think tracing reference photos is great. its been awhile but When I tried learning to draw hands better at first I would trace them then put the traced image to the side of the canvas, then try and replicate what my mind saw as its most important angles and aspects. Same for clothing folds/hair/etc! I think it’s maybe not the best idea to trace the ref and use the tracings as is, because you learn more from tracing it then trying to replicate and simplify what u learned into the style you’re working in. Find what shapes you like from them and don’t over detail it. you may have to go by eye and think “what parts of this ref photo should i simplify to fit my style” and for me, its usually adjusting the length of the torso and then the limbs by associations. i dont recommend feeling like u need a reference for every art you make though, its ok to let ur own head try out its own sometimes too while trying to learn this, see if it remembers any call bad from the past referenced sketches! over time ull remember where everything goes more, these days i rarely kick myself to use refs but im sure they still would help to use, but figure drawing simple blobby figure in a bunch of random poses was a big thing i used to do as well to get better at full body art + overall dynamics (still does this). also paying attention to silhouettes is great 

Exercises and how they work: I WANNA HELP U SO BAD BUT to be honest, all the works on my blog ARE exercises! i rarely actually do finished pieces, if u scroll thru my posts ull notice most r sketches. i usually just fill up a page and call it “warm ups” then i get attached to some of them, take a few, and just line them up pleasingly on a smaller page, then color them in (or sometimes fix the lines to be more clean too). im not rlly a person who “exercises” to practice, it more so happens from just me drawing a lot for fun as a hobby! but i really should. i will tell u this has humbled me a lil i need to start practicing too 😭 LOL but a good exercise is to look at what ur inspirations do, and study it. Make a collage and write out what you like most abt their styles/what u want to gain from them. For ref Here’s a page I did awhile ago when someone asked me abt my insps:

i also look at fashion magazines and as well as anime figures and take insps from that sometimes with learning cool poses and compositions to convert into my own things

Beginner mistakes to look out for: its hard for me to pin point “mistakes” beginners make, as sometimes we cant avoid all of them or even notice them, progress comes from growing out of old ways. some mistakes are even the foundation of ur future amazing cool style! but i think some things to look out for could be these, from my own old art experiences

Hands were the first thing I learned bc i liked drawing them. I don’t know if that is the best way to go but I think it is smart to practice sooner than later, here is a lil guide thingggyyy wingyyy from awhle ago

i see beginners shy away from drawing signs of age in people, sometimes adding too much detail on an older person in cartoon art makes it look weird, so i try and hit the key markings on ppls faces of age.

Too thin of lines. sometimes its a stylistic choice to use thin lineart, and it can look amazing ! but sometimes it can flatten an image if ur not familiar with its flow. im not saying use thick line art, but more so to keep in mind the weight of ur strokes, adding depth with a thick thin combo of line art can do SO much for the simplest of pieces. heres a visual from a while back when i talked abt my brush + more abt lines:

but if ur desired style is thin lineart that is cool too! tbh it was just harder for me as a beginner

sometimes artists think they need to do full lineart for everything and then hate how it looks compared to the sketch, do not fear i will introduce u to my bff: painting over a sketch, extractinging the lines, then calling it line art. i only do this sometimes but its a fun exercise-ish thing to do in a pinch. example:

finding what shading fits ur art. sometimes ill see ppl starting out who have a style thats very simple, but they use a very detailed rendering process on it. this is not something id ever police of course, art is each persons own choice! And it CAN work. It can be so cute! but sometimes mixing two very contrasting mediums of art can throw off the “put together” look of it. i use to abuse the airbrush tool thinking it made my simple style look super cool and detailed, but looking back on it now those pieces looked a little off, having such a simple style have somewhat more realistic shading. dont get me wrong the ability i see ppl use rendering like that is so insanely talented! but i found cellshading to be a good match for cartoony art like my own. a tip i learned way too late abt that is rather than shading each layer by color picking a darker color, instead use a clipping mask over the entire art (above line art too as I color my lineart) and lasso tool the areas u want shaded + fill it w a saturated purple then set to multiply + lower opacity. also, sometimes coloring can come out chalky looking when u meant for it to be smooth and transitional, i think this comes from overshading and overlighting pieces without reason. pay attention to where the light source is, and focus on making the shaded and lighter areas nice shapes that cover the necessary areas, then u can add additional shading to the smaller details of what should have a casted shadow/light  

its good to spice up ur art now rather than later, focusing making ur art pop more w backgrounds will help ur coloring skills look better too! i dont mean detailed huge backgrounds, a small lil color pallet and design rather than a blank white bg. like this will make u feel better abt it or at least it helped me *sweats* yeah:

beginners tend to draw blank faces like “:)” but I think a good thing to do is try and get silly with expressions early on. It’s okay if the mouth hangs off the face cartoonishly with joy or shock, it’s ok if the eyebrows are super high in surprise.

tracing and pasting it as is (already said this but I’ve seen ppl do it a lot with hair styles and it makes it look alienated from the rest of the style) (final fantasy fans found critically injured) n if need a ref for a pose, using a real humans anatomy as-is doesn’t look quite right on a cartoonyish drawing. Shortening torso and legs usually comes out of this for me!

flip ur canvas i promise u it’ll be less embarrassing over time!

using guidelines for perspective and foreshortening is GREAT. Do it stylistically rather than realistically to add some groove to it...yay. Having silly perspective in art can make it look like a 10 so easily opposed to a normal front facing sketch. Look at cool poses from fashion magazines! Don’t be scared to draw something you don’t feel confident in conveying perfectly, this is why progress redraws exist :)

Drawing the hairline b4 u draw the hair is great, it helps u understand where their hair flows from, where it starts and stops, AND prepares u for drawing bald ppl. Also don’t make the head too big, the skull IS bigger up top, but sometimes I see an alien head affect.

Anatomy is an interesting mistake that beginners make a lot, but it’s one they find harder to notice! When I started out, all my art would be SO wonky, but I didn’t even realize it! It still happens today too! specifically though I see beginners struggle with the arms in this department. My advice is to try and measure them out and make sure they don’t go past the knees, and are the same length as each other when Unfolded. asking for criticism is hard but it helped me realize when i would make something bigger/longer than it should have been in my art, and stuck with me being able to go “oh... i see it LOL” 

clothing wrinkles- do not over do it! Too many wrinkles and shading can look unpleasant and wirey- like a plastic table cloth all bunched up which isn’t exactly what ppl wear. pay attention to gravity too

I hope this helped even a lil im sorry tht I’m not very good at explaining or didn’t have much to sayyy! If u have any troubles no guarantee I’ll have the answer, but ur always free to ask!

[aslongasimhereyoureinvincible]

what are your neurodivergent headcanons for hq characters?

asdfjhgfds sorry this has been in my askbox for a few days ive been busy w/ Life Stuff TM but anyways ND haikyuu headcanons lets gooo

hinata:

ik bc hes Sunshiney and Loud lots of ppl read hinata as adhd, which i can deffo see, but personally i read him as autistic

hes extroverted and good at adopting introverts (kageyama, kenma, yachi, tsukki) but when u stop to think abt it hes also actually kinda bad at social ques and 'normal' behaviour?? i think ppl dont notice bc hes also rlly nice but hinata is actually pretty blunt lmao

his special interest is literally volleyball cmon now

its canon that he dislikes being in classes too long or doing homework bc he finds sitting still for too long difficult, both me and my autistic older brother used to get up and pace around our classrooms when we were younger

even though hes rlly athletic and has insane reflexes obviously, hes also pretty clusmy and especially bad at judging distances which to me looks like dyspraxia which is really commonly comorbid w/ autism

ive also read a few fics where he has tourettes syndrome w/ body tic and i can deffo see why ppl would hc that

idk hes just reads as autistic so well in my mind like idk why its not a more common take

kageyama:

this one is less of a headcanon and moreso just interpreting the text correctly; hes definitely autistic

like its my belief that furudate either knowingly wrote kageyama as autistic or like based his personality off of an irl autistic person they knew or SOMETHING bc its actually insane how well he reads as autistic

the lack of social skills? the anger issues? the deep special interest in volleyball? the just wanting to express your feelings/opinions but coming off as rude but not knowing how to fix that? middle school being a living hell? having that one family member who Got you? the high level of skill in one particular area? hes literally the texboox definition of autism

even the little things like how he files his nails and jokes go over his head and he accidentally insults ppl bc hes calling it how he sees it and how he basically had no friends growing up bc he was too focused on volleyball and how he struggles to smile on command like!!! thats autism babe!!!!!!

oh also hes dyslexic bc im dyslexic and i say so

ushijima:

same as kageyama i bet he was either knowing written as autistic or based off of an irl person who is

blunt as all hell, monotone voice and facial expressions, volleyball as a special interest, bad at social interaction, accidentally rude, the list goes on and on

like his whole thing about how his left handedness makes him different but is also a gift that benefits him in some ways? thats a metaphor for neurodivergency dont @ me

oikawa:

i hc him as having narcisstic personality disorder, not in the ableist reddit-user 'all ppl w/ npd are evil manipulative abusers' way but in the ' i have npd and know what it actually looks like' way

hiding massive insecurities by acting like youre amazing?? that fuckin marina lyric thats like 'i feel like im the worst so i always act like im the best'?? that was abt oikawa tooru and npd

feeling threatened the second someone as good or better than you shows up? fixating on one specific thing that you have to be the best at? those are npd as fuck traits

the way he can basically get along with anyone and adjust his play style to suit them but only has a few close friendships where he can let his true personality rlly shine through

hes literally so npd coded augh <3

bokuto:

i read him as adhd and having cyclothymia

i think he was unmedicated in high school and unknowingly had depressive and hypomanic episodes which affected his play

he also very much reads as having rejection sensitive dysphoria if u ask me

and the way he talks and bounces around and has All That Damn Energy gives me adhd vibes, esp pared w/ his poor volume control ad the way he ignores social cues lol

okay quickfire round bc im getting tired of typing

atsumu is autistic, so is osamu for that matter, theyre just at very different points on the spectrum and rub each other up the wrong way a lot of the time bc of it

kita is also autistic bc no neurodivergent person is that particular about doing things the 'right' way

hoshiumi is autistic and adhd

asahi and yamaguchi read like they struggled w/ anxiety and depression

sakusa has ocpd and ocd (contamination ocd specifically) and mysophobia

kyoutani has aspd, again not in a 'aspd = violent agressive psychopaths' way but in a 'i actually have a cluster b personality disorder' way, and adhd also

kenma is autistic and has social anxiety

yachi has social anxiety too bc cmon now

tsukki reads to me as having chronic depression, i think i could also make a case for him being autistic too ngl

tendou is some flavour of neurodivergent, probally audhd, probably some other stuff, idk but hes definitely not neurotypical

like hinata, lev reads as autistic to me even tho hes got that goodball energy thatd make lots of ppl read him as adhd bc like,, he just fuckin sucks at social interaction like he is accidentally rude all the damn time lmaoo

fukunaga and aone are both autistic w/ selective mutism and/or partial to moderate non-verbalness

obviously its none of my business and i think having headcanons abt irl ppl is Fucking Weird but i wouldnt be surprised if furudate themself was autistic bc truly so many characters in haikyuu can be read that way if u ask me, although maybe im just projecting lol

[theflyindutchwoman]

Tim in Metro was quite a sight - and I'm not just talking about how good he looked in his new uniform. What I found interesting is how every scene about Metro had a slight edge to it… It was like standing at crossroads and not knowing which direction to take : will Tim enjoy staying there? Or is he going to leave?

Let's start with the training sessions. They were a really nice touch to highlight the difference between patrol and Metro. Which isn't necessarily a knock on patrol by the way. They after all started there as well. But they're right to emphasise that Metro is a complete different beast. They're a tactical response team, specialised in very specific situations (like hostage rescue mission). Think of SWAT… Not everyone makes the cut. And Tim has some extra challenges here. He's not just starting a new job and joining a new team. He's also replacing their team leader : he's in charge of them. So it's imperative that he gets up to speed. Add the fact that Tim is a creature of habit and likes his comfort zone. He spent more than 12 years on patrol, doing things a certain way, with people he got to know and trust along the way. Now he has to practically start over. That's a lot of things to process at the moment. It feels off because he is off-balance. He has to find his new equilibrium. That may take some time. And maybe he won't find it. Nevertheless, they all worked effortlessly once they were on the mission, so they're at least off to a good start.

And as harsh and critical as they may have sounded, the team seemed to be rather encouraging towards Tim. There was no real friction or hard feelings. They didn't openly resent him for Hicks leaving or anything of the sort. They were challenging him but they all congratulated him when he succeeded a training exercise and they made him part of the team with the unicorn stickers prank. Again there was a slight edge : at this point, Tim doesn't know them and they don't know him… They're practically observing each other. And while his leadership was questioned when they were staging the rescue mission, it was actually for a valid reason : Angela is a detective, so not exactly the first person one would choose as a spotter. And as a leader, choosing an outsider to do the job one of your teammates can do might send a message that you don't trust them. But once Tim explained his reasoning, his teammate had no problem with apologising and giving Angela credit and following orders. Even Pine, who may not be all warm and fuzzy, seemed quite supportive. When Tim was frustrated after his first training round, she was quick to remind him that they all went through the same period of adjustment. And when he was on the outside, she didn't hesitate to mend the bridge and invite him to join them for drinks. Baby steps…

I know some people are worried that this new team won't be supportive of Chenford… But so far there's nothing to really indicate that. To be fair, only two people have really talked in the team, so it's hard to say what they think. And that's IF they even find out about them or make a deal out of it… But for what it's worth, Nyla told Lucy that Tim's predecessor, Hicks, had a wife who worked for the department and he seemed to get along with the rest of them…

So I honestly could see it go either way… The next episodes should clue us in further on whether Tim is going to embrace this new position or not. I will just say that adding more recurring characters at this point is a challenge of its own, as the cast is already quite large, so we might never get to really know the rest of the Metro team. The same way we barely see Caradine when Angela and Nyla are concerned, we might just end up following Tim (and maybe Lt. Pine), with the rest of the team in the background.

[fandxmslxt69]

Gasp! You have OCs? And I didn’t know?!?!?! :O

Well, now I gotta know everything about them!!! But, just to make your life easier, how about we stick to basic introductions?

So, 1 and 2 for the OC asks!!! :D

HELLO MY LOVELY :D the way i threw aside my book soooo fast (ok not threw. put aside quickly and with the intent of completing a mission)

i have. So Many OCs its not even funny lmao

I LOVE THEM ALL SO SO MUCH!!!!

a lot of them started off as just like Very Specific Readers and then I was like oh fuck it I CAN DO WHAT I WANT (one made her way into being the lead in my novel with many adjustments but her spirit lives on lmao)

OKAY !!! i have many but lets focus on my #1 gal

What’s their full name? Why was that chosen? Does it mean anything?

Okay do I have a full name for my girl? No i dont,but that's okay :D um, her name is Dahlia and she is my baby my favourite child ever. It's an arabic name (bc of course it is) and it means flower. It's not a very common name but its cute and it just has such a nice ring to it....

I mostly picked it because I was like "oh my god i need an arabic name that is not the most generic basic ass name ever" and it came about and now I can't see her as any other name!!! its fitting to her now that I think about it? She just. blossoms.

2. Do they have any titles? How did they get them?

Umm she's a prodigy, dunno if I would call that a TITLE. but to her man she is nothing but A Queen. no fr, um, in my mind and in the like 2 pieces of actual character plot I sat down to WRITE for her, she gets a PhD so she has the title of Doctor though she only uses it to abuse her power. she's used to the usual Miss/Ma'am that everyone is accustomed to using

[flightfoot]

So, that one ask about Luka got me curious: Do you have fic recs for Luka being an actual, fleshed out person? I know you read a lot of fic and you mentioned it specifically, so I thought you might? I'd be interested in really getting into his head. Bonus points if there's Lukagami involved (since that's my preference), but stuff about Wishmaker or Desperada or any other episode were he was particularly relevant should be the most interesting? Or Couffaine/Jagged family stuff. If you do, thanks!

Sorry it took me nearly a week to answer this, but there was a fanfic one my radar I needed to read first, since I suspected it would be perfect for this list. And I was right!

In The Shadows by @19thsentry-blog is the best Luka fic I've ever read. I just finished binging it today, and am looking forward to reading its sequels!

On one side is Luka, 140-year-old Snake Miraculous holder and keeper of the Guardian's secrets, on the other is Marinette Dupain-Cheng, a relatively newly minted hero of Paris and Guardian of the Miracle Box. Each is looking to fulfill their promises to their now gone mentors to reunite the Kwamis and keep them safe. Sounds simple--until you throw in a rocky start, the Atlantic Ocean, Félix Graham de Vanily, and a whole host of secrets…and suddenly simple becomes complicated (story of Marinette's life, right?).

Yes, this is a Lukanette fic. I don't normally read those since I've had enough bad experiences during my early days in this fandom (particularly while season 3 was airing) with Adrien, Alya, the class, etc getting demonized in those sorts of fics, that it put me off of the pairing as a whole, even though the pairing itself is fine (I happily read poly fics that include Lukanette so long as Adrien's in there too, since those have historically been pretty nice to all the characters).

This one I decided to take a chance on, since I read one of 19thsentry's more recent works (See This Chance, a FeLuka fic where Luka's a ghost, it's under 4000 words so if you want something bite-sized it's a good read), was impressed, and decided to give "In the Shadows" a shot since it had an interesting premise and the sequels sounded like they were nice to Adrien and Alya, with the second fic featuring Alya as Scarabella and the third fic going into Adrien adjusting to adult life post Hawkmoth-defeat.

I wasn't disappointed. I adore how fair it was to all of the characters, From Luka to Adrien to Marinette to Felix, and even though it's tagged as having slight Master Fu bashing, it's fair to him as well. Felix received some of the most interesting characterization in fact. He's not exactly the greatest guy, and he's not super well-liked for good reason, but he is intriguing and I found myself enjoying watching his machinations, as well as him very obviously getting a crush on Viperion that he resolutely tried to ignore. 19thSentry's love for FeLuka shown through here quite a bit.

Luka's a little different since he has a very different backstory in this fic than in canon, but he's still recognizably himself. We get to see a lot of his thoughts, feelings, concerns, and baggage, and while his feelings for Marinette are an important part of the fic, they're not the driving force behind his entire character, he's got a lot of other things going on.

Honestly even if you're normally put off by Lukanette, I'd still recommend this fic, just for the plot and characterization alone, it's really solid and deserves FAR more attention than it's gotten.

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Now as for other Luka fics, ones that build out his characterization while still being recognizably him, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up this next fic, though it's not Luka-centric by any stretch of the imagination.

one does not love breathing by @wackus-bonkus-maximus

All of Paris watched as Hawkmoth murdered Chat Noir, taking the Black Cat Miraculous for himself. Ladybug swears revenge, but her enemy—and every miraculous in his possession—disappear without a trace.

Six years later, a new team of villains launches an attack for the last remaining Miraculous: Volpina, armed with new powers; Queen Bee, with questionable loyalty; Argos, the new holder of the Peacock Miraculous; and Cat Walker, who Ladybug hates the most.

Takes place after S4 - Strike Back.

I adore this fic for so many reasons, but as far as Luka goes, this is the fic that gave me the best insight into why Luka might have lied to Ladybug in Wishmaker about not discovering hers and Chat's identities, and didn't bring up that he knew them in Ephemeral, when it was relevant. One of my biggest issues with Luka has been my inability to get into his head, to see what he could reasonably have been thinking and feeling that makes his actions and characterization in the show make sense. Wackus delivered here, really showcasing what he might have been thinking in those cases, with Luka not wanting to rock the boat, afraid of causing harm, until a catalyst came along and spurred him to action. Luka's characterization in one does not love breathing may not be the focus of the fic, but it's one of the parts of it that stands out the most for how unique and exceptional it is.

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When Feelings Are Too Big For Words by ClockworkCaptain

When Luka takes a gig playing for a drag show he's falls hard and fast for the drag queen Buttercup who uses her performances to work through her own emotions. Meanwhile Adrien's been using drag to work through his own emotions and thinks maybe Luka coming back into his life and showing interest might mean a second chance.

Made for @mlsecretsanta 2022

I greatly enjoyed this one-shot, seeing Luka's feelings about "Buttercup", and him getting to know Adrien a bit better. It's a fun read!

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Come Take My Hand by @carelisswriting

Luka heard his soulmate for the first time when he was ten. All he knows about her is that she likes fencing. It's just a coincidence that Kagami likes fencing, right?

(Lukagami Soulmate AU, written for the Miraculous Ladybug Secret Santa Exchange!)

You specifically mentioned liking Lukagami, so I recommend giving this one-shot a shot! I loved seeing Luka figure out that Kagami was his soulmate especially, with Kagami having figured it out first.

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Forced Perspective by @emmalylis

A bodyswap akuma hits Ryūko and Viperion, then promptly vanishes. While Ladybug and Chat Noir track down the akuma, Luka and Kagami must live each other’s lives. Along the way, they discover some things about each other.

Another Lukagami one-shot here that I think you might enjoy! They both have to live with each other's families, which is interesting.

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Transparency by kopycat_101

Luka and Juleka come out of the closet.

(An apparently very thin, very transparent closet, but a closet nonetheless.)

A story about two siblings, the complications of family, standing strong in the face of hardship, bonding, and supporting one another no matter what life throws at you. Told in three parts/three days.

You asked for some Couffaine family stuff, and this is some of the best I've seen, with it mostly focusing on Luka's, Juleka's, and Anarka's family dynamic. Jagged isn't their father in this, partially because it wasn't revealed as canon yet, and partially because the author didn't feel like using that (at the time) popular headcanon.

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I hope these help satisfy your craving anon!