#leftover thread project

[anciental]

I forgot to put my squashy pillow up! The white side is a mandala kit that I purchased from Etsy that had a very satisfying curl to it, and the black side is the scraps project I started back in June. I had already put the tree base on it, but I put off finishing it because the leaves intimidated me. I decided to do lattice "squares" to get myself back into the jumble project, and to just get it done so that I had another square to sew to the mandala.

It is a very tiny, very squashy pillow, but it is silly and I like it a lot. One of my colleagues suggested I make a quilt out of my squares, and I think that's a better idea than 100 squashy pillows (but now that I think about it, 100 squashy pillows....)

[roncheg]

All the presents are delivered, so I finally can brag that this year I've made my loved ones grandma's shoppers))))

[juneiper-art]

idk man what if i picked up another craft who cares

[toughtinkcosplay]

not a dumb question! a lot of it comes down to sharpness--they should move easily through fabric without any snagging or difficulty. but also, the eye of the needle should be clean and large enough to get thread through without much problem. (obviously, ymmv. if you struggle with that type of fine motor skill i would also recommend getting a threader to help.)

for more info, this was the video i saw about 3 years ago from abby cox. she goes into more hand sewing tips also, so it's worth a watch if you find yourself doing a lot of mending or other hand sewing projects.

@spaghetti-machete oops forgot to tag ya!

i watched an abby cox video forever ago about how most hand sewing needles easily available in stores absolutely fucking suck and how you have to find fancier brands online that were made in england or whatever to get good ones these days, but only recently acted on it by adding some on to my order of snaps for my meryl coat.............

ohmygod. it makes such a difference. you guys, if you hate hand sewing, go buy some slightly better needles. i got some from wawak which is an online store that specializes in notions (and they're much cheaper than what you'll find at joann's), and it makes everything so silky holy crap. i'm forever changed.

[buzzingroyalty]

how to grub your karkat

or you can use this for any other plush or if you wanna make a whole new plush entirely or whatever

disclaimer im not a professional in any sense of the word and theres anything technical im doing wrong or you think you can do it better by all means dont hold back

Things you’ll need

sewing machine unless youre really dedicated but doing it by hand is gonna be an agonizing feat i promise. I just used a straight stitch for everything

Fabrics: for the main body i suggest a minky or something soft, for the inner lining something in the same color as the main body and ideally with some stretch, and anything black for the legs. Less than a yard of each will do

if youre using minky or anything furry get a lint roller. Trust me

stuffing, i used polyfil

threads that match your fabrics

good fabric scissors

sewing needle for hand sewing/fixes

karkat plush (optional)

Heres the pattern i came up with! They are numbered for your convenience and pieces with the same numbers are going to be part of the same row of segments. cut everything out on the black lines (Make sure when you’re printing to fit the image to the page size.) on the left we have the belly pieces, the right is the main body, and we have the foot in between

Im using a relatively thin minky fabric, im sure you can use whatever but something with some fluffiness kinda helps to mask any imperfections in the sewing. When drawing out your patterns keep in mind what direction your fibers settle in and try to keep it consistent

On the wrong side of the fabric measure out at least a half inch seam allowance around each piece of the pattern, i used a centimeter and that worked but had me sweatin a bit.

For the main body pieces fold your fabric in half before you cut so you can have 2 of each segment that are mirrored to each other, i also extended all of the #1 pieces an additional centimeter/half inch at the top so we can fold them over at the very end. I highly suggest numbering the insides of all the cut pieces, especially in a way where you will remember what direction they are each meant to sit

After you’ve numbered all your pieces, set them aside and start making your feet!

Each of the 6 legs is made of two pieces, but i because i only had a swatch of the black minky i made up for the rest with some random black scrap fabric from an old project. Try to keep your fabric consistent if you can lol

I didnt give these pieces any more seam allowance on the fabric but i recommend adding a centimeter or half inch to the base of it to extend the length and have some more wiggle room

like so

Instead of cutting out 12 individual pieces and struggling to stitch them all together i started with 6, then pinning each piece real tight with the right/furry side down onto my secondary fabric, and slowly stitching around the shape real close to the edges- DO NOT CLOSE THE FLAT SIDE as we are going to stuff the feet through here

Now cut the shape out of the fabric and repeat till you have 6 feet

Now flip those bad boys inside out, stuff up, and if you wanna you can match them to their best pairs

now grab a pair of feeties and your #1 pieces and line them up, in this picture my belly #1 piece is shorter bc i forgot to add the extra centimeter and i recut that once i realized. Line those sides up with the right/furry parts touching and with the feet in between, flip it around to make sure everything's sitting the way you want it

Note. i didnt realize until later but i sewed my feet in upside down. save yourself the time it takes to fix it and dont make the same mistake

Straight stitch these layers together and repeat with the next two segments our good friends #2 & #3

Repeat this for the #2 and #3 sections but NOT THE #4, that part doesnt need feet! just line those edges up right/furry sides together and sew

the secret to the squish of the suit is making this inner lining from another fabric and stuffing it! I used what i had leftover from a stretchy red fabric for a kanaya skirt. For this we need to make a new pattern for each section, making sure it follows the curve of the round edge but the piece itself is shorter, almost like youre removing the seam allowance you added. Mine is a centimeter shorter on the top and on the bottom and reaches to the middle

Make one of these for each numbered segment,you only need to make half the pattern and you can fold your fabric in half on a crease and you end up with one symmetrical piece (bars)

Now you need to pin these pieces right on top of the wrong side of your numbered furry sections and line up the straight edges like so (disclaimer for LOTS OF SCARY NEEDLES !!)

Admittedly i didnt estimate how long these pieces needed to be very accurately and overshot it a bit, if you start pinning it from the middle and continue outwards on either side thatll ensure its not too lose and you can cut off any excess after

The only exception is piece #1, if you recall we gave this #1 section extra seam allowance. This is so we can sew down that excess at the neck later and hide any of the inside that might show once its all put together. Do not connect the top edge to the inner lining! Since i added an extra centimeter earlier im gonna leave that hanging and pin + sew down the inner lining a centimeter lower than the top edge. LEAVE THE CURVED EDGES OPEN! DONT SEW THEM TOGETHER! those stay open to stuff

Straight stitch the lined up edges together

Now you have all these skinned pieces of little freak and we need to connect all these segments together making sure to sew UNDER the existing stitches so we dont see those on the outside when its all put together

Inside looks like a bit of a mess but thats fine bc its not the part that matters

Now stuff it! you might need a stick or pencil or something long and thin to get stuffing into the middle bits

Now thats its stuffed you can finally close those curved edges. Try not to sew over a thick mound of stuffing, push it in a little further to give yourself some space and you can fluff it back out after everythings closed. I cut off that excess lining fabric after sewing

Ough… they filleted my boy…

Finally, match up all the edges and lines and HAND SEW them right sides together. You will destroy your machine trying to work around that stuffing i promise. You also have an excuse to get up from your work desk and sew on a couch or smth. I used a standard backstitch for a tight finish and again, make sure you sew under any existing stitches so they arent visible on the outside!

Speaking of the outside, once you stitch everything together you can very gently flip this sucker inside out

This is @hatamonu’s cat Cocaina, aka Coco. Her perfectly square figure made it into my grub files somehow so shes essential to the tutorial

Check the fit and all thats left to do is roughly baste stitch down that excess neck fabric onto the stuffed lining and youre set! I gave the thread slight tugs as i went to tighten the opening a bit put dont tighten it too much

tadaaaaa

It fits pretty snug but starts to slip a bit with motion. Heres a bounce test

 If you do shake your baby make sure to safety pin the plush to the suit so he doesnt prematurely shed his exosekeleton

Now spread that baby fever and show your baby to the world

pics from the ALA 2025 homestuck meetup and supplied by para.dox.cos

Tysm for coming along this ride with me especially if you followed the prototype journey on twitter, much thanks to my more sewing savvy friend for the solution to my grub dilemma and for helping me design and build my dolorosa cosplay <3 much love and hopefully many more homestuck cosplays and meetups to come in the future!

[sweetlyfez]

As I promised @elodieunderglass (ty for the reminder), pictures of my finished (ish) crazy quilted notebook covers.

If you haven't previously heard of crazy quilting, it was a HUGE craze among housewives in the late 19th century, which revolved around patchworking and appliqueing together irregularly shaped fabric scraps and then embellishing the shit out of them.

I embarked on this project because after filing away the idea of crazy quilts from a coffee table book my spouse picked up in a charity shop a year or so ago, I saw a couple of people on youtube sharing their work; and because I needed covers for my next junk journal.

I cleaved pretty close to the base principles of the style - using precious scraps, making as much of them as possible, and creating a canvas for lots of embroidered embellishment. These two 5x7ish pieces barely used up any volume of my accumulated scraps so there will be more crazy quilting in my future, once I think of ways to make use of it.

I'm very pleased with how the compositions came together, and it was lots of fun picking the embroidery thread colours to speak to all the different patches. Actually the whole things was stupid fun and I worked on barely any other projects or, in fact, chores while Iw as working on it. Next time I will probably match the weight of my fabrics more closely (mostly bc the velvets have made things lumpier than I'd have liked), and I'll prewash the old bits retrieved from my nan's sewing box bc when I rinsed the embroidery pen out from the wild rose piece the pink bled and I was quite lucky it was mostly synthetic patches around it.

Under the cut for an inventory of scraps used (all out of stash)

"love" embroidery, from a magazine kit released ca 2018/19

orange & pink flower print, velvets, floral corduroy, ribbon, and pink twill all from my Nan's sewing box

Pink silk leftover from my wedding dress, flower print and the translucent silk the spider is mounted on from a scrap bag - all from Beckford silks (they don't carry the scrap bags on their website but they're well worth a visit in person if you're in the neighbourhood)

The other printed silk was a tunic of mine which stood up poorly to wear

Blotchy yellow and rust silk from a natural printing demo

Green corduroy and black flower print viscose from Will's sewing projects

Blue and fuchsia check from my old pjs

planets print quilting cotton bought for a hat band from the remnants bin of the friendly local fabric shop

green leaf ribbon leftover from an Audrey ii costume

[palossssssand]

My plush project for the past few weeks: Oveyll! I had a bunch of leftover felt and fleece from a different project and realized the colors would be really fitting.

Zhe is fully posable with a ball jointed spine, and the belly and tail are filled with beans. A lot of annoying little hand-sewn details as well. When drafting the pattern I initially thought zhe was going to be too big but zhe ended up being the perfect size!

I’m super happy with how zhe came out!!! I have a beast to sit on the couch and watch Severance with now. Here’s a wip thread post.

[dapurinthos]

forever annoyed at the lack of non-woven jedi garments. excuse you, fibrecraft is the basis of society. where are they getting their cloth from? are they weaving it themselves? are they spinning it themselves? where is the knitwear. you cannot tell me that there are no sweaters in the jedi order. there are probably hideous sweaters made from fourteen different colours of yarn because they're made from the wool leftover from other projects. all of the colours manage to clash. and embroidery is just too good for teaching patience. hand-sewing in general is good and meditative.

these people are going to be darning their own socks, patching holes in their robes. they are going to have needles and thread in their survival kits and know how to hold the cloth tension just right with the force so they can re-weave the bigger holes by using tiny, straight sticks to hold the warp in place.

[jarofstyles]

Miss jars!!! Can you do something about Harry seeing you interact w kids and he’s weirdly quiet when they leave and she thinks something’s wrong but he really is just thinking about wanting one of their own hehe

Oh yes yes yes.

Check out our Patreon

—-

Harry was oddly quiet on the way home.

It wasn’t like he was upset, per say, because when he was it was something she could click immediately. His jaw wasn’t clenched, his hands weren’t gripping the wheel until his knuckles were white, he wasn’t controlling his breathing. Yes, his brow was slightly furrowed and he was lost in his head, but that wasn’t abnormal.

The man was always in his head thinking of his next projects, his work, his family- her. She was leaning towards that, considering he hadn’t even noticed her gaze on him yet. Big Yellow Taxi was playing and there wasn’t much to react to except the subconscious tapping at the wheel in beat to the song.

“H?” She asked as they approached a red light so she didn’t startle him. His eyes blinked a few times before he turned to look at her, the little smile on his face before she could even realize it. Okay- definitely not mad at her.

“What’s up, dove?” His tone was light as he gave her his attention for the first time in the drive.

“Are you alright?” Y/N kept her tone soft, not wanting to irritated anything if there was something wrong. “You’re just being quiet, is all. You’re usually more chirpy after we see your family.”

That was an understatement. Harry was usually giggly and in the best mood after they left his mum’s house, kissing on her and bringing her home. Sometimes they danced in the kitchen because the good mood was that infectious. It wasn’t normal for him to be so reserved and quiet after a gathering and it made her wonder what or who was on his mind.

“Oh, I’m great. Trust me.” He assured her, dropping his hand to her thigh for a squeeze. “Nothing is wrong at all. I’m just thinking about something.”

Y/N gave him a look, but let it go for now. There pulling onto their street so she kept quiet about it and put her hand on top of his, threading their fingers together before bringing it to her lips to kiss the back of it. She could see the dimple in his cheek from the action before he took their joined hands and returned the gesture, moving it back to her lap when he pulled into the garage.

The silence was comfortable as they went inside, Y/N knowing better than to get her own door as Harry opened it for her. She followed him inside, the leftover cake his mum sent with them in her hand to put into the fridge- but as soon as they got into the kitchen it was taken from her hand and his palms gripped her face, bringing their mouths together.

Harry stole her breath as he kissed her fully. It wasn’t sloppy or messy, not like the ones he did before things were about to turn into bedroom time, but like he needed to do it. Like he was feeling the urge so fully that he was keeping her lips glued to his, a weak sigh leaving her nose as she melted into his grip. What brought it on? She had no clue. But she wasn’t going to question it.

“I was thinkin’ about how good you were with the kids today.” His little cousins and his niece and nephew. She had spent a lot of time with them today, playing and entertaining them whilst Harry caught up with family. Y/N loved them, it was no chore, but she had no idea he’d been laying so close attention.

“Oh?” She asked breathlessly, knees a little weak from the kiss allowing him to push her back into the kitchen island.

“Mhm. It was…” he shook his head. “Saw you as a mum. Imagined what it would be like when you were runnin’ after our own little ones. How good you’d be with ‘em. You’d make such a good mumma, my love.” And- oh. She felt him against her stomach, a gasp leaving her lips. He shook his head again, catching her lips in another kiss- albeit shorter and a little heavier. “And I was thinking about how soon you’d let me do it to you. Make you a proper mumma. Had me thinking about starting soon so we can have our own little family together. Cause… god, it made me crazy.” The groan was loud as he rested his forehead against hers.

“There’s nothing sexier than seeing you act like that. I dunno why it makes me feel so worked up, but I had to stop myself from taking us home early and begging you to let me give you a baby on the way home. I was bein’ quiet because I knew if I spoke, that’s what would come out of my mouth. And I’d rather us be home for a discussion like that.”

Y/N was shocked by his admission, but also slightly not. The man had been hinting at it slightly and while she had been weighing in if it was the right time or not- she had been waiting for a sign. A clear one. This seemed to be as good of one as any.

“Well.. let’s talk about it then.” She replied, swallowing the arousal he had set off in her throat. “Cause as much as I want to say fuck it and take my clothes off… we need to have a discussion first.”

“Of course.” He nodded eagerly. “But it’s not a no, yeah?” The hope in his eyes made her laugh out loud, cupping his face for another kiss. The man was shameless, it seemed.

“It’s not a no, H. But let me put the cake away first before we plan a family, yeah?”

[droppingneedlesembroidery]

What do you do with the leftover pieces of floss from embroidery projects (called orts)? You make art with them! The bottom two are Mount Flossuvius and The Parting of the Thread Sea.

[forgingtheblade]

WOO YEAH OH YEAH CLOAK TIME BABY

i should have posted this before the beadwork one but i forgot so you’re getting it here

my primary goal with the cloak was creating something elegant and intense. i wanted it to look weighty and give it a lot of attention.

i started with a velvet upholstery fabric because it has a very particular stiffness and weight to it, and because i thought the crinkle texture it had was interesting without being overwhelming. the whole cloak is a massive half circle to create volume without it sitting too far forward on my shoulders and covering too much of the front of the costume.

the inside lining features a golden bug wing embroidery. i achieved this with couching two different weights of metallic threads. my thought process with this was that it’s the elytra—both a nod to technoplane and UHC, and a reference to how elytra in the real world are the outer shell of beetle wings!

after attaching the lining to the outside of the cloak i added a black and gold trim down the front edge. it originally had rectangular beads on it but i ended up taking those off for a cleaner look.

i also briefly toyed with the idea of sandwiching this beaded trim into the hem above the fur trim but a friend pointed it out to me that it would be really annoying to detangle the beads from the fur, and I had other hem details I wanted to add later down the line so I nixed it.

i always knew that the AE banner was going to hang from the back, but I also wanted the collar itself to be huge. I played with stuffing it or including shoulder pads under the cloak to balance out the silhouette of the cloak and the head, but I think it ended up being just fine without either of those details.

i did a LOT of handsewing on the cloak. all of the fur is hand sewn in place, as well as the trims and embroidery. my cat decided that she was obsessed with the cloak on the days i brought it home to work on in my lap. i still have to use the fur for another part of the project, but if i have enough left after that i plan to make her a cat bed using leftover fabrics.

for the clasps on the front, i knew the chain wasn’t going to be load bearing. while i’ve made cloaks like that in the past they were always made of much lighter materials. if this chain was actually holding weight, it would pull everything up into my neck and be very painful. i wanted them to be decorative, though!

i 3d modeled and printed these medallions based on the antarctic empire motif. i sanded them thoroughly and primed with plastidip before airbrushing them in gold. the “aging” was accomplished just using a drybrushed brown on top of that. for the blue, i knew i wanted to emulate the look of poured resin (which i would have just used if mine had not gone bad), which would be emulating the look of enameled metal. i ended up using clear gloss varnish mixed with a few drops of acrylic inks, to preserve translucency.

i ultimately installed a crossbody strap to actually bear the weight of this already incredibly heavy cloak.. that i still plan to add several more pieces of beaded appliqué to.

i’m very happy with how it all came together, i think the look strikes exactly the weight and ornamentation i was looking for, especially once i actually add the roses to the hem.

yay cloaks!!

[emeraldscript]

i come bearing gifts!

2.4k of alien max. maxiel. daniel has a bad night and max is the only thing that helps. (all of alien max verse here)

Daniel steers his car into the driveway, kicking up dust behind him. When he sneaks a glance over at Max, he's finishing his slushie from the beach, looking out the window happily. 

"It's getting a bit late already, wanna have dinner?" Daniel asks.

"Sure Daniel, I will try and fix the communicator," Max returns. 

They make their way inside, Daniel making a beeline for the freezer to see if he has any leftovers that would do.

Max on the other hand, spreads out his supplies and starts deconstructing his communications device into the tiniest bits. 

Daniel won't even try to comprehend what's going on and turns towards the stove. 

After dinner, Max continues working on his project and Daniel puts on Netflix, spreading out on the couch. He settles on some reality show he started a while back and is only half watching, intermittently turning back to watch Max work. He's intensely focused, taking apart little metal plates and replacing them. He's also taking apart some of the cables he bought, using the single copper threads to connect bits.

Sometimes, when he's frustrated he makes a clicking noise. Daniel's not sure whether that's just his equivalent of a huff or if he's cursing under his breath in alien. It's endearing either way. 

Eventually, Max groans loudly, pushes his hands into his blonde strands and slides down the barstool. 

"I think I give up, it's not working," Max says, looking downtrodden. 

"It's okay, it's getting late anyway. Let's just go to bed, hm?" Daniel says.

"Okay, Daniel," Max agrees.

Max mentions that he'd like to soak in the bath for a bit before going to his human bed so Daniel lets the bath run while he takes a quick shower and brushes his teeth. He's just crunching some gel into his curls when he sees Max hovering by the cracked door in his mirror. 

"C'mon then Maxy, I'm done. Goodnight, yeah?" Daniel says and lets Max into the bathroom. 

He is just settled into his bed, adjusting the pillow when he hears the faint sloshing of water in the tub. 

He closes his eyes and wills his brain to stop imaging Max stripped bare, soaking in the bath, one leg propped up on the side of the tub. Yeah, awesome Daniel. Not thinking about it is definitely working.

Daniel turns, trying to find a comfortable position to try and fall asleep in. It's not been the easiest of late. After a few minutes of trying to clear his mind, he turns onto his front and buries his face in the pillow. He chances a glance at the clock on his bedside. Great, 50 minutes have already passed.

Eventually, after much tossing and turning, he must fall asleep. The next thing he knows he's sitting upright in his bed, heart hammering in his chest, trying to gulp down a breath. His chest hurts, it feels all tight and achey. His lungs feel like they're on fire. He feels a wet sensation on his lower arm, like a raindrop.

He looks around. He's inside his room. That doesn't make any sense.

When he turns to his other side, he sees a figure half hunched over the edge of the bed. More panic spreads in his chest and he scrambles towards the other side of the bed.

"Daniel," a calm and steady voice asks.

Max. Oh thank fucking God. It's just Max. 

"Breathe with me, c'mon, just like earlier," Max says.

Daniel hears a deep breath echo through his darkened room and he tries to follow, he does, but it's not really working. He hears his breath stock before any air can even really enter his lung. 

"And again, c'mon," Max instructs. 

Daniel tries, he does, but it's not doing anything. He squeaks out a sound. It sounds distressed even to his own ears. Then, Max climbs onto the bed and takes Daniel's hand with his dripping wet one. 

It feels like a shock to Daniel's system, but it helps. His lungs stutter and finally let some air in. Max runs his damp thumb over Daniel's hand again. Just like before in the store. It feels familiar and calming. 

Daniel lets him, eventually lies back down, sideways, facing Max.

Max climbs into the bed too, settles next to Daniel and keeps running his thumb back and forth on the back of Daniel's hand. 

At some point Daniel huffs out a laugh. "Did you lie down in my sheets soaking wet, Maxy?" 

"Yes, it's much nicer like this, actually. Less dry and itchy," Max confirms. 

"I'm glad," Daniel murmurs. 

"Just go to sleep, Daniel, I will be here," Max says. 

"Yeah?" Daniel asks.

"Hm, I'm not going anywhere," Max says, like it's the most normal thing in the world. 

Like it's not an insane thing to say to someone you've known for a couple days. But the thing is. The thing is that Daniel believes him. Max is so fucking sincere with his words and actions and intentions. There's no second guessing. It gives Daniel whiplash. He's not been used to that level of sincerity over the last few years. 

So Daniel does just that, focuses on the repetitive motion of Max's fingertips on his skin and closes his eyes.

He falls into a dreamless sleep. 

Daniel wakes with a start. He hears someone walking up the stairs. The fifth step from the top creaks loudly, like it always does.

Daniel looks over at the bedside table. The clock reads 9:54am. This has to be the longest he's slept in weeks. 

He hears a familiar voice drift through his bedroom door "Danny, don't tell me you're still sleeping," his sisters voice sounds through the wood.

Daniel tries to sit up but he realises he's being held down. He looks over and Max is lying on his spare pillow, jaw slack and lips puckered in his sleep. Max has his hand wrapped around Daniel's wrist. Probably from where he's patted Daniel to sleep last night. 

He's so fucked.

Michelle barges through the door in that exact moment, yelling "Wakey, wakey, Daniel!"

When she takes in the scene in front of her, she stops in her tracks, breathes out a fuck and turns back around, slamming the door behind her.

All the commotion stirs Max out of his sleep. He lazily blinks his eyes open, pupils little slits that expand rapidly in the relative darkness of the room.

"Hello, Daniel," he says sleepily, voice shot. His hand around Daniel's wrist gives a slight squeeze and almost, as if out of instinct, his thumb starts its back and forth movement again, calming Daniel.

"Everything okay? You smell slightly off," Max asks, rolling his face into the pillow underneath him. 

"My sister just walked in on us," Daniel says, resigned. 

He'll never live this down, especially when she properly sees Max.

"It's okay, I'm of course happy to meet her," Max says.

That startles a laugh out of Daniel. 

"Yeah? No cold feet?" he asks.

"I am obviously happy to meet your family, Daniel. It's very rude not to, considering everything," Max says. 

"Everything?" Daniel asks.

"Yes, of course. It is only proper. My mother raised me better than that. They should meet me," Max says, as if that explains anything. 

Daniel has that nagging feeling in the back of his head that he's missing something major.

"Max, what do you mean exactly? Before what?" Daniel asks.

In that moment, Michelle knocks on the door again.

"Get decent in there, yeah? I'm putting some coffee on downstairs. And don't even think of making a run for it out the window, I want to meet you so I can never let Danny live this down!" Michelle half-yells through the door. 

"Jesus, Mish!" Daniel yells back.

He hears her cackle and then her footsteps retreat down the stairs. 

"She seems nice," Max says from beside him. He has not stopped running his finger over Daniel's wrist. Daniel doesn't want him to stop. 

"She's an asshole," Daniel says through a laugh. 

"I'll go down for now, do you want to wake up properly and join us in a bit?" Daniel asks.

"Sure, I'll just get dressed," Max says. 

He gives Daniel one last squeeze, rolls off the side of the bed and frees himself from under Daniel's covers. He only wearing the shorts Daniel gave him yesterday. His chest is bare. Daniel tries not to stare, he really does but Max looks broad and toned, under a thin layer of squish. And his pecs are, quite frankly, obscene. They bounce with each movement and Daniel feels his mouth watering. 

Daniel gives himself a shake, gets out the bed and wills his morning wood to go down. 

When he enters the kitchen, Michelle is placing a cup under the coffee machine.

"Morning," Daniel ventures.

"Very good morning, actually," Michelle responds. 

"Oh shut up, Mish," Daniel says. 

"You know I won't," she sing-songs.

"I can explain, okay, it's ehm-" Daniel tries.

"Dan, you really don't need to explain. It's fine that it's a guy. I don't care. I just want you to be happy, hm?" she says. The look on her face is really sincere. Daniel doesn't know what to feel or say in response to that. 

He settles on "thanks, but ehm, it's a bit more complicated than that. Just don't freak out, yeah? Promise me, please."

"If this is a gender thing that's of course fine, too, Dan," she says, swapping out the cups now.

Daniel hears the stairs creak. Max is coming down. Before Daniel can say anything else, Max enters the kitchen. He walks straight past Daniel, making a beeline for Michelle, who is just fiddling with the pressure of the coffee machine. 

"Hello, you must be Daniel's sister. It's an honour to meet you, I'm MX.V331 but Daniel calls me Max," he says, folding his hands together in front of him and giving Michelle a slight bow. 

Daniel can see the exact moment Michelle registers first Max's eyes, then his pointy ears and then the Enchante t-shirt with the hole at the collar from Daniel's first ever collection. It's his favourite t-shirt and he's refused to throw it out despite his last girlfriend begging him to get rid of it for years. 

She throws Daniel a questioning look but recovers well and holds her hand out to Max. He looks a bit lost, throws a forlorn look back at Daniel who just nods encouragingly. So Max mirrors Michelle and they shake hands. 

"Nice to meet you, Max," she says.

Max smiles back at her and then makes his way to the bar. 

"So, Max, tell me about yourself. How long have you known my brother?" Michelle asks to break the silence. 

"Well, he pulled me out of my crashed plane about two days ago, so about that long," Max says. 

"Crashed plane, oh my god! Are you okay? What did the police say? Dan, what the hell why didn't you call?" Michelle asks alarmed.

"Well, uhm," Daniel starts.

"Well, Daniel said that the alien police might come and get me so I've been wearing a hat to hide," Max says matter of factly. 

"Alien police," Michelle says. She pauses. Daniel fiddles with his cuticles.

"You're having me on, right? You just picked him up in cosplay after a Star Trek convention, right? Please tell me this is some fetish thing. I won't judge," Michelle says to Daniel, throwing her hands up.

"No can do, I'm afraid. Maxy here is a full fledged humanoid alien I picked up in the desert. Kinda sick, eh?" Daniel says, putting his arm around Max where he's sitting on the bar stool. 

"Also you know damn well there are no conventions happening right now, nerd," Daniel needles. 

"You're being serious?" Michelle asks. 

"He is," Max pipes up, smiling his big, crinkly smile up at Daniel. 

"Prove it," Michelle says. 

"Would you be so kind, Max?" Daniel asks.

Max nods and goes to the sink to wet his hand. He splashes some on his neck as well for good measure.

"Go on," Daniel urges his sister.

She approaches Max with skeptical look on her face. Max points to his neck where his gills are opening and closing. He also holds up his hand where his webbing is more visible now. 

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Michelle shrieks.

"Don't be fucking rude," Daniel scolds.

"No, it's not that. Aliens exist, oh my god," she says. "This type of shit would only happen to you, Dan."

"You're technically not meant to know, so please can you-" Max starts.

Michelle just envelops Max in a hug in response. Max looks frozen in place and stands there, stock still, while his sister hugs him tight. 

"Of course, not a word," she says.

"Well, I mean, shall we have breakfast then?" Daniel asks.

+++ 

After breakfast, Daniel suggest that Max try out the pool and he's living his best life splashing away in it. He lamented the stinky acid smell before dipping his toe in but he seems to be enjoying himself now. 

He's currently sitting at the bottom of the pool and has been down there for a good three minutes.

Daniel and Michelle are sitting on the sun lounger, enjoying another coffee. 

Max had wrinkled his nose at the proposition after trying it earlier and doing his best to not spit the whole gulp back into his cup. No coffee for Max. Daniel has taken note.

"So," Michelle starts.

"Don't," Daniel responds.

"Daniel," Michelle says.

"It's not like that. He's," Daniel says, motioning towards the pool. Max is still sitting there at the bottom, legs crossed and eyes open, Daniel is pretty sure.

"Don't lie to me. I've known you all your life remember?" Michelle snorts out.

"I'm not lying. I can't. He's just lost and stranded. And I'm helping him. I'm nice like that," Daniel protests.

"He's weird," Michelle says.

"Hey!" Daniel shouts, affronted.

"You love weird! Plus, you were sleeping together, literally. Cuddled up," Michelle responds, throwing Daniel a look.

"Max is just. He's different. He doesn't understand our customs and it doesn't mean the same thing to him," Daniel say.

"Fuck that, he looks at you like you hung the stars in the sky. And he would know. That's where he's from," Michelle says.

"Human standards don't apply, Mich. He's not from here," Daniel says.

"But you are, and they do mean something to you. Don't even try your bullshit with me, Dan. I know your tells," Michelle says.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Daniel tells her, fiddling with one of the pebbles Max gave him yesterday in his short pocket.

[magmethius]

for today's @theemperorweek prompts: intimacy & promise (above art is a commission i bought from nopu <3)

A chunk of prose for this one. Promises made during intimacy. (emps/illithid tav, tav's second person pov, implied but not described explicit)

---

"An illithid does not claim territory for fulfillment," the Emperor says, "but for power. The gratification is instant, but unsatisfactory."

You stare up at him, trying to read his deeper thoughts, and he lets you. There's a pit of craving inside of him, matching yours, a needy ache that has yet to be sated. The tendril cradling your cheek moves, sensually draping itself around your shoulders instead.

Yes, he wants... connection. Not conquest.

"My sword. My partner. Moss. My bondmate. My stardust."

The Emperor leans forward, digging his claws into the moss by your sides. The tentacle around your neck slips away and slides down your torso, trailing across the ridges on your chest so - provocatively, it makes your heart skitter. It halts just at your belly. "It would be far more satisfying to express one's devotion by choice... Would it not?"

Oh... Your hands twitch beside his. "Perhaps," you say.

He takes a long, shuddering breath, and presses his head to yours. It's comforting, and magnetic, and the rejuvenation you feel is instantaneous, the open flow of psychic energy between you alleviating mental aches that the healing spring couldn't. Your partner's mind is still fiercely heated, still thrumming with leftover vestiges of hormonal possessiveness. It pushes against your own, silently pleading for one last confirmation, a proclamation made consciously, not instinctually, a willing choice -

It's so desperate, his desire to have you claim him - not just in body, but in soul. It tugs at every single one of your aberrant little heartstrings.

He pulls away. "Will you -" promise -

"I am yours," you say, not letting him finish vocalizing the question. "And you are mine."

"Mine," you repeat, confident, and loud, and lucid. You float up, sink your claws into his shoulders, and thread your tentacles around his. "Mine." You barely remember to breathe as you greedily try to shove out every inch of space between your bodies. He attempts to pull back for air, but you chase him, refusing to part until he understands. "Mine." His hands skate up your spine, claws raking electrifying streaks as they go, and when he reaches your neck he nearly drags you both beneath the water's surface. You have to release one of your hands to cup his face and bring him back up and - "Mineminemine!" You bump your forehead against his over and over, kiss him and kiss him and kiss him, projecting short and sweet kisses and long and passionate kisses and desperate kisses and everything in between -

The Emperor purrs his joy into you, the rumbling of it sending more ecstatic vibrations through your tangled tentacles, and returns each of your projections with one of his own. He clings to your devotion, memorizing how differently those same words feel in his mind when thought proudly and wholeheartedly, when laced with love, not with lust. He already knows of your undying loyalty, you've certainly expressed your love for him often enough to have those words permanently etched into both of your beings, but he'll never, ever tire of hearing just how much you want him.

Being needed is nice, but being wanted is wonderful.

"Yes..." he breathes, when you finally part.

"You are mine, and I am yours."

[shiftertech]

CW: suicidal themes, institutional transphobia implied

I don't belong in this cradle.

It's the honest truth of the matter. I don't deserve to be here.

Another battlefield lays itself before my projected vision, smoldering browns and grays behind the colorful sensor overlays. In these hellish craters, I likely do belong, but not in this cockpit.

There's a sickly feeling that comes with it. Like a pair of ragged, poorly fitting clothes, carrying a detestable stench.

Its torn threads? Inch-deep gashes and mended holes in metal plating that were not acquired under my operation.

And the stench? It's her stench.

I know everything about her. It told me. It was never not gonna tell me.

Imogen died in this very same cockpit, fear flooding her veins while an armor piercing round entered through the sidewall.

It showed me this, the angle of the projectile, the internal feed playback, the sound of it, the measurements of her biometrics, the flatline and system-wide scream it deafeningly howled out as its other half ceased.

It was the first thing it ever showed me when I did my first link test. It was bitter. Wrathful.

I didn't even fucking know they could feel like that the first time I hopped in. They pulled me out of the cockpit in a sorry state, shaking and sobbing, but still figured my synchronicity scored highly enough to put me back in the thing. They can't afford to scrap a working mech anymore for "limited pilot incompatibility".

Why the fuck did Legacy stick me in the mech that was mourning?

I was mad. Real mad at the brass for denying my reassignment req's. Most of all, I was mad at her mech.

One day it responded to my anger on the trek back to exfil. It flooded my mind with just her. Her joy, determination, cockiness, care... It overlaid stored visual/audio buffers into my own vision—replayed the very sensations attached to those logs—and I was her. It flooded me with her love as if it was my own, with a closeness I never was afforded to have with such a war machine.

I felt deep envy tinging my anger.

Pilots sit in these big metal boxes because of the strategically utilized notion of it being theirs. The rumored wonders of a paired digital consciousness are allowed to spread because it pulls hopeless girls with big dreams like Imogen into the cockpit.

That's what they need in a loyal pilot. I wanted a goddamn mech to call my own, not some dead girls broken leftovers.

But then I, as Imogen, died in that seat to my mech screaming out for me.

And then there was no anger. Just emptiness.

What an awful lesson, to be taught what it feels like to lose half of yourself.

There's another sortie on another reneging territory rejecting Legacy's grand mission, fighting against mechs that used to bare the insignia of the Earth and her Moon. Again I find myself walking back a line, cover laid for my comrades while rebel hotshots push the advantage with righteous vigor.

When it isn't streaming bits of her at me over the datalines, memories lovely and tragic, it's cold. Completely silent. Somehow that's worse.

On the losing end of a war in a coffin.

Sometimes I just can't stand it, and find a boldness within me when I ask it to tell me the story of how Imogen chose her name again. That's its favorite.

(I don't call it by its chosen name because it won't tell me. I have a feeling it never will.)

I wonder often why it even lets me command it into battle after battle. I'm not who it truly wants, and its suffering because of it. I figure if it can puppet my senses just as well as I puppet its limbs, it could likely figure a way to brick itself for good.

It twitches over the link when the thought bleeds through from my end, and it goes silent once again.

Guilt writhes around my gut as I fight for a future I barely believe in anymore. I know why it wouldn't.

When I filled the forms in the service registration office, on a harbor moon in a system two jumps from Hila, I had made a decision. Bloodshed remained stark on my mind as the upheaval of Legacy control on one of its most pivotal worlds forced me away from the only place I called home.

I recall the resistance ships dropping low beneath the skyline with improvised munitions, launching off their rails at military strongholds. I recall the mandatory evacuations as uniformed Legacy troops kicked down doors and ordered us onto the evac shuttles.

I recall the very military administration building that my sister was stationed at erupting all at once as the strategic calculations for maximal military damage factored in the Department of Citizen Records field office on floor 63 as a viable target.

I checked the "F" on the form with the pride that my sister was the very reason I was allowed this privilege. I checked the box with the shame that this was considered a privilege. I checked the box with the naive ideal that once we won this war, it wouldn't be resigned to just a privilege.

(A flicker of emotion echoes across the dataline, as it picks up this memory I've never shown it before. It feels like a gentle embrace.)

Losing my sister was losing one of the few people who actually saw me. She didn't miss a beat when I told her my real name. She held me close, and I felt the most profound joy in knowing love in sisterhood.

I chose to survive because it's what she would have wanted, for me to blossom into the woman she knew me to be.

Imogen is not my sister, but she could have been.

The mech chooses to live because it's what Imogen would have wanted.

We're both stuck in this war together.

I don't know how this ends well for either of us. Defection has crossed the mind, but no certainty comes from the prospect. I could end up in a cell for the rest of my life and it could get scrapped when they realize their newly captured mech is brimming with trauma.

(The notion of it getting scrapped draws a surprisingly intense emotion out of me. I can't pin it to just one comparable feeling of a loved ones grave being bulldozed or a close friend being murdered. Maybe it's both.)

It doesn't hold feelings on what comes after, I've realized.

It does its job, comes home, and is prepared for the next sortie. This is what it was made for, despite whatever side it's on.

That's what it means to survive for a mech.

I stopped hating it long ago. I don't think it hates me.

I think we need each other.

Even if I don't belong in this cradle.

----------

This one is kind of a departure for me to write, but I hope it resonates in the right way. Thanks for sticking through it <3

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Dunno why I never get around to making a dedicated post for my Rainbow High customs, they just end up hovering in the background of a lot of my photos. They aren't exactly the sort of high fashion most RH collectors seem to prefer, I just make whatever feels right for a particular doll at the time. Pulled this girl out for a quick pic yesterday when I was getting the post for Moonglow together. One of my friends dubbed her 'Our Lady of Pride', which is a bit silly but also rather fitting. She started out as a thrifted Winter Break Skyler who had seen better days, and ended up on the receiving end of my frustration over the fact that so few Rainbow High dolls actually wear rainbows XD I didn't have a plan besides that going in, I just started crocheting the dress and kept adding bits until it looked like she was done. Everything she's wearing is reused or repurposed in some way: The rainbow yarn for her dress was destash gifted to me by a friend's mom; crochet thread for her shawl & scarf was leftover from another project; and her jewelry is made from seed beads that have been in my crafting stash since the 90s, and findings from thrifted, usually broken rosaries.

[that-other-lesbian-ellen]

List of activities considered the worst:

Loom warping

List of activities considered the best:

Weaving

After some issues figuring out which way is S threaded and which way is Z threaded, and having to flip over the entire project, finally got this going! Then I accidentally flipped the pattern vertically 🙃 But now it's recognizable! I just hope the yarn doesn't fray completely apart before I finish.

Pattern I was going for and pattern I ended up with below. Intended for gradient of 10 colors and a neutral, designed by me using Tablet Weaving Draft Designer.

(The rainbow yarn was a present from someone who bought the first thing that came up on Amazon when he searched "yarn." The experience of tablet weaving with it is 0/10. It's using up the yarn, though. There should be one more diagonal of light blue, instead of the left most dark green diagonal, but I ran out of light blue. The neutral is leftover from another project. The loom was handmade by me.)