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anancientlegacy · 7 months ago

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you'll never guess -- s. sallow

Pairing: sebastian sallow x reader

Genre: fluff, some angst with reader's father, but that's all

Note: I use “MC” to refer to the reader, but I also explain why in the fic itself! This is still in fifth year even before the player meets Anne, so they don’t do anything crazy. Merely mentions of kissing. Sassy Sebastian and sassier Imelda.

Trope: Instead of fake dating, everyone is convinced that you aren’t actually dating.

Word count: 2.2k

Crossposted to ao3!

“Hey, Garreth, Ominis, the lot of you that have only grown up in the wizarding world, I’ve got a question.”

It’s the first words you’ve spoken to everyone around you, your entire friend group sprawled or stretched out on one side of the summoner’s court. All of you have been watching Samantha and Leander make a go of it, over and over and over again — you don’t always have positive things to say about Prewett, but you can’t help but acknowledge his tenacity. Samantha’s final Accio resounds all around you, cutting through the air as she pulls her ball in for another 50 points, blowing her opponent out of the water despite having won the game by her second ball.

“You can say purebloods, MC, it won’t hurt any feelings.” You know Leander doesn’t mean anything by this — you’ve heard Zenobia call him a “no-talent moonmind” in passing — but you can feel Ominis bristle beside you at the mere implication of an impending blood status discussion. You’re quick to shake your head, muttering a ‘no, not exactly what I meant’ while rummaging through your newly-sewn bag (one made up entirely of garments you’d found no use for, because really, what use is a fedora to anyone) for something. Professor Weasley had helpfully enchanted it to be almost endlessly deep, but you find yourself cursing this now. The fact that everyone pauses to watch you is not lost on you at all, and you can’t help but feel some sort of embarrassment.

“All I was asking, well, really, all I’m curious about, is what wizarding world courtship is like. Do you have calling hours, or daily tea, or anything of the sort? Ah, here it is.” You brandish a marriage manual with much gusto, having received it in the mail from your otherwise heavily detached father a few days ago. You’d offhandedly mentioned accompanying Sebastian to the Three Broomsticks to him in a letter, mostly assuming he wouldn’t read it — too busy with overseeing shoddy police work in Whitechapel, and ignoring the realities of magic and whatnot — but he had, to your surprise, replied. The first response all term.

My daughter,

Do not allow yourself to be charmed by young men with no prospects. Surely I raised you better than this. I have given this infernal creature a young ladies’ guide for you to peruse. Certainly letter vi. There are girls dropping like flies here, and I would greatly dislike to find you in a similar situation.

Read it and report back. If you can send regular post rather than an owl I’d rather you that. Can’t have the neighbours asking too many questions.

You’d left the letter upstairs under your bed to gather dust, not even bothering to take it with you to the room of requirement. The idea of Sebastian having no prospects is practically laughable to you, considering he’s one of the brightest wizards in your year… even if he is, simultaneously, one of the most troublesome. Your father has been pretending as if magic is pointless at best and a silly trick at worst ever since your magical mother left him with a toddler.

You dislike him, but you suppose you’d despise her if you knew her.

Summoner’s court is all but entirely forgotten as even Samantha steps down to join the other fifth years as they fully form a gaggle around you. Amit, to everyone’s surprise, grabs the manual right out of your hands, his nosiness — which he would and does tell you is simply Ravenclaw curiosity, despite you being in the same house — overcoming all societal norms. Poppy, ever one for any sort of gossip, reads the title aloud: “Letters to Young Ladies on their Entrance into the World, to which are added sketches from real life… quite a mouthful, isn’t it?”

“Are you asking if we have these preposterous things?” For once, you can agree with Prewett’s assessment of something. Judging by the slow, rising murmur of consensus around you, everyone else is surprised by themselves for the very same reason.

“I’ve never seen something like that in my life.” Garreth tacks on to his housemate, and Ominis, never one to miss a prompting, says a swift “me neither” that brings forth a laugh from you and uneasy chuckles from those that don’t know him as well.

“My father told me to read the sixth letter about unequal marriages because I went on a date, something that seemed to single handedly convince him that my destiny is to become another Whitechapel murder victim, as if those poor girls were the reasons for their untimely demises.” You’re prattling on, you know this, but the insult of receiving the book in the first place still smarts. Natty places a hand on your shoulder, one of the few to know the true extent of your parental issues.

“That’s sort of hilarious, isn’t it?” Imelda pops up out of nowhere, sly as always, and you surmise her arduous, somewhat pointless three-hour self-inflicted flying practice must be over for the day. There really is quite a crowd gathering around you — in fact, there’s basically only one person missing.

“Hold on.” It’s Leander this time, eyes squinting as if he’s having a difficult time puzzling something out. “A date? Who’d you go on a date with?”

“She was never going to say yes to you, mate, give it up.” Imelda is quick to start fires that she knows she won’t put out herself, and the case of Prewett pursuing you, something both you and him like to pretend doesn’t exist for very different reasons, is one such thing.

“Come off it, screw off.” He fires back, the best he can come up with as everyone watches, and you so badly want to laugh but settle for turning away and taking the manual back from Amit and Poppy. As long as they’re occupied, nobody will think to follow up —

“Honestly, MC, I want to know too.” Natty breaks your overly-optimistic train of thought, and the glance you send her way is withering. You and Sebastian are still feeling things out, after all: Not too casual, not too serious. Perhaps this is the best time to let everyone know.

“Well…” You draw the word out, pulling it out into several syllables. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to tell you all without him being here. He should get a say in the reveal, too.”

The resulting group groan is pure cacophony. Poppy dreamily wonders aloud if it’s an older man, while Imelda scrunches up her face as she relays the idea of it being someone younger. Amit whines about never being in on the secret, and you suspect Natty is gearing up to silently jinx you. Even Ominis breaks his kind aloofness by shoving your shoulder in a way that makes you wonder if he really can’t see anything at all, and Garreth furrows his brows, surely wondering if he can slip veritaserum into your drink at supper. Samantha, one of your roommates, murmurs something about putting a hex on your pillow tonight.

“I see.” Leander says, too smug for your liking. “MC won’t tell us who because she isn’t actually dating anyone.”

“That’s worse for you, you git,” Imelda snaps. “Means she dislikes you so much she’ll lie about a boyfriend.”

“Goodness!” You speak again, finally incensed by everything that’s happening. Prewett never fails to put you in some sort of mood. You don’t really have room for one more secret as it is, what with everything Professor Fig and the Keepers have entrust to you, and Ranrok’s brewing rebellion. “If you really must know, really and truly, it’s Sebastian. Happy?”

Silence. Sudden and significant silence.

“Sallow?!” For once, Leander and Imelda are on the same page, their voices surprisingly harmonious together as they break the sound barrier. Garreth and Ominis both look unsurprised, though they may just be stoicists at this point. Even Poppy, who’s literally seen the two of you out at Hogsmeade together, seems taken aback.

“What have I done now?”

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

“My dad sent me a ladies’ manual about propriety and sorts because I told him I’d gone on a date, and this lot couldn’t handle me not saying who with.” Your shoulders untense themselves naturally,as he walks up beside you, and you swipe a spot of grease off of his nose with an index finger before wiping it back on his own robe.

“How was detention? Midday is a terrible time to serve one.”

“Sharp just had me manually cleaning cauldrons, it wasn’t the absolute worst. Incorrectly prepared Ashwinder eggs smell positively noxious, though.”

“Serves you right, frankly –”

“You’ve got to be fooling us.” It’s Amit this time, eyes wide as saucers as he interrupts you. “The two of you bicker constantly.”

“More than.” Ominis supplies, and you stick your tongue out at him, eliciting an “I felt that!” from your decreasingly dear friend.

“They fight like brother and sister.” Leander seems to be holding on to his belief in the idea that your budding relationship is merely a ruse. “Worse — they’re completely opposite each other. MC is witty and charming, and Sallow is, well… Sallow.”

“I think they’re good for each other.” Garreth shrugs. “She’s a bit of a kleptomaniac and he’s somewhat addicted to getting caught doing stupid things.”

“MC is -” Leander tries one more time at pulling something over Sebastian, or you, or both of you, but your sort-of-boyfriend decides he’s had enough and doesn’t let him finish.

“The whole lot of you only call her MC because of me, you know. I doubt you even know that it starts for ‘my charge,’ because I was put in charge of her when she first went to Hogsmeade.

“Where a troll attacked her?”

“Opposites can attract!” Poppy, ever the believer in love, chimes in before you can defend Sebastian from Leander’s latest barb. “And friends fall in love all the time. They’re both quite lovely to us and to each other when you aren’t around.” Her sweet tone is even more devastating as she aims her cutting words at Prewett.

“It’s just been a few dates.” You interject, reeling from how quickly everyone is quipping at each other, cheeks heating up at the idea of love. The school year has really only just begun — you and Sebastian just happen to get along.

“Well, a few official dates.” Sebastian knocks your shoulder with his bicep, and you look up at his teasing smile knowing full and well that it’ll just warm your face further. “Ask me why I had detention.” Your cheeks cannot physically get any hotter, and you stop yourself from self-incriminatingly scowling at Sebastian. The story is embarrassing for him but you know he doesn’t care because it’s sure to embarrass you, too. His words are aimed at Prewett because he really wants to twist the knife, but he has everyone else’s rapt attention too. The two boys engage in a bit of a staring match, reminiscent of your very first Defense Against the Dark Arts class when you’d walked in on them, both aggravated, dueling each other.

“Why?” Leander spits out, curiosity finally getting the best of him.

“Sharp heard some, er, snogging noises in his private potions store at night. We’d gone in to nab some fluxweed but realized that we rarely get time to just be alone together. This one was smart enough to disillusion herself the moment we heard the door unlock, but I was so taken aback that I couldn’t do the same in time. He walked in and I, unable to think of anything else, told him that I’d found myself increasingly attracted to leaping toadstools. Of course, he assumed I was fulfilling some sort of bet, but I ended up with detention and she got off scot free.”

“Go on, tell them the details of my astrological chart too, won’t you.” You hiss, but Sebastian only laughs, reaching an arm out to toss over your shoulder and pull you in. “And it wasn’t snogging exactly. We were just… lightly kissing. Very chastely, I might add.” You know nobody believes you even as you’re telling the truth — Sebastian is more respectful than he lets on.

“Chaste kissing?” Garreth whistles as Ominis says this, and you prepare yourself for sarcasm from the latter. “Maybe your father was right to send you a marriage manual.”

Now it’s Sebastian’s turn to become beet red.

“M-marriage manual? I thought it was just a thing for young ladies to read. Your father sent you a what?”

Before you can say anything in response, Imelda breaks her uncharacteristic silence to begin humming a tune popularly played at wedding ceremonies, and you forget everything in the moment as you lunge at her. She calls her broom to her with ease before jumping on and, before you can think, you do the same, leaving your bag and the manual on the grass to chase after your friend.

All Sebastian can do is gaze up at you hopelessly and totally smitten as he, still red-faced, gathers your things up and closes your bag. Perhaps it’s time for another Three Broomsticks date. By the looks of it, you and Imelda are on your way there via air travel anyways.

#sebastian sallow #hogwarts legacy #sebastian sallow x reader #hogwarts #harry potter #sebastian sallow fluff #sebastian sallow x mc #slytherin #ravenclaw

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holymaccaronii · 1 year ago

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Hello Yes Man / fallout community it’s my pleasure to announce that HE IS (almost) DONE!!!! The design came out all fine, plus I found a way to make his face switchable! I’ll be working on the manual and instructions now, I’ll try my best to give out tips and instructions on how to glue everything together.

On another note, the faces were based off the Yes Man Statue from Bethesda Gear Store. I might as well add a few more of my own designs + the faces from the other securitron characters.

EDIT: THE PAPERCRAFT GUIDE IS OUT!!! I’d also appreciate a few answers on the poll from my newest post , thank you!!

#yes man #yes man fallout #yes man fnv #yesman fallout #fallout nv #fallout #fallout art #papercraft #fallout new vegas

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thejournallo · 2 months ago

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Complete Guide to Creating Your Shifting Script

Lately, my desire to shift these days is sky high! So I went and relooked at all the methods and things I have covered in my shifting masterlist and I noticed that scripting was not there; it is in my manifestation masterlist. So let's do a deep dive into scripting FOR SHIFTING with a better-done tutorial.

What is Scripting?

Scripting is the process of writing down details about your desired reality (DR) before you attempt to shift there. Think of it as creating a blueprint or instruction manual for where you want to go. Many shifters find that having a well-crafted script helps them visualize their DR more clearly and shift more successfully.

Why Script?

Clarifies your intentions - Helps you focus on exactly what you want

Creates a stronger connection to your DR

Provides mental anchors to focus on during shifting methods

Prevents unwanted scenarios by setting boundaries and safeguards

Step 1: Choose Your Format

There's no single "correct" way to format your script. Popular options include:

Traditional Script Format

Written like instructions or statements, often in present tense: I am [your DR name]. I live in [location]. My appearance is [description].

Letter Format

Written as a letter to yourself or the universe: Dear Universe, When I shift to my DR, I will be living in a beautiful apartment in Paris...

Story Format

Written like a narrative about your life in your DR: [Your name] wakes up in their beautiful bedroom. The sunlight streams through the curtains as they stretch and prepare for another wonderful day in [DR location]...

the one i use the most is story format because it helps me visualize it more.

Step 2: Essential Elements to Include

Basic Information

Your name in your DR

Your age

Your physical appearance (or specify if same as current reality. if you are doing your script online just add a picture)

Where you live

Your occupation/role

Important relationships

Physical Environment

Your home/living space

Important locations

Climate/weather patterns

Time period (modern day, historical, futuristic)

Safety Measures & Boundaries

Time ratio between DR and CR

Memory retention (what you'll remember from CR and viceversa)

Return methods (how you'll come back when ready.)

Protection statements (Ex:"I am safe at all times")

Personal Details

Personality traits

Skills and abilities

Daily routine

Health status

Special items you possess

Step 3: Advanced Scripting Techniques

Script Affinities

Consider creating connections between your script and physical objects in your CR:

"When I touch this crystal, I feel connected to my DR"

"This scent reminds me of my DR home"

Scripting Permissions & Limitations

Define what can and cannot happen in your DR

"I cannot experience physical pain beyond mild discomfort"

"I am immune to serious illness"

"I can fly/teleport/use magic" (if applicable to your DR)

Scripting Awareness Levels

Decide how aware you'll be of the shifting process:

Full awareness (remember CR completely)

Partial awareness (remember you shifted but fewer CR details)

No awareness (fully immersed as if DR is your only reality)

Step 4: Making Your Script Effective

Use Present Tense

Write as if your desired reality is already happening:

"I am living in Paris" instead of "I will live in Paris"

"I have blue eyes" instead of "I want blue eyes"

Be Specific Yet Flexible

Be detailed about important elements

Allow room for natural development in less crucial areas

"I live in a comfortable home that feels peaceful" vs. listing exact measurements

Include Sensory Details

Engage all five senses when describing your DR:

What does it look like? (colors, lighting, architecture)

What does it sound like? (music, nature sounds, voices)

What does it smell like? (foods, flowers, fresh air)

What does it feel like? (textures, temperature, emotions)

What does it taste like? (favorite foods/drinks in your DR)

Positive Phrasing

Focus on what you want, not what you don't want

"I am healthy and energetic" instead of "I don't get sick"

Step 5: Common Scripting Questions

"Do I have to script everything?"

No! Your subconscious will fill in details you don't specify. Many shifters prefer to script only the most important elements and allow their DR to develop naturally.

"Can I change my script later?"

Absolutely! You can add to or modify your script at any time. Some shifters even script the ability to make changes while in their DR.

"What if I forget something important?"

You can include a safety statement like: "Even if not explicitly stated, my DR is exactly as I intend it to be."

"How long should my script be?"

There's no required length. Some shifters use one-page scripts while others write dozens of pages. Start with what feels comfortable and add more details as you think of them.

Sample Script Template

MY DESIRED REALITY SCRIPT BASIC INFORMATION My name: My age: My appearance: Where I live: My role/occupation: RELATIONSHIPS Family: Friends: Romantic relationships: Other important people: DAILY LIFE My typical day: My home: My skills/abilities: My personality: SHIFTING SPECIFICS Time ratio (DR:CR): Memory retention: Return method: Safety measures: SPECIAL NOTES (Any other important details specific to your DR)

Remember, your script is a personal tool to help you shift. There's no single "right way" to script - the best approach is whatever works for you and helps you connect most deeply with your desired reality!

Happy shifting!

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andikiramman · 2 months ago

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let's play a game (a game of pretend)

mel x sevika

word count: 5.2k

A/N: *taps mic* uh is melvika nation still alive? chile i hope so... anyways it's so crazy that this has been on my mind since december 2024... absolutely insane behavior on my end tbh featuring: smut + fluff + angst, hurt/a little bit of comfort but not too much, 'right person, not enough time' trope

MEN, MINORS, & AGELESS BLOGS DNI

Sevika’s never been in love. It was just never on her mind; between struggling with chronic gambling issues and alcoholism, to working under the former kingpin of Zaun, to now being a Counselor, trying to finally elevate Zaun to the status it deserved… it was just never the right time.

That being said, Sevika found herself wondering how she even got here in the first place.

Not here, as in Piltover.

Or here, as in on a seat on the Council.

But here, as in laying on a sofa more expensive than any item she’s ever seen in her life, as Counselor Mel Medarda rested comfortably on top of her body.

The gold that decorated Counselor Medarda’s hand (which lazily traced the blue scars on Sevika’s cheek) complemented her dark skin well. So well, that Sevika felt the need to capture Mel’s smaller hand in her larger one, bringing it to her lips for a kiss. She watched silently as a smile formed on the younger woman’s lips. A smile so soft yet full of emotion. A smile that made Sevika feel a rather indescribable sensation. All she knew is that it was a good sensation, so she continued, just so Mel could keep smiling at her. She pressed soft pecks to Mel’s knuckles before turning to her palm and descending to her wrist. Sevika ended her ministrations by guiding Mel’s hand to her cheek, closing her eyes and nuzzling against it.

What was it that they had? Sevika wasn’t completely sure. It was too soon to call it love; despite the fact that she’d heard of the counselor in the years she spent working under Silco, they’d only officially met after the war, when the Kiramman girl gave up her seat so that Sevika could sit in her place. It was Mel who showed her the ropes of this whole Council thing, explaining the implications of her role and etiquette and whatever else. It was during that time, that very short amount of time, that the two found themselves growing closer. If anyone knew of their little thing, nobody bothered to point it out. No, what they had wasn’t love, but Sevika couldn’t help but feel that maybe if they gave it some time…

She sighed as Mel softly rubbed her cheek. “Your hand is eerily soft,” she muttered.

Mel chuckled. “What’s so eerie about having soft hands? God forbid a woman moisturize.”

Sevika shook her head. “No, there’s a clear difference between someone who moisturizes and someone who doesn’t do any sort of manual labor.”

Mel scoffed, pinching Sevika’s cheek. “You dare tell a Noxian she doesn’t do manual labor?”

Sevika snorted out a laugh. “Oh really? And when’s the last time you even set foot in Noxus?”

“I–” Mel began to speak, but her lips suddenly pulled into a frown, her eyes downcast. Suddenly, and without another word, she dropped her head onto Sevika’s chest.

Confused, Sevika sat up, holding Mel close so that she didn’t fall. She took Mel’s chin in her metal hand, making the younger woman look up at her.

“Did I say something I wasn’t supposed to say?” Sevika questioned, an apology already prepped on the tip of her tongue.

Mel shook her head, now holding Sevika’s face in both hands. “No, it’s just– oh Sevika, I’m so sorry…”

Sevika furrowed her eyebrows, seriously concerned now. “Sorry for what? Mel, what’s going on?”

Mel bit her lip, opting to wrap her arms around Sevika’s neck and hold her close.

“I’m going back to Noxus… My ship leaves the morning after tomorrow.”

No, Sevika’s never been in love, even now. It was just never the right time.

There were many thoughts swimming through her mind, all possibilities of what she could say, or what she should say. ‘What do you mean, you’re going back?’ ‘When were you planning on telling me this?’ In the end, all she was able to settle on was a small “oh… okay.”

Mel pulled back, the hurt she was feeling evident on her face. “‘Oh, okay’? Is that all?”

Sevika scowled, confused at Mel’s tone. “What do you mean, ‘is that all’? What am I supposed to say?”

Mel scoffed, clearly upset now, lifting herself off of Sevika’s lap and walking away.

“Hey– Mel!” Sevika called out, getting up and going after her. “Come on, wait just a second.”

Sevika grabbed Mel’s arm, stopping her in her tracks. She turned the shorter woman around, holding her by her shoulders while Mel looked up at her with nothing but pain and sadness in her eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Sevika questioned, wiping away the single tear that rolled down Mel’s cheek.

“I–,” Mel stammered, putting her head down and letting it rest again against Sevika’s chest. “I spent so long trying to figure out how to tell you that I forgot I had to actually tell you… but it seems to me like you don’t even care that I'm leaving.”

Sevika couldn’t quite place it, but there was a negative feeling at the accusation that she didn’t care. Oddly enough, she did care about Mel leaving. She did care about Mel.

“So… what is it that you want me to say?” Sevika whispered, now using her metal hand to pet the back of Mel’s head.

“If I have to tell you what to say, then it’s best if you don’t say anything at all.”

Sevika stayed silent for a while. She didn’t like that Mel was upset, and at her, at that. She wasn’t sure why Mel’s feelings towards her mattered so much; they weren’t anything serious, that much was known between the two of them. So why did she find herself purposefully trying to pick her next words wisely to not hurt the other woman any further?

“If I told you I wanted you to stay, would you?”

Mel perked up at that, looking up at Sevika with wide eyes. “You want me to stay?”

“I asked you a question first.”

Mel huffed, then sighed. “No, I’m afraid not… I have to do this. I must make this trip.”

“So if you’re going to leave regardless, why are you so adamant that I tell you how I feel about it?”

Mel hummed, bringing her arms up to wrap around Sevika’s torso. She held the taller woman close, and Sevika reciprocated the affection by running a hand through Mel’s hair.

“Because… I want to know if you’re just as upset about me leaving as I am about leaving you.”

Sevika could physically feel her heart skip a beat, and this was the first time it wasn’t a result of hard drugs or liquor. She hated this. Back in Zaun, she could sweet-talk her way into any woman’s panties (or lack thereof). Mel, on the other hand, had her throat closing up and her cheeks growing hot like she was a little kid speaking to her crush. Did she have a crush on Mel? With just a few carefully selected sentences, Mel left Sevika speechless at times, stuttering over her words like a fool. She hated this.

“You– I don’t– uh…”

“If only you were as good at vocalizing your feelings as you are at gambling,” Mel remarked, and Sevika could detect the mockery in her tone. Tired of this back and forth, Sevika exhaled deeply, deciding to lay everything out on the table.

“Honestly, I– I didn’t know you felt so strongly about… well, about me,” she stammered. “For the record, I’m not too sure what it is that’s going on between the two of us, but… I like it. I’ve never had something like this before. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t want you to go to Noxus. I’d have you stay here. With me. And we could… I don’t know, we could keep this going, I guess. But it’s not up to me, so that doesn’t really matter…”

Mel’s eyes grew big and glossy, her lips forming into a small ‘o’ as tears pricked in the corner of her eyes. Sevika thought she was going to have to comfort her again, but then Mel smiled and suddenly all Sevika could think about was how proud she was of herself for making Mel smile again. She bent down, capturing Mel’s lips in a gentle kiss. She pulled back just for a moment, only for Mel to lean forward and press their lips together again, and again, and again.

Sevika was smiling widely now; she couldn’t help it, Mel just had that effect on her. Must be her mage powers or something.

“Sevika?” Mel whispered, “I’d like for us to play a game of sorts.”

Sevika raised an eyebrow. “A game…?”

Mel gave a curt nod. “Yes, a game of pretend.”

Sevika stood up straight now, clearly intrigued. “What exactly are we pretending?”

“Let’s pretend I’m not actually leaving,” Mel answered simply, which caused Sevika’s eyes to widen. “Until the morning after tomorrow, when my ship departs, let’s pretend I’m not going anywhere, and that we have all the time in the world to be together. I’ve already made the necessary preparations for my departure, and I have nowhere else to be until then. Let’s shut ourselves in here and act as though the rest of the world doesn’t exist until then.”

Sevika gulped. Pretend Mel wasn’t leaving? Act like they have all the time in the world together? Sevika didn’t know how she felt about such a suggestion, if she could even allow her heart to—

“Sevika, please say yes.”

“Yes.”

And so, their game of pretend began.

🢝 🢝 🢝

“S—Sev, come on,” Mel whined, her hips bucking upward in search of more stimulation. “Stop teasing, pleasee…”

Sevika smirked, turning her head to kiss the underside of Mel’s thigh, which was currently thrown over her shoulder. She curled the two fingers that she currently had inside Mel, dragging them ever so slowly over that spot that had Mel’s eyes rolling backwards and her toes curling. If you asked Sevika, she’d say Mel was getting just enough, but she also knew Mel tended to be a greedy little brat, so of course she begged for more, more, more.

“What’s the rush?” Sevika muttered against Mel’s warm skin. “We got all the time in the world, remember?”

Sevika watched as Mel swallowed thickly, her eyes fluttering open. Mel looked down at Sevika, her eyes glossy, brows furrowed in frustration. She had the cutest pout on her lips and Sevika almost felt inclined to surge forward and kiss her.

“Sev, you’ve been going at it forever, let me cum, pleasee,” Mel sobbed, and Sevika couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“Needy, needy girl,” she muttered, but finally relented, sucking Mel’s clit into her mouth while speeding up her fingers.

Mel’s back arched off the bed, one hand flying to tangle in Sevika’s hair while the other grasped at the bedsheets. Much to Sevika’s surprise, Mel was loud, clearly not caring if any of her servants heard what they were getting up to from the other side of her bedroom door. She yelled expletives, screamed words of pleasure, and moaned like a porn star. It turned Sevika on to no end, and she rewarded Mel’s enthusiasm by humming around her clit, sending vibrations through every fiber of her being.

Mel didn’t last long after that.

Sevika continued their sexual endeavor by proceeding to fuck Mel on every surface of her bedroom, including (but not limited to) the floor, the bathroom counter, and even outside on the balcony.

Eventually, they found their way back to the bed, where Sevika sat up against the headboard with Mel straddling her lap, lazily dotting soft kisses along the larger woman’s neck and collarbone.

“Let me reciprocate,” Mel whispered.

The hand that was massaging circles into Mel’s back stopped suddenly, which caused Mel to pull away, looking at Sevika directly. The older woman raised an eyebrow, an unimpressed expression on her face.

“That won’t be necessary,” Sevika answered curtly.

Mel tilted her head to the side, pouting in a way that Sevika knew she unfortunately wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Oh, but it is,” Mel retaliated, “because I’ve asked it of you. You wouldn’t deny me something I asked for, would you, Sev?”

Sevika sucked her teeth, turning her head to avert her gaze from that all-powerful puppy dog pout. It was silent between the two of them for a moment, until Sevika shot a side-eye at Mel and–

“Alright, fine, damn it…”

She patted Mel’s thigh, signalling for her to get off Sevika’s lap, which allowed Sevika to strip herself completely bare in front of Mel. By the time she turned back around, Mel was drooling, unabashedly thirsting over the hunk of a woman in front of her. This was the first time she’d ever seen Sevika completely naked, and Mel was determined to burn the picture into her mind for eternity. Sevika was jacked, her prominent muscles at the forefront of Mel’s attention. Her heavy breasts sat low on her chest, punctuated by dark nipples that were already hard. She carried a layer of fat on her, of course, which served to add curves that Sevika otherwise kept constantly hidden. She had a thick happy trail starting at her navel, which led to the impressive bush she carried between her legs. Mel wanted to put her face in it.

“Alright, that’s enough staring,” Sevika announced, interrupting Mel’s lustful train of thought.

“You’re beautiful,” Mel sighed as Sevika reclaimed her spot on the bed, allowing Mel to straddle her once more.

“Less talking, more fucking,” Sevika simply answered.

Mel rolled her eyes as she leaned back into her previous place on Sevika’s neck. “Would it kill you to say thanks and take a compliment for once?”

Sevika didn't reply, simply grunting as Mel sucked hickeys onto her skin. Mel’s hands roamed Sevika’s shoulders and arms in the meantime, mapping out the muscles of her upper body along with the scars that decorated them. She then zeroed in on Sevika’s chest, placing a trail of kisses downwards until she got to one of Sevika’s nipples. She took the dark bud into her mouth, flicking her tongue over it and sucking softly.

“There’s no way I appear that fragile,” Sevika muttered. “You’re gonna have to put in a bit more effort than that.”

Frowning, Mel gently bit down on Sevika’s nipple, causing the older woman to shudder.

“There we go,” Sevika moaned. “Don’t be afraid to get a little rough. You see me? I can clearly take it.”

With a newfound vigor, Mel continued exploring Sevika’s body, sucking, scratching, biting as she pleased and relishing in the quiet sounds Sevika allowed herself to let out.

By the time Mel was done, Sevika’s skin was practically completely marked, littered with bruises, bites, and angry red lines tracing the curves of her muscles.

“Someone’s eager,” Sevika huffed, her chest rising and falling with each laboured breath she took.

Mel bit her lip, finally sliding her hand down Sevika’s abs, past her bush, and in between her legs. Her eyes widened as she felt how absolutely soaked Sevika was, her fingers gliding through her folds with ease. A smile grew on her lips, and Sevika rolled her eyes, already knowing what she was about to say.

“Not as eager as you are, clearly.”

Mel’s fingertips found Sevika’s clit just as she was about to counter with a snide remark, causing the woman’s breath to hitch and her hips to jerk involuntarily. She decided to keep her mouth shut; this was losing battle, at the very least she should be allowed to fall with dignity. She let her head fall back against the headboard, eyes fluttering shut as Mel rubbed harsh circles onto her aching bud. Soon, however, the stimulation started growing excessive, and her soft sighs started becoming grunts of frustration as she bucked her hips forward in search for more.

“Seems like you need something from me,” Mel hummed. “I’ll give it to you if you ask nicely…”

Sevika groaned. “There’s no way you’re suggesting I beg you right now.”

Mel shrugged. “Call it what you want, but you can’t expect that I give you anything without asking for it first.”

Sevika removed her hands from Mel’s waist to rub her own face, letting out an exasperated sigh along with a muffled, “you’re lucky it’s you…”

When her face was visible again, she looked at Mel with an intense gaze, muttering out a forced, “please… I need your fingers inside me, Mel.”

Instead of the shit-eating grin Sevika was expecting, Mel looked completely taken aback, shocked that Sevika would actually resort to pleading without much convincing. Even with Mel’s dark skin, she could swear she could see the younger woman’s cheeks reddening slightly.

“You’re cute when you beg,” Mel teased, two fingers slipping lower until they were sliding inside Sevika with ease.

Sevika grumbled, spreading her legs wider. “Mel, you’re gonna have to give me more than that if you’re trying to make me feel anything.”

Mel raised an eyebrow, removing her fingers from inside Sevika. “If this is your attempt at begging, I must say–”

“Mel, I’m serious,” Sevika interjected. “Your fingers are kinda small, y’know… besides, you know how much fucking I did down in Zaun? I fear I’m a bit ran through, though that hasn’t stopped anyone else from making me cum. Two of your little fingers ain’t gonna cut it.”

A smirk grew on her lips as she watched Mel process what she was just told, the jealousy becoming evident on her face. Mel was greedy, Sevika knew that much, which also meant she couldn’t bear the thought of someone else touching what was hers, and outperforming her, at that.

“Fine, if that’s what you want,” Mel spoke, reaching behind Sevika’s head to harshly grab a handful of her cropped hair. She surged forward, kissing Sevika harshly as she slipped three fingers into the larger woman.

Sevika groaned, her large hands tightening their grip on Mel’s waist. Mel began a rough pace, the squelching sounds of Sevika’s pussy filling the room. She curled them in a way that hit Sevika’s g-spot just right, which almost made up for the fact that she wasn’t being properly stretched out on Mel’s fingers.

Almost.

Sevika tapped the back of Mel’s hand, and with total understanding, Mel pulled her fingers out completely, only to go back in with a fourth, finally filling Sevika up in the way that she liked. Sevika moaned into Mel’s mouth, gasping when she took Sevika’s bottom lip between her teeth and bit down. Sevika growled in response, opening her legs more to allow Mel to fuck her even deeper.

“Fuck, you’re doing so good, princess,” Sevika rasped. “Yeah, that’s right, keep fucking me just like that.”

Mel whimpered as Sevika grabbed her neck, pulling her in for another kiss. “Mmh~ wanna see you cum for me, Sev,” she whined against Sevika’s lips.

Sevika nodded. “Just keep going, baby. You– mmh, fuck… you’re fucking me so good, just keep going…”

Mel kissed Sevika like she was starving, and fucked her like her life depended on it. Sevika wasn’t going to lie, she half-expected Mel’s first time topping her to result in an hour-long instructive session, but she could feel the determination in every hitched breath, every stroke, every curl of her tongue. Mel was tenacious; she clearly wanted nothing more than to bring Sevika the same amount of pleasure that was given to her. Mel’s consideration for Sevika’s satisfaction drove her to ensure she did everything just right, and her efforts were enough to bring Sevika to and over the edge. She moaned loudly, louder than she’d ever allow herself to normally, eyes closing tightly and nails digging into Mel’s skin as her body trembled with release. Mel’s gentle caresses grounded her as she came down from her high, and she kept Mel close while the trembling subsided.

Mel pulled her fingers out of Sevika with a slick pop, and Sevika watched as she hummed and stuck the wet digits right into her mouth. Sevika made a face, but Mel noticed, raising an eyebrow.

“What?” the younger woman asked.

Sevika huffed. “How do I taste?” she jeered.

Mel tilted her head, examining her fingers rather intently. “Quite good, actually. Would you let me eat you out?”

At that, Sevika rolled her eyes, turning over to lay on her side causing Mel to fall over onto the bed with an “oof!”

“No,” she answered plainly, finally finding the strength to deny that god forsaken pout. “I think you forgot that you decided to get involved with an old woman. We’ve done enough. I tire easily.”

Sevika shut her eyes, ignoring the ruffling sounds in front of her, until the bed dipped and she felt hair in her face. She opened her eyes to find Mel directly in front of her, glowering as their noses just barely touched.

“What about tomorrow?” Mel whispered.

Sevika took Mel’s face in her hand, squeezing her cheeks until her lips puckered. She then pressed a soft peck to said lips.

“Ask me again tonight, and I’ll say no. Ask me tomorrow morning, and I just might say yes. The choice is yours.”

Mel smiled widely, jumping off the bed and rushing into the washroom, which left Sevika alone with her thoughts. She turned onto her stomach, her head facing the direction Mel just ran in.

One more day of playing pretend…

🢝 🢝 🢝

Mel asked Sevika again the next morning.

“How do you feel about the idea of sitting on my face?”

“I literally just woke up…”

Sevika said yes regardless, and she had to admit: getting head first thing in the morning was definitely an experience. An experience great enough to set the tone for the rest of the morning, and Sevika almost felt bad for the servant that’d have to come later on to change the bedsheets. The couple ended their tryst with a hot bath, Mel pressed against Sevika’s front while the latter ran her hand through the former’s hair. This was the first time Sevika went without a bionic arm in front of Mel, and of course she was initially hesitant about the idea, not because she didn’t trust Mel, but because of the general sense of security having both arms provided. However, Mel’s soothing presence alone was enough to convince Sevika to bring her walls down, and now she was relaxing with her eyes closed and her head resting against the wall as she listened to Mel talk.

Mel talked a lot.

Mel talked about anything and everything, so long as Sevika was willing to listen. On most occasions that required Mel to speak, she did so with every ounce of professionalism and tact; especially during council meetings or when addressing the public. Now though, Mel had no reason to filter herself, blurting out whatever came to mind simply because Sevika was there.

“…but honestly, I don’t mind the heat– are you even listening to me?”

Sevika peeked one eye open, being met with Mel’s signature pout and furrowed brows.

“Of course I am,” she grumbled.

“Okay, then what did I just say?”

Sevika huffed, opening the other eye just to roll them. “I asked you what you wanted for breakfast. You said ‘something hefty like eggs and a bagel’. Then you changed your mind and said you wanted something sweet. Then you felt the need to clarify that you didn’t want ‘something sweet’ like oatmeal, but ‘something sweet’ like pancakes or some sort of pastry. Then you told me that beignets are your favorite pastry, which are really good during the wintertime because they’re warm. But you don’t really like the winter because it makes your skin dry and you hate feeling cold. Autumn is your favorite season because the leaves changing color and falling from the trees is really pretty. You hate spring because your allergies get really bad. You think most people dislike summer because it gets really hot, but you don’t mind the heat. Did I miss anything?”

Mel stared at Sevika with big eyes, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to think about what to say next, but then she just smiled, a smile that Sevika thought to be big, dumb, and pretty, before snuggling up right on Sevika’s chest.

“You’re so hot when you listen to me,” Mel swooned.

Sevika chuckled. “I’m always listening to you.”

Mel stayed quiet for a moment, and Sevika could tell she was thinking about something.

“You’re right,” Mel finally said. “You’re always listening to me ramble, but you rarely ever talk about yourself. I’ve basically told you my entire life story at this point, but I know generally nothing about you from before you started working for Silco.”

Sevika sighed. “I like listening to you, okay? And every part of my life either falls into one of two categories: uninteresting or depressing.”

“I find anything you tell me interesting, and it’s not like my life was one big comedy show, either. You know that,” Mel chided. She reached up, hesitated for a moment, then caressed Sevika’s cheek. “I… really like you, Sevika. I feel something for you that I’ve never felt towards anyone else. That said, I want to know everything about you. The good, the bad, the ugly, all of it. Even the uninteresting and the depressing.”

A blush crept up onto Sevika’s cheeks, and she turned her head away to avoid Mel’s gaze.

“If I talk about all that, we’ll turn into raisins in here…”

Mel snickered, deciding to end their bath there before they really did turn into raisins. Sevika helped her dry off and wrap her hair up in a towel, and soon the two of them found themselves cuddled up on the sofa donning expensive silk bathrobes.

“So?”

“So…?”

“So… tell me everything,” Mel pushed, tracing a finger along Sevika’s jaw. “From your first memory to your last, I want to hear it all.”

Sevika sighed. “Okay, then.”

Sevika really did tell Mel everything.

She told Mel how her mother passed away in childbirth, and her father raised her like he resented her for it.

She told Mel how she ran away from home and met the blisters & bedrock trio, the trouble the four of them got into, and how the three of them instilled within her the hope for a free Zaun.

She told Mel her point of view of what happened on the bridge; how everything started falling apart after that.

She told Mel about the night she lost her arm, how devastated she felt while watching the two men she admired and were like brothers to each other essentially fight to the death.

She told Mel what it was like raising Jinx, and how she couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt believing she’d never see Vi again, especially since she was once so close to their mother.

She told Mel how every day felt like a battle, and she was slowly losing. She told Mel how tired she was of fighting all the time. She told Mel how sometimes she felt like giving up on everything, on life, but she was miraculously still alive despite it all.

It was eerily silent once Sevika finished speaking. She kept her gaze focused on the ceiling above her, not daring to make eye contact with Mel despite also wanting to see her face. Suddenly, she felt the soothing touch of Mel’s hand gently wipe the corner of her eye. She didn’t even know she was crying. Then, she felt Mel tip her head forward, forcing her to make eye contact. Sevika gulped when she finally looked at Mel, and let out a small gasp when she noticed Mel’s own tears, glistening as if imbued with gold.

“Thank you for sharing all of that with me,” Mel whispered before wrapping her arms around Sevika in a deep hug. “I feel like I… can appreciate you so much more now. And… I’m glad you’re still here.”

Sevika felt a huge lump in her throat. “Fuck,” she sniffled. The tears started falling faster, and she let them. Mel was a presence unlike anything Sevika experienced in the many years she’s been alive. For the first time, Sevika could truly feel everything that rumbled within her. She didn’t need to suck it up and pretend that she was bigger than any emotion for the sake of getting things done. She didn’t need to be on the defensive or put up any walls to save face. She could just be.

Mel was a presence Sevika wished she could keep close to her for the rest of her life.

Was this love?

🢝 🢝 🢝

The shoreline was particularly breezy this morning, and the red sails of the large Noxian ship fluttered mercilessly in the wind.

This was nothing compared to the turbulence going on within Sevika.

This didn’t feel real.

None of it felt real.

The Noxian guards that lined up before her on either side didn’t feel real.

The rhythmic beating of their metal spears against the wooden dock with each step Mel took didn’t feel real.

The red and black attire Mel donned to symbolize her rise in rank didn’t feel real.

Even as Mel stood right in front of her, eyes full of sorrow and longing, nothing going on around her felt real.

Sevika knew she was out of place. She should have been standing towards the back with the rest of the Councilors and civilians that came to witness Mel’s departure, but since when was she one to care about Piltovian etiquette?

Sevika swallowed thickly as Mel reached up to hold her face in both hands. She knew it would be the last time she felt these hands on her. She could tell there was so much Mel wanted to say, and there was so much Sevika wanted to say in return.

Without a word, Mel went up on her tiptoes to crash her lips into Sevika’s, and Sevika responded in kind, wrapping her arms around Mel’s waist and pulling her closer. The couple sobbed into each other’s lips, not caring that they were outside where essentially all of Piltover was watching them.

Sevika didn’t want this moment to end.

She didn’t want Mel to board that ship and leave.

She felt inclined to grab Mel and run away, to hide her in Zaun until people stopped looking for her, where they could be together for the rest of their lives.

Sevika didn’t act on that desire, though.

Instead, she kept her lips on Mel’s until Mel was the one that finally pulled away, though rather hesitantly.

“I guess… this is the end of our game,” Mel muttered, her voice cracking.

Sevika nodded once. “I… guess you’re right.”

Mel pressed one last kiss to the corner of Sevika’s mouth, before finally separating their bodies and boarding the ship.

Sevika kept her eyes on Mel the entire time, even as the Noxian guards followed Mel onto the ship, leaving her alone on the dock. Even when the ship left the shore and the civilians returned to their homes, Sevika stayed, watching the ship sail off into the horizon.

No, Sevika’s never been in love.

It was just never the right time.

A/N: *bats eyelashes, blank stare* i definitely feel like this could have been better, but gurl if i left this in my google docs it was not gonna get looked at until august so it's whatever. there were some concepts i didn't include that i wish i did explore, like sevika cooking for mel or mel using her mage powers to alleviate sevika's chronic back and neck pain, but maybe those can be drabbles or sum, idk...

( @s-4pphics )

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umikawa · 3 months ago

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a/n: requested here! sorry it took a literal MONTH… I loved the idea but phew… brain fog.

platonic! asagiri gen x gn!reader | 958 WC | no major warnings, reader is married to xeno, used to be a teacher, cheesy (cliche) ‘meet-cute’ story

Gen has met a lot of interesting people in his life.

You, however, are the most peculiar person he’s had the pleasure of meeting.

It’s been a day since he began his temporary stay at the American Colonies base. He’s seen everything, for the most part– all he’s allowed to see anyway. Now wandering around the corn fields, Maya close behind him like a goddamn babysitter.

And that’s when he sees you.

Happily humming into a bucket of– what his nose tells him– manure, clothes messy from the dirt you’d practically thrown yourself into, utterly oblivious to the war that’s simmering beneath you. He moves to step away without conversation, but the crunch of the soil under his feet has different plans.

“Oh– Hi, Maya!” You greeted the taller woman before blinking towards Gen, raising a brow in confusion because you don’t remember him being at the expo when it all went down. “Who’s this?”

He opens his mouth to speak, but Maya’s palm covers his mouth before he can talk. “It’s quite a long story. I wouldn’t want to bore you with it.” You smile, tilting your head with a hum of response. “Well, we should get going. I’ll see you later, Y/n, don’t roll around in cow poo too much!” with haste, Maya pushes Gen forward with a softened clap over his shoulder, directing him back to the castle.

His eyes are set on you as she continues to push him to walk. Intrigued by your status, he wonders what you contributed to Xeno’s plots.

“Y/n? We’re married, that’s all.” Gen’s mouth falls open at the blunt handling of what he thought was sensitive information, composing himself before he fell victim to yet another polygraph test. But Xeno catches his reaction regardless and lifts himself from his chair to stand chest to chest with him, his height giving him the advantage of appearing scary. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh, you know–” he waves a hand in the air, smiling sweetly. “I’d like to become acquainted with everyone. Build rapport– trust, if you will.” Xeno hums, a scoff following as he narrows his eyes. Gen goes to say something else, but a knock on the door tears his attention away, along with Xeno’s.

Your head peaks through the door with a nervous smile, taking in the sight of your husband (likely) violating the newcomers' personal space. “Sorry, Xeno– can I borrow him for a second? His hands are small enough to help fix the tractor since I can’t find Luna anywhere.”

Xeno spares a glance with Maya. If she follows the both of you, it’d be obvious that they’re keeping watch on him– but if she doesn’t, the possibility of Gen telling you everything is a risk. But you'd grow suspicious if he didn’t let you take him.

“Of course, dear.” He answers, gripping Gen’s shoulder tightly as a warning. “He’s not much of a talker, but I’m sure if he does start rambling,” Gen nearly drops to his knees when his hand squeezes his shoulder tighter, grimacing at the metal claws digging into his skin. “He’ll know when to shut up.”

Xeno releases him, holding a hand in front of Maya to prevent her from stalking forward. Gen breathes a sigh of relief when your hand guides him out the door, glancing back once to see Xeno staring hard.

You question the shudder that Gen lets out. He doesn’t elaborate.

Now standing in front of a tractor, the hood propped open and steam coming out of it, Gen realizes he’ll never truly run away from manual labor.

“I don’t actually need your help,” you say, cutting through the thick silence. Gen raises a brow, waiting for you to continue. “You just looked like you needed to get away.”

“How kind of you to treat me like I’m not a total stranger.” You shrug in response. “How is it that you’ve come to meet Doctor Xeno?”

“Hm?” you draw out a long hum, popping open the lid of a toolbox. “I met him when I took my students on a field trip to the space center,” you say, nudging him to the side and out of the way. “Seeing him talk to my students with genuine interest in his work made my heart flutter. I felt like a kid with a crush again.”

Gen hums, passing you a different tool you needed. “During one of the planetary exhibits, my kids caught me staring at him and started making all those kissy and gagging sounds kids make when they see anything related to love.” A chuckle spills from his lips; he was guilty of doing that too. “I guess Xeno felt the same way I did since they all got louder when they looked at him.”

“That’s an ovely-lay story,” Gen says, helping you shut the tractor’s hood when you prompt him to. “I would’ve never guessed someone like him would marry someone as sweet as you.”

Your movements halt, body twisting to look at him with a raised brow, “What do you mean by ‘someone like him?’”

Gen mimics your expression, confusion simmering in his bones. Did you truly not have a clue as to what was going on around you? “Well, it’s just that…” he trails off, watching you turn back to the tractor with a frown. “Your personalities are very different, that’s all.”

He bites his tongue, internally scolding himself for denying himself the satisfaction of causing drama—but if he had to choose this time, he preferred non-detrimental chaos.

“I suppose you’re the sun, and he’s the moon.” He finishes with a sigh, a new worry being added to his list. What will happen once you eventually find out about Xeno’s true intentions?

#dcst x reader #dr stone x reader #dr stone imagines #drst x reader #asagiri gen x reader #gen asagiri x reader #gen x reader #asagiri gen imagines #gen asagiri imagines

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phantomcodes · 11 months ago

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abelia | theme by sage

get the code: $6 - live preview / preview v1 / preview v2 a fansite theme with lots of options!

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only the (optional) faq & navigate popups need to be changed in the code, everything else can be changed in the customize panel! however there are other changes you can make in the code if you want - please see the customization guide

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blueskittlesart · 3 months ago

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okay, wait, so I’ve been trying to learn and understand the old Zelda games, the NES loz and adventure of link, which I thought had the same characters, like the same Zelda and link in both games, and online I saw some people claiming that nes loz and aol link were the same link (I googled which links are the same- probably dumb, I know.) and I did read the manual for loz and aol, so my understanding (and what I thought was correct.) was that after the events of nes loz Zelda gets put into a deep sleep from a spell or whatever and the kingdom goes into ruin (her father told her things about the triforce like where it’s hidden, i believe- could be wrong, anyways her brother gets processed by a magician or whatever and Zelda wouldn’t tell him where the triforce was so he put her into a deep sleep) and around link’s birthday, link gets a triforce symbol on the back of his hand and so link meets impa is told what happened to Zelda and that he has to go to all temples and put crystals in the stone statues in all of them and then he can save Zelda and he does, and I thought that was the end of that, day saved once again, but then I hear and read online that Zelda 1 in loz and Zelda in aol is not the same Zelda, Zelda in aol gets put into a deep sleep from a sleeping spell and her brother who’s king is sad and then says that every girl born into the royal family will be named Zelda from then on (or something), and then apparently (if I’m understanding this correctly which there a very high chance I’m not), the events of NES loz happens???? (Why do I feel like I got that wrong…) But like, I’m so incredibly confused, I don’t understand at all… Maybe I’m just overthinking things and it’s actually quite simple actually, but idk I don’t understand?? Also sorry if you don’t know (the answer) and I just sent this to you, I just had to rant about how confused I was and didn’t know where to (also sorry if this little message at the end of this was rude)

oh wait I was trying to read more about this so I can better understand and i understand it slightly more kinda, but I also forgot to mention (it slipped my mind for some reason and maybe that’s why I was confused), online it’s said “(aol) Several years after the events of the (NES) the legend of Zelda”, it’s still kinda confusing but sorry for bothering you about this when I think it’s me who’s confused and that it’s probably not confusing, like I kinda sort of feel less confused about it (but still slightly confused). I think maybe i should have thought more before sending in that ask, sorry about that!

prefacing this answer with the disclaimer that I haven't actually played zelda II. what i HAVE done is read the promotional strategy guide/manga combo by daisuke shigoto that to my knowledge was never officially translated into english and came out LONG before the timeline & reincarnation lore was ever canonized and was mostly dedicated to teaching children how to get through the near-impossible combat in that awful fucking game. all of my knowledge about the plot of zelda II and its relationship to NES zelda comes from this specific book. so. do with that what you will

that being said as far as i know there's 1 link and 2 zeldas involved in these 2 games. after the events of NES zelda, in which link rescues the first zelda (referred to from here on out as zelda A) from ganon, he fucks off for a while having done his duty. then the triforce appears on the back of his hand, kickstarting a new adventure in which he rescues a DIFFERENT princess zelda (zelda B.) Zelda B is the great-great-great-etc. aunt of zelda A, having been cursed to sleep in a tomb for hundreds of years for unimportant reasons, and, in the continuity of these two games, is the origin of the royal family's princess-naming tradition, i.e. 'the legend of zelda.' Link's hand-triforce ends up being the key to her tomb and things progress from there. so tldr the events of zelda II DO take place after nes zelda, but the princess in zelda II is NOT the same as the princess in NES zelda, she's an ancient relation who was preserved in sleep for a few hundred years. so essentially link has abandoned his original zelda in favor of this new dead girl he found in a literal tomb. lmfao

#they were just doing whatever the hell they wanted back then tbh. objectively hilarious plot #hey princess glad youre ok after being kidnapped by The King Of Evil! i am going to go kiss your dead grandma now ok bye #asks

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aringofsalt · 7 months ago

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diy ao3 wrapped: how to get your data!

so i figured out how to do this last year, and spotify wrapped season got me thinking about it again. a couple people in discord asked how to do it so i figured i'd write up a little guide! i'm not quite done with mine for this year yet because i wanted to do some graphics, but this is the post i made last year, for reference!

this got long! i tried to go into as much detail as possible to make it as easy as possible, but i am a web developer, so if there's anything i didn't explain enough (or if you have any other questions) don't hesitate to send me an ask!!

references

i used two reddit posts as references for this:

basic instructions (explains the browser extension; code gets title, word count, and author)

expanded instructions (code gets title, word count, and author, as well as category, date posted, last visited, warnings, rating, fandom, relationship, summary, and completion status, and includes instructions for how to include tags and switch fandoms/relationships to multiple—i will include notes on that later)

both use the extension webscraper.io which is available for both firefox and chrome (and maybe others, but i only use firefox/chrome personally so i didn't check any others, sorry. firefox is better anyway)

scraping your basic/expanded data

first, install the webscraper plugin/extension.

once it's installed, press ctrl+shift+i on pc or cmd+option+i on mac to open your browser's dev tools and navigate to the Web Scraper tab

from there, click "Create New Site Map" > "Import Sitemap"

it will open a screen with a field to input json code and a field for name—you don't need to manually input the name, it will fill in automatically based on the json you paste in. if you want to change it after, changing one will change the other.

i've put the codes i used on pastebin here: basic // expanded

once you've pasted in your code, you will want to update the USERNAME (highlighted in yellow) to your ao3 username, and the LASTPAGE (highlighted in pink) to the last page you want to scrape. to find this, go to your history page on ao3, and click back until you find your first fic of 2024! make sure you go by the "last visited" date instead of the post date.

if you do want to change the id, you can update the value (highlighted in blue) and it will automatically update the sitemap name field, or vice versa. everything else can be left as is.

once you're done, click import, and it'll show you the sitemap. on the top bar, click the middle tab, "Sitemap [id of sitemap]" and choose Scrape. you'll see a couple of options—the defaults worked fine for me, but you can mess with them if you need to. as far as i understand it, it just sets how much time it takes to scrape each page so ao3 doesn't think it's getting attacked by a bot. now click "start scraping"!

once you've done that, it will pop up with a new window which will load your history. let it do its thing. it will start on the last page and work its way back to the first, so depending on how many pages you have, it could take a while. i have 134 pages and it took about 10-12 minutes to get through them all.

once the scrape is done, the new window will close and you should be back at your dev tools window. you can click on the "Sitemap [id of sitemap]" tab again and choose Export data.

i downloaded the data as .xlsx and uploaded to my google drive. and now you can close your dev tools window!

from here on out my instructions are for google sheets; i'm sure most of the queries and calculations will be similar in other programs, but i don't really know excel or numbers, sorry!

setting up your spreadsheet

once it's opened, the first thing i do is sort the "viewed" column A -> Z and get rid of the rows for any deleted works. they don't have any data so no need to keep them. next, i select the columns for "web-scraper-order" and "web-scraper-start-url" (highlighted in pink) and delete them; they're just default data added by the scraper and we don't need them, so it tidies it up a little.

this should leave you with category, posted, viewed, warning, rating, fandom, relationship, title, author, wordcount, and completion status if you used the expanded code. if there are any of these you don't want, you can go ahead and delete those columns also!

next, i add blank columns to the right of the data i want to focus on. this just makes it easier to do my counts later. in my case these will be rating, fandom, relationship, author, and completion status.

one additional thing you should do, is checking the "viewed" column. you'll notice that it looks like this:

you can't really sort by this since it's text, not formatted as a date, so it'll go alphabetically by month rather than sorting by date. but, you'll want to be able to get rid of any entries that were viewed in 2023 (there could be none, but likely there are some because the scraper got everything on your last page even if it was viewed in 2023). what i did here was use the "find" dialog to search the "viewed" column for 2023, and deleted those rows manually.

ctrl/cmd+f, click the 3 dots for "more options". you want to choose "Specific range", then "C2:C#". replace C with the letter of your viewed column (remember i deleted a bunch, so yours may be different) and replace # with the number of the last row of your spreadsheet. then find 2023, select the rows containing it, right click > delete rows.

it isn't super necessary to do this, it will only add at most 19 fics to your count, but the option is there!

alright, with all that done, your sheet should look something like this:

exposing myself for having read stardew valley fic i guess

now for the fun part!!!

the math

yes, the math is the fun part.

scroll all the way down to the bottom of your sheet. i usually add 100 blank rows at the bottom just so i have some space to play with.

most of these will basically be the same query, just updating for the relevant column. i've put it in a pastebin here, but here's a screenshot so i can walk you through it:

you'll want to use lines 3-10, select the cell you want to put your data into, and paste the query into the formula bar (highlighted in green)

so, we're starting with rating, which is column E for me. if yours is a different letter you'll need to replace all the E's with the relevant letter.

what this does is it goes through the entire column, starting with row 2 (highlighted in yellow) and ending with your final row (highlighted in blue, you'll want to change this number to reflect how many rows you have). note that row 2 is your first actual data row, because of the header row.

it checks each row that has a value (line 5), groups by unique value (row 6), and arranges in descending order (row 7) by how many there are of each value (row 8). finally, row 10 determines how many rows of results you'll have; for rating, i put 5 because that's how many ratings there are, but you can increase the number of results (highlighted in pink) for other columns depending on how many you want. this is why i added the 100 extra rows!

next to make the actual number visible, go to the cell one column over. this is why we added the empty columns! next to your first result, add the second query from the pastebin:

your first and second cell numbers (highlighted in yellow and blue) should match the numbers from your query above, and the third number (highlighted in pink) should be the number of the cell with your first value. what this does is go through your column and count how many times the value occurs.

repeat this for the rest of the rows and you should end up with something like this! don't judge me and my reading habits please

now you can go ahead and repeat for the rest of your columns! as i mentioned above, you can increase the amount of result rows you get; i set it to 25 for fandom, relationship, and author, just because i was curious, and only two for completion status because it's either complete or not complete.

you should end up with something like this!

you may end up with some multiples (not sure why this happens, tagging issues maybe?) and up to you if you want to manually fix them! i just ended up doing a find and replace for the two that i didn't want and replaced with the correct tag.

now for the total wordcount! this one is pretty simple, it just adds together your entire column. first i selected the column (N for me) and went to Format > Number > 0 so it stripped commas etc. then at the bottom of the column, add the third query from the pastebin. as usual, your first number is the first data row, and the second is the last data row.

and just because i was curious, i wanted the average wordcount also, so in another cell i did this (fourth query from the pastebin), where the first number is the cell where your total is, and the second number is the total number of fics (total # of data rows minus 1 for the header row).

which gives me this:

tadaaaa!

getting multiple values

so, as i mentioned above, by default the scraper will only get the first value for relationships and fandoms. "but sarah," you may say, "what if i want an accurate breakdown of ALL the fandoms and relationships if there's multiples?"

here's the problem with that: if you want to be able to query and count them properly, each fandom or relationship needs to be its own row, which would skew all the other data. for me personally, it didn't bother me too much; i don't read a lot of crossovers, and typically if i'm reading a fic it's for the primary pairing, so i think the counts (for me) are pretty accurate. if you want to get multiples, i would suggest doing a secondary scrape to get those values separately.

if you want to edit the scrape to get multiples, navigate to one of your history pages (preferably one that has at least one work with multiple fandoms and/or relationships so you can preview) then hit ctrl+shift+i/cmd+option+i, open web scraper, and open your sitemap. expand the row and you should see all your values. find the one you want to edit and hit the "edit" button (highlighted in pink)

on the next screen, you should be good to just check the "Multiple" checkbox (highlighted in pink):

you can then hit "data preview" (highlighted in blue) to get a preview which should show you all the relationships on the page (which is why i said to find a page that has the multiples you are looking for, so you can confirm).

voila! now you can go back to the sitemap and scrape as before.

getting tag data

now, on the vein of multiples, i also wanted to get my most-read tags.

as i mentioned above, if you want to get ALL the tags, it'll skew the regular count data, so i did the tags in a completely separate query, which only grabs the viewed date and the tags. that code is here. you just want to repeat the scraping steps using that as a sitemap. save and open that spreadsheet.

the first thing you'll notice is that this one is a LOT bigger. for context i had 2649 fics in the first spreadsheet; the tags spreadsheet had 31,874 rows.

you can go ahead and repeat a couple of the same steps from before: remove the extra scraper data columns, and then we included the "viewed" column for the same reason as before, to remove any entries from 2023.

then you're just using the same basic query again!

replace the E with whatever your column letter is, and then change your limit to however many tags you want to see. i changed the limit to 50, again just for curiosity.

if you made it this far, congratulations! now that you have all that info, you can do whatever you want with it!

and again, if you have any questions please reach out!

#ao3 wrapped #tutorials #ao3

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mariacallous · 4 months ago

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The kids are all grown up. In the face of international law enforcement pressure, dozens of prosecutions, and worldwide disrepute, the network of young sadists, misanthropes, child predators, and extortionists known as Com and 764 has not shrunk away into obscurity.

Rather, its members have progressed from online extortion and crimes related to child sexual abuse material, to real-world violence, a trajectory that alarms extremism researchers and government officials alike. Knifings, killings, firebombings, drive-by shootings, school shootings, and murder-for-hire plots in North America and Europe have all been connected to a splinter group called “No Lives Matter” that, per the group’s own manifesto, “idolizes death” and “seeks the purification of all mankind through endless attacks.” The group has released at least two “kill guides” that have been connected to violent attacks and plots in Europe and the United States.

The US Department of Justice classifies Com and 764 as a “Tier One” terrorism threat, the highest priority afforded to an extremist group, ideology, or tendency in American law enforcement’s internal rubric. Intelligence documents reviewed by WIRED show a stream of concern from analysts about the group’s harm to juvenile exploitation victims and the growing exhortations to physical violence that embody the No Lives Matter ethos.

However, the phenomenon has proved incredibly hard to combat due to a lack of coherent structure or ideology. Along with the insidious neo-Nazi propaganda group the Terrorgram Collective, over the past four years, Com/764 has morphed into a twisted amalgam of the Columbine Effect and older domestic terror groups like the Atomwaffen Division: Young extortionists and assailants egg each other on to progressively more lurid and debased acts of violence for the sake of internet notoriety and status.

In response, Western governments have employed terrorism charges against young people accused of conspiring to kill homeless people or phoning in bomb threats to schools and religious institutions beyond their own borders. In the United Kingdom, the Crown Prosecution Service recently secured a six-year prison term for 19-year-old Cameron Finnegan, who went by the handle “Acid,” for a raft of 764-related offenses, including possessing CSAM, urging young people to kill themselves, and possessing a “kill manual” authored by No Lives Matter adherents, replete with viable instructions for carrying out lethal attacks with knives, firearms, and vehicles.

"We want to make the public aware of [Com/764]," Detective Chief Superintendent Claire Finlay, the head of Counter Terrorism Policing Southeast, told the BBC following Finnegan’s guilty plea in January. "The threat that they pose, not just within the United Kingdom but globally, is immense."

According to senior DOJ officials who were granted anonymity to speak about internal law enforcement matters, the feds have come across related cases in every field office in the US. US authorities are so hell-bent on pursuing this trend that they are trying to extradite a 17-year-old Romanian boy who prosecutors at the Southern District of New York claim took part in exploiting minors and soliciting and distributing CSAM. The teenager also faces US terrorism charges for allegedly phoning in several hundred bomb threats to dozens of schools and institutions in the US as part of 764 and its splinter groups, according to information obtained by this reporter.

"We’ve seen a lot of hybrid movements and ideologies, new trends that we can’t categorize under the traditional categories,” says Bàrbara Molas, a senior analyst at RAND Europe who specializes in far-right extremism and who testified as an expert witness for the prosecution in Finnegan’s recent Com/764-related case.

For Molas, Com/764 represents that type of hybridity, where participants in the network will pick and choose elements from a series of discrete ideologies—neo-Nazism; the satanist group Order of Nine Angles, which has become prevalent throughout the most transgressive spheres of the transnational far right; Ted-Kaczynski-inspired neo-Luddism—and assemble their own belief pantheon.

“When 764 was only about CSAM, their targets tended to be women—but specifically women from diminished social groups, who were seen as the weak party of society,” Molas says. “That ideal of imposing violence on this part of society has carried on and become more violent.” When members of the network commit violence in the name of the group, Molas says, it “helps them rise within the group and advance the larger cause, which is to change society through violence and chaos.”

The lodestar for this transition towards wanton violence is a German teenager named Nino Luciano, who went by the handle “Tobbz” within 764. Sent to live in a foster home in Romania because his mental illnesses overwhelmed the capacity of institutions in his home country, Tobbz was drawn into 764 during the Covid-19 pandemic and quickly became enthralled with the group, daubing its name on a wall in his room and tattooing himself with “764” and a septagram from the Order of Nine Angles. In March 2022, he committed and livestreamed a series of knife attacks, stabbing an elderly woman to death and severely wounding an old man. He was convicted in August 2023 and is serving 14 years in prison.

Tobbz’s behavior inspired other young extremists in the Com/764 network, who have since either tried to emulate his livestreamed attacks or commit similar acts of violence to boost their notoriety and status within their extremist peer group. No Lives Matter’s exhortations to commit mass casualty events and distribution of detailed guides to violence are patterned off Tobbz’s example, according to experts who’ve studied the network.

Baron Martin, a resident of Tucson, Arizona, was charged in federal court with cyberstalking and sexual exploitation of a child that included the production of CSAM. According to court records, the government also accused Martin of soliciting the murder of the grandmother of one of his victims under the handle “Convict.” He allegedly sent the following message to a Discord server, court records show: “know anyone in [state] thats willing to do kidnappings or shootings...i need someone to tobbz a grandma. Somebody wanted to dox one of my egirls. now I’m getting their grandma merked.” The use of “Tobbz” as a synonym for murder was not casual: Martin allegedly offered to pay another user to carry out the hit, which was never realized.

According to court documents, Martin, through his handle, was connected to authoring a detailed guide widely distributed in 764’s channels on how to groom victims for extortion, which the FBI claims Martin bragged online was “the catalyst for thousands of extortions.” (Martin has pleaded not guilty.)

Molas, of RAND Europe, says Martin’s alleged path from extortion to soliciting a homicide traces a familiar path of transgressive behavior often seen in Com/764’s online world. “They’ll start with little acts of sin—shoplifting, then robberies, abuse of minors, weapons violations, then all the way up to kidnapping and murder,” Molas says.

In mid-February, Jairo Tinajero, a 25-year-old Arkansas man who took part in the 764 splinter group 8884, pleaded guilty to CSAM and conspiracy charges for extorting an underage girl in Louisville, Kentucky. According to his plea agreement, Tinajero confessed to plotting to kill the girl once she stopped complying with him, posting her address and personal information about her and her family family in 764’s servers, unsuccessfully trying to buy an assault rifle, and talking through a murder plot with other 764 members.

Tinajero also admitted taking part in 764 online chats where prior mass casualty attacks were discussed along with “future attacks on heavily populated areas such as malls or other large gatherings, LGBTQ+ events and gatherings, schools, public places, government buildings and police stations” with the intent to “destabilize society and cause the collapse of governments and rule of law.”

Most recently, neo-Nazi Aidan Harding’s inspiration from 764 was brought up during a mid-February federal court hearing for CSAM possession charges. In addition to participating in public actions with a number of Pittsburgh-area extremist groups, prosecutors claimed that Harding and another man were deeply interested in the Columbine massacre, visiting the memorial in Littleton, Colorado, and posing for a photo in front of a swastika flag while dressed as Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. “Eric and Dylan were kickstarting a revolution,” Harding wrote in a message, which prosecutors showed in court. Harding and the other man, who hasn’t been charged, also discussed carrying out mass shootings through Instagram direct messages, which were presented in court. “The only thing holding me back is a partner … I don’t want to do it alone or die alone,” Harding wrote.

According to two researchers who attended Harding’s three-and-a-half-hour court appearance related to probable cause on February 12, an FBI agent claimed during questioning that investigators found reams of videos depicting children being raped, ultraviolent videos of executions, and the extremist mass shootings in Buffalo, Nashville, and Columbine, along with a photo on Harding’s phone of a phrase daubed in blood: “I sold my soul to 764,” above a swastika and a Lviathan cross often used by 764. Another photo, handed up to the judge and not shown in court, depicted the naked chest of a young girl wearing a cross, with the words “No Lives Matter” carved into her body with a sharp instrument.” Harding has pleaded not guilty.

The crimes described in court cases this year follow a months-long surge in No Lives Matter–related violence. In October, authorities claim, a 14-year-old Swede committed eight attacks on unsuspecting passersby in Stockholm. The attacker, per national broadcaster SVT, took part in 764 and went by the handle “Slain” in the group. Documents circulated by 764 participants on Telegram and elsewhere claim “Slain764” as one of their own, and identify Sweden, the UK, and Bulgaria as countries where their group has a presence.

In mid-February, Italian police arrested a 15-year-old boy on suspicion of planning to murder a homeless man and livestream the act. Police said the teenager was reportedly involved in 764 and faces charges for explosives possession and possession of CSAM material. Italian authorities claim he planned his actions as part of a “week of terror” along with unspecified colleagues.

There is also evidence of 764’s praxis and imagery merging with that of the Terrorgram Collective, a neo-Nazi propaganda network that aims to radicalize young people and inspire solo acts of sabotage and mass murder.

Solomon Henderson, a Tennessee teenager whom police said shot up his high school last month, posted a sprawling manifesto that referenced both mass shooters inspired by Terrorgram as well as homicidal 764 members, including Tobbz. Henderson’s social media accounts also show extensive imagery from 764’s channels as well as the Order of Nine Angles “The influence I see most heavily in that agenda is the Order of Nine Angles,” Molas says.

That confluence of extremist inspirations is highly unpredictable, and may prove influential: There is reportedly evidence that social media accounts connected to Henderson may have communicated with accounts linked to Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, a young Wisconsin woman who killed two and wounded classmates in a mid-December shooting at her school before dying by suicide. Earlier in December, a high school student in Guadalajara, Mexico, livestreamed an axe attack on his classmates before they were able to subdue him. The young man’s social media posts were rife with O9A influence, including photos of himself with butchered animals and another with a blood pact, a common O9A practice.

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thesimstree · 4 months ago

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✨ Step-by-step guide to taking screenshots in The Sims 4 📸 (part 2) ✨

READ PART 1

Stage 7: Posing the sims

Now for the most exciting part!

First, it’s very important to teleport all your sims into the same spot – this part is crucial!

You can do this using the familiar Knight Statue method:

1. Place the right number of statues in one spot.

2. Teleport each sim to their own statue.

Alternatively, you can teleport all the sims directly to one sim using MCCC:

Sim commands – Teleport commands – Teleport multiple Sims to this Sim – Teleport worlds Sims to this Sim – Teleport Sim now!

Either way, you’ll end up with a pile of sims literally standing inside each other. If the sims next to each other are supposed to have separate poses, you don’t need to stack them in the same spot, just place them side by side.

Now, let’s move on to actually posing them.

There are two main tools for posing: Andrew's Pose Player and Wicked Whims by Turbodriver.

Wicked Whims

Wicked Whims is much more convenient, but it only works for teens and older, you can’t pose kids or pets with it.

Here’s how to pose using Wicked Whims:

Click on the sim – Wicked – Pose

You’ll either see the last pose pack you used or a list of all installed pose packs. Find the specific pose you want to use.

If you have a large pose collection, we recommend using @twistedmexi’s mod that lets you search poses by name.

Choose the desired pack – Select the specific numbered pose from the pack

For multi-sim poses, you’ll see several versions labeled F (female), M (male), T (toddler), etc. Be sure to choose the correct letter for each sim so they snap into place correctly.

If something feels off (like sims floating or clipping), you can reposition them using Wicked Whims’ built-in positioning feature:

Click on the sim – Wicked – Actions – Enable Positioning

This brings up directional arrows you can use to move the sim around, rotate them, raise/lower them.

You can even move sims off-screen if they aren’t needed for a particular shot.

These arrows are also perfect for adjusting height differences, like if one sim looks unnaturally short or tall in a pose.

Absolute must-have feature!

Another great thing about Wicked Whims is that you can change outfits directly after posing, in case you have a last-minute wardrobe change.

Pose Player

Unfortunately, Pose Player isn’t as convenient, but you’ll still need it sometimes.

Drawbacks:

– No handy positioning arrows like WickedWhims

– If you enter Build Mode during a shoot, all poses reset

– Works best when combined with @twistedmexi’s TOOL mod

When to use Pose Player:

– Photoshoots with kids or pets

– Older poses that aren’t compatible with Wicked Whims

After teleporting the sims into position:

Click on the sim – Pose by Pack – Choose pack and pose

Pose Player also works with TwistedMexi’s pose search mod.

Choose the pack – Select the specific numbered pose

For multi-sim poses, pick the correct letter version (F, M, T, etc.) for each sim.

For large group shots, Pose Player can be annoying because it always opens with the full list of all your poses – you have to manually scroll to find the right pack every time. Wicked Whims remembers the last used pack, which speeds things up a lot.

With Pose Player, you can queue up several poses for each sim and switch between them by canceling actions in the action queue (lower left corner).

Pose Player works much better if you use it together with the TOOL mod. This helps offset the lack of positioning arrows.

With TOOL, you can move posed sims (including kids and pets) anywhere you want, and you can move them all at once.

If you need to shift the whole group a little to the right/left or closer to the camera:

Click the sim – TOOL – Active Sim – Hold Alt and drag with the mouse

Sims can move horizontally, vertically, rotate – the whole deal, but TOOL uses coordinates, so it takes a little practice.

Combination of Pose Player and Wicked Whims

Pose the parents with Wicked Whims and the kids/pets with Pose Player. You can even mix poses from different packs: then use Wicked Whims positioning to scoot everyone into place until the composition looks perfect.

This hybrid method gives you endless creative freedom.

A few tips for posing sims:

1. If your sim needs to be sitting in the pose, here’s a little life hack. First, click on a chair (or whatever surface they’ll sit on), select the “Sit” action, then open Wicked Whims’ pose menu and select the pose. Unpause the game, and the sim will sit exactly where you need them.

2. If you’re using a multi-sim pose where two or more sims are sitting or lying down together, the Knight Statue trick works best. Place the exact number of statues directly in the center of the furniture (like a couch or bed). Then teleport the sims to these statues and assign the poses as usual.

3. We already mentioned how important it is to teleport all sims to the exact same spot when using group poses. Here’s what happens if you skip this step :)

4. For a cleaner frame during the photoshoot, it’s logical to remove the plumbob. We explained exactly how to do this in a separate article – check it out if you need help.

Stage 8: Time of day and weather

It would look strange if a student rave happened right in the middle of the day. The time of day and weather should match the story you’re trying to tell.

You can set the exact time using MCCC. Click on the mailbox and choose the desired time. You can do the same for the weather.

MC Cheats – Change world time

MC Cheats – Season cheats – Change weather

Or you can use UI Cheats by weerbesu: this mod allows you to simply click on the time or weather icons in the game’s interface and change them instantly.

And don’t forget: when shooting outdoors, always turn your sims to face the sun (if the time of day allows). This will give you the best lighting and make your screenshots much prettier.

Stage 9: What to use for taking screenshots?

Again, there are several options, it all depends on your goals and the mods you use.

If you have GShade or ReShade enabled, then always take screenshots directly through GShade/ReShade. If you just press "C" in-game, you’ll get a plain screenshot without any of the beautiful filters applied. Obviously, we don’t want that.

And second. If you want not only personal screenshots, but also in-game photos your sims can hang on the wall, gift to someone, or keep as memories, then you’ll have to work with the in-game camera.

In this case, we highly recommend downloading the ISO Love Photo’ camera by @ravasheencc. This camera gives you much better control over framing, and your final photos will never have random gnomes or fingers sticking into the frame. Plus, they’ll always be high quality. Another bonus: unlike the regular in-game camera, this one lets you take up to 25 pictures at once!

After downloading, unzip the archive and place the files into your Mods folder.

Documents – Electronic Arts – The Sims 4 – Mods

In Build Mode, you can place the camera on any surface. You can also use your keyboard to adjust the camera’s height if necessary (9 – up, 0 – down).

Photos taken with this camera will be saved both in the sim’s inventory (the one who took the pictures) and in the game’s regular screenshots folder on your computer.

Some general tips:

1. You don’t have to take pictures only "in the wild", you can build yourself a dedicated photo studio. For this, a professional green screen backdrop will come in handy (for example, check out the one by @helgatisha).

2. One incredibly useful mod for photoshoots is Steady Sit & Seat Any Sim by @amellce. With this mod, sims will stay put until you manually cancel their action.

There’s also a great sit on the floor mod by @mercuryfoam – perfect for casual picnic shots.

3. We already mentioned using clubs to gather sims and control their actions for group shots. This can be improved further by downloading Rex’s expanded club activities mod, which gives you more actions to assign to club gatherings.

4. Another great trick is installing default overrides for group animations. For example, replacing the default dance animations. That way, when all your sims start dancing, they’ll look much cooler and more stylish in the frame.

🌱 TheSimsTree

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