#or at least my attempt at making a tutorial

[arcadia-of-pluto]

Casually calling them "daddy" LADS

Word count; 1,913

Themes; slightly barely there suggestive content, fluff, established relationship

Warnings; mention of "daddy" ofc, fluff

Notes; So these turned out more fluffy than I originally intended...honestly, thought they'd be more smutty, but I've learnt that it's really difficult for me to write smut. Or at least, smut with little to no context before it all goes down. I might eventually write some smuttier drabbles, but regardless of smut, I hope you enjoy this little thing I wrote!

You saw that there was an old trend about calling your boyfriend “daddy” and videoing their reaction so, obviously, you wanted to give it a try…

Xavier 

It's been almost a year since you and Xavier started dating– and it was a wonderful eleven months! He told you everything about himself. What his future with you was like, all of his feelings throughout the centuries, and you listened. You wholeheartedly believed him, because it would be one hell of a lie if it wasn't true…and you didn't think Xavier had the time or energy to come up with a complex lie like that. 

But even if you now know, time moves on. There's not much you can do about your future self, so you can't really change the future in that way though…Xavier's here now, in the past, and that's all that matters to you. 

Anyway, today was just a normal day as any. 

You were sitting at the counter, keeping a close eye on Xavier– who was attempting to follow, yet another, cooking tutorial. The man was desperate to cook a decent meal for you. His heart dead set on making you something edible for your upcoming year anniversary…and while that was cute, you also wanted to mess with him. 

You push your cup just out of your reach and make a big show of trying to reach for it, before sighing loudly. 

“Daddy, can you pass me my drink please?” 

You can hear the clang of a spatula hitting the floor and you watch Xavier’s body comically whip around to face you. 

“What?” His head cocks to the side as his wide eyes were set on your face. “Say that again..”

“Hmm? I said ‘Xav, can you pass me my drink, please’.” You copy his head tilt and he quickly shakes his head.

 “No, no you didn't.” He takes a few steps toward you before grabbing your hand in-between both of his. “Say it again.” 

You couldn't resist his sweet puppy dog eyes, so you hold back a smile as you meet his eyes. “I...called you daddy.” 

“Really?” He seems unusually excited. “So are we…?” His gaze lowers to your stomach and you can’t help the giggle that slips from your lips. 

Gosh, he was so cute. 

“Baby– no, no. We're not pregnant.” You run your fingers through his hair with a smile on your lips. “Are...you disappointed?” 

“Mmh..” Xavier hums thoughtfully for a moment before he shakes his head. “No. We can just make it a reality later. No need to rush.” 

Zayne 

You and Zayne have only been dating for six months, but it felt like much longer. Having known each other since you were little, you both had always been close– well, your definition of close and his were probably different. You always thought of him as a friend while he tried to keep a distance and thought you hated him. But time brought you both back together with him as your primary care physician. 

The two of you had been flirting up until his birthday and finally made it official once he blew his candles out on the cake you made for him. It was a sweet time, but that was six months ago. 

Now, though, you really want to fluster the man. 

He always embarrasses you and makes you feel nervous, but you never get to see him that way. Sure, his ears will turn red and sometimes he won't meet your eyes when you get too intense with him, but you've never seen him absolutely shocked. And you just wanted to see one look of surprise from him. 

So, what did you decide to do? 

You decided to casually call him "daddy” as a joke.

That should definitely go over well. 

Zayne is seated behind his desk at the hospital, sorting through papers as you longue on his sofa. Your eyes continuously glancing toward the windows to make sure the door was shut and the blinds were closed. 

“If you keep staring at the door, you just might burn a hole through it.” Zayne says, though he didn't even look up from his paperwork. He was attentive like that and probably already knew you wanted something or you were ready to go home. And he was right. 

“When are we going home…daddy?” You ask as you kick your feet in the air behind you. You were on your stomach, resting your cheek against your arms as you watched his expression…which didn't change at all. 

"Just give me a few more minutes, angel, and I'll be done.” Zayne pushes his glasses up with his index finger and clicks his pen, jotting down a few notes. 

“I–” You puff your cheeks out with a small sigh and decide to keep going with it. “I want to go home now, daddy.”

“Didn't I just tell you to be patient?” Now Zayne finally looks up at you with one of his brows raised. “I'll deal with you when we get home.” 

Rafayel 

It's been four months since Rafayel asked you out. Four months since you tugged Rafayel down into the bath with you, which set off a chain reaction of a steamy night, followed by him asking you out the next morning; he also complained that you both went out of order, but he wasn’t too upset when you continued where you left off…

Now, though, you moved out of your apartment and to Rafayel's home, ‘Mo Art Studio’ at Whitesand Bay. 

It was definitely odd at first, but it was a good change of pace. Always being by the ocean, able to take your morning walks together on the beach and collect seashells. You had a whole collection on your desk at work. He'd always give you the most unique and prettiest shells, saying “only the best for his cutie”. 

He was also so easy to fluster. 

You immediately knew you had him wrapped around your finger every time his ears would turn red. That same crimson slowly made its way from his ears to his cheeks, all the way to his whole face. So you assumed your little ‘prank’ would also have the same effect. 

You were sitting on a beach towel in the sand with an umbrella blocking your eyes from the bright sun. In front of you was Rafayel, painting your visage, with an easel. His hand deftly moves across the canvas as he sketches the outline for his new painting. 

Lately, you are the only thing he can paint. Always asking you to stop what you're doing so he can run and get his sketch pad. You could be doing something so normal and mundane, but he'd be struck with the inspiration to record your very image. 

As much as you loved it and thought this was very sweet, after almost two weeks of this…You wanted some form of payback. 

“Hey, daddy, can we take a break for a second? It’s really hot out here.” You squint your eyes to try and see Rafayel's face, your hand fanning at your body because you, seriously, are hot out here. 

“Huh?” 

It's like Rafayel is frozen in time, or buffering. He's just blankly staring at you with a confused expression on his face until his pencil drops into the sand. That's when he quickly stands up  and makes his way toward you. 

“Again.” 

Now, it's your turn to be confused. 

“Raf, what–” 

“Not that, say the other word again.” His ears were red as he crouched down in front of you, a look of determination in his eyes. 

“No– you're making it weird!” You put your hands on his shoulders, trying to put some distance between him as your face turns red. 

“Please, I really need to hear you say it again! I'm seriously going to die if you don't.” There's your overdramatic fishy. 

“Fine, but just this once.” You grumble, turning your head to look away from him. “Daddy…” Though you say it as low as you can and Rafayel groans, tilting his head back. 

“Louder.” He rests his forehead against yours. “Come on, cutie. If you don't…I might want to change that to my new nickname.”

Sylus

It's been about…a year? Yes, definitely a year since you and Sylus started dating. Well, you both have differing opinions on when exactly you started dating. Sylus claims it was the moment he laid eyes on you in the N109 Zone, while you claim it was only about six months ago– which is when you and Sylus made a bet. 

It was a bet where if he came back safely from his mission, he'd leave you alone. He wouldn't bother you anymore, wouldn't talk to you, contact you, anything of the sort…and you won, but you didn't realize he'd actually do it. So whenever you seeked him out to make sure he was safe, and he ignored you, you realized that maybe you did want him in your life. 

This led to you running across the street to him and jumping into his arms like this was a hallmark movie, and you claim this was when you officially started dating Sylus.

But between us, you just agree with Sylus when he says a year, because if you don't, he'll pout for the whole day. 

...And today was one of those ‘pouty Sylus’ days. 

You went on a mission that was probably way too dangerous, even though you told Sylus you were going to slow down on your Hunter's work. But you couldn't just ignore endangered civilians. If any of them would have died, that would've been too much for your sympathetic heart to handle. 

And even if Sylus understands your reasoning, he's still upset that you left without telling him– having woken up to a cold bed without you by his side sent him spiraling into a panic. 

So, when you got home, you noticed he was sulking in the kitchen as he made dinner. 

“Sy…” You take your shoes off by the door, nervously fiddling with your fingers as you tentatively walk into the kitchen. Standing behind the counter, you sigh, “I'm reeaally sorry...” 

“If you're reeaaally sorry, then help me make our dinner.” He says, not looking up at you and that doesn't make you feel any better. 

“Okay..” You finally step past the counter and you look around. “So…what do you need?” You were trying to figure out something– anything that could make Sylus feel better when a thought comes to your mind. 

Most guys probably like it when their girlfriend calls them daddy…right? 

“In the cabinet, top shelf. I need a bottle of garlic powder.” 

Okay, you got this. 

You take a deep breath and open the cabinet, straining your arm to try and reach the seasoning bottle, but your fingertips barely brush it and knock it over. “Shit…” You swallow back your nervousness before continuing, “Daddy, can you grab it for me?” 

The room fills with silence for a moment, but then you hear Sylus chuckle. 

“Sure, kitten.” 

Your back suddenly feels warm as a firm chest presses against it and Sylus reaches up from behind you to grab the bottle. 

“I ask you to do one simple thing and you can't even do that.” Sylus chides, clicking his tongue as he pops the bottle open to pour some into the pan on the stove. 

“Da–”

“If you think a few empty words will make me feel better, kitten…you've got to try a lot harder than that.” 

I'd like to say, this is definitely one of my better drabbles– one of my favorites, in fact!

I have like...six more ideas for drabbles and then I'll need to come up with some more. Like these new cards and Rafayel's student photoshoot event really had me thinking of how seriously the LADS men would take roleplaying– and that spawned a whole different drabble idea, so you can definitely look forward to that!

I'm trying to come up with new ways to do my drabbles, so that's why I did a little prelude before I started writing for the guys. Please let me know any feedback yall have for me! Especially with the coloured dialogue, I'm not too sure if I like it, but it seems really pretty and probably makes it easier to tell who is talking apart. (I won't use it for my fic though, only the drabbles!)

Anyway, I have a small personal project I'm working on this weekend so I probably won't be able to write any chapters for my 'Divisa' fic, but I'm still going to post chapter nineteen of 'Twist of Fate' and try to write at least two more chapters since I'm only on twenty-three or so.

I hope you all enjoyed these drabbles and I hope yall have a great night/day! 🩷

[twitter-sakuranokaze]

FF14 Battle Portrait Tutorial

For the past few weeks I was trying to find a way to recreate the battle portrait from FF14 as there was a few characters that I want to see in that style but don't officially have one yet. I think I got it down more or less (see image below) so I thought it's a good time to share what I did.

First of all, I made a few files that would help make life a little easier. They can be grabbed here .

Note: I did use Reshade to do a bit of work at the screenshot stage to help speed up the process but the same effect can be recreated in Photoshop with a vanilla screenshot. There are a lot of tutorials on how to do comic/cartoon effect in photoshop and those would make good bases to work off of.

Step 1: Take the screenshot with the PortraitBase Shader on. I usually take two screenshots. One with "Comic" on and one with it turned off. This is so that I have more to work with if needed.

Step 2: Drag all the screenshots into photoshop and remove the background. In photoshop, arrange the layer so that the screenshot with the Comic lines visible is on top of the one with the effect off.

Step 3: Duplicate the the layer with the "comic" effect and apply Blur->Gaussian blur (radius 0.5)

Step 4: Take a look at the hair. In Eric's case, It still doesn't look blur enough to me so I used the blur tool and blurred it a bit more

Step 5: Create a new layer above the layer in the previous step and use the brush tool to start outlining the edges. Where to outline is up to you but the idea is to make edges defined so that it looks more like a drawing.

Step 6: Duplicate the outline layer and then hide that layer. Step 7: Merge everything under the outline layer. Step 8: Drag and drop the "Texture.png" into the project and Clip it to your character layer. Set the blending of the texture to "soft light". Step 9: Drag and drop the "stroke Texture.png" into the project and Clip it to your character layer. Adjust the size till you are happy then set the blending to "overlay". Step 10: Adjust the opacity settings of both texture layers until it looks good to you.

Step 11: Click on your character layer and go to image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation (note: you will see I dragged in the official Hades portrait as a point of reference to work off of). Adjust the saturation till you are happy.

Step 12: Go to image->Adjustments->Color Balance and adjust the color till you are happy. In this example, since Eric is also wearing the Sophist robe, I tried to match that color to Hades' Sophist robe color.

Step 13: Once you are happy, drag the "Template.png" into the project and scale that to the size you want. Make sure it is completely covering the character. If it's not, you can just use paint more of it with the brush tool to extend it till it covers everything.

Step 14: Hide the "template.png" layer and select your character layer. Use the magic wand tool to select the outside of the character.

Step 15: With the selection still selected, click on the "Template.png" layer and press delete on your keyboard. You should now be left with a blank in the shape of your character.

Step 16: Drag the"Template.png" layer to be below your character layer. Then click on your character layer and clip it.

Step 17: Click on the "Template.png" layer and add a 2px stroke and shadow to it.

Step 18: Drag "Back_Deco.png" into the project and place it behind your character. Scale it till you are happy with it.

And that's it! Now you can recreate portraits for any NPCs that you want (in theory). A lot of it is also fine tuning to what you want but this should at least give you a decent base to work off of :)

[kenobihater]

>use capcut for 3 years

>attempt to edit a 2 hr movie down to twenty seconds with original audio overlaid by a song

>video lags, audio is fine. editing is impossible

>download inshot

>video lags, audio is fine. editing is impossible

>research reasonably priced mobile editing apps

>spend thirty dollars on luma fusion

>video is good. audio is now nearly inaudible demon cows you can only hear if you crank your volume way up

[hedgehog-moss]

Here are before/after pics of my two shorn llamas ✂ ✂ Pampoldine was the one with the most wool, which makes sense seeing as her father looks like a long-necked Komondor dog. I didn't shear Pampelune, she's my least woolly llama so I decided to leave her alone until next year, to her great satisfaction.

Shearing Poldine made me discover new aspects of her, like the fact that her tail is very impressive! It's not as striking when the rest of her is covered in equally thick hair but look at it now:

I had tried to prepare Poldine in previous weeks by stroking her with a stick in increasingly annoying ways while going bzzzzzz (we had reached a point where her only reaction to being bothered in this way was glaring at me). I should have bzzz'ed louder, though. Or maybe bothered her with an electric toothbrush instead, or sat on the couch with her to watch youtube shearing tutorials together with the volume turned up—because when the moment came she was very alarmed by what an ugly noise the shears made. Every time I turned the thing off to reapply oil to the clippers then turned it on again she was like aaaahhh what's that noise all over again.

I bought cordless shears so I could shear her in the pasture, surrounded by the emotional support of her loving family, but as soon as they saw Poldine tied to a post and heard that ominous robotic wasp sound, Pampe & Pampy went okay Poldine it was nice knowing you! And left. Abandoning their daughter / granddaughter to her grim fate.

(the very bad quality pics in this post are screenshots from bad quality videos) (oh and the grey fur you see at the bottom right is Pandolf's, my mum brushed him a few days ago. I promise I didn't shear Pandolf—although he would have probably volunteered, to share Poldine's suffering.)

Considering it was her first ever shearing, I think she was very brave and stoic! There was no spitting, no dramatic hyperventilating, no attempts to lie down on the ground and play dead as llamas sometimes do. (But wait for Part II.) She just danced around a lot to escape the shears, and made plaintive HMM sounds in a vain attempt to awaken some deeply-buried maternal instinct in Pampérigouste. Who never came.

The only (tiny) incident was when Poldine stepped towards me as I was shearing (surprising; she kept moving away before) so I took advantage of this spark of goodwill to lean over her back to shear on the other side, and then she abruptly stepped away and almost made me fall !

This second pic is the most malevolent Poldine has ever looked. She looks just like her mother!

But other than that, it went really well. The process was long and tiring (the shears get heavy after a while) and I kept discovering hidden unshorn spots when I thought I was almost done (look at these Niagara Falls of wool in the pic below!), but Poldine was very sweet. I didn't insist too much on her legs or under her belly as those were her least favourite parts, and I also left a little goatee at the top of her neck so she can stroke it pensively and look wise, and I gave her muesli afterwards and she gave me a kiss, no hard feelings. I couldn't have asked for a better llama partner for my first shearing.

My second shearing, however.

(Continued in Part II...)

[cripplecharacters]

Hi! I’m working on an original character project that I want to include a lot of casual representation in (“casual” meaning that the characters don’t need a justification for being disabled/fat/POC/etc, they just are because people can and do exist that way in reality!)

I was wondering if you had any suggestions for finding resources for drawing facial differences(and maybe other visible disabilities), especially in a cartoony style. I’ve looked through the Facial Equality Week tag but would like to see more examples, and since my art is so… goofy, for lack of a better word, I would love any help I can get in integrating differences without being offensive or upsetting.

Sorry if this is a bother, and thank you for all that you do!

Hi!

I'm not aware of any guides for drawing facial differences specifically (or at least, good ones. There's 1 billion tutorials telling you that scars are just a Singular Line, always, but that's not... correct), but perhaps someone in the notes could help out?

For my own advice, you could check out this old post I made. Because you mentioned your art being cartoony, I would specifically urge you to not overexaggerate facial differences the way they often are. Prime example would be how a lot of cartoons portray strabismus;

It's just a funny gag to them rather than, IDK, how some of us look like. Not to mention that one of these is also a mockery of intellectually/developmentally disabled people with "Derp" in the name, but that's beside the point here.

It's the whole "the character is crazy/stupid/wild/whatever and that's why they have it" that's the problem with how it's often shown. You can also see it in how characters who don't even normally have it will be shown with it for a scene where they're saying something nonsensical, etc.

Another example that's nowhere near as rampant is the like... split-face thing with various facial differences being used. Mostly vitiligo but sometimes also facial palsy. I'm talking about this weirdly perfectly halved face that looks extremely different on each side, often used to signal that a character is two-faced or that the author doesn't know how vitiligo looks like.

[note: vitiligo also shows up on lighter skin. I wanted to make sure it's visible here for tutorial clarity purposes.]

This one is just weird because it straight up doesn't look like that? I have no idea where it came from, but it should go back there. Facial palsy doesn't make someone look like the antique comedy/tragedy theater mask.

Unless I'm forgetting some other annoying cartoon trope, these would be the big ones that you should stay away from.

Outside of that, it's really on a case by case basis on how a specific FD should be drawn because they're so different! A birthmark can just be a differently colored patch of skin, but a craniofacial difference would require some more changes to be included. Alopecia is well, lack of hair, and can be done very easily but ectrodactyly can be more complicated to show properly because of the limitations of a cartoony artstyle when it comes to hands. And while I do think it would be great to see more of those facial differences that tend to not be included in art at all, there's nothing wrong with deciding to go for the things you can represent more faithfully, especially if you're just starting.

I will say that if you're making an honest attempt at being respectful and trying to get it right, most of us will still be excited to see your work. Even if it's not perfect or has some inaccuracies. I will take a "'yeah more or less' correct with a happy, human character" over a "Very Technically correct but tagged as #tw burns and with blood splattered on them" any day.

Lastly, I wanted to share some art featuring characters with facial differences (and other visible disabilities) that are done in a cartoony, or at least somewhat simplistic artstyles (I'm using both terms very widely here, but like. Not Realism) - maybe it will give you some ideas!

Man with Treacher Collins syndrome (also one of the first pieces online where I saw a character with an FD portrayed in such a lovely way! A fav of mine) Girl with Pfeiffer syndrome Too many characters to count! Woman with burns Woman with a limb difference Multiple characters again Animation featuring people with Down syndrome [youtube] Multiple characters, including a girl with neurofibromatosis, a burn survivor, a girl with a cleft lip and another with TCS! [twitter]

If you have a more specific art question ("how do I draw a person with XYZ facial difference?") you can send me an ask on @saszor! I prefer to stick to the writing theme on this blog but would still like to help if you need it:-)

Hope this helps!

mod Sasza

Edit: apologies for the lack of alt text on one of the images, it has been fixed!

[aethersea]

I've always wanted to learn bookbinding, ever since I was a wee little nerd, but there are a lot of things I've always wanted to learn, and this one has both a daunting upfront materials cost and a daunting upfront research cost. however, my sister is a jewel among siblings and gave me for christmas last year a handy dandy bookbinding manual, a block of good paper, and a little bag of tools.

but I still didn't have a suitable workspace, nor any of the many important tools and materials that she didn't include in her gift. so I just read the manual and pined. until maybe a month ago I got fed up with pining, flattened a cardboard box for a cutting mat, and went to town.

and I'm real proud of myself, so here's me rambling, plus photos!

I went to the thrift store and got glue + some fabric to bind the cover, went to Michaels for a paintbrush (and later went back for a metal ruler lmao it's amazing how useful it is to have a straightedge for cutting the paper), and...could not find material for the cover boards. so I went home and pined some more. but the urges were too strong, so after a couple hours of moping I got a stack of printer paper at the grocery store (I could not bring myself to use the good paper for my first, inevitably weak attempts, I just couldn't do it) and started making a little booklet. which was a great idea, it turned out, since it makes for good practice with cutting the paper, measuring things, punching holes in the signatures, etc.

I have a big box of greeting cards from Michaels, which I used for the covers. it didn't feel like I was making a Real Book, so I got some colored paper from the stationery store and used that for end papers.

so fancy~

galvanized by this success, I ordered a stack of chipboard online to use for cover boards; and once I was confident that I could cut paper without making it look too stupid (getting that straightedge ruler sure helped lol), I made signatures out of the good paper, left them under some heavy books overnight since I don't have a book press, and then punched holes in them! (huzzah for this nice video on getting the holes right)

my sister's gift included good linen thread. it's unwaxed, but after some poking around on r/bookbinding it looks like that just means I'll have to be more careful to avoid tangles and keep good tension. I am fine with this. I can be extra attentive. (I considered just running it over a beeswax candle, but one commenter said if your wax has paraffin in it, it could melt in a hot car, ruining the spine. I can't guarantee my candle is 100% beeswax, I didn't make it, so maybe we just move on.)

I don't have good linen fabric to use for the tapes, but the important part there is that the fabric be thin, sturdy, and not stretchy. the probably-cotton I got from the thrift store fits the bill, so it'll do!

this is a french link stitch, which I got from this exceedingly good tutorial. apparently it's strong enough on its own that for a book of this size, I don't actually need tapes, but I'd already cut the things so eh here we are. and tapes plus french link will make it a stronger binding still (according to a friendly redditor on r/bookbinding), so we carry on.

specifically we carry on to the gluing step. now as I mentioned, I do not have a book press, and you....kinda need one for this step. you need to hold the book block in place with the signatures facing upwards, pressed together hard enough that the glue won't run down between them and stick the pages together (though you do want the glue to get between them just a little, just for like a 16th of an inch). you at least need some clamps and a couple boards to sandwich the book block with.

but you know what? I'm not a professional, this is my first ever book, if it's a little bit off it'll be fine. so we grab all the heaviest books off the bookshelf and improvise.

it's fine! I'm sure it's fine! and just in case it's not, I've tucked a bit of cardboard underneath to catch any glue that drips down so it won't land on the floor. see? I'm prepared! I'm acing this.

and actually, it really was fine. I used clear elmer's glue, applied with a flat paintbrush from the art supplies aisle at Michael's, and frankly I liked the way the flat paintbrush let me slip glue in between the signatures. I did poke around on a couple bookbinding sites to see what kind of glue I should use, and the gist is that although there are better options than this, elmer's glue is perfectly serviceable, and the main downside is it's not archival grade. but I don't need my first bookbinding attempts to last 200 years, that's fine.

the next step is to add the mull. mull is a specific type of fabric – extremely loose-weave linen – and the idea is to paste it down over the spine to essentially hold the tapes and signatures all in place in relation to each other.

but I don't have mull! so I'm using more of the thrift store probably-cotton, because it's thin enough and not really stretchy at all. I'm sure this will be fine too. I painted a layer of glue onto the spine, then left it to dry a bit while I measured and cut the fabric, then painted a generous stripe of glue down the center, where it'll affix onto the spine. then I added a bit more glue to the spine, just to be sure, and pressed the mull into place, rubbing it thoroughly to make sure it's firmly affixed to every signature, with no creases in the fabric or air bubbles beneath it.

honestly I might have overdone it on the glue. I've never done this before, I don't know! I think it's okay, though – I tried not to ever let it become a thick layer, just a slight coating, since the danger of too much glue is that it might crack once dry and weaken the spine.

and now we leave it in the press overnight to dry, and pick up the next step in the morning!

[teabutmakeitazure]

Roll A Die, Roll A Poison - Evocation and Provocation

>Yan! Aventurine x Fem! Reader

>Word count: ~2.4k

>a/n: before anyone asks, no this isn't a series. I'm just writing a drabble from the same universe this is not an established series. very subtle yandere themes. just wholesome in general. the backstory of this in my mind is not so wholesome

Part 1

Intrusive thoughts typically pop in uninvited and leave just as so. You do not let them stay for long lest they marinate and tempt you to cook them to feast on the ‘delicious’ outcome. However… however, this one has been festering in your mind ever since it made itself known. It has started rotting and mould is certainly growing on it, yet you are still allowing it to decay in your mind, waiting for the opportunity to let it seduce you into throwing it onto the grill.

You shamelessly pin the blame on Aventurine. After all, he was the one who said he’d like to experiment hairstyles on your hair, even going as far as to open video tutorials and search appropriate hairstyles for your hair texture. Unfortunately for him, the moment the blond took off his gloves, you had grabbed your hair protectively and uttered something about not trusting anyone with your hair.

Conveniently ignoring the fact that you were invested in which video tutorial he should follow, you declined his offer with a plethora of silly excuses (seriously, why did you say you’re afraid he might end up tangling it horribly? he treats his hair like his first born child he is obviously not so stupid as to do so). Having been let off the hook graciously by your captor unwilling living partner, you had carried on your merry day completely oblivious to the thoughts silently crawling from the dark in your mind.

Now you are here. Side eyeing him as he sheds off his fur lined coat followed by his hat. He turns around, looking at you as he discards his rose coloured sunglasses. The former two are placed onto a chair while the latter is placed on top of them. Irises more vibrant than those glasses remain fixed on you, and you grimace at the way the corners of his eyes crinkle from his smile.

That never happens outside these four walls. He never smiles like that outside.

Though you are lying on the bed with a book lying open over your chest, he makes no move to turn the situation into something intimate. Perhaps all his previous failed attempts have finally taught him something. Or maybe he’s just enjoying the view of you on his bed. He’s a simple minded creature after all.

Aventurine chuckles when you continue giving him a weird look. “You look relaxed.”

“No thanks to you.”

“Ouch.” He turns to the dressing table. First he takes off his wristwatch then his rings. The other accessories follow, and you strike when he least expects it.

“Aventurine,” you call, “I need something.”

He turns to face you instantly instead of looking at your reflection in the mirror like he usually does. At first he searches your face for any hints of what your request could be, yet his gaze drops to the cover of the open book lying on your chest. You close it and place it beside you face down promptly, cheeks burning because it’s one of those smutty romance books that he absolutely does not need to get access to.

Aventurine raises a brow at your antics, but humours you nonetheless. “This is rare. What would a beautiful woman like you need? I hope I’m not lacking in taking care of you.”

“I do agree that your knowledge is lacking in regards to women, but my request is… well, not something typical of me.”

He grows more curious, moving to the foot of the bed as he undoes his thigh garter before moving onto his belt. The two are placed onto the bed before he urges you to continue.

A nervous gulp precedes you voicing your request. The edges of your lips are stopped from scowling at yourself. “I need… I wish to have some time with your hair. There’s something I wish to try out.”

The reaction you receive is him unbelievingly blinking at you. His hands remain over the buttons over his waistcoat, frozen with twitching fingers. “My hair…?”

You sit up, nodding. He recovers quickly, clearing his throat. “My, that’s forward of you. What do you wish to do with it? You aren’t planning to turn me bald, are you?”

“As hilarious as that would be, no.”

“Then?” The waistcoat is unbuttoned, and he is currently shrugging it off. “If I am going to give you some time alone with my hair, it’s only fair I know your intentions.”

You swallow your pride, cursing yourself for tossing such rotten food onto a skillet. “I… I just want to braid it.”

Aventurine looks at you.

You look at him.

Aventurine continues looking at you.

You look at his waistcoat halfway down his arms.

Aventurine blinks at you.

You do not blink back.

“Is that it…?”

You nod at his question, and he clearly looks like he’s holding in a laugh. “My my. You’re being bashful as though you’re asking me to marry you,” he grins.

“This is worse than marrying you.”

“I’m glad to hear you changed your mind on nothing being worse than being mine forever.”

A glare is directed his way. His ability to remember your words is downright disturbing. Nevertheless, he places his waistcoat on the bed before crossing his arms. That damned smile is back on Aventurine’s face. The smile he has when he’s brewing something in his mind. Something that you would definitely not want to ingest.

“On one condition,” he raises a finger. “I want something in return.”

You raise a curious brow. “What would that be?”

 A response is not given right away. Instead he peels off his gloves, placing them next to the waistcoat on the bed. Then, he tilts his head at you before voicing his price. “I want a kiss. On the lips more specifically.”

To say you choked on your words would be an understatement.

He taps his lips with his bare hand, and you make a horrible cringing face. “With tongue would be preferable.”

You shake your head profusely at his demand. What does he take you for? “Absolutely not. Anywhere but your lips is fine. Don't make me regret trusting you enough to ask you for something.”

“Aw.” Aventurine visibly deflates, eyes falling to his discarded waistcoat on the bed. “We've kissed before. I didn't think… wait. You said anywhere but my lips.”

A different meaning of your words comes to mind, and you slap your palm over your mouth in horror. If that devious smile on his face is anything to go by, he's having ideas. “No. Don't get ideas. I do not mean what you think I mean.”

“Relax. So no kiss?”

“No.”

“Not even if I bat my eyelashes all pretty?”

“No.”

He sighs, loud and dramatic on purpose to rile you up. “I still remember the last time we kissed. It felt like you were eating my insides.”

“You had forced it upon me by kissing me first,” you accuse. “I know your games now.”

A finger points in your direction, accusing yet remindful. “I admit I kissed you first, but you kissed me back harder. You were the one who started using your tongue.”

“It was a spur of the moment thing! Don't compare that to now.”

Aventurine sighs wistfully, as though he’s remembering a fond memory. To him it is, but to you it is not. “Don’t be shy,” he coos. “I remember. We were alone, and you were absolutely into it.”

A phantom sensation of his hands all over you returns, the image of his eyes seemingly more vibrant before he closes them and kisses you again accompanying it. It heats your cheeks and renders you unable to hold eye contact with him. Regardless, you clear your throat and try to negotiate again.

After what seemed like forever, he finally settles with a kiss to the cheek as his payment (he declined your insistence to kiss his hand instead). Alas, Aventurine had another demand. To receive his payment after you’re done with his hair. Which brings you here.

He sits cross legged on the bed while you remain kneeled on the mattress behind him. It’s hard to braid his hair. The longer parts are uneven since it’s longer on his right, so you thought you would attempt a messy bun with whatever braid you could make. Unfortunately, that did not work out. The layers poked out and it was mostly just hair poking out and less braid.

A sigh and you try again. “You good back there?” Aventurine’s question is shut down with a harsh ‘shush’ and you return to your battle. Out of pure frustration, you grab the brush and brush back all his hair despite the tangles and the way his head gets pulled back with it.

“Hey, be gentle!”

You simply tut. “This is how mothers make their daughter’s hair in the morning before school. This is a core childhood experience recreation. Savour it while it lasts.”

The pout is evident in his voice. “You’re simply making excuses for being rough.”

All of his hair is grabbed into a half-assed ponytail. Bangs are still poking out and a lot of layers from the side are too short to even be grabbed into it. Seriously, how intricate is his hairstyle? How does the barber even maintain this?

You let go of all of it. Fingers shake the hair to let it settle according to his natural hair pattern, and when you’re satisfied, you pick up a small section from near his bangs. You don’t grab all his bangs, only incorporating some of them and leaving the rest to frame his face.

An idea pops into your head, a good one this time thankfully, and you start creating a dutch braid from there. When you reach the nape of his neck, you realise your mistake and undo the braid just an inch. Then, you try to incorporate the longer strands of his hair into it, yet when it simply pokes out instead of being tamed, you settle with ending the braid at his nape with a low ponytail.

The braid is loosened a little for volume, but you retract your hand when a few strands start poking out. He’s been surprisingly quiet, you note. However, one peek at his face and you see that his eyes are closed.

They instantly open, already side-eyeing you.

“What the hell!”

He chuckles. “What?”

“That’s creepy! Don’t do that again,” you grimace. Aventurine doesn’t seem to mind. He even seems amused.

“So,” he drawls, “may I see the finished product?”

You take a good look at your work. Honestly, his hair is so soft and pretty you’d ask if he could grow it out a bit just so you could braid it more freely. You wouldn’t of course, but it doesn’t hurt to think about it.

You dismiss him, “You’re free to look in a mirror.” As expected, he gets up right away, going to the dressing table and looking at himself with widened eyes. He inspects your work, fingertips gently running over the braid trailing from near his hairline to his nape. The hair in a ponytail is brought to drape over his right shoulder, and he smiles, satisfied.

More of his face is visible with the wispy bangs, but you have to admit. He looks gorgeous. It’s almost unfair that he’s pretty.

“Now then…” Aventurine turns to you, a smile on face as he continues. “My payment for allowing you to have your way with my precious hair.”

On the other hand, you sigh. “I make you pretty and work hard, yet I still get punished. Where’s the worker’s right’s association now?”

“Gone. Decimated. My kiss, dear. Now.”

Your curiosity has led you to this. As you slowly get off the bed and move closer to him, he watches you with attentive eyes. It is when you stand in front of him that he smiles, body language obviously impatient.

Out of simple desire to be generous, you first cup his face then dive in to kiss his left cheekbone. When you pull away after the quick peck, you’re surprised to see his cheeks slowly turning red.

You blink at him in disbelief. “Are you… are you blushing?”

Unfortunately, he recovers quickly as always, deflecting it to you despite his flustered face. “The woman I love just kissed me. Of course I’m going to blush.”

Now you are at the receiving end of embarrassment. It’s unfair. It’s so unfair how he’s still able to stir up feelings within you. It’s unfair how you still care about him. It’s unfair how you can’t let him leave the house without having a proper meal, and it’s unfair that you still send him the same “stay hydrated” sticker on his phone everyday when he’s not around you.

It’s unfair because you want to hate him so bad for what he has done, but you can never forget the questions he used to ask you whenever you both spent time together. They were hushed and quickly brushed off, deemed insignificant after you gave your answer and dubbed “just messing around”. You can never forget them because you know he meant them.

He meant every single one. He just didn’t want you to peel away the layers of his person.

“Woohoo. Aventurine to [Name]? Is there still a signal?”

You snap back, gaze rising from your feet to his face. “Wow, I really lost you there,” he says. “Come on. The kiss wasn’t that bad.”

“You’re right,” you breathe out. After a few seconds of thinking, you excuse yourself. However, as soon as you are out the door, Aventurine’s concern turns into curiosity as he promptly grabs the book you were reading earlier off the bed. A picture of its cover is snapped, and it is placed onto the nightstand.

Unbeknownst to you, Aventurine downloaded a pdf and started reading. Not without taking a picture of your master hairstyling skills of course. While you were regaining your bearings in a different room, he had been searching up summaries and key events of the book.

Perhaps you might be in for a different game next time.

[ghcstao3]

Ghost never really learned how to properly tie a tie.

He never had reason to. Never had a father that would teach him, either. And when it comes to formal dress after joining the military, he’d always fidget and tug and prod at knots until they looked right, whether or not they were done properly.

He’s tried looking up tutorials, sure, but it’s just… overwhelming as to how many ways ties can be knotted. So he never bothers. Just does his best to pretend like he knows even when he’s so, so lost.

Because it doesn’t matter.

At least, not until—years down the line—his and Soap’s wedding.

Ghost figures it’s his time to finally learn, then, because it has to be perfect. He can’t mimic a knot for such an important day, just praying for the best, he has to do his tie up properly.

But he can’t.

He tries, over and over, watching videos and looking at picture-by-picture instructions, but he can’t. Ghost gets frustrated, hands trembling more and more every attempt until eventually he just… gives up. Rips off the tie and resigns himself to slumping into the nearest chair, running fingers desperately through hair he’d taken so long to make look nice.

Soap finds him much too close to the start of the ceremony, quick to rush to his side and ask what’s wrong.

Ghost isn’t sure when the tears had started welling, or when his bottom lip had started to wobble. He lets Soap gently guide his hands away from his head, pressing thumbs lightly into open palms.

“You’ll think it’s stupid,” Ghost mutters. His tie is loose around his neck, an irritating reminder of why he’s yet to be ready to meet Soap at the end of the aisle.

Soap smiles softly at him. He looks so handsome, as always—him and his perfectly tied tie.

“I doubt it,” he says, oh-so kindly. “Never is.”

Ghost laughs quietly, the sound shaky, watery. He swallows the lump that threatens to rise in his throat, peering into the comfort of Soap’s eyes to lend him strength as he confesses, “I can’t get my fucking tie right.”

“That’s all?” Ghost nods and Soap sighs, sitting down on his knees, pressing the back of Ghost’s hands to his forehead like an odd sort of worship. “Thank God. Had me worried you were rethinking things.”

"I'd never rethink this, I just—" Ghost takes a shuddering breath. "Fuck, I'm sorry."

"Don't be." Ghost mourns the loss of Soap's warmth as he lets go of his hands. He lifts a hand to drag through Ghost's hair, surely mussing it in a way that looks better than the tangled mess Ghost had probably left it as. "All you had to do was ask for help."

Ghost's gaze falls to the ground as shame burns his ears. "I just didn't want you to think—"

"I'd never think any less of you for not bein' able to tie a tie, Simon," Soap assures him. "There's a stupid amount of ways to do it 'right', anyway. C'mere."

Ghost leans forward enough for Soap to have a comfortable grip on his tie. He watches Soap's face the entire time, the subtle concentration in his expression, though surely he should be paying attention to how he ties the knot instead.

He doesn't move even as Soap has switched to adjusting his collar and smoothing the artificial wrinkles of his dress shirt.

"Pure braw," Soap murmurs. He sits up to capture Ghost in a kiss, sweet and innocent and comforting.

"You're supposed to save that for after the vows," Ghost says once they break apart.

Soap barks out a laugh. "Prude," he teases.

He stands slowly, then, wincing when his knees crack as he gets up. Soap offers out a hand to Ghost, of which Ghost happily accepts.

Soap grins at Ghost, then, bright and blinding and full of love.

"Let's go get married, then, shall we?"

[catiuskaa]

charcoal, paint, post-its and tape.

SUMMARY: seeing your boyfriend’s messy art studio, you couldn’t help but want to try and surprise him with a painting of the most gorgeous piece of art you knew: him.

REQUESTED! here by my pookie wookie @4ln-stay8, and honey, this was a beautiful idea! i love writing about art and hyunjin and hyunjin and art (and hyunjin) lol, hope you like! <3

CW: hurt/comfort, mentions of anxiety, reader is really hard on herself as a perfectionist (which sadly i can relate), crying and cursing, lots of fluffy comfort in the end!

WC: 1.6k

[☆🌷🖼️🌷☆]

You hate it.

Your hand feels cramped, your head hurts and you’re close to breaking the paper if you keep on erasing the same lines over and over again.

But it’s hideous.

It’s a sad excuse of an attempt in art and you hate it.

You were tempted to kick the sketchbook away, but knowing that it belonged to your boyfriend, to hyunjin, who could actually do art, made you refrain from doing so, opting to just harshly shove it away from your lap.

It wasn’t fair. You’d seen tutorials. You had practiced beforehand. You went as far as to use his anatomy books to study it, wanting to be able to do justice to his ethereal, beautiful self by at least getting proportions right.

But no. Art wasn’t accepting your preposterous attempt to join into it.

Hyunjin entered your shared apartment as he hummed a random melody, happy to come back a bit earlier than usual, his head drifting off to how he could surprise you and what kind of activity the both of you could do with the newly-founded time.

But he froze after he kicked his shoes off at the entrance.

“Angel?” He called, and you cursed, but barely had any time to put anything back into place as he followed the sound of your gentle sobs.

“Hyun…” you started.

“My love.” He crouched down next to you, looking at you as if you held the stars and the moon just for him. “Want to tell me what’s wrong? Mhh?” He hummed shortly, his hands traveling to your face and stroking it sweetly.

You stared at him, your heart troubled, so the only coherent response you could come up was throwing yourself to his arms.

The long-haired artist hugged you tightly in response, a part of him appreciating having the type of trust that allowed you to break before him and let him watch you reasemble with a little helping hand.

You sniffed, then shook your head sideways.

“Are we doing the nod and shake?” He smiled in efforts of making you join him, which you did shortly, and he allowed himself to take that as a win. “We can do that, pretty. Nod if you want to.” He snickered.

But you shook your head, staring down at the forgotten sketchbook.

“I-it’s just th-a-at I… I w-wanted… wanted to surprise you… b-because I-I wa-s trying to paint…”

Hyunjin’s face shined upon your confesion.

“My pretty girl was painting?” He chimed back with a gleeful joy. “But you’re not having fun. What happened?”

You just shrugged, sinking your head in your hands. “It’s horrible.”

“Can I see it?”

Watching you nod, it was only then when Hyunjin separated himself from you just enough to grab the sketch, then sprung back to your side.

A silence only broken by your unsteady breathing clouded the house as he viewed the canvas.

“Do you want my opinion, my advice, or my shoulder to keep crying?” He offered soothingly, and you rolled your eyes at his last mention. “What? My shoulders are very comfortable. I don’t even charge if you leave tears on my shirt, you know.” Hyunjin teased with a smile that you were quick to match. Another win for him.

“I just… I don’t know…” you sighed, melting against him. “It’s… ugh.”

He stared at your piece in silence, which you didn’t, only zoned out, playing with your hands as the silence crept up your spine.

What if he hated it too?

“It’s just like how you do with your post-its.”

He interrupted your spiral of thoughts, and you blinked at him, so Hyunjin repeated himself with a gentle smile. You then sniffed, a small chuckle fighting to get out in the midst of frustated tears. “What are you on about?”

“You have your cute organizing board filled with post it notes, don’t you, lovely?”

You nodded, but scoffed, still submerged in the depth of the painting —or rather lack thereof. “What’s that got to do with anyth-“

You trailed off when his hands, still a bit colder from the weather outside, cradled your face, forcing you to look at him, a beautiful sight you didn’t notice you were evading.

“Listen to me for a second. Please?” He pleaded, eyes soft, and giggled sweetly when you pouted, a petty way of letting him know you were listening. You blushed when he kissed you.

“So. Your post it notes.” Hyunjin smiled. “You stick them on the board, but often, they slip down, right?” He asked, to which you nodded. “And when that happens, I noticed your little trick, brains.” He booped your nose, and you couldn’t help but smile coyly. “Tell me, beauty. What do you do when they don’t stick?”

“I… I put a small piece of tape on the back.” “And it works like magic,” he grinned, beaming in a kind of proudness you had never seen on anyone, not when it came from others aside from themselves. And it mended your frustrated heart to see him like this, his now warmer hands stroking your cheeks.

He took one of your hands, and with a strained groan, reached to his pencil cade, grabbed a piece of charcoal and stained your hand with it, kissing your palm sweetly

“These are now the hands of an artist. And artists, just like you and me, can be quite like those little post it notes of yours. We bend right after taking us out of the package.” He chuckled, and you followed along, letting the sound of his voice lift your spirit. “It won’t matter how, there can always be a crease, or the glue won’t stick right, or the color is too blinding, maybe too dull, perhaps the paper got stained with paint or ink.” He stared at you, deeply so, allowing you to see through him, allowing you to understand.

This wasn’t about post it notes. Not anymore.

He continued. “But, just as your post its, sometimes…” he smiled. “Sometimes all we need is a bit of tape to stick in place.”

He kissed your tears away one by one, allowing your breathing to even out, matching and following his as you relaxed against him.

“Let me help you stick back on the board.” He looked at your lips in a flash, then bashfully went back to your eyes. “Let me be your tape.”

He hugged you tightly, and he showed you the sketch.

“To me it looks fine, beauty.” He started. “It’s a really nice attempt. Would I redo some things? Probably, if I wanted to be really perfectionist, because it doesn’t look bad at all. Or maybe I’d let the color do its magic.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “The thing about drawing is that we cannot let it control us, hoping to achieve perfection. That can’t be achieved, my love.” Hyunjin laughed. “Even what we see sometimes doesn’t look right in real life. There are references and references, and if a drawing’s sketch isn’t quite what we’re looking, sometimes we may need another one.”

You stared at him softly, comforted in his honest commentary.

“I can help you. You know were to find me.” He smiled sweetly.

“I…” you sniffed, staring at your charcoal-stained hand.

“I just want a coffee right now.”

You both giggled as you stood back up, and he engulfed you in a bear hug, picking you up and carrying you to the kitchen, determined to make you the best coffe in the whole year.

It wasn’t until the next morning that you found him puting your first sketch next to his. Only this time, instead of his usual messy tape lines, yours han bits of tape glued to the back.

Little by little, charcoal and paint helped post-its and tape, but even with the smallest things, it could certainly be the other way around.

And Hyunjin loved it any kind of way— Hyunjin loved you, post-its, charcoal stains and all.

[☆🌷🖼️🌷☆]

catiuskaa, may 2024 ©

~kats, who will now go to bed with my own cup of hot milk (not coffee lol, and sadly not made by hyunjin either)

[mookymilksims]

ULTIMATE Realistic Functional Shops Mods in The Sims 3 | Guide and Tutorial

Hey, everyone! Back again with another in depth tutorial. From my poll, a Functional shops guide was second popular to Family Gameplay.

This guide isn't going to be as long, hopefully! And we don't really have many mods, at least nowhere near as many for the other guides I've done. This guide is pretty simple, and I'll show you in the video how to get everything set up. I picked the systems that are the easiest to set up, it's a combination of other simmer's processes, with my own tweaks for added convenience. I mainly focus on Aesthetic and Functionality, as nothing should take away from your immersion in game. So I feel like I've done my best to come up with these easier systems. I've been playing like this for years so I'm super excited to show you all how to make literally any shop functional in the sims 3!

So what I'm going to offer are many ideas to maintain the consistency and look of your lot without losing functionality of that lot.

We are going to try and keep this guide simple and to the point. This guide will include:

Store objects and how to install them.

Modded Objects - For functional stores and Fashion stores.

How to set up Functional grocery stores.

How to set up functional stores in general, minus Fashion stores.

How to Set up functional Fashion stores.

Fashion Lots you'll want to make.

How to combine the Fashion stores with Consort Dress Code mod.

Miscellanous functional mod objects and cc sets you can buy for your stores.

Store Objects and How to install them:

The first thing we are going to need are the actual store objects. I recommend getting all of them from here.

I also use these few ones from Blam's EA Store.

Chocolate fountain

Pet shop

Then you want to get these store fixes here.

I'm going to show you how to install them it is super easy.

All the store objects should go into your mods folder.

I recommend merging everything and backing up the individual files on another drive.

All store mods should also go in your mods folder.

This is your Overrides folder if you're not using CCmagic.

If you are using CCmagic then this is your Packages folder.

Now copy the CCmerged file from your mods folder and paste that file in your Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > DCBackup folder.

Never remove it.

This is where the data for the store objects are stored, without them your game will throw you a lot of errors when attempting to use those store objects.

That's it!

Now we can move on to the fun mods that change your game in powerful ways.

Modded Objects for Functional Stores and Fashion Stores

Ani's Savvier Seller - This is what you will use for 95% of functional stores in your game.

Ani's ITF Stands - This is what you will use for the remaining 5% of functional stores, to be able to shop for new outfits.

Ani's Shop for clothes (MUST Have either this mod or ITF stands, cannot have both) - This is an alternative option for those who do not have ITF. You cannot have both in your game.

Ani's Ration Box - For our functional Grocery stores. This mod adds a scripted object where when placed in your inventory and opened, 10 random ingredients will be placed in your inventory and the donation box will disappear. This mod is also working with custom ingredients as well. So you will always get a random assortment of items. The items are cheap in game so you can buy multiple in one shopping trip and get a random assortment of 100+ ingredients in your inventory.

Kwimi's Ration Box Overrides - Download this is you want to use EVERYTHING in the ATS3 Grocery set.

My edit to Kwimi's overrides - Download this is you want my edit of Kwimi's overrides. I hid all of the single objects from the ATS3 set, as it wouldn't make sense to put them in my builds. You can ONLY have either my edit or Kwimi's overrides, pick one or the other.

My collection file for functional shops mods - Download this if you want to be able to find all of the modded objects we will be discussing in this guide, including the bulk objects from ATS3 grocery store.

ATS3 Grocery store set - If you download the full set, then get Kwimi's overrides. If you only download the bulk objects (x3, x4, etc) then get my edit of Kwimi's overrides. https://aroundthesims3.com/objects/room_downtown_24.shtml https://aroundthesims3.com/objects/room_downtown_25.shtml

ATS3 Savvier Seller Sets - You can download whatever you want from these sets.

Consort Dress Code Mod - For more dynamic attire in town. https://modthesims.info/d/477049/dresscode-by-consort.html

Transmogrifier - Allows you to copy the script (function) of an object and paste it onto another object.

How to Set-Up Functional Grocery Stores

First, I have to show you how to set up Savvier seller in general. It works the same as Savvy Seller store content, so this won't be a huge learning curve for you guys!

Place down a savvier seller surface on a community lot. This should be a lot sims will want to visit so you can call this a hangout lot.

Then a counter with a savvier seller register.

Now place an object on the SS surface.

Now leave Build/Buy mode, and stay in Paused mode.

Now you ctrl-shift click the SS register, name it w/e you'd like.

Now ctrl-shift click the SS surface and link it to the register that you just named.

Then enable restock from inventory and restock from buy mode.

This allows all objects you place on the surface to be restocked from the build/buy mode catalogue. This still works when you hide the objects from the catalogue as well.

You can now set the open and close times, mark up or down prices, employee, owner, etc.

You do not have to set an owner. You can make a random townie the owner, or yourself if you want to own your own functional store. The money will go into your sims inventory after every purchase. We will get more into that later.

NOTE: That NRAAS register won't assign a sim to these registers, which means you have to manually pick one. This can cause issues if you don't want a townie to use it. So I recommend creating a household of 8 savvier seller YA sims, you don't need 8 stores in your game, but this makes it really easy to find those sims when manning the stations, without sacrificing townies you actually want to interact with and see around town. Just make their last names Savvy, for convenience.

The savvier seller mod alone makes basically everything in your game buyable.

Flower shops, Weed shops, Arcades with functional prizes, Museum gift shops, Art stores, Furniture stores, Candy Stores, a new kind of bakery (that sells custom food cupcakes, etc instead)!

When I say everything I mean everything!

So now that you've got your new functional shop systems installed, and you know how to generally set it up, I'm going to show you how to make a functional Grocery store.

I used to go into the RH buy everything from the store, and individually set them up one by one on shelves, make the inventory items restoackable from the inventory then start shopping.

This was such a long process, and also broke my immersion because I did not want to see a peice of shrimp on a random shelf in a grocery aisle!

So with Kwimi's genius idea, she created overrides for ATS3 grocery store items. To be used along side Ani's Ration box mod.

This mod gives you a random selection of 10 ingredients in game, whenever you open it, you'll get a random assortment. This mod is compatible with custom ingredients as well!

So now, I can set up these items on grocery shelves, which looks more realistic for my build, and actually add ingredients to my sims inventory, whenever I choose to open the boxes.

In the video I also show you that I transmogrify the savvier seller ATS3 shelves into the Flirtyghoul shelves converted by Martasimbook, and it worked.

However, as Kwimi noted herself, us simmers still like to shop for specific items instead of randomly hoping for the right ingredient without entering the RH.

I'm going to try to alleviate this issue.

Start with creating a Deli section, for just the meats.

A seafood section, for just the fish.

Then use the Store fruit and veggie stand object for the produce section.

Now you can place all the meats you can buy from the Grocery RH on the SS surfaces in the meat section. Do the same for the seafood section.

You don't need to do any set up for the produce stands. The object will randomly refill it's own inventory every day with new produce options!

Now, whatever else you miss you can just buy the remainder from the RH itself.

Personally, I like shopping for things at random, I don't necassarily want that to be user directed, unless there is a special event, like Thanksgiving, so I have to buy a roast.

I like to imagine that everything isn't going to be available to me with the donations boxes and produce stand because it's sold out or not in season, etc.

I also like to imagine that my sim is shopping for what THEY want specifically, just like the townies are, without it being user directed.

NOTE: Combined with my ULTIMATE Realistic Food overhaul, there are still hundreds if not thousands of recipes I can put together in game with the ingredients that are randomly bought.

However, I can still specifically shop for certain meats and seafood which is what I'll more than likely want for most of the custom recipes I put together in game.

Although, with the meshes it's implied the ingredient was in the food, so you don't actually need them.

So this makes grocery stores so much more fun and less stressful to set up in game. It's a way less tedious process.

The result leaves the lot itself looking very realistic, so I don't have to sacrifice Aesthetic for functionality.

Which is what I really care about.

The best part is you can make pantries actually functional in your sim's home. By placing what you bought on the shelves, as the ingredients won't go bad until AFTER you open the box and the food is placed in your inventory.

You can also add custom snacks and foods to a storage unit in the pantry as well and take out whatever your sim wants to eat in between meals for that day. Try finding a close pantry object, and transmogrifying it into a storage chest from WA. You should now be able to click on the pantry to place or remove custom food you've bought out and about!

How to set up Functional Stores in General

All links will be at the end of the Guide with the Misc Script objects & cc sets section!

Now I will tell you how to go about other kinds of Functional shops in game.

For flower shops, I want to recommend the flower arranging mod. You can set up savvier seller with the bouqets you make, as well as cc plants. So if you want to own a flower shop, you actually have something pretty interactive to do during the day while your customers shop.

For furniture stores, you mainly want to focus on the Savvier Seller rugs and shelves. Shelves for misc decor, and rugs for furniture like couches, beds, kitchen sets, etc.

However, it's important to note that when you have a lot of cc, this option isn't exactly reasonable, so I typically like to set up

bed and mattress stores

vase and decor stores

children furniture stores

Appliance stores

This is much more manageable if you're like me and have a lot of cc. It makes shopping a lot more fluid for being able to actually put those products in my home from the buy mode family inventory (which is where all objects that can't go into your inventory will go).

Everything else that I get from the catalogue or collection folder's can be tossed in as something I ordered online.

Pro tip: Consider using StudioPap's moving boxes in the room until you actually put the room together. I always use them when moving in or out, and changing a room around like a sim aging up and needing a more mature room. You could also use savvier seller to immersively sell what you're not going to use anymore in a yard sale. Alternatively, moving all items you want to sell to your family invetory then using NRAAS Consigner selling them at a consignment register! The yard sale can be set up in a big park instead of your home lot for convenience. I love seeing the boxes and re-decorating that part of the room. It adds a very dynamic roleplay feature to my gameplay!

For Electronics stores, with Arsils custom phones and backpacks, you can actually replace the cellphone you are using by following the guide in game. Use the ATS3 purse set alongside the mod for more functional cell phones to buy!

So when buying cellphones at something like an Apple store this can actually be functional. You can also set up more computers, laptops, TV's, and the store object ipad as well.

For specific niche stores, consider the Sewing and knitting mod, with the patch version for both to work in game. You can set up a really pretty etsy shop, and just like with the flower shop, you can actually work at the store location and have an active career. Showing some love to our small business simmers out there!

For functional book stores, instead of the rh, just buy the books from the RH and place them on savvier seller surfaces. To get the best look I use this table for it, and a pile of books using OMSP, to make it look like your sim is randomly selecting a book from the pile.

For weed shops, you can now use the buds that come with MD Vile ventures mod, and set them up on savvier seller surfaces to sell them like that instead.

For beach shops you can use Arsil's sunglasses, and Ani's ITF stands for custom bikini's. TS spray tan and sunscreen mod.

For food stores, like bakeries and coffeeshops, you can use custom food from various places and ATS3 custom drinks, specifically the coffee's and energy drinks. Just set them up on savvier seller shelves and enjoy.

You can even make much more specific shops as well, like smoothie shops, sandwhich shops.

Liqour stores using Dina Dine and ATS3 liqour sets.

Tea shops, with ATS3 and Ani's tea sets. Don't forget the store tea set, and modded tea set without the table!

Toy stores, using various cc toys, and fidget spinner. Olomaya crayons, puzzles and coloring books.

For Makeup stores, consider Arsil's Lipstick mod, (you can also put this in a fashion store).You can also use PJ's Deodarant mod in these stores. And cc functional perfumes (must have glass blowing store object, but if you've been following this guide then you already have it).

For car dealerships, add the savvier seller car spot object and set up as many cars as you'd like to buy from. I like making at least 2 car shops. 1 is an expensive car dealership. Another is a junkyard where you can buy the cheaper cars.

For Bike Shops, this can be actual bikes and/or mopeds and motorcycles. Just place them on a savvier seller rug and recolor it to your liking.

Pro-tip: You can also make a semi-functional car mechanic shop by Transmogrifying the fixer upper car into the current car you own either on the car mechanic lot or on your home lot. Then binding a custom car mechanic career to the EA science career so they will actually interact with the car on that lot.

Some more items you can add to Grocery stores, PJ Bubble Bath, PJ card stand, PJ pet bowl, Olomaya's smoking mod for the cigarrette's and vape.

For Pet stores, you can add PJ pet bowl items, and various pet toys and furniture that came in pets.

I don't typically place the Graham's pet shop register on these lots, I'll use a pet pantry for those, with deco animals in their crates to simulate where you'd actually be getting the animals from.

For Art supply stores, Consider PJ painting supplies, Lyralei journal, Zoeoe's scribbling pad fixed, cc art easels, UNI sketchbook, street art kits, crayons from Olomaya and Arsil. And the drafting tables that came with Ambitions.

For Music Stores, Consider the ATS3 music store set, and selling actual instruments.

For the Movie theater, Consider selling custom snacks. Adding the store popcorn machine. Selling action figure dolls to buy after viewing the movie. And a claw machine, to win prizes for your date!

For Sex Shops, consider adding passion condoms, and sex toys that come with the mod. I also include deco vibrators and dildo's, fleshlights, etc, as something you can buy from savvier seller, they aren't functional but they imply things. The passion mod altogether makes this implied action functional, so it works out fine.

For convenience stores, to make them more functional you can add the petrol system mod gas stations, and refill your gas at these stores, you can also sell Arsils bag of chips and these variations, and arsil's gum. With various custom snacks and foods to eat.

You can make asian themed convenience stores as well.

For Sports Shops, this is completely seperate from the Gym lot. Consider TS Yoga mats, Olomaya's Get pumped items, The chin-up bar from showtime. Arsil's excercise bike. Treadmill. Strength training. The various basegame throwable items like the football, more items from this ATS3 set. And the punching bags with the same WA martial arts object script. Also, sell olomaya's healthy snacks on this lot as well, these items boost your workout routines.

And well, you get the gist! You can virtually make any store idea you have in game functional. You could even transmogrify cc surfaces from savvier seller surfaces in game instead for a much more cohesive look to your build. Keep in mind, this may not always work, but for the most part it does, just wanted to throw that disclaimer out there!

How to Set up Functional Fashion stores

But what about fashion stores? How do we make those functional?

Using Ani's ITF stands.

These add very intuitive ITF stands to your game where you and townies (when changing the xml settings) can shop from.

NOTE: You do need ITF for this to work, however, if you don't have ITF, Ani's shop for clothes mod will do just the trick. It's not as extensive as the ITF stands, but you'll still be able to shop for new outfits on community lots. I also believe the Shop for clothes mod is compatible with NRAAS Dresser, but the ITF stands mod is not.

This is because the ITF stands mod replaces the plan outfit interaction from the dressers in game which breaks some key components of NRAAS Dresser. With both mods installed I also wasn't able to save my new outfits, either. So learn from my mistakes.

The ITF stands mod increases the amount of outfits you can have per category, which was my favorite feature of the NRAAS Dresser mod, so when I read extensively what both mods changed I realized I didn't even need NRAAS Dresser anymore, anyway. So I personally like to give my active household 7 everyday outfits. I just change their outfit using the dresser in the morning before they leave the house.

You can open up Ani's ITF stands mod using S3PE, right click the xml file, open it up in notepad, and set autonomy to true, then save. So now townies will autonomously shop for new outfits in your game. This isn't as intrusive as you think. In my game, they will replace their outfits. I also notice that when they are shopping from a pedestal the same age and gender as them they will wear the custom outfit I set for that mannequin. So it's a fun way to auto style your town without having to individually change all the townies outfits yourself, sometimes I still will do this, but I catch the townies that haven't shopped for clothes by themselves yet, so it cuts down this work for me by a lot!

Performance tip: So I want to tell you guys a pro-tip that I figured out in my own playtest of the fashion stores. I tried to set up custom outfits for every age and gender in a store and my game consistently crashed everytime I tried to go back in game and continue the build.

This is because all of those cc outfits for all genders and ages overloaded the lot.

But I was able to make stores for the elderly, both genders, without crashing. A store for YA and Adult men. Same for YA and Adult Women. A store for Teens, sometimes I make two stores for both genders or split one store up with both genders. A store for kids, both genders.

This allowed me to add at least 8-10 ITF stands with custom cc outfits on each of these lots without crashing. This also led me to more optimized lots as since I'm only focusing on one specific theme and age group, the lot could be a lot smaller. One day I might do speedbuilds on this and upload it to the community.

Alternatively, if you want to add all the age groups and genders on one lot, consider only adding one of each, the best theme for this build would be a thrift store, which I've made several times in game myself without crashing.

Fashion Lots you'll want to make (I keep these around 20 x 20 lot size, they can fit basically anywhere in my worlds with very little issues): Just set these lots as visitors allowed. It'll push all kinds of sims to these lots randomly through out the day.

It's important to note that I won't create fashion stores for every age and every gender, for every outfit category. I mainly focus on the outfits and age groups that would bother me the most. I revamp all of my households before starting my gameplay, so I've given everyone in my world a default cc outfit to start with. The attire for ages I don't create lots for either wouldn't bother me at all if it were missing, or the age group is more manageable in the world population where I can change their attire right then and there on the spot. My CAS runs pretty fast considering how much CAS cc I have so I don't mind this process at all.

Everyday Wear: You can make 4 outfits each of the either the age groups or genders without crashing on the lot for everyday wear.

A store for the elderly, both genders. 4 men, 4 women.

A store for the men, YA-A. 4 YA, 4 A.

A store for the women, YA-A.

A store for teens. You can either make one for each gender, which makes 2 stores and 8 outfits. Or 1 store for teens in general, 4 female teen and 4 male teen outfits.

A store for kids, both genders or 2 stores for each gender.

Athletic Wear:

Sports shop. YA-A, both genders, 2 each. I'll put these on the same lots where I sell all the scripted objects.

The other ages don't bother me.

Sleepwear:

A store for the elderly and kids, both genders. 2 outfits for Elderly Female, 2 for male. 2 for female kids, 2 for male.

A loungerie store, Victoria's secret. For female YA-A.

A Nike or sneaker store. For male YA-A.

Other ages don't bother me.

Formal Wear:

A wedding store. For male and female YA-A, 2 each.

Other ages don't bother me.

Swimwear:

Beach shops. YA-A, both genders, 2 each.

Kid's Beach shops. Both genders, 2 each. I also include functional pool floats to this store for more fun.

Other ages don't bother me.

Outerwear: will typically only get it's own fashion store for vacation worlds. I love creating themed outfits to the mannequins for vacation worlds. I'll show you how I do this in the next section.

How to combine the Fashion stores with Consort Dress Code mod

Once you enable the autonomous interaction in the xml's of Ani's mod, townies will autonomously buy outfits from the mannequins. The townies will replace their ONE and only outfit in that category.

They will not create more outfits like you the player would. This is great news for optimization as too many outfits for each category on every sim in the world would create lag, and it wouldn't even be neccassary since townies can't autonomously change their outfit numbers for each category, anyway (NRAAS Dresser does this but it caused lag, that's how I know).

So, when they do shop for that outfit on the mannequin, it's only going to be one outfit and you will see them in that outfit for the rest of the savefile or until they shop from another mannequin with a different outfit.

This is where I use the seasonal lot marker to my advantage.

I place down the ITF stands for every season, I DO NOT place the stands down on the default setting, the objects will obviously conflict.

This means all I have to do is create seasonal outfits on the mannequins each new season, and within a couple of sim days you'll start to see random townies walking around with these outfits on.

This is why breaking the fashion stores down by gender and age really matters.

As, the townies will be wearing a bunch of different cc outfits you set up in the store instead of, for example, all elderly women wearing the same exact outfit.

Because I also use the Consort dress code mod, I need to leave some slots open to get the most out of my roleplay.

The dress code mod will automatically change the sims outfits to the outfit number for the category, but you will have to set that outfit up.

It's a pretty lightweight script, you shouldn't feel it in your performance, assuming you've optimized your game altogether.

Basic outfit numbers by Category:

Everyday Wear: 7 outfits (Mon-Sun), Townies get 1.

Athletic wear: 2 outfits (basic workout, ballerina/dancer), Townies get 2 (if they enter lot with dress code script).

Sleepwear: 2 outfits (Basic pajamas, towel set, sometimes a 3rd one for sexy loungerie), Townies get 2 (if dress code script is present).

Formal Wear: 2 outfits ( Fancy event, Party outfit), Townies get 2 (if they enter lot with dress code script).

Swimwear: 1 outfit, Townies get 1 outfit. I just change the bathing suit after 1 sim year if I get bored of seeing it.

Outerwear: 3 outfits (Winter, Summer/Spring, Fall), Townies get 3 (if dress code is present).

Career wear: 2 (work and school if present), Townies get 2, 1 is their actual work outfit and the second is if I need it for something like school.

Consort Dress Code mod rules I follow:

Whenever I place the dress code script on a lot I stick to these rules to get the most cohersive experience.

Career attire outfit #2 For teens and Kids is their school uniform if I set that up.

Athletic attire outfit #3 For teens and Kids is their school workout uniform if I set that up.

(This is why I left Athletic attire slot 3 open above)

Protip: You can use MC to copy the outfits for every sim the same gender and age as the sim you selected to speed this process up for schools!

Athletic Attire Outfit #2 For YA+ for dance studio's.

Formal attire outfit #1 For Adults in their banquet, fancy restaraunt attire.

Formal attire outfit #2 For Adults in their party outfit for dance clubs.

Formal attire outfit #3 For everyone, this is for funerals. I throw a general party in formal attire on an open graveyard RH lot with the dress code script on it. This is why I leave this outfit slot open.

Sleepwear attire Outfit #2 For everyone, using ATS3 towel set. I will also set these up in my residential bathrooms.

So this is how I optimized it altogether which gave me more dynamic variety with NPC's changing their looks.

Now let's talk about outerwear for Vacation worlds.

Camping world fashion store, Outerwear slot 2

Beach town Fashion store, Outerwear Slot 2

Snow world Fashion Store, Outerwear slot 1

France or Monte Vista, romantic get away kind of worlds, Outerwear Slot 3.

I leave these as the outerwear outfit slots because it's more manageable and easy to change since I only use 3 outfits in this category.

That way I won't ruin the everyday wear I've already set up for my active sims when they return back home, and I can easily change their outerwear again since it's only 3 outfits.

I can also switch up between the outerwear and everyday outfits when I'm out with my sims. My months last 28 days in game, but I will turn off aging and seasons to extend that season for an extra month or 2. So by the time the new season comes around, I'm excited and ready to go shopping for my sims new season wardrobe!

I also will use the consort dress code mod on many of the community lots in those vacation worlds so that all townies will typically look the part. Most of the time this won't be necassary as I have again already revamped those townies to fit the aethstic of the world.

I set these up on community lots like coffee houses, dive bars, shopping strips, movie theater, etc. It just gives me another way to see my townies in different outfits. You can also do this in Homeworld.

The only vacation worlds I won't have to do this are the snow worlds, christmas themed worlds, as townies will autonously change into their snow attire when outside anyway.

So, instead I make sure my townies are wearing winter themed outfits for the inside of community lots to make sure the whole aesthetic fits together.

Miscellanious Script OBJS & CC sets

Functional scripted objs that were recommended in this tutorial:

Fidget spinner

PJ Deodarant

PJ Bubble bath

PJ Card stands

PJ Painting supplies

PJ Pet Bowls

TS Spray tan

TS sunscreen

TS Yoga Mats

Olomaya's activity table

Olomaya's Coloring Book

Olomaya smoking mod

Olomaya Get pumped

Olomaya Family snacks

Passion mod condoms and strap-ons (On LL needs registration and I can't link it since I have hate watchers. Sorry!)

Flower Arranging Mod

Knitting

Sewing (don't forget the patch)

Arsils custom phones and backpacks

arsil's lipstick

arsil's sunglasses

MD Vile Ventures (Can't link it, I have hate watchers, sorry!)

Ani's Tea mod

Tea Set without table

Lyrlei Journal

Zoeoe Scribbling pad fix

Petrol Station

Arsil's Gum

Arsil's Bag of chips and variations.

CC Sets that were recommended in this Tutorial:

cc Perfume

Moving Day boxes

ATS3 Custom Drinks

DD sandwhiches

DD Beer

ATS3 functional liqour bottles

ATS3 Tea sets

More Functional Toys

ATS3 Music Store set

Asian Themed Conveniene store set

ATS3 Produce Set

Functional cc gas stations for the Petrol Mod

ATS3 Towel Set

ATS3 Sports set

Punching Bag

ATS3 What's in my bag.

[hiraeth-sonder]

Maladroit Admirer - Rongguo

Danheng x Reader - University AU

Becoming entranced with the most plain looking guy in your tutorial classes leads to a series of very bad, not good fumbles

//So so so so enamoured with the idea of just NPC looking Danheng, short little thingy that I had to get out. Poem is  寄人 by 张泌.

别梦依依到谢家， 小廊回合曲阑斜。

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

You don’t think there’s a difference between a crush and love at this point because being in university and adamantly staring at what might be the most boring looking man in this entire sea of people certainly can’t just be a momentary attraction. Short dark hair, dark eyes, decent fashion style and in a business unit, he wasn’t anything special, and yet you just couldn’t, for the life of you couldn’t, take your damned eyes off him. 

It was ridiculous, you’ve never even spoken to him, looked at him in the eyes even, but here your heart was, pounding against your ribs begging for more. Every time you walk into that horrifically cold room, freezing your shoulders off because if you brought a jacket you’d be sweating from the journey, you see him already there at some table you won’t sit at because you’re afraid of him. Because you’re a nervous wreck and you know that if you had to talk to him during discussion, all you’d do is hum and agree and have no opinion on your own. Which, you’d like to keep some part of your dignity still, so no thank you. 

There has been no man, woman even, that has rendered you so stupid. It must be some kind of witchcraft, there was no other explanation for the grip this man had on you. 

You try your best, your absolute best, to focus on the question ahead of you, not like it was actually hard. However, seeing as you were in a small table of three, had an ethics question and you were hyper-aware of every action you made because of that damned man, you certainly weren’t at your peak performance today. 

With your table’s assigned question out of the way, the two of them went on to discuss the rest, or rather you and the person next to you since you two were the only ones who attempted the exercise. The discussion didn’t go bad, merely boring and strained seeing as you’ve never actually talked to anyone in this class, so when the exact same person asked to see your graphs. You, of course, took that as a very bad chance to make a joke. 

“Just to warn you, I bullshitted my graphs, so if they’re wrong don’t blame me,” You joked, raising your hands in mock-guile.

Somehow, some-god-forsaken-how, despite being in a room speaking at a normal conversational level surrounded by other people talking, everyone heard you. And everyone is staring at you. Great, absolutely great. Ducking your head, you pretend to type something else on your computer. You can only pray that you never see anyone in this class ever again, or have to talk to them (which wasn’t going to happen but you could pretend).

Out of the corner of your eye, you notice his eyes glancing between you and the rest of his table, a kind of vacant stare if you will. Your ears grow hot at this revelation, he must think you’re a total idiot, or a buffoon, whichever one because you might as well be all the ways you could refer to someone as stupid. How you longed to return to the cold dark earth, maybe you wouldn’t say things that made you sound like some brainless highschooler. 

By the time the tutorial ends, you’ve already debated ending it all at least three times. With your computer and singular pencil packed up, you absentmindedly head towards the exit, weaving through strewn chairs and the awkwardly placed tables. It is then you notice a familiar someone’s form standing at the door. 

Your eyes slowly shift up and who else could it be but the very man who rendered your brain mush, holding the door open and gesturing for you to go. 

You barely meet his eyes, bowing your head and quickly scurrying off, at least not before blurting out a quick “Thank you.”

With the speed of a falcon, your footsteps scamper off, hefting your heavy tote bag you now wonder why you brought. Tucking your earphones in, you try your best at nonchalance and it works, for about six steps until the tip of your shoe catches against some crack in the path and you have to walk off the even more public embarrassment. 

In the distance, he watches you trip on your own feet and your shoe almost gets stuck on the carpeted pathway. An amused breath escapes him and he wonders what exactly about you is so endearing to him. Danheng swears he has never met someone as oddly appealing even with your little fumbles, and by now he’s given up trying to figure it out. 

He’ll find some way to approach you later, when his palms aren’t trying to sweat the skin off of them and his head isn’t going at a thousand thoughts per second. He only hopes you didn’t notice his continuous staring, or the fact that his hand slipped and missed the first time he tried to grab the door handle.

˗ˏˋ ♡ ˎˊ˗

多情只有春庭月，犹为离人照落花。

[nappingnai]

sweet disaster!

synopsis; you attempt to bake for your boyfriend, but it doesnt exactly go as planned..

notes - gn!reader x satoru gojo :) "hun" used as a pet name once. i am genuinely SO ANXIOUS to post this. if u like it pls reblog or comment or whatever.. if u dont like it just come to my house and shoot me tbh

you had always known your boyfriend liked sweet things. the first time you had met satoru, he was munching on some sort of candy. his friends, students, everyone knew. so.. you wanted to try and be a good partner; attempting to bake something for him.

lord now knows you're terrible at baking, and you won't try again.

because it's your fourth try at baking cookies for him, and so far you've failed by forgetting the flour, not placing them further away on the pan causing them to stick together, burning them- you've done everything you could to fuck up these cookies.

you could just watch a tutorial. easy enough, right? well you've watched the same video over and over again, having the urge to punch your phone at the random males voice instructing you for what feels like the tenth time. you could call megumi? he could help. maybe.

a click at the door makes you freeze at the garbage can, having just thrown out your fourth- fifth batch of cookies? you've lost count. you hurriedly shut the garbage, trying to clean up the kitchen and yourself the most you can in only a few seconds, which isn't a lot, but why not try?

satoru shuffles in, looking around a bit for you, hearing you moving around and clinking stuff in the kitchen. "..hun, what're you doing?" he asks, walking over to the kitchen and staring you down as you stand next to the garbage, a complete mess, probably. you haven't had time to look at yourself, just an assumption from the way he's staring down at you and obviously trying not to laugh.

"..nothing at all!" you say, looking over at your boyfriend with a bubbly smile on your face to attempt to distract him from whatever you just threw out, and the burning smell coursing around the house. "you sure?" he questions, tilting his head a bit to the side. you nod, looking into his eyes- well, blindfold- with that same smile on your face. satoru giggles a bit at you, walking over to you.

"two questions. one, why does it smell like a house fire in here? and two, why are you trying so desperately to hide the trash?" he asks, looking down at you. you look up at him. "tried to bake for you, obviously didn't go as planned," you sigh. "stupid dude who's tutorial i was watching didn't make any sense." satoru lets out a small laugh, smiling down at you with that cheeky grin of his.

"you don't gotta bake me anything, you're enough yourself. plus, i don't want you burning down the house.." he mumbles, making you softly punch his arm. "in all seriousness tho, you could've called megumi. he's a pretty good baker, somewhat good of a cook. if you wanna learn how to bake, give him a call."

you nod, still smiling up at him. he leans down and gives you a small peck on the lips, leaning back up to stare back down at you. "please don't try baking again without someone else. it smelled like there was a fire, i thought you burned the house down. smelled like it, at least." satoru says, still looking down at you. you pout up at him, flicking his forehead.

made by myguumi; please dont alter my work or try and post as your own. reblogs are appreciated, but claiming as your own is not.

@venzlenes

[rosen-dovecote]

@autisticslp asked (on the old blog):

So a lot of cooking advice that people tend to give that seems very basic honestly comes from decades of experience; there's a post that floats around Tumblr sometimes, actually, that talks about how a lot of "cooking from intuition" isn't actually intuition at all. It's deeply ingrained memorization about the "laws of cooking" that we've learned over time, that feel like second nature to us to the point where we no longer have to think about it or physically reference recipes or tutorials anymore.

In essence: We're good at "taking what we have on hand and making a meal of it" because we have a lot of practice! We've built up a skill! A skill you're lacking in. And that's not a bad thing! But it also means that you shouldn't be too hard on yourself because you don't know or can't seem to grasp this stuff that seems so "second nature" or "easy" to a lot of the cooks you know. You're still really new at this! And with various disabilities and mental illnesses, cognitive issues, etc? Of course you're going to struggle harder at it than "most" seem to, to you!

As a secondary aside to that, you mentioned growing up on a farm. But farming and gardening, and the various forms of food preservation that frequently comes alongside small family subsistence farms, is a very different skill set! Knowing what's seasonal in your garden doesn't necessarily inherently translate into cooking it, and building a full meal up from scratch unless you also had someone who had that skill as well to teach you that.

I know my Husband's mom sure as hell didn't. He grew up on a farm like that, and she could can all day ... But Lord. She couldn't cook to save her life. She attempted to impart neither of these skills to my Husband, either ... I grew up on one, as well. But where my mom couldn't can or garden to save her life, she was a damned good cook and imparted those skills to me. Now I'm passing them on to my Husband decades later, because his mother failed to.

What you're ultimately missing is a fundamental set of basic skills, and a knowledge set built up over time and practice. And the good news is, those are really simple skills to learn. The bad news is, it does take a while to learn them and to build up that pool of knowledge. Most of it's experimentation, though, and not a lot of it's super difficult.

For basic knowledge of cooking science and spices, I'd recommend The Science of Cooking and The Science of Spice- both by Dr. Stuart Farrimond. I own both and love them dearly. They'll debunk some common myths, and give you a basic understanding of certain food sciences that are honestly really helpful.

When you feel like you're ready to actually sit down and experiment with spices, I love The Encyclopedia of Spices and Herbs: An Essential Guide to the Flavors of the World by Padma Lakshmi. It has information on various spices, tells you their cultural contexts, mentions what they're usually used on in those contexts (vegetables, which meats, etc), and even gives you some common cultural spice blends (though doesn't provide measurements). It's a thick boy, but it's a really fun one to work through if you have no introduction to spices or idea how to use them.

Past that, something you need to build yourself is a well stocked pantry with staple basics. I can't tell you what those are for you. That's something you have to figure out for yourself based on what you cook, how often, etc. But my minimum has always been at least 2 months worth of food in my pantry at any given time, across a broad enough spectrum that I can pick just about anything out of a recipe and only really need to shop for the fresh or immediate-need ingredients each week.

Staple Grains like Rice, Lentils, Cous Cous, and Quinoa.

Pasta Noodles of various types- like Elbow, Rigatoni, Bowtie, Penne, Fettuccini, and Spaghetti

Potatoes in the form of Mashed Potatoes and Scalloped Potatoes both, as well as a "fresh" bag each of Russet, Yellow, and Red Potatoes

Onions. I keep a mesh bag each of Red and Yellow (or White; whichever's cheapest at the time I'm shopping) on hand at all times.

Boxes of Stock (Chicken, Beef, Vegetable, and Protein Broth when I can find it)

Canned items that I use a lot of, like Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Sauce, Tomato Paste, every kind of Bean (Cannellini, Great Northern, Dark Red, Light red, Black, Pinto, etc), and Chickpeas; plus canned fish (Tuna and Salmon, Sardines, etc)

Condensed Creams Of (Chicken and Mushroom are the two we use most often)

Spices. Of every kind. You literally do not want to see my spice box. It's insane. Yes I'm proud of it. But it would make the average person cry with confusion and fear.

Frozen Veggies in the freezer (Green Beans, Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Carrots, Squashes, etc; personally I prefer the frozen to the canned)

I'm sure there's stuff I'm forgetting. But ultimately when you have a full pantry and only have to buy your fresh or immediate-need ingredients? It not only massively saves your grocery bill each week, but it also makes it so much easier to "make things with what you have on hand". Because a large part of the trick is, honestly, having things on hand to make stuff with in the first place. And that's really the big secret that goes unspoken in a lot of circles. But it really shouldn't be an unspoken secret, because it holds so many people back.

Another secret is just knowing basic cooking methods. What is chopping vs dicing? How do you pan fry? What's a dry fry vs a wet fry? What about baking? Broiling? Boiling? What happens if you stew an ingredient instead? How big does it have to be for each of these methods? How does it perform with rice as opposed to cous cous? How is it raw- if it can be eaten raw? Other than that, just knowing recipes is really going to be the big key.

Unfortunately I don't have a recommend for learning any of these ones, since I learned all this the hard way. I do see some cook books that could be useful (like Veg-table: Recipes, Techniques, and Plant Science for Big-Flavored Vegetable-Focused Meals by Nik Sharma; or Vegetables: The Ultimate Cookbook Featuring 300+ Delicious Plant-Based Recipes by Laura Sorkin). I can't personally recommend them, however, because I've never read or used them. But there's a lot of information out there on youtube that can be very helpful, especially for methodology since it's a visual medium- which is, I think, the best way to learn some of these skills in particular.

Personally, I did the recipe thing by looking at cuisines from regions where those foods or ingredients were really popular. So take your Eggplant for example. Eggplants feature a lot in Mediterranean, Levantine, and Middle Eastern cuisines. So when you want to learn how to use Eggplant and build up your knowledge about it? Looking at the people in those regions who use this ingredient a lot already is going to be really helpful to you. They know what they're doing with it!

When you've made those dishes a few times, you're going to get an understanding not only of how to prepare Eggplant for various methods of cooking, and how to cook it for those methods. But you're also going to get an understanding of what flavors pair well with it. And after a while of doing that, you're naturally going to start thinking "what if I do x instead?" and start experimenting on your own. Play with them. Get to know the ingredient on the most foundational level. And yeah, throw some herbs on it if you're comfortable! See what meshes with what flavors. What do you like? And yeah, some of those are going to be flops. But by the time you start thinking "what if" your skills are usually further progressed than you'd think to give yourself credit for. Just ask my Husband, ha!

As for the stuff regarding disability, mental illness, and cognitive function, I gotchu, babe! One of the most distressing things for me when I became disabled, started suffering really bad from cognitive decline, and started dealing with memory loss, was looking at the potential of never being able to cook for myself again. And that scared the piss out of me, because cooking is my joy. And so my Husband and I sat down and prioritized cooking and making it disability friendly for me. Here's some of the stuff we did.

First step: Get your butt a stool that's a comfortable height for your counter height. Once acquired, sit as much as you can in the kitchen. It conserves energy and lets you use more of it to focus your head.

Second: Get yourself all those fun little gadgets you think look interesting or helpful. Personally I have a fruit slicer (that works on more than just apples), a slap chopper microplane thingy, and a few others. Mostly I got these because occasionally my body loses my hands and has no idea where they went and it's safer for me. But I can't tell you how nice they are even when my body knows where my hands are, ha; they speed up prep, keep your fingers safe (usually), and leave more room for the brain to do its thing.

Third: Make as many lists as you can! I have a list on the inside of all my pantry doors of the staples that are in that section. When something needs refilling it allows me to put a mark there so I know to put it on the grocery list. But it also provides a quick reference when my brain's tired; it's so much easier for me to read a list than try and decipher box labels with various colors, font sizes, etc. Make lists wherever you need them and always keep them accessible.

Fourth: The recipe box. Yes. A good, old fashioned, classic recipe box. I have mine filled with tried and true recipes that I know for a fact my Husband and I love, that I know we have at least 90% of the ingredients on hand for at any given moment. So if all else fails and I can't think of anything? I can just go pull something out of the box and have him jot down to the store for anything we don't have.

Fifth: Keep easy meals on stock, because some days you really can't cook. Your brain won't let you, and that's ok! That's fine! But you still gotta eat, right? So we keep stuff like bagged Blackened Chicken Alfredo, Dirty Rice, Mongolian Beef, Jambalaya, Broccoli Beef, Red Beans & Rice, etc, on hand in the outdoor fridge. If at any point I just can't do it? We grab some of those instead.

And the good news is, you can spruce up a quick meal! Making Dirty Rice? Throw in some bread and butter, and a side of boiled Green Beans from the garden. Blackened Chicken Alfredo? Throw some Bell Pepper on in there; you can bulk this stuff up easily with your produce, and it takes even less effort most of the time.

As for the Covid sense of taste / smell? Keep trucking. It does get better; I suffered bad from Post-Covid Parosmia for nearly 2 years after I caught Covid the first time- bad enough to the point I couldn't bathe myself because of the smell of our water being nauseating to me; couldn't eat anything with Corn, or Wheat, or Onion, or Garlic in it for a year, either. the second I tried, my body auto rejected it. Bananas tastes like Iris flowers smelt ... I feel your pain so hard.

But it does get better. Your system is just rewiring itself completely from scratch right now. And Lord, it's so unpleasant. But the more you give it to taste, and smell, the better it does and the faster it rewires itself. Don't force yourself to eat things that are nauseating or unpleasant. But do branch out. Experiment. Even if it tastes left of how you remember it, keep going! I can't promise you'll get everything back (Lord knows there's still some things that aren't quite right for me, even 4 years later now). But it gets better!

I hope any of this helps- even if it's not as helpful if you'd like it to be. Hang in there, love.

My ask box is always open and Anon is currently ON.

[theminecraftbee]

since we've been talking about modded minecraft in general here lately: let me say that i do think the easiest way to learn modded minecraft is one of two ways:

play a modpack with a quest system! despite me shilling vault hunters constantly, vault hunters is actually only half this; its quest system teaches you vault hunters well, but not necessarily the mods within it. luckily, quest systems are popular with modded minecraft, and many modpacks have them. in general, a good quest system doesn't start you with "okay so first you need to do (difficult automation task with many intervening steps)", it should start you with "here is a single task that isn't terribly difficult". for example, create: mekanized starts you with "automate cobblestone, automate lava, automate trees", the first two being VERY easy within the pack, and the latter being a little more difficult (since it requires building an actual contraption), but not by much. if you are being started at something less easy than "make this mod's version of a cobblestone generator", maybe try a different modpack, or go to idea two for learning modded minecraft, which is,

make your own quests! which is to say, the way i learned create, and mekanism, and thermal, and a lot of the mods within vault hunters was finding a specific thing i needed to do--for example, "i need to find a way to get a large amount of cod"--checking jei and what items i have--for example, finding that i had cod eggs available, and that the aquatic entangler can drop fish--and then researching tutorial videos or in-game documentation on how to use those things. yes, unlike the first version, this means a lot of that documentation may not be in-game. create is the gold standard, but many of modded minecraft's giants... are not create, to say the least. so you may have to look up wikis or youtube videos! however, by attempting to solve a task yourself, you will be teaching yourself the sorts of steps you need to take to solve similar tasks in the future, and it will help teach you if you actually like the gameplay of that mod or if you'd prefer not to.

modded minecraft IS VERY INTIMIDATING that's what kept me out of it for so long until vault hunters. but documentation is WAY better than it was when i was in high school and first going "what the heck are all these mods", and also the proliferation of quest systems means there's a lot more that will teach you things in granular steps. so like, if you ever ask me "where do i get started with X mod", these will normally be my suggestions!

also side note: genuinely a great place to start, like a hello world in a programming language, can be "how does this modpack help me build a cobblestone generator". not every mod can do that, mind you, but most modpacks have a weird way to do that, the cobblestone generator is probably the easiest base-level minecraft farm so everyone sort of understands how it works, and it will normally teach you a little bit about that mod's gameplay.

so yes that's my really uninformed suggestion for where to start with mods!

[thedenofravenpuff]

How do you draw the metal shine on your animatronics?

Oh geez

Honestly?

I have no frigging idea! Couldn't start to explain what I'm doing, as I just draw and add shine and shading as I work. At least if yer talking about my robot shine in my sketches.

But alright, let's see if I can try and make examples for this..

Fig. 1

As said above, I usually shade and shine as I go, so leaving this one mostly blank was bit of a toll on me.

But yeh, just a flat sketch of our favourite Sun guy just happy to be here

Fig. 2

Alright, this is a very simple example for how I do most shine on areas meant to be a light colour. Can't be too drastic and risk making it look like the casing is supposed to be darker.

Best way I can explain the "shine lines", hmmm.. I'm not smart enough to have the words, I guess. I just learn from observing art and things around me to try get an idea what gives the right effect with the tools given..

Fig. 3

Let's try with more detailing by adding soft shading.

I really do just add these things based on feel and vibe, as I go.

Do pay attention that whether it's metal shine or shading on non-metal parts, it rarely goes all the way to the art lines. Gotta preserve white space for effect, it helps giving the needed illusion of light when ye only got pencil to work with. Is the best way I can put any instructions on this.

Fig. 4

Of course matters on the shape and desired effect on what you are drawing. There are many ways to draw shading and shine on different materials, for the right feel. This is just some basic and simple examples I can think of to try and illustrate.

I'm sure you can find plenty of better tutorials out there to explain this concept in deeper detail than I'm able to.

I never really looked it up myself, I just experimented with my techniques as I went. Even trying to set it up in separate parts have me unsure if this gonna help ya understand how I do my work.

Best I can tell ya, is I mostly tribute the backgrounds of Hollow Knight some credit for my shading techniques today. Some arts done attempting to copy the style of the game's backgrounds and detailing gave me some pointers to work from.

(Moth character my old OC Grave Keeper)

So, yeah, that's the best I can give ya on the subject of how I do metal shine in pencil. Best I can offer is ya look up examples that work for you, to try draw from as you figure out your own technique and vibes for it.

I do hope that was any help!

Enjoy!

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[polycraftory]

Here is our complete guide to curling a heat safe wig!

We specifically figured out this method worked best when styling this wig for my level 3 Imogen Temult cosplay. She's from campaign 3 of Critical Role. There are many other methods to curl wigs, but this is the one that got the best hold and our desired look on this particular wig! Of course, then I decided to cosplay Imogen at level 13 first and her hair is totally different so this wig is going in storage but at least we got to make a useful tutorial first.

We already have a video version of this tutorial up on our Tiktok and Youtube that we will move over to Tumblr, but honestly I struggle The Most with learning from video tutorials. I prefer things written out so we wanted to make this sort of tutorial as well for accessibility!

Additional tips & all of the products we use are under the cut. Feel free to shoot us a message if you have any questions or want more tutorials on wigs!

What We Use:

Wig: Pastel Purple Wavy Lace Front Synthetic Wig LF5110 from Wig Is Fashion. It technically comes with a curl but we straightened and recurled it differently. Whatever wig you get, just make sure you check that it's heat safe before attempting this!

Silicone Spray: Mane 'n Tail Detangler. Yes, this is technically for horses, but listen, it works SO WELL on synthetic wigs. It keeps it from getting all static-y and tangled. We've only ever used this brand but it works really well so we're def sticking with it.

Setting Spray: Schwarzkopf Got2b Glued Blasting Freeze Spray. This makes sure the curls you spent hours making actually hold!

Crimper: SixRiver Ceramic Waver Hair Tool with 4-in-1 Flat Crimping Iron Plates. This comes with four ceramic crimping plates and Nic uses the one with the "most wiggles" on the lowest setting (320). You can probably use any crimper that goes low enough. Crimp it fast, you aren't holding it like with curls.

Curling Iron: Conair 1 Inch Curling Iron. We use this on "19", whatever that means because it doesn't actually have temperatures. Any curling iron with low enough heat settings will do, you might need to play with settings to make sure you don't melt the hair. Test it on the bottom of the lowest layer of hair where you could cut it off if you melt it. As with curls on human hair, different barrel widths will give you wildly different curl looks.

Teaser Brush & Large Tooth Comb: Honestly these probably came with one of our first hair cutting or wig styling kits so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Apparently the teaser brush is Revlon branded.

We aren't sponsored by anyone, this is just what we use! Feel free to substitute in anything that you have / know works well with wigs. We hope this helps! Please let us know what other cosplay or crafting tutorials you'd like to see <3