#peoples faces don't change much except for wrinkles

[naquey]

30 yr olds can still be hot

40 can still be hot

50 can still be hot

[sabokunsmalia]

ʚ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗧𝗟𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗬 (𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃) 𝗗𝗢 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗬𝗢𝗨 ɞ 𝖋𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: monkey d. luffy, roronoa zoro, vinsmoke sanji 𝖈𝖔𝖓𝖙𝖊𝖓𝖙 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌: nothing much except for pet names, sweet stuff and gestures 𝖍𝖎 𝖎'𝖒 𝖒𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖆: between the entirety of smut i've written and have prepared, have something sweet about the monster trio, and be prepare for more!

ʚ monkey d. luffy ɞ

↷ there's no need to deny the fact that food, in any shape or form, is luffy's biggest priority besides becoming the king of the pirates. he needs it, he graves it. not even the smallest dish, or the largest plate stand a chance against his indescribable hunger. so when you joined the straw hats, and sanji called the crew for dinner, they almost lost their minds as the cook placed a plate in front of luffy first, and their captain pushed it a seat further in front of you. his stomach was grumbling wildly and loudly, almost sounding like a bear. yet, luffy decided, you should eat before he inhales the meal. he even shared a couple of spoons with you from his favourite meal, without thinking or asking.

↷ same situation with the one appearance feature that the people remembered perfectly about the raven-haired boy. the straw hat which once belonged to shanks and became a promise between the two of them. no one was allowed to touch it; his crew members were expctations but even they knew better. enemies, who destroyed the smallest straw were defeated quicker than a watcher could believe. but with you, luffy was different. he loved to place the straw hat on your head, pushing it down completely and even asking you to hold onto it closely as he entered a fight. the trust was immense, and the crew watched in surprise the first time it happened.

↷ luffy is such a sucker for physical touch. whenever the crew wasn't trapped in a storm or attacked by the enemies, the calmness settled on the deck. everyone returned to their own activities like zoro's weight lifting or robin's sun bathing while reading another book. for luffy it was clear that he could leave his signature place at the front, and finally enjoy a minute with his love. stretched out arms wrapped around your waist multiple times before you could even realize that he was on the way to you. his body flew after the stretched out limbs, and the captain pulled you along with a laugh. oh, it was scary every single time but it was difficult to be mad at such an addictive laugh and wide smile.

ʚ vinsmoke sanji ɞ

↷ you didn't even need to say a word to him when your moods shifted. the little wrinkles between your eyebrows as you pulled them down so harshly, sanji could tell you were angered. eyes darting up and watching the lights swing from left to right, he could tell you were deeply thinking about an important topic. over the days by your side, the cook learned the exact changes in your facial features to figure out your moods without having to ask. it was a long-term observation with all his attention belonging to you or maybe he just received the right information after staring at your beautiful face with heart eyes all day. both were possible options but sanji would never tell you that secret.

↷ two words, calm mornings. sanji loved cooking and expanding the recipe book he was secretly writing and hiding in the kitchen. so, when he had the chance to add one or two new creations to his list after you revealed your cravings to him, he could not decline that chance. sanji started to get up earlier in the morning, at least an hours, preparing the quick meals for the other crew members, and taking his sweet time to make your favorites. placed on a wooden tray, he carried the plates towards the room that you two shared on a couple of nights, and woke you up with a good, warm breakfast and a sweet smile.

↷ luffy defeated another important enemy? the crew had to run away from the arriving marines or the destruction of another land? well, don't bother to use your legs. before even setting the first step, sanji had you swooped up in his arms and carried you across the pavement bridal style. after a particularly hard fight, when you joined in with the crew and decided to defeat a couple of pirates, and were too exhausted to run the entire way back to the thousand sunny, sanji would allow you to jump on his back. an easy way to touch your body and give him another good reason to keep running, keeping you on his back until the thousand sunny was reached. sanji would rather die than stop.

ʚ roronoa zoro ɞ

↷ zoro had difficulties with touching a woman the right way in the beginning. obviously he was used to clutching the hilts of his swords tightly while engaging in a particularly difficult fight. so the pda with him was very rare. he would stay in the crows nest all day, lifting weights until almost passing out or sitting in a corner, drinking one glass of booze after another. so when the time arrived that you two shared a bed, you prepared to be cold the entire night but zoro's muscular arms wrapped around your body tightly. his naked and scared chest pressed against your back, warming you through the entire night. it was unexpected but at the same time, you were grateful for the slightest touch that you did not receive on deck for days.

↷ if you wanted advice, zoro would always send you to nami or robin, maybe even usopp but never sanji. but as soon as you climbed up to the crows nest, seating on one of the stools and staring him down, zoro knew you had to rant and he did not need to answer. listening was his greatest specialty. he might not be able to provide advice for you but he would state his truthful opinion while lifting another round of weights to receive his desired result. you ranted on and on, sentence after sentence while zoro worked out further. you did not need an answer from him, just the small nod as he informed you that he gathered all the words you spoke, was enough for you to release a calm breath.

↷ once zoro got used to being in a relationship and having the chance to touch a beautiful woman as much as he fought with his swords, the green-haired man used his chances. while being in a conversation, he would subtly place his large paw on one of your butt cheeks, slapping carefully and ever so gently. his rough, calloused fingers would slip into the back pocket of your skinny jeans or shorts, listening to the words of nami, or luffy's wild plans. it became such a signature little thing for the swordsman to show his affection towards you, without giving the enemies a hint at what his greatest weakness was. after all, being a pirate was dangerous, and he wouldn't want to lose you, simply because he could not keep his hands off you.

[mr2swap]

wedding gift for "dad"

I feel terrible about how things turned out for me and my son David, but there is nothing I can do now. All I can do is live the life David always wanted for himself and his husband, Andrew.

I met Andrew when he was just a little boy who used to come every afternoon to play with my son David, the two of them were inseparable so much that I came to consider Andrew as the second son I never had, the years passed, and I saw how Andrew and David became men, until that moment I never believed that there was more than friendship between them, they were always so fanatical of spending their afternoons training in the gym until long hours of the night, studying in long sleepovers that lasted all weekend week and rehearsing their choreographies for the dance club they were both enrolled in. I guess I should have seen the signs.

10 years ago while the whole family was together and David was next to him, he decided to tell us the truth, they had been secretly dating for so long that I almost choked on a mouthful of my wife's delicious meatloaf, they all seemed quite happy at that moment everyone except me.

I was so stupid back then that at that moment, I decided that the man in front of me was not my son anymore, I started treating him differently, I cut myself off from him and Andrew completely, damn it! I even felt sorry that everyone on our street knew about it before I did. I'm 59 years old, in my day all that shit was kept secret, of course there were gay people, but I never thought David would be one of them.

For the good of the family I decided to just ignore David, but when he and Andrew came to my house with an invitation to their wedding I just couldn't help myself anymore, I told David that I didn't agree with his lifestyle and if he wanted to be gay had to be done outside this house and forever, I wouldn't attend the wedding of two fagots, let alone let someone from my family know about it.

From that moment I did not see David or Andrew again, until their wedding day, I was alone at home watching the football game on television, my wife had betrayed me and left me alone to go to the wedding from David and Andrew, I drank a six pack of beers just to forget today's wedding, but while you were watching the game something strange happened, I don't know if it was the effect of the beers or maybe the strange wish that my son made, I swear that In a simple blink that I lived in slow motion I was transported from the comfortable sofa in my house to a hotel room.

I looked around surprised because my living room had become an elegant room on the twelfth floor of a hotel, believing that I was in an extremely realistic dream, I looked at my hands, they were no longer old and wrinkled, now they were firm and young, my clothes I had also changed instead of a dirty tank top that highlighted my huge belly and yellowed boxer shorts I was now dressed in a fancy tuxedo, I looked down in surprise that my belly didn't obstruct my vision to see my feet which were now in a pair in elegant black shoes.

-This must be a dream…-

I said out loud and startled by the sudden change in the tone of my voice, something seemed familiar in that voice, but I didn't know what it was, I decided to believe that I was in a lucid dream thanks to all the pain that I normally suffered in my back and on my knees they disappeared, with my long and firm fingers I held my hard and firm pectorals, even the sensations on my skin were different and for some reason my nipples were also much more sensitive.

I kept using my fingers to highlight each of my muscles, I continued down towards my chiseled abs, surprised to find myself with the hardness of my muscles instead of a grotesque round belly, I looked to the sides trying to find a mirror, so I could see myself better, and luckily I found one that was on the other side of the huge hotel room.

When I first looked at my reflection, I immediately recognized the face that was now mine.

-AHHH!!!-

Indeed, that was not my face, it was the face of my son David, I fell backwards terrified by the impact of seeing my son again and at the same time knowing that I was him, I remained silent for a whole minute making movements slowly while crawling to the mirror my eyes did not take off for a single second from the reflection in the mirror that imitated each of my movements.

As I knelt in front of the mirror, I examined my son's mature handsome face, his perfectly trimmed beard, his whitened teeth, and his hair which I had recently painted black.

-What the fuck is… This?-

I caressed my new face while making strange expressions with my son's face in the mirror, to verify that it was me who was there. Suddenly, from the other side of the room, the ringing of a telephone made me wake up from hypnosis in who was submerged while looking at my face.

I stood up and awkwardly walked to the phone now that I was aware of the vast difference between my obese body and the young body of my gay son.

Before I had the phone in my hands I looked at the number, immediately recognizing it was the number we had had in the house for years, less and less convinced that this was a dream, I picked up the phone and simply answered it.

-He-hello?-

For five long seconds that seemed like an eternity the phone remained silent, a hoarse and thick voice broke the silence in which we were.

-Dad are you?-

-Who speaks? David? for the love of god what's happening?-

-Oh shit! If you are the one in my body, I… I'm sorry, I think this is my fault.-

-David, where the hell are you? and where am i? why is this your fault?

I had to sit down for the long conversation we had that day, he doesn't know exactly what happened, he was just getting ready to go down to the reception and be on his wedding day, but it seems an unexpected gift arrived, from out of nowhere a mysterious gift appeared on the floor, it was in front of the door so I guess it was a gift from her future husband or maybe the reception had sent them something in gratitude for renting the ballroom, the gift box was simple and it only had a name on it.

From: Mr2 Swap

He thought the gift was a mistake, that it simply wasn't for him and one of the hotel workers had got the wrong room, but for some reason he couldn't leave the gift unopened, it was almost as if he was calling him .

When he finished dressing, the gift was still there and David could not resist the supernatural curiosity that invaded him, he took the gift in his hands and opened it, he was not expecting anything specific, but what the box contained surprised him, it was a simple golden ticket

"Valid for one wish"

David looked everywhere, but there were no more letters or signs of who had sent the ticket.

-A wish huh?… I just wish dad was here to see how I get married-

And after that we both woke up in each other's place, while there Disney was counting all this madness I looked everywhere even under the bed, but there was no ticket not even a gift box it was like after his wish was fulfilled would have vanished.

While I was still looking for some clues as to where that strange gift had gone, my wife also dressed in an elegant dress entered the room, as soon as I saw her I knew that she had to find out what had happened to me and David But the words wouldn't come out of my mouth no matter how hard I tried I couldn't say a single word about the exchange or about the real David now being drunk in my body thousands of miles from here.

-the wedding planner is waiting for you son, if you take longer on the phone, we will have to postpone dinner-

Caught by the magic of the ticket, I act exactly as David did, I took one last look in the mirror and with a smile I fixed my hair, I definitely wouldn't act like this in a situation like this, but David's personality was so dominant in to my mind that now that so much time has passed since then I can't believe that I actually married another man.

I drank a couple of drinks to ease the tension but as soon as I saw Andrew for the first time through my son's eyes it was like seeing him for the first time, he was a bit taller than me he had a lovely smile and had a body so fucking hot in that body hugging black suit that a boner formed when I kissed him in front of my family and David and Andrew's friends

I will never forget my first kiss with Andrew, his lips were firm but soft, his tongue was so wild that I was carried away by the intoxicating taste of his saliva and that slight taste of champagne, with his long and strong arms he caressed my round butt giving me a prelude to what would be my wedding night, the grip on his fingers dug into the meat of my ass like teeth, in my old life I never allowed myself to be weak, but now I enjoyed my newly husband's manipulations.

By the time the wedding ended I was drunk enough to let myself go, the real Andrew noticed my nervousness a bit, but he thought it was just the nerves before the wedding, I hadn't seen my son or Andrew in years, I knew what enough for the time we were together and for what his mother said to convince him that I was the real David.

Hours went by and it got darker and darker, when all the guests had left and me and Andrew went up to the room, the real performance began, the second we walked through the door immediately Andrew took my hands and he tossed me onto the bed like I was a wild animal I stripped naked revealing my son's years worked muscles, my heart was pounding like crazy as I watched Andrew take off his shirt in front of me, I had seen Andrew shirtless a lot of times when I was in my old body, but now it was very different.

As if they had a life of their own my hands began to adore Andrew's massive hairy pecs, I pinched those nipples that were in front of me and buried my face in the middle of his pecs, the smell was delicious, sweat, and a slight scent of champagne spilled on his shirt, Andrew seemed to be enjoying it even more than I was, his moans that must have seemed repulsive to me before now only turned me on more and more as he released one.

Andrew I can't contain myself for another second he took me by the waist and turned my body so that I was lying face down towards the bed, my legs settled as if they knew exactly what was happening, I arched my back and lifted my ass to display it in front of Andrew, this time the moans that filled the room were my own.

Andrew had plunged his face into my ass and with the same ferocity that he had desecrated my mouth he did with my anus, even though he had magically acquired the personality of my son David, all the sensations will be new to me, and my God. , what fucking incredible sensations!

As he used his tongue to please me with his strong, calloused, firm hands, he took my penis and began to masturbate it, for a straight man and I have done the old-fashioned like me all these pleasurable sensations were incredible.

But neither me nor Andrew were satisfied, Andrew stuck his tongue out of my hairy ass and slowly inserted his cock inside me, it was a painful sensation, but somehow familiar and pleasant, he fucked me so hard that day that surely we didn't let sleep to the people in the next room.

He was so drunk and so tired that day that I didn't realize when he had put me to sleep, and when I woke up to the rest of Andrew, I almost fell out of bed. Immediately, all the memories of the day before came to mind. I got out of bed as quietly as possible, took the phone and unlocked it with Andrew's face, it had 58 calls from the real David.

I changed into a pair of my son's tight revealing underwear and went into the bathroom, called David and told him everything that had happened that night, completely avoiding that Andrew and I had fornicated.

It was strange hearing my son cry in my old voice, but there was nothing I could do to comfort him, I just promised him that he would try to figure this out and not ruin his life or his new marriage.

Since that day I have been pretending to be David, every day is something new and to be honest it is exciting, thanks to my new personality I was able to fully adapt to David's gay life the new ideas did not seem disastrous to me as they would have seemed to me in my Old body, I always thought my son was a model or something, I soon found out that he and Andrew were the best strippers in the city where we now live, we had loads of money, I never thought fagots would pay so much just to see me dance, having fun, kissing and stroking my husband's cock in public.

It's been three years since then, Andrew and I have a nice house that we remodeled, a lot of savings in the bank, and we recently started an OnlyFans account as a couple, and he never suspected that she married her boyfriend's father.

Actually no one ever found out about the body swap, that's still our secret between me and David, and speaking of David we talked again after the swap, he has a hard time adjusting to his new life as a bigoted middle-aged man, all those stupid ideas that used to be in my head are now in hers but I think she's adjusting to her new gay son.

It's a bit hard to admit, but I prefer my new life, so I'll try not to open a mystery gift from Mr2 swap again.

Hello, if you liked this story and you want more, you can take a look at my Ko-Fi page to see my most recent stories, see my new stories and support me to continue creating this hot content.

[thedreadvampy]

fwiw if you want to introduce more variety to how you draw faces I strongly suggest thinking really hard about noses

noses give you so much information about someone! they're usually one of the first things which define how we think of someone's face (after all - they're by far the feature that takes up most of it).

They change as we age - they take up more of our faces and move away from our mouths. babies almost all have round little tips of noses with no definable bridges, while depending on the type of nose an adult has they may get bonier and sharper or softer and flatter with age. nostrils widen, skin creases, eyes drop back from the bridge. I think often people try to age faces by putting wrinkles around an unchanged nose and it throws stuff off.

They're also a really racialised feature. like there is no one Black Nose or East Asian Nose or Desi Nose or White Nose, obviously, there's huge variation within and across ethnic groups, but there's a lot of overlapping trends in nose shape for different ethnicities and it's often a big contributing factor to people drawing characters of colour that kind of look like palette-swapped white people? like there are so many nose shapes that are super common but because they're relatively uncommon for white people, they're just not the noses people often learn to draw as standard.

but also a diversity of noses says so much about a character, the same way that their build or eye shape or face shape does. like. a long sharp narrow nose in a bony face? a round, slightly flat nose on a face full of smile lines? an upturned, softly rounded nose with freckles and no bridge? a long hooked nose with a curved tip? a crooked, broken nose? a bulbous, reddened nose? noses can imply strength, weakness, innocence, experience, childishness, wisdom, suffering, whatever you want to get out of a character design. don't neglect the nose!!!!

and like. obviously depending on how stylised the art is there's going to be information lost, but that's the thing - there's a real upper limit on how much variation you can put in eyes or mouths or face shape in simpler styles without making it overly realistic, but you can go really nuts on nose shapes! even with just one or two lines or one simple shape you can imply so many different noses by changing little things!

and yet really often I look at people who are trying to broaden variety on faces and they mix up everything except the noses, which stay like a circle or a triangle or a line or whatever their standard noise is, and as a result there's still this sameness to all the faces.

bc eyes and mouths and jawlines are all very well but noses are, in my opinion, the most varied part of the face. I can't think of any two people I know who have the same shape of nose except maybe me and my identical twin.

(and I'm not talking big Vs small, or hooked vs snub vs straight vs flat. really look at people's noses in real life cause there are so many variables)

(some leading questions under the cut)

how big is it? how long from the front? how far away from the face does it sit in profile?

does it have a rounded tip? how round? some people's noses have a profile that's basically a triangle point, some people's are basically a round tip with no visible cartilage above it, and everything in between.

What's going on at the bridge? in profile, is there a clear dip in between the brow and the bridge of the nose, or does the brow come straight down to meet it (or, if you have a kind of striking profile like Hangman Adam Page who looks like an early 2000s DreamWorks character, is your profile one line from brow to the top of your nose)? from the front, is there a clearly defined edge to the bridge of your nose or does it curve out? how much of the space between your eye sockets is nose, on a range from 100% to 0%?

What shape is the top of the nose in profile? Is it a straight line from bridge to tip? does it curve down? does it curve up like a ski slope? does it come to a sharp stop and angle out into a round tip?

does it have sharp edges? does it look bony, with a pronounced ridge? or is it all soft lines? Does it meet the cheek at an angle or at a curve?

does the tip come to a sharp point, or to a curve? does it angle up (so you can see the nostrils from the front), or down (so you can only see the line of the nose)?

how big is the base of the nose compared to the bridge? from the front, does it flare wide across the face at the bottom, or is it almost a straight line down? is it broader higher up the nose?

what are the nostrils doing? how big are they? are they round, or slit-shaped? do they sit behind the tip, with the noise all contained in a single pyramid shape, or do they sit to the sides? do they sit along the face, point forward towards the tip, or point up higher than the tip?

how does the nose interact with the other features? does it dominate the face? is it a tiny wee thing? does it sit over a very long upper lip with a pronounced philtrum, or is it almost touching the mouth? How much of the space between the eyes is taken up by the bridge of the nose? do the eyebrows curve towards the nose, or meet them at a hard angle? if they wear glasses, where on the nose do they sit?

colouration - is it all the same colour, or pinker at the tip or over the bridge? are the insides of the nostrils visible, and are they pale or dark pink? does the top of the nose get more sun - is it darker?

surface details - are there creases at the bridge or around the nostrils and cheeks? are they from scowling (vertical) or laughing (horizontal)? does their nose scrunch up when they smile, or flare when they're angry? is there hair? freckles? piercings? scars or breaks?

like the nose, jaw and brow are the structure around which the rest of the face is built. if you get to a place in your art style where you're comfortable playing around with that then you immediately add so much more diversity and life and verisimilitude to your characters!

also noses are just great. like they're so fun to draw and there are so many different gorgeous noses! I'm so into noses that usually the way I find how I want a character to look is to draw the eyes, draw the nose, then redraw the eyes and build the whole face around the nose.

(this advice is coming from the fact that the most common compliment I get on my art is the diversity and believability of characters and I would say that's like 50-60% in the nose/brow)

[s0kkix]

Would it be too much to ask, how do you draw your faces? / avoid same face syndrome ?

etc etc

not too much at all, thanks for the ask !

the way i think about faces is like a puzzle - the eyes, nose, lips, ears, chin, etc. being the puzzle pieces. it's a sort of "mix and match" game.

for example, these three characters all have a similar, strong nose and droopy eyes with puffed eyebags (except for azariel in the last pic), but thanks to different face shapes, body builds (how a character is built also reflects in their face) ears, hair and other details the characters can be told apart.

incorporating your character's personality into the face design is a great idea. perhaps the way they express a certain emotion is different to the way other characters do. maybe their resting face is happier-looking than another character's. the face is a big element of character design, because it's a tool of storytelling on its own.

take a look at my lucifer, for example. woah ! what the hell happened to them ? (he's still pretty though)

the face should entice, force the beholder to ask questions about the character and be curious about their story. i'm not saying every face you draw should suggest the oddest of backstories and personalities, but give each of your characters something unique to their face that would spark someone's interest.

now, i haven't exactly checked how well they stand out amongst eachother by removing the hair and the rest of the body, but i did draw a bunch of my characters together without colour on one paper.

my biggest tip is - exaggerate ! find a feature you want to stick out in your character's face and construct the rest of the face to compliment it. matching a face with the character's personality is also something you should know how to do, so i suggest doing research on shape and colour language.

it's important to take note of how faces look as people (or humanoid characters) age and grow older. wrinkles are one of the main ways i add character to ... well, my characters.

as much as i enjoy drawing wrinkles, i usually save them for "wise old" or nurturing characters. but of course, wrinkles appear on all sorts of people, especially if they have a fuller face.

(i am speaking specifically for my stylization which often strives to be somewhat anatomically realistic)

another tip is to reference life when you study ! human people have such a wide array of features you can utilize, it's amazing and beautiful ! just make sure you do research on ethnic features and when they appear on which face (unless you're going for something supernatural/humanoid, then the nose gallery is all yours /j).

also, don't drastically diversify faces all the time. siblings and family members often have similar features and it's okay to repeat them in these cases.

(this artwork is pretty old)

if your character and costume design is good, "same face syndrome" shouldn't worry you at all. avoiding this art community boogeyman is just one way of diversifying your art and adding spice to it. lacking this diversity really is no sin.

at worst, it's just going to look odd. for example, if you're so used to drawing young, wrinkle-less characters and attempt to draw an older character without any exercise prior to that, chances are this character is going to look oddly youthful, resulting in a sort of silly outcome.

but just like with everything, take your time ! changes and improvements don't happen overnight, and it takes time for you to get used to new things. with all that said, i'm wishing you the best of luck and happy drawing !

[gatitties]

Hello! I have an imagine or idea rather than a request, and I love the way you write y/n in your blog because your y/n is much more relatable yk. Like more of a realist instead of an idealist. I'm talking about tokrev y/n because that's the only fandom in this blog I'm familiar with :)

Tokrev imagine, Bonten realizing that fem!bonten!reader doesn't age at ALL:

Don't you know that some people who look older than their age is known to keep the same face when they're older? Imagine that when you're in Kanto Manji like most of the Bonten executives except Takeomi people mistake you for being older than your age. Now that you're in Bonten and you grow older, your face DOESN'T CHANGE at all when it's obvious that your male colleagues are aging. Like their faces getting sharper and the worst thing? HAIR LOSS. Especially that you chose to dress more casually than your formal looking colleagues so people thought that you're younger than them. I can honestly see envy from Ran.

─Bonten x fem!reader

─Summary: Your face always made people add years to your age, but now it seems like you're stuck in eternal youth for that very reason.

─Warnings: none

Oh ty!, I'm glad you identify with the y/n I write, although I don't think they're that realistic either 😔✋🏻 (this was fun to write btw)

─ You come from a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo, you have innate brute strength from working in the fields with your family, which also made you have a little harder features and your skin aged a little more.

─ Everyone always added years to your true age, so you weren't too upset when your new group of friends (Kanto Manji) thought you were older.

─ Once you corrected their thoughts about your age, they didn't stop coming and going with jokes, they would always look at them with a frown, although it was only for annoy you, they also told you that if you continued frowning your age would increase and you would look like an old witch being so young.

─ Instead you made fun of their baby faces, especially Mikey, Rin and Kokonoi, being the ones who seemed smaller to your eyes.

─ Hanma will always take advantage of the moment to call you old or ruin a date, confusing the person you're with about your age.

─ Ran will joke that you are a milf.

─ Shion, Sanzu and Mochizuki won't mess with you much, but they will always make a sarcastic comment against you if the situation gives them the opportunity to do so.

─ Oh but the wait was pleasant, as the years went by, your face hardly changed, however, you couldn't say the same about the boys, while some left and others joined when creating Bonten, they all grew older.

─ Of course joking about age with Takeomi was too easy considering that in fact, he was the oldest of all, so you kept him out of your sarcasm.

─ However, you enjoyed seeing the Hatani brothers' angry faces when you got many more dates than them in their own brothels.

─ It was as if you had not aged, you remained fresh as a rose while they used hair dye to cover some premature gray hair.

─ Your jokes about bald people have no end when it comes to Sanzu and Mikey because of the amount of dye they use, the Haitani are not immune to your sarcasm either.

─ The only ones that hold up better are Kakucho and Kokonoi, so for the moment you don't mess with them much, just wait a couple of years…

─ You are not spiteful, but returning the jokes that were made to you years ago is gratifying!

─ Say hello and smile like a lady when you hold your partner's hand while they watch from afar, rubbing it in their faces that they can't get hoes.

─ Rin was so worried about the wrinkles that began to appear on his face that one night he broke into your house to ask you for skincare routine advice.

─ Overnight you became a beautician for a group of gangsters, not all of them were interested in taking care of their skin, but at the moment there was nothing better to do.

─ The wars over youth and old age ended in a truce of tutorials on how to soften the face, care for and maintain glowing skin, recommend many hair products and share advice they see online from trusted influencers.

─ Although now a new fight began about who had the best routine and a bet on who would last best until you were sixty, you didn't want to ruin their morale, but you were a clear winner.

[missingexaltation]

Eddie has now 'gifted' Hellfire to Will as he's not returning to high school, graduating on a technicality. However, he suggests to the new DM that they play a one off over the summer (to get Will used to the group's dynamics, and so he can say goodbye to his little sheepies in style).

But he gets to play with them too, at Will's insistence, as Eddie's DM'd for so long he never really gets a chance to be a PC. Eddie's character is a bard that the group meet, playing in a tavern and magically enslaved by the innkeeper. Because of the spell, he has no memory of who he is, except that he's a bard.

(Which works meta wise too, as Eddie might have knowledge on the DM side...but he's a bit shaky as an actual player. it's been a while after all)

The Party take pity on him, breaking his bondage by brutally killing the innkeeper and bringing him along. He's lower than everyone else in most stats, except for charisma, which he's insanely high for. And since as they're off to find a hidden God to convince him to come back to his people...that high charisma would come in handy.

At the end of the one shot, it seems like the God they face, concentrates damage on the person physically closest to him, which is Eddie's character. Eddie gets brutally taken down until the team drag him away, and revive him. (Eddie makes some snarky comments about the new DM staking his claim by annihilating the old DM and the party finds it hilarious)

But the God keeps aiming for the bard, until Eddie is at zero, then he goes after Dustin...the mage...who is technically the most powerful on the team and nowhere near the God in comparison to the others. Then when Dustin goes down, it's their paladin next...and the group start to freak out.

Eddie passes his death save roll, heals himself and is almost immediately taken down again. The party realise pretty quickly that it's not proximity that is the issue, and that the God is taking out the most powerful first. But Eddie's bard is one of the weaker characters, so that doesn't make ANY sense.

It's Gareth that makes the connection, a split second before Jeff does. He sits back in his chair, stares thoughtfully at Eddie and uses his own turn to grapple the God's weapon from his hands.

It's surprisingly easy, and The God immediately shrinks into a gnarled, grizzly looking goblin, who screeches until Mike cuts his head off with a nat 20 he hadn't been able to roll all night.

It was the weapon. The weapon that contained a God's power.

Gareth and Jeff are still looking at Eddie.

"No memory, huh?" Gareth asks.

Eddie shrugs. "Nothing at all."

"Just pick up the fucking sword, dude." Jeff sighs, and Eddie does.

The instant his character's hands touch the sword, it changes into a golden, glowing lute, the power flows into him, and their bard ascends back into godhood, agreeing to go back to his people.

The whole table descends into chaos, while Eddie and Will high five each other. Of course they were in on it together.

"Fucking DM's" Gareth complains, but he's not angry, not really.

"Ah, ah, ah, G Bear, no swearing in front of the kiddies." Eddie reminds him, gleefully.

The 'kids' didn't even hear him, too busy crowding around Will to congratulate him on his grand return. He'd written the entire thing, and collaborated with Eddie just to make sure it was a good fit for the Hellfire gang.

"Well, I saw it coming hours ago." Steve says, from his spot on the sofa, surprising the older teens. "You don't give up control easily, Eds."

"Ugh...way too much info, Harrington." Jeff groans, wrinkling his nose, and laughing with Gareth at the violent flush to Steve's cheeks.

"Aww you did kinda walk into that one with open arms, baby boy." Eddie coos, swooping down to press kisses against Steve's embarrassed cheek.

He scoops Steve into an embrace, ignoring his grumbles, and looks up at his bandmates, "So what do you think, did baby Byers pass the little test that you thought I didn't know about?"

"Hell yeah." They both agree, enthusiastic and immediate.

"This year's gonna be awesome, Eddie." Gareth adds, grinning.

They all look over to where the younger kids are, still crowding together and excitedly discussing the last few hours. Will is glowing with pride and happiness. It's a good look on him. Jeff and Gareth slap Eddie on the back and wander off to join them.

Eddie sighs, curling into Steve as much as he can. He knows he's clingy, but he needs this right now. It's bittersweet. While he's not in school anymore, he has a part time job and an apprenticeship that's going to take up far more time than he'd realised. And he's lost all of his D&D shit too. It all makes sense to hand over permanently, but it still hurts.

"You ok babe?" Steve asks. He's so nice and lovely and sweet that Eddie melts on the inside at the concern in his voice.

"It's like my kids are leaving home." He admits. "Even though technically I guess I'm the one doing the leaving."

"Growing up sucks." Steve agrees. He rubs his fingers down Eddie's arm, reassuringly. "Don't worry babe, they're not gonna forget you."

"Better fucking not." Eddie grumbled, pressing his face into Steve's neck.

He looked over. The kids had already forgotten that they were both there, too busy packing up and trying in vain to get details from Will about the next campaign.

It was a good thing though, Eddie tried convincing himself. They were all so enthusiastic and in good spirits, they didn't need him for that. It's why he'd started Hellfire in the first place, to inspire this kind of camaraderie for the outcasts. Something that would outlast him (even if the rest of the town had their own legacy instead).

"It's not forever, Eds." Steve reminded him. "Once we've got our place we'll host every week if you want."

It wasn't soon enough to soothe him.

But they were ok, and happy, and alive.

So it would have to be enough...for now.

[therealvinelle]

Emily the vampire gets changed and has the gift to age/deage vampires to wherever they want to be and offers to help anyone who wants to.

What do the Cullens + the Volturi choose as their optimal ages ?

Oof.

The Cullens

The thing about being immortal is that you can complain that it's so sad and angsty to be forever eighteen, and since there's nothing to be done about it your bluff will never be called.

More tellingly yet, none of the Cullens ever actually complain of their youth. Oh, there's Edward and his "I'm a bad bad man and my youthful appearance another LIEEE" schtick, but even he doesn't sit around saying "I wish I looked thirty".

I do, however, think that if the Cullens were offered to change their ages they would feel pressured to do so.

If they are all adult-looking, they can skip high school. They can still attend college to their hearts' content, but it will not raise questions among the humans when they start with college and then go on to find jobs the way it would if eighteen-year-old Rosalie tried to pass herself off as thirty. They would be able to stay in the same places for longer.

And all they have to do is look slightly different. Just as beautiful, and no wrinkles or changed metabolism or any of what humans have to deal with when they transition from teens to adults, just... a little different.

To some, like Jasper, Emmett, Esme, and Alice, this wouldn't be such a concern. Esme is already in her mid-twenties, she has no issue. Jasper struggles to eat people wherever he goes, changing the setting from a school to a workplace wouldn't change that and he would if anything be more at risk since there's no one to stop him if he loses control (unless of course all the Cullens get jobs at the same company, which... they might just). Emmett, same boat as Esme, he's already twenty years older and his huge build likely makes him appear even older. This would make no difference to him.

As for Alice, I imagine if she has any issues with her looks it's going to be how extreme it is. She barely has any hair on her head, she's "thin in the extreme", and she's short enough to be mistaken for a child. Yes, she is rocking the look, but that's not by choice and I imagine she if nothing else regrets the fashion items she'll never be able to wear on account of being so short (no disrespect to Meyer's understanding of fashion, but no, the triangle dress she wore at prom would not have worked on someone with the body Alice is described as having).

Edward, Rosalie, and Carlisle are the ones having the throes of moral agony.

If Carlisle looks ten years older than he does now, staying in a place for longer would become that much easier. On the other hand, if the others were to age themselves up, then there would be no need for him to pretend to be their father, and now he doesn't need to age himself up as much as possible. On the third hand, the younger Carlisle is pretending to be the less experienced he can claim to be, which influences what he actually gets to do.

On the fourth hand, this is his face damnit, as well as his physical maturity. If he changes any of that, he potentially changes himself as a person, and there would be no undoing the change.

Rosalie and Edward share the same problem: they can be free from high school, they can get work doing nearly whatever they want, and all they have to do is age up.

Which would lose them their youthful looks and irreparably change the family dynamic.

Hmm.

I imagine there's a long, long moment as the three of them stare at each other, and they end up in a "we go together or not at all".

They don't go.

Bella, if we're including her, asks if she can be made to look younger. You see, Edward is seventeen, Bella is not, can we do something about this?

The Volturi

None of them have reason to care except Jane and Alec.

And I imagine to them, their ages are something so personal at this point, something so intrinsic to who they are, that aging up would change too much about them and for what? So they can have sexual experiences? So they can have relationships? To what end?

Emily does not get to use her powers on anyone.

Except Bella, who now looks indistinguishable from before but she's younger, damnit.

[lifeofkaze]

You can never have too much soup! Until you do and then you get sick and okay I'll stop

Oh I loved this one. I know it might not look like it, considering how long this took me but trust me - I did.

Characters featured (both fully and in mention) belong to @the-al-chemist @thatravenpuffwitch @kc-and-co and @slytherindisaster

“Trust me, this is going to be funny.” “I’m not sure I share your perception of funny, old chap.” Bradford Elijah Pendleton IV swallowed uncomfortably. Nervously, he glanced to where the object of their current conversation was sitting in the shade with her friends. “It sounds dangerous, if anything.” "I must say, I agree," Jim Hexley butted in from the side, sounding as nauseous as Brady himself felt. "There's people you don't trifle with." He couldn't have said anything more wrongly. Rising to what he perceived a challenge, Lysander Mercury got to his feet from their spot in the cloisters of the clocktower courtyard and cupped his hands to his mouth. "Oi, Iceberg!" The shoulders of the witch his words were aimed at stiffened, her already pinched-looking face growing tighter still. Sighing heavily, she put down her book and shared a meaningful look with her friends. "How can I help you, Lysander?" "Go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" Carolyn Pendleton froze, the only indication that she had heard him a slight twitch in her sharply outlined eyebrows. Next to Lysander, both Brady and Jim shifted in their seats. "Pardon me?" "You head me right." Lysander grinned, stretching his arms above his head. "You, me, the Three Broomsticks. Sounds marvellous, doesn't it?" Caro inhaled deeply, a smile forming on her face that was so sweet it made Brady fight the urge to duck his head. "I'd rather dip my head in a boiling cauldron, strip down naked and run around the Black Lake in a hailstorm but thank you anyway. It was sweet of you to consider me." Lysander grimaced. "Oh, what a shame. I shall not be able to continue to live, having suffered such a blow. Except..." Screwing shut his eyes, Lysander's face began to change. His smooth skin grew deep lines around a suddenly hard mouth. His hair, golden in the sunshine, darkened to a deep brown streaked with lines of silver. Wrinkles appeared between his now bushy brows, and a stubble as well as a close-cropped beard was covering his cheeks. He cracked his neck from side to side, the long scar running from the top of his hairline to the corner of his mouth shimmering subtly in the light. His transformation complete, the image of Potions Master Aesop Sharp wiggled his eyebrows at the gaping girls. "How about now?" Caro's cheeks flashed an alarming shade of pink, pinker than Brady had ever seen them. One of her friends giggled into her hands, biting her lip upon receiving an icy look from Caro. Then, she turned her steely eyes onto Lysander. "If you, for one sliver of a moment, think..." "And what would be the meaning of this?" Lysander froze, and so did Brady, Jim, and the girls in the shade as a shadow fell over Lysander - a shadow that bore a striking resemblance to the features the young shapeshifter's face had taken. Swallowing, Lysander's face returned to its normal form in less than a heartbeat. "Nothing, Professor Sharp. I was merely trying to brighten these lovely ladies' day." "Of course you were, Mercury." Professor Sharp gave him a long look, then turned his attention to the girls, who all of a sudden sat up straighter than they had a moment before. He nodded at Caro and the witch sitting right next to her. "Nyberg, Selwyn. With me. I have need of some competent potioneers to help me catalogue the latest delivery of nightshade and moondew." Brady could have sworn the Potions Master's eyes had grazed him on the word 'competent'. Across the courtyard, Caro and her friend Adelia Selwyn almost - almost - scrambled to their feet, whispering among themselves. Brady didn't think he had ever seen Carolyn Nyberg this flustered. As the two of them hurried past Brady and his friends, Lysander couldn't help himself. His eyebrows turned dark and bushy once more, wiggling as he whistled lowly through pursed lips. If possible, Adelia and Caro walked even straighter and with their heads held high but the flush climbing up their necks was undeniable as they hurried away.

[3mcwriting]

Check You Out

He was back again, Captain America.

Though that's not how you actually knew him. You knew him as the shy man that always said please and thank you when checking out his books. The man who would sit in the corner of the library, reading World War II books until you finally recommended some other types to him

He came often, at least 5 times a week always greeting you with a, "good evening, ma'am" or a, "how are you, miss?" Always waiting patiently for a response and smiling shyly at you.

And whenever he picked out a book he'd ask you if you had read it. Oftentimes, you had, but sometimes it would be a book you hadn't read and he would ask, "Well, if you'd like, ma'am, you can read it with me?" His voice would be unsure but always polite.

And on days when there weren't many people, you would accept, sitting with him at the window seat and flipping through the book. And the first time he forgot about his shyness was when your friendship was finally solidified.

He had been checking out a book about medicine.

"I'd like to check out this book, please."

"Of course, so you're interested in the medical field?" you asked him, scanning the book and handing it to him.

"Yes, ma'am, when I was younger we didn't have all this stuff and it's interesting. I had a couple of illnesses that weren't really treatable then and now they are so, it's amazing how much knowledge has been gained." He stopped, looking sheepish. “Sorry, I'll stop. You probably don’t want to hear me ramble.”

"What? No, don't stop. It's nice to see you so passionate about something. Normally you just sit in a corner and read your book, you're very reserved sometimes. Also, I think it’s an intriguing topic."

"Oh, are you interested in medicine too?"

"I'm actually in medical school right now, so, yeah, you could say that."

"Wow…” he breathed, looking awestruck. “That's amazing, so do you think..."

And you had spent the afternoon talking about the wonders of healing people. He was genuinely fascinated by it, seemingly in awe at the possibilities of how a person could heal others.

"So why do you come here?"

"Huh?” he asked, face screwed up in confusion.

"Well, this library is kind of out of the way and there are closer ones to Stark tower."

He gaped, making you laugh. "What? You think I didn't know you're Captain America? The shades and hood don't really hide you all that well."

"I just though since you didn't treat me any different than anyone else you didn't know." He looked embarassed.

"Well I assumed you didn't want to be, you came here to read just like anyone else here so why should I treat you different. But back to my question, why do you come to a library so out of the way?"

"I used to go to this library when I was younger," he said hesitantly.

You nodded. "Has it changed much?"

"Not really, everything is in the same place except the computer tables used to be just more bookshelves. Oh, and the lighting is new," he said, looking around.

Since then, he would always asks for recommendations, and often would stay until you closed up.

You snapped out of your thoughts, looking at the man in front of you. "How can I help you?"

"I'm so glad you asked. Why don't I take you back to my place and you'll find out. How's that sound, baby?"

You wrinkled your nose at the scent of alcohol and BO. "If you're not going to get a book, please leave."

"Oh, don't be like that honey I'm sure we can work something out-"

"She said to leave." An angry voice was heard.

"Chill,man, why do you care? Is that bitch yours? Damn you tapped that ass, you lucky-"

He stopped when a fist collided with his jaw, throwing him to the floor. Steve stood there, glaring at the man with rage in his eyes. "Don't ever call her a bitch and you better not ever go anywhere fucking near her or you'll end up with something worse than a broken jaw."

The sleazy man ran out of the library so fast he tripped out the door, all while holding his jaw and cursing Steve which only made him curse more when it hurt.

"You know, I had that covered. But still, thanks.”

Steve said. “I just can’t believe that after all this time people still feel like they can treat women so lowly. I know you had it covered though, so I’m sorry for making a ruckus in here. It’s just makes me angry.”

"Yeah, I noticed, I've never heard you swear before." Even on the days when he came back after missions and he was clearly stressed he never lashed out.

He flushed. "Sorry about that."

"Don't be, it was amusing. Plus that guy definitely got what he deserved, I'm not the only woman that's been hit on by him while he's drunk off his ass and is about as crude as a caveman."

"He's done that to other women too?” His voice got even angrier.

"Yeah, he's a sleaze."

He was clearly about to go out there and beat the man up, so you grabbed his wrist gently. "If you beat that guy up I'm going to have to suspend you from the library and I don't want to lose my favorite regular."

He blushed, almost forgetting about his previous angry thoughts when you said he was your favorite.

~~

"So, what will you be checking out today?" you asked Steve, stepping behind the counter.

"You." He blurted out, eyes widening when he realised what he had said. "I-I mean, uh I meant-"

You laughed. "Calm down, Rogers, it's ok."

He flushed, rubbing his neck sheepishly. "Well that wasn't how I wanted to ask you out." His eyes widened again, realising yet again what he had said.

You grinned at his expression, "Well how about you ask me out the way you wanted to?"

His jaw dropped, you laughed. This man just couldn't get a break from being shocked. And to you, it was extra hilarious because here was Captain-freaking-America looking like a shocked toddler.

He cleared his throat. "Would you go out with me?"

You winked at him, "I thought you'd never ask."

[viviennelamb]

Can you tell us more about how engaging in degeneracy (in thought or action) affects one's appearance, particularly in how one ages? Sorry if this is something you've gone over in your book, I haven't had the chance to purchase it yet. "Hitting the wall," and attraction politics in general is a common thing I used to see discussed in feminist spaces. They complain about how men don't want women to age and say men are the ones who only look good in their 20s. My thought when people talk about others "hitting the wall" is that it isn't simply getting older that makes someone look bad, but their habits are starting to show in their face because youth is so forgiving of self destructive behavior. That grace period wears off and all the alcohol, drugs, sex, anxiety and stress start to become evident. On social media I see women posting pictures of themselves saying "this is what a normal 30/40/50 year old woman looks like" and they look terrible. I occasionally see older women who look vibrant but most look dried out and dead inside. I even know people my age who look like that already. My generation is very obsessed with skincare, and to a certain degree I enjoy it as well. It feels good to take care of my skin but I try to keep it as simple and possible. It seems like people think having the perfect 10-step skincare routine is going to erase everything they're putting their body through.

I don't have much about the state of the body in OTE as it is about how to identify and remove egotism from your life, but the next book is filled with this topic.

With accelerated aging, the usual wrinkles in the face, dry skin, sensitivity to the sun are a given. Most males lose their hair at an early age, and women as well. This doesn't include people who were born with finer textures of hair, I'm talking about people with thick hair, losing the majority of it by the time they turn 30. But aging within the body is what matters even more: joint pain, poor immune system, tooth decay and loss, loss of the senses, nerve damage, "early on-set" dementia, etc.

I've seen 18-year-olds look like a mediocre 50 (the one I'm referring to in particular talked about sex almost non-stop and was into BSDM). It's also quite shocking how old "old" people look in general, there's always been something off with the amount of unrecognizable change we see in a relatively short period of time. Sorry, but 50 years is not a long time, but it is if you're putting your body through a daily hell—rampant abuse of the mind and body is the culprit. This is the primary reason why capitalism will not die, it's because people need to work to buy products that don't work to make themselves feel clean without actually being clean. Skin care, organic eating, cleanses, detoxes emerge from the desire to clean oneself from of self-abuse. The best detox is to stop putting stuff into and on the body and let the body heal on its own. The body is self-sustaining until it's taught that it isn't.

Whenever somebody is really sexual online, and then they post a picture, they look just as repulsive as the words they spew. I haven't seen an exception to this yet. It's incredible that they think they're attractive, but sexophiles have a different standard among themselves. They have to hold on to their youth because they won't have it for long. I've seen the absolute most hideous and repulsive people considered attractive because they've been vocal about their sexcapades.

The “standards” discussion is fake, lustful people fuck anything they can get their hands on. Men and women are having an ego brawl when it comes to the beauty/aging discussion, truth is they're equally yoked. Once they're together in person, it's a fundamentally different story, which is why they say “This doesn't happen IRL.” Filth attracts filth regardless of the pseudo-values and artificial types postured.

Being attractive is a thing when it comes to particular features because that doesn't matter. It's really more a test of time. There's a discernible difference between people who abuse themselves and who don't. It's incredibly obvious when you become more discriminating. It's not just an energy, either, but something that can be observed. People who have sex morph into monstrous aliens—the more sex they have, the more grotesque. The eyes really are the window to the soul.

A woman hits the wall when she knows the truth about men, it doesn't necessarily correlate with age. Men want to see that you're not defiled. When men see that you're still pure, they have an urge to destroy you and then get a younger chick to do the same thing. The older a woman is, the more likely she is to be sexually damaged, and they don't want that. They want to do the damaging themselves.

Chastity, meditation and loving God has reversed all the “mysterious” problems I experienced previously, and it hasn't been close to a year yet. Never thought I'd say having a period is enjoyable, but it is now.

[strqyr]

I mean, I agree on the criticism of RWBY's women falling into that anime pit trap of 15-40 being indistinguishable, but I really don't get what you're saying about these new designs looking much more mature than what we've seen before. Like, I may not be able to immediately assume Kali is old enough to have a 20 year old child but if you put her next to the new movie Blake I'd still say she looks a bit older.

okay, how should i put this... when you put rwby from the show and rwby from the part 2 side-by-side, you can immediately tell that they look more mature in the latter. it's like the difference between being in the late teens vs being in late twenties-early thirties. this difference is achieved completely by fairly subtle changes here and there that add up.

the only reason kali looks older is bc she has lines under her eyes to give her an older look. take those away and she barely looks any different than 19-year-old blake. now this would be fine, i guess, if she was the exception to the rule—people age differently and some keep their 'baby-face' where the only difference between now and then is the wrinkles—but slapping couple lines under female character's eyes and calling it the day was pretty much the default. like you could even keep the face shape the same, all it would really take is to make their eyes just that much smaller and it would already make a huge difference. that's pretty much what they've done with male characters; just compare ozpin with jaune or ren in V1 and even though ozpin still looks very, very youthful, you can tell that he's an adult compared to two teenagers even without lines under his eyes.

(i would say they even managed this with glynda in V1-2 from the screenshots i'm looking at so credit where credit is due, but for some reason her eyes in V3 are different—or at least feel different, it's 3am and i really should be sleeping rn lmao) (actually no i think her whole face is different in V3. at least at times. it's like she has two models or it's the same model and they're doing different things with her eyes)

like it really is the difference between being able to immediately tell that a character is an adult and looks more mature compared to teenagers vs having to guess if this woman who is allegedly in their 40s is someone's mom or their sister.

just make their eyes smaller, that's all i'm really asking. you can keep the face shapes the same, you can even keep the lines under their eyes, just give them smaller eyes that's like the first thing you go for when you want to make a character look younger / older. please.

[ladyathenawisdom]

I know you only put snippet 5.1 up two days ago but I just wanted to tell you that it is AMAZING. If you choose to continue it I will be indebted to you forever lol

Hiiii! I'm so glad you liked it! Here's the third part!

Snippet 5.2

Warnings: Language, Past Trauma. Part 3.

Part 4

..........

Hero kept on turning and tossing all night, mumbling incoherently in agony because of her nightmares. But also because she wasn't comfortable in this bed with her worst enemy.

She turns, whimpering a whisper..

Supervillain blinks, opening his eyes in annoyance before realizing it was her making the sounds. He frowns in confusion, sitting up slightly.

Hero whimpers, mumbling under her breath as she turned her back to him. She groans and hugs herself.

Supervillain stares at her for a few seconds. He remembered what she had said, he didn't forget. It just made him pity her more, he didn't fully hate her but he didn't fully like her either.

But he wouldn't hurt her, not atleast, intentionally.

He hesitatinly lays down behind her turning to her and wrapping an arm around her waist. He feels her relax immediately, her breathes coming out even as she slept.

Supervillain smiles and finally relaxes, allowing him to sleep with the Hero in his arms.

.....

Hero stirs the next morning. She pauses.

Someone was holding her.

She instantly freezes and slowly turns to face the intruder, her eyes widen when she sees Supervillain sleeping.

And holding her.

She swallows hard, flinching away and moving away. She turns her back to him and hugs herself, slightly tired from her night terrors. She clenches her eyes close, why the hell was he holding her?

It's a few minutes later when she feels the bed stir, hearing a small groan. She turns in on herself m, covered in the blankets like a cocoon.

She then hears Supervillain get off the bed, hearing his footsteps walk towards the large bathroom. The door closes and she immediately relaxes. She sighs and closes her eyes, wondering why had he been holding her?

Wait, he didn't touch her last night, right? No, she would have felt it. And her body fel the same, except for the fact that she was tired. Other than that, she felt the same. Nothing hurt.

She opens her eyes before slowly sitting up in bed, still slightly groggy.

"Ahh, your awake."

Her eyes look up to see Supervillain walk out of the bathroom, all ready to go. He stared at her, eyeing the way she was fidgeting her hands nervously.

"Relax, I'm not gonna hurt you." Supervillain rolls his eyes. He gave her a smile. "However, that doesn't mean you don't belong to me."

Hero frowns, shifting in her seat. She hated the way that made her feel warm and giddy inside.

Supervillain keeps his gaze on her as he locks his cufflinks to his black button up shirt.

Hero slowly grabs the duvet to cover herself up, staring at him with a upside down smile.

"Don't frown too much," Supervillain says walking over to the closet. "You'll get wrinkles."

Hero rolls her eyes. "So what, should I be happy? Being here, with you?"

"Hmm, I didn't say that." Supervillain shrugs. "You might wanna get up and get changed. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,"

"Absolutely not. When I said that I would only show my face to you, I meant it."

Supervillain blinks, turning to look at her. He stared at her, like she was something else itself.

Hero only stares at him, her lips pursued.

Supervillain smiles, dark and forbearing. "I know, sweetheart,"

"-don't call me sweetheart."

Supervillain ignores the interruption and continues. "That's why only the people I trust will live here with me and you, mostly you since I will be out doing work."

"You mean being a villain," Hero grumbles.

"But seeing as your face is something you won't show to heroes and villains. I've threatened all my people, even the ones I fully trust, that if they tell your identity to anyone...." Supervillain chuckles darkly, his eyes flashing. "Let's just say, it won't be pretty."

Hero raises an eyebrow. "Is that true?"

"I might be a villain, but that doesn't make us full time liars." Supervillain rolls his eyes, he then looks at her. "Now, get up and get ready. You may look super hot like that, but I need you to be super extra pretty than you are." He turns and walks out of the room, a smirk on his face as the door closes..

Hero had turned red, her cheeks flushing with heat. She glares at the duvet. Why did he have to say that out loud?

[omgkalyppso]

For Étoile & Meabh!

face: Describe your OC's face. What's their smile like? Are their orbs cerulean? What would someone notice first when looking at them?

motion: How does your OC move? How does their clothing help or hinder their range of motion? Are they flexible, coordinated, clumsy?

formal: What's your OC's formal look? Do they like dressing up? Do they have different looks for different occasions?

road: What does your OC wear while traveling? Do they have high-quality equipment, or are they making do? What does their gear look like?

change: Has your OC ever drastically changed their appearance? Significant haircuts, big tattoos, complete wardrobe swap, etc? Why? How do they feel about the change?

Thank you for the ask! ♪(^∇^*)

Face

Étoile has a rectangular face. It looks round / ovular often, but I think they look most like themself when you can see the shape of their jaw and cheekbones.

They have a fairly prominent (and expressive) brow, so it makes up for how small their eyebrows are fdghfdh. Their nose is prominent, but it's width / placement (I think it's actually high on their face, but you can't tell because of their narrow eyes) balances well. They rarely smile with their teeth and can come across as reserved to strangers, but while often polite, they lack enough subtlety to be deceptive about their feelings.

Their skin tone isn't one that's available to high elves by default in bg3 - Earth Tone 6. I don't think this means anything.

I describe their eyes as gold, but the setting in-game is actually Brown 3, the light just hits them right often enough that no one's questioned me on it.

They have subtle wrinkles to go with their subtle grey hair that is picked up in almost None of the in-game lighting, but I think their age is obvious / apparent to those who would meet them.

The first things that people notice about Étoile probably have little to do with their face, so for their sake I'm going to reinterpret this as what people start to notice when they start looking, which are their beauty marks and laugh lines.

Meabh has a heart-shaped face.

She has thick eyebrows, and a nose that I would hesitate to call big, but I guess that's perspective? dfghdfg Her smiles stretch and wrinkle her face with mania! Even about the little things.

Her skin tone is Warm Tone 2 in bg3, and so is fairly pale skinned. She has some freckles (about medium quantity with 1/4 intensity).

Her orbs may as well be cerulean (Elf Blue 2). Hate that. fgdhdfghdfg And I've used one of the make up settings to give her discoloration / dark(er?) circles around her eyes.

She has more wrinkles and grey hair than Étoile but somehow looks like she has less wrinkles imo. I think she looks young for her age, the way half-elves can. She's like forty-five.

The first thing people notice about Meabh, if they're lucky enough to notice anything at all, is either her beauty (quickly dismissed by her words, attitude or that smile) or that her eyes often focus a little beyond people. She only looks at a select few directly unless she's tearing them apart.

Motion

Both Étoile and Meabh move purposefully. However Meabh is because she strives not to waste energy, or expend it in wasteful pursuits; while Étoile is considerate about how they might come across to others. And this comes across differently for each of them also, with Meabh generally not touching others except with morbid curiosity, and with Étoile gauging how much contact is polite / expected / acceptable with friends and loved ones.

Meabh is very flexible and will sometimes wear a jacket that hinders this for the sake of comfort or misdirection, but generally she wears clothing and armor that suits their range of motion.

Étoile is fairly flexible (12 Dex from start to end game), and generally does not dress to hinder it any further, however, they wear a bunch of layers to try to stave off any too-insightful criticisms from people who might care too much about their body without actually having a stake in the matter (a desire for intimacy, etc.), and also just for their personal comfort. They typically wear 2 tight upper layers beneath 1-2 loose upper layers, with the topmost of these layers tucked into their pants / belt / whatever. I think their trans features are more obvious than their in-game model suggests.

Formal

Étoile definitely almost-never had any formal events in their adventuring life pre-canon, but they would have had three nice outfits just in case — something for Adventuring Guild events, something for wedding-attendance, and something for nice dates (overdressed twice, hasn't found a use for the outfit).

Unlucky them! Definitely none of these outfits survived all their things being sold on the presumption that they died when they went missing during the nautiloid abduction.

And I didn't buy them they didn't buy any new outfits in act 3. They definitely would have been concerned about needing to pay for a nebulous something else as the journey escalated — bail, scrolls, healing, someone's freedom again based on Oskar, etc. I also think this is very silly, but they would also go back into "work mode" and be thinking about how they'd have to divide the gold at the end of the journey, assuming everyone survived.

All this to say, Astarion definitely bought their epilogue outfit / insisted on the purchase for appearances with the spawn / their friends, and for formality with Baldur's Gate's upper crust, even if generally outfits have to be cheap and functional on the budget that has to account for the spawn.

As for style, Étoile casually likes colors (even if they're balanced on black) and one or two patterns; formality often doesn't change this or even lets them be a little louder. They like high collars.

Meabh's even less likely to be at a formal event. Certainly they've never attended a funeral. I think she was always in the shadows at public events or in ceremonial / Bhaalist garb once the plan was in motion.

If the plan worked, and Meabh had to entertain foreign dignitaries in their ruined city, then she could tolerate looking elegant so long as her entourage was still appropriately intimidated. She could wear a backless dark green satin dress, a cherry red suit, or anything that counts as formal and is black.

Road

Étoile is either travelling as an adventurer or on months-years long journeys to move from one place to another; in either case it is appropriate to wear armour for travel; and up until recently it was habit to wear the tabard of their Paladin order as a point of pride if for no other reason. They have definitely had months-long periods where they were "making due," but for the most part their equipment is of a standard "good" quality; the bg3 adventure stands out as a journey that yielded greater treasures for them.

As for what it looks like, I think when Étoile knows they're going to be travelling and isn't expecting to be facing combat daily that they more sensibly wear leather and other lighter alternatives to fucking plate and splint and whatever. They like being in white and blue for their association with the cold; but they'll be practical about appearances for the sake of travel.

Meabh never really went anywhere pre-canon and doesn't quite intend to go anywhere post-canon. Baldur's Gate is their home and chosen throne, with more than enough lives to entertain for a good long while, and then: a beacon to rival cities and righteous neighbours.

Did the Emperor dress durge? Where did that starter rogue's get up come from? Waking stripped and bloody fresh off an autopsy, it'd be cool to think she could have taken it off someone who didn't survive the illithid's attention; which would make it just something else they didn't exactly choose for themself. They make do.

Adopting Sceleritas as the Bhaalist stylist headcanon, he would have made sure there were sufficient armorsets in unassuming brown and Bhaalist black for Meabh to wear when they needed to venture a few hours down the road or across the planes.

Change

When I think of Étoile as a child, it's much more feminine, with dresses and long braided hair, but still tall and especially awkward. I think they stopped wearing dresses after their first major break-up / heartache, and cut off their long(er) hair when their mother died, and now the kept-length (or having a maximum length before cutting it again) is subconscious.

In Étoile's post-canon, they die (vampirism) before their surviving mother; but if in another scenario they outlived Aranea, then they might grow their hair out again after her passing.

I have not yet beaten bg3 with Meabh, and especially not with the upcoming evil endings 👀. But as it stands, with what I know, I've told two people that Meabh would transform into Slayer form with no intention of turning back after Enver's death if I allow him to die like in canon. Don't you love a tragedy?

Also, Meabh started indulging Sceleritas with more accents and presence and grandiosity in their outfits after Enver found his way back into her life (when she's around twenty years old). A curse in disguise for Sceleritas.

[rosiedoestumblr]

40 looks so good on you, Ms. Rosie! I hope I’m as cool as you when I’m 40. I’m currently 28, and aging kind of scares me, but it’s people like you that make me feel like there’s nothing to be scared of. 🩷 Thanks for sticking around the internet (specifically Fall Out Boy spaces) as long as you have, it’s always quite a treat to see you on my dash. Have a good day!!

Aw, thanks dude! That's such a nice thing to say (I think you may be mistaken about exactly how cool I am, though). I know I'm really fortunate that having Sicilian genes and a chubby face disguises some of the ageing process, but bear in mind that (as with most people) the pictures I share are probably one or two out of 30 I took to find a couple from a good angle, with good lighting, possibly a Norfolk Terrier or a scarf over my chin to hide how many of them I've cultivated in the last 20 years... I also tend to keep my make up (except my eyeliner) quite natural, because I find that helps keep you looking fresh faced - but that principle shouldn't dictate what you wear.

Here is my stupid face right now, without make up and with unwashed hair. I developed adult acne after having immaculate skin when I was a teenager, possibly because my dog keeps standing on it or licking all over it. I have OCD and what is (appointment pending) probably about to be diagnosed as ADHD, so I'm a chronic skin picker, hence the scars all over my chin and forehead. I've also got fine lines under my eyes, bottom lip and on my forehead, but automatic settings on modern phone cameras kind of smooth the worst of them out.

The whole thing about getting older can be scary, but mostly because we've all been raised on the Boomer-generation's expectations, through movies, TV, adverts and the like, and a lot has changed. We're really fortunate to live at a time where being yourself is much more acceptable than it used to be, in most (although sadly not all) cases. Every advert you see is specifically designed to make you feel inadequate and make you fear irrelevance, but only so they've got an excuse to sell you something you can live without. Whether that's a fancier car or anti-wrinkle cream.

You don't actually have to do the stuff that really ages you, unless you want to. You can keep going to shows (to be honest, gigs have got so expensive we see more people our age there than younger people, who often struggle to afford what bands are asking). You can keep wearing band shirts. You can keep dying your hair and getting tattoos. You can keep being passionate about it. You're a grown ass adult, it's down to you to make your own choices. You don't have to give up what you love, but sometimes you have to be creative about the time you find in which to enjoy it. And you'll appreciate that more.

I've never wanted kids, so I haven't had any.

I never went to uni, but I fell into a career that pays me alright, and it's not an industry I care a lot about (I'm a gas safety contract manager) but I see it as a resource that allows me to do the things that I really want to, the rest of the time.

It's important to remember to live your own life, not the life someone else - anyone else - wants you to. You have to be pragmatic, obviously, and if you choose to settle down with another person then give and take will always be necessary, but don't ever let someone tell you what you can and can't be interested in because of your age (except you, Prince Andrew) or what you can or can't spend your own spare time and disposable cash doing. Keep loving the things you love, if they still captivate you. Fuck anyone who would tell you otherwise! It's the joylessness of giving up your identity to become nothing but your life obligations that costs you the most.

For my part, I'm pretty squarely between Patrick and Andy, age-wise. Fall Out Boy are my generation. We've grown up together, in a fannish sense. It's not like a TV show might be, where the characters are still young and I've gotten old in the last 18 years, they're still relatable to me, even now. Which is probably a lot of the reason I'm still here, specifically.

Watching the waves of new fans discovering the band over the years has been fun, really. Partly because it makes us truly geriatric emos feel like mystical sages sitting on the lonely mountain tops of Old Timer Fandom, offering anecdotes from bandom drama long ago, to young adventurers who approach us with news from the mists of TikTik to ask if things really happened, and witnessing the same things happening cyclically, every couple of years.

New blood means Pete will feel validated and Patrick will feel relevant they'll continue to feel they have something to offer/sell (look what happened when an album didn't do as well...) and it's hard to fault that.

Focus on enjoying your life and your interests as they are now (although do think about saving some of your money when you can, because you'll thank yourself later) and fuck worrying about everything else. You'll find you don't feel any different, when you get where I am, than you do now, anyway.

You have a good day, too. And thanks again for saying such kind things. xoxo

[ennaku-sirri-da]

i thought this time

this time, I'm gonna make it

why I thought so, I really don't know

maybe something in his eyes just told me so

tell me lies, and i'll come runnin'

[ ID: Traditional fanart of Kamal Bora and Dr. Habit from Smile For Me the game. The style is semi-realistic.

In the artist’s redesign, Habit has a gaunt face with protruding furry cheeks, cotton-stuffed ears, then red fur-ruffles under his makeup-applied eyes, then a thin pencil stache with surrounding hair on the chin and neck. He is balding on one side of the head. On the neck is a visible Adams apple. He has a X-like scar near his mouth, and stitches on his neck, scars on his ball-jointed, wrinkled hands. He has on purple eyeshadow and red claws plus lipstick. All his hair is in shades of rose-pink. Habit wears a fur-like blue coat with rougher yet still soft material for teal sleeves. A rose is kept in a stitched-in chest pocket.

Kamal meanwhile looks mostly the same except for a more aged appearance-- wrinkly face and white streaks in grayish hair. Some acne and sharp stubble, hair on fingers, gaptooth is visible. He sports a single gold earring. His full sleeve shirt is red.

They are colored somewhat roughly with a mixture of colored pencils and sketches. From the front view, Habit has his arms around the other, bending down and touching Kamal's hair. His own hair surrounds the both of them. Kamal rests one hand in the other's, the palm of which is soft, patched cotton. His other hand is held up to one side of his face which bears a weary, pained expression. Eyes closed, tears escape. Habit smiles( he has broken teeth) in a way that's taking strain. He too weeps in much the same way.

BG is a messily painted vivid deep yellow overlaid with many ribbons of red swaying through. Habit and Kamal are below the top of the BG, mostly encircled on the outer lines by encroaching red paint. Lyrics to a mashup of Viva la Vida and Pompeii read, in slightly different fonts and colors( blue pen, black and purple sketches)--

I used to rule the world

Seas would rise when I gave the word

Now in the morning I sleep alone

I was left to my own devices

Many days fell away with nothing to show

And the walls kept tumbling down in the city that we love

I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringin'

Roman cavalry choirs are singing

But if you close your eyes

DOES it almost feel like NOTHING changed at all?

Above the two is a line from Habit- " Trust me, trust me tomorrow is the day. " end ID]

Oh uh talk under the cut!

People, I'll admit, if I haven't before-- and if I have, then I request pardon, because my memory isn't that great-- I worry about posting stuff like this. I worry I'm being too emotional, too attached, too personal, just weird....

But I must be the one to tell my story and share it. Take it or leave it. I'm just another face in this crowd with my own trifles. If you'll listen to my passing songs, all is good and well just the same as when you don't.

Well I guess I can start with how I'm amazed that I've drawn this. This is nearly 10 years of improvement. I'm proud!

And OK, yeah, this was drawn for my birthday. But it has more of a New Years feeling in my head. Something like..." oh my god, we survived ". Something like a beginning but not a wholly new one; the road you have tread so far is still behind you. Strewn with all manners of things. How I think about it. The days were there when I think and think about them and forget to go forward. And sometimes it will all catch up to me and break away the forward path.

It's incredibly painful.

I won't go too much into that but imagine my mind when I heard a soft, sweet acoustic cover of Pompeii by Bastille. It's a song I've previously associated with those bottomless pit-like emotions. So this was like a sign from God himself--not even exaggerating. It felt like a glimpse into when everything could be over.

When Heaven is real, and the angels have said, " Your journey is over, now rest."

But still I am on Earth. The moment is brief and finite, however long. Happiness after pain and then pain to continue.

Here that is. I have painted it for myself.

Words are hard...

It had begun again. You don't mind.

That's what friends are for.

---