#the color transitions look so smooth!

[springweaver]

Hello! I am finally finished with my wool dying antics (for now). Here are the results.

So I’ve been planing to make a day blanket for my bed for a while now, a project I’ve wanted to do for a variety of different reasons: - big rainbow c: - opportunity to use as much leftover wool as possible - opportunity to dye more wool

since my rigid heddle can only do 40cm max in width I was going to weave 4 strips and just sew them together. This meant that all my colors needed to be dividable by four. I then went through my stash to get everything usable and discovered that I already had 16 greens.

So I decided to take the easy way out and just dye until i had 16 of every color. (This means that I’ll probably have a whole bunch of leftovers, but ehh.) So after making a whole bunch of mini-skeins (around 15-20g each), I started with my 14 purples.

they came out really well! Although it’s really hard to mess purple up imo. It just has so much going on. Next were the 12 reds. 

Even though I really like them as well, they are a lot more subtle in their differences, and it shows up even less on camera. One batch was supposed to be a lot more pinkish, but looking at the photos now, i don’t even know which one. After some sleep(s), I tackled the 12 blues.

while the colors are very nice, that first batch is the only one I‘m genuinely unhappy with - it’s a lot greener that I wanted. So be careful if you ever try turquoises! I dyed the 6 yellows after this, and that was the reason why I didn’t try out a greenish yellow. Maybe another time. 

And the the last color: orange, of which I had to do 16, since I didn’t have any in my leftover box.

The oranges came out really well, although I forgot to take a picture of them on the drying rack. :( And that was that! I let them dry on the rack like that for a few days (or weeks, oops) then washed them, and hung them up again (but properly this time).

And here they are now!! Fully dry and back into little skeins, one of each batch for comparison.

And that’s it!! I am REALLY happy with how these turned out, and can’t wait to weave with them. Sadly, I still need to dye my warp threads, and also complete another bunch of projects which are much higher on the priority list (Christmas gifts I didn’t get done in time. Yes, I know its may. I’m working on it. Dx) But I will make a post for the blanket, when I start with that :) I hope you all have a nice day!!

[likedbyuarmyhope]

rn my queue is full of all the posts that were left in my likes and drafts but as soon as that runs out i’m gonna start being normal and just reblog stuff as i see it. you know. like a normal person

[roseblog-rog]

I Guess I Do Belong in the Woman’s Room.

It’s always a scary endeavor: going into a public restroom as a trans person. There’s always that fear of being outed or shunned or screamed at or punished or SOMETHING. So many risks, all for pissing. But I digress, I have no time to worry due to how badly I have to go.

I enter the woman’s room to find a group of five girls doing makeup in the long mirror which spans the whole bathroom, lined with sinks and soap dispensers. The floor is white with recently cleaned tiles, the gray stalls packed together on the opposite side. The walls are a soft shade of pink that almost feels…comforting. Inviting.

Though no other people aside from the group appear to be in here, I move quick. I swiftly and quietly do my business and exit the stall to wash my hands, moving to the opposide side away from the group of girls, who are now giggling and applying their different colored lipstick. They’re all really fucking pretty, and I feel a warm blush creep up onto my face. I pray their laughter has nothing to do with me. That hope is short lived, however, as one of them—the one with red lips—speaks in a deep airy voice once I finish washing my hands.

“Hey girl, your fly is still open.”

Shit. Well that’s embarrassing. I nod and quickly fiddle with my zipper. I must’ve forgotten to zip it up after buttoning my pants with how much I was rushing to leave. Hopefully they didn’t notice my—

The one with pink lips speaks now, her voice being much higher and softer. “I’m sorry…but is that a bulge?”

Fuck. Now all five girls are glancing down at the bulge in my jeans. It looks so much more obvious in this new light. My face goes completely red.

“No! No. I uh…uhm…” I struggle to formulate an excuse, voice on the verge of cracking with how high and feminine I’m trying to make it combined with the tears starting to form my eyes. My worst fears were being realized, and the most embarrassing part is my gock begins twitching from all the attention.

Red chuckes and speaks again. “Hey, don’t worry girl. In case you haven’t noticed you’re not the only one packing here.”

The blunt response startles me, but with the invitation to look I now notice that all five of them also have bulges, though theirs are much harder than mine, which makes me shiver from…something.

“We didn’t mean to startle you.” Purple speaks in a rough, bright voice, elbowing Pink, who looks down in shame. “We were just, well,” she glances back down at my crotch and smirks “curious.”

“Yeah, sorry for the scary question. We get how it can be in public restrooms.” Pink looks incredibly guilty.

“Haha…yeah, sorry. I didn’t mean to get so startled.” My voice settles in it’s natural state, which is still fairly feminine, though deep enough to warrant ‘suspicion’. The blush slowly fades from my face, the tears subside and my breath levels. I’m safe.

“Though I have to ask…why were you so afraid? You belong in here just like anyone else.” Blue pipes in with her quiet and monotone voice, raising an eyebrow at me.

I itch to leave, but something about the group is so comforting and intriguing that I endulge their curiosity. “Well…not really. I mean, I’m at a point in my transition where I’m much more feminine……” I trail off.

“But..?” Purple prompts.

“But I’m still so tall and lanky, my voice is deep, my stubble is annoyingly apparent…I guess I don’t feel pretty enough to be in here comfortably.”

The last member of the group, Orange, walks forward towards me at this response, clearly checking me out. I fidget in place as she gets closer. She’s taller than me, just an inch or two, but still noticeable as I slightly tilt my head up to look at her face. She’s beautiful. Her voice is so silky smooth it brings my blush right back onto my face.

“I think you’re pretty.”

I look down at the ground, my blush reaching embarrassing levels of red. I blush way too easily. “Thank you, uh, I think you’re pretty too.” I notice just how much my voice wobbles, whether it be from embarrassment or being so flustered.

Orange lifts her right hand up to my chin, using her pointer finger to gently lift my face back up to meet her gaze. I twitch again, ugh. “I mean it, how could you think you aren’t pretty enough to be here?”

She turns my body to face the mirror, and I really look at myself: my red and freckled face, my long blonde hair, my wide hips, my bulked up arms, my boobs…everything. Orange stands right behind me, softly smiling as she moves her hands down my waist. It feels so fucking good, I’ve always been so sensitive to touch…but…

“W..wait! I barely know you.” I stutter out as I move away from her. My hardening gock betrays my sentiment, but I ignore it.

Orange’s gaze softens. “That’s okay…forgive me for being so forward.” She glances down. “Though it seems like someone wants more.”

My face feels so hot I think I might just die. I can barely even get any words out, just mindless stutters. The only word I manage to speak before my mind completely blanks is “Please.”

Orange’s gaze darkens with a smirk. “Girls! Let’s help her realize just how pretty she is.”

The five of them now crowd around me, moving me so I once again face the mirror. I’m shaking, my now fully erect gock starting to drip as Red lifts my shirt off of me. Pink goes to undo my jean button and zipper while Black pulls them down. Blue undoes my bra while Orange once again begins feeling up my now exposed body. Despite the circumstances it feels so…freeing. So beautiful and—oh FUCK.

Red begins to kiss just above my right breast, leaving a very obvious lipstick mark. The five of them grin so simultaneously it’s almost terrifying. Almost. They all begin feeling me up while kissing me with their multicolored lips. I’m moaning and whimpering so much at this point that one of them exclaims “Looks like someone’s a noisemaker. She’s adorable!” However, my mind is so fuzzy and warm at this point that I can’t even tell who says it.

They’re pressed so closely against my shaking frame that it’s impossible for me to fall to my knees despite my wobbling. I can feel their hot bodies against mine, hear their heavy breathing as we all start to sweat. My skin begins to be covered with red and pink and purple and blue and orange. Little reminders of this wonderful group.

Soon enough one of them pulls my panties down and immediately makes an excited noise at my hard, dripping gock. “Holy shit! You’re gorgeous!” I then feel the now familiar sensation of a mouth being closed around it, a tongue starting to feel around it, and this earns several loud moans. The kisses from the other four girls get rougher and more sensual: sucking and biting and licking all over my quivering frame.

I feel bliss, seeing my naked body being marked and used and sucked by all these women, and I start to feel so beautiful. I notice the clear markings and lip stains…but I also notice my soft skin and nice curves and all the little things I don’t usually stop to look at. I notice how pretty and shiny my gock is, as each girl takes turns sucking on it.

I feel everything. There’s so much stimulus that I start shaking harder and moaning even more. I can barely hold myself up, but one of them is clutching me tightly by the hips to keep me from falling. “I want you to say how pretty you are.” Of course. Who am I to deny her?

“I’m pretty.” I barely get the words out.

“Again. Say it like you mean it.”

I feel myself teetering on the edge of an orgasm, a rare sensation for me with how far my transition is. I’m now completely coated in multicolored lips and bite marks and hickeys and various fluids. It’s…well, it’s pretty.

“I’m pretty!” I shout it this time, staring myself down in the mirror.

“One more time, you’re doing so good.”

“I’m pretty! I’m so fucking pretty!” I lock eyes with myself as I cum into whoever’s mouth is sucking me. I’m breathing so heavily I’m almost afraid for my safety…but these women are here for me. I’m okay.

They help me sit down and crowd closely around me, the scent of our sweat and their makeup becoming much more apparent. It’s all so wonderful and safe and relaxing that my eyes start to shut as they coddle me and play with my hair.

“It’s okay baby, you can rest.”

The last thought running through my mind is how pretty I am before I fade out of consciousness.

~~~

MY FIRST TIME WRITING SMUT WOAG!!! Because this is such a momentous occasion and I am so awesome, @xenasaur @lilithtransrights enjoy my cool lil thing.

[rinbowaman]

“Child of the Sea”

A Drabble from the Mermaids Tale series, and dedicated to @hoonieshoney, my little Siren (if yk…then yk.) you did wonderful in your latest Drabble, so take this since you inspired this piece. Enjoy heedam 😈

Warnings: non con smut, dub-con, submissive reader, hesitation, cursing, unprotected smut in detail, breeding kink, baby trapping, unwanted pregnancy l, reader forced into getting pregnant, a slightly whiny Heeseung, this is based of the MT series so it may be confusing unless you’ve read the entire series (which is completed btw). Enjoy.

“Can you hear the ocean, baby?”

His voice submits you into a quivering quake of anticipation and fear. Yet there was something pleasing to the sense of danger in the arousal that forms inside, and he knows it. He creates it and makes you desire more, no matter how hard you try to fight against him.

“Tell me you can hear it.” He gently coos you as he rings his fingers and pushes back the strands of your hair aside, admiring your natural yet extraordinary features. Blessed as the descendant of Poseidon, your turquoise eyes glitter like the jewel itself, while your raving burgundy hair compliments the dark red lips. While many would initially mistake the colors of your DNA for colored contacts and hair dye, they would all drop dead upon finding out that it was all a reflection of your ancestors godly genealogy traits. “My beautiful siren. Sing for me, won’t you baby?”

You both lay facing each other. You didn’t have a choice, since he captured and held you against your will months ago, he’s forced you to sync with his schedule. Due to your recent good behavior, he clipped the chains and allowed you a certain amount of freedom in the room, even when he would be in the next one handling some business. However, no matter how much little freedom he permitted, you would never be allowed out of his grasp or sight. Rule of thumb was for you to remain within one hundred feet at all times, breaking that crucial rule resulted in you being locked away in the underground spa that he had costumed built, where the entire pool was surrounded by a smooth wall that caved the water in, similar to a well. The water came straight from the sea, and only a narrow stoop leading to the front door, escalating out of the shallow end allowed him to stand and watch you during his visits. The last time he had you locked in, forcing your transformation, he kept you as his pet and enjoyed keeping you in secrecy for nearly a whole month. The pool was deep. Below the surface, into the deeper end, the wall transition from brick stone to glass, where he could watch you from the other side in the underground chambers of a luxurious bedroom. Everytime you’d dive down and lurk to the bottom, you could see him sitting in a grand velvet chair, sipping in a glass of wine with his legs loosely crossed as he watched you in awe. How beautiful and magical did you look with your mermaid tail flowing behind.

Sometimes, he’d come up to the glass and press his palm flat against it, beckoning you to come up and flush your own with his. You knew better than to not come up when you’d hear the tapping of his fingers; disobeying him led to other punishments that were far too brutal. So even as much as you hated being treated as his little guppie in the wide aquarium, you had to pick your battles wisely.

All the more reason why you displayed your good girl behavior. You didn’t really realize that it was all part of his tactic in training you to become obedient, and respect the rules he set forth, all so he can keep you isolated and only where he can have you. Initially you behaved as part of a ploy to plot your escape, but day after day you found yourself becoming complacent, never finding the right moment to strike. You’ve attempted to use the Sirens Edge, yet he was far more immune to it than you expected. All thanks to his Adam traits mixed with the Siren DNA from the early ancestors of the clan. You hated to admit it, and still haven’t bend enough to fully do so, but little by little, you’ve come to accept your fate right this man in knowing that you’ll never escape and he’ll always keep you. The worst part? Someday you were going to be forced to bear him sons…all of which will continue the long pure lines of tradition in enhancing the longevity of the Clan of Adam.

Still, despite harboring such hatred and disgust towards him, his gentler and loving moments somewhat appealed to you. That was, after all, the whole reason why you were here. The reason why he caught and kept you. Punishing and training you…it was all because he loved you. Too much…

You hum a tune as he lays closely, his nose touching yours. He joins in as he recognizes the tune of your favorite song and incorporates the lyrics. “Sing either me baby.” Compelled to obey, you softly sing the lyrics. The mesh of both your voices combine a beautiful and harmonious sound that would put the entire world into a state of hypnotic slavery, for the women would abide by his demands under his serenade spell, and the men under yours.

The both of you continue to sing, and that’s when you notice his hands roaming. Please…not again.

“Keep singing.” He speaks against your skin darkly. You had to give it to him, he was devastatingly handsome and the alluring sense of his features only grew more wild as his eyes became darker and more dangerous. They nearly glowed purple, contrasting against your beautiful turquoise gems as he grips a fistful of hair on the back of your head. He pushes you flat against the bed, pressing his lips against yours. It was hard and abrasive, yet the beat of his passion weakened you. It was so contradicting how much you hated and enjoyed the feeling he made you experience.

During the kiss, he grabs on to your bicep and further pins you down, nearly digging you into the satin mattress. His free hand swipes up, riding along your inner thigh and it too, is pinned down against the sheets. He spreads you wide open, preparing you into prime position for him to plow into you, just as always.

Already half nude, he takes advantage of your full nudity as he unzips his trousers and whips out his member offensively. He was past the stage of sensuality and compassion, this was a night of lovemaking through the pure and shameful act of him fucking you into oblivion.

He was long, hard, and entirely too thick. Just looking at it reminded you of the painful sting you were subjected to during the first time, and the second, even the third. Hell, you can’t count how many times he’s taken you, all you know was that there was pain.

“Pl-please! Be gentle…your hurt me badly the last time.” You plead as you raise your hand and palm against his abdomen, gently pressing against it as he leans down and hovers above your frame. “But you ended up loving it, didn’t you?” He teases as he nibbles on your bottom lip.

You shake your head in denial, but he knew. He knew that with the pain, comes great pleasure. “N-no…” you murmured. He ignored your pitiful yelp and kisses you. Taking your hand in his, he drags it against the lean lines of his abdominal muscles and forced you to grab hold of his shaft, ensuring that every single one of your fingers are delicately wrapped around the circumference. All doing so without ever breaking the passionate kiss you enveloped you.

How cruel it was for him to make you feel it, especially since he enforced you to keep hold while he begins to plunge in. “Agh! No! No!” You moan out as the familiar sting bites you. “Shh…yes baby.”

Inch by inch, he slides in. You feel the length of his shaft growing shorter within your palm as he fills you; the strength of its form slipped away from your grasp only to be gripped by another part of you. Your inner muscles clench around his thickness, which sent your mind out of this world as you feel the form of his muscle twitch in response. You felt so good. Too good. The moment he felt your slick muscles clench, his head flings back and exposes his entire throat above you. It became the only view in your sight as you lay under him, forced to watch as he gulps out a moan and groans towards the ceiling while he goes further and further in. “Oh fuck…” he growls out as you squirm and shift, brows furrowed in to an expression of fear, worry, and pain. “Please…it’s too much…”

“Don’t worry baby…I’m going to take care of it in a second. Keep singing.” He winces his eyes shut for only a second before he lowers his head back down and stares into your eyes. “Give me many sons.”

You shake your head negatively as the remaining inch of him sinks into you. His balls kissing your skin as it mashes against your taint. “Please…too soon. I-I cant—“

“You can, and you will.” Was all he relayed before he starts his violent thrusts. Tonight, he wasn’t in the mood to make love, he was in the mood to breed…to mate. To make you carry a part of him and bring it to the world. He wanted to cum, to mix your bloodline with his. “Come on baby, turn me into a daddy. Let daddy’s dick make you into a mommy.”

You scream as he continues to fuck you into the mattress. Your hands fling around as you attempt to escape from under him, only for him to slap them away. But you were relentless, and continued to try and push him away. “Fucking hold still you little—“

He grits his words in slight annoyance as he pauses his thrusts and grabs on to your wrists, pinning them above your head as he takes his other hand and loops it around your upper thigh and pins it against your chest. Now he had more leverage to stroke his cock inside you more openly, and he did.

“Fuck…you feel even better like this.” He words out as he slams into you. The smooth length of his shaft squelches and squeezes its way in and out of you. The sound of his balls slapping into you started to work its magic and sent you into a delirious whirlwind of tingled pleasure.

“Oh my God!” You pant out as you gasp for air. He rests your thigh on his bicep to maintain the levitation of its position while his fingers creep up and gently caress your cheek. “Yeah? Fuck baby…just like that.” Through the ferocity of his act, he pants and groans out his words just as you did. While his lower half becomes more brutal, his lips and hands weee compassionate and sympathetic. There was that gentler tone of him that was lacking earlier. While he was continuously plunging in, he warmed your cheeks with the smooth swipe of his thumb as he wiped away the subtle tears that emerged from your gorgeous eyes.

“Fuck y/n—“ he pants out once more as he pauses to prop his weight on the balls of his kneecaps. Looping his arms around your kier back, he intertwined his fingers as they rest right above your derrière, elevating it off the bed, turning you into a human pendulum. he continued his unlawful movements as gravity takes effect and forces your shoulder blades to sink into the bed as he raises your pelvis higher against his abdomen. “Pleaese-please-please-please—“ you gasp out violently in sync with his thrusts, hoping he would slow down. Instead, he goes harder, faster, and deeper, digging into soft tissue as he penetrates deep into the abyss of your womb as he strikes in and out, tapping that soft spot that causes you to leak onto his shaft, permitting him to slide in and out effortlessly.

He takes a hand and moves it against the center of your chest, smoothing it all the way up against your throat, and under your chin. His thumb reaches up and makes its way into your mouth. You yell out your moans as the image of him using only one arm bridging under your rear and stabilizing your lower frame to fuck into you caused you to grow dizzy. He was strong. So strong.

The sound of skin meshing together with the sticky juices thickening as a result of the constant thrust made you gasp even more. It synchronized with the tempo of his thrusts and you could barely catch your breath. He was not far behind. With his tenacity in going deeper, the obsession of tasting the internal side of you, it was all enough to make his heart stop beating. “Y/n…my beautiful siren.” The last bit came out slightly whiny as his cock twitches violently. You could feel it.

“W-wait! Heeeeung!”

He was close, you could tell. As much as you were forced to enjoy this, and you did, the question of whether you were ready for motherhood became absolute in the sense that you weren’t ready. You can’t, not yet. Because the moment you do become pregnant with this man’s child, that means you won’t be able to escape…ever.

“Please…not-not inside!” You moan out, once again palming his lower abdominal muscles, a pitiful attempt in pushing him away. But it was no use. The second he cupped your own hand and held it in place as his thrusts increased in pace and became sloppy, the loud grunts coming from his mouth matched the momentum of his hips as he kept going in and out.

In and out.

In and…

“Heeseung stop! I can’t be a mother! Please!”

Ignoring your pleading, he takes his thrusts deeper as he shoots his cum deep inside. His head flings back once more, mouth wide open as he faces the ceiling and gulps out a growl as his hand slowly smooths over your mouth to cover your scream. “T-take it…fucking get pregnant.” He stutters as every single muscle on his body twitches while he releases his entire orgasm inside you. His eyes remained closed as he locates your tongue and feeds his fingers into your mouth, rubbing the inside of your cheek as he forces you to suck on them. You hiccup a few sobs as you look down and see him planted deep inside you, still pumping his seeds into your womb. “Y-you…you really tried this time…didn’t you?” You wailed as you quietly sobbed, fearing that he achieved his goal. “U-uh huh….” He lazily tuned out with his face still flushed with the ceiling, leaving only the view of his Adam’s Apple in sight for you to view as you watched it bob up and down when he responded.

Sure, he had never pulled out the other times, but he never railed into you as vigorously like he did tonight. Sighing out a deep breath, he finally lowers his head once more and lays on top of you, mashing his sweaty chest against your breasts. Choking out a chuckle, his fingers, coated in your saliva, trace lines along your face. Smirking, he darkly whispers against your lips…

“Now you’re never going to be able to escape from me.”

He was right. You’re never going to be able to leave, even if you had the chance to get to the sea, you won’t be able to find it within your heart to abandon the child he’s left inside you just now. From here on out, you were no longer a descendant of Poseidon…you were now a mother a part of the clan. Mother of an Adam.

Authors note: take that! 😈

[attyattlaw]

What brushes do you use?? I love the one you use to sketch

the pastel/charcoal brush yes? it's #1 on here but here's all the other i tend to use lately

Blockaded Chalk Brush - (10 clippy points) im a one brush to rule them all kinda person so i use this for everything from sketch to rendering. you need good pressure and layer control to use it for blending and to carve out different values just using one color

YN Stripes - (20 clippy points) i like comb brush blending, its a remnant of dragon age artstyle days. basically for soft transitions and to give texture

Intoxicate Pencil Set - (free) very natural looking pencil brush, just as messy as the real thing

Smooth Liner - (free) usual lineart brush. i can use this to mimic traditionally inked lines for digital corrections and additions

Bear watercolor brush - (10 clippy) realistic watercolor brush and new bestfriend

Line drawing pen - (thank you for finding the asset moonpaw my light and savior) basically its a feathery but sharp edged hard pen. i combine this with the watercolor brush to make it look like a messy gouache

[starrysharks]

alright, here it is: ZENO'S COLOR GUIDE 3.0 !

here, i'll have three "chapters" regarding color:

CH1: how i color in illustrations

CH2: color and character design (in zeno's case)

CH3: how zeno makes his colors cooler

CH1: HOW I COLOR IN ILLUSTRATIONS

it must be noted that, as of lately, i heavily use halftones in my art and the way i use them for gradients effects my color choices. of course you don't need to use halftones if you don't want to, as it's just my personal choice, but anything regarding halftones here could (probably) also apply to regular gradients!

when choosing colors in an illustration, i usually have three things in mind: mood, character, and contrast. we'll be using "gloomy bunny naptime" as an example here.

MOOD: what's the vibe of the piece? for example, here in "gloomy bunny naptime", wanted a mellow, sleepy vibe, so purples and pinks seemed like the best choice. these colors also have a dreamy effect due to being common in real-life early mornings/summer nights - basically, i tend to use associative colors in illustrations.

i usually only use a pallete of 3-7 colors, though of course more characters calls for more colors. for multi-character pieces, i would actually make a "rainbow" of colors based on the mood of the piece - essentially, a bank of colors to use for your colorful casts based on the actual rainbow. you can alter this based on the saturation levels you want! hope that makes sense. i'm not the best at this though, so i would heavily recommend looking for guides from artists who are more skilled in that department.

CHARACTER: velvet is the focus of the piece, and as a character her palette is made up of many purples and pinks. of course, it's easier because she and ribbon both have similar designs, but i would still recommend using colors based on/complementary to the focus character's pallete, though this is a rule that can and should be broken if needed. gradients can be used to provide a smooth transition from color-to-color and add depth to the piece, as well as showcase velvet's pallete. when making any gradient, you probably want to have a vibrant middle color. this is difficult to achieve in most art programs, so i'd do it like this:

you can use gradients in lots of cool ways to make stuff pop! (i think this collage shows i use too much purple and pink though.)

CONTRAST: the context of the piece also aids the color through contrast. (that's a lot of Cs!)- we see that velvet is just waking up, and the light from her switch is glowing brightly. i wanted to convey something like her switch suddenly turning on in the middle of the night, waking her up - so the console emits "light" in the form of illuminating the contrasting color of pink against the purples. it might seem specific to this piece, but what i'm trying to say is that contrasting colors can lead the eye to the focal point of the piece, that being velvet herself. because a great deal of the rest of the piece is dark, we look at the contrasting switch screen - the brightest thing in frame - and our eyes move around and up to take in the focal point character. at least that's how i wanted it to be ;w; i guess you could convey it as something like this?

CH2: COLOR AND CHARACTER DESIGN (IN ZENO'S CASE)

this is where i start to get annoying, so stand back! when deciding on colors for a cast of characters, there are many factors: time period, variety, personality, and more that i can't think of.

TIME PERIOD: this one is simple. for example, a futuristic time period (such as that in x-calibur) calls for colder colors, such as greens and blues. for characters involved in futuristic professions such as space exploration, this works incredibly well. for modern time periods, less focus can be on colors and more on the shapes of the clothes, but this is not a shapes tutorial! i don't have any ancient times oc stories, but i'd probably use earthy and warm tones.

VARIETY: this is also rather simple. i try to be aware of the palletes that i used, and the similarities they might have with other characters. i try to use similar colors for characters who belong to certain organisations or have a uniform, but of course, it's not like catholic school students adhere their entire look to their uniform, so this is a rule that can be broken yet again. art is all about learning things and breaking them, remember that!!!

color can also be used for symbolism. my absolute fav example for this is vivica and octavia - the amount of red in their designs is supposed to represent the amount of freedom/passion/anger/confidence they have or are allowed to express under their different circumstances. as vivica belongs to a strict organisation, she has far less red in her design, showing her emotions are stifled - meanwhile octavia has it as her main complementary color because of her freedom to express her emotions, though those emotions may be destructive because of her circumstances.

PERSONALITY: what colors are associated with your character's personality? i actually usually refer to magical girl groups to see what's commonly associated with different colors. here's the main trend:

red: hot-headed, passionate, firey

orange/yellow: bright, happy-go-lucky, sunshine personality

green: wise, mellow, kind

blue: serene, graceful, elegant

purple: magical, regal, fancy

pink: usually the main character (though this because magical girl anime tends to be marketed towards young girls), sweet, relatable, determined

of course these are only stereotypes from one genre of anime, and different colors have tons of different meanings. color theory is the best way to learn this! these colors can also express different moods, which ties into ch1. i myself constantly ignore these rules - v-con, a bombastic hyper DJ, is purple (though he does have yellow accents) for example. basically, i just take them as a general rule and try to have them in mind while drawing.

CH3: HOW ZENO MAKES HIS COLORS COOLER

this might be the most important part of this guide. once again, there are a few things to consider here: filters, hue, overlays, and more!

FILTERS: for ibispaint, you can use an adjustment layer on your whole piece to use a filter. i usually only use brightness/contrast here - upping the brightness (or darkening it based on the mood of the piece) and upping the contrast. this helps to better express values and intensify the colors if that's what you want. i often use it in all my pieces to some extent.

hue/saturation/lightness is also helpful in moderation. you can alter the hue - though it usually only helps if you bring it back or forward by just a few points, or the entire pallete will change. saturation is what it sounds like, and slightly over/desaturating the piece can help with atmosphere. lightness is what it sounds like - lightens the colors in the piece. i don't use it at all.

posterize and sharpen mask are some that i've used recently. posterize can add some crazy effects to your art, but i'd probably need to edit it slightly after using it because it can mess with certain colors.

HUE: it's a layer type that can change the overall hue of the piece. i usually use it at a low percentage for atmosphere. kind of like a gradient map but nothing like it? idk

and OVERLAYS: i just use a very saturated blue/purple color over the entire piece at a very low percentage, around 5-10%. it can wash out the piece at too high a percentage.

and that's basically it! sorry it kind of derailed at the end i spent like 2 hours on this and got super tired. goodnight i'm going to sleep please also look at other artists etc etc. bye.

[cherryredstars]

in simon's relationship struggles, you mentioned that he presents you with the ring and you hold out your hand and he slips it onto your finger without either of you saying a word... i love that idea as i am a quiet person myself. would you expand on that please? maybe some hcs about a quiet love shared between them?? sfw or nsfw (or both:)) up to you love your work so much <333

Pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x gn!reader

Warnings: Fluff

Summary: How you and Simon show your love without words. 

A/N: I smiled so wide seeing this request!! Thank you for loving my little blog!

Word Count: 770 (Not Edited)

It will forever be about the little things. Every detail and trait and action. It’s about the things that are magnified within the warm silence. It’s not a secretive love. A love that is shielded away from the eyes of others so it can be questioned. It’s the type of love that is so clear that there isn’t any question of its existence. 

Simon is so perceptive. He notices every micro-expression you have and the slightest changes in body language. He documents it in his mind, storing it for a later date even if it doesn’t seem important. It always comes in handy in some way or another. 

When he’s out on missions, far from home and missing you, he tends to imagine your reactions to everything. When he’s out in the towns, he’ll briefly pause outside the shop. He’ll remember the way you had slightly twitched your nose at the colors of a piece of clothing. How your eyes strayed onto something a few seconds longer than usual. Then he’ll walk away from the shop, remembering the name. He’ll be sure to return before he goes home.

He brings back trinkets for you. Always. And it is always something you fall in love with. The same details. He already knows what you would want. What would grace him with that fond smile as you cradle them in your hands. It’s all based on elimination. He’ll pick something up, examine every aspect of it and then go through his checklist of you. How you’ve reacted to similar things in the past and deciding from there if he should move on. He never misses.

In return, you do your little acts of service. Always making sure everything he loves is stocked in the house when he comes home. Has his tea brewing and the kettle going for his convenience. You have the spaces in the house prepared for him to place his things. You make the transition from military to civilian as smooth as possible. His heart warms when he goes to the kitchen at any hour of the day or night, huffing at the sink of dishes. But his body relaxes and the tiniest smile graces his face when he looks to the side and his mug is already in the drying rack waiting for him. 

He has never been more content than on the days he leaves for deployment. You will be dead asleep besides him, but it feels like you’re by his side the whole time he prepares to leave. In the kitchen, everything is laid out for him. The box of tea and the kettle and the to-go cup. A throw-away bag sitting in the fridge with a homemade meal for him to eat while he’s away. All the last minute things he grabs on the counter where he can’t miss it. 

Before he leaves, he makes sure you’re prepared for anything that might happen. He has carefully instructed papers for any situation. Step by step things followed with materials for reference. He makes sure nothing is broken or may be in need of a spruce up before he leaves to minimize your inconveniences. Makes sure the fireplace has wood to last months. Double checks the backup supply of water is filled to the top. Buys extra batteries for emergency flashlights and the back up generator. Makes sure the car has a spare and a filled gas canister that is safely stored away. He predicts any problems you may have and thinks of ways to reduce and prevent it. 

There are notes everywhere. You find them in drawers and in small spaces. In the obvious spots and the questionable ones. Inside pants pockets and coats. All have miscellaneous messages. Some paragraphs long and some with small drawings. It warms both of your hearts. You carry a note scratched out in Simon’s chicken scratch reading Why is there a bottle of water in the bathroom cabinet? Simon’s tactical vest has a crumpled and ripped hot pink sticky note that reads A magikarp can easily fuck you up <3 with the ugliest looking fish drawn under it.

The best form of your love is the quiet nights spent in each other’s company. Laying together with small brushes to each other’s skin. It burns into your hearts, and it’s nice to know that the two of you can just exist with each other. The kisses are slow and loving. The touches are lingering and full of yearning. When the two of you slide into bed, tucked against each other, you find it hard to think anything can exist outside of your love.

Simon has no idea what a “magikarp” is, and he has almost drunk micellar water before.

Join Cherry’s Discord Server

[mimicmockingbirds]

OK, but hear me out

Say Ride the Cyclone were to be adapted into a film; imagine how much fun it would be to see it animated.

Because for the main plot, like the intro song and the mostly dialogue scenes in limbo, you could easily do a stylistic, but still grounded in realism style that a lot of modern animated projects are doing right now (think Arcane or Into the Spider Verse). But once each of the kids go into their respective songs/fantasies for what their life could have been? What if those were done in completely different styles?? Imagine the additional, visual storytelling that would tell about who they are as characters?

Like say, for Ocean's number, WTWN, everything became more simplified, and the characters (especially Ocean herself) turned into a more rounded, chibi-like style to enhance just how cutesy and likeable she's trying to portray herself throughout that number.

Or for Noel's Lament, everything goes black and white, and the characters become even more 2D stylized, and the film scales down to a smaller millimeter frame, more reminiscent of cartoons from the early 20's, when animation was just starting out, to enhance his idealization of "the olden days" (as Ocean puts it).

Mischa's song, This Song is Awesome could be animated with a more choppy frame rate, and the character designs turn a little more jagged around the edges, kind of like animated music videos (I'm thinking a Gorillaz band vibe). But as he transitions into singing about Talia, the colors start to bleed out over their lineart, and become more paint-like and Talia herself moves like a rotoscoped character (think Loving, Vincent that came out a few years ago) to enhance the sense that she's somewhere between a real person and a fantasy Mischa's built in his mind.

Ricky's song would, of course, be stylized after those sci-fi cartoons from the 90's, like X-Men or Captain Planet.

For the Ballad of Jane Doe, I would love to see something like what Wolfwalkers did back in 2020, where most of the characters (in this case, the other kids) are for the most part, animated like traditional, 2D characters with very clean lines and neat movements, whereas Jane herself stands out for having messier, sketchy line art, and looks more and more unfinished in her animation as the song goes on, because she can feel more and more of her own identity being lost.

Constance's Sugar Cloud I could see done in the classic 2D Disney style (i.e., the Renaissance era of Disney, like the Lion King or Little Mermaid days) because not only is it really smooth and colorful and just all around nice to look at, but it reminds the average moviegoer of their childhood growing up with those movies (among others, obviously), which ties in nicely with Constance's preceding monologue about remembering her own life, and the good that came with the bad.

I'm even tempted to envision the first half of the finale song in a different style, when the stage production would show a quick projection of Jane/Penny's life after she returned to the world of the living. Imagine watching this animated film, and for that segment alone, it becomes that really hyper-realistic, almost uncanny valley CGI animation style, to show that she really has joined the world of the living, i.e. our world, among us, the living breathing movie goers watching this, and watching the other kids still in limbo fade back to that main art style for the final number.

I don't know; it just feels like something that would be so engaging to see from an already compelling storyline and characters. Especially with more experimental animation projects on the rise right now

[flnpushy]

A classic story I forgot I wrote....

Kelly had been in labor for over Twenty-four hours now, the labor was slow and painful. She was accompanied by her husband Tyler, who was helping her as best he could. Kelly was twenty and this was her first baby. She was a small framed petite brunette. Being small her large belly was her main focal point as it bulged out so far. Tyler who was twenty-one had impregnated her 9 months ago on thier honeymoon, and it had been a long time waiting for the baby to arrive. They knew they were having a girl, and they also knew she was to be bigger in size. Doctors warned about having a homebirth, but Kelly insisted. At month eight doctors estimated the baby to be eleven pounds, meaning by birth she could be thirteen to fourteen pounds and be high risk for natural birth. Being an introvert she wanted to birth in private with just her husband, reguardless of baby size she was bound determined to get it out at home. Thier country cottage was the ideal location to relax and birth, though far from help, it was the place she chose to deliver. 

Transition was happening finally for Kelly. She was struggling to endure the pain as the babies head came farther into her cervix. She was well dialated and soon to be pushing. Kelly was layed out in her bed completely naked. As she labored, Tyler looked intentely at her body. She was fair skinned and soft, her breasts were well swollen and full, Her long flowing hair was smooth and lush. Her body was the best of all however, so soft and beautiful, textbook beauty. 

Kelly was nearing the pushing stage. She began to feel pushy, her tummy was tense and contracting hard with each wave. 

“Ok Its time to push I think.” Kelly said.

Tyler reached over and helped her by grabbing a mirror to see progress, he also held her legs back while she began her first of many pushes…..

The first push:

Kelly’s soft legs were drawn back, her body was curled into perfect birthing position, her vagina was front and center just below her large tummy. She gathered strength and let out a push. She could feel the baby moving within her. Every fiber of muscle squeezing to move the baby along. It was painful to her, but yet the movement made her feel good. She held her push as long as she could before relaxing. Pushing made Kelly happy, she felt like she was now in control of the situation. 

The next contraction was gathering. Kelly’s water had not yet broken so she was anticipating a gush of fluids at anytime. She bore down hard with the contraction. She could feel baby moving ever closer to her opening. 

“Our baby is close.” Kelly said to Tyler. 

Kelly strained through another push, brining the baby down farther. As she pushed Tyler could now see her vagina bulge with the pushes. As kelly pushed her vagina protruded out. She was progressing well. Kelly bore down for another push. Her opening moved once more, it was starting to show outward signs. With the next push action was happening.

The waters:

Kelly continued to push, however this push was different. In her opening something began to show. It was the bulging waters still intact. As the push progressed the sac slowly slid out of Kelly. Now dangling from her vagina was the sac. It was tannish in color and looked like a water balloon. Kelly reached down and touched it. It was the first contact with what was in her womb for the last nine months. Kelly however was starting to need a position change. Tyler slowly helped her to her feet. The sac dangled below her as Kelly stood. The standing gave her relief as she had been in bed for hours now enduring labor. Kelly held onto the edge of the bed for support as she endured another contraction.

“It feels weird having the waters dangling from me.” Kelly said. 

“Do you want me to pop the waters?” Tyler asked. 

“No, keep this as natural as possible.” Kelly replied.

Feeling the warm waters against her butt was a unique and sensual feeling for Kelly. Most births this never happens she thought to herself. She was lucky. However she knew the waters were slowing the process down. She decided that it was time. Kelly wiggled her hips side to side. The sac jiggled around a bit, but didn’t seem to break. Kelly wiggled harder this time. The sac responded and slapped around a bit, hitting either side of her butt before finally breaking. It wouldn’t be long now unitl the head made its appearance. 

The struggle: 

A few more pushes came and went. Kelly was bearing down effectively with each push. She was showing no signs of tiring. Inside her she could feel the movements of her active baby. The baby was moving it legs and trying to get free. Kelly pushed again and finally in her opening appeared a tiny curl of hair. As the push ended the curl receded back inside her vulva. As Kelly pushed again, a tiny bit of babies head was becoming visible in the vulva, however as the push ended the baby was receding back into Kelly’s tummy. The only place the baby knew. For a large baby Kelly was making good forward progress. But the trickiest part was yet to come. Freeing the huge baby head from her tight opening. Tyler was assisting Kelly was best he could. As she pushed he was pushing her legs up and back toward her chest. This was effectively opening her up as much as physically possible. The next push came. Kelly bore down and excerted much effort. Her tummy tensed and flattened with the strength of the push. The babies head made a quick appearance in the vulva before going back in. As the baby went back in, Kelly’s tummy became larger again. The large body of the baby made her tummy swell as it retracted back. The baby was comfortable in her, and it was going to take lots of effort to get it out. 

“I don’t think she wants to come out.” Tyler said. “Maybe we let her stay in longer?”

“No, then she will get bigger and I’ll never get her out!” Kelly replied. “Its going to be a struggle to get her out as she is!” 

“Are you sure shes going to fit?” Tyler asked. “She has to be 13 pounds by now.”

“Oh she will come out, it will just take time for me to push her out.” Kelly replied.

“Ok babe, I hope so.” Tyler said.

“Well if you wanted a quick birth why did you fill me up with such a big baby?” Kelly asked grinning.

“You were so beautiful my manhood couldn’t help it.” Tyler replied. “I knew you could do it so I gave you my biggest baby.” 

Kelly decided to try side lying for awhile. Tyler supported her upper leg as she pushed to try and get baby out. She endured a few pushes this way. The first of which showed a little liver of head in her opening before receding back. Each push showed some head, but the baby continued to go back in. Kelly began another push, her belly tensed and her belly button protruded out as she pushed. The babies head came father into the opening this time before retracting back in. As it went back in the baby once again made Kelly’s tummy gain in size. 

“Huh shes just not ready to come out yet.” Tyler mentioned.

Kelly still content with side lying pushed once more. The baby came forth quickly in the opening as kelly strained to keep it their. However with the end of the push the head went back.

“Hmm so close that time.” Kelly said. 

Kelly sat up and slowly got to her feet. It was time to walk around a bit to get the baby moving. As Kelly walked she wiggled and danced around to entice the baby down. She could feel the baby moving around in there and it wasn’t long until she was ready to try pushing the baby out again. Kelly decided to try out a birth stool that she had aquired. As she sat down on the stool and got comfortable Tyler joined her in position to see the action. Kelly’s legs were well spread on the stool and her vagina was well open to the world. This was ideal for the baby. However the baby still had to come forth. Kelly was ready to try again. Tyler touched her nipples to provide some stimulaton. She gathered strength and gave a big push. Baby moved down right away, its head coming visible in the opening on Kelly’s wide opening. However as quickly as it came, it also went back in. Kelly’s baby was not coming along as she had planned. She pushed again and revealed the baby once more. This time more head became visible, it was clear even from the bit of head showing, it was going to be a large baby. The head was rolling in and out with each try. 

Skin vs. Will power:

Kelly continued to work her baby out on the birth stool. Each push showed baby, but each contraction end had baby back inside. Kelly was doing well though. She showed no signs of weakness and continued to work like a champ even though her baby didn’t want to come out. Either way she was happy to be in her own home, doing her own thing. Kelly knew in a hospital she would have been forced to a c-section or she would have torn. She was ok being patient and waiting for baby to come on its own accord. After a couple more pushes seeing baby go in and out, Kelly was ready to lay down again. As she stood up she pushed, but her vagnia closed up and the baby slipped back in. 

“Poor baby girl, likes mommas tummy to much.” Kelly said. “Its ok baby you come when your ready.” 

“I shouldn’t have put such a big baby in your tiny belly.” Tyler said.

Kelly returned to bed where Tyler supported her legs, holding them back as she pushed. Babies head was staying in the opening longer now as she pushed. Pushing brought the head out farther, but it continued to slip back when her pushes ended. The battle between baby and skin was just beginning. Kelly gathered up and pushed, she could feel the babies head come down farther into the opening. Each try was helping baby move, but there was a long way to go. Luckily for Kelly the babies head was starting to stay put. It wasn’t going back in all the way. The head was protruding enough to have a small teardrop shape opening. However as Kelly pushed the head wasn’t really moving at all. 

Stuck during emergence:

As Kelly continued to try and push the baby out it was becoming evident that baby might be stuck. As large as her baby was estimated to be, this was no real suprise to Kelly. She figured that with time the baby would come out no matter its size. It had been about 2 hours at this point, and babies head was now staying visible in the opening. Kelly touched the babies head and played with its hair.

“Babies head poking out is so cute.” Kelly said.

Each contraction had Kelly nudging the baby, but no real progress was being made. As the next contraction came, Kelly got onto all fours and tried a push, The head did move a bit more outward, but this newly created space from a position change made the baby wiggle back in. Another push from Kelly had the babies head back in view, but no farther out then before. Kelly tried again and again to push the baby out, but the baby wasn’t coming. Finally after another half hour it was time to stop trying and take a break. Kelly stood up and the babies head slipped back in her tummy. Kelly had started pushing around 8 AM. IT was now 10:30 AM and the baby was still no where near out. Kelly did some house work and easy chores. She stopped to push when she needed. The baby was making no real progress whatsoever. As hard as Kelly tried, the big baby head held tight just inside her vagina. 

As Kelly meandered around the house, Tyler frequently would touch Kelly’s vagina just to feel his daughters head. He wanted to bond as much as possible with the baby. Tyler was ready for the baby to be born, but Kelly was patient. At 11:30 AM Kelly was ready to try and free baby once more. She climbed into bed and pulled back her legs. Within a couple pushes the head was protruding out. As she pushed her vagina swoll up around the head, but the head made little forward movement. Kelly knew that even after 3.5 hours, she was still stretching out to make room for that huge head. Kelly pushed down as hard as she could, finally the head came forth to its farthest point yet. Kelly’s vagina protruded, full of head. The head wasn’t fully crowned, but it was sticking a ways out. Kelly noticed that the head wasn’t retracting back after pushes, though it was staying firm in place. Kelly’s tight opening pinned the baby in place. She was still too tight to allow the baby to come free. 

Birth denial:

The clock now rolled around to 12:00 PM. Kelly had now been pushing for four hours. The head had been stuck protruding out now for 30 minutes. No matter how hard Kelly tried, the baby refused to move. Tyler reached over and touched his daughters head. 

“Come outta there baby girl.” Tyler said. “Give mommy a break.” 

“Shes coming, shes just really big.” Kelly said. 

“Your so patient babe.” Tyler said. 

“Shes been in there nine months, whats a couple more hours going to hurt?” Kelly said.

“True babe, true.” I just feel bad that your stuck pregnant.” Tyler said.

“I’ve been trying to get un-pregnant all day, but shes just not ready.” Kelly replied.

“Besides, it will all be worth it when she comes out.” 

Kelly leaned into another push, her tummy flattened slightly, her legs shook, and she winced as she tried to push the baby. Nothing. She let go of the push. She wiggled her hips back and forth to help the head find a better spot. Unfortunately the wiggle caused the baby to retract. After four hours of trying, Kelly’s baby was disappearing back inisde her tummy. As the baby retracted Kelly watched it in the mirror, she tried a push but she could do nothing to stop the baby. As the baby disappeared back in her tummy gained in size. After four hours of trying, Kelly was still very pregnant. 

Intensity:

“Babe, how much more can you take?” Tyler asked. 

“I can handle it babe, You know me.” Kelly said. “Plus feeling that head go in and out for the last couple hours actually feels kinda sensual.”

“Ok babe, Im getting worried for you.” Tyler said.

“Just relax, I will be ok, just get me some water and a snack.” Kelly said. 

Tyler fulfilled her request as he returned to her side. Tyler had no idea that impregnating Kelly would lead to this kind of a struggle. But there was nothing he could do but helplessly watch his wife try and push his baby out of her tight opening. After four hours of trying, even patient Kelly was ready to meet the baby. 

“Ok babe, I need to get un-pregnant.” Kelly said. 

“Ok babe, Push hard.” Tyler said. 

“Ok babe, get me cool towels and fresh pads, I need to focus.” Kelly said.

  In reality Kelly wasn’t worried about herself, she was worried about the baby. Being in the birth canal for over four hours now had to be putting stress on her. Kelly prepared to work. She drew back her legs and gave a push……

“Mmmmmm ahhhhh grrrrrrr mmmmmm….” Kelly grunted. 

“Good push babe.” Tyler said. 

Kelly tried again.

“Ooooooo ouch mmmmmm ahhhhhh…”

The baby slowly moved in the opening, her vagina protruded around the head. 

“Good girl.” Tyler said. “Be a big girl and push our baby out, Daddy wants to see his baby.” 

Kelly grunted again and her vagina pulsed as she pushed, the baby head moved with the push and stretched the opening farther. She was starting to make some headway. Kelly bore down again, she grunted and moaned with much power. Her legs shook, and she had sweat on her brow. Kelly was trying hard to get that head free. Inside her she could feel the baby wiggling and attempting to force itself through her opening. She knew however the baby alone couldn’t get itself out, she had to try and help it come out. After a few more pushes it was time for another break. Kelly felt as if she desperately needed to use the bathroom, however she knew with a baby head in her opening, the bathroom was a lost cause. Kelly tried not to close up as she rolled over to side lying. She relaxed and endured a few more contractions there. After a few more minutes she rolled back and began trying to get the baby out once more. The next push brought a result. The head came forward, it was still tightly within but Kelly’s vagina was streatched to the absolute max. The babies head was absolutely huge! It looked like Kelly was birthing a volleyball! She tried as hard as she could, pushing and straining to get the head out of her. 

“Tyler Help!” Kelly said. 

Tyler reached out and pulled back on her tight vaginal skin. As Kelly pushed, Tyler tried to push the skin back around the head. 

“Ahhhhhh oooooo mmmm aaaaaahhhh!!!!” 

Kelly yelled out pushing with all her might. Kelly tried and tried again, the head bulged out with each push squeezing harder and harder with the tight skin. Finally after five hours the head popped out in a huge gush of fluid. Kelly had done it, the giant baby head was free. 

“Good Girl!” Tyler said. “Shes Huge!” 

A head in a tight place:

Kelly had birthed the head. Inbetween her legs was a massive baby head. The baby had lot of hair, and its big bulgy cheeks were pressed firm against Kelly’s legs. The babies eyes were closed, but it was moving its nose. This was a good sign for Kelly knowing that her baby was going to be ok. However Kelly knew that with such a big head, came some even wider shoulders. This was her next battle. After five hours of pushing to get the head out, Kelly was tiring, but her head was still in the game to get the baby out. Tyler felt his daughters had for the first time, he played with her hair and touched her nose. He was a proud daddy, but the baby still needed to come out the rest of the way. Kelly resumed pushing with contractions, but the head held firm. The baby made small movements as Kelly tried to free it. 

“Come on baby, your so close!” Kelly said. 

After a few more tries it was becoming clear that baby was stuck once more. Kelly needed to change position. She rolled onto all fours and began pushing hard. The position change made her feel better, but the baby wasn’t progressing. After a few more tries Kelly knew the baby needed to come soon. 

“Ok baby needs to come out soon.” Kelly said. 

Kelly got up to standing postion. The babies head was so big and wide it touched both her legs. As Kelly straightened up into a stand the babies head sucked back in a bit. The head was tight to her opening, and the babies cheeks were pushed firm against her opening. Kelly could feel the baby in between her bottom, It was a strange feeling for her, but she knew the baby would soon come out. Kelly wiggled a bit to get the baby in a better spot. As she did the baby moved as well. It was now down to Kelly to push the shoulders free. Kelly gave it a try, she squatted down and gave a hard push. The head remained stuck. 

“Come on babe, you can do it.” Tyler said. 

“Im trying hun, but shes not moving!” Kelly replied. 

Kelly was becoming concerned that she wasn’t going to be able to push her daughter free.  But She was persistant. A few more pushes came and went. No shoulders. The baby was so tight to Kelly’s opening it almost looked like the head was an extension of her body. As hard as she tried, that head was stuck!

“Ok Tyler, we need to get her out.” Kelly said. 

Kelly layed back in bed. Tyler pushed Kelly’s legs back as far as they would possibly go. Kelly pushed her tummy with her hands, as she tried another push. Nothing at first.

“Go baby Go, Push hard, hard!” Tyler said. 

“Im pushing as hard as I can!” Kelly said. “Pull her out!” 

Tyler grabbed his daughters head and gave a light bit of traction. He wiggled her side to side, up and down while Kelly continued to push. Tyler was able to move the head but only slightly. 

“I can’t wiggle her much babe, shes really tight in there!” Tyler said. 

“Oh Tyler, I can’t, I can’t…. It hurts so much!” Kelly said.

Kelly was having no luck getting the shoulders to come. Tyler let go and the couple relaxed. Tyler rubbed Kelly’s tummy.

“Come out of there baby!” Tyler said. “Mommy needs you out.”

“She needs more force.” Kelly said. “Help me get hot and heavy.” 

“What do you mean?” Tyler said. 

“Orgasm!” Kelly yelled.

“Oh ok I got this.” Tyler replied.

Tyler grabbed Kelly’s breasts and began playign with them in his hands. Meanwhile Kelly provided stiumulation to her opening just above the babies head. The new fullness of the babies head between her legs made her climax fast. Finally it happened.

Emergence:

Kelly orgasmed and the contractions forced the shoulders toward the opening. Finally the shoulders came forth, in a huge orgasmic rush. The baby slipped out to its waist. One last push from Kelly had the baby out. 

“Oh my god, I didn’t think she was going to come free!” Tyler said.

“Oh our baby is here!” Kelley yelled. 

The couple quickly got to know thier newborn. She was a big baby, but well worth the effort. 

“So when can we do this again?” Tyler asked.

“Soon babe, but this time pick a smaller baby.” Kelly replied. 

[cal-kestis]

HOW TO: Make an Animated Google Search Overlay

A few people have asked how I did the effect in my pinned post and this set. So, in this tutorial, I’ll show you how to do this typing animation and give you a download to a template I made for the overlay! Disclaimer: This tutorial uses Video Timeline and assumes you have a basic understanding of gif-making in Photoshop.

PHASE 1: THE BASE GIF

I’m not going to show how I made this gif, but if you need any tips on basic gif-making, I have my full gif tutorial here. Instead, here are some tips for making a gif with this effect:

1.1 – Make your gif 540px width, especially if you’re using my template. My gif is 540x400. 1.2 – Use more frames. If you have a lot of characters in your search bar text, you’ll want to make a longer gif (i.e. one with more frames). The gif I made above was only 50-ish frames, so I doubled them and reversed the duplicates so it would play like a boomerang. That gif is a total of 98 frames 😅 1.3 – Have a “feature color” aka choose one color to make pop and make it the same as the overlay. Also, lots of contrast is especially ideal when you have an overlay set to Difference/Exclusion. (Check out the color tutorials on @usergif​​ if you need help making your colors pop!)

PHASE 2: THE OVERLAY

2.1 – Download my template if you’re doing this layout I made this template myself, so all I ask is that you don’t claim it as your own and that you give me proper credit if you decide to use it! Get the PSD with the transparent background here!

2.2 – Download the font Karla (optional) The font I used for the search bar is Karla, a Google Font. It’s not THE Google Font, but I like the way it looks — which is more important to me than accuracy for this part. Here’s the Google Font link. 2.3 – Import the overlay You can either drag the whole folder onto your gif from tab to tab or right-click the folder, select Duplicate Group, and select your gif as the destination document. Just make sure this overlay group is above your base gif! 2.4 – Set the overlay blending options If you’re using my .psd, all the settings are already in place! If not, to get the metallic color effect, simply set the overlay to Difference:

Then, add a gradient overlay that matches your base gif feature color. Here are my settings:

PHASE 3: THE TYPING ANIMATION

*Anakin Skywalker voice* This is where the tedious stuff fun begins...

 3.1 – Add your full text Create a text layer with the full text you want in the search bar! Here are my text settings: — Font: Karla Bold — Size: 26 pt — Letter Spacing: 25 

3.2 – Create a layer mask This is how we’re going to create the typing effect without typing a new layer each time. You can add a layer mask to your text layer, use the Marquee tool to create a box around all but the first letter of your text, then fill the box with black to erase it. Now, all you can see is the first letter ‘t’

Btw the reason we wouldn’t use keyframes for something like this is because we want each letter to appear in a flash, not with a smooth, sliding reveal like a fade transition. 3.3 – UNLINK THE LAYER MASK This is super important so you can freely move the layer mask with each letter. Just click that chain so it disappears!

3.4 – Trim the text clip SEVERAL times When I say several times... I’m not joking lmao:

Btw, you can click these images to view them at full size and zoom! Now, this part is a little tricky for me to break down into steps, but here are some key tips: TIP A – Trim, Move Layer Mask, Repeat To make it as easy as possible on yourself, the best method is this: — Start with your original text layer (pre-trim) with the layer mask only exposing 1 letter — Move the playhead (red vertical line with the blue arrow) to the spot you want to trim (see Tip B) and click the scissor icon to split the clip — On the copied layer, move the layer mask (white box in the layer panel) to the right to expose another letter. Make sure your layer mask is unlinked (See Step 3.3)! You can see my layer mask moving by the dotted lines in the gif below. — Move the playhead the same amount of spaces as before and trim again: you should now have the original trimmed clip (first letter) and a second trimmed clip (second letter) — Repeat until you’ve done all the letters AND the spaces

TIP B – Make your trimmed clips about 0.03 seconds long. I’ve found this works well for me, especially because I’m working in Video Timeline. It reduces the amount of duplicate frames I get because, for whatever reason, Timeline pauses every 0.03 seconds (at least for me when I click the forward button). In the section above the pink line (image below), you can see I started with my full text clip. Then, under the pink line, you can see how I used the scissor/trim tool to clip them each to a duration of 00:03.

↑ Note: That screenshot is zoomed into the Timeline 100%. The other screenshots are zoomed out which is why the clips look bigger here. TIP C – Your text shouldn’t start at the very beginning. Give yourself some space to let the cursor blink a few times, just like when you pause while typing on a computer. Where you start your typing animation is up to you! In the image below, you can see the first small purple block starts about 1.06 seconds into the gif:

TIP D – Backspace I’m sure you’ve probably figured this out already, but to get the backspace effect I have in my gif, you just move the layer mask to the left to cover the letters you want to “delete.” Then once they appear “deleted,” just edit your next text layer clip with the new word you want to replace it with! (In my gif, I deleted “nik” and replaced it with “@sith-maul.”) Here’s what the gif looks like without the blinking cursor animation:

Now that’s all explained, you basically do a similar thing with the blinking cursor! But no layer masks are involved :)

PHASE 4: THE TEXT CURSOR ANIMATION

4.1 – Create a text layer with just a vertical line like this one → | I’m using the same Karla typeface as before, but thinner. Here are the settings: — Font: Karla ExtraLight — Size: 26 pt

4.2 – Trim, Move, Repeat (Letter Version) This step will be super easy because each cursor clip that follows a letter will be the exact same duration as the letters you’ve already done: 0.03 seconds long. Take a look:

For each letter you reveal, move the text cursor so it’s slightly to the right of the letter, like this:

Do this for all the letters and even the spaces! 4.3 – Trim, Move, Repeat (Blinking Version) This type of text cursor is slightly different because: — These clips are “slower.” The reason is that the Letter Version cursor goes too fast for the Blinking Version. So I doubled the duration of the blinking cursor to 0.06 seconds! — There are spaces between these clips that are the same duration as the clips themselves: 0.06 seconds. — This text cursor starts at the very beginning of the gif and continues after the text is finished “typing,” directly after the last Letter Version cursor. Just add however many blinking cursors you want to the beginning and end of your gif, skipping over the parts where you already did the Letter Version! Here’s how it looks in the Timeline at the beginning of my gif:

Here’s how it looks in the Timeline at the end of my gif (note: it continues directly after the last Letter Version cursor):

Here’s how the blinking cursor would look at the same speed (0.03) as the letter version:

Here’s how the blinking cursor looks at double the duration (0.06):

PHASE 5: EXPORT

That’s it!! Just convert from Timeline back to Frames and export your gif! As always, I recommend checking your frames when you convert from Video Timeline back to Frame Animation — just in case you may have gotten any duplicate frames. Again, if you want to know more about that process, my full gif tutorial is here! And ta-da, here’s the final gif!

And that’s it! I really hope this makes sense because I’m not really sure it does 😅 But if you have any specific questions, my ask box and DMs are open! <3 Also, check out these gorgeous recreations of this effect from @steverobin​​ (Keke Palmer set) and @jakeyp​​ (Jake Peralta set)!

[culther]

⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀❝ 𝐀𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐇’𝐒 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 ! ❞

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀AALIYAH’S UNFORGETTABLE FASHION SENSE ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀EXPLORED, ─── AN ARTICLE WRITTEN & PHOTO ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ EDITS MADE BY MIA GOLDS

If you ask anyone in the world to define the legacy of Aaliyah, you’ll receive a myriad of responses. Some will praise the rising IT Girl whose precious life tragically ended too soon, while others will reflect on the profound impact she’s made on their existence in one way or another.

Many others will recount her evolution from a young R&B sensation to a mature artist exploring pop music and other sounds on the brink of her prime. But regardless of the response you get, one thing reigns true as the definition of her essence: her iconic fashion sense.

From the moment she burst onto the music scene in 1994 with her first album “ Age Ain’t Nothing but A Number “ as a fresh-faced teenager, Aaliyah captivated audiences not only with her angelic and smooth vocals but also with her distinctive sense of style.

In her early years, she came out the gate pushing the envelope of what it means to be a budding artist and a free-spirited young black girl. Many of her looks effortlessly blended streetwear stylings with subtle couture pieces, rocking oversized sports jerseys and baggy pants paired with sleek, feminine touches like crop tops and crop jackets to create uniquely balanced silhouettes and cuts.

A fashion format she carried throughout the entirety of her career, through time she changed the way she presented it but the elements of it remained. As she soared into her stardom and maturity as an artist, so too did her fashion sense.

Later she embraced more feminine and refined aesthetics, favoring sexy silhouettes, tailored gowns, and minimalistic elegance. Her iconic tomboy ‘ sweet but street ‘ chic look became synonymous with effortless coolness, and inspired countless fashion trends.

Establishing her as the true style icon she was, ahead of her time and still remains today. Regardless, it was her ability to seamlessly transition between various fashion personas that truly set her apart from any of her peers.

Whether she was rocking a glamorous gown on the red carpet or effortlessly slaying in a baggy tracksuit on stage, Aaliyah exuded confidence and authenticity in every ensemble.

That very same confidence and coolness continues to resound in the world around us today. From celebrities and influencers, to everyday fashion enthusiasts who pride themselves in their physical expression.

The beauty of creating art is that it is big— and permanent enough to live beyond us. Within her short time on earth, she continued to push boundaries and explore new musical territories, and her fashion choices unwound alongside her, reflecting her growth as an artist and into a woman.

From the streets of Brooklyn to the stages of the world, Aaliyah's fashion journey was as dynamic and diverse as her music, leaving an unforgettable imprint on the industries of fashion and music alike.

𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒: From Tomboy to Tommy Girl

During her debut era in 1994, Aaliyah not only captivated audiences with her smooth, soulful vocals on hits like “ Back & Forth,” “ At Your Best ( You Are Love ), “Old School, “ & “ Age Ain’t Nothing but A Number “— the title track of her debut album, to name a few… but also with her distinctive sense of fashion.

The way she dressed didn’t just resound the casual and laid-back lifestyles of the R&B & Hip-Hop scene of the 1990s, but it also reflected her confident, humorous, yet collected personality.

There wasn’t a single teen girl in America that didn’t want to be like Aaliyah. Black girls everywhere aspired to make oversized jerseys, baggy pants, cropped tops, statement sunglasses, numerous colored bandanas, and baseball caps look as chill as she did. Her uniqueness quickly made her a sensation and role model to look up to.

In addition to her loose-fitted hoodies and starter jackets, a wrist full of silver bangles and standout nail polish colors added feminine contrast to anything you’d see her in, and how could we forget her “ A “ initial necklace? Simple but effectively iconic.

Her early appeal and aesthetics can be attributed to the legendary fashion stylist Derek Lee. From 1994 onward through her career, Derek was instrumental in crafting her trendsetting tomboy aesthetic. It was his hard work and vision that helped to shape her distinctive fashion sense and solidify her status as a style icon.

Under his guidance, she became known for her effortless blend of masculine yet sweetly feminine elegance, taking risks, setting trends, and inspiring fans worldwide. Derek has also styled Lil Kim, Bobby Brown, and Macy Gray, to name a few.

As his muse, Aaliyah landed her first significant collaboration campaign for Tommy Hilfiger in 1996. Tommy Hilfiger is a brand whose name still holds the same weight today as it did in the 90s.

Becoming a Tommy Girl allowed Aaliyah to express her creativity in a new way. Their collaboration blended urban streetwear-inspired styles to cater to the day's youth and offered a sense of high-quality exclusivity. Her laid-back touch perfectly complemented Tommy’s preppy dynamic and made a memorable partnership that we still recognize and associate with the R&B star.

Working with Tommy also introduced Aaliyah to her best friend, Kidada Jones, the fashion stylist and designer, who is also the daughter of music legend Quincy Jones. Their shared interests in music, fashion, and culture are said to have led to a natural connection and friendship over time. The two young women were just alike.

𝐖𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐀𝐍 𝐄𝐕𝐎𝐋𝐔𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: Get it? Anyways, Aaliyah’s Evolution from Teen Idol to Full Blown Superstar!

In the Mid to Late 1990s, Aaliyah’s style evolved into something with the makings of a rebirth—a renaissance for her womanhood. The teenage tomboy crooner had grown into a young woman navigating mainstream success, and her fashion began to reflect that portion in her narrative.

Many of those who adored her for her music also adored her fashion sense as it became less practical and increased in intricacy. She traded her baggy pants, oversized leisure wear, and cropped tees for sleek leathers, fitted dresses, and high-fashion-grade ensembles that added more contrast and texture to her wardrobe.

Though she never shied away from wearing color, her palette during this era took on a more toned-down colorway to emphasize her maturity: rusted earth tones, browns, grays, and lots of black.

Her red carpet looks became increasingly refined during this era, showcasing her versatility and ability to transition between different fashion personas seamlessly. As she navigated her way through the entertainment industry, tackling acting roles and additional modeling campaigns, how she presented herself began to attest to her evolution as a person with each project she put out.

Her ‘One In A Million’ era was the dawning of a new point in her career, with the sophomore album marking a transition into a more cultivated sophistication in her artistry and welcoming bolder accessories for her coming-of-age narrative. She showed versatility as she was praised on cover shoots for teen magazines nationwide and reserved her edge by allowing her signature shades, oversized jackets, and necklaces to appear.

Her self-titled “ Aaliyah “ album era was the last project released during her time here. This era was the pinnacle of her evolution. This portion of her art saw her embracing sultry vocals and lyrics, all the while coming into the glamor of stardom and confidence with every public appearance. Statement pieces and bold colorways once again found themselves in her look. Avante-garde designs, high fashion designer-brand labels, and intricate detailed pieces and patterns, to name a few— demonstrated her fearless approach as a trendsetter and tastemaker.

This era leaves a bittersweet imprint in the minds of many. While we applaud the woman she was becoming, we cry for the sweet spirit we lost so tragically and too soon.

𝐀𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐘𝐀𝐇, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄: Her Homage to High Fashion

Her partnership with Tommy Hilfiger in the mid-1990s was a groundbreaking moment, as she became the face of Tommy Jeans, effortlessly blending mainstream fashion with hip-hop culture.

Aaliyah's influence also reached luxury fashion houses like Versace, Gucci, and Alexander McQueen, where she was admired for her daring fashion choices and ability to push boundaries.

She seamlessly incorporated pieces from these brands into her wardrobe during photoshoots, music videos, and other public appearances, showcasing her impeccable taste and fearless approach to style.

Aaliyah's affinity for luxury fashion not only elevated her image but also helped raise the visibility of these brands within the urban music and fashion scenes.

She famously wore a custom-made Tom Ford for Gucci leather jumpsuit in the music video for her song "Try Again," a look that continues to be complimented.

She rocked a stunning black silk organza gown from Alexander McQueen’s Spring/Summer 2000 collection in her final music video for "Rock the Boat." Along with designs by Thierry Mugler, including a metallic silver jumpsuit during her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1998.

Her legacy as a style icon inspires designers, artists, and fashion enthusiasts worldwide, solidifying her status as a timeless muse for high fashion designer brands with an unstoppable influence.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐔𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄: 23 Years Later…

Aaliyah's influence on fashion transcends time, resonating even in present-day trends 23 years after her untimely passing. The entire thesis of this exploration is to emphasize how her style continues to inspire a new generation of fashion enthusiasts, celebrities, and influencers all these years later. I aim to stress how her incredibly unmatched talent and passion for fashion collaboratively created a legacy that still holds her light.

Modern-day stars like Zendaya, known for her boundary-pushing fashion choices and effortless blend of streetwear and high fashion, often cite Aaliyah as a source of early inspiration.

Similarly, Ciara's bold and glamorous style pays homage to Aaliyah's rule-breaking approach to fashion, with her outfits and statement accessories reminiscent of the late icon.

Tinashe, an independent artist and producer, embraces Aaliyah's signature tomboy-chic aesthetic, infusing it with her own modern twist to create a unique and captivating look.

Aleali May, who in my opinion is a fusion of Aaliyah & Kidada Jones’ essence, is a designer stylist and continues to be a rising star in the fashion world, channels Aaliyah's relaxed and understated elegance in her streetwear-inspired looks and all of her designs, proving that Aaliyah's influence knows no boundaries.

Even global superstar Rihanna, known for her daring and trendsetting style, acknowledges Aaliyah's impact on fashion, paying homage to her in her music and fashion choices. Along with the beautiful and eclectic Teyana Taylor further attesting to the power of a legacy as well.

Beyond celebrities, influencers and public figures across social media platforms continue to celebrate Aaliyah’s fashion that came before her time, reinterpreting it for the digital age and keeping her legacy alive for generations to come.

Aaliyah's style and unapologetic individuality continue to serve as a reminder that true fashion icons are immortalized not only in memory but also in the enduring influence they leave behind. Great art never expires.

━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒 & 𝐒𝐎𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐌𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐀:

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COPYRIGHT & REPOSTING NOTICE: All written content and picture edits in this Tumblr post are original creations by me, from my own mind. Reposting or unauthorized use without permission is strictly prohibited. Please respect my work. I also have stated numerous times I do not own the original images used in my edits for this post. I claim no ownership over those. © MIA GOLDS / CULT HER.

━━━━━━━━━━━━ 𝐅𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐖 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐄!

[redslug]

Denoiser wisdom

Since a lot of people showed interest in my workflow of using SD like a renderer for existing sketches, I'll be sharing the little tricks I find while exploring the capabilities of SD with Neuroslug. Read the inpainting post to understand this one. When inpainting, the model takes into consideration what is already in the area it regenerates and in the areas around it. How exactly it'll follow these guidelines is determined by denoising strength. At low values it'll stick closely to the areas of color it sees and won't create anything radically different from the base. At high denoising strength it'll gladly insert colors, shapes and silhouettes that weren't there originally. Basically the more you trust your sketch the smaller your denoising strength should be. It doesn't mean you won't need the high denoising at some point. Let me explain it using yesterday's artwork. It all starts with a rough sketch.

Since I have a particular composition in mind and want it to be maintained, I'll be using a low denoising strength to fully regenerate this image.

It means that the algorithm won't have enough freedom to fix my large-scale mistakes, it's simply not allowed to change the areas of color too dramatically. So if you want to do this yourself make sure to set the image to black and white first and check that your values are working and contrast is good.

To make sure the result isn't too cartoony and flat I used brushes with strong color jitter and threw a rather aggressive noise texture over the whole thing. This'll give the denoiser a little wiggle room to sprout details out of thin air.

It kept the composition, the suggested lighting and the majority of flowers kept their intended colors too. This was denoising strength 0f 0.4. To contrast that, same base image with denoising at 0.7:

It's pretty, but it's neither the style nor composition I wanted. Let's refine the newly redrawn base to include the details that were lost in transition. These were intended to be roses.

It's here where I learned a little trick. You can mix and match different models to achieve the look you desire. Neuroslug is good at detailed moths and painterly environments. It's not good at spitting out really detailed flowers, they end up looking very impressionist which is not what I want in foreground. So, I switched to an anime focused model and let it run wild on this bush with high (0.7) denoising strength.

Nice definition, but it looks too smooth and isn't in line with what I want. Switching back to Neuroslug with denoising at 0.5 and letting it work over these roses.

This way, I get both the silhouette and contrast of the anime model (counterfeitV30) and the matching style of Neuroslug. It's also useful in cases where the model doesn't know a particular flower. You can generate an abstract flower cluster with the anime model and use the base model to remind the AI that what you want is in fact a phlox specifically. So I did this to basically every flower cluster on the image to arrive at this:

It's still a bit of a mess but it has taken me about 80% of the way there, the rest I'll be fixing up myself.

My "Lazy Foliage" brush set was really helpful for this. I'll release that one once it accumulates enough brushes to be really versatile. Now we block in the character.

Yes, I left the hands wonky since I intend to be drawing them manually later, same about the foot. There's so much opportunity for the AI to mess them up that I'd rather have all the control on these details.

When it renders the face it can really mess up everything, so I do it with low (0.45) denoising strength to discourage new eyes popping up in inappropriate places. Take note that I kept the antennae out of the mask. AI is easily confused when one subject overlaps the other.

Good, good. Wait. Why are your eyes hairy? Now, mask out the eyes, remove all mention of fur from the prompt and

That's about right. Since the eyes are all one color block I can afford to raise the denoising strength for more wild results. Same for areas of just fluff on the entire body, it's all one texture and having the denoiser at 0.6-0.75 is beneficial because it's going to add locks, stray hairs and other fluffy goodness. Just make sure to not make the mask too tight to the silhouette, it needs some space to add hairs sticking out.

With the skirt it was back to really low denoising. The folds I blocked in make sense with the position oh her legs under it, so I didn't want it to be lost.

Lastly, I drew in a flower that she's planting and ran over it with moderately high denoising to make it match the surrounding style. Ignore the biblically accurate roots there, I'll fix them by hand.

One last pass over the whole thing in Procreate. I draw the hands and add details such as the round pseudopupils, face ridges and wing markings to keep the character consistent with the previous image of her. And a bit of focal blur for a feeling of depth. Phew, even with generous use of AI this whole thing took an entire day of work. In the end what determines quality isn't the tool you use but the attention you choose to pay to finding inconsistencies and fixing them.

[15-lizards]

Any headcannons for what Cersei would wear throughout her evolution? (from girl at Casterly Rock and Kingslanding to young bride to queen to whatever is going on at the end for AFFC) Love your stuff💕

Tiny Cersei was always dressed in the latest fashions, to the point that her clothes were cumbersome and heavy. She was more heavily dressed than most of the grown women at court, with her fancy brocade panels, pearl lined hoods, and large sleeves. Joanna was very adamant that she look like and behave in a way becoming for a young noblewoman, so Cersei was not allowed the relative laxity children are sometimes given.

As a teenager, Cersei started wearing the fashions of the Reach, as some minor act of rebellion because she found the stifling clothing of the Westerlands boring and prudish. She liked the low cut of the neckline and the excess of fabric in the sleeves and all the gilded lining and embroidery. And she definitely liked the way people looked at her in awe. She wore these until her early marriage too, and everyone copied the modern fashions of the stylish young queen.

Once Cersei starts immediately hating her life, she ditches the fashions of her teenage years and goes back to something more reminiscent of her childhood at The Rock. It's not the exact same, its far more frillier and angular than the smoothness of the clothing of her youth (think the transition from Tudor to Elizabethan fashion, or like mid 1500s to later 1500s), but the general shape reminds her of her youth and mother, and the sheer weight and discomfort of the clothing gives her some kind of sick comfort. Being the narcissist (affectionate) she is, she likes whatever can give her attention and spark jealousy in others. Heavy and patterned bright colored fabric, stiff lace collars, excessive beading, and large skirts for days. She dresses like this for most of the current timeline, and it gets increasingly more garish, until she's arrested at the end of AFFC

And after her atonement, she does a complete 180. Dressing like an old spinster from the stormlands. Her shaved head almost always covered, essentially all of her gowns are shapeless. The only thing that puts her apart from the septas is that her clothing is still decorated and colorful, but much less so than her old wardrobe. This shift is half forced on her by the faith and half chosen as a sort of security response after being harassed and humiliated.

[tangledinink]

At long last! A new chapter... Of I'm Sorry, Teenage Mutant What Now? Chapter 22 is here. The Hamato Family focuses on re-adjusting to everyday life until suddenly they're not. Read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

“Donniiiieee!” Leo whined loudly, “Tell your drone to quit ignoring me! I never get any footage out of these things!”

“Skill issue,” Donnie remarked, and Leo gave an affronted gasp.

“What!?”

“Yeah!” Mikey chirped, an absolutely shit-eating grin on his face as he joined them; hopping from his skateboard when he reached the top of the half-pipe, grabbing it in his arms and making a smooth transition to solid ground. Donnie’s drone, buzzing softly overhead, followed after him. It was filming all of them, but it did, admittedly, spend a great deal of time trailing Mikey like an excited puppy. “If you want drone time, then you should do more cool stuff. Like me,” he teased.

“I do plenty of cool stuff, thank you!” Leo huffed.

“Where?” Donnie questioned, and April snorted softly.

She had missed this.

“You’re just jealous ‘cause I’m the best skateboarder, cuh-learly,” Mikey declared happily, all but peacocking, plopping down next to his siblings where they were currently all perched atop of the half-pipe platform, taking a break and lounging in the sun like seals on a ocean rock.

Or maybe like turtles on a log?...

Raph hummed in response, wordlessly rolling over so that he could flop on top of his baby brother, effectively pinning Mikey to the ground. Mikey squealed, shrieking in protest, even though laughter colored his voice.

“Raph! You are crushing me! Get off!”

“Gotta eliminate the competition,” Raph replied calmly, grinning as he settled down on top of him. April snickered, leaning forward to rest her chin atop her knees.

“Guess that’s the danger of being the best,” she teased.

“Oh, how the mighty fall,” Donnie said, grinning widely. The drone happily recorded.

“I will bite you!” Mikey threatened.

“No you won’t,” Raph said. “‘Cause if you do, I’ll stop getting stuff off the top shelves for you.”

Mikey gasped loudly in offense. “I am still growing!!!”

“Better hurry up,” Donnie said.

“Ex-squeeze me!? You’re five-three!”

“And yet, I am still taller than you…”

The weather was finally starting to get nice out, April observed, and the skatepark that she and the boys frequented was filled with people taking advantage. The steady orchestra of wheels on pavement and excited shouts in the background provided a comforting soundtrack, playing nicely with the birdsong and the sounds of the city that filtered in from around them. Now that it was getting warmer again, the entire city seemed to be waking up. All of New York was flooded with joggers, with dogs on leashes going on walks, with cyclists and parents with strollers and even just people walking around and enjoying the nice weather. April swore it was like animals waking up after hibernation; poking their heads from their burrows at long last. People sat on milk crates on street corners and talked and laughed with one another, trading cigarettes and stories alike, and all the balconies and stoops in her neighborhood were suddenly occupied now that the temperatures were rising. Leaves were beginning to grow on the trees again, and this was something April had always loved, getting excited to see them each and every year. But they had never made her smile so much as they did this time around. Mikey had taken the time to inform her about eight times now that it was the exact same hue as her life color, and now every time she looked at them, she couldn’t help but grin.

Raph eventually let Mikey loose with enough complaining, and the five lingered for a bit longer up top, readjusting knee pads and rollerskate straps or guzzling water, filling the space with idle chatter as they did so, until Leo got to his feet, stretching his arms up above his head.

“You guys wanna do another run?”

“Nah,” April sighed. “You guys go. I gotta get heading to work soon.”

“Booooo,” Mikey complained. “No working. Quit your job! Rollerskate for money!” April scoffed.

“Right, well, if you find someplace that accepts drone footage of rollerskating as currency, you let me know!”

“The new job good?” Donnie questioned, raising a brow, and April nodded.

“Yeah! It’s pretty cool. I mean, my bosses are sort of weird, but in a chill way,” she hummed. “I mean, it’s retail, but the pay is pretty good, so I like it alright.”

Leo sighed dramatically. “Wow. I can’t believe you love money more than you love us,”

“You just say that ‘cause you’ve never had a job,” Raph scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“What about you?” April asked, glancing over at Raphael. “Going back to work soon?”

Raph’s face absolutely lit up at the question, grinning big and giving a determined nod. “Yep! Next class is tomorrow!” He reported proudly. “Can’t leave my kids hangin’ for too long.”

“I’ll bet you any amount of money that that Penelope kid will yell at you for being gone for so long,” April said with a grin, and Raph laughed.

“Yeah. Probably.”

---

“Okay, deep breath in.”

Mikey agreeably inhaled, allowing oxygen to sweep inside of his lungs, feeling his chest swell up to accommodate the load.

“... And deep breath out.”

And he exhaled, slowly blowing all of the air back out, feeling his own breath tickle the edge of his lips as he went.

“... Dad?”

“Yes, my son?”

“Meditation is… really… boring.”

His dad laughed out loud, cracking open his eyes to glance over at his youngest son. “I cannot even disagree with you, Orange. I used to hate it when I was younger,” he confessed. “There were always just so many other things I’d rather be doing!”

“I don’t like it!” Mikey whined, flopping over onto his back, letting all his limbs splay out. “I thought it’d be like yoga! I like yoga! But you just sit in this one! Where’s the fun in that!?”

“I know, I know,” their dad hummed, waving a hand. “But it is an excellent tool for control and focus. And you are the one who asked me to teach you in the first place!”

“Yeah, but I didn’t think it’d be so lameeeeee,” Mikey whined, rolling over onto his side with a pout.

“Suck it up,” Dad hummed in reply, leaning over to nudge his shoulder slightly. “Come on, up. Five more minutes and we’ll be done.”

“Five minutes!?” Mikey wailed. “That’s so long!”

“It’s not that long,” his dad assured. “You will be fine. And this is the best method I know to keep your ninpo in check, Michelangelo. If you want to control your mystic powers, you’re going to have to focus and control your thoughts and emotions first.”

Mikey wrinkled his nose a bit, slowly sitting up and pursing his lips to form a pout.

That had never been a strength of his.

“Mikey.”

The sharpness of his teacher’s voice shocked Mikey back into reality, his head bobbing in surprise as he turned to glance over at her, leaning over his desk. When had she gotten here…?

“Have you finished your work yet?”

“Uhmmmm…” Mikey paused for a moment, glancing down at the math problems on his desk, clutching at his pencil a bit nervously. She had said to do the first two pages, and he had been going to, honestly! And he had done a few, but then the next one he didn’t know how to do on his own--

“Then why are you drawing?” She pressed, narrowing her eyes, and Mikey shrank a bit, his hands instinctively and self-consciously moving to cover up the little doodles that had begun to take over the margins and free space of the paper. All the little lightning bolts and shooting stars and cartoon unicorns and superheroes that he had been so happy about just a few minutes ago suddenly made his blood feel like ice.

“I dunno how to do these ones…” He defended weakly, his stomach flip-flopping as his eyes darted downwards, his fingers wiggling anxiously.

“We’ve talked about this, Michelangelo. If you need help, then you need to raise your hand and ask me to help you, not doodle,” she chided, her tone insistent, matter-of-fact. Mikey wanted to tell her that she had already been working with one of his classmates when he realized he needed help, and that he had intended to wait for her to be done so he could ask her about the math problems without interrupting, cause he knew she didn’t like it when he interrupted, but then he had gotten bored waiting and started drawing instead, and then he had forgot…

But somehow he didn’t think it would help.

He shrank under her eyes, his lower lip wobbling.

“Okay,” he mumbled, his voice very small, and she sighed with such an air of absolute exasperation that it sent hot, salty tears spilling unbidden over his lower lashes. He didn’t mean to! He was trying so hard not to cry, but she just…! It had just been an accident, but she just seemed so disappointed with him! She seemed so angry!

And now he was crying in class and he could feel his classmates looking at him out of the corners of their eyes. His face burned bright as he scrunched himself up into a teeny little ball, his chin tucked down to his chest to hide. 

His teacher stood up straight again, and it felt suddenly like she was looming over him. “When you’re finished crying, call me over and I’ll help you with your work,” she told him, and Mikey shivered from the coldness of it. He had never been so ashamed to cry before. “And if I see any more drawings, I’m throwing them in the trash. Do you understand me?”

Mikey had hiccuped, just a tiny bit, without meaning to, and nodded.

His throat felt all achy and swollen up as he laid his head down in his arms, blinking past tears and sniffling softly, trying desperately to push everything back down and dismiss them. This wasn’t even the first time this had happened…! He was pretty much convinced by now that Mrs. Stephanidis must hate him with all the trouble he was always getting into. She was always upset with him. She was always sighing like that every time they talked… and he was trying, honest, he was! He didn’t mean to get distracted and end up doing something else when they were in class, it just… 

Happened.

It was so hard to just sit still and listen and not do anything else. His fingers always wanted to move! So did his feet and his tongue! And he could keep some of them down, but he could never quite manage to keep them all in check all at the same time, despite his best efforts. He’d stay in his seat and be still, but then he’d get in trouble for chatting with his desk-neighbor, which he could never quite understand, because why was he in trouble for talking with his friend? Was it bad? He didn’t get it. He’d keep his hands still, not letting them wander off and do anything else, and he’d remain quiet in class, but then he’d spot something out the window and before he knew it he’d be out of his seat and peering out the window, belatedly finding some excuse to be up when he was confronted. And even when he could keep his mouth quiet and his bottom firmly in his chair… 

Well, he’d find himself here.

There were just so many things all the time that he wanted to be doing! Like drawing little superheroes. Or debating with Madison about how high horses could jump. Or finding out how many erasers he could stack on top of one another (twelve), or teaching his deskmates how to say “butt” in Japanese (now the entire first grade knew how), or discovering what happened if you put your finger in the pencil sharpener, (it hurt, and you had to go the nurse to get a bandaid.) 

It wasn’t like he didn’t like math and reading and all that stuff. It was just…

So slow sometimes.

As he ruminated on this all, he was slowly able to fight off some of the earlier sorrow, muscling all the wobbly little sobs back inside of his head once he put every bit of strength he had into it. It was exhausting, but it was worth it. He wanted Mrs. Stephanidis to like him. He wanted to be a good student! A good kid! He wanted to do his math and learn how…! He eventually picked his head back up, refocusing on the worksheets in front of him, now with a few wet spots.

He wiped at his cheeks, taking a few long, shaking breaths as he glanced over at his teacher across the room, wandering about and looking over other kids shoulders, occasionally making comments or remarks to his classmates. He supposed he could raise his hand and ask her to come and help him, but…

The idea made his throat puff up again. If he had her come help him, he’d have to raise his hand, and then everyone would look at him again. And, maybe even worse, then she would come over, and he’d have to talk with her again, and… 

He hesitated, fear prickling up his spine, his sneakers nudging anxiously at the tile floor at the thought. Well. She would surely wander her way back over to his desk eventually…

Mikey sniffled softly, wiping at his nose with the backs of his sleeve. Maybe he just wasn’t trying hard enough before. Maybe he could figure this stuff out on his own, and he just hadn’t worked long enough on it… 

His eyes wandered to the first problem, his pencil lingering over the surface of the paper, repeatedly leaving small, nervous marks and nicks in the surface of the paper as his hand squirmed and trembled. He had gone over some of this with Donnie before, so he probably knew how to do it, right? He just hadn’t tried hard enough to remember… 

Very slowly, he tried to pick his way through the problem, his face scrunched up with concentration. Okay, so if it was six, plus nine, then it was like… if he had nine… he just had to count six more times higher, right? But wait, did he start from nine, or from ten? Was the rule different when you got into double digits?...

He hesitantly wrote out numbers on the sheet, his handwriting having morphed from his usual big, loopy letters and numbers to become itty bitty, tiny script, all scrunched together and small, like it wanted to curl up and hide just like he did. And he wasn’t sure if he was doing it right, but at least he was doing it, right? It was better to do it this way, wasn’t it…? He frowned, chewing at his eraser, digging his teeth into the surface.

He ground himself to a halt when he approached the subtraction problems, squirming anxiously in his seat. He knew Donnie taught him this, too, but he really didn’t remember how to do these ones. He knew he had to do it backwards, kinda, but he didn’t remember how it worked, or what the first step was. 

His pencil twitched absently as he dug around in the back of his mind, searching desperately for anything helpful. He sketched repeatedly over the same lines he had already drawn earlier-- digging into the little canals and divots that the lead had carved into the soft surface of the paper, dragging it back and forth. Just an absent motion while he tried to think.

And he hadn’t realized Mrs. Stephanidis had come back. But the absolutely outraged gasp that clued him in made him jump, and his blood ran cold as he immediately froze, dropping the pencil like it had burned him.

“Michelangelo!”

“I wasn’t--” He tried desperately to explain himself, panic flaring through his chest. 

“What did I just tell you?!”

“But I--”

Mikey realized quickly that she wasn’t interested in listening to him as she snatched the worksheets from his desk, his pencil knocked aside with the movement and rolling off his desk. Mikey resisted the urge to grab for them, remaining absolutely still in his seat. All the hard work he had just done to chase the tears away was instantly undone as he watched her march over to the trash can by the door. 

She tore the papers in half the long way, right down the middle. And then she rotated them so she could do it again, ripping them the opposite direction, like a cross. Like a great big “X.” Pulled apart into four separate pieces. And then the scraps went fluttering into the black bin.

She went to her desk. She picked up a new set of worksheets, clean and fresh. She returned to Mikey’s desk, laying them down neatly where his previous work had once been. She picked his pencil up off the floor for him and leaned back over the desk.

“Okay. Now show me which problems you didn’t understand.”

Yeah. Dad hadn’t been too happy about that one.

He had started seeing his therapist, Cat, a little after that, and that had helped a lot. And then when he was seven, he started taking meds, and that helped a lot, too. It certainly wasn’t a magic band-aid. Things still… sucked sometimes.

And he still wasn’t the best at. You know. Focusing.

… But he couldn’t just let it keep getting the better of him. 

Not if it was going to hurt his family.

Mikey took in a long, deep breath, sitting back upright again, scooting forward so he could copy his Dad’s posture once more, his legs crossed and his hands resting on his knees.

“Okay. I’m ready.”

---

It was just as he had suspected.

Penelope was pissed.

It had been endearing, quite frankly, how worked up she was. They all were-- Raphael had been nearly ambushed when he showed up at class, all five of his students throwing themselves at him and clinging to him as soon as they got the chance. 

“Where were you?!” Penelope had demanded. “You were gone for forever!!! You’re supposed to teach us, remember!? We have a standing appointment!!!”

And Raph had laughed despite himself, wondering where she had heard that term, unable to keep himself from smiling even as they scolded him. He had already known he had missed them over the past month. But he hadn’t had the chance to actually feel it until just then. It was almost enough to make him tear up, emotion building up in the back of his throat, but he smoothed it back out, keeping himself steady. He didn’t even mind how much his cheeks hurt, because god.

He had missed this so much.

“Sorry, kiddo, my bad,” he told them. “Raph missed you guys, too. But I had to go take care of my family for a little while.”

“Why?” Penelope had demanded.

“Are they okay?” Another child had questioned, looking up at him with these huge, concerned eyes.

“It’s a real long story,” he had told them with a sigh and a lop-sided grin. “But don’t worry. Everyone is okay now.”

“Did something bad happen?” One of his students had asked.

“Did you protect them?” Said another, and Raph had chuckled.

“Nah,” he told them. “We all protected each other.”

Even thinking about it now, now that he was back in his own room in his own house, he couldn’t help but smile a little bit. He thought that there was a fifty-fifty chance he may grow to regret it, but he had even given in and done two ‘Ferry’ laps around the pool at the end of the lesson. Come on-- how could he not? 

A knock on his door drew him from the memory, and he lifted his head slightly, his eyes darting over to meet the sound.

“Yeah?”

He was, admittedly, a little surprised when Leo made his way into the room with him, closing the door behind him. Not that he was unwelcome.

“Hey,” Leo greeted.

“Hey,” Raph echoed, raising a brow slightly, already wondering what it was that had brought his little brother here. He wasn’t just here to hang out or avoid doing homework-- he could already tell. He knew his brothers better than that. “What’s up?”

Leo had hesitated a second, wrinkling his nose. “Can you help me with something?”

What kind of a question is that?

“Yeah, a’course. What’s up?”

Leo had frowned, plopping down on Raph’s bed, and Raph took notice of the little black pouch he had brought with him for the first time. 

“Okay, look. Can you just help me with my T-shot? Please?”

Raph blinked in surprise. 

“Oh,” he said. “I mean. Yeah, sure. I can try. You haven’t done ‘em yet…?” Leo’s appointment had only been a few days ago, but still. He had been so excited for this!

“I’ve been making Dad do them,” Leo confessed, scrunching up his nose. “But I wanna be able to do them myself! And I can, I know how, I just--”

He cut out, squeezing his eyes shut for a second.

“This is so fucking stupid. Can you just-- count me down?” 

Was that all? Raph just barely breathed out an amused little huff, though he didn’t dare laugh at his younger brother’s request, biting it back. 

“Yeah, dude. No problem.”

“It’s just-- it psyches me out,” Leo muttered, curled up on the foot of his brother’s bed, beginning to unpack the kit he had brought with him with determined but still unpracticed hands.

“That’s fine,”

“It’s so dumb. I’ve done way scarier stuff than this. It doesn’t even really hurt that bad,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, but I do most of the scary stuff you do, too, and I’m still freaked out by puppets,” Raph countered, shrugging a bit. He hated to bring it up, and if anyone besides him said it, he’d smack them, but… sometimes you gotta make sacrifices for your family. “So I kinda think it probably doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Leo sighed, biting the tip of his tongue as he fiddled with the syringe, occasionally stopping, stumbling, and starting again. Raph waited patiently. It wasn’t like he had any idea how to do any of this stuff, anyway, so he didn’t have much room to judge. He watched silently as his brother tore open an alcohol pad to wipe down his own thigh, scrunching his pajama shorts up ever-so-slightly to give himself more room. 

“You ready?” Raph asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m good.”

“Alright. I’ll count down from three.”

“Okay.”

“Three.”

“Mmmm…”

“Two.”

Leo adjusted his grip on the needle slightly.

“One.”

There was just the second of delay, Leo’s hand hoovering for just a second, like he was still thinking about backing down. 

But just for a second. 

He hissed a bit at the sting, but about three seconds later, it was done, the needle capped again and ready to be disposed of, and everything was finished.

“All good?”

“Yeah. I’m good. Thanks.”

“No problem,” Raph said, turning in his chair to face his desk again. And he meant it. He liked doing this kind of thing. He liked it when his brothers could come to him, when his family could rely on him-- he liked feeling needed like this. He was sure that Mikey would psychoanalyze the shit out of this, but he really did want to protect them. He wanted to be the one who kept them safe. Even when it was difficult.

And when it was easy, too. Just like this.

 “”S not like I was really doin’ homework, anyway,” Raph added in with a chuckle, glancing over his shoulder at Leo again.

Leo made a face at the thought of homework, no doubt having his own, but he laughed a little, too.

“You want me to count you in tomorrow, too?” Raph asked, keeping his tone as casual as he possibly could, turning his head back to face the desk again as he spoke, leaving the other to consider the offer without eyes on him. And he could tell that Leo was thinking about it for a while, waffling for a moment before he answered.

“... Yeah. Okay. Thanks.”

---

“Dad, is this a touch screen?”

“No, it is not, so do not touch it.”

“DAD! Dad, look! There’s a dog over there!!!”

“Yes, Mikey, I see it.”

“Can I go--”

“No. Stay here with me.”

“Dad! Look! I can see the security guys!”

“Yes, and they are all very busy doing their jobs, so we probably should not distract them by screaming and pointing--”

“Do they have guns!?”

Their father sighed very deeply, not looking up from his current task, rummaging through his bag.

“No, they--”

“Do they have katanas?”

“Why would they have katanas?”

“‘Cause they’re cool,” Leo said, “I wanted to bring mine! This is sooo not fair”

“Well, you’re not old enough to compete in that event yet, so you’ll have to suck it up,” Dad replied. “And you do not have to worry about what weapons the security does or does not have, because you would not break any rules and give them any reason to use any of them. Right, Blue?”

“Right!”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah!!! I’m for sure sure!”

“So if I go through your backpack right now, I will not find any cans of Jupiter Jim Comet Cola in there? Because I specifically told you not to bring any?”

Leo scowled.

“Go throw it out.”

“What!? But it’s limited edition!!!”

“Then you should have left it at home like I told you. Go.”

“I’ll drink it so fast--”

“Leonardo.”

Leo groaned loudly, flinging his head back dramatically as he slunk off towards the nearby trash can.

This had been about the energy pretty much all day. 

“What kind of cameras are those?”

“Purple, I have absolutely no idea.”

“Can I--”

“Whatever it is, no,” Dad said, finally fishing their boarding passes from his bag. “Alright, come on, let’s go. That way, to the security check-- the blue sign over there.”

“I wanna hold my own ticket!” Leo demanded.

“Absolutely not.”

“Why not!?”

“You will lose it. Come on. Let’s go.”

“No I wouldn’t! I swear!”

“Well, we will never know,” Dad said. “Come on, or we will be late and miss our flight. Move. Shoo,” he insisted, nudging at the nearest child’s ankle slightly with his foot, as if to herd them. Mikey gave a short squeal in response, hopping away and giggling as he took off in a jog towards the blue TSA sign. He bobbed and weaved past all the hoards of people and their suitcases, his backpack bouncing about with each step.

Raph frowned a bit, hurrying his pace so he could catch up with Mikey, sticking close by his side. There were a ton of people here. What if he got lost or something? Then they’d definitely miss their flight. He picked up the pace slightly so he could catch up.

“Mikey,” he called, reaching out towards him and wriggling his fingers. “Hold hands?”

“Okay,” Mikey agreed easily, happily reaching over to grab Raph’s hand in his own, and Raph breathed out a very quiet sigh in relief. Mikey was always willing to hold hands when he asked. At least this way, he knew he wasn’t gonna get lost.

The five of them slowly snaked their way through the long, roped-off security lines, their father following after them, occasionally saying things like, ‘stop unhooking the lanes,’ or ‘do NOT touch the AED machine,’ or ‘Orange, get off the floor.’ Raph and Mikey took turns seeing who could walk on their hands the longest, and they only fell a few times, with their father grumbling at them to cut it out each time he caught them by their legs and prevented them from crashing into any fellow travelers, which they of course ignored. Eventually, they shuffled their way through the entire process, having all the boarding passes and documents checked by the security man up front, and then passing through the physical security check as well. Dad grumbled about how much more complicated flying had gotten since he had last done it, forbade Leo and Mikey from climbing up onto the conveyor belt for the X-Ray machine, and had, one by one, coaxed them all through the entire process until they were on the other side.

“Dad, can I have one of those?” Donnie questioned, pointing back at the equipment at the checkpoint.

“Ask me again when we get back home,” Dad said, letting out a long breath. 

The rest of the process was actually pretty easy. They eventually made their way over to their gate, their dad sat them all down and put on a Jupiter Jim movie for them to watch together, and they waited until it was time for boarding. And the entire day had been very chaotic so far, with Raphael’s anxiety spiking and waning throughout it all in frantic little bursts, but now, it didn’t really seem so bad.

It wasn’t until they actually started to board the plane that some of the fear started to come back.

He and his siblings were arguing about who would get to sit in the window seat, their Dad hoisting carry-ons up into the overheads, when Raph kind of glanced outside through said window and came to the startling realization that they were on a plane.

And it was huge.

And it was gonna go up in the air. With them in it. 

His carefully calculated talking points about how he was the oldest, and therefore, he should get the window seat sort of died in his throat, and he swallowed hard, balling his hands up into little fists.

They had never flown in a plane before.

“Hey, Dad?”

“Yes, Red…?”

“Are we… Are we, uhm…” He kind of broke off, his mouth suddenly feeling very dry. The air in here was so stale.

Their dad paused, glancing down at him for a moment, quickly finishing his task before kneeling down next to Raph, seeming unconcerned about the other people trying to walk down the aisle.

“What’s wrong, Red?”

“Is it…” He hesitated a little. “Are you sure planes are safe?”

“Yes, my son. I am sure planes are safe.”

“Oh,” he said, biting the insides of his cheeks. “And it’s not gonna be… I mean. Nothin’ bad is gonna happen?”

“I’m sure,” Dad assured. “It will be fine, Raph. I have flown many, many times before, and nothing bad has ever happened yet. At least nothing worse than my bag getting lost,” he said, chuckling a bit, and Raph wrinkled up his nose slightly. (Wait, what if their bags got lost? It had a bunch of their stuff for the tournament they were going to! They needed that stuff…!)

“Here,” Dad said, grabbing his shoulder and squeezing it slightly. “How about you sit here next to me? So if anything happens, I can explain it to you?”

Raph’s eyes widened a bit, his head immediately turning to glance over at his siblings.

“But what about--”

“They will be right there the entire time. You’ll be able to see them and talk to them the whole flight if you want,” Dad assured quickly. “And so will I. Just in case. Does that sound okay?” 

Raph chewed quietly at his knuckle, considering this for a second before he nodded.

“Okay. Good. Here, sit down,” he bade, getting the two of them settled in their seats to clear up the aisle, giving a quick order to the other three to ‘sort it out.’ It took five games of rock-paper-scissors, but eventually, the others figured out what order they were sitting in. (Mikey in the window seat, Leo in the middle, and Donnie in the aisle.)

“Are you excited to go to the competition, Red?” Dad asked, settling down easily in his seat. Raph breathed in deeply, hesitating a second before he nodded.

“Yeah.”

“It’s pretty exciting, going to the National Tournament for the first time,” Dad continued. “I am looking forward to watching you four kick everyone else’s butt when we get there.”

“Mmm-hmmm…”

“And for you to see Colorado. I have never been there before, but I heard it’s very nice.”

“You haven’t?”

“No, not yet. So it will be new for me, too,” Dad said with a nod. “But I’m sure it will be lovely. I’m quite looking forward to it.”

Raph blinked thoughtfully, his shoulders slowly untensing a bit as they discussed.

“I thought you said you used to fly everywhere,” he challenged, and his dad laughed.

“I did! Just not to Colorado.”

“Well then that’s not everywhere, though!”

“Fair enough,” he chuckled. “But I have flown to many places. I enjoy flying. It’s relaxing. A good chance to catch up on my beauty sleep!” He laughed. 

“It is?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Dad confirmed with a hum. “When we are taking off, the plane will go very fast so it can get up into the air. It is like, uh… A roller coaster. But in reverse order,” he explained. “And then once we are in the air, we just go straight in the direction we want to go, and it’s very calm. So I like it.”

A reverse roller-coaster?

Raph blinked in surprise, leaning over slightly as he considered this. Well, he did like roller coasters.

“How high are we gonna go?”

---

It’s really true what they say. You never really appreciate something until it’s taken from you. Absence and hearts growing fonder and all that. And really, they hadn’t been separated for very long-- no more than a few days.

But god, had Donnie missed his lab.

His dad had only kept him from the space for a few days before he was granted re-access, though only after a long discussion and several promises not to try to perform any more blood work on himself. And Donnie had relented, though perhaps a bit reluctantly. It was an interesting project, but he supposed he would have to put it on hold for the time being.

(Also, Dad had confiscated all his syringes.)

Besides, it wasn’t as though he didn’t have about half a dozen other fascinating things that he could throw himself into right now. He had a hard time picking one thing to focus on right now, quite frankly, with so many different things calling for his attention now that he finally had the energy to offer it. 

The one thing that called the loudest, however, currently sat in his gloved hand-- held up closer to the light beneath several magnifying lenses.

He really had no idea what this little pink crystal that he had stolen from Draxum’s lab did. But if it came from him, he had a feeling it must be important. He was still in the early data collection stage, but already all the readings he had picked up were, quite frankly, baffling in the very best of ways, and he was already certain of one thing.

It wasn’t any kind of mineral that had been documented in human records before.

(Even just thinking that made him shiver with goosebumps. This was totally uncharted territory! Research that no one in documented modern science had done before! And here he was, holding this little stone in his hands, his own two hands, preparing to dive into unknown and crack open its secrets and lay them out and untangle them--)

“Dude!”

Donnie startled slightly, his head bobbing about to glance over at the entrance of his lab.

“Quit putting your phone on silent, it’s annoying,” Leo huffed. “Do you have any idea how many stairs are in between you and the kitchen?”

Donnie blinked slowly beneath his goggles. “... What?”

“We tried calling you!” Mikey added, poking his head into the lab as well. “Dinner is ready!!! Come on!”

Donnie floundered for a moment, looking sadly back at his research. “But I--”

“Family dinner. That I made myself. For my whole family to enjoy,” Mikey added in swiftly, batting his eyelashes. “Together.”

Right. Donnie sighed softly, reluctantly setting the crystal down, stripping himself of his safety gear and getting to his feet. It wasn’t like he didn’t appreciate the new emphasis on sit-down family dinners that they had recently developed… 

But dang it, did it have to be at the expense of scientific advancement!?

“I’m coming. Put the eyes away, Michael,” he muttered, making his way across the lab to join them at the door. Mikey just grinned in response, seemingly perfectly pleased with himself as he spun around to begin making his way back down the stairs. Donnie, admittedly, smiled the tiniest bit.

Fine, fine. He supposed that the crystal would still be there when he got back.

The kitchen was already bustling by the time they all re-joined the fray, with Dad and Raph finishing up setting the table, which was already filled to the brim with Mikey’s cooking. Luckily, with the size of their family and the size of the appetites in it, there was never any concern about overabundance. 

“‘S April coming?” He questioned, easily joining the organized chaos, slipping neatly into the familiar thick of it. He rapidly took inventory of the scene and moved by instinct to fill in any gaps, reaching into the cupboard to grab glasses for the table before fetching the Brita filter from the fridge. The rest of the family moved around him seamlessly, darting around and between one another as all the last-minute meal prep was completed. 

“Yeah, she should be here in a few minutes. She said she was on her way,” Raph reported, tossing a stray backpack left on the back of a kitchen chair into the living room, letting it bounce off the couch and onto the floor to be fetched later.

“Guys, where’re the salad tongs? I can’t find them!” Mikey complained, shuffling through drawers.

“Mikey, no one except for you ever uses those,” Donnie scoffed in response, raising a brow. “They’re wherever you put them last.”

“But I can’t find them!”

“Did you check the dishwasher?” Raph questioned.

“Yeah!”

“Did you check all the cabinets?”

“... No.”

“... Do you want me to check the top ones?”

Mikey scowled.

“Yeah,” he muttered. And Raph grinned, but he didn’t say anything further, reaching up to the upper cupboards inaccessible to the rest of his family, beginning to search.

“Are they still in the fridge?” Leo questioned, raising a brow.

“Why would they be in the fridge?” Raph questioned.

“‘Cause Mikey was using them for those chocolate-strawberry-nachos he made the other day, and there’s still leftovers in the fridge.”

Mikey gasped, his face lighting up as he darted across the room.

“Oh, yeah--!”

“It’s a miracle we are able to keep track of anything in this house,” Dad scoffed softly, though he seemed more amused than anything, shaking his head as he dried a last-minute addition to the dishware lineup, dinner plate in one hand and hand towel in the other.

“That’s an understatement,” Donnie sighed.

“APRILLLL O’NEIL!!!”

Donnie would admit it. He had missed her dramatic entrances. He smiled a bit as his sister flung the front door open, bursting into the Hamato Household, grinning wide despite looking just a tiny bit frazzled. He suspected she had rushed her way over here-- she was still wearing her work uniform.

“Sorry I’m late,” April laughed, kicking the door shut behind her as she made her way into the kitchen. “This guy got one of the kiddie sandals stuck on his foot and I had to--”

Donnie was sure that whatever April was about to say would have been a good story. He would have been interested in hearing it. But he didn’t get the chance.

The sound of a ceramic plate shattering on the tile floor brought all conversation to a shrieking, shuddering halt.

---

Raphael’s conversation with his Dad, which had been going on for several minutes now, discussing the longest flight their father had ever been on, was cut off when he suddenly felt the entire plane jolt beneath him. His eyes widened as they began to taxi forward.

“We’re moving!”

“Mmm-hmmm,” Dad confirmed, steady and calm, leaning back to rest his head against the seat. “We’re going to the end of the runway, so the plane can get a running start and go fast enough to take off.”

Raph gaped slightly, glancing across the aisle to look over at his siblings-- and they were all wriggling with anticipation, too, straining to try to crowd around Mikey’s little window and see outside. Raph shifted a bit, glancing in the opposite direction, and realized that he could kind of see the window a little bit, too. He could see the world begin to shift around them. And Raph tensed a little bit, because he knew that things were about to start happening.

His dad shifted ever so slightly, moving to casually lay his hand on the armrest between them, and Raph immediately took the unspoken invitation and grabbed it. He could hear his own heartbeat.

“Here we go,” Dad hummed softly, and Raph nodded a tiny bit, biting the insides of his cheeks.

It was starting.

[ next ]

[purplephloxpress]

It's August 21, which means: Happy Fanfiction Writers Appreciation Day! If you are a writer of fanfic, please know just how appreciated you are!! Fandom would be such a different space without your creativity and labors of love. 💜

In celebration of this most glorious holiday, @renegadepublishing ran an event where we bind copies of fics to gift to their authors, and I had the joy of binding The Tranquility of Water for @noppoh! It's a truly fantastic post-canon story and I love the exploration into the effects of the main story on its characters after the fact. (This is a story I love so much that I wrote up a page and a half crash course on The Untamed so I can try to force my sibling into reading it as well. Take that as you will)

The walls of the Hanshi creep in on him and so Lan Xichen leaves. He leaves Cloud Recesses and his seclusion, stealing away in the night with no-one the wiser that he even left. His feet bring him to Lotus Pier where a surprisingly kind Jiang Cheng seems determined to help him heal.

With a title like "Tranquility of Water" and the story largely taking place at Lotus Pier, I may have been a little heavy handed with the lotus imagery throughout the book, but it felt very fitting! The lotus on the cover was a last minute addition, but one that turned out so lovely. Just, you know, to tie everything together lotus-wise. (Another one of my favorite design details in the typeset is that both title fonts from the chapter headers and title page get repeated within the text of the story as the main characters handwriting fonts!)

I started the physical binding process of my copy while at the Renegade Retreat in April (and decided the week before that I wanted to change my body font... can you say formatting speedrun?) and up until that point I hadn't actually figured out what the cover and endpages were going to look like. Special thanks to everyone who contributed pieces to this binding (and who moral-supported me along the way -- my copy holds so many fun memories now) because it LITERALLY would not look like this without you all. I really love the way the color transitions worked out, with a predominantly blue/green case, fading into green, into pink, into the title page, and then transitioning back out at the end of the book.

And these endbands!! Friends, that is SILK embroidery floss that a friend brought to the retreat especially so I could experience the decadence of silk endbands. I will never be the same. (They're so smooth... so shiny... so slippery to work with, but SO WORTH IT)

(Binding details under the cut)

The pieces that went into this bind:

Fandom: The Untamed/Mo Dao Zu Shi

Pairing: Jiang Cheng | Jiang Wanyin / Lan Huan | Lan Xichen

Bookcloth: Renegade Retreat Swap Table Special (I have no idea what it is, but it was just enough to make a copy for myself and the author and the color worked PERFECTLY!)

Cover paper: Opal Momi paper

Cover paper: Opal Momi paper

Endpapers: from the Craft Consortium Ink Drops - Dusk paper pack

Titling: foil quill

Endbands: leather cording core, silk embroidery floss for the bands

Body font: EB Garamond

Title fonts: Wintersoul and Bastian

Handwriting fonts: Bastian (Lan Xichen), Richardson Script (Lan Wangji), and Wintersoul (Jiang Cheng)

Tumblr insists on eating and doubling text in this section at its own whim, so if there's something missing that you're curious about, feel free to DM me an ask!

[expulence]

💎💄Luxury Makeup 𝐍𝐄𝐄𝐃𝐒 for a Flawless Look💄💎

With the popularity of skincare these past few years came the desire to achieve a more natural 'your-skin-but-better' makeup look.

♡...Enter the 𝓒𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓷 𝓖𝓲𝓻𝓵 makeup look...♡

It was characterised by minimal use of makeup and an emphasis on enhancing your natural beauty. The foundation needs to look like skin, and the lipstick like natural healthy and plump lips. As simple as this all sounds, it is quite an art form.

So where do you start?

Well, when it comes to achieving a flawless makeup look, quality products can make all the difference. Investing in luxury makeup can elevate your beauty routine and give you a professional finish. Furthermore as high-end products are concerned, a little goes a long way.

Here's a curated list of essential luxury makeup products that you might need in your collection:

𝕮𝖔𝖒𝖕𝖑𝖊𝖝𝖎𝖔𝖓:

A high-quality foundation is the key to a flawless base. Look for a luxury foundation that matches your skin tone perfectly and provides a smooth, even coverage. Brands like Dior and Giorgio Armani offer a range of luxurious foundations that blend seamlessly into the skin, giving you a natural yet polished finish. A good quality concealer can make stubborn blemishes vanish without a thick and unnatural finish.

How to Use:

Apply the foundation using a beauty blender or a foundation brush, starting from the center of your face and blending outwards. Make sure to blend well into your jawline and neck for a seamless look. Start with a light layer and be sure to spot conceal any visible blemishes. This creates a flawless base without the cakey look of layered foundation.

High-end Foundatation/Base Recomendations:

Dior Face and Body Foundation

Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation

NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer

𝕷𝖆𝖘𝖍𝖊𝖘:

No makeup look is complete without mascara. A luxury mascara can add volume, length, and definition to your lashes, instantly opening up your eyes and making them pop. Choose a higher-end mascara from brands like Too Faced or Yves Saint Laurent for a smoother application, intense pigmentation and long-lasting wear.

How to Use:

Start by curling your lashes with an eyelash curler, then apply the mascara from the roots to the tips in a gentle zig-zag motion. Build up layers for added volume and intensity.

High-end Mascara Recomendations:

Too Face Better Than Sex Mascara

MAC Extended Play Lash

𝕷𝖎𝖕𝖘:

A swipe of luxury lipstick can instantly elevate your look and add a touch of glamour. Opt for a smooth that compliments your skintone from brands like Tom Ford or Charlotte Tilbury for a creamy, long-lasting formula that feels comfortable on the lips. Some sheer lipgloss further elevates the look and adds to the glowy final product.

How to Use:

Start by outlining your lips with a lip liner for precision, then fill in the lips with the subdued lipstick shade of your choice. Ad a layer of clear, light pink of peachy lip gloss for an extra glow.

High-end Lipstick/Lipgloss Recomendations:

Bobbi Brown Luxe Lip Color

LANEIGE Lip Glowy Balm

𝕰𝖞𝖊𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝕭𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖘:

A versatile eyeshadow palette is a must-have for creating a variety of eye looks, from subtle daytime glam to sultry evening styles. Invest in a luxury palette from brands like Natasha Denona or Pat McGrath for a range of pigmented shades and buttery textures. A single decent brow pencil can last you ages and carry you through various looks too.

How to use:

Start by applying an eyeshadow primer and choosing neutral shades that complement your skin tone. Apply a transition shade in the crease, followed by a light shimmer shade on the eyelid. Blend the edges for a seamless gradient and define the lash line with a dark eyeshadow powde. For your brows, brush them in the direction of hair growth, fill in the soparc3 areas gently with a brow pencil or powder for a more natural look.

High-end Eyeshadow/Brow Recomendations:

LAURA GELLER NEW YORK The Delectables Earthy Essentials Baked Eyeshadow Palette

Anastasia Beverly Hills - Brow Wiz

By incorporating these luxury makeup must-haves into your beauty routine, you can achieve a flawless look that exudes sophistication and elegance. Experiment with different shades and techniques to discover what works best for you, and enjoy the transformative power of high-quality makeup products.

But never forget..

💰𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐲💰