#when i pick a color scheme i like i tend to stick with it

[wombywoo]

Ok! I've finally decided to put together a (somewhat) comprehensive tutorial on my latest art~

Please enjoy this little step-by-step 💁‍♀️

First things first--references!

Now I'm not saying you have to go overboard, but I always find that this is a crucial starting point in any art piece I intend on making. Especially if you're a detail freak like me and want to make it as realistic as possible 🙃

As such, your web browser should look like this at any given point:

Since this is a historical piece, it means hours upon hours of meaningless research just to see what color the socks are, but...again. that isn't, strictly, necessary 😅

Once I've compiled all my lovely ref pics, I usually dump them into a big-ass collage ⬇️

(I will end up not using half of these, alas :'D)

Another reference search for background material, and getting to showcase our models of choice for this occasion~

When picking a reference for an actor or model, the main thing I keep in mind (besides prettiness 🤭) is lighting and orientation. Because I already kinda know what pose I'm gonna go with for this piece, I can look for specific angles that might fit the criteria. I should mention that I am a reference hound, and my current COD actor ref folder looks like this:

Also keep in mind, if you're using a ref that you need to flip, make sure you adjust accordingly. This especially applies to clothing, as certain things like pants zippers and belt buckles can be quite specific ☝️

Now that we've spent countless hours googling, it's time to start with a rough sketch:

It doesn't have to be pretty, folks, just a basic guideline of where you want the figures to be.

The next step is to define it more, and I know this looks like that 'how to draw an owl' meme, but I promise--getting from the loose sketch above to below is not that difficult.

Things to keep in mind are--don't go too in-depth with the details, because things are still subject to change at this point. In terms of making a suitable anatomically-correct sketch, I would suggest lots of studying. This doesn't even have to be things like figure drawing, I genuinely look at people around me for inspiration all the time. Familiarize yourself with the human form, and things like weight, proportions, posing will seem a little more feasible.

It's also important at this stage to consider your composition. Remember to flip the canvas frequently to make sure you're not leaning to one side too often. I'm sure something can be said for the spiral fibonacci stuff, which I don't really try to do on purpose, but I think keeping things like symmetry and balance in mind is a good start ✌️

Next step is just blocking in the figures. Standard. No fuss 👍

Now onto the background!

It's frankly hilarious how many people thought I was *hand-drawing* these maps and stuff 😂😂 I cannot even begin to comprehend how insanely difficult that would be. So yeah, we're just taking the lazy copy and paste way out 🤙

I almost always prepare my backgrounds first, and this is mostly to get a general color scheme off the bat. For collage work, it's really just a matter of trial and error, sticking this here, slapping this there, etc. I like to futz around with different overlay options until I've found a nice arrangement. Advice for this is just--go nuts 🤷‍♀️

Next, I add a few color adjustments. I tend to make at least 2 colors pop in an art piece, and low and behold, they usually tend to be red and blue ❤️💙There's something about warm/cool vibes, idk man..

Now we move on to coloring the figures. This is just a basic block and fill, not really defining any of the details yet.

Next, we add some cursory values. Sloppy airbrush works fine, it'll look better soon I promise 🙏

And now--rendering!

I know a lot of beginner artists are intimidated by rendering, and I can totally understand why. It's just one of those things you have to commit to 💪

I've decided to show a brief process of rendering our dear Johnny's face here:

Starting off, I usually rely on the trusty airbrush just to get some color values going. Note--I've kept my sketch layer on top, but feel free to turn it on and off as you work, so as to not be too bound to the sketch. For now, it's just a guideline.

This next stage may look like a huge jump, but it's really just adding more to the foundation. I try to think of it like putting on make-up in a way~ Adding contours, accentuating highlights. This is also where I start adding in more saturation, especially around areas such as ears, nose and lips. Still a bit fuzzy at this point, but that's why we keep adding to it 💪

A boy has appeared! See--now I've removed most of the line layer, and it holds up on its own. I'll admit that in order to achieve this realistic style, you'll need lots and lots of practice and skill, which shouldn't be discouraging! Just motivate yourself with the prospect of getting to look at pretty men for countless hours 🙆‍♀️

I'll probably do a more in-depth explanation about rendering at some point, but let's keep this rolling~

Moving forward is just a process of adding to the figures bit by bit. I do lean towards filling in each section from top to bottom, but you can feel free to pop around to certain parts that appeal to you more. I almost always do the faces first though, because if they end up sucking, I feel less guilty about scrapping it 😂 But no--I think he's pretty enough to proceed 😚

They're coming together now 🙆‍♀️ Another helpful tip--make sure you reuse color. By that, I mean--try to incorporate various colors throughout your piece, using the eyedropper tool to keep a consistent palette. I try to put in bits of red and blue where I can

Here they are fully rendered! Notice I've made a few subtle changes from the sketch, like adjusting the belt buckles because I made a mistake 😬 Hence why you shouldn't put too much stock in your initial sketch~

The next step is more of a stylistic choice, but I usually go over everything with an outline, typically in a bright color like green. Occasionally, I can just use my initial line layer, but for this, I've made a brand new, cleaner line 👍

And the final step is adjusting the color and adding some text:

Tada!! It's done!

All in all, this took me the better part of a week, but I have a lot of free time, so yeah ✌️

I hope you appreciated that little walkthrough~ I know people have been asking me how I do my art, but the truth is--I usually have no clue how to explain myself 😅 So have this half-assed tutorial~

As a bonus, here is a cute (cursed) image of Johnny without his mustache:

A baby, a literal infant child !!! who put this wee bairn on the front lines ??! 😭

Anyway! peace out ✌️

[beemers-hell]

would u b willing to share a crumb of advice on how to pick colors? your coloring style is so efficiently simple and beautiful. how do u do it

ill be honest in saying I really dont know tbh, cause generally the way I go about art is that I just brute force through shit until it works/looks right for me lmao. However! Generally I recommend just kinda trusting the process, and by process I mean "Have a very clear idea of what you're trying to do and have as many reference material/resources at the ready." Shit like color palette prompts, mood boards, "aesthetic" images related to the look you're tryna go far, that kind of thing. Most of the color schemes I use in my pieces are directly tied to the aesthetic of the overall image I'm trying to make, which usually falls under Y2K/Neo Futurism/Scene/Industrial Goth/Horror In General yadda yadda I think you get it lmao

Like, sometimes, if it's something that's a bit out of my element, it takes me FARRR longer to figure out the color scheme of something. For example, that Gyaru-esque Ettie piece I just did! I was struggling really bad with the colors/patterns/overall color aesthetic in order to achieve something that could be considered Gyaru, however everything I was trying just kept looking like it was clashing too much for my personal taste. Which, like, is more just a symptom of me not liking having a million different colors in a single palette (I tend to try to stick to just 4, maybe 5 or 6 different colors at maximum) and Gyaru fashion tends to be explosively colorful and overly detailed by design. Anyway, this caused me to spend like, almost 7 hours just coloring the Ettie piece because I kept just redoing all the colors over and over again, and only stopped when I finally thought I had something that looked fine. I was looking at A LOT of reference photos I'd saved of various Women in different Gyaru styles, and I just experimented with what colors I was seeing in the photos. I think there is a whole like almost 5 minutes of the Ettie speedpaint that's solely dedicated to me just struggling on the color palette lmfao

[mosneakers]

Hello love!

Was Coraleye planned from the beginning, or was she kind of just born into your game and stole your heart? and was Tycho always the plan for her or did your game decide that fate? 🤍

hey bby ♥ I love this question thank you!!

I'd have to say a little bit of both! I knew for generation 4, I really wanted a female heir, since the previous heirs have all been males. So far, it's been a tradition that the youngest of the kids turn out to be the heir, and I wanted to stick to that with her. So I knew she'd be the youngest daughter. Years ago, I was on a color-naming website thing? looking for color names that fit the Dollow color scheme, and very quickly came up with the names Brick, Charm, and Sunglow (which I removed the 'w') then the last was Coral, which was alright. I already had a way different name picked for her at the time (Anastasia!) but on my list of sims names I had the alternate spelling "Coralie" written down, and she had heterochromia + a coral eye, so I had kind of a 'what if' moment and BOOM, CORALEYE! ✨ This was possibly years in advance, I tend to think pretty far ahead. Just like I know who Coraleye will end up with, how many kids she'll have, and what their names will be already 😉😂 Her brothers were all born in sims 3 but she was the only one to start her life in ts4 with very rough beginnings 😄 (limited cc and dog shit graphics!) Her personality, most of her storylines, and overall ability to shine and take over my simblr, well she did all that on her own 😅

AS FOR TYCHO OMG... No, none of that was planned lol!! As someone who has played the sims since the first generation (ts1!) I tend to remake a lot of the classic families. The Curious brothers and Strangetown were my absolute FAVORITES from ts2 and since I'm a chaotic mess, a lot of my creations tend to inhabit the same saves. Tycho naturally met Seymour Darling when they joined the same conspiracy theory club in Strangerville. Then Tycho went to college at the same time Glo did, I thought they'd be cute besties since they're both nerds so I let them be roommates (I even left the possibility to fliration open! 👀) and they quickly became a tight-knit group of friends. After Coraleye was introduced, that boy didn't stand a chance, and those two threw a wrench in the entire plans of the legacy!

Don't worry though, we've rerouted, and we're back on track 🚂😆

[aliceyabusamesoneball]

Hey hey hey dude ☺️🎉🎉👋👋🎉👋 if you haven't yet I was wondering if you'd consider doing an outfit analysis for Zizel? Someone I know is trying to design an outfit for her but they're struggling LOL

hii ❗❗ i have not done zizel yet so hopefully i am not too late for that person trying to design an outfit for her 😢😢 (kidfoundonstreets don't look)

so zizel's style seems to be pretty consistent in everything except color 🧐 she wears a lot of colors and unlike most of the other characters it's not just dark/faded versions of colors!! she wears some pastel and bright shades too but we'll get more to that later

first of all this is zizel's regular outfit and she is very gorgeous 😊 anyways her and claire's style actually seem very similar which is a nice detail! with elements like the bows, ruffles, long dresses, and puffy sleeves they seem to have similar taste and her dress style almost seems like a more colorful version of claire's which might be another one of the reasons that zizel finds claire so interesting 🤔

besides the fact that this looks really similar to claire's dress there are obviously elements of this dress that zizel likes to wear a lot.. for example the crossover corset-y detail going down the middle of her dress seems pretty common for her and it's a cool detail!!

that corset-y detail can also be seen here in one of her halloween outfits!! also this dress seems pretty similar to her regular one with the bow details (the bow on the top in the middle), the puff sleeves, the skirt ruffles, and the gloves with the ruffle at the end, so all of those things are definitely things zizel likes

but one notable difference about this is the neckline, while this dress is off the shoulder her regular dress completely covers her shoulders and it has the same collar style as a japanese school uniform (i dont know what the collar name is 😢😢) and these two styles of dresses seems to be the only types of dresses that zizel wears

she also has an off the shoulder neckline here! PLUS this dress resembles claire's bonus stage outfit that matches noel's with the light color (claire's is white but my point still stands), the rose details on the dress and her bows, and the ruffles + bow sash at the bottom (by the way this dress is absolutely gorgeous and i think zizel should give it to me instead/j)

again this dress has the ruffles and bows that zizel seems to love but past this point is when the colors start to get confusing.. so far we've mostly just seen a red/orange/pink color scheme for zizel and i think these are the main colors she wears but she doesn't only stick to these colors like some other characters cling to theirs (looking at wilardo..), she wears a variety of other colors that aren't faded and dull! for example this specific dress was pastel colored and we haven't seen pastels from many other characters.. most characters tend to stick to darker/faded shades of colors but zizel seems partial to pretty much every color

i think this indifference to the colors she wears reflects her character a lot because zizel is also indifferent to all of the other characters and doesn't look down on anyone despite being a purebred demon who are the highest in the demon hierarchy.. she treats hater demons like lime and charlotte with respect and she also treats humans like claire with respect, she doesn't seem to be biased towards anyone and i think this unbiased attitude reflects in her color pallette

anyways let's look at some more of her cool outfits

not sure if this completely counts but i just wanted to point out the ruffles are similar to the ruffles at the bottom of her previous dress so obviously she likes the ruffles!! also she looks so cute with her sunglasses i think that was just a one time thing though because she's matching with rouge

she also has ruffles here! + while she didn't pick this outfit out herself it very much seems like a type of dress that she would wear with the bow and ruffle details that she loves a lot.. and again the japanese school uniform type collar is featured here too! (also she looks so pretty here but she always does)

(sorry it's a sprite i couldn't find any clear illustrations of this outfit) this is probably one of the most different colors that she ever wears because i really wouldnt have expected her to wear green.. then again she didn't pick this one out herself either and she is supposed to be the mad hatter who i think wears green (??) but she seems to like the outfit

it seems pretty consistent with zizel's taste though with the off the shoulder neckline, bows, ruffles, but theres also another detail i wanna bring attention to which are the buttons down the middle! it's a little similar to the corset-y detail i brought up earlier but this element makes a lot of reappearances in her outfits so i think it's worth bringing up

that button detail is also shown here along with her classic details (puffy sleeves, ruffles, bows, some crossover thingies) and also the color of the dress sort of matches her main color scheme with the pinks and pops of red but there's also purple so that's cool

also she seems to like wearing roses.. it might just be rouge's influence but she's worn them in like 3 outfits now so i think that's a cute detail

this is starting to get a little repetitive im so sorry.. you can guess what i am going to say but yeah this dress matches her tastes definitely also i really like the colors they go really well together (zizel should give me this one too/j)

ALSO i forgot to bring this up earlier but she also seems to like wearing cuffs at the end of her sleeves (with ruffles of course) she's worn those a lot too!

there isn't much else to say other than what i've already said but yeah she really loves her bows and ruffles and puff sleeves.. the color of this dress is also gorgeous too with the faded purple tones it almost makes me think of the claire noel and sirius colors but thats probably not on purpose 😢

+ not sure if i brought this up earlier but!! zizel really loves her silly hats and headbands they look very pretty with her bows and she seems to wear all kinds of hats from witch hats to berets (i think thats what theyre called) so she would definitely like a bunch of hats and headbands in her wardrobe

so overall here is how i would style zizel:

LOTS AND LOTS of ruffles especially at the bottom of her dresses

mostly pinks, reds, and oranges, but definitely not only those colors!! i would probably sprinkle in some deeper shades of blue/purple, pretty pastels, and maybe some brighter shades like that green she wore

off the shoulder or japanese school uniform style collars for her necklines

sleeves that are puffy and have cuffs at the end!

that corset-y/button detail down the middle that's featured in a lot of her dresses

BOWS BOWS BOWS a lot of bows everywhere on her dresses (probably more in the middle at the top like she's worn or as a sash) and definitely a bunch to wear in her hair!!

maybe a few rose details in her bows or on her dresses

those pretty pairs of gloves with little ruffles at the ends they're so cute

i can't imagine any occasion where she would have to wear anything besides a dress so i think it'd be just dresses

lots of cute little hats and headbands she can wear with her bows!! like the witch hats, those magician hats that i dont know the name of, berets, and maybe like baker boy caps? + ruffled headbands!

[flowerboom]

How to Buy Wedding Flowers with Confidence

Weddings are so much more than just a ceremony in front of family and friends. They are an occasion to celebrate two families coming together, and there is nothing more important than the flowers when it comes to decorating your special day. Learn how you can buy wedding flowers with confidence by following these tips!

Secrets to Buying Wedding Flowers with Confidence

The most important thing to do when buying Florist Dallas Texas is to know the bride's style first. There is a reason why flowers are often used as "your wedding colors" in invitations. If you have decided upon the style of your wedding beforehand, then you can easily pick out flowers that suit your preferred theme.

If you choose to use flowers that do not match your color scheme, then it's important to stand out with the flowers you choose, but not always in a good way. Your wedding decorations should be able to blend well with your color scheme and style choices before incorporating them into your design plan.

Think of it this way: if you like cream-colored roses (a classic choice that matches any color), then use them with blue or gray accents if you prefer the more subtle color scheme. With this choice, cream-colored roses can stand out to blend well with your other decor choices because they are different than the usual colors used in weddings. However, if you like red roses (which people often associate with love), then cream-colored ones will likely not stand out and blend well in your color scheme. For this reason, you might want to consider using a darker or brighter version of these flowers (i.e., burgundy) to make them stick out enough for your guests to notice.

Make contact with a florist to talk about your spending plans

Talk with a Florists Dallas TX about what your budget is and how you want the wedding to look. The florist will likely ask you to provide a picture of the flowers that you want. You can also give her an idea of your budget. Depending on the flowers you choose, your bouquet will range in price from $50 to over $500.

Your bridesmaids' bouquets are usually around half the price of your own. The wedding party's boutonnieres are typically about the same as the bridesmaids' bouquets, but with fewer flowers. The boutonniere should cost around $20.

The centerpieces for the reception tables will be 1/3 to 1/2 the price of your bouquet, or 6-10 times less than what you spend on your flowers. You can find out more about how much they cost in our article "How Much Do Wedding Centerpieces Cost?"

If you want to go with silk flowers, which tend to be less expensive, you will also have to account for the cost of renting or buying the flowers.

Depends on how many people are at your wedding, but to get an average cost, around $100 should work fine for the groom's boutonniere.

The price of flower girl baskets will depend on what you would like them to look like. You can find prices of some that cost between $50 and $100.

The florists at Flower Boom Dallas do beautiful work and have great prices on their flowers. Call us for a free consultation and appointment! (469) 468-9333

What style should you choose for your wedding flowers?

If you have a theme in mind, find out if any flower types go well with it. For example, if you want an organic feel, look for flower choices that are wild to draw attention. If you like a more modern and simple decoration, go with flowers that can blend well with your color scheme and style.

Your wedding flowers should also be in tune with your overall theme. For example, if you like a rustic feel, then go with wildflowers (which are typically less expensive than the usual types of flowers). If you want something more formal or classic, likely, your wedding will already have enough flowers to fit into that style.

How can I order enough flowers for all my guests?

Many people assume that there is some type of magical formula to making sure your guests get enough flowers in their seats. Unfortunately, this isn't the case. The only true way to make sure you have enough flowers for your guests is by ordering extra, but if it's within your budget then I would recommend ordering 15%-20% more than what you think will be needed. Along with adding more bouquets, consider adding centerpieces on every table instead of just one centerpiece on each table. If you are still worried about not having enough flowers after following this advice simply call the florist before the wedding day and order more bouquets or centerpieces as needed!

When do I need to start ordering from vendors who offer affordable, high-quality flower arrangements?

Order your flowers about 2-3 months before your event.

This will ensure that you have enough time to address any other issues or concerns and also avoid not having enough flowers over the wedding weekend. Another consideration is the weather and time of year, as flowers require different amounts of preparation for artfully arranged bouquets in the summer versus winter months. If there is a day with significant rain forecasted within the next two weeks then it may be helpful to ask for wet floral packing instead of dry as well as prepare to use extra plastic wrap inside boxes as an additional safeguard against breakage. For more information visit our website

[thesoftdumbass]

tay’s pop-culture writing challenge

Hello, lovelies! So I have been wanting to host another writing challenge for a while. With the school year being over, with a lot of people having more free time than they usually have, and with my blog reaching nearly 1500 followers holy shit I can’t believe it, I thought now would be a great time to post it! So below the cut are the rules, prompts, what have you...send an ask or message to claim a prompt and let’s get these creative juices flowing!

The Rules™️

~You don’t have to be following me to sign up! Just make sure that I have your url when we talk so I can keep track

~I will accept fluff, smut, angst, what have you...but if you write smut, you have to be 18+ 

~AUs are welcome

~Prompts are based on songs and movies/pop culture. If you choose one it doesn’t have to match exactly, but I’d love if the fic or line captures the feel of the prompt. If you alter the prompt, please bold or italicize it when posting.

~Can be a one-shot, series, drabble, whatever you choose. There are no word requirements but please, I beg of you, if your piece is longer than a hundred words, put a read more on it. And that’s not just for this challenge, it’s just a general courtesy.

~When posting, tag my blog @thesoftdumbass and use the tag #popculturewritingchallenge so I can find your lovely fic!

~There is no cut-off date and you can sign up at any time, as long as there are prompts left

~Entries are due July 1st

Characters

Marvel:

Bucky Barnes

Sam Wilson

Steve Rogers

TBH pretty much any Marvel character is good with me

The Witcher:

Geralt

Jaskier

Yennefer

Triss

Star Wars:

Poe Dameron

Finn

Rey

Din Djarin

Miscellaneous:

Captain Syverson

August Walker

Clark Kent

Jack “Whiskey” Daniels

Javier Pena

Any Sebastian Stan character

Anyone from Red vs Blue

Do people still write for Star Trek? If so, I’ll just put this here.

If you want to write for a character (or ship) that’s not on this list, just ask and I’ll probably be okay with it!

Prompts

Songs~

1. “I love it when you call me lover” | Call Me Lover, Sam Fender

2. “There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be” | Dreaming of you, Selena

3. “I still have your letter. I’ve only read it once but I remember every word.” | Sweater, Zach Day @bookcaseninja​ ~ Carolina

4. “I meant to say I love you, but instead I said goodbye” | Shadows, The Midnight

5. “It’s not my fault that I’ve fucked everybody here” | You, The 1975

6. “I’m no sweet dream, but I’m a hell of a night” | Nightmare, Halsey @nanners-the-great​ ~ Bucky

7. “All our friends want us to fall in love” | The Good, The Bad, and The Dirty, Panic! at the Disco @bookcaseninja​ ~ Carolina

8. “People always say life is full of choices, no-one ever mentions fear” | Journey to the past, Anastasia (movie) @nekoannie-chan​ 

9. “I could look into your eyes until the sun comes up” | Afire Love, Ed Sheeran

10. “The three words could never come easy cause you’re more than they ever could be” | Capsize, Frenship and Emily Warren

11. “You say that you don’t want me. You should tell your body.” | Sweater, Zach Day

12. “The seasons pass but the monsters stay” | Kids (reprise), The Midnight

13. “And if tomorrow it’s all over, at least we had it for a moment” | No Choir, Florence and the Machine @dira333​ ~ Cameron Klein

14. “I am not complaining, just identifying my situation” | Moon, Bad Mustache

15. “I’m not a poet, but a criminal” | Thank you for the venom, My Chemical Romance

16. “The best part of believe is the lie” | Sophomore Slump, Fall Out Boy

17. “If you tease me now, I’ll just come back hungry for more” | Feed Me Now, Saint Motel

18. “How could anybody have you and lose you, and not lose their minds too?” | Los Ageless, St. Vincent

19. “No more Mrs. fucking polite” | Smile, Maisie Peters

20. “I thought that I was dreaming when you said you love me” | Ivy, Frank Ocean @annathewitch​ ~ Din Djarin

21. “I don’t wanna be your friend, I wanna kiss your neck” | fallingforyou, The 1975

Sentences~

22. “Have zero expectations always, and you’ll never be disappointed.”

23. “Payback’s a bitch, and so am I.”

24. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned from you, it’s that there’s always margin for error.”

25. “You know, one of these days, I don’t know when...I’m gonna learn to shut my fucking mouth.”

26. “Wow. You have a way with words that just immediately makes me wanna kill myself.”

27. “I have a lot to say, maybe you should get some popcorn.”

28. “It’s a Sunday. I don’t move on Sundays.”

29. “There’s no such thing as good guys or bad guys, there’s just people going about their lives.”

30. “There was a gunfight at my wedding.”

“Wait, you’re married?”

“No, I was the better shot.”

31. “Stop being so mean to me, or I swear to God I’m gonna fall in love with you!”

32. “It’s so hard to care when you’re this relaxed.”

33. A day spent with you is my favorite day.”

34. “Can I bother you for a second?”

“You always bother me so go ahead.”

35. “I’m in a dress, I have gel in my hair, I haven’t slept all night, I’m starved and I’m armed. Don’t mess with me.” @marvelouslytrekking​ ~ Steve Rogers

36. “I am way too sleep-deprived to deal with your negativity right now.”

37. “Part of me is terrified. And part of me is flattered.”

38. “I am not a child, I just act like one.”

39. “He’s blessedly unburdened with the complications of a university education.”

40. “I have never heard someone say so many wrong things, one after another, consecutively, in a row.”

There are so many awesome writers on this site, and I’m excited to see what y’all contribute 🖤 until next time, darlings!

Tagging people who expressed interest six months ago:

@hispeculiartreasure

@goingknowherewastaken

@bookcaseninja

@marvelouslytrekking

@dira333

@superwholockedbeauty​

@nanners-the-great​

@tardisoftheshire​

@just-the-hiddles​

@bloodycupcakes​ 

[moldspace]

Hi there! I deeply admire your art, especially your color choices. Looking at your sculptures always feels like a warm hug, or the sun shining on your face. I'm a sculptor myself (polymer and porcelain), though I know precious little regarding color theory, and it shows. If you have the time, I was wondering if you had any recommendations for guides or suggestions on how to develop an eye for color?

ahhh thank you so much for the kind words, and as for color theory....

i'll start off with a few book recs on the subject! picture this by molly bang is probably my all time favorite book on art making ever, and while it is primarily about shapes and composition, she does touch on color and the emotions colors can produce, which is always a good thing to keep in mind (also its just a great book and everyone should read it)! and color and light by james gurney is a classic book on, well, color and light. while i actually don't like gurney's color schemes all that often (at least in the examples he has in the book), he breaks down basically everything you need to know about color theory really simply and quickly in the book, so it's a great read if you need to touch up on basics and get an overview of the whole field.

if you're looking to develop an eye for color, i would recommend starting to pick out and define the colors in your favorite pieces. what colors are actually present? which ones cover most of the piece and which ones are only there as a highlight? what ranges of shades are there in your colors? just getting comfortable with picking apart a piece into base colors might be very helpful, and it will give you an idea of the kinds of color schemes you prefer!

another good thing to keep in mind is the ratio of one color to another. i tend not to like ratios that are close to 50:50, or 33:33:33, or what have you. instead i like an "uneven" ratio, like 75:25 or 50:30:20. it just adds a little more visual intrigue!

it's also been super helpful for me to limit the colors i am actually able to use! when i paint, i use pre-mixed house paints. i rarely ever mix colors for a piece, just choose pre-mixed colors from the selection i already have. this makes picking a color scheme easy because i can SEE all the colors i have and how they fit together without putting paint down anywhere. it also limits my options, which makes it easier for me to pick a handful of colors i like and stick to them for the whole piece. i think having some limits or a structure (to use a less mean-sounding word) in which to work like this can be really helpful. it also makes me feel way less paralyzed when my color scheme selection process is just picking out jars of paint and putting them next to each other to see if they look good, instead of mixing and tweaking and whatnot.

finally, one thing that really helps me but is mostly (maybe almost entirely?) applicable to digital art is to stay in THIS PART

of the color selector. it is so tempting to me to go to 1000% on my saturation, but it is really hard to work with super saturated colors! if you've got a lot of different colors that you want to look harmonious together, if they're all somewhere in that mid range, they'll work together, even if they would look awful at full saturation.

i'll be honest with you, though, the range i actually stick to with digital art is more like this:

but avoiding the temptation of the full saturation is a win for me!

[zulivaris]

Art Block tips that helped me

 I’ve recently experienced art block after 3 or so months of overcoming my last one. Thankfully this block only lasted a few days thanks to some things I’ve observed and noted down from the previous time. So I’m sharing these few tips in hopes that it might help someone get unstuck :D!

First and foremost if you’re tired, sad or anxious don’t be surprised that you can’t make art, go and take care of yourself by treating yourself with kindness and patience, the sketchbooks and canvases will wait for you :)

The tips are under here:

Separate art studies from the creative time:  When you do art studies you’re there to focus on specific things, learn and understand how things work so you can apply them later in your art. Studies take a lot of energy and focus and are the opposite of the creative "flow” of making your own pieces. If you combine the two the results are either unfocused studies or stiff drawings. When you sit down at your desk ask yourself “Do I want to learn something new or do I want to create something of my own?”

When you have an idea don’t be afraid of being messy: Let’s say you want to make a picture of several cats kolo dancing in the moonlight. How do you go about doing this? Well since you came up with the idea you already have a vague image in your mind, sketch it out with simple shapes, stick figures, circle and spheres etc Don’t worry about cat anatomy, or the dancer’s moves, sketch out the essence of it. This method removes the need to be perfect or accurate. 

Ok after the messy sketch then what? Well now that you have sketched out the essence of your idea (and hopefully had fun doing so) now you go on to look for references! You put the creative process on pause and you can do a few brief studies if you need to: anatomy, color schemes, values, poses. Pick out a few of your favorites but don't obsess over them, they are a guide, a tool.

You know much more than you think. You’ve probably been drawing for a few years now. You’ve probably done some studies and drawn more than one type of subject. Then you have already internalized some of that information. I used to be obsessed with capturing the minute detail of the subject, and not be able to draw ANYTHING without reference. Instead of a useful tool, references became another obstacle to my creativity. That’s perfectionism my friend, and that’s no good. Here is an exercise a good friend of mine offered: Draw a few characters, animals and objects from imagination. Make sure that the subjects have no personal value to you (no ocs for example) so that if you make a mistake you won’t feel bad about it. Make the process relaxed and comfortable, pour a nice cup of joe, listen to your favorite music ... You will notice that you do indeed know how to draw some things without reference, and it’ll help with your confidence. 

The more you do studies the more you understand This seems evident but the more you understand your subject the freer you can be and the easier it’ll be to draw it from imagination in the future. If you really struggle with something to the point of frustration (as in you can’t get it right even with reference) It means you have to study it. Have a study list, for example: hands, perspective, color theory etc. And one of those days you want to study pick something from the list, and look for videos on youtube or useful sites like line of action etc. Only study one thing at the time. You can go from studying hands to studying arms since they’re more immediately connected, but you can’t study hands and then jump to learning perspective right after. Trust me you can learn perfectly fine with the resources online, and I’m sure you’re clever enough to do it :D

Mistakes don’t mean you “suck”  I’ve noticed that the two most common causes for art block are perfectionism and lack of self-confidence.  The two can often go in tandem which is worse :’D But let me remind you of something, you can fix your piece along the whole process. Use erasers, lasso tools, liquify , select, paint it all over etc If something looks off to you then you also know deep inside how to fix it. Useful ways to see what clunks: flip canvas horizontally (helps with placement, proportions), turn the image to grayscale (helps to check values and where your eye tends to look), look at your image in thumbnail size and ask yourself if it’s clear, see the pose’s silhouette and ask yourself if you can tell what the character is doing etc. Don’t fret, everything can always be fixed :)

Perfectionism, sometimes it stops you before you begin Perfectionism causes you to overwork a piece, it makes you draw less, it makes art stressful, it brings insecurity. Let’s remove it with a simple exercise. It can be combined with the “draw things from imagination” once you’ve drawn something you like: dont do line art, don’t shade it, keep it as simple and crude as possible and then...post it. Yes, post it. You’re not at your best? You’re only human, this will help you embrace that very human side of you. You make mistakes. So what? The more mistakes you make the more you know what you need to study and the better at art you become. Mistakes are there to show us what we need to learn. See them as another tool and not a sign of failure.

Make the process as enjoyable as possible: You like art. You love drawing. Never forget this. Otherwise why are you drawing if you don’t enjoy it? It’s easy to fall prey to the mentality of those relatable memes that “art= suffering” or “I can’t even draw the other eye”. No no no my friends, these messages are fueling your insecurities instead of overcoming them. Let me tell you what, art is fun. It is. Art is fun, because I decided to make it fun again. And you should decide on that too. Personally I adore lineart but my hand-eye coordination is lacking to do it digitally, so....I just skipped it. Yes. I skipped it. I do the sketch, I clean it up a bit and then jump onto color which I adore. It allowed me to draw more and more freely. When I draw I listen to music, make strokes with the rhythm, I take breaks often and I drink my favorite iced teas. If you don’t like coloring do it in grayscale, if you love lineart then do that etc It doesn’t mean you won’t learn your weak points in the future with studies and practice, but you won’t let your weaknesses prevent you from drawing at all. No no, you won’t let them. You draw because you want to, despite of them.

Don’t wait for inspiration, provoke it  Inspiration is not a divine and capricious muse. You make inspiration. It’s easy just collect all the things you like, music, artists, objects, characters, animals, patterns, plants etc Make boards on pinterest or similar sites, combine things you like. You like suits? You like birds? You can draw a bird in a suit, or a bird-inspired suit design, there is frankly a lot of ideas that can spring up from little things like these.

When a project stops being enjoyable either pause it for now or move on to the next thing. Pieces aren’t precious. They’re not “the one time I got x right” they are one of many. This advice goes mainly to hobbyists who can afford the luxury of passing to a new project. I have a WIP of a character who is overly complicated (I enjoy a challenge from time to time) sitting for half a month. I sometimes come back to it and add something... but as soon as it starts to create discomfort and insecurity instead of enjoyment I move onto something else. In the meantime I created 3 or 4 new pieces. If I had waited on finishing that piece I would have been severely creatively and physically exhausted. The art comes from you, not inspiration. The more art you make the better you become.

That’s about it :D I know it’s long but I prefer to be thorough and cover all the possibilities. If you have read of this: Thank you so much I hope this helps you at least a bit, if it helps only 1 other person I’d still be very happy. Have a nice one, and kick art block’s butt!

[boxbusiness]

I am finally home so I can finally post the DiaBeel fic!

It’s corny for sure so mercy plz >>”

Story under the cut. Linky to the whole pic >>here<<

Made with Love

It was a pleasant day in Devildom. However, though the day was nice enough to go out and relax the Prince of Hell was trapped in his office filing paperwork. Finally getting frustrated with all the tasks on his desk, Diavolo let out an exasperated sigh and leaned back in his chair. He ran his hands through his maroon hair and stared up at the ceiling in sheer boredom. Right on cue, Diavolo’s faithful butler let himself into the office. 

“Excuse my intrusion, My Lord, but I couldn’t help but feel like you were in distress. Am I wrong?” Barbatos explained slyly smiling, holding his hand up to his chin like he normally does. Diavolo couldn’t help letting out a chuckle at his friend’s teasing. He shook his head.

“I’m fine, Barbatos. A little overwhelmed, but fine.” Diavolo lifted a stack and aligned them by patting one edge of the papers on the desk. He looked at the other mountains of paperwork and let out another sigh. Barbatos frowned. 

“If you are feeling overwhelmed then perhaps you should take a break, My Lord. That would be the obvious solution.” The demon butler suggested.

“I will, but a little later. If I don’t finish this now Lucifer will scold me, and Lucifer can be pretty scary when he is angry.” 

“I see, My Lord. Lucifer is supposed to come by later if I remember correctly. He would be very upset to come all this way and see the work is incomplete.” 

“Hahaha! That’s right, so I’ll take my break when Lucifer stops by. Until then it is back to work for me.” Diavolo declared. “When he does come by, bring him here and prepare some tea as well.”

“Understood, My Lord. I shall leave you to your tasks, but I shall also leave this with you.” Barbatos walked over to Diavolo who displayed a puzzled look on his face. “A courier came by to deliver this. It’s addressed to you, My Lord.” After giving a neatly wrapped box binded by a ribbon to Diavolo’s outstretched hand, Barbatos bowed and left the office. The young demon prince inspected the box, there was a note sticking out from the underside of the ribbon. It didn’t have a sender’s name on it. The only thing written was, Made with Love~ Enjoy! He removed the wrapping paper and it revealed the package to be a box of macarons. Diavolo chuckled softly and smiled.

“How sweet. I’ll save this for my break.”

A while later Diavolo sighed once more, but this time in relief. He finally completed his work and it was around the time Lucifer was planning to visit. Smiling, Diavolo organized his desk to be neat and tidy and placed the gift package of macarons on the coffee table in his office. As soon as he took a seat on the surrounding sofa there was a knock on the door. 

“Come in.” The prince expected to see Barbatos and Lucifer, but instead was greeted by Barbatos and someone else. “Oh? Beelzebub? What brings you here?” 

“It was explained to me that some of Lucifer’s brothers got into some trouble earlier today and he had to deal with them accordingly. Lucifer sent Beelzebub in his place.” Barbatos informed. He walked forward placing the tea set he was carrying on the coffee table. “Your tea as requested, My Lord. If you will excuse me…” Barbatos bowed and promptly left the room leaving Diavolo and Beel alone in the office.

“Um… Lucifer told me you would have files to give me.” Beel plainly stated breaking the silence. 

“Ah yes~ That is correct.” Diavolo craned his neck to look at the paperwork on his desk then back to Lucifer’s little brother. “Before I give you those… Would you care to sit and have some tea with me?” His offer caught Beel by surprise. 

“But isn’t that... A you and Lucifer  thing? I don’t know if I should…” Beel shyly protested grabbing his wrist.

“Haha~ Correct again, I suppose… But tea with me isn’t a privilege just for Lucifer. All his brothers are welcome company, so that includes you, Beelzebub.” Diavolo reassured, sensing the other’s nervousness.

“Um.. I’m still not sure…” 

“Perhaps I can sweeten the deal. If you stay for tea, I’ll share these with you.” Diavolo opened the box showcasing the colorful rows of macarons and on cue Beel’s stomach started growling.

“Maybe I can stay for a little while…” Beel stated. His eyes never left the box of goodies as he walked over to join Diavolo on the sofa. When he was handed the box, Beel began wolfing down the little treats. Diavolo smiled contently as he sipped some tea. He was glad he got the hungry demon to relax. Beel normally never acted like that in front of him, but he usually was among others, but being in his company one on one must have made Beelzebub tense. It worried Diavolo that people he wanted to be acquainted with were still intimidated by him. Respecting him as prince of Devildom was fine, but fearing him for being an all powerful demon was an image he wanted to leave behind. Maybe small talk could help the situation.  

“So Beel… What happened to your shirt?” Diavolo questioned taking another sip. Beel paused, then swallowed his current mouthful of macarons. He looked down, Beel was in his usual casual garb, but his jacket was closed. “I know you’re not wearing a shirt so tell me the story behind that.” 

“Oh. Well… I was working out, and I got pretty sweaty. I was going to change, but Lucifer caught wind of the trouble my other brothers were up to this morning and stopped everything in his tracks to punish them. He knew he’d be too busy dealing with them to come here, so he commanded me to go instead.” Beel started explaining. Diavolo let out his signature hardy laugh.

“So you took off your shirt and zipped up your jacket and hurried off here not to further anger Lucifer, Hmm?” Diavolo summed up. Beel nodded, his face looking a little flushed. “I’m sure if you stopped to change your shirt Lucifer wouldn’t have minded, but I understand not wanting to upset him more when he’s already in a mood.” Softly chuckling, Diavolo placed his teacup on the table. He glanced towards Beel and noticed his companion suddenly looked uncomfortable. “Beel...? Is something wrong?”

“I-I…” His speech was shaky and his words were cut by labored breaths. “I f-feel… N-Nngh so s-strange…” Beel was madly blushing, his hand clutching his chest, his legs were restless, twitching and rubbing against each other. He kept gasping for air, his eyes clenched closed, his body was trembling pink. “W-What… a-Ah is this… feeling?” Diavolo couldn’t help being taken aback at this sudden behavior, it made him blush a little too. The prince quickly deduced that the macarons had to be the cause of this and took one of the remaining to investigate. It looked and smelled normal, but when he took a bite it started to make sense.

“Hmm… Despite the small size it’s packed full of aphrodisiacs. These were literally made with love..” Diavolo commented to himself. He suddenly felt dizzy and he clutched his head. He could feel his cheeks begin to burn and his heart begin to race. “Ah-haha… Just one has me feeling breathless… Ah… I can’t imagine how you must feel.” He breathed. He looked over at Beel who was barely keeping it together. It didn’t take long before Diavolo’s judgement became clouded. “Beelzebub…” He scooted over to him, placing his hands on his jacket zipper.

“L-Lord Diavolo! Wah-Ah What are y-you doing?” Beel questioned with little resistance to the actions. Diavolo pulled the zipper down and he managed to slip the jacket off Beel’s shoulders before he started squirming. “D-Dia… A-ah-volo…?” 

“I-I just want to look, Beel… You said you were working out, yes? Well I just want to look… At all your hard work…” Diavolo feverishly admitted. Starting at Beel’s navel, he ran his fingertips up the curves of the demon’s abs. Diavolo could feel the heat radiating off his skin and Beel’s breath buckle when he reached his chest. “Wow-Wow… You’ve worked so hard… You deserve a reward!” Diavolo reached over with his other hand and picked up the lingering macaron. He held it to Beel’s lips which were pinched shut. “Aww~ Don’t be like that. Now say…” Diavolo cut his words off and his fingers curled around Beel’s left breast. He firmly grasped it.

“A-Ah!” Beel gasped when his chest got groped.

“Now tell me, Beel… Do you want me to give this to you?” The demon prince whispered into the hungry demon’s ear. He waved the macaron close to Beel’s mouth, but just enough out of reach. “Come on… Tell me what you want.” Diavolo teased.

“Ah-I… I want- Nngh!” Beel struggled to piece a sentence together. His mind was swimming with different emotions and feelings. “I want…” 

All of a sudden the door to the office slammed open with a frantic Lucifer rushing to get in. However, the first born paused at the doorway taking in the scene unfolding before him. Lucifer stared wide-eyed at Diavolo who returned his gaze as he was the only one of the two demons in the room to acknowledge the third party’s entrance. 

“...I WANT YOU TO GIVE IT TO ME, LORD DIAVOLO!!!” 

It was hours later in the Demon Prince’s castle. Beel was asleep in one of the guest rooms being tended to by Barbatos while Lucifer and Diavolo were in the very office where the incident just occurred. 

“I cannot believe this happened.” Lucifer grumbled leaning over the fireplace with anger and embarrassment swirling through his mind. That morning his brothers, with the exception of Beel, planned to play a prank on him. The idea was to send Diavolo a package of spiked macarons, so that when Lucifer came over they would finally get down to business. The plan went wrong when Lucifer caught them in the middle of their scheme, but couldn’t figure out what they were up to until it was too late. “They are all dead men…” He growled.

“Your brothers sure do come up with the wildest things.” Diavolo chuckled, shaking his head. After Lucifer showed up he asked Barbatos to brew an antidote. Diavolo and Beel were back to normal, however Beel needed to extend his rest considering he consumed a larger amount. 

“How can you laugh at this? It’s absolutely disgraceful! An utter outrage!” Lucifer whipped around to face the taller man.

“Well you did stop us before anything could happen and I trust you can deliver a just punishment, so in this case no harm no fowl.” He smirked and shrugged, deciding to be nonchalant about the whole situation. 

“Really…” Lucifer wasn’t happy with that answer.

“Actually… I do have one concern.” Diavolo admitted, breaking his calm demeanor with a distraught look. “I’m worried about Beel. My actions under the aphrodisiacs were… well… Not appropriate to say the least. He’s probably mad at me.” Concerned lined Diavolo’s brow and Lucifer sighed.

“Due to the circumstances, I doubt that. An honest apology and several boxes of donuts and I’m sure he’ll get over it.” Lucifer assured. 

“Boxes of donuts, hmm? It’s quite easy to earn his favor. Ha ha~ I’ll be sure to do that.” Diavolo’s voice trailed off as he looked down at the hand that grasped Beel’s chest. He was remembering the curves of the hungry demon’s body when the sound of a sharp exhale interrupted his train of thought. The prince looked up to see Lucifer averting his gaze with slightly pink cheeks. “Are… you mad at me?” 

“Mad at you? For what reason??” His cheeks immediately burned brighter pink.

“Well for getting handsy with your little brother instead of you.” Diavolo teased. 

“EXCUSE ME, WHAT?” 

“Haha! There’s that scary anger I’ve grown to fear.”

[mayakern]

i love your art so much! you really inspire me! i have a question about how you colour your work! i've noticed that you put down your "base colour" first, like you'll put a red base down for a red-hued piece. i tend to work the other way around, like by putting down random colours and then adjusting them to a colour scheme. do you have a reason for doing this? is it just habit or does it help with something?

and as someone who is both a writer and artist your work is super super inspiring! keep on keeping on!

thank you!

i just like to put a base color down first if i’m not blocking all my colors out solidly bc then when i’m laying down colors, the color behind usually shows through somewhat so it’ll look more interesting to have a bright color instead of using white or gray. i generally stick to orange, red, and pink bc they go best with how i like to color skin tones.

i don’t bother doing this if i’m working with flat colors first because those are totally opaque and the BG color will not show through. i do try to pick a BG color early on tho because that will still inform my color choices.

[starstruckmyths]

AU where Steve who wander around the world after being thawed runs into Bucky who escaped hydra earlier and living a quiet life in some far away country. Maybe Bucky is carrying a stack of books or flowers and they collide, maybe he is a barista or maybe Bucky stops his car for a hitchhiker. Their reunion is no less surprising but a lot more beautiful.

All of these are absolutely amazing and I cannot--- Every single one of these is just great, and I could daydream about this all day I swear😭. 

Bucky stopping his car for a hitchhicker are you kidding me???? Imagine if it’s also raining and really cold and Steve is shivering and tired, curling up in the warmth of Bucky’s car, not realizing who the long-haired man beside him even is until later... gahhhh. I can just imagine so well Bucky being all worried for Steve because he’s cold and wet and sfsjdfhsjdkfhsjf. 

OR fsfsjjfsfs Bucky carrying a stack of books and they collide, and then they look up at each other and Bucky, having little memory, just goes to apologize while Steve is staring at him, jaw dropped because that’s Bucky, and gahhhhh

And then you say “flowers” and I go cri because FLOWER CROWNS sifhdkfjksfhsjkdfhskjdfhs. I love flowers and flower crowns they’re special to me.

I could not pick between these, so I jabbed my finger randomly at the screen and I got ✨barista✨. I made Steve the barista cus I needed Bucky to walk in, but let’s get this party started bby✨

|X|

There was something about the guy behind the bar.

Standing there behind the counter, tending to things so unimportant in the grand scheme of the universe, he had a certain youthfulness to him, as if he was just entering the peak of his life, and yet he looked many ages old, as if there was little that surprised him anymore, having seen many horrors and lived happy memories. He looked a little lost, a little unsure, and yet so determined. It was as if looking at a person who had no idea what to do, but they were determined to figure it out.

He had not meant to stop, really, had not meant to still in his steps and turn his head just so, throwing a second glance at the guy he had briefly glanced at a moment before. It had been nothing but his usual observation of all present in his vicinity, nothing but a remnant of his installed thoughts that everything and everything could be a danger, and he needed to have visual on all around him, but this guy caught his attention.

Truly, he had not meant to enter the coffee stop, wearing his cap low over his eyes but keeping his posture relaxed and open so he would not look like a robber, and he had not meant to actually sit down at one of the tables while he had other things to do. His backpack stood beside his leg, the heavy weight keeping him at least somewhat grounded, and he blinked a few times before looking back at the bar.

The guy was still there.

His hair was a mop of honey blond strands, framing his eyes that were blue like the water bottle caps in the fridge behind him. Even from a distance James could see his pink lips move as he spoke to the people around him, curling into a smile so gentle something in his chest just... clenched. Like a hand reaching into his rib-cage and seizing his heart, almost painfully so.

Did he know this man?

He had met people before he was supposed to know somehow, usually family or friends of the victims he had caused. Some of them recognized him as they had crossed the Winter Soldier, or even locked eyes with him, but had never been the intended target. This man did not look like someone who might know one of the Soldier’s victims, but he could never know for sure. There were still many gaps in his head, and it was difficult to get a good grip on it most of the time.

One of the men behind the counter threw his head in his neck as he barked out a laugh. "Keep dreaming, Rogers!" he said, and he slapped a hand on the blond’s shoulder.

Rogers.

He knew that name.

It was certainly not an unpopular name in the US, so it could be anyone, really, but how many Rogers’ were there with blond hair like woven gold and eyes like the afternoon sky and deep sea made love to each other? Certainly not that much, right? He was short on data these days, with no one left to forcibly stomp it into his head. He did not miss the force, the hurt, the pain, but sometimes he did miss the simplicity.

Perhaps he had once met a target who looked like this man, or perhaps he had seen this man on a mission long ago, but could not remember because of the many wipes. Though that did seem unlikely because he had been free for around three years now, and this guy was only barely in his twenties. It had to be something else.

The vision of a scrawny blond with blood sticking to his noise and a feral shine to his blue eyes shoved itself to the front of his mind, demanding its place in his thoughts like it had done many times, but James pushed it away. He pushed away the laugh like bells, the attitude like nothing else, the thin hand brushing away a set of bangs that kept flopping into his eyes. He pushed it all away.

That was years ago.

Still, James got up from his chair, and approached the counter.

For a reason he could not explain, he reached his hand to his head and took off his cap. Perhaps it was not the best idea, as there was a camera hung up in the corner of the room, but he risked it. SHIELD had his back now, his name was being cleared, he was off the books and technically he did not exist.

When he moved into the frame, the blond soon noticed him and flashed a polite smile. "Hi! How can I help—"

Full stop.

It was not a look he got often—or, at all, actually. It was a look of disbelief, surprise, and raw, utter, unbridled shock all at once. As if he was staring directly into the face of a ghost. Rogers’ lips moved, but no sound came out. His eyes were wide like dinner plates, cheeks pale and jaw slack. James tilted up his head a little, gazing back curiously as a small frown formed between his brows. Not entirely the reaction he had been expecting.

Then, finally, the kid seemed to regain the ability to speak, and he whispered out a single thing. "Buck…"

He knew that name; he had read it in a museum.

"I go by James now, actually," he said, before he could stop his stupid mouth from running. He had spoken almost unnaturally slow for his doing, as if he could not quite find the words and hesitated before he said them. Perhaps he did. He had never really done that before, but perhaps this was a special case. A special case with a special person.

"Oh," the blond said, blinking a few times fast, as if unable to believe what he was seeing. He probably did, judging by this reaction.

"But," James said then, "After hearing it from you, I think I like Bucky better."

A short pause fell between them, the sound of humming machines and the faint murmur of people in the background the only thing to disrupt it. Perhaps they knew each other better than James originally thought, though he was not sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. The color only slowly returned to Steve’s cheeks— Steve?

Steve Rogers.

He had read that name in a museum too.

Just as James – Bucky? – wanted to say something again, Rogers beat him to it with a harsh sigh of disbelief and a look of near desperation. "I thought you were dead. Are you… dead?"

"I don’t think so," James answered, "But my memory’s a little foggy. Do we know each other?"

Rogers nodded, lips still parted and eyes almost pleading, though James did not know what they were searching for. For him. The skinny blond tugged at his sleeve again, grinning widely with a gap between his front teeth. A woman called at them from across the street, an apron tied before her skirt, and they went running towards her. The blond coughed, a deep and scrapy sound, as if he was sick. He had a name.

"Steve."

It was only when Rogers said, "That’s right" that James realized he had said the name out loud. It was correct. Steve Rogers. Steven Rogers. Steven Grant Rogers. Why did that name ring so many bells and had his heart beat a notch faster?

Because it was the scrawny blond in his head.

"Wanna get a coffee later?" Bucky asked, "To talk and try making sense of this?"

Steve nodded once more, the shy hint of a smile curling around his lips. "I’d like that."

[justasparkwritings]

Codename Cupid: Chapter 16

Previous: How Cricket Got Her Name 

Pairing: Jeon Jungkook X Reader/OFC/You

Genre: Secret AgentAU, AgentAU, Government Agent AU

Rating: PG15

Word Count: 3.04K

Warnings: Swearing 

Summary: Our lovely P.I. goes on the search for Min Yoongi, and stumbles into the identity of the mystery man with Taehyung. 

(this is... rough? did not expect it to be so long...) 

Missing Min Yoongi

Present Day

           My sister always tells me she’s given me all she can, that she can’t help me past my one favor a year. It’s a ploy, a deception, a boldfaced lie she tells at work or anytime we’re in earshot of anyone else. Does she misuse her government clearance? Yes. Does she defy laws and challenge the ethical code? Yes. Has she ever gotten caught? No. You’d think the government would put more tabs on her, considering her sister is a registered and licensed PI, but no, no one seems to bat an eye.

           Min Yoongi, Park Yoongi, Yoongi, is nonexistent. I barely understand what he did at Lee Enterprises, let alone how he ended up bedding Euna. He supposedly comes from no money, no name to build off of, nothing. His grades were fine, his college experience came and went with nary a note of youthful rebellion. Now, now that he’s no longer at Enterprises, I cannot fucking find him. Nothing on the web, nothing in the statewide system, nothing in the national system. No death certificates, no marriage licenses, nothing.

           All I’ve got are his charges, well, Euna’s charges against him.

           Cheating in the 1st degree, no proof, no photos or receipts or basic evidence of his behavior. She had nothing but her recollection of the fight they had, and minimal information on what led to the break up. From her manifesto, it seems that Yoongi was pulling away and she clung to him, claws drawing blood, trying to get him to stay. He didn’t, clearly. With only that to go off of, it’s no wonder I can’t find Min Yoongi, and I’m beginning to think that just maybe, Min Yoongi doesn’t exist. He’s her Snuffleupagus, and I’m starting to not believe.

           While I’m unsure if Yoongi exists, I do know a person who does.

           The man with Taehyung.

           Spectacled and broad shouldered, quaffed hair and arms the size of tree trunks, this man exists. He goes to the gym regularly, religiously, makes his coffee at home, and frequents his local nursery. The man is obsessed with plants, it seems unhealthy. Multiple days a week he’s carrying one, or more, I have photos of him watering them, speaking to them… He tends to them with such care, such love, it’s mesmerizing. He goes to work, some corporation, and once a week meets Taehyung. They’re clearly pals, best friends, brothers. They laugh and eat and enjoy one another. It’s cute, their friendship date. Once in a while, Jimin joins them. The three laugh uproariously and often draw attention for their volume. The unidentified man doesn’t seem to understand how loud he is, his baritone resonating enough for me to hear.

           I haven’t intentionally bumped into the three of them, yet, but I’ve stationed myself near enough to hear bits and pieces of their conversations. They never discuss work, only music they’re listening to, books they’re reading, podcasts, plants, general culture. Have I written down a few of the artists and podcasts they listen to? Yes. Do I feel dirty about it? Yes.

           But it’s the job, and I tail them for a month before a package arrives. A package with my name on it, waiting outside my apartment door. It’s not addressed, no stamps or packing label. It’s new, not reused as a shipping box or gifted for the umpteenth time, no dingy tape sticking to its brown coating. The box is sitting, like it’s appeared out of thin air. A secure building is only as secure as the tenants make it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the owner snuck in behind some dummy who didn’t see the harm in letting a potential rapist, stalker, murder, into the building. Taking the package inside, and as my blood continues to cool and chills run down my spine, I delicately open it.

           I know, it could be a bomb. However, the only thought calming me down is the knowledge that my life has never once been a Shonda Rhimes production and thus, I’m not really worried this package is a bomb. Frankly, that’s far more sophisticated than any of the people I’ve worked for and gives them too much credit.

           Inside, there are copious amounts of surveillance photos and a note, written in a script that I’ve seen before.

           “That was your last warning / The line has been drawn and you’re bleeding / Next time, face to face is how we’ll be meeting”  

           Whoever heard of a stalker rhyming?

           I bag the evidence to toss under my bed so Jungkook won’t find it and pull out my list of potential threats.

Check It Once, Check It Twice

William Daniels

Cheated on his wife of 5 years with a stewardess who flew almost exclusively on his flights (big shock)

Threatened to ban me from American Airlines -  Jokes on him, I don’t fly American

Photos in the act & audio recordings

Wife divorced him immediately

He has to pay alimony out the nose

Lives in the area

Allanah McMahon

Arrested and tried for insider trading and embezzlement

Discovered who I was when I was subpoenaed to testify

Still in jail

My testimony added a few years to her sentence … oops

Cassie Harrington

Set up a Multi-Level Marketing scheme

Tried to hide out in Hawaii – but changed her Instagram to private after I’d already followed her

Ordered to pay back all the money she stole

On parole

Adam Gregory

Tried to run an illegal adoption agency for homosexual, non binary couples

Paid a fine and on parole – forbidden from creating any LLC’s or Incorporating

Brian Welch

Pissed that I found evidence of his partner cheating but turned him in on charges of possession of child pornography

In jail for kiddy porn and for threatening my life

His husband got everything despite the infidelity

           You acquire quite detailed list of people who want to threaten your life on the daily, but then again, wasn’t it Audre Lorde who said “I’m deliberate and afraid of nothing?” I can’t be afraid. If I’m afraid, they have the power. They have the power to intimidate me, to run my life for me, to make my decisions. I will not back down because they got caught. But I will protect myself, I will keep my license for my gun up and go to the shooting range often. I will strengthen the locks and security of my apartment, and I will ask Jungkook to stay over more, or sleep at his.

           I will not back down, not when Lee Euna has paid me what seems like the cost of tuition at Princeton for a year and wants answers. We signed a contract, didn’t we?

           And who am I if my word is no longer worth anything?

           Instead of harping on the sickening feeling that I’m being watched 24/7, I run through my plans for bumping into Taehyung and his friends. In the weeks that I’ve continued to follow him, he’s solidified Wednesday’s as his night for dinner with friends, and Thursdays as his cultural exploration. He goes to museum openings, concerts, movies, plays, clubs, all on Thursdays. While those nights are fun for me to watch and put on my expense account, it’s Wednesdays that I adore. I love following him from his house to the restaurants and am excited each week to see what he and his friends have chosen.

          This week, it’s an authentic Mexican restaurant. Slipping my coat on, I give them a few minutes before following in.

           The sound of mariachi welcomes me into the yellow painted restaurant. The furniture, dark mahogany against the vibrant walls, is full of people. I note the variety of sombreros, the different colors and patterns, the meanings hidden within the stitchwork. It’s not a large restaurant, but big enough to fit a few large groups of 7-10 people, and plenty of space for smaller groups such as the three men. The hostess asks if I want to sit at the bar, and I request a table near the men. Sitting a few feet away, I’m able to pick up their conversation easily. Instead of jotting it down, I hit record and let the metaphorical tape play.

           “Oh, it wasn’t that bad!” The mystery man says.

           “It was awful, Taehyungie couldn’t stop laughing, every time he hit the ball it went flying in the wrong direction,” Jimin says.

           “I was trying so hard!” Taehyung laughed.

           “That’s the problem, you were trying too hard,” The man tells him. “You’re too pure of heart.”

           “I am not,” Taehyung shook his head.

           “I know, you’ve experienced a lot, Tae,” Jimin says.

           “Joon, here’s the question,” Taehyung says, and I’m momentarily distracted by the utterance of the name, Joon. “You get to pick next week, we heading back to that barbeque place?”

           Jimin erupts in another fit of laughter, Taehyung following suit. It’s cute, watching them interact. I wonder if Jungkook has friends he does things like this with… those nights we aren’t together, if he has friends to spend his time with.

           I wait until they’ve left to take a glance at the signed bill on their table, Taehyung Kim is scribbled, no evidence of the other men, and I’m about to bag evidence when I hear my name.

           “Y/N?” Taehyung asks.

           “Taehyung! That was you!” I smile.

           “Have you been here the whole time?” Taehyung’s eyebrows express more than anyone’s I’ve ever seen.

           “I, yeah. I wasn’t sure it was you and Jimin. I didn’t want to interrupt,” I tell him.

           “Oh, you could’ve! Don’t worry about them, we’ve been friends a long time,” Taehyung smiles, it’s boxy and wide, the edges curling as his eyes soften.

           I’ve already started my dance, a waltz to an even tempo and I’ve got the next five paces planned. “Who was that new guy?”

           “Why, you single?” Taehyung smirks, his lips no longer joyful but devious.

           “I just was curious,” I reply, “And no, I’m not single, remember?”

           “Oh yes, yes, Jungkook,” Taehyung recalls with a nod.

           “You, Jimin and that other guy, go way back?” I lead him, it’s easy to lead Taehyung, he’s pure of heart, the most honest intentions in his eyes.

           “Mm, yes,” He continues smiling at me.

           “Your dinner looked fun, I’ll definitely be coming back to this place,” I tell him. It’s true, maybe I will bring Jungkook by one night when I know these three men won’t be around.

           “Yeah, we like it. We try a new restaurant every week. It’s a fun no work zone,” His arms are relaxed at his sides, one hand slipping slowly into his pocket, his cardigan open and glasses pressed close to his ebony eyes.

           “I like that, no work zone,” I agree, I wish I had one of those.

           “Yes, it helps clear the mind,” Taehyung tells me.

           “Do the three of you work together?” I inquire.

           “Kind of, we have a lot of the same shared interests,” he sidesteps.

           I nod, the final step in our dance presenting itself. “Very cool, well I don’t want to keep you from Jimin and –

           “Joon, yeah, very considerate of you. Maybe I’ll see you at the dog park again?” He asks.

           “Oh god, I hope not, Maisie is a nightmare,” I laugh.

           “Well have a good night, Y/N, take care!” He says as he walks out the door. I stand, watching, pretending to not notice how he gets in the car swiftly, not looking back.

           Joon.

           Joon.

           Joon.

           What kind of a name is Joon? If Taehyung and Jimin, and Jungkook, and Seokjin… and Yoongi, are all Korean, must Joon be short for something Korean?

           Glancing at my phone, it’s only 8:30PM, if I hurry, I can get in another few hours of work before I’m overcome with exhaustion and anxiety. But what will I find?

Oh Joon

Kim Joon

Lee Joon

Joon-Ho

Joon-Hee

Joon-Hyuk

Joon-Ki

Joon-Tae

Joon-Young

Byung-Joon

Ha-Joon

Hee-Joon

Hyung-Joon

Jae-Joon

Kyung-Joon

Jae-Joon

Kyung-Joon

Yong-Joon

Nam-Joon

Joon-Su

Ye-Joon

           Not to mention add in the top 5 Korean last names, and I’ve got hundreds of possibilities. Luckily, I can run the name against the address of the apartment building Taehyung picked Joon up from. Being a PI means I have access to the state databases, which gives me names and addresses. In the building, there’s one Joon, a Namjoon, Kim Namjoon. I pull the information before digging into my search.

           Unlike the seemingly nonexistence of Min Yoongi, Kim Namjoon is present. Every search result yields a perfectly manicured article dating anywhere from the year of his birth to age sixteen, and then, much like everyone else on this case, the trail begins to run cold. Whatever happened to him during high school, still radiates through his file. Whether he’s shaken it or not, that’s the question.

           No known career or job at all, his status as a prodigy in math, linguistics and rhetoric is astonishing. One of the highest IQ’s of recent memory, he’d mastered calculus by the time he was 8, besting PhD’s by 13, and then in a blaze of glory, disappearing by 16. He was studied, written about, documented, photographed, and somehow managed to be nominated for a Nobel Prize… how he accomplished all of that during puberty is beyond me. Not only does he accomplish that, but then, disappears completely, without a trace. How?

I’m ready to pack it in when someone steps into my office.

           “I saw the light on,” She says.

           “Ms. Lee, what do I owe this surprise visit?” I ask. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted to do tonight.

           “I wanted to, to talk to you,” She takes a few steps forward, pausing to ask for unspoken permission.

           “Please, sit. What did you want to talk to me about?” I lean back, hoping she can’t see the bags forming under my eyes or the tears from the yawn I’m stifling.

           “I wanted to tell you about, about why I need you to find Min Yoongi,” Euna informs me. She’s dressed in what can only be described as winter white, and only as a cashmere sweatsuit. Never have I ever seen such glamor in my dingy office. I feel bad that she’s risking the integrity of her outfit by being here.

           “Oh, okay,” I sit up and reach for a notebook. “Do you want me to write this down?”

           “No, you don’t need to. We can just talk between women, between friends,” Euna’s voice is soft. The slack in her jaw, the demur manner in which her hands are placed on her lap, it’s evident she doesn’t know how to be girlfriends. Raised by her family, groomed to take over, friends was never a word in her vocabulary.

           “I wanted you to know that I really saw a future with Yoongi,” She starts. “You know that place in your heart where you hold all your hopes?”

           “Yes,” I say hesitantly.

           Her eyes narrow in warning, “Do you have someone, someone who’s beginning to fill that space?”

           “Um, yeah,” I reply.

           “I thought that’s what Yoongi was. I thought we were, we were building something. Jun-Seo had Jimin, they thought they were building an illustrious future together, but one day he disappeared too.” She pinches the slight bridge of her nose, inhaling slowly to steady her nerves. “I don’t know what changed in our relationship. Yoongi didn’t want me anymore, he didn’t want to be around me, or with me at all. A switch flipped, like one day he realized he didn’t love me in the first place. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know why, but when your entire future is destroyed, do you stand back and watch it burn?”

           “Do you want me to answer that?” I ask.

           “Sure, what I did after that was terrible, but it was within reason. Everything I did was within reason. I tried to hold onto him, I did what I thought was right to get him to stay and he just, ran. Bolted, broke up with me on the phone like I’m Taylor Swift in 2012. Maybe I am,” Euna rolls her eyes, the comparison both too true and too terrifying. “At least Seokjin had the kindness to break up with me in person. But Yoongi? The coward! He knew I loved him. He knew I would carry his child, would marry him, would love him eternally and then some. I would’ve done anything for him. Even after he refused to go family dinners or go on trips with Seo and Jimin, after he started lying and cheating and stealing. He broke my heart, shattered it. If anyone is to blame for what happened after our relationship, it’s him.”

           Interested peaked, I inquire “What happened?”

           “It’s in my document,” She snaps.

           “The handwritten one?” I clarify.

           Rolling her delicate ebony irises, “Yes, of course.”

           “The abortion, the embezzlement, insider trading?” I try to rattle off the accusations she’d detailed. Somewhere I had a list and had sorted them by man, but damn, there were a lot of them.

           “Yes,” She snips.

           “That’s all true?” I ask again. The look she gives me is unwarranted, this is the first time in months, nearly a year, that she has sat down with me and discussed the charges. I am well within my right as her Private Investigator to ask clarifying questions.

           “Do you make a conscious decision to not believe your clients? Am I not paying you enough Y/N?” Euna snaps.

           “I’m sorry,” I respond.

           “I should go, I expect next week at our meeting you will have an update on the mystery man,” She stands.

           “Yes, yes, I will,”

           “Good, oh, there was a note under your door. I didn’t pick it up,” She turns and walks, stepping gingerly over the note. Scrambling behind her, I pick up the folded paper, and scrawled in crystal clear letters it reads:

           Cricket, was driving past when I saw the light on. Why are you working? Come to mine when you’re done, it’s been three restless nights without you.

          XO – Bunny 

           Fuck me, I love him.

Next: Cricket & Bunny Pt. 1 

[vidimillion]

Okay, so jasico hcs, umm, what about their wedding?

i got very carried away with this, since "wedding" is rather broad. we'll get to the actual wedding part eventually, i swear.

i asked @/ariihen a while ago about who would propose and her answer is 100% accurate to me

nico spent a rather long portion of all his relationships kind of believing that they would one day end

the past few years of his life have done a pretty good job at slowly undoing that mindset, but old habits die hard

nico knows jason had the same problem. for the longest time jason had never been secure in his relationships, from when his mother gave him up to when his family at camp jupiter didn't search for him

nico hated doing the laundry, so jason normally did it with no qualms

on a random, insignificant day, nico noticed jason waking up every morning dead on his feet, either going to do homework for his college course or work on building more temples. being the good boyfriend he is, nico decides to lessen jason's workload by doing their laundry

putting jason's laundry away, he finds the ring box stuffed into a pair of clean socks. months later he'll tell jason it was a pretty good idea on his part— jason's socks have got to be the only thing he owns that nico doesn't steal

nico doesn't even register what it is until he opens it in confusion. later on, he described the sight of the ring as a punch to the fucking face

jason was left behind by his own mother. he was left behind by his sister who believed he was dead. he was left behind by his camp which he had been serving dutifully for his entire life. he was left behind by his two best friends when he was dead for a year

but he was brave enough to buy nico a ring. he still had so much love pouring out of his heart, for people he was never sure would stay. he was brave enough to let himself believe nico would stay. he loved nico enough to brave through his insecurities about himself, to let nico know he wanted this to last forever.

nico doesn't know how long he cried but afterwards, he felt tired enough to fall asleep. he hid the box right where jason had put it, hoping he wouldn't notice something off.

he doesn't know if he should wait for jason, but something tells him he should buy him a ring too. he doesn't see how it would be a bad thing, so he does.

it's a few months later and the whole group is together. the seven + reyna, dakota, the stolls, and a few more. nico was too happy to see them all together to wonder why jason put so much effort into wrangling everyone up.

waterworks started before jason even got on one knee, because he'd already told everyone he was planning to propose. nico knew jason would've told them, so he didn't tell anyone he bought jason a ring too.

the proposal story is one for another day, but let's say everyone had a chance to both cry and laugh.

nico wanted connor and travis to come because they mean a lot to him. they were his first friends at camp back when he was ten, and they were the only people who greeted him when he was going in and out between ages ten to fifteen. they treated him like a brother and never stopped.

will was invited, because he and nico got on amicable terms after their breakup. nico thinks will is always gonna be a good friend to him— they weren't the one for each other, and they didn't need to be. they were best friends, will being one of the first people at camp to be his friend. it's better if it sticks to that.

do i even need to mention reyna? she was one of the first five fuckin people on the guest list

jason and nico tried to keep the guest list small and personal. they did not realize how many people they actually liked and were friends with.

(nico oddly enough became rather good friends with sadie kane and anubis, so the egyptians were invited. he and jason also became friends with magnus, alex and sam— the whole event was very inter-pantheon)

the only gods that were formally invited were hestia, hades and persephone. that didn't stop the wedding being broadcasted to the entire godly world over hephaestus tv, but at least the small and subtle cameras weren't very intrusive.

hades insisted on funding the most beautiful wedding the godly world has ever seen. for once, nico didn't fight him on the money because he wanted everything to be as perfect as possible. all jason cared about was getting married.

nico plans most of it. the color scheme stays classy, with white cream colours, minimal bits of gold. there's a little bit of red too, in the flowers and tiny details— nico says it's because jason looks damn good in red. he's right, of course, but there's another reason.

red was the di angelo family signature color, back in the 1930s. nico remembers most of his life before the casino now, and even if there's nothing he can really do about it, he wants his family there. even just a little bit of them would be enough.

they get married at dusk in the most beautiful park in new rome. they have the ceremony in the grass, tall greek pillars squaring the area off from the rest of the park. billowy white fabrics hang from above but leave the setting sun visible. the only lights are persephone's special flowers, glowing softly in every color of the rainbow and scenting the air with ambrosia.

nico and jason both get to walk down the aisle, but nico goes first. he wears a black three piece suit, complete with a subtle gold collar link and lapel chain. it's a little tight, but that's kind of the reason he picked it. he slicked his hair back for this too.

he couldn't pick a best man for this, so there isn't one. by his side are connor, travis, will, and frank— and hazel and reyna, in red suits.

on the other side of the altar, jason's side, there's percy, leo, dakota, piper and annabeth.

nico's mother was a singer. her music was italy's treasure, almost hidden from the rest of the world. they play one of her most beautiful songs as they walk down the aisle, one nico can faintly remember her singing to him. her voice is like a siren's, like a goddess's— otherworldly, ethereal, elysian.

but the music stops when he sees jason.

he wears a white three piece suit that cinches his small waist and stretches over the broadness of his shoulders. he wears a boutonniere of small, light blue hydrangeas and a gold collar link that matches nico's.

everything about him matches nico. matches him, compliments him, completes you in the perfect way your opposite tends to complete you.

nico thinks "opposite" sounds too aggressive— like they were enemies. jason wasn't his enemy. jason was his soulmate.

[gloves94]

To Be So Lonely [Draco Malfoy] 2

Rating: PG-13 Pairings: Draco Malfoy/OC Chapter warnings: Abuse!

Raised as an orphan, Nel Saintday, endured years of torture from the Slytherin House. The Dark Lord only allowed her existence for her to serve a very specific vile purpose for him. Her birthright dictates for her to choose a side in the Wizarding War… But what would happen if she dares defy the Dark Lord and his wishes? And what happens when she falls for her tormentor? Will Nel fulfill her life’s purpose? And what side will her tormentor, Draco Malfoy, choose? The light that calls to him or the darkness…

CHAPTER MASTERLIST MY MASTERLIST

1 9 9 1

"Oi! You said you'd give me five quid for it!" A young girl accused with a stern expression at an older boy. "A quid per pound."

This had not been a fair deal.

The boy wore a smug expression on his fox like face. On one hand he weighted a fat paper bag filled with Dairy Milk chocolate bars and Maltesers amongst other chocolatey goods. The rest of his squad, all just as tall and hulking  snickered as they greedily ate the candy.

"I said five quid per pound of quality candy, this is all rubbish. Besides, I hate chocolate! You get squat Dots." He laughed loudly before chewing on a mouthful of chocolate bars.

"But you're still eating it!" She pointed upset.

The group laughed cruelly.

"You better give me my money Nico!" She threatened both fists clenched at her side, eyebrows furrowed into a scowl.

"Or what?" He huffed towering over the eleven-year-old poking her chest. "What are you going to do about it?" He challenged pushing her. "Go and cry to Ms. Wool about it?" He pushed her to the ground, and she fell back to the pavement on her behind glaring at the bullies. She should've really thought this out more thoroughly.

"Just you wait-" She growled out rolling up her sleeves, looking as menacing as she could.

It was then that a startled look crossed Nico's face. He turned white. "Let's get out of here!" His friend slapped the other on the chest and looking terrified as the three scrambled away quickly even dropping the bag of candy on the alley way.

"Ha!" She bounced to her feet triumphantly.

Yeah! That'll show them!

It was then that she felt a strong grip seize her shoulder.

Uh-Oh

Her legs moved but she felt an object come down hard on her shoulder. She spat a curse and looked over her shoulder to see Mr. Cowell, the owner of the General Store she had just stolen candy from, and the bitter old man did not look pleased. His black cane buried on her arm.

"Oh! You're going nowhere this time you scantly thief!" He pulled her to him and grabbed her shoulder with his hand.

Head sunken low, he walked her back to where she came from. All the way grumbling and muttering insults and curses.

"Should've known you were up to no good, same as always," he muttered more to himself before ringing the doorbell of the old building.

Ms. Wool opened the door. A plump woman with a pig's face that always seemed to be wearing the dreaded color pink. A cloud of gagging  perfume usually wafted around the middle-aged woman. Her face immediately morphed into a deep scowl that made her fat bottom lip stick out.

"Can't let you out of my sight, can I?" She glowered at the girl.

"Caught her with her sticky fingers looting my candy jars this time," the upset man pushed her forward making her stumble towards the entrance of the orphanage.

"Oh Phil," Ms. Wool shook her head slightly before digging into a coin purse. "What's the damage this time?"

"'S just candy Cordelia," The old man said gruffly leaning on his cane dismissing her offer. "'Ust make sure this one 'ere stays out of my store!" He pointed his cane at the girl's chest making her inch back.

Ms. Wool's sharp hands sank into her shoulders as she apologized to the store owner and brought the girl inside of the orphanage. Nel didn't feel her stomach sink until the door closed.

"Can't let you out of my sight, can I? You little thieving tyke!" Ms. Wood's polished hand reached for the girl's ear and she angrily pulled on it as she dragged her away into her hellish office. Other children that lived in the home laughed and pointed as they saw the much familiar scene unfold before them. Ms. Wool's office was a damp place, colored in warm pastel shades and drying flowers with floors and ceilings from the 1910's the time when Wool's Orphanage had originally been built.

"I'm not scared of you!" She declared stupidly. "Oh, you should be! You stupid girl!" Wool scolded. "I've had it up to here with you!" She crossed an arm over her forehead. "I've tried being nice, I've tried being patient. Seems like this is the only way you'll understand." She said opening a door next to her office and tossing her in. "In the Chokey you go!"

The door slammed on her nose.

The Chokey was a narrow cupboard that was filled with broken glass sticking out of the walls with nails on the door. It was a place of utter terror that the mere threat of it was enough to make children tremble in fright and fall straight into line. The cupboard was so narrow you couldn't sit or squat in it without being hurt. Sometimes kids were kept here for hours. Nel presently had the record for the longest lock in having been kept in for a whole day. Something she was awfully proud of and she felt gave her some pomp and superiority over the other children in the home.

"Let me out of here you wretched witch!" She shouted at the door bending her hand on a glass free spot on the door.

"You will stay in there until you finally learn your lesson! Even if its tomorrow!"

She heard a door slam signaling that Wool had exited her office.

Nel stood in the dark room. Eyes peeled; angry fists clenched at the sides. All she had wanted to do was to make some money to buy some art supplies for her own. After all she was an orphan, not possessing a single penny to her name. It wasn't fair. No matter how hard she tried to hold on to any material possession - every time she got something, anything nice be it a candy bar, socks or a sweater, the gift was usually always picked away by the older, stronger kids in the home. Sometimes she wondered what her life would've been like if she hadn't been dumped in this doldrum.

Nel stayed locked up for hours. Her bored eyes attempted to find shapes in the darkness through a strained vision. Scratching a nail against the door's paint she attempted to carve her name into it as she carefully calculated and planned her next scheme to make money. Perhaps she could scam some local kids into buying pet rocks or swindle them into some equally ridiculous scam. She made a mental note to next time make Nico and his goons pay her before engaging in business with him.

That was until the door opened. The light momentarily blinded her.

"There you are!" A younger voice spoke and the eleven-year-old was brought into a warm embrace. "Are you okay? If you know that Nico Shaffer and his gang are going to do you dirty why do you keep hanging out with them?" Lucy, Nel's absolutely favorite person in the world, said holding on to her arms with care.

Lucy was only a couple of years older than Nel. The young girl couldn't remember a time in which anybody else that had ever cared for her. Certainly not Ms. Wool. The girl was more of an older sister than just a fellow housemate.

"I have to show 'em who's the boss around here," Nel said with a huff before sticking her hand into her pocket and handing her friend some candy. "I got you some Whoopers," she grinned handing over her friend the candy.

"Sometimes I think you enjoy setting off Ms. Wool," Lucy shook her head and regardless took the candy and pocketed with a smile.

"Only sometimes," the girl smiled cheekily.

The two girls made out of the office quickly hand in hand.

"Stealing is wrong Nel. Don't do it again." the older one scolded to deaf ears that would most definitely do it again. "What did you even want that money for?"

"I wanted to buy some paint. You know? So that I could paint my walls."

"Your walls or Wool's walls?" the Lucy rolled her eyes knowing that the young girl would probably paint a splash or horrendous colors in the cafeteria which would mortify matron. "You know Ms. Wool would most definitely not allow that."

The younger one smirked slightly having been caught in her mischievous plan to bring some life into the dull building. "We practically live in a jail Luce, it's not fair. Maybe just- maybe some color would make everybody's day better? It was for the greater good!"

"Hey Nel! Heard you stole some candy from old man Cowell!" A younger boy called from the corridor. Enjoying the attention, the girl turned and threw a candy at him "You bet!"

"Stop it! You're going to get in more trouble," Lucy slapped her hand as they  reached the small room were the young girl was kept to herself. Nel didn't care. That boy owed her now. She'd think of what favor she'd bug him with later. Maybe she'd ask him for his bread if she was ever locked up without dinner again.

Her room had once been the laundry room and broom and storage, but a bed had been added for the girl to sleep in. She slept there alone, mainly for the safety of others… You see, weirdthings tended to happen around the girl -

"Ms. Wool!" A loud sing song voice called. "Nel still has some candy and is keeping it to herself!" A most pesky snitch alarmed loudly.

Both girls turned to glare at Aisha by far Wool's favorite and a total kiss ass. Always wearing pink in an attempt to please their matron.

"Shut your mouth Aisha or I'll shut it for you!" The other shouted angrily from across the corridor.

It was then that Wool came stomping by from around the corner.

"SAINTDAY!" She bellowed her surname angrily. Her eyes scanned the corridor for the young girl before focusing on her. "Ah, there you are!" Her eyes turned into slits.

Aisha smirked looking pleased with herself.

Nel shrunk a little, hiding behind Lucy. She was bracing herself for the scold that would come from exiting the chokey when she saw that a tall man with a long white beard and peculiar lavender robes was trailing behind the wide matron.

Ms. Wool sank her hand into Nel's lower arm and dragged the girl inside of the small room, the man tailing behind entered as well. Lucy was locked out; she hung her shoulders lingering around ready to press her ear against the door. What a most peculiar looking man…  She thought to herself.

Wool knowingly stuck her head out before Lucy pressed her ear against the door and barked at her to get lost which sent the fourteen-year-old skulking away.

Back inside Wool turned her attention to the brunette. "What have you done now you wicked child?" She glared hands on hips demanding an answer.

"I did nothing, swear!" She said innocently raising up her hands looking at the older man with the half-moon glasses with an innocent expression.

Albus Dumbledore looked at the expression on the child's face that was sitting in the small bed. Despite the pout on her face there was an air of mischief that made him aware that he should know better when trusting her. It had been decades since the last time he had been to Wool's Orphanage. The last time had been under similar circumstances instead visiting a student with the last name Riddle.

"You will apologize to the man and tell me what you did!" Wool knelt and pinched the tender part of the girl's arm making her painfully hiss at the sensation.

"That is enough Ms. Wool," Dumbledore said sternly glaring at the Muggle woman.

"I am here on official school business," the man with the twinkling eyes said stroking his beard. "My name is Albus Dumbledore, I am the Headmaster at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardly and I have come to personally deliver Ms. Saintday her letter of acceptance."

"School of wizzah which what?" Wool cocked her head at an angle and narrowed her eyes in mistrust.

She took the letter from the man eyeing the parchment sealed with an official wax stamp with wary eyes. Nel never received any mail. As far as she knew there was nobody outside of the orphanage that would write to her.

Miss E. Saintday, Laundry Room, Wool's Orphanage, London.

Blinking twice she ripped the envelope open. Curiously reading the contents of the green letter head.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY Underneath was the Headmasters name. Followed by an acceptance, instructions for admission and a list of texts and materials that would be required by the school. The letter was signed by the Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall, in a curvy signature.

Nel hadn't even bothered to listen to what Wool was bickering about with the Headmaster.

"Is this real?" She asked the man with her eyes growing wide. "This is not a joke is it?"

"As real as you and I Ms. Saintday," The man smiled down at her kindly.

The man who had introduced himself as Albus Dumbledore explained that there was another world which was unknown to, to regular or non-magic people that were called Muggles and the Nel was a witch. A powerful being capable of magical powers. He explained this was all extremely secretive and that nobody must or should know. He explained that Hogwarts was a most prestigious school and the Wizarding School of the UK were most witches and wizards attended for seven years to earn their education.

"You don't want this one I'm telling you!" Wool suddenly laughed loudly. "She's brought me nothing but trouble since the day she was left in my doorstep!" Nel ignored her with a glare. "Set my curtains on fire, once somehow made a student magically appear on the roof, made my teapots sing! Summoned snakes out of cookie jars! Lightbulbs explode around her! All sorts of devilish things! I know she bullies the other kids. I don't know how she does it, I just haven't caught her yet. And school-" She laughed woefully. "Not a single knot or bolt in this one's empty head."  She knocked on the back of her head, which made the girl rub the sore spot. She turned to look at the Headmaster with fearful eyes. Would he withdraw his invitation now that he knew this?

"I believe I myself once set fire to my dorm's curtains. An atrocious shade of red. Accidentally of course," he smiled once again which brought some comfort to the orphan.

"Forget about it!" Wool exclaimed getting ready to exit the room. "I'm not going to fork a single penny over so that this one can go to a fancy boarding school to learn how to pull rabbits out of a hat!"

"I assure you that money will not be a problem Ms. Wool. There is a special fund set aside to assist students with financial needs. Of course, Ms. Saintday will have to maintain an outstanding average to maintain this scholarship."

"Ha! That's a lost cause," Wool huffed humorlessly.

She was ignored. The older Wizard stood up and met the girls' dark brown eyes. Eyes that to him seemed distantly familiar.

"So, what do you say Elowen? although I believe you go by Nel," he inquired.

"What do I say?" She repeated. If anybody had asked her what she really thought, she would've said this entire thing was a hoax. Maybe this funny looking man was actually a child napper, but anywhere was better than Wool's. However, he did not seem harmful, not like the type of man to be vile or malicious. "Of course!" She jumped to her feet. Worst case scenario Wool had always warned her that if she was ever kidnapped that the kidnappers would have to pay her a ransom to take her back.

"Very well then," Dumbledore bowed slightly at Wool. It was then that he pulled out a wand from inside of his long shimmering sleeves. He turned to her little belongings and flicked his wand opening a suite case and made all of the clothes, shoes and other little objects leapt in, in a neatly folded manner.

Nel's mouth gaped a jar at the magic in fascination. Wool looked terrified.

"It's real!" She exclaimed with disbelief.

"I'll be waiting for you at the entrance Ms. Saintday, so that you may bid your goodbyes and gather other belongings," he said as he headed towards the exit. "Wait!" Nel stopped him tugging on the back of his robe. "Can my friend Lucy come with us to? She's brilliant, much better student than I am!" She pleaded.

The man stopped and looked back at her kindly with his twinkling eyes.

"Nel," he began. "I'm afraid that Hogwarts is real for us, but it is not real for Ms. Bonilla," he began to explain. Somehow already knowing Lucy's last name. "Ms. Bonilla is a Muggle, and only witches and wizards can attend or see the school."

"But-" She pleaded. "Can you make an exception? She'll work hard I promise!"

Dumbledore placed a hand on the girl's head. "I'm afraid not child," he rested his hand there for a moment before vanishing into thin air.

Nel looked at the ground sadly. What would she do? She couldn't leave Lucy behind like that.

"Don't look so sullen," Wool's voice suddenly made her snap out of her thoughts. "You'll be back soon. I give it a day before that man is back begging me to take you back from who knows where," she said sticking her nose up in the air. "Very well then, say your goodbyes, Ta-ta." She clapped her hands and pushed her out of the room.

She looked at the austere corridors and the dirty floors recording them all into her memory. She would've really loved to splash them with some bold greens and yellows just to bring some life to this decadent place. Ms. Wool passed her in the hallway.

"Clown's come to take you back to the circus?" A voice called from one end of the corridor making her head snap in the direction. "'About time Freak Show," It was Aisha and Alf, two other members of the house who frequently taunted Nel.

"At least I'm getting out of here unlike the likes of you!" She shot back.

"At least we weren't abandoned here. Even your own parents didn't want your wart-face," Aisha laughed cruelly.

Nel stayed silent. That one hurt. The fact that she was an unwanted child hurt her more than she would ever let on. After all most kids living at Wool's belonged to parents that had lost custody of them, had been deported or had even passed away. Nel had been one of the few that had willingly been surrendered at an abbey's doorstep without a single hint or clue of who she was.

The day she was found they sought for records of her or the people who could be her parents yet found none. She was named by a Cornish nun and given the surname Saintday having been symbolically found on November 1st, All Saints Day.

"Yeah, nobody's going to miss your ugly spotted face 'round here," Aisha stuck out her tongue making a reference to the dotted beauty marks that marked the girl's face; which was considerably her most striking feature. She had managed to count at least ten of them. The marks were scattered in the figure of something, but she didn't know exactly what it was.

Angry she rolled up the sleeves of her black jumper.

"Want a souvenir so you don't miss me too much?" She threatened with a raised fist.

She was about to walk forward and put the bullies in her place when two hands reached and turned her around.

"Is it true?" It was Lucy kneeling down to her level to meet her eye. "That you're leaving?" Her dark eyes were wide with concern.

Nel looked down, almost in shame avoiding Lucy's eyes. "I know it's sudden, but I've been accepted to a school in Scotland. That funny looking man, he's come to take me," she wanted to tell Lucy she was a witch. Wanted to explain what it meant, but the vow of secrecy kept her from doing it. "But- I'm not sure if I want to go," she said feeling a sudden emptiness inside her. "You won't be there-"

"Nonsense!" She exclaimed. "You're going."

"I asked if you could come but he said no!"

"Doesn't matter," Lucy smiled at her encouragingly. "Just promise you'll call. Yeah?"

With her eyes brimming with rare tears Nel nodded and hugged her tightly. "Go," Lucy ushered her off. "Make the best of it, learn and most importantly be good Elowen Saintday."

The girls beamed at each other. "I'll see you during the holidays!" The younger one cried.  She didn't know what she would do without Lucy.

"Oh," Ms. Wool crowed looking down at the troublemaker. "You'll be back," she added smugly. It seemed like the woman was getting ready to enjoy the peace and quiet that would come. For now, Elowen Saintday would be somebody else's problem.

xxxxx

STARRING THE ORIGINAL CAST OF THE HARRY POTTER SERIES with ADAM DRIVER as SEVERUS SNAPE

Xxxxx

AN: Any "To Protect" fans out there? Shoutout to you!

[heedra]

Exalted Secret Santa Journal: 2020

Apologies for the slight delay! My journal this year is going to be pretty much the same one as last year; I was working on an additional reference but it absolutely got away from me, so I’ll give it more time and save it for next year. Without further ado:

Daia Shan- Serenity Caste Sidereal

Once just a troublesome junior bureaucrat in the halls of Yu-Shan, Daia truly gained infamy upon her selection to accompany a strike team of Exalted heroes on a mission into the depths of the worldbody of the Yozi Oramus, and her subsequent escape and return from that impossible prison, nearly a thousand years later. The experience left her profoundly changed; even now, the spite of Oramus hangs like a mantle around Daia, ensuring that the waking world she fought so hard to return to will never feel like anything more than a dream. And then, of course, there is the matter of the power she took from the Sevenfold Peacock willingly… and how that power might be changing her still.

Daia is a somewhat petite woman, belying an athletic build. She is ethnically from the Blessed Isle, with dark grey hair that she prefers to wear up, usually in a bun or a knot. Her face, which she tries but fails to keep free of stress and worry lines, is usually found bearing a smirk or an expression of dangerous faux-politeness. Her eyes bear the iconic starry blue of the Serenities caste, but are also shot through with bands of a strange prismatic iridescence. She bears a large pair of bull horns atop her head, a mutation received during her time inside the Worldbody. The nature of the power bequeathed to her by Oramus is such, though, that her very nature is beginning to blur around the edges, and it is not unusual for her day-to-day appearance to fluctuate strangely as mutations come and go like glitches. She is a bit of a fashionista, favoring blues, dramatic and sharp femme looks (she avoids ruffles and prefers sleeker outfits), and jewelry of all sorts (a lot of it). She rarely wears the same exact outfit twice, so do not feel obligated to stick to the reference- you can get creative! She wears makeup, but prefers cool colors and an understated application.

Daia’s most important accessory is her longfang, the Sevenfold Peacock’s Tailfeather. Forged from starmetal, orichalcum, and a crystalline shard of Oramic essence, the weapon contains knowledge of every martial arts technique known by every user to have ever wielded it, and seems to hunger for more to the point where its obsession has bled over into Daia herself. Even more potently, it bears deep within its core the secret to a martial art concocted by the Dragon of Not himself, whose charms grant the power to ignore the limits of impossibility at the cost of making the wielder more and more alien to the waking world. It is a temptation that Daia has drunk deep of, despite all signs pointing to that being a very bad idea. Daia sees the spear as a trophy stolen from her greatest nemesis, but it’s very possible the Yozi himself sees it as a clever snare for hubristic Sidereals. The blade of the weapon is prismatic crystal that resembles a jagged bird’s beak, the pole is jet black starmetal shot through with an orichalcum starmap of constellations, and the orichalcum pommel is fashioned to look like seven golden peacock feathers woven together into a sphere.

While her exaltation may brand Daia a chosen of the Maidens, the elder Sid is a loose cannon, an agent of Heaven in only the most general of terms. She is mercurial, theatrical, fond of causing petty chaos, and utterly disinterested in the politics of the Bureau, unless there is way for her to stir up drama. She has tendency to get ahead of herself with her schemes, and the vast majority of her ‘downfalls’ can be traced back to her own hubris. Beneath all that, she is a lonely woman who feels adrift in a world that no longer feels real to her. She’s a terrible flirt, a huge showoff (especially where martial arts are involved) and has a weak spot for dangerous women. She’s Creation’s wildest and worst gay aunt.

Side Note: Daia is partially deaf, due to an old and potent supernatural injury. She employs the use of what magic/technology she can to aid her, but relies as well on sign language and interpreters. She’s very used to it at this point.

here’s the link to a better-resolution version of this image bc tumblr kinda fuckt it

and here’s the link to her toyhouse page, which has further images and info!

________________________________________________________________

Avenging Phoenix- Dawn Caste Solar (Formerly Ravenous Vulture Picks Clean the Bones of Creation, Dusk Caste Abyssal)

Orphaned at an early age, Phoenix was adopted by a Guild mercenary and raised as such. He spent his later mortal life as a city guard captain in Thorns, where he exalted during the fateful siege itself, disillusionment and rage at the circumstances of his death making him an easy recruit for the Mask. His path has weaved far and wide since then, a slow painful crawl from rebellion to eventual redemption; a journey that ultimately gave him a place among the saviors of Creation. Along the way, he played a role in liberating a group of orphaned children from the clutches of the Dowager, and now finds himself settling into the role of an adoptive dad to them, hanging up his metaphorical (and literal) axe and trying to live a gentler life. It’s not always easy. Violence and trauma etched in that deep doesn’t just smooth out perfectly over time. On top of that, he has impostor’s syndrome when it comes to his redemption by the Sun, and still feels uncomfortable thinking of himself as a peer to the other members of the Solar Host. Still, as long as his soul is on this side of Lethe, he is determined to fight against the Void- not because he considers himself antithesis to it, but because he has known it and survived it. And while some days it’s hard, other days it feels like, maybe, fighting against the void can be planting sunflowers for your children on a sunny spring afternoon.

Phoenix is of Western descent, very short, fat, and beefy, with warm brown skin and a round, open face.  He keeps his burgundy hair closely shaved, not fond of dealing with the mess of wavy curls it becomes when allowed to grow out. His eyes are dark brown, almost black, the outside of the iris rimmed with the faintest edge of golden yellow. His nose looks like it has been broken multiple times in the past, and never properly healed. Due to unfortunate wyld misadventures his tongue has been mutated to resemble and function like that of a frog’s, though this is only really apparent when he opens his mouth to use the damn thing. Frogs and toads are a definite motif for him in general- small, grumpy-looking, and round as they are.

Phoenix’s casual clothes tend to be simple, comfortable, loose, and in sharp contrast to his prickly combat garb. He enjoys floral patterns, and the color pink. He’s got a very ‘open hawaiian shirt and flip flops dad’ vibe, basically. He does not dress fancily unless pressed to for big occasions, and in those cases usually grudgingly follows the fashion direction of the one twisting his arm. When he’s on actual exalt business, he’s most frequently found wearing his armor; black jade full plate embellished with cruel-looking spikes, and occasionally a shaggy grey fur cloak made from the pelt of some hunting trophy. A horned skull helm, made from the skull of a nephwrack’s war-body, often completes this ensemble. The helmet is a minor artifact: when worn, it causes his eyes to glow balefully behind its sockets and makes his voice gravelly with deathly menace. He is reluctant to take it off unless he feels at ease in a situation.

Phoenix is somewhat bumbling and gruffly soft-spoken, with tendency to look more tired than he feels. Beneath this is a talent for strategic leadership and a determination that gets fiercer as the going gets tougher. On the battlefield, he is utterly terrifying when he needs to be, but would much prefer to be at home in his garden than on a battlefield these days.

His anima banner starts as burst of gold-and crimson fire that solidifies into the form of a fierce and predatory-looking phoenix, with aspects of a garda bird and a lammergeier both. It moves as he does across the battlefield, swooping and rising with each swing of his axe, its fierce eyes focused on his opponent. Additional refs:

link to his toyhouse page, which has a TON more reference images

what he looked like as an abyssal | his grand grimcleaver looks like this except made outta fiery golden light | rough sketch of his skull helmet

[redwoodrroad]

tagged by

@krystha

​ to answer some guild wars 2 questions! putting it under a tag because i think it’ll get a little long <3 thank you for tagging me!!

1. Do you have an idea before or after creating a character? normally i have a basic frame for creating a character, but i primarily get most of the characterization beats after i’ve made them. i remember in making my dragon age characters, i had an idea for what they should look like, but i let the story take me through the types of people they would end up becoming, and for being my first introduction to making characters that would stick with me for many many years, i think i adopted the same process for making other game characters like my dragonborn and then my guild wars 2 fellas too

for instance, i knew when i first made Arkus way way back when the game first came out that i wanted a pretty green fella who threw fire, etc; then as i progressed through the character creation and through making personal story decisions, i realized i was being drawn towards a particular characterization for him, one that’s sort of a know-it-all who loosens up over the course of his arc, etc

2. Which race is your favorite to imagine a story about?

probably sylvari! there’s a lot of really interesting stuff about them, and i get a lot of soulmate vibes out of the dream ;u;

3. Which race is your favorite to customize?

i primarily play human and sylvari but dhfgdjfghk i really dont do a lot of customizing unless it’s for specific character purposes? im not sure i do have a favorite! all of my characters have an aesthetic or color scheme i attach to them, and i might update them sometimes to closer approach that aesthetic vision i have for them. Arkus is dressed in whites and teals with the occasional tiny detail of red, and his mounts follow a similar scheme (his raptor i actually made to look like the moon); Eridunis is dressed in red and gold with the occasional tiny detail of green, and his mounts, again, follow the same scheme, and some of them are made to look like the sun

across my other characters, ive done similar things, and i think theyre all really fun to customize in their own ways!

4. Does the profession play a role in the visual?

yes! although not always in like an obvious way. Arkus is a weaver, he uses a staff, he now has the bifrost, so his outfit in many ways matches that. Eridunis is a Reaper, he uses a greatsword, he now has sunrise, so that follows his sun motif.

5. Do you often use the same faces?

i dont have a lot of characters rip lol they all have pretty different faces. i have 2 sylvari, one guy and one girl; 2 humans, both guys but one is meant to look significantly older, so they have very different faces (and i made the older man out to look like a particular character from another game; 2 norn, both guys, one i modeled after my skyrim character and the other i definitely made to look very different; and 1 charr guy, so like. clearly he’s on his own haha

6. Do you often use the same skin colors?

for three of my human-looking characters, they have lighter skin, so i guess yes in that case, but two of them were based on other characters who themselves have light skin. the fourth is Eridunis, and i specifically designed him to look Cuban, to match my family

as for the sylvari, i definitely designed them to have very different aesthetics and very different skin colors. one is green, and the other is sort of purple-ish

7. Do you often use the same tattoos? only two of my characters have tattoos in guild wars 2, both of them definitely different

8. Do you use the sliders for the face or not? yes! i definitely adjusted some things around for i think most of my characters

9. Do you bother to pick colors for the starter armor or not? oh absolutely--like i said, i always have an aesthetic im going for with the character, and i might not actually know what that aesthetic is until i get to that stage of character creation. i try to make each very different anyway!

10. Do you pick carefully the choices for your character base story? for Arkus and Eridunis, yes; i always try very hard to choose things that will align with my ideas for their personalities. and i still wish we had those emotional responses too!! Arkus was always the diplomatic / crown persona; Eridunis was always the charismatic / heart persona with a little bit of the diplomacy later, as he gets more mature

11. If no, is it always the same choices (ie. easiest to complete)? for my other characters, i dont really do story stuff! so i tend to go with what’s easiest or what’s most neutral. although i did make the choice in Amnoon to side with Joko’s army once, and once without taking any help (my primary choice for Amnoon was to invite the Sunspears), only to forward that achievement in the hero panel

12. Do you not bother at all and only use a makeover kit once in game? ive only used makeover kits like..... potentially once. i used it to revamp my sylvari girl and give her a slightly different vibe. i like where my characters are at right now, but i’ve considered altering some of my other characters too a couple times. i might go through with it one day but im happy for now!

13. Do you like/use exclusive faces/hairstyles more? nope! i think i have an exclusive color on my aforementioned sylvari girl, but i’ve considered using an exclusive hairstyle for one of my nords, but i just havent decided it yet

14. Outfit or armor? both for different characters! Eridunis has worn the same outfit for some time now, but Arkus flits between several outfits and even one armor set (the outfits are for different environments, the armor is for when he’s in Research Mode). other characters i primarily have wearing armor, but most of them have like their “favorite outfit” that i might occasionally put them in

15. Do you stick with one armor for each character or do you change a lot? like i said in the last answer, Eridunis wears one outfit all the time and never changes (although i might update the colors sometimes); Arkus was wearing one armor set for a while and would wear an outfit in certain environments, and then i upgraded him to a different outfit, and most recently ive updated him to yet another outfit; the others i have even more flexibility with, i’ll sometimes change what they’re wearing if i find something i think will look good on them. sometimes i even look through the armor in the bank wardrobe, whether i have a skin or not, and i’ll internally plan out what i should work towards obtaining later

16. If yes, why? Is it for “RP” reasons or just aesthetic ones? aesthetic!

17. Do you have a timeline for your characters (ie. date of birth, armors throughout the story)? oh yes.... but only for Arkus and Eridunis primarily. Sibheal, my sylvari girl, sometimes fits in, but i haven’t worked out the details on her yet

18. Is there a title you use more than another? it changes from character to character, but yes for each

19. If yes, which one and why? Eridunis is “Romantic” but sometimes i put “Emissary of the Mad King” on him for halloween; other times i’ll use “The Inevitable” if im feeling spicy

Arkus is always “Archaeologist”, i know Morten is “Bounty Hunter,” and i believe Sibheal is “The Blazing Light.” the others i cant remember but i keep the same ones on them, each of them different from each other but mostly unchanging

20. What is a big difference from when you started the game to now in regard of characters creation (ie. going faster, going slower, making bold choices, settling on a particular style, etc)? again, i dont really create a lot of characters, but i’ve always taken my time... i think if anything it has become easier to settle on an aesthetic because i know i’ll be able to update things like armor and color later, to get closer to the vibe i envision. the last character i made was modeled after a character in a different game, so naturally i built his look to follow that particular aesthetic and wardrobe (after finishing character creation of course)