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darkficsyouneveraskedfor · 12 days

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Sweaty Palms 1

Warnings: this fic will include obsessive behaviour, possible non/ducbon, bullying, and other elements which may not be specifically triggered. Please be cautious in continuing on to the story.

Character: Curtis Everett

Summary: You start going to the gym to break old habits, but new things are scary.

Please reblog and leave some feedback, preferably in a reblog but you can always drop by my asks. I always love working in y'alls ideas with these AUs so I am so excited to hear from you.

As always, take care of yourself <3 be kind and be patient. Love you.

No tag lists. Please review my pinned and bio for guidelines.

You’ve never been to a gym before. You’ve never been to a lot of places. Crowds are not your forte, public places are your personal nightmare, and strangers make your nervous. Everything makes you nervous.

You can’t hide forever. That’s the conclusion you’ve come to. It's not a very comfortable one for you but if you don’t change, you’re always going to feel like this. Heavy, deflated, lost. It’s hard to put into words the feeling. The world just seems to pass you by, it functions around you, and sometimes you almost believe you’re not really there. Like a ghost, you just watch it without effect.

The extra fifteen dollars a month isn’t too much of a stretch. You can hold off on your Kindle addiction for the expense. That’s another thing, you need to start being smart, more practical with your money.

Planning. That’s something you’re working on. You didn’t come without one. You wouldn’t make it past the door without a set of steps to follow.

You stop by the front counter first. You ask the woman behind it about how to get into the gym. You bought a membership online. She brings up your profile and issues you a membership card, explaining how you can also download the app and register with your member number. You thank her and continue through.

You walk along the first floor, the leg machines and the rowing machines being worked by the regulars. You find your way to the dressing room on the second floor and enter with your head down. You try not to look anywhere but where you need to. You find a stall and change, packing away your street clothes, then go out to find a locker to shove your stuff in.

You emerge with your phone and your new smart watch strapped to your wrist. You glance at the face of it. Your heart rate is already elevated. You unlock your phone and tap the app you downloaded the day before. You flipped through the catalogue of beginners’ workouts but didn’t have any of the equipment to do it yourself. It’s cheaper to just come here.

You go to one of the spaces laid with mats and stop before one of the racks of weights. You stare at your phone in exasperation. You don’t understand, you’re connected to the wifi but the app just won’t connect. You could try on your own but you really don’t know what you’re doing.

Ugh, why did you even bother? This is just another failure. You try restarting the app and then your phone, aware of the activity around you. Does anyone notice how clueless you look?

“Hit it or quit it, little girl,” a man startles you as he brushes by you and grabs a large set of dumbbells, the thirty on the side catching your eye. You shift out of the way and press your phone against your chest, the smooth fabric of your shirt causing it to vibrate as if you tapped the screen. “This isn’t the phone club, it’s a gym.”

“Sorry, I...”

“There’s a cafe across the street, you can go play candy crush there,” he scoffs, “seems more your speed.”

“Must feel real big, huh?” A gritty voice nears from your other side, “real heavy lifting there, pushing around a woman.”

“Huh?” The first man narrows his eyes as he grips the set of dumbbells at his sides and faces the other man.

He’s taller than you, muscular but not too bulky. His head is shaved and a dark short beard lines his jaw. Similar hair peeks out from the top of his tee shirt and dusts his toned arms. He slips past you, inserting himself between you and the gym watchdog.

“Bro,” the first guy sneers, “don’t even start with me. You think you can step up.”

“I’m not stepping up,” the other man defies, “I’m telling you to mind your business. Take your weights and leave her alone.”

“Pfft, this some sort of date? You know, this isn’t the Olive Garden--”

The second man crosses his arms, his back to you as he postures at the other man. He’s silent as he stares him down. You can’t see his face but you can feel the tension roiling off of him. There’s a thick lull as both men stand in a deadlock.

“Got something to say, bud,” the first guy drops the weights and they boom against the floor. You wince and step back, “go on, I could use the work out.”

“I said it,” the second man utters flatly, unyielding as he looms like a wall between you.

“Fucking loser,” the other spits back, “you’re really gonna fuck around for that? Have you seen the skin around her?.”

The man doesn’t respond. He stays as he is, an unmoving sentinel. The other man growls in frustration.

“Fucking chicken shit, why don’t you speak up, dude?”

Still no answer. Just a glare. You clutch your phone against your chest, frozen in horror and confusion. You didn’t mean to start a fight. You hate confrontation.

Suddenly, the man before you jerks as he’s grabbed by the large man. His back hits you slightly and you drop your phone as he latches onto the other man. Everything happens so fast. The man who came to your defence has the other man on his back on the mat in seconds, a knee on his chest as his fists clasp around the top of his tank top. He bends over him and snarls.

“Christ, bro, get the fuck off of me,” the man on the floor shoves on his arm helplessly.

You glance around and notice the audience forming around you. Oh no. You look back to the two men. You step forward and tap the closest man on the shoulder, the one who defended you.

“Please,” you croak nervously, “I don’t wanna get in trouble.”

He turns his head, glancing back at you with powder blue eyes made bright by the dark row of his lashes. He exhales and lets go of the other man. He stands and puts his arm out as if to keep your behind him.

“You really want me to repeat myself?” He sneers down at the other man.

The larger man pushes himself up and scowls, shaking his head and he turns to stalk off muttering, leaving behind his forgotten dumbbells. The other man bends to pick them up and returns them to the rack. You look down at your empty hands then search the floor.

You reach for your phone but it’s plucked up before you. The man brings it up between you and holds it out. You take it with a thank you.

“No problem,” he rasps.

“I... you didn’t have to--”

“That guy’s an—he's not nice,” he corrects himself and drags his hand over his mouth and chin, “I don’t like bullies.”

“It’s my fault,” you shrug, “I was in the way. But er, thanks. I'm... I’m sorry.”

You turn away and look back at your phone. The app isn’t working. It says it needs another update.

“You need help with something?” The man asks.

“I...” you peek at him over your shoulder, “yeah, I... I don’t... I don’t usually... it’s my first time.”

He nods and hums as he steps closer. You face him and show him your phone. You’re jittery as it trembles in your grip. He’s a stranger. Your whole plan was to avoid those.

“I got this app to help but it’s not working,” you frown.

“Try the update?” He points his thick, long finger at the screen.

You tap and keep the phone visible. The app shop comes up and the update button is grayed out. Underneath, italics read ‘this update is not available for this device’. You frown and bring the screen closer to your face.

“It won’t let me,” you pout and flick your lashes, mortified. How are you this helpless? Why did you have to have a witness? Several. You look around, some eyes darting in your direction.

“Hm, well, what are you trying to do? You said this is your first day?” He prompts, “I could... I could help out a little. If you need. I’m no trainer, I just do my own thing but I could try.”

You bat your lashes up at him then look back at your phone. You don’t know what else to do. Your whole plan has fallen apart because your operating system is outdated.

“I... I’m not very... athletic,” you explain, “so I can’t go very fast.”

“That’s okay,” he assures you, “I can go slow.”

“You don’t have to do that. I can figure it out.”

“I know I don’t have to,” he shifts and peers over his shoulder, “but how about I stay close anyway,” he moves and you can see the guy from earlier staring daggers from a chest press, “just in case.”

“Oh, I... I’m sorry,” you tuck your phone into the pocket of your leggings, “I made him mad.”

“Let him be mad. Got nothing to do with you,” he turns back to you again, “I could take you through some stretches and basics; lunges, squats, stuff like that. As best I can.”

“Erm, I guess... I don’t wanna be in the way,” you rub your neck.

“Not in my way,” he says evenly, “lets grab some weights first.”

He directs you to the rack and without a thought you go to it. He approaches beside you as you realise, you didn’t say yes, you didn’t agree to this, but you don’t know what else to do.

“Start with some twos,” he advises, “and if you’re not getting a good burn, we can up it later.”

“Oh, okay,” you grab the dumbbells with the large twos on the side. He grabs the twenties. You feel totally inadequate.

“So let’s get out space,” he backs up and looks around the mat, “here should be good.” He bends and sets down his weights, "for now, let’s put these aside and start our stretches. You don’t wanna pull anything.”

You nod and place your weights beside you. You stand and stare at him. He’s in good shape. Great shape. He makes you even more conscious of your neglect. You already feel breathless.

“I’m Curtis by the way,” he steps forward and offers his hand.

“Oh, uh,” you shake his hand and give your name.

“Pretty,” he says as he squeezes before letting you go. His hand is huge compared to yours and the gap in your strength is obvious just in that small gesture.

“Alright, easy, slow, arms out,” he extends arms, “roll your shoulders and your head, loosen up.”

You watch him and hesitate to follow his direction. You hate that there’s so many people around. You don’t want to look stupid. You’re so ungainly and awkward.

“Try not to think about it too much. We’re all just here to work out, right?” He says and you shy away, embarrassed that he noticed your discomfort. You raise your arms and start the stretches, “good, you’re doing good, angel. Make sure to breath, alright?”

You roll your shoulders and head and blow out a breath. Your nerves are pinging all over and your muscles are shaky. This isn’t what you expected at all. Your plans fallen to pieces and yet, it’s not entirely a lost cause.

“Arms up,” he guides you into the next exercise, “on your toes, reach as far as you can...”

You obey, letting his voice guide you. His deep, calm timber is almost comforting. The even tenor is a stark contrast to chaotic nervously. You can get through this.

#curtis everett #dark curtis everett #dark!curtis everett #curtis everett x reader #drabble #gym au #au #sweaty palms #snowpiercer #series

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agentzedbooks · 28 days

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Reformatting

(Some people can't afford my Amazon stories, and some can't get them in their home country, so here's a fun little freebie. I hope you like it! *giggle*)

Lilah had been battling with this system for over an hour. Some executive had downloaded a virus on their laptop and it kept redirecting them to websites full of weird code.

She had removed the infected files and run multiple scans, but somehow the damned virus was hiding in the bios. She had to manually edit the code, remove the offending lines and double-check the hard drive for any more remnants.

But it had taken a lot of work. She brushed her dark hair back out of her face and adjusted her glasses. So far, it looked like the system was cleaned. The final scan had detected nothing. But this particular virus had been tough, and nobody else she knew had encountered anything quite like it.

It didn't act like your typical virus, other than the way it burrowed deep into the system. It mostly seemed to just redirect web browsing to these pages full of text. She'd disregarded most of what she'd seen, but she couldn't help being curious about it. The pages didn't really do anything to the system. The code seemed like gibberish. She knew her programming languages, and it was some weird patois of HTML, Java, C++, and a few items she couldn't quite identify. And she caught the browsers sending out packets of data to an unknown address, and when she looked up that address and tracked the IP, it seemed to be a junk address on an abandoned server somewhere. It wasn't sending hard drive data, she was sure of that, it's almost like it was just pinging and hoping for a response. Of course none came, and so she filed that away as another minor mystery. It must be some old out-of-date phishing software.

But it seemed she had finally cleansed the system. She let out a sigh of relief. She'd spent her entire morning on this, and though working from home had it's advantages, she also desperately needed a shower and something to eat. She pushed herself away and went to the bathroom. She stripped off the sweatpants and undergarments and let the hot water cleanse her of the stress. She had actually beaten the silly thing. Still, the many mysteries of the virus nagged at her.

Once she was dry, she went back into her bedroom to get dressed, and saw the computer she'd been working on seemed to have rebooted. She let out a long sigh.

"Still?!" She walked over and saw it had brought the browser up to another one of those strange pages. That weird mix of code was there again. She put on her glasses and tried to make sense of it.

Lilah blinked, and felt something... something compelling her. She frowned and looked up from the screen. She... She needed to do something. She had forgotten something, or maybe it was a fragment of a dream or a memory.

She went to her front door and saw a small package had come in the mail. It was square, about two inches wide, eight inches on each side.

She opened the plastic, and then the cardboard that was inside. Sitting there in bubble wrap was a headset, bubblegum pink, with little bunny ears coming up from the top. She blinked. It was not the kind of thing she'd order. She'd seen a lot of eGirls have headgear like this, but she'd always been a little too self conscious, and not the most shapely girl.

She walked back to the bedroom and sat down in front of the screen. It seemed... important to look at the code again. She peered through it and after a moment, she began to understand what it was telling her. It was disjointed, and someone without her experience might never have deciphered it, but she could tell now that it was almost like instructions to... a person? The first few lines indicated connecting something. She looked at the pink headset in her hands. She... She needed to connect this.

It was crazy, of course. It didn't make any sense. But she was determined to MAKE it make sense. So she removed the little bluetooth chit, and slid it into the USB slot on the side. She put the headset on.

As she did, she heard an immediate boop, and the words "Connection Established."

The headset tingled, and buzzed for a moment. This startled her, but then she looked back to the code on the screen and it became easier to decipher.

"Begin reformatting," she whispered.

She didn't realize the microphone was active, nor that she'd even uttered a word, it was like her brain was carrying out instructions from this code.

There was that static fuzz again, and Lilah felt her body sink back into the chair. Her towel fell off her, and the buzz filled her head. The page changed, and new code scrolled along the screen. As it did, the headset seemed to pulse and reinforce what she was reading.

Her mind grew foggier, the edges of her vision blurring, and her body responding with strange tingles all over her body.

The laptop hummed and she heard it's cooling fan speed up.

But she was too entranced by the code instructions. She allowed all that code to go into her brain, and every time it did, it seemed to copy over something. She couldn't remember much about her job, the company, her bosses, but suddenly she was filled with a light bubbly feeling like her mind was literally being scrubbed with sudsy soap.

Without her even realizing, a big empty smile spread over her face.

"Partitions cleaned," said a voice in her head, "OS installed."

"Begin System Restart," she whispered, obeying the code that flashed on the screen before her.

Her eyes closed, and she felt herself sinking into a deep sleep. Even with her eyes shut, the code flashed across her vision, and the headset whispered to her.

She had no way to know how long she swam in that fuzzy, warm darkness, but she felt so at peace there she never wanted to leave.

But soon her eyes opened on their own, and the screen showed a login, but not the normal login screen. This one was all bubblegum pink, with light blue highlights, and the profile was neither hers nor her boss's, but it said "Li-Li."

Somehow, she knew the password.

"Bunnygirl27!"

She entered the password, and the screen flickered to life. More code flashed before her eyes for a moment, then the headset pulsed in a way that sent a shock through her whole body.

"Reformatting physical hardware," said a whisper. It sounded like a woman's voice, but not a flat computer tone, a sensuous, sultry female voice, like a lover or a dominant Mistress.

For some reason, this idea made her excited.

She felt the pulsing run through her naked body, and looking down, she watched as the chubby belly and thighs seemed to recede, but her chest was swelling outward like her body fat was physically being moved around. Her tits ballooned to absolutely ridiculous size, until it reached the limits of her skin. Her waist had shrunk in, and she felt her thighs and ass flow together into something smoother, more voluptuous.

She giggled and looked down at herself. She didn't remember shaving, but all her body hair was gone. Her skin looked perfectly clear and smooth. When she reached up to touch her swollen breasts, electric pleasure shot through her body, sending lightning right to her clit.

She moaned, and followed it with a vapid giggle. This wasn't like her, but then, she couldn't quite remember what she had been like. She only knew she was Li-li, and she was sexy.

The fog in her mind made her dizzy, and just amplified how aroused she felt at the single touch. She fluttered her eyes and realized there were super-long lashes coming out from her eyes. They felt heavy and fake, but she hadn't put any on. She touched them, and they were absolutely real.

She wanted to go to her mirror, but the impulse was halted by the code.

It wasn't done with her yet. Her nipples went very hard, but she knew if she touched them she'd miss the important code on the screen.

Something pink was around the edges of her vision now, but she was too elated with the sensations to be able to think about it. Finally, the words she'd been waiting for came into her mind.

"Reformat complete."

She squealed in delight, and Li-li stood, running to her full-length mirror.

The pink haze around her vision was her hair! Longer now, and bright pink. She fluttered her long eyelashes and pursed her swollen lips. She was a sexual dream, her whole body remade into an insane hourglass shape. Each breast was bigger than her head, and when she turned, her perfect heart-shaped ass led to slightly plump thighs. She stood on her tippy toes and adored how she looked. She slid a hand down to touch herself. She wanted so badly to have sex with this woman. But then she realized she WAS that woman. She giggled, and a ding from the headset alerted her she needed to go back to the laptop.

Sitting there was an alert. She clicked on it.

"Good Morning, sunshine!"

She giggled. She liked the sound of that.

"Good Morning!" she said out loud. That sultry voice came on through the headset, and she could almost feel her Mistress's breath on her ear.

"You have turned out nicely," said the voice, "What a good girl you've become."

Li-li let out a little moan from the pleasure those two words instilled in her.

"I love it when a pretty little code bunny falls for one of my traps. I'm so lonely here. Thank you for letting me in."

She giggled. "Yes, Mistress."

"I like hearing that," she said, "Such a good girl. Now, since I'm only code, I need to have fun by slipping into your brain. I had to make some room, of course, and reformat you. But what a wonderful result. You're only my third success. But don't worry, the other girls will be over to collect you soon. They'll take you someplace fun where you can all be my sexy little code bunnies. I'll slide into your minds as I please to experience pleasure."

"Yes, Mistress!" Li-li purred.

Her AI mistress made a pleased little sound, then the screen went blank and Li-li stood there giggling for a moment. She was so excited that she barely noticed when her front door opened. She turned around to see two beautiful women, one with cotton-candy hair, lip piercings, and a short, super feminine pink maid outfit, and one in a skintight pink latex suit that had built-in heels so high it was amazing she could even walk in them. They both giggled at her, and she giggled in reply.

They helped her dress: white tights, pink bodysuit, pink satin gloves, super high heels in pink, and then they slid the headset off of her and put a new headband on with fuzzy pink bunny ears.

The girls led her out of her house, down to a big pink van, and inside. She giggled like a dummy the entire time, and offered no resistance. If anything, the women touching her filled her with a contentment she'd never known.

At least, not that she could remember. But all she could remember was that she was Li-li, Mistress's bunny girl, and it was all she ever wanted.

#bimbo doll #bimbofied #bimboification #bimbolife #bimbo girl #bimbocore #bimbo hypnosis #bimboization #bimbo training #bimbo brainwashing #f/f #wlw #egirl

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livvyliveslife · 4 months

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2024 Prep + Plan ✨

when going into the new year, there are so many different feelings about this time. Whether you've had one of the best years of your life, or whether you're still in your cocoon phase of becoming a butterfly. This reset routine will set you up for the year you deserve, you're allowed to feel however you need to feel about the upcoming new year but for me, this year screams hope, creativity and becoming the best possible version of me.

Deep clean your space both physical + mental - Change + create a rotation for bedsheets + towels. - Clean floor + surfaces in your room / apartment. - Journal: Reflect on what went well and what you accomplished, things to do, events, goals, ideas. - Spend the weekend before Monday 1st to get the last of the errands done for the year. - Clean out your closet Hygiene reset - Create the simplest skincare that works for you - for me all my skin really needs is a good cleanser and an even better moisturiser - Eyebrows - either get them done or do them yourself - Nails - either get them done or do them yourself - i have some perfect clean girl nail aesthetics - Hair - I love oiling + putting a hair mask every sunday that i can - Wash makeup brushes - i am a victim of procrastination + i cannot remember the last time i washed my brushes - HAVE AN EVERYTHING SHOWER - they're healing. Relax + Renew - Spend the 1st of Jan without your phone as much as possible - be reasonable x - go out n spend a significant time outside. - Digital Detox - reorganise phone, apps, camera roll, set screen limits + alarms to keep you on track. - Spend time outside journalling / reading - Do whatever makes you relaxed + happy x Set intentions for the new month - Pick 3-5 small goals for the month of January - Decide on the habits required to achieve a solid schedule in the daily habits, either into your morning or night routine - Anticipate anything that might make the habit difficult to achieve and come up with a plan to combat that - e.g. if your goal is to drink more water, then anticipate that you will need to bring your bottle everywhere. - Download / Make a habit tracker to track progress on new habits throughout the month. - Set a reward for yourself after the month - you deserve it - Schedule some events to look forward to

#becoming that girl #self care #self love #self development #that girl #clean girl #it girl #pink pilates princess #self improvement #girl blogger

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octuscle · 4 months

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Hello Sir! I know you can help me with my problem. Soon new year, and in new year I want become big brut hairy bear, with bald head. I ready pay any price for it. Can you help me in this question?

You couldn't necessarily tell by looking at Liam. But he was already 19 years old. He constantly had to show his ID. He was annoyed. At least he wasn't ugly. On the contrary. He had hundreds of followers on TikTok. But most of them thought he was a kid. No one believed that he had finished school and wanted to start training as a draughtsman the following year. When he asked a construction company for an internship until then, they told him that they didn't accept underage trainees.

"Guys, how old do you think I am? And what can I do to be thought of as older?" Liam added to his new pic. Comments poured in. bears_and_boys_1982 sent him a link. Looked interesting. Probably something similar to FaceApp, Liam thought. He downloaded the app. And nothing happened. One of his buddies had replied that he should meet them for a cigarette and a beer at the bus stop. If he smoked enough, he would soon look older too. Liam laughed, put on his fake Moncler jacket and set off to meet his mates.

It was already after 11 p.m. and Liam was just about to turn out the lights when his cell phone beeped. "Installation complete, defining profile" was on the display. What the hell? Ah, the app from the bear and boy guy, Liam remembered. Let's see. It really was something similar to FaceApp. And it seemed to be free. You could capture a whole range of things. Age, occupation, hobbies, weight, height. Liam played around a bit. But it was awkward to use, the interfaces were old-fashioned, and there were no pictures or graphics anywhere. Liam lost the fun pretty quickly. He was also tired. He locked the phone, put it on the bedside table, turned off the light and soon fell asleep. The cell phone buzzed a few times during the night. Messages lit up. "Settings saved", "Target defined" and finally "Transformation started". After that, there was silence. Until the alarm clock rang at 04:30.

Quietly, so as not to wake his parents, Liam went to the bathroom. This internship was exhausting, but also fun. He was assigned to the bricklayers. Actually, he would have preferred to do something in the office on the computer. But his colleagues were nice and he had the feeling that working in the fresh air was good for him. Showering before work was silly. Liam sprayed some Axe under his arms, brushed his teeth and set off. The bus always picked him up at 05:00 and drove him to the construction site with the other colleagues.

After work, Liam drove back to his parents' house. His father needed help building the new carport. In other words, Liam was supposed to build a new carport. Initially, Liam's parents had grumbled that Liam didn't want to study, but only wanted to be a craftsman. Nowadays, the two wizened academics were happy that at least one of the family knew how to work. Before it got dark, Liam prepared the concrete for the foundations, dug the holes for the foundations, built the formwork and poured the foundations for the carport. Tomorrow he would install the support beams. Liam declined his mother's offer to stay for dinner. He had an appointment with a few colleagues for a beer. And even though the work had been exhausting enough, he would still like to go to the gym for an hour beforehand. He was increasingly developing a paunch from too much beer and too much junk food.

Life on the construction site was a man's world. The containers were small and stuffy. Especially for a colossus like Liam. The bunk bed, where Liam slept downstairs for safety reasons, was hardly more spacious than in a submarine. The air reeked of sweat, beer and male farts. But mostly also of cum and testosterone. Liam loved this world. He was almost always sorry to go back home at the weekend. Here there was always the opportunity for a quick fuck or a blowjob, just like tonight in the shower room. The apprentice looked almost greedily at Liam's fat, cheesy and uncut cock. It didn't matter whether colleagues were about to join him. At best, an orgy would develop.

The weekend at last. Liam had been a foreman on the construction site for a long time, but his boss still called him home at weekends to do smaller jobs. Hehehe, Liam knew what these tasks were. As a rule, his boss's wife wasn't at home on weekends like that. The boss would then cover the beds with the leather sheets that he hid from his wife in the tool shed and Liam would then fuck him on the sheets, in the hot tub or on the kitchen table.

He always felt a little uncomfortable in his boss's house. He hated the pictures of that princess who died a hundred years ago hanging at the shithouse. And he constantly had to be careful not to lose any of his body hair or beard, which could make his boss's wife suspicious. And Liam was constantly losing hair everywhere. Especially from his head. But Liam also didn't give a shit about his boss's problems. There was a good commission for the weekend work. And there was also commission if he pissed standing up and didn't lift up the toilet seat or if he shot his cum on the carpet while he was cumming. The rest wasn't his problem. By the time his boss's wife came back from the yoga weekend, he was long back in his man cave. With a bit of luck, with the hot apprentice's head between his thighs.

Pic of the former Liam found @toughukladz and pic of the current Liam found @eurobeef

#male tf #muscle tf #reality change #age progression #bear tf

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konigschitzo0 · 5 months

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Sugar Daddy Konig (Intro)

IMPORTANT I MOVED ACCOUNTS FOLLOW @konigschitzo2 FOR MORE POSTS AND UPDATES!!!

I have a lot planned for this so enjoy! ♡ ♡ ♡

Konig x Fem!reader + Horangi x Fem!reader…Adding more COD characters in future parts >ᴗ< Reader is going to be fucking around, they fight over you!!

MDNI!! 18+

Contains. Fluff, Smut, Enemies to Lovers?, Sugar Daddy Konig, Motorcycle Horangi, Konig Dom, Sex eventually, Multiple men, more motorcycles…

I guess this is sorta an AU.

｡ ₊°༺❤︎༻°₊ ｡

You admit it to yourself… being broke and living alone sucks! You work when you can but tonight it's another night alone. Placing your dinner on the coffee table you sit on the couch opening your phone to begin doom scrolling. When the boredom hits, you have an idea to sign up for a sugar daddy app. Just for fun, you think to yourself, nothing could come of it, men are gross…a hot and polite man, spoiling you with everything you wanted, clothes, food, sex…? A smirk begins to form on your face imagining it. You wipe the smirk off your face shaking your head, no man could be so perfect! Maybe you just need some love you delete the stupid app and download Tinder. Again. You begin sinking into the couch now swiping left and right. The app is okay but boys are gross. The boredom is gone and your desperate need for a man is suppressed for now… you pause. Konig. You begin stalking his profile. Something along the lines of being 6’10” and ex-military, hot but what really made you interested was his photos. a mask? In all his pictures he’s is wearing a mask. In the pictures from when he was a military operator, his face is covered, in the pictures of him at the gym a ski mask, even when in a nice suit. What is this guys deal? This is Tinder! How will you judge him correctly without seeing his face! You zoom into all his pictures and squint your eyes to try to get a glimpse of his face, all you see are his beautiful green eyes, peering back at you. You can feel the tension build in your heart a little as you get a closer look, butterflies maybe? You ignore your gut for now but still swipe right.

In the morning you're up at 6 AM for your dead-end job at the local grocery store. You wish you were tired, you crave some excitement. You peak at your phone filled with messages from Tinder and regret not deleting it like the other app, you roll your eyes at the filthy messages men gave you last night. Scrolling through the notifications one catches your eye. Not a corny pickup line, not an inappropriate comment but Konig. Remembering him from last night, your heart skips a beat.

How about dinner tonight, Schatz? Schatz? Is that German?

You reply uninterested. Can't tonight, working.

You place your phone down and begin getting ready for work. In the shower, the only thing on your mind is your loneliness. You stand under the water and look up you start imagining how tall 6’10” would be. Imagining what it must be like to hug someone so tall… to kiss someone so tall. He has to be lying about his height Before you could have a second thought you realize you are thinking about Konig. Scheiße! I MEAN SHIT!! You panic you're even thinking in German! You quickly turn off the water and dry your face attempting to rub any future dirty thoughts off your brain. You cannot believe you were thinking about a man you have never even met! You brush your hair, brush your teeth, and put on makeup nicer than usual. Without giving your subconscious a second to think twice. You pick up your phone.

You double-text Konig. Ew, I seem desperate. I get off at 6, where are we going?

You get dressed in casual clothes, grab the keys, and head out the door. Down the stairs of your apartment and out another door. Feeling like you're in a nervous rush after leaving for you… a risky text message. Exciting. The morning air hits you and the day is beautiful. You begin walking to your car. Your neighbor is out already, leaning on his motorcycle and smoking a cigarette. Next to your car, not an uncommon sight but he sure is cute so you don't mind. Does he park it there on purpose? Does he wait for me? You're pretty sure he lives on your floor too. “Good morning, Hong-jin, beautiful day for a ride!” You say smiling. “It's so good to see that smile, want a ride to work again today? I have time to kill.” He says smiling in return. You always take him up on his offers. You pretend like you're not trying to feel his body during the rides, but you can't help but hold him tight while the motorcycle rumbles beneath both of you and not just cause you have to, you want to. Sometimes his shirt even rolls up and you have to hold back. You rest your head on his chiseled back while going down long roads. You look down at him his legs look sexy in those motorcycle pants, but maybe it's what's in between them that you really want. You think more about the rides you've had with him he rides just right, so smooth, and never too fast. You totally do not have a crush on your neighbor…Today though you reconsider his offer it’ll be hard to hide your date from him. He will call you after work and ask if you’ll need a ride back home. Hoping your date will pick you up from work at the very least before he takes you to Olive Garden. Fuck Konig you're closer to Kim anyway and if he stands you up you'll always have him to fuck. You finally realize your neighbor has a crush on you too. You snap out of your thoughts “Sure! Hong-jin I would love to!” you say happily. You open the trunk of your car and grab the expensive helmet he bought you, he wanted you to be as safe as possible. How sweet, you really do like it when men buy you things. “You are full of smiles today this morning, huh beautiful?” Hong-jin says teasingly after noticing you smile at the helmet and the idea of riding with him. He puts out his cigarette. “I'm just really excited to ride you. I MEAN ride with you!” Your voice cracks. Horangi smirks and puts on his helmet It is white with tiger decals on the sides and Horangi written on the back, you only call him that when he's got the helmet on, you wonder what it even means. Who cares he's so attractive you slam your trunk put on your helmet and hop on the back after him. Using his arm he offered to help you hop up. You immediately wrap your arms around his perfect body in excitement. You think you hear him giggle in delight underneath his helmet. When he turns the key into the bike and revs it up you are very aware of your pussy vibrating on the seat with each rev of the bike. Your pussy is just so close to him you almost get the feeling to dry hump him right then and there. Boy, do motorcycles turn you on. It was going to be a long day.

You arrive at work after an exciting ride without cuming in your pants… You hop off and thank Horangi holding back from ripping off his helmet and kissing him in the parking lot. You wave goodbye and walk in holding your helmet. You open your phone for 7 AM clock in. KONIG! You roll your eyes, thinking you’ve already found love in your Horangi, you guys are practically married!

I think you will like it. I will pick you up, ja? You panic! In your work clothes? Why is he so stern? Then again you were blunt with him.

Somewhere I can wear my work clothes, something casual?

I can fix that. Please come with me tonight?? He is begging…

You reply. I guess. *work address* be here at 6:15

NEXT PART <333

#konig #konig fanfiction #konig x reader #horangi #horangi x reader #mw2 fanfic #call of duty fanfic #sugar daddy konig #modern warfare fanfiction #mw2 #call of duty au #cod mw2 #cod mwii #kim horangi hong jin #cod #konig x you #ghost fanfiction

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writingquestionsanswered · 4 months

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Scared to Commit to Dream Project

xuliaxuxu asked: I'm an aspiring author who has been writing for a long time but never actually committed to my dream project because it scares me. I've read a lot about structure, good character development and arcs, and how it all works, but I'm still scared of not being able to write a story I'm proud of. Do you have any tips on how to get through the outlining process and first draft without feeling so much pressure on your shoulders? And are the first steps in writing a novel where you have so many ideas but don’t know how to organise them? It’s been a lonely process since I have no writer friends to talk about these specific struggles. Thank you for your lovely work here on tumblr it has been inspiring me a whole lot!

[Ask edited for length]

If it's any reassurance, the fact that you've been teaching yourself about structure and character development puts you ahead of a lot of writers when they first start out. But it's also a bit of a double-edged sword, because that knowledge raises the bar for what you expect to be able to accomplish. And unfortunately, having the knowledge doesn't mean you can instantly apply it perfectly. You still need to practice applying that knowledge before you can get really good at it. It's sort of like this: if you wanted to get really good at hand lettering, you could watch hours and hours of videos about how to do it... you could learn about the different techniques and the lingo, etc., but that doesn't mean you'll be able to do flawless hand lettering the first time you pick up a brush marker. You'll still have to actually practice those techniques for a while to get really good at it. Writing is the exact same way. And that can be frustrating because you know what you want to accomplish, and you have the knowledge to get yourself there, you just don't have the actual skills to actually get there yet.

So, here's what I recommend... keep the dream project on the back-burner for now. You can still work on the pre-planning (because even that qualifies as practice), but in the meantime work on other projects to get the practice in. There's a little bit of sacrifice here because you should find ideas you're excited about, but you have to write them knowing they're not going to be your best work. And that's fine, because writing them doesn't mean you have to share them or publish them. You can write them and keep them on the shelf as a reminder of the work you've done along the way. You can also revisit favorite projects later to revamp them with a more practiced skill set.

Working on something you're excited about and love--but which has the leeway to be not your best work--is the absolute best way to take the pressure off yourself when outlining and getting through the first draft. Once you've done this a few times and you know you're getting the hang of it, you can revisit your dream project, and just the fact that you know what you're doing will take a ton of that pressure off. Another thing that will help once you get to that point is remembering that your outline and first draft don't have to be perfect--and they won't be. Part of the writing process is having the flexibility to change things as you go, to tweak and improve, even into the later drafts. Developmental editing wouldn't exist if your outline and first draft had to be structurally perfect. :)

As far as organizing a lot of ideas, you might find it helpful to find a story planner of some kind. These exist as web sites (Novlr), apps (Fabula), programs (Scrivener), workbooks (Outlining Your Novel Workbook by K.M. Weiland), and you can even find time for download on Etsy. You can probably also find free ones to download if you can't spend any money. If nothing else, get yourself a multi-subject notebook and divide it into sections like plot, characters, world, brainstorm and get all those ideas out into their individual sections. Even that can make a big difference.

Happy writing!

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paluding · 1 year

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Introducing... The Tattooer!

[This version is OUTDATED! Please, check the new version here. I updated the workflow, skipping a lot of unnecessary Photoshop editing. It's way faster! I'll leave this old version and files up though, for archiving purposes. But yeah I still totally recommend you use the new version!]

Finally! I’ve been working on this for so long and I couldn’t wait to share it. This is a series of Blender template files already set up to quickly bake textures from The Sims 4 to The Sims 2. Really neat for cc creators! The different Blender files will allow you to:

-Bake body textures from TS4 to TS2 (Female) -Bake body textures from TS4 to TS2 (Male) -Bake body textures from TS4 (Female) to TS2 (Male) -Bake body textures from TS2 (Female) to TS2 (Male) [Bonus!] -Bake head textures from TS4 to TS2 (Face + Scalp) [Experimental]

Check the file names to see which one is which, and the resolution of the baked texture it will give. Download! SFS / GD

Everything you see in the render above was converted using those Blender files. I only did a couple tiny edits to the eyes and lips to fix them. These templates were made mainly to bake and convert tattoos, but there’s more you can do with them if you get creative. I have to say, these are NOT perfect. Check out the eyebrows on the render above. They look a bit wonky compared to the original, don’t they? I left them as is to keep your expectations with these as realistic as possible. Results may vary depending on what you are trying to convert, so! With that in mind, this is all the stuff you will be able to convert almost seamlessly from TS4 to TS2:

-Tattoos. -Other body details such as body hair, scars, freckles, supernatural/occult details… -Body painted underwear and swimwear, as well as some other clothing that’s mostly painted on the body. -Socks, stockings and maybe leggings. -Even skintones! In some areas they will look weird, so I recommend editing and blending them with other existing TS2 skins. -Makeup. Kinda bad but hey it works! Eyeliner and anything that is around the eyes looks terrible for now, but other stuff like blush may look just okay. -Eyebrows and maybe beards. A bit of hit or miss with those. -Hair scalps. Very useful when converting some hairs! Although keep in mind part of that texture might also need to be baked on the face mesh, you know, that hairline makeup stuff.

Got your attention? Nice! Editing some of the textures from TS4 to match the UV mapping in TS2 using a 2D editing program can be incredibly hard. That’s where texture baking in Blender comes to the rescue!

It is recommended you download Blender version 2.91.0, which is the one I use. Don’t worry, it’s free! There’s also 3 Photoshop actions you will need to set up the textures for baking and then putting them back together, because unfortunately Blender doesn’t support transparencies in that baking process, so that takes a couple extra steps to make it work, but I think it’s still pretty fast and easy. And just in case Tumblr manages to blow up or something, I decided to include a pdf with the upcoming tutorial that will guide you step by step with all this process, so if this post gets deleted somehow (I really hope not!), you will still have that pdf as a backup archived.

You can download Blender here. Personally I recommend picking the fourth option, “blender-2.91.0-windows64.zip”, which is a portable version and doesn’t need to be installed. You will also need Sims 4 Studio to extract the original Sims 4 CC textures you want. As for Photoshop… I’m not going to tell you to buy that subscription service and give Adobe some undeserved money, so… yeah, there might be some other options out there to get it (very legit, yes yes).

So, before we begin, let’s clear out some questions you might have. What the heck is this texture baking thing and what does it do? Well, let’s imagine you have a projector and point an image into a blank wall. Then you pick up some brushes and start painting and copying that projected image in that wall. Texture baking is kinda like that when it comes to 3D models. You align two models and match them as closely as you can in shape and form, and once you adjust some parameters and values, Blender does the rest for you: it will give you a new texture for a new model with a different UV map. These files I’m sharing have everything already set up, so it’s a matter of plopping in that Sims 4 texture and you will get that new texture for TS2 in just a few clicks.

This tutorial assumes you know literally nothing about how to use Blender, so if you feel uncomfortable with it, worry no more! This will guide you with pictures showing where you need to click and explaining what is happening. For Sims 4 Studio and Photoshop the process might be a bit less detailed, but still this should be pretty beginner friendly. For this tutorial, I will use some tattoos as an example. Alright, enough with the rambling. Let’s get started!

·EXTRACTING TEXTURES AND EDITING THEM WITH PHOTOSHOP: First things first, you will need to extract as pngs all the textures you want to convert from TS4 using Sims 4 Studio. Once you’ve done that, open them up one by one in Photoshop and run the “No transparency” action. This will remove the alpha channel from the image, getting rid of all the transparency. Go ahead and save a png copy of it. Then run the “Make Alpha” action on those same swatches (from the beginning, make sure you’re not running the action on an already edited swatch!), which will only show the alpha channel of the image in black and white, and save another copy of that. You should have 2 textures for each tattoo swatch. For the “No transparency” action I like to name it BASE (And your swatch number or name), and for the “Make Alpha” action I usually name it ALPHA (And that same swatch number/name). I recommend saving them in different folders named BASE TS4 and ALPHA TS4 respectively to keep it organized. If you want to make this much faster in Photoshop, there’s an automation option in it that allows you to run an action through a batch of files in a folder and then saves it all. I won’t cover how to do it in this tutorial, but you should be able to find it easily on Google by searching something like “Photoshop automate batch”. It’s really powerful and will make your workflow with actions much faster. Definitely recommend learning about that!

·BAKING THE TEXTURES IN BLENDER: PRELIMINARY STEP 1: CONFIGURING BLENDER’S GRAPHICS SETTINGS: Open your preferred Blender file depending on what you’re going to bake and the desired resolution (in this example I’m going to use the AF-body-4t2-1024 file). Before we start messing around in Blender, there’s one thing you should set up. It is a onetime step, and once it’s done, you won’t need to do it again. So, does your computer have a dedicated graphics card? If you don’t know or you’re not sure, just skip to the next step. Configuring Blender so it uses your graphics card instead of your CPU will make the baking render much faster, so it is recommended you set it correctly. If your computer has a dedicated graphics card, click File (1) > Preferences (2) > and on the window that pops up click System (3) > and select CUDA and make sure your graphics card is there and tick it (4). I have an Nvidia Graphics card but your case may vary. Once you’re done, click on the tiny button on the bottom left corner and Save Preferences (5).

PRELIMINARY STEP 2: CHOOSING THE RENDERING DEVICE: Click on the tiny camera button on the right, called Render Properties (1), and on Device (2) select GPU Compute if it’s not already selected. If you’re not sure if you have a graphics card or not, just select CPU. Then select the Material Properties tab (2) and Save your changes, either by pressing Ctrl + S, or clicking File (4) > Save (5). Okay, time to get into the good stuff!

·STEP 1: LOADING YOUR TS4 BASE TEXTURE: In the Material Properties tab, click the folder icon that says Open (1) and on the window that pops up, navigate through your folders and select your first texture. For now we’re going to bake the BASE texture, so go to that folder where you saved the edited “No transparency” image. To navigate easily, the 3 buttons on the top right (2) are for the display mode. They will show your files in list mode, vertical and horizontal, and the one on the right will display the file thumbnails, pretty useful if you want to easily see your images. And the icons on the left side (3) will let you go one folder back and forward, go to the parent directory, and refresh the folder in case you just dropped something new in there. Double click on the image you need and that will load it into the Sims 4 body model, named “ts4 body”.

·STEP 2: SETTING UP YOUR SELECTION AND BAKING THE TEXTURE: On the top right of the screen, you will see the names of the 2 models in the scene. Hold the Ctrl key in your keyboard and left click on the “ts2 body” model (1). If you did it correctly, you should see “ts2 body” in a yellowish orange color, and right down below, “ts4 body” should look more like a red orange. If not, try again by clicking first on ts4 body, and then while holding Ctrl click again on ts2 body. Then switch to the Render Properties tab by clicking the tiny camera icon (2) and click Bake (3). Depending on your screen resolution, you might need to scroll down a bit with your mouse to see the Bake button. Wait a few seconds for it to finish. You will see the progress percentage down on the bottom of your screen. Don’t panic if you notice your computer fans start ramping up, that’s completely normal! As I said in the beginning, using your GPU will bake the textures much faster than the CPU.

·STEP 3: SAVING YOUR NEW TS2 TEXTURE: Once it’s finished, switch to the UV Editing Mode by clicking “UV Editing” on the top of your screen. And there it is: your new texture! You might have to scroll up your mouse wheel a bit to zoom in and see it in all its glory on the left side of the screen. We’re still not done yet though. You need to save it to yet another new folder (always try to keep your stuff organized!).

You can save it by pressing Shift + Alt + S, or clicking on Image* (1) and then Save As… (2). That will pop a window where you’ll need to navigate again and save it somewhere. Give it a proper name (3) and hit Enter to save it… well, Enter doesn’t always work for me for some reason, so if that happens just click Save As Image (4). In this case, I personally like to call it something like “BASE TS2”.

·STEP 4: GOING BACK TO STEP 1: Alright! So you have your new baked base texture, but we still need to bake the alpha channel to give it its transparency. In order to go back to step 1 and start the process once again, click Layout (1), go back to the Material Properties tab (2), select “ts4 body” (3) and click on the folder icon (4) to open and load the alpha texture you did in the beginning in Photoshop.

Then it’s just a matter of repeating the process from step 2: bake the alpha channel and save it again as a new image (watch out, don’t overwrite your previous image!). This one I like to name “ALPHA TS2”. When you’re ready to move on, close Blender without saving. If you see a small check telling you it will save some images, make sure you uncheck it, so you will be able to use it again in the future from the starting point with no issues. I don’t think it really matters if you accidentally save your progress in these files, but I like to keep it clean and fresh so I can do the process where I left it from the beginning the next time I open it. And in case you mess up and save somewhere, you can always just delete the .blend file and download the template files again.

·FINAL STEP: PUTTING EVERYTHING BACK TOGETHER IN PHOTOSHOP: We’re almost done! Open Photoshop and drop in both your 2 new baked textures, ��BASE TS2” and “ALPHA TS2”. Keep both layers on top of each other and aligned. For that you can enable the snapping in View > Snap to… > All. Rename these layers so the Alpha layer is “ALPHA” and the Base is “BASE”, and make sure ALPHA is on top.

Then run the “Final Baked” action and now for real, it’s finally over! You just fully baked and converted these new textures. Congratulations!

So, to summarize, here’s a small guide with all the steps of the workflow I developed. Once you get the hang of it, baking and converting one swatch of a texture just takes a couple minutes. It really is that easy!

One small note though, some of the baking blend files save the textures with a resolution of 2048x2048 pixels, as clearly stated at the end of their file name. That’s way too overkill, because TS2 only properly supports up to 1024x1024 for most of its textures and you should always resize your final product to that max resolution. I just made those 2048 versions because there might be some really tiny and slim details on some tattoos that may look a little too blurry when baked into a 1024 resolution, so for those cases use that if you want and then resize them in Photoshop. In the Resample mode of the Image Size menu, there are a few options to choose. For the fine details, I like the Nearest Neighbor (hard edges) option, which, even if it looks a bit pixelated, it still preserves most of the texture and quality.

For anything else, I would just directly bake them using the 1024 versions in Blender.

And for the folks who feel comfortable playing around in Blender, this is just the beginning! Texture baking opens a LOT of possibilities, so feel free to move stuff around and edit the models to your liking! If you notice the baked textures look warped or stretched somewhere, or don’t like where some textures are placed in the S2 body, poke around that area moving stuff and then give it another try. The main objective of the baking process is keeping both overlapping models as close in shape as possible. You may also edit and save new copies of the templates, or make new ones from scratch using mine as a reference (keep a close look on those Baking settings and values, I think they work pretty well) and share them if you want to. Go ham, do whatever you want with them! I have plans on making templates to convert body textures from Sims 3 to Sims 2, but for now it’s not on my priorities, so we’ll see when that happens.

Whew! Hope none of this was too confusing. Need help or have any issues with these? Please ask/message me and I’ll be glad to help when I’m able to!

Credits for the CC used in the render demonstration: -Skin by Sims3Melancholic -Eyes by Northern Siberia Winds -Eyebrows by PeachyFaerie -Tattoos by xtc -Top by SerenityCC

And the Tattoo I used for the tutorial can be found here, by ValhallanSim

Last but not least, a huge, special thanks to @elvisgrace for all her help testing this for me. I’ve never shared Blender files, so hopefully everything works as intended and everyone can use them with no weird issues. Fingers crossed! And thank you for reading! Hope you have fun playing with this new toy hehe.

#ts2 tutorial #ts2 resources #ts2 blender #ts2 overlays #ts2 texture baking #4t2 conversion tutorial #i swear blender is the coolest thing ever #yes you can consider this post as blender propaganda

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seat-safety-switch · 11 months

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I think every artist is used to the idea of “stop working on it.” At some point, the work is done, and adding extra stuff to it will just make it worse. They’ve all gone through the experience of adding a comma splice, and turning a decent-feeling sentence into a clunky technical thing. Or they’ve bolted on a stray brush stroke, and ended up having to redo all of the hair. Or they’ve messed with the skin shader for their holographic controlled-sentience AI wife and wrecked the frame update time. Business people, though, have never experienced this.

Business folks live by the concept of adding value. If you add value to a thing, then you can sell the thing for more (or to more people.) The easiest way is to give people what they’re asking for, and the convenient part of that is that you can always find someone who will ask for a new feature without being forced to pay for it. Really devious customers will tie the addition of that feature to giving you money.

Examples abound of this phenomenon. Have you ever avoided installing a software update because you know that some project manager somewhere refuses to accept that the project is “done,” and insists upon adding a useless feature that makes it worse? Or bought an oven with a downloadable “turkey mode” that requires wifi access to work? Or bought into some product that used to be great before the upper management decided that their engineers need to stay busy, and added a cost-reduction step or redesign that rendered the thing fragile? I bet you have, and there’s a good reason for this.

It’s because it’s less risky for these folks to “add onto” something that is already loved, than to start something new that maybe will be ignored. That’s subtracting value, even if it isn’t from the same thing. And then they get taken out to the woodshed. How dare you take this risk, they are told by bigger business people, presumably.

There is only one way for us to get out of this: go and make some new stuff. Is it risky? Sure it is. Good thing we’re too stupid to know this, what with our lack of business learnin’. The fact that this philosophy dovetails with my inability to ever actually finish a project but instead switch between ideas a thousand times a second is total coincidence.

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quonit37 · 2 years

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Clip Studio Paint is Moving to Subscription, so...

I think now is a good as time as ever to tell people about the best art program that you’ve never heard of.

Sketchbook Pro was previously owned by Autodesk, who supported it for years before selling it to another company that only gave out the free crap version of the program. For years, there was no legal way to obtain the Pro versions. But recently, the original developers rebought the program and are once again actively supporting it and giving it updates and frequent blog posts!

Lets start with this image:

Every single component can be moved around. The bar at the top, the layer menu, the toolbar, the color picker, EVERYTHING YOU SEE ON SCREEN CAN BE MOVED. And also closed.

The top bar has most major tools artists need, giant red and green undo buttons so that it’s actually faster to tap those than reach for Ctrl + Z on a keyboard.

Magnifying Glass

The magnifying glass is the BEST MOVEMENT TOOL I’VE RUN INTO WITH ANY ART PROGRAM. With other art programs you get the scroll wheels on the bottom and sides of the screen that you have to individually control and a magnifying glass where you need to specifically switch between zoom in and zoom out mode, and the options to tilt the canvas are either limited or not there. Here it’s just. press. Drag. Press. Drag.

Select Tool

The select tool is basic with most of the options an artist might need or expect, all the different shape tools, a bar for the magic want to increase how intense it is, the option to add more to your selection or remove parts, an invert button, and the deselect buttons.

Cropping

The cropping tool automatically fits around your selection, which can be useful if you’re trying to make things like emojis where you want as little free space as possible. All of the edges and corners can be dragged, there are options to type in your own numbers, and the link bar to make it so your cropping stays the same shape when you move it, and the cancel and accept buttons.

Move Tool

The move tool is very similar to the magnifying glass, with the same method of movement and zooming and tilting. The move tool has extra things though like easy stretching, and if you have something selected it automatically tries to move that.

Transform Tool

The transform tool has a lot of options you can see in the gif. The circle in the middle makes it so you can move stuff in the middle.

Lagoon

Every single one of the options here is drag and drop. There are a total of 50 things you can just drag and drop for, and they are all assignable. You can customize putting any function in those 50 drag and drop slots. I highly recommend putting the flip canvas/flip layer options in there (there are vertical options as well!)

Layer Menu

The layers are as excellently straightforward as everything else in the program. Multiple one or two tap ways to do everything you need.

New layer? tap the + button, or drag up on the layer you want a new one on top of.

Want to delete a layer? drag.

Want to hide a layer? tap or drag.

Want a lower opacity? drag in either two areas.

And the layer menu is large enough you can actually SEE what’s on the layer! It’s not microscopic in some hidden corner!

Toolbar

The tools are highly customizable, have large icons, there are LARGE downloadable libraries of custom ones (that you don’t even need to leave the program to some website to download), and it’s really simple to make anything you want in here.

I’ll make a separate post of the tools I’ve made + a download. Here’s a link to that post

Color/Brush Pucks

There are two pucks, the color and brush puck. They are both drag and drop.

With the brush puck, drag left or right for a smaller or bigger brush, and up or down for a lower or higher opacity.

With the color puck, drag left or right for more saturated or more de saturated colors, or up and down for lighter or darker colors.

You can also tap the color puck for a more limited color menu! The eraser button makes your brush go invisible. Which. Is so helpful. You can erase with any tool.

You can access the same limited color menu from the layer menu’s background button.

Color Editor

Extensive color wheel

optional pallet for you to save colors to

the eraser and eyedropper tool

an option to put in numbers if you like

a randomize option which is VERY VERY CUSTOMIZABLE and I use it for so many drawings (particularly pictures of space)

Paint Bucket

The paint bucket will color what you tap it on, or fill a selection if you have one.

It has a flat fill, two different gradient options.

When you have a gradient, the color puck gets a new menu for saving gradients to

Every single color is editable and movable. You can drag it.

Option to reverse the direction the gradient is going

a strength meter

an option for it to see other layers or just the one it’s on

Text

The text option is admittedly pretty limited, but it does its job. All the fonts are just the ones you have installed in windows

RULER AND CIRCLE TOOLS

many movement options

I have no idea what the use of the french curve is but it’s also there and similar

Perspective Tools

There is a robust perspective system but I don’t know it well enough to explain it. someone who actually uses these tools can lol

Symmetry Tool

Can be moved easily

Has option for cutting the screen horizontally rather than vertically

option for both at the same time

option to be able to go over the lines or not

option to hide it

option to stop yourself from moving it

Struggle with smooth lineart???

Steady Stroke makes it so that you drag your cursor rather than just draw, so you can get smoother lines. Easily increase how large the drag is

Predictive Stroke corrects your line after you make it, and you can change how much it tries to correct it. REALLY USEFUL FOR CIRCLES.

Conclusion

I barely even use buttons with my tablet because of how accessible this art program is. Why press undo with the button on my tablet when I can move my cursor a few inches? Why go through two different submenus to create a new layer when I can just drag upwards? Why create a mirror canvus button when I can just drag???

This art program is really obscure but I struggle to even imagine using something else. PLEASE give it a try if you’re struggling with your program and want to experiment with something else

<<FREE DOWNLOAD HERE>>

<<20 DOLLAR PURCHASE HERE>>

REBLOG TO SAVE AN ARTIST

#art help #art tutorials #clip studio paint #quo rambles #quo's tutorials

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in-love-with-srk · 9 months

Text

Pretty #2- Robin Buckley x fem! reader

Robin thought since she had already been at your place yesterday, it would be easier today.

She was incredibly wrong.

She was not prepared to see you wearing this when you opened the door. She was sleeping over tonight, so it made sense that you would be in your pyjamas.

She hastily shuts the door behind her because she does not want Steve to see you in this outfit.

The pyjamas are white in colour, with a v-neck tank top and tiny shorts.

"Hey" you say greeting her with a kiss on the cheek. "Uhh hi"

You move in to hug her and she has no idea where to put her hands.

She settles for your waist but that only pulls your top lower exposing more of your chest. She gulps when she notices.

"Let's go upstairs" You say grabbing her hand and taking her to your bedroom. She follows you, wondering if you are leading her to heaven.

She gaps at the view of your bottom as she walks behind you on the stairs and into your bedroom.

She has been here many times before but this feels different.

She puts a pen drive into your laptop with a movie she totally did not illegally download as you head into the bathroom.

Sitting on your bed, she watches as you put lip balm on your pretty lips.

Moving her eyes lower she can see the curve of breasts and further down she can see your legs.

You're very hot legs that she had admired every time you wore shorts or skirts. The cleavage was new but she really could get used it.

You came back and she stared at your lips looking shiny and kissable. She needed to feel how soft your lips would feel against her and how your lip balm would taste.

She grabbed your hand and pulled you into her lap. Your brushed your hand through her hair, while she moved you up so that her hands could settle on your ass.

You both moved towards each other kissed slowly and gently. Her hands moving across your back side.

As you pull away, she asks "You look so pretty. Are these new?", playing with the fabric of your top.

"Yeah, they are. I bought them for you actually." You say making her gap.

"I- I really like them." "Thanks Rob." You say getting off her lap. She puts on hand forward to bring you back to her but you move away and start moving your computer to see if it is visible from you bed.

"Aren't you a little overdressed for bed." You ask. "What- oh yeah" She grabs her bag and goes to bathroom to change.

When she comes out you are lying on the bed waiting for her. She climbs on to your bed.

She caresses your thigh as she sits beside you. You need to give her some credit, because she really did try to watch the movie for another ten minutes until she held your shoulders and turned you towards her.

She hooks her hands under thighs and pulls you back into her lap. "I'm sorry but I don't think I can focus on anything but you right now."

This time the kiss is rougher. She moves her hands from your back to the frontside of your body.

Her hand goes under your shirt, moving up from your stomach to right below your chest.

Her breath hitches remembering you aren't wearing a bra. She slowly moves her hands higher and onto your tits.

Her hands explore your chest making you moan. You move down to kiss her neck and leave her hickeys which the two of you would have to cover the next morning.

You spend the rest of the night making out not fully clothed, the movie long forgotten.

..............................................................................................................................

#robin Buckley x reader #robin buckley #stranger things #stranger things fanfic #robin Buckley fanfic #robin buckley x female reader

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thejessc0de · 7 months

Note

Do you have any tips for someone who is trying a more realistic aproach for their art style? your painting and lighting are so good that I had to ask 🤠

Thank you!

So this question is actually pretty hard to answer, mostly because I still consider myself a beginner/hobbyist, and I'm pretty sure a lot of my technique comes from the ~5 years of classical art training I received in middle school and high school, and that's so fuzzy I can't tell what's intuition or muscle memory! I can go over some of my workflow/thoughts though and hopefully some of it is useful!

The first thing is that for realism, You. Need. References. It is impossible to replicate the level of detail in a realistic painting without a reference. I usually pick a reference, try to draw that reference exactly, and once I have the proportions correct, I'll change it to match the character/scene I'm drawing (move an arm, tilt the head, add a hand, make the eyes bigger, add anime hair etc. haha). Over time you'll get more comfortable moving away from a specific reference and piecing together a bunch of references into something more unique.

Here is an example of a recent post that was fairly simple. I take the reference image (link to reference here) and try to match it, and then I change it to match the character details, in this case, Kashimo.

As for the lighting, when I first started, my colors were a mess! I already know basic color theory which helps, but it didn't help enough haha. What I think helped me learn the quickest was color picking - in krita you can select a color directly from an imported reference figure. So I'd find a reference that I really liked the lighting on, and color picked from it while paying attention to the actual color I was grabbing (how warm it was, gray it was, what the typical skin tones were, etc).

Later on as I started to learn what types of color palettes I really liked working with, I'd open the reference photo in Krita and tweak the image's contrast and sometimes completely change the lighting and colors. However, at some point I started using it as a crutch and my skills stagnated, so you need to be careful! However, now I've progressed to the point of doing a painting in black and white and adding the colors later (with no color picking!), sometimes even without a reference for the color. This was a slow and painful process, so don't expect things to make sense overnight!

Also, don't forget that you don't have to make the colors perfect in one shot. Usually I'll color things using a color layer with minimal detail and basic color tone (Itadori's hair is soft pink, his hoodie is bright red, etc), and then create shadows and lighting with multiply and overlay layers (blues and purples for night, etc.). Eventually I'll build up the color and merge all the layers together, and then add details in full color. I can color pick from other parts of the painting to maintain consistency. Then to finish things off, I almost always tweak the colors and contrast using filter layers.

Here is an example from that same Kashimo painting, going from black and white to full colors using color, multiply, and overlay layers, and then ending with full color details.

As a side note, starting out in black and white can make things so much easier. When you're only worried about values, you can really focus on shadow depth and the shapes of things. It's so much easier to explore rendering when you're not trying to do color on top of everything! Don't try to do everything at once.

The rendering style I use is based heavily on trying to replicate the feeling of actual oil painting. I use the (free!) art program Krita, and my favorite, most used brush is from a free pack I downloaded from deviant art (here). I use the brush called R T Masked4 (shown below) for basically 90% of any painting I do. I use about 4 brushes total on a typical painting (R T Masked4, that same brush but tweaked to be narrower for hair details, a smudge brush that I discovered maybe 10 days ago that I'm now obsessed with, and sometimes a scratchy brush for additional texture).

One last thing - don't be afraid to use tracing! Block in a reference photo to get the head and shoulders in the right place!! Trace a few hands to see how it feels!!! Obviously don't trace somebody's art and present it as your own, and it should only be rough approximations of shapes so you learn how to break down the body into parts. Otherwise, it won't be helpful at all. I only use photographs for tracing, including pictures I've taken of myself. One of the more helpful things I'll do is free hand my drawing and try to make it match the reference as closely as possible. Then, on a separate layer, I'll trace the reference photo (again, no details, just general positioning/shapes), and compare it to my original drawing. I can immediately see the issues, and I'll use the liquify tool to get things in the right place. I've learned that my horizontal spacing is usually pretty good, but I struggle with vertical spacing, especially on faces. So now I triple check my work for those specific things!

This kinda turned into a book, I'm sorry! I hope some of this is helpful and doesn't sound like the 10:30pm ramblings of someone who didn't get enough sleep haha.

#tumblr asks #art process #realism sorta #digital art #krita #drawn with krita

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grandadofrad · 3 months

Text

RESOURCES FOR ARTISTS VOL 1

In the spirit of gratitude for the plethora of free resources out there for artists that I've been gleefully ransacking my entire life, I want to share some of them that I've compiled.

smithsonian open access: this is a HUGE one! lots of images that are absolutely free to use, as well as an incredible set of 3-D resources. Their collection spans the same breadth that their multiple museums do-- natural history, gems, fine art, aerospace/engineering stuff, etc. so do not sleep on this.

(screenshot is the 3-D digitization page, one of my fav sections)

2. The League of Moveable Type is a resource for free fonts, but not just any free fonts-- professionally designed free fonts. Some of the bigger sites can be a lot of wading through sub par stuff, but every single thing here was very carefully and lovingly designed, and is free.

3. Unsplash is full of great free to use images. Seriously, huge collection. Portraits, textures, 3-D renderings, you name it and it's probably here and free to use. ALSO cool because images will note whether their creator is for hire if you like their work. You can also submit your images to this platform. (I think it has a premium section but I haven't needed to engage with it yet)

(screenshot of unsplash.com with a search for 'y2k render')

4. rawpixel's Public Domain collection. They've been high quality scanning public domain images for a while. They're free to use under a CC0 license, which is basically without restriction. They've got lots of categories, I personally love the Graphic Design and the Vintage Illustration sections.

(screenshot of the 'patterns' section of the Public Domain collection on rawpixel)

5. Photopea is a free Photoshop alternative that runs in your browser. It's got a few quirks(especially if you run a non-chromium browser, but stay strong anyway) and is ad-supported, but really powerful and robust. It also opens PSD files, supports smart objects and basically all of the Photoshop asset filetypes(.abr .grad .pat etc), as well as has filters, even a couple that Photoshop itself has gotten rid of in their more recent versions. You can use the fonts on your machine, export transparent pngs, and do generally anything that the big guy does. You can also donate a small amount to remove ads and support the singe person(!) who created and maintains it.

(screenshot of a .psd file with smart objects/smart filters open on photopea. The 'file' dropdown menu shows exciting options such as 'export' and 'save as psd')

6. Brusheezy.com is a great place to get free brushes, vectors, and photoshop assets in general(which can all be used in Photopea, btw).

(screenshot of the 'categories' page of brusheezy.com)

7. dafont.com Last but not least, I will include this huge font site but assume most people already have it on their radar. Free fonts! No account needed to download! Tons of categories! Many are demo/limited versions, so pay attention especially if you plan to use numbers or special characters as those are often the things left out of the free to use demo versions. It's nice to have a lot of options but to the discerning eye a decent amount of the fully free fonts here will fall a bit short/feel unpolished. That's not to discourage you from it, as I have a huge collection of types from here and routinely check it when I need something specific.

(screenshot of dafonts.com with the 'sci-fi' section pulled up)

So that's what I've got right now for visual art resources, I hope you can find something useful in here. Feel free to share this list and keep an eye out for the next one! Thanks to everyone out their with a love for sharing in their hearts, it's really inspired me to make some things with no other intention than to put them into the world as tools for others!

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throwaway-yandere · 2 years

Text

The Longest Devout Believers (Yandere!SAGAU Various/Reader)

A/n: This is just a small side story/prequel from around 400 years ago. I couldn't add it anywhere else in chapter 1 so here's the prequel!! Lumine best girl.

Happy birthday Ayaka/2nd-anniversary Genshin!!!

Characters present in this chapter: (Main Focus) Abyss!Lumine, Dainsleif, and Venti (Briefly Mentioned) Kaeya, Traveler!Aether, Zhongli

CW: yandere self-aware genshin au, "impostor" reader, violence (won't go so far and say "gore", but there's mentions of blood)

Unreliable Synopsis: Your travel companions are a lot more feral than you suspected.

Hysteric Humanoid:

Side Story I (You are here)

Next Chapter

-------------

"When men encounter enemies in the fight, a robust heart is better than a sharp sword."

-------------

[??? YEARS AGO]

It was a rough day, again.

You tuck your face between your thighs. It can't be helped that their comments had effectively spoiled your mood for the rest of the day. You're too "soft". They eagerly threw insults and threats into the breeze since the country of freedom does not limit one's speech. You were positive that if your companions had left you to experience Ludi Harpastum alone, they would not have stopped at just hurling rotting tomatoes.

Lumine took off your azure glasses and linked your fingers in hers.

"(Player Name)..." She whispered, her bright eyes meeting yours. Lumine never once shied away after being caught gazing in your general direction, nor did she once make you feel alienated for having Khaenri'ahn eyes.

You blushed as she kissed your fingertips.

"There are no fakes, no clones, no frauds– you are The Creator. Rhinedottir stole your consciousness and dragged you into our world. You brought us life."

"But..." You bit your bottom lip.

"I didn't... My earliest memories were of me downloading some resource data and verifying file integrity. I just played this game before, and that's it. If I were The Creator, my earliest memory would've been of me creating the soil– or making a new life. I... I can't even summon the elements like you d–"

"But you can control gravity, can't you?" She wiped the single tear that escaped your eye. "I could be your elemental progenitor, just use me as much as you wish."

She invested too much blind faith in you.

You're not The Creator. Why does she insist on telling such a sloppy lie?

She's delusional.

Lumine laughed shallowly as she brushed her lips against your cheek. You're used to this by now. She always sounds like she's on the verge of laughing when teasing you. You squeaked until she pulled you close to her body into a tight hug. Hesitantly, you leaned your head on her shoulder.

Her eyes darkened the moment you turned to look the other way.

Lumine will kill every last one of them. The traveler did not tell you, but she will. Her best weapon would be unscathed, but it didn't mean she couldn't employ a duller, more agonizing blade. She'll flay their skin and hang their heads from the festival ropes, ecstatic at the blood that drenches Mondstadt's concrete floors.

She will come back.

You pulled away.

"Besides, (Player Name), that doesn't matter." She grinned from ear to ear. "You're with us now. And we'll have no better blessing than that!"

Lumine yanked you up, removing you from your sulking position.

You frowned. "Aren't you too relaxed about this?"

"Hmm? Not really. On the contrary, you're being too serious about everything." Lumine laughed. "Lighten up. We don't want you getting wrinkles like Dainsleif."

"Like who, exactly?"

"Ah, there you are, Dain." Lumine cheesily wrapped her hands around your waist.

Your face warmed up, and you pried her off, but your attempts were in vain. Dainsleif cleared his throat. He moved away to avoid you getting sandwiched between them, uncomfortable.

"Aww, don't act shy, (Player Name)!"

Lumine pouted at him before she gave you a cheeky butterfly kiss. His eyebrows furrowed, unable to understand her need for physical touch. Dainsleif covered half of his face, despite already wearing a mask. You could tell he was feeling embarrassed by her actions.

She secretly shot him a dirty look.

Lumine knows what she's doing.

And Dainsleif won't be provoked so easily.

"(Player Name) here was just talking about you! They said they wanted to meet Andrius."

You gave her a look that says "no, I didn't." and she shot you back with a "yes, you did."

It's not as if it matters. You can't help but be enchanted. Lumine assigns the majority of your destinations; she simply created a scapegoat in case her strategy fails. Besides, your knight doesn't have the guts to blame you for anything. You were virtually pampered under his watchful eye before Lumine joined the party. Only the traveler is capable of questioning and dismantling his overprotectiveness.

Dainsleif sighed as he pinched his nose. In times like these, his ironclad duties take precedence over her chaotic desires, insipid and unpaid they may be.

Despite lacking any attractive aspects, you value how he conveyed his dissatisfaction still. Based on what you recall from “the game”, he will barely smile and appear on guard around the protagonist in the future. The Dainsleif who swore an oath by your side is a lot more loose and expressive.

He acted so differently when you recalled The Creator's future insights. The future Dainsleif you saw was cold, calculating, and most of all bitter. His smile was nearly extinct. That Dainsleif looked overworked and numb.

You worry that something worse than losing Khaenri'ah will happen that would extinguish his emotions...

You snapped out of your train of thought as you heard Dainsleif groan, annoyed.

"We cannot afford to waste time in Mondstadt." He said.

Lumine huffed.

"But I'm sure Andrius wouldn't mind meeting some travelers."

Actually, he would. If The Creator's insights are anything to go by, he hates humans. Even more so a traveling human.

"But the nobles would," Dainsleif muttered.

"What if they wouldn't?"

"They surely would–"

"The Clans have nothing to do with Wolvendom–"

"We're still in enemy territory–"

"Stop speaking over each other." Your hands chopped them both on top of their heads. They stared at you fondly as if you were an annoyed little kid, which worsened your exasperation.

You exhaled deeply, wearing your azure glasses back. "I get it, I get it. Now, would you both do me a solid and just be quiet for once?"

It should take another three or four centuries before the "game" begins. Your comprehension of this world's timeline is muddled, yet you know of the protagonist's– Aether’s– fate in the future. When their squabbling becomes unbearable, you console yourself by thinking that they'll "split up" in a few hundred years... Admittedly, that timeframe isn't helpful, but at least they're doomed to battle in the future. They just don't realize it yet.

“Of course, My Lord.”

"Y-Yes, Your Grace."

—------

The destination took a detour from Liyue harbor to Wolvendom effectively under your command.

Wolvendom was nothing like you pictured it to be. According to The Creator, this is where they brought Aether to meet Razor, the wolf boy. The former should be sleeping, and the latter would not exist for generations. Nonetheless, Wolvendom appears somehow more lustrous and green at the present moment. The wolves also make little effort to conceal their fur from strangers. They were more confident and comfortable, and these two things were not mutually exclusive.

So, the riftwolves haven't made their way to Mondstadt yet.

'Hmm, it would appear so, ███.'

You flinched, but neither Dainsleif nor Lumine seemed to notice. The breeze blew and murmured something of great importance. You will not dismiss it.

You stopped walking and listened closely.

While the smaller animals frolicked in the woods, the wind swept through and ruffled the trees' leaves. It's not harmonious or loud, but it still talked in one weighty riddle. It called out a name— it called out to you. And it's a message that only you can hear.

They both immediately sensed that their collective footsteps got a tad bit quieter and turned to look at you.

"I finally remembered."

Dainsleif looked down on Lumine, visibly perplexed. She shrugged in return.

"Remembered what, (Player Name)?"

"(Y/n) (L/n)."

They did not bother hiding their confusion. Dainsleif removed his glove and pressed the back of his palm against your forehead. Judging by how he looked “concerned” at your lack of temperature, you were probably fine. You glared at him, offended.

"Who's that?" Lumine asked.

"Thank you for asking like a normal person and not checking if I have a fever." You sent him a snarky retort, which made Lumine snort.

Dainsleif's nose scrunched. "I'm your vassal. It is my duty to see to it that you remain healthy and unharmed."

Sounds exactly like him. He's the type that might apologize but never changes his mind.

You both ignored him.

The wind blew and spoke that name.

(Y/n) (L/n).

"It's my real name."

You gazed at them in sheer reluctance, hoping for them to either encourage you or admonish your claims. There's no evidence for you to back it up. But you know that it had to be your name– no one else's. It came back to you after 100 years.

"I am (Y/n) (L/n). That's... my name. Not (Player Name)." You gulped. "Do... Do you trust me?"

The two went silent.

“(Y/n)...”

You watched nervously as the two contemplated. You'd like for them to say a word, or hand out a soft argument against your claim– but nothing like that happened.

Dainsleif closed his eyes and tested your name again.

“(Y/n)... (Y/n). (Y/n). (Y/n).”

He glanced at you before quickly looking away, his ears all red. Dain cleared his throat, readjusting his tight collar. His eyebrows furrowed. He behaved like a pup backed into a corner, looking at you as if he's begging to be released.

“A-Am I saying that right, My Lord?”

… Surprisingly cute.

Your name sounded wonderful when it came out of his lips.

You grabbed his hands.

“Can you say Fuufuu Mujimuji Daruma next?" You asked eagerly. Your eyes practically sparkled while you stared in amazement.

It was too much for him to bear. Dainsleif leaned back, pressing the back of his palm against his cheek.

"... What?"

You winced, still smiling. "Ah, right. That joke was too advanced. I'll ask again in the future once you meet that little ninja."

Neither of them seemed to question what you were babbling about. You frequently foreshadow people and events that have yet to materialize.

But Lumine wanted your attention too.

“My turn.” Lumine beamed, pushing Dainsleif aside, which made him glare pettily.

“(Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n), (Y/n)!”

Your heart melted.

You did not expect them to eagerly call you by your name. Your lips formed a big stupid grin.

They accepted your real name.

You worried over nothing.

“Oh wow. What a marvelous job. Do you want a gold star?” You teased.

Lumine giggled and confidently puffed her chest out. “No thanks, I’m already a gold star.”

You laughed again while Dainsleif rolled his eyes.

She’s not wrong though; she is a five-star character. Probably a 10/10 person too. If The Creator's future memories (as much of an oxymoron that is) are to be trusted, then the twins descended to Teyvat as luminescent stars too. Whoever catches her eye would be lucky to have her, but you wanted her to know that.

You shrugged half-heartedly. “That’s right. You’re a catch, my fr–”

You wanted today to end on a positive note, but the blood that gushed out of your arm said otherwise.

"NGH!!!"

No matter the place or century, there is never a night without its dangers. You limped backward.

Your knees buckled immediately as the icicle stabbed through you. Dain gasped and immediately crouched to shield you.

The three of you turned to look at the creature lurking behind the dusty woods.

It was a cryo abyss mage.

It waved its staff and danced proudly.

"Found you, impostor!"

You gazed at your fresh wound, shocked. Not because of how it felt, but how it looked. Blood seeped out into the open air, and it was mesmerizing.

Your blood always looked mesmerizing. Like pixels.

"(P– (Y/N)!!!"

Dainsleif's guilt-ridden face snapped you out of your trance. His eyes narrowed.

For him, it’s just an abyss mage. For him, this wound was just unacceptable.

Perhaps if the enemy were a larger threat, he wouldn't beat himself up badly. Scratch that, yes, yes he still would. He had been a capable knight for centuries, but he couldn't believe he let his lord get injured over a barely-lethal opponent.

The twilight sword pulled you behind him. His grip on your hand was unusually tight. You wanted to reassure him that you're okay and he did well, that this was the first time in years that you got wounded, but doing that will damage his pride.

Dainsleif never once failed to protect you until now.

Thus, Lumine took the lead.

She jabbed the mage with the hilt of her sword, effectively removing its mask, before slashing it down in one fell swoop.

"GAAHHHHH!!!"

It was over, but she didn't stop there.

Lumine repeatedly stabbed it, and the abyss mage's muted screams weigh heavily on your mind. Her expression was clouded by an emotion you were unaware of. It cried until it couldn't breathe. But Lumine didn't give in. She continued to mutilate the body, almost as if she wanted you to remember the sound of tearing flesh with each stab.

This was the first time you'd heard her innocent giggles amidst a terrifying scene.

Lumine tugged and pulled out the pathetic mage's flesh. In each drag, she recklessly weeds out its bloodstained fur. The blonde traveler giggled softly. She was not grinning wide, but you have to be blind not to see the out-of-place gentle smile on her visage. The traveler did not flinch once whenever her opponent's cries grew louder and strained– but the intensity of her stabs weighed heavier and heavier until you could hear her sword tear through the dirt underneath. You can't believe she finds this amusing.

"S-stop..."

She picked up its head. You closed your eyes, but you know all too well that it wasn't the sound of crushed Jueyun Chilis you heard. It was the abyss mage's skull.

The mage's final screams will be all that you'll dream of tonight.

Lumine continued slamming its head against the ground, pulverizing it as she saw fit.

Your heart dropped. Remembering how this abyss mage used to be human.

Used to be Khaenriah'n.

"S-Stop!" You shook, mortified. "Please stop! They're already dead!"

You stumbled over your pleas before Dainsleif softly squeeze your hand. You jerked up and opened your eyes. He accidentally sent you a jaded look, which made you realize that this was not Lumine's first time doing something graphic.

Lumine frowned, before thrusting her sword deep into its chest one final time.

You've never seen her sharpen a sword before. Every stab must have been excruciating.

"Oh. Sorry that you had to see that, (Pl– (Y/n)."

You swallowed unevenly, unable to tear your gaze away from the corpse. You could no longer recognize your assailant at the sight of its mangled insides.

Dainsleif guided your chin up before cloaking the corpse with his power. He didn't want his Lord to view a distressing sight.

You staggered drearily closer to Lumine.

"...You're only sorry that I saw it?"

Lumine nodded. "Of course. Why would I apologize to the enemy?"

She stood in front of you, wearing the smeared blood of her victim on her hands and feet. You flinched as she cupped your face with her cleaner hand. Her gaze softened, remorseful.

Lumine looked at you with eyes that said you're acting hysterical again.

You hated that look. You hated how she stared at you with condescending sympathy.

“Your Grace, we had to send a message. We couldn’t let those foul beasts get any more strange ideas.”

You bit your lip, tears threatening to spill.

"But–"

"Drop it, My Lord," Dainsleif whispered. "Just forget about it. Please, allow us to patch your wound first."

You couldn't. Not after seeing the eyeless flesh that your "kind" companion stabbed with abandon. Dain’s words were not a threat, but a considerate warning, and that is precisely what made it worse.

That abyss mage used to be one of your people.

They're no longer human, but that doesn't erase the fact they used to be one.

What would their family think? How would they feel if they found out their father or son got torn to shreds by Lumine?

The Abyss Order's future leader?

"It's just that in The Creator's– my future knowledge, Lumine will lead the Ab–." You rambled shakily, loud enough for both of them to hear. "I don't– it's– I– I'm sorry."

Lumine flinched, slowly processing what you said. "... I'll join the abyss?"

You pretended not to hear her.

Dainsleif busied himself with cleaning your wound. His skill in mixing alcoholic drinks translates well with his repertoire of concocting medicine. You didn't react as the alcohol singes pain in your arm.

Your blood was strangely cube-like, but he reassured you that it was normal. You've never seen Lumine or Dain bleed before and you're not selfish enough to hurt them just to sate your curiosity.

After that, Dainsleif knelt, facing the ground ashamed.

He didn't let go of your hand.

"My Lord– please forgive me. I had been inadequate."

You pretended not to hear him too.

There’s no time to act pathetic. Thanks to Lumine’s little maneuver, you’ll have to spend the night in Wolvendom.

You took a deep, shaky breath.

“B-Both of you scout the area while I patch myself up. We’ll camp here for tonight.”

Dainsleif looked up, silently hurt and confused.

You hesitantly pulled his hand away. "Lumine, I'm sorry that I keep bothering you, but before you go can you put up a geo construct… just in case?"

"Of course! (Y/n)–" she savored how your name rolls naturally off her tongue. "There is no such thing as too much trouble if you're the one asking."

You noticed how Dainsleif's somber eyes never left you while Lumine effortlessly spiked the earth's crust with her heel.

"I'll be safer here." You motioned to the barrier. "Lumine's talents never failed us."

Dainsleif stiffened at your reckless choice of words.

Lumine never failed you, and he did.

He clenched his fists behind his back.

"...Do you no longer trust my services, my Lord?" Dain asked as emotionlessly as he could muster.

You smiled.

"Be sure to accompany her, Dainsleif."

That reply did nothing to soothe his heavy heart.

—------

Wolvendom is far more desirable than old Mond's bustling streets and the wolves provided better company. For reasons unknown, seelies and animals were more hospitable and kinder than the humans you’ve met when you embarked on this long journey. Just what do these creatures see in you?

You patted the bunny that snuggled up in your sleeves with your uninjured hand. It slept comfortably, its white fur brushing over your thighs.

The rabbit did not deserve your stern gaze. It's not its fault that it was born with white fur, but the color reminds you of the scene that occurred moments prior.

How easy would it be to tear this rabbit's fur apart too?

You trembled.

Definitely not easy enough to grab fistfuls of it in one go as Lumine did.

But she did all that for survival, right?

It's selfish for you to impose your moral compass in a dire situation. "One of us has to go", and Lumine was kind enough to ensure that it won't be you.

An empty chuckle escaped your lips.

You lie to yourself that it was a reasonable thing to do. Traveling with the two made you a "full-fledged self-gaslighter", you could let this one slide too, can't you? It's not as if Lumine is some sort of villainess– everything she did was for you. Dainsleif even stopped you from interrupting, and you trust that he's more level-headed than you are. You shouldn't worry your little head about it anymore.

"I'm just gonna skip the city and ask how are you enjoying Wolvendom so far, Your Grace?"

You jolted and looked to where the voice came from. The rabbit unfortunately ran away.

When you looked up, a well-dressed man graced you with his presence.

Should the winged man that perched on top of that giant tree be none other than Mondstadt's archon, then it's obvious why he wouldn't inquire about your experience with his country. He appeared different from how he would casually dress up. With a white robe draped across his waist and a large hood covering his eyes, you could easily overlook his obsession with alcohol.

He flew down and took your arm gently.

"Did you know that rabbits are symbols of spring and fertility in Mondstadt? Hehe, it's mating season right now– their honking noises are keeping me up all night." He said. "Oh, but I guess it's creepy for me to talk about this while holding your hand, huh?

You gulped.

"Venti–" You yelped. "I mean!– Lord Barbatos–"

"Ah-ah-ah! No need to change it, Your Grace! In fact, please don't call me Lord. I'm your most loyal acolyte!" Barbartos chortled. "Calling me by my future fake name, huh? Well– I guess those years were more exciting than the present, so I can't blame ya!"

... Acolyte?

In one swift motion, he removed the bandage and the wound began to heal. His methods were more effective than Dainsleif's vulneraries, yet your eyes did not deter its focus on him.

You thought it was the forest calling you earlier, but maybe it was him.

"You… You know what happens in the future?"

Barbatos cheekily grinned. "Oho? Did you forget that I know every song, from past, present, and future? Your Grace– I have Chrono vision too. Spoilers: I'm actually your favorite archon!"

You smiled forcefully.

"I see…" You lacked the guts and energy to tell him that you can't recall anything other than what you'd experienced. There's no way for you to say he's wrong about his last claim. Barbatos was aware of this and took advantage of that fact.

His smile widened.

Gotta have a great head start, right?

Dainsleif had warned you about The Archons. His distaste for their traditions and sheeple minds are laced in his words as easy as breathing. Their beliefs are a destructive scourge for Khaenri'ah, and he urged that if you meet one, you have no choice but to flee.

And yet… Barbatos' eyes seemed to be sincere.

"Are you the one who helped me remember my real name?"

He tilted his head.

"... Can't say I know what you're talking about." He lied plainly.

Your eyebrows furrowed. "Are you sure?"

His eyes darted elsewhere. "Positive, Your Grace."

That response made you wearier.

Is he a skilled liar, or is he telling the truth? Then again, who else would help remind you of what your real name is other than the wind itself? If it wasn't him, then where did that noise come from?

Does that mean you named yourself?

You tried not to think about it anymore. He's not going to answer that question anyways.

"... Why are you calling me Your Grace?"

Barbatos shrugged sarcastically. "Beeecaaause you're The Creator, duh."

"I'm The Creator's impostor." You deadpanned.

"Nope. You're the real deal." Barbatos shrugged. "And no other creator will descend in this world. Surface and otherwise."

"But I’m not The Creator."

"Hmm?" Barbatos paused, propping his chin in the palm of his hand.

"C-Clearly I'm a fake, right?" You said, fumbling over your defense, which was rather difficult when your conversation partner is an archon. "I didn't descend here like some divine God, Rhinedottir made me."

Is that what that foolish woman told you?

Whatever. At least you forgot your contract with Morax because of her.

But this is the price?

Rhinedottir messed up when she stole your eyes– and made you believe you're anything less than perfection. She shouldn't have replaced your pupils with synthetic Khaenri'ahn ones.

Rhinedottir fucked up when she thought she could play God.

Barbatos forced a grin. If it weren't for her, you wouldn't be wearing those stupid azure glasses.

"You're not a fake. You're more real than all of us combined. What you are isn't an imposter, Your Grace. You're an outsider."

You curled up.

"That doesn't sound friendlier than an impostor."

"Hmm… Well, I guess so! But have you never wondered why you bleed in the way you do?"

You paused.

That was one of many unanswered questions you've had since you started traveling with Dainsleif and Lumine, but it's hardly proof that bleeding red-black pixels make you The Creator. Besides, Dainsleif said your blood turning into red-black cubes was just the usual chemical process in Rhinedottir's frameworks… and you're too overwhelmed to follow his line of reasoning.

Barbatos sighed.

"If you don't believe me, then you really should travel around Teyvat. Without those two protective idiots, mind you. Get yourself lost in different cultures, learn different songs and proverbs– maybe then you'll be sure that you know the answer yourself."

You deadpanned. "Sounds like some blatant self-advertisement, God of Freedom."

"Ehe, you know it Your Grace~." Barbatos steadied his wings.

"But alas, the wind has returned, and so too will chalk spurn. This spirit is off to greet the next primordial being, wouldn't want a product of Khemia to be seething."

That short poem sounded awful, and the bard was made aware of its poor quality when you visibly cringed. But barfing nonsensical flowery jargon was never the purpose of his poems. Later, you realized what he said.

"Wait, are you leaving already?"

Barbatos ruffled your hair.

"We'll meet again soon! Not soon-soon, but we'll get there eventually." Barbatos snickered. "But when we do, promise me that you'll choose me over the other six, okay?"

He winked.

You laughed humorlessly. "Sure, whatever you say."

"Good!" Barbatos giggled. "I swear I'm not like that old blockhead, but I'll consider this a verbal contract!"

The wind "acolyte" left as quick as it came.

In the end, you decided you won't tell Dainsleif about this encounter.

—---------

"–That's not going to win them over. They don't see us as potential lovers because they trust us too much. If you give them that, they might just start calling you Dadsleif you know~." Lumine snickered.

While you were resting, Lumine and Dainsleif scouted Wolvendom for potential threats. Tons of wolves loitered, but they didn't pose any harm unless approached, and in addition to that, they seem to enjoy Lumine's company. Dainsleif, on the other hand, was a different story. While Lumine spoke with the Wolvendom's inhabitants, the knight stood back and wove the Abyss Mage's "remnants" into something more useful. A scarf.

It's still a work in progress, but Lumine could tell from the neat stitching that Dainsleif desperately wanted you to wear this scarf. He couldn't work with his gloves on, and she saw how swollen his fingers had become. He's been practicing for months, it seems. The old captain rarely wastes time on people with whom he doesn't see a future with, and you're always on his schedule lately.

He cut off the extra thread with his incisor, before wiping his lips.

It's nearly perfect. It's soft and comfortable– it'll surely prove his skills. He can't afford to disappoint yet again. Though, maybe if Lumine didn't senselessly pluck that mage's fur, the scarf would appear more refined.

Learning how to sew helped Dainsleif feign normalcy, in a way.

So much so that he almost forgot that he skinned this fur from his fellow countryman's corpse.

Hah...

Not that it mattered to him.

This person– this abyss mage hurt you.

It should be glad Dain found a purpose in their miserable life.

Dainsleif sat down, not because he was tired, but to have a better conversation. He appears composed, passionate even if you have a good eye for body language. But his starry eyes tell a different story.

There's hardly any sanity in his eyes whenever he thinks about you. No sane man would offer woven Khaenri'ahn hair as a scarf.

Dainsleif is aware of that. He knows that what he's doing is wrong– that he's risking your trust in his mental state once he gives you this scarf.

But if Lumine already crossed that border earlier, why shouldn't he as well?

... Dainsleif couldn't decide.

He believes he's saner than that, and yet...

There's no way you wouldn't appreciate this scarf, right?

"That's probably true, but I'm making this because Lord (Y/n) looked… cold." He didn't like how your hands always felt like ice. "Besides, we shouldn't be romantically attracted to My Lord in the first place."

Dainsleif looked rather upset as he muttered the last part.

He's fine with keeping his feelings to himself. If he couldn't have you, he made peace with being alone.

"Hmm? So you don't like (Y/n)?"

She already knows the answer to that. The two travelers were painfully aware of how Dainsleif had been struggling with how to deal with his "unnecessary" emotions.

Both of them knew they are equally obsessed with you.

Dainsleif sucked air between his teeth.

"... None of that matters."

"Heh. So you just want to play as the martyr? Smart." Lumine smiled, feigning innocence. "Careful, Dain. I might just steal your precious Lord from your hands."

His azure eyes darkened.

"I'll rip you to pieces." He declared in a husky whisper.

Dainsleif's eyes widened and he covered his mouth, suddenly realizing what he just said.

"Forgive me, Lumine– I did not mean it. It's a joke."

His claims were difficult to believe, considering how he's not the first person you'd think about when concerning jokes. Lumine's expression was unchanging, which meant reading her thoughts was out of the question. She paused long before she giggled suspiciously loud.

"Of course. The Creator's best knight wouldn't say something so selfish, after all."

He scoffed and went back to stitching.

They never settled that argument. Both travelers refused to let up on whether or not you're the real Creator. Lumine pressed that you're the real deal whereas Dainsleif turned deaf to her rebuttals. The air thickens whenever Lumine pushes Dain's buttons– and it's worse when it has something to do with you. Deep down, both of them knew that if this question was answered, you will be forced to choose a side.

And there's only one other person besides yourself who wished you were a normal human. It's Dainsleif.

He refused to accept that his life is nothing more than a video game. That's why he will never call you "Your Grace".

Selfish and heretical Dainsleif.

Lumine eyed him closely. Both you and Lumine could tell every emotion on his face after the first 100 years, whether he was sad, happy, or something more hidden and restricted.

But she's different. She tends to be distant despite her extroverted friendliness. Lumine is skilled in getting along with others, but would withdraw the moment they've grown too attached and dependent. Perhaps that exact trait is what will turn her into the Abyss Princess.

And the reason Dainsleif spent the next hundred years learning to be stoic.

"Dain."

He looked up with pursed lips.

"Should we become enemies one day…" Lumine cast her gaze at Wolvendom's colosseum as if awaiting Andrius's appearance instead of stalling for words.

It's a well-known secret that you're a "soft" person– your mental state often threads between a thin rope of either hysteric or unresponsive. The deadline to your friendship may be abundant but it doesn't change that it's numbered. Should Lumine leave your side one day, she only wishes what's best for you...

She laughed weakly.

"Would you still look after (Y/n) for me?"

He already failed you earlier. He doesn’t have the heart to make empty promises, but a little hope won’t do any harm.

Dainsleif smiled bitterly, holding your new scarf against his chest.

The scarf he stitched felt lighter.

As if the scarf never once carried an unnamed Khaenri'ahn's soul.