#I tried using a limited color palette too which is kinda new for me

[februaryart]

Part 1 here 🍀 🌻

This fic is based on: Lovebirds by kiwithief

Thank you for reading! If you liked this please reblog, and read the original fic!

I had so much fun working on this comic, and so much love and thought went into making it! It ended up being so much longer than I ever thought it would be. This is 39 full pages, and I've been working on this since Nov 2022! Drawing them is a delight, though :)

#I tried so many new things when making this comic and I think I learned a lot! #I used thinner lineart than I normally do with a pencil-like brush #I tried using a limited color palette too which is kinda new for me #And this was my first time drawing Hinata and Komaeda so I had to figure out how to draw them as I went along ha #It was a coincidence that I finished this for Valentines Day but it worked out perfectly! #komahina #danganronpa 2 #danganronpa #sdr2 #hikoma #hinakoma #fanart #hajime hinata #nagito komaeda #sdr2 fanart #my art #comics #danganronpa fanart #hinata hajime #komaeda nagito #super danganronpa 2 #danganronpa sdr2

[mittensmorgul]

The Tumblr Beta Version: an objective analysis

I was tempted to just type “it sucks.” And while that is an objective analysis, it’s not exactly helpful. I’ve sent several requests to @staff and @support to restore my account to the old tumblr dashboard format, and received the same automated reply twice now. I’ll copy/paste it here so everyone is on the same page:

(lol, I had to go back and edit this, because apparently the beta version doesn’t display block quotes on the dash. So I’ve also put the block quotes in italics... hopefully it’ll display properly... note after editing: nope, it doesn’t display italics either... how the heck am I supposed to differentiate quoted text? I’ll start each quoted bit with an asterisk, I guess...)

*Thanks for reaching out about the beta dashboard.

*We're currently testing it out, and your account seems to have been selected to take part in the test. Thanks for your patience while we work on it! At this time there is not a way to opt out of testing. You may see your Tumblr experience return to normal as we continue testing.

WE CAN ONLY HOPE.

*In the meantime, check out some of the new features available only in the beta dashboard:

OKAY TUMBLR, IF YOU INSIST, though I would MUCH rather have back all the functionality I personally invested into this website through xkit... you know... making the site ACTUALLY FUNCTIONAL. Let’s see what this beta version has given me instead of functionality:

*Change Palettes: Go to the person icon, then click "Change Palette." You'll find the classic Tumblr blue, dark mode, and a few other color palettes for your dash.

So I tried out all the color palettes. In addition to the ones mentioned here, there’s one that’s trying to look like a green screen terminal that gives me flashbacks to the early 80′s. There’s a reason we stopped using green screen terminals... Another one is “canary yellow.” It’s very yellow. The “classic tumblr” isn’t actually classic tumblr... all the post boxes are dark blue with grey type, not white with black type. And all the other colors are the insanely bright fluorescent of the new Dark Blue standard tumblr scheme. Which means links are practically invisible unless I highlight them. It’s migraine inducing. The one theme with a light colored background is called “Concrete” or “Cement” or something like that and even that only works for about half an hour before the migraine aura really kicks in. I just want my Old Blue via xkit back. You know, what tumblr actually used to look like. I don’t want any of these horrible color palettes. None of them work for me.

*The new "meatballs" menu: This is where you can copy the post link, unfollow the Tumblr who made or reblogged the post, or report a violation to our Community Guidelines.

I could do all of this from the user menus with xkit, too. I don’t regularly report violations or have the urge to block people I have chosen to follow. Why on earth would I want to do any of this? And why would I want these features located directly beside the post link copy feature? 

You know what I do miss? I miss the xkit timestamps feature. I didn’t have to hover dangerously close to the KILL IT WITH FIRE meatballs menu in order to see when a post was made, and in this era of disinformation and misinformation spreading around this site faster than Covid-19, being able to see when a post was ORIGINALLY created is a far more useful feature than an easier way to block people. For reference: I currently have three blogs blocked. Two of them are pornbots. One is a nazi. If I don’t want someone’s content on my dash, I don’t follow them. This “feature” is entirely useless to me.

*A quick note: Pagination is not supported in this beta test, but we're collecting feedback to send to our engineers.

THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST. This beta test might actually be tolerable if I wasn’t trapped into endless scrolling. If I could page through my dash, refreshing it every ten posts or so. You know why? Because once I scroll about 30 posts down my dash, tumblr starts overheating my laptop under the load of ALL THOSE POSTS. Things start malfunctioning-- it takes longer and longer to load new posts the farther I scroll. And the keyboard navigation (both page down and hitting J to advance to the next post, and even just using the down arrow to scroll as I read a long post) freeze and stop functioning. One of my laptop fans has actually begun to malfunction.

You know why this wasn’t a problem on the old version? If the data load got to heavy, I could open a post in a new tab, click view on dash with xkit, and voila! Brand new tab! I could close the malfunctioning tab and everything would be refreshed to normal! But without pagination, THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE.

Also, after reblogging a few posts, the beta version of this site breaks, and doesn’t open a post tab to add commentary or even tags. It just... reblogs the untagged post with no warning whatsoever. You know... that’s really really not cool. I tag EVERYTHING. Well, almost everything. The tags are the only way to keep track of the 40k+ posts on my blog. And warn people that I am posting potential spoilers, or other specific content. It’s REALLY inconvenient to have to either immediately go to my blog to edit the post and add tags, or even comments. The alternative is to scroll up to open individual posts I want to reblog in a new tab, and then reblog directly there. Ironically enough, THOSE pages actually open with xkit installed, and everything (surprise!) functions perfectly there.

It’s perfectly reasonable to understand why this specific issue has limited the number of posts I reblog. Reblogging content should not be this much of a hassle. Creators have been complaining for a while that reblogs have drastically slowed down, and I think making it even more annoying and difficult to reblog posts will not help this problem.

Also, with xkit enabled, there’s a function that auto-loads images as you scroll, so the images are always visible BEFORE they appear on screen. I don’t have to look at the colored boxes and wonder if this is a post I’ve already seen or something I should sit and wait for. Don’t even think about watching tumblr videos. Loading priority is given to the ads that you cannot pause or dismiss, so that video loads and plays in choppy two second bursts instead of being given priority. Since that’s the content I am actually here to consume, it kinda makes me want to do the opposite of patronizing anyone who advertises here with graphically intense ads. And then when you scroll away, with xkit, gifs and videos you’ve scrolled past STOP loading and playing, which I think might be contributing to the intensity of the resource hogging that’s literally melting down my laptop.

And for reference, I have a pretty decent little gaming laptop. A blogging platform shouldn’t be driving it to the brink of frying itself. I didn’t realize just how much xkit worked to streamline this and provide basic functionality to this site.

*And lastly, if you're an XKit user, know that the XKit team is working hard to update things on their end to make it compatible with the beta dashboard.

And this doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what I’ve lost without xkit. And this is a really REALLY garbage response to user complaints. “Oh, yeah, sorry we made our site suck even worse, but those nice people who do our jobs for free will surely fix our garbage soon!”

Dear wonderful people at @new-xkit-extension, I love you, and I miss you, and while I wish xkit worked with this beta version I’ve been forced into living with, I truly feel for y’all who are trying to deal with this nonsense on behalf of all of us.

And to the folks at Tumblr... maybe try to just... make your site actually more like xkit. You know, actually functional. None of these special new features are useful or functional to me. I respectfully request for a fourth time to be removed from this inane beta test.

Give us OPTIONS. Let us display ALL THE TAGS without having to click a button. Let me have back my Activity+ that actually allowed me to interact with people from my dash! That showed me real-time inline notifications in a way that I could reply to with a single click! Bring me back to my column of open messaging conversation icons so I have easy access to the people I talk with throughout the day instead of closing them all every time I refresh the page. I already feel socially isolated in freaking quarantine, please stop shutting off all my avenues of communication!

Let us have pagination! I mean, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to force heavy users of this site into a beta version that doesn’t allow us to opt out until your engineers had actually figured out how to make it work in a very basic way.

*Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!

YES. PLEASE REMOVE ME FROM THIS BETA TEST NOW. I have let you know exactly what I want from this site. I just want it to ACTUALLY WORK. For someone who spends 12+ hours a day on this site, this beta test version is NONFUNCTIONAL. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO OPT OUT. I AM LITERALLY BEGGING YOU. I WILL ACTUALLY PAY YOU CASH MONEY TO ALLOW ME TO OPT OUT OF THIS AND GO BACK TO HAVING A FUNCTIONAL BLOG AGAIN. WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?!

PLEASE! 

I AM OFFICIALLY AT THE END OF MY PATIENCE FOR ENDURING THIS NIGHTMARE.

(one final quick note... I’ve only been back on my dash long enough to make the parenthetical edits-- i.e. adding italics that don’t display and then adding the asterisks at the beginning of each section of quoted text, and already my laptop is overheating again. For reference, I originally typed this entire post from within my tumblr inbox page-- which still functions normally with xkit-- and spent over an hour on it. My laptop was fine the entire time. Clearly the issue is this beta version of the website. I will never forgive tumblr if y’all fry my literal only portal to the outside world at this time. PUT ME BACK TO NORMAL NOW. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING AND ENTIRELY UNACCEPTABLE. Thanks)

(oops apparently i lied... when the asterisks and the previous final note failed to display, I thought that seemed suspicious, and realized that I literally needed to refresh my entire dash in order to see edited changes. Funny how xkit enabled me to do that in real time, which is just another bit of functionality I’ve lost with this beta program. Please guys, this is really, really not working for me at all, just put it back.)

#tumblr problems #staff #support #xkit #was this good enough for you? because I am totally done with this if that wasn't completely obvious #please end my suffering

[formerprincess]

A tale written with fangs and claws || Chapter 56

Chapters: 56/? Fandom: Teen Wolf (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken, Corey Bryant/Mason Hewitt Characters: Liam Dunbar, Theo Raeken, Mason Hewitt, Corey Bryant, Nolan (Teen Wolf) Additional Tags: Alpha Liam Dunbar, Slow Build, Friends to Lovers, Dunbar Pack, Bisexual Liam Dunbar, Werewolf Theo Raeken, Alpha Theo Raeken, Canon-Typical Violence, Smut, Mates, Liam and Theo are mates, Top Theo Raeken, Bottom Theo Raeken, Top Liam, Bottom Liam Dunbar Series: Part 1 of Morning Dew Pack

The pack finally moves into their new home. It's time to reminisce. 

______________________________________________________________

Liam had been excited when Theo and he had moved into their own apartment after moving to Seattle. It wasn’t big but it was his very first apartment, the first thing he and one of his best friends could furnish on their own. Their very own place to fill to their own liking. His parents had given the two boys fairly free reign when it came to picking out stuff as long as it was reasonable and not too expensive.  It had been an adventure but despite everything, Liam had not felt as excited as he did now. There was something about driving to the furnishing house with his pack, the task of picking out the furniture for their bedroom in their forever home in mind, something so big Liam could not put it into any words. He was practically buzzing with excitement and the smile on his face could not be contained for longer than a few seconds. Not that he tried very hard. 

He wasn’t the only one. His friends were just as excited, constantly babbling, and once they were out of the cars and had passed the entrance, the pack was all over the place. There was just so much to do, furniture to pick, colors to sort out, Sadie had made an entire color concept ton the way here and was now on the hunt for the perfect things to make her vision come true. 

“Where should we start?” Liam asked Theo.  His mate shrugged. “Why don’t we just walk around and see if anything speaks to us? See what the store has to offer. We can meet later and discuss.” It was probably the best solution and Liam nodded along before he left Theo to his own devices and wandered the aisles. 

He found his way to the paints and looked through some example colors. While he loved their bedroom, the white of the walls drove Liam crazy and gave him a headache so he wanted another color for the walls. It had not been a problem in the apartment or the first pack house but maybe because there was so much light in the room and it was so big, the white was now overwhelming. 

Liam looked through some brown shades, some cream ones but nothing stood out to him. Until he rounded the corners and found Nolan doing the same. The color palette Nolan was currently holding consisted of white and grays and those were more Liam’s liking.  “Oh, can I see this?” He extended his hand and Nolan gladly handed it over. “Already picked out a color for your room?” Liam inquired while he checked the samples.  Nolan hummed. “I am kind of torn with going for some brown or green, mixed with white. Then again I saw a teal color earlier and it would be perfect to give the main points.” He shook his head with a soft laugh. “So many possibilities. You really pulled a number with the house, Liam.” “Yeah, well, I am glad that I don’t have to keep it a secret anymore. There were moments when I wanted to cave, tell you everything so we could be excited about the progress in the house together but then I thought about what we’re doing right now and how awesome this would be and I contained myself. I only told Theo because we had this big fight.”  Liam used one of those small notepads to scribble down the number of one soft gray paint he liked very much and could totally see on the bedroom walls. He would have to show it to Theo to see if they were on the same page about that one, but it was a start.  “I personally think you did it perfectly. That way we can now start right away, pick out our beds and closets, and all that and don’t have to delay it any further. If we would have known beforehand, I think there only would have been chaos.” “Huh. Maybe you’re right,” Liam had not thought about it that way. “Anyway, what’s done is done, no use in thinking what might have been. We’re here now and can pick everything out and that is exciting.”

Nolan walked along with Liam and together they rounded the next corner and found Corey in an aisle looking through some pillows.  “Are you two already done with picking your furniture?” Nolan was scandalized.  Corey laughed. “No. I just like to have comfy things and those pillows are soft. We are nowhere near picking out our furniture. This came as such a surprise, not even Mason who is very good at planning things had a plan for that.” Liam raised his shoulders in a what can you do kind of move. “Well, I had to tell you about the house. We can move in now, it’s finished. Didn’t want to wait any longer.” “I get that, Lee. It wasn’t a complaint. I simply wanted to point out none of us even considered this option of a new house so soon. And such an amazing house even. Though I am kind of happy it came that way,” Corey admitted thoughtfully.  Nolan looked at Liam and raised an eyebrow but Liam had no idea either. “Meaning?” he finally asked.  Corey cleared his throat. “The first house was amazing, really. Pretty and nice furniture and the pack could live together. But it was a townhouse and space was limited. Mase and I moved in as well, Lory and Brett came, some additions you could not see beforehand when you moved in. The place was full to the brim, there was not even room for Cedric, not to have his own room at least. I was as devastated as all of you when the house got destroyed but afterward I could not help but think, maybe this was for the better. Now we have this huge house with enough space for all of us and even more rooms in case we have guests or add more pack members. It’s the perfect place for a pack of wolves, not just because of the forest all around.” Corey proved once more how insightful he was and that’s why Liam had wanted him to become the consultant. He thought about things none of the others would have thought about at first. “Wow, you’re right,” Liam mumbled baffled.  Corey raised one shoulder and smiled humbly. Then he held up two red pillows, once a darker shade than the others. “What looks better? The darker one left or the lighter one left?” “What do left and right have to do with anything?” Nolan was just as loss as Liam when it came to these things. Corey hurried to explain: “Mason and I once decided he would sleep on the left side of the bed and me on the right. I now try to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible, you know?” But Liam was kind of caught up with something else. “You and Mason actually had a discussion about who gets which side of the bed?” He crossed his arms and raised both eyebrows.  Corey snickered. “Yeah, you and Theo never had one?” “No.” “Which side of the bed Theo sleeps on?” “The right. After we kissed, we slept in the same bed and Theo kinda ended on the right side of the bed. But not because we discussed it, it just happened. Guess we got kind of used to it.” It didn’t even cross Liam’s mind to talk about their sleeping arrangements.

Mason dashed around the corner. “Cor, canopy beds! Come!” And he dragged his husband away.  “He is actually right, our old house was crowded.” Nolan furrowed his brows. “Why did none of us ever bring that up?” “Because we learned to live with it? Also, Mike bought it for us and I would have felt bad to run this idea down.” Nolan glanced at him and smirked. “So, Theo’s always on the right side? Because he is always right?” “I swear to god if you ever tell him that, I will push you in the pool. Fully clothed.”

They strolled further down the store and reached the department where all the beds were sold. Here Liam found Theo again who critically eyed a light metal double bed. It was plain, Liam thought it looked okay.  “Want that?” He asked.  His boyfriend made a face. “No. Look how slim the metal is. How on earth do you expect this bed to fare when we have sex and grab onto the frame?” Theo looked at Liam and the young Alpha crunched his nose. “Oh, right.” Yeah, that was a problem. “So what? You want a bed frame made from wood?” “If it doesn’t splinter, yeah.” Theo nodded and walked over to one of the ugliest beds Liam had ever seen. The wood was yellowy and it looked bulky.  “No! Theo, no! I will never let you buy this bed for us!” “It’s sturdy.” Theo knelt down and tugged on the frame.  “It’s hideous!” Liam glared at the frame as if had personally offended him. Since this seemed to take a while, he sat down on another bed and watched his mate.  “We could paint it? By the way, what do you got there?” He pointed at the note pad in Liam’s hand. Liam raised it.  “Scribbled down the number of some soft gray paint I liked. Think it would look good on our walls.”  “Gray?” “Yes. Well, not dark gray but some lighter grey. It looks good, I promise.”  Theo held out the hand for the notepad and when Liam handed it over he disappeared back to the paints. 

Liam, left to his own devices, got up again and wandered between the beds. He inspected a few more frames. Unlike his best friends, Liam could not see any beauty in canopy beds (though he found Sadie in one of the biggest beds he had ever seen and she seemed in heaven) and didn’t want one in his bedroom. A futon bed didn’t tickle his fancy either. It was hard because now that they had the house and basically started from scratch, Liam had a faint vision in his head how he wanted his bedroom to look like. In consultation with Theo, of course. 

He continued to wander around and looked at an array of beds but with the things Theo had said in mind, none of those were even considered by him. He bypassed Maya and Sadie, the latter had seemingly left her heavenly canopy bed, who bickered about a room all made from bamboo (”It looks like you’re living in the rain forest.” “Maybe I want it that way?!”) and rounded a corner. He stepped around a lady and her husband arguing about how their bed was too small for her dog to also sleep there. Caught up in their funny exchange, Liam did not watch his step and literally stumbled over a bed. He stubbed his toe against one of the feet and jumped around on one leg thanks to the pain shooting through his toe.  “Ouch! Fuck!”

He continued to jump around and hold his foot until Liam almost lost his balance and grabbed the next best thing in reach. It was a headboard of one of the beds and talk about sturdy. That thing had kept him not only upright but didn’t even move under Liam’s grip. Huh. He put his foot down again and rounded the bed to take a closer look at it. It was a beautiful and yet simple bed frame made from white wood with a soft gray shine and three wooden planks as the headboard with little space between the planks “That’s a nice bed.”  Liam jumped three feet into the air and spun around to Theo. “You need a bell around your neck!” he hissed. Theo laughed softly.  “Not really into the whole bell around my neck thing. Maybe a bell as a piercing?” “You’re not into piercings,” Liam reminded his mate.  Theo just shrugged. “I would be into them if you had any.” They looked at each other and Liam had no idea if his boyfriend was serious or not. “If I would be the one pierced, I still would not hear you”, he said meekly. Theo grinned again.  “Back to the topic ahead, a nice bed you stumbled upon.” “Literally stumbled”, Liam grumbled. He watched Theo read the price tag and tug on the frame, run his hands over the wood. “Does this meet your requirements?”  Theo seemed satisfied. “It looks great, the color is pretty. Speaking of, I checked the color you picked out, I like it. Better than the white walls we have now. The bed will fit right in.” Now Liam smiled. “Great.” “Coincidentally I found a wardrobe to match. Come on.” Theo held out his hand and Liam took it so his boyfriend could pull him off to show his newest found.

The wardrobe was big enough for the two of them (although Liam was still convinced Theo owned way more clothes than he did and he would be convinced of this to his dying day) and was simply kept in shiny white with grey stripes in the doors. After they figured that out, the rest of the shopping went by easily, and sure enough, they had gathered everything they needed to furnish their new bedroom. 

When they met with the rest of the pack and had paid, however, a new problem arose: “How are we getting all this stuff to the house? Not even Theo’s truck is big enough for all that,” Maya realized with horror.  “Mike’s gone, he said he had an idea and left,” Tim knew but where his best friend went, he had no idea. He pushed Mike’s cart around, just like his own, and guarded it until Mike returned.  Which happened just that very moment. Mike walked up to them, jingling car keys in one hand. “A moving van is parked outside. I know a guy, he said we can have it for today. Have you already paid?” “We have. Goodbye to all my savings but it was absolutely worth it.” Brett was sure of that.”   Mason clapped his hands. “Great. So, let’s load everything in, shall we?”

****** Painting the rooms was the first step after they went back home and unloaded everything from the moving van. And Ever was an absolute lifesaver since she went in every freshly painted room and used her fire magic to heat it up and make the paint dry faster than average. It made putting the furniture together and positioning it right a lot easier. 

Theo and Liam had decided to split it up, Theo was assembling the bed, Liam was working on their new wardrobe. He sat on the floor and worked smoothly. Theo had already managed to put together the largest parts of the frame on one side and was now working on the other.  Liam looked over. “Corey told me earlier, he and Mason discussed who sleeps on which side of the bed.” “Really?” Theo checked the instruction sheet and only now raised his head.  “Yeah. He then asked if we did the same and I declined. It never actually crossed my mind. You?” “God no!” Theo shook his head. “It just fell into place and that’s amazing. I like this with you. It’s easy.” Liam had returned to screwing and stopped dead in his tracks when he heard his boyfriend. “Easy?” He raised his head. “Because I’m simple or what?” “Neither what I said nor what I meant.” “Really? Then how did you mean it?”  “How I said it. It’s easy being with you. The relationship is easy.” He noticed Liam’s face and elaborated further: “I had high maintenance partners. The ones who only accepted and liked expensive gifts and luxurious dates. You, on the other hand, do not care about luxury or money. You are fine with us going to a pizza place as long as we are together and having a good time. Doesn’t mean I don’t have to put any effort into our relationship but knowing you will be happy about a self-made gift and not demand a three hundred dollar watch as a present is nice, actually.” The sweet words conciliated Liam and he smiled. But then he had to ask. “Who did you date that wanted such an expensive watch?” Liam was curious.  “Damien.” “Yeah..that guy was a jerk.” Theo chuckled. “He hated you.” “He did?” “Hm, the minute he laid his eyes on you and saw how we were talking to each other, he saw you as a threat.” “Oh well, I didn’t like him either.” Theo pointed a screwdriver at Liam. “We are not having this conversation about exes. I hated all of yours if you must know, but that’s all I’m saying about that.” “Okay, okay, fine by me.” Liam returned to tending to the wardrobe. 

They worked together in silence, aside from a few words here and there, but most of the time they were busy with setting everything up. Despite their open door they barely heard anything from the other members, they all did the same as Liam and Theo. Caden turned out to be an insanely good handyman and lent a hand anywhere it was needed.  Finally, the bed was finished and Theo helped Liam with the installment of the last door. Together they pushed the wardrobe where they wanted it to be. And then together they put the mattress on the slatted frame. Almost in sync, the couple dropped down on it and both groaned.  “God, I missed having a bed,” Theo moaned.  “Don’t have to tell me, I slept on the same couch as you. Well, except for that one night I stayed in Washington but you can’t count that since you didn’t sleep next to me,” Liam thought out loud. Theo turned his head and looked at him and Liam did the same. “Lee, I vowed to myself the minute our bed is set up we would have sex but to be completely honest, I am exhausted.” He understood. “Me too. Hey, it was a long day of hard work. It’s already afternoon. Our room is set up, that’s the most important thing. We can have sex for the rest of your lives.” Theo leaned over Liam. “Counting on it.” He kissed him lovingly. 

****** Liam woke up with his head on Theo’s chest. They had fallen asleep on the bed and didn’t wake up for several hours. It was dark outside and Liam saw the stars sparkle in the sky. Another thing about living on the outskirts of the city, you experienced nature differently. He rubbed his eyes and sat up. Theo next to him moved as well and yawned.  “We fell asleep? How long?” Theo sat up too and ran a hand through his hair.  “Couple of hours. It’s dark outside. I’m hungry.” Now that he was a little bit more awake, Liam noticed his stomach rumbling. 

He got to his feet and pulled Theo up as well. Together the couple left their room and walked downstairs. They heard voices from the kitchen area and found almost everyone there.  “Oh hey you! Brett and Cade are on the run for some burgers and fries. Hope you’re hungry,” Nolan exclaimed once he saw the Alpha couple.  Really, that sounded delicious to Liam’s ears right now. He had barely eaten and was now hungry like a wolf...pun not intended.  The timing was perfect since Brett and Caden returned at this very moment, loaded with bags full of fries and burgers. The pack settled around the dining room table, soft drinks were grabbed as well as glasses and soon they all sat and munched happily. 

“So, that’s it. We really moved into our new house,” Maya announced after a while and the pack rejoiced.  Liam swallowed the bite he just took and nodded. “Yeah. A new beginning.” He laughed softly. “It’s crazy. Not even a year since I became an Alpha and so much already happened.” "Do you regret anything, Liam?” Nolan inquired. “Regret, not directly. But I will be the first to admit, had I’ve been able to choose, I would have wished for more time between all those things. Like, the space in the old house became limited and I would have liked it better if we had the time to find a new home for all of us without being homeless, not gonna lie. And I obviously would have voted for not almost getting killed several times during this year. I know it from Beacon Hills but it’s still different as an Alpha. So yeah, I would have wished for a few more time between the bad stuff but I don’t regret one single thing.” He looked around. “I’m actually quite proud of this pack and how far we’ve come.” It reminded him. “Oh, by the way, guys, for the next time I don’t want any strangers in this house, okay? Only pack. I consider parents an extension of the pack so this is okay but no study groups or friends from university. Please?” His betas looked at each other. “A reasonable request. We had strangers come into our home and destroy it. Understandable you do not want anyone not related to the pack here in the foreseen future,” Lori adjudged. The others had to agree with that. “You’re the Alpha, we do as you say,” Sadie summed it up. Liam was glad his pack understood where he was coming from. “Ever?” “Yeah?” She sipped her lemonade and looked at him. “Can you find out if there are any ban spells you can use to protect the house? Obviously, the pack must be able to cross the border but maybe a circle around the house?” She pondered on it. “There should be some spells for that. I’ll have a look into that.” “Great. Mason can help you with that. Right, Mason?” “Of course, Lee.”

With that out of the way, Maya could not help but reminisce. “I remember our first interaction. You gave me your sandwich because I collapsed.” “And then you came to our apartment. I had no idea what I was doing at that time. But you needed help. All I’m saying is kale juice.” Maya and Theo laughed and she scrunched her nose. “Don’t remind me of the kale juice.” “Kale juice?” Lori questioned curiously while she munched her fries.  “I drank it to weaken my wolf before the full moon. Since I didn’t have control over it, I needed its power to be lessened. I also broke my bones to stop my transformation.” Lori looked horrified and then apologetic. “I’m sorry for being nosy.”  “Don’t be. It’s my story. It is what it is. Theo and Liam were a great help. Lee forced my wolf out, that was terrifying but needed. And the following weeks he helped me train it.”  Liam leaned forward and put his elbows in the table. “I didn’t even want to be an Alpha. When Byron asked me, I first said no. But then I got convinced and became one. That was it, my plan ended there. I didn’t even think about my own pack, I had one at the lake. And I considered myself still part of Scott’s pack. Then Maya came and all of a sudden, I had a female Beta.” She smiled proudly. “Then Theo got sick,” Maya added, “Nolan came home and joined us. Oh gosh, the wendigo.” “The wendigo, at the same time Ever came around, and I met Sadie,” Liam remembered it as if it was only yesterday.  Sadie giggled. “I gave you all a run for your money because I didn’t want to be a part of the pack.”

"Why didn’t you want to?” Caden asked softly. He turned towards Sadie, indicating he was interested in her story. “My parent’s pack is full of judgemental people. I am a werewolf with IED, just like Liam. I can’t take any meds for that since they don’t work for a werewolf and it’s not like you can ask your human doctor for something else suited for your animalistic side. My parents even asked healers, emissaries, or other werewolves but it always came down to control. She needs to learn control. That’s what they always said. Learning control is already bad but mixed with such a condition, it’s worse. I heard the people whisper about me and my parents. When we stepped out to buy groceries or eat dinner, I heard how they said they pitied my parents, how they would be mortified to have a daughter like me. So for me, a pack was just judging you and I was fine with being an Omega. During full moons, I chained myself up and that was it. Otherwise, I pretended not to be what I am.” The blonde looked at Liam, Maya, and Theo. She smiled. “I kept them all at bay, just hanging out with them.” “Until you saved a girl from getting killed by the wendigo”, Ever cut in.  “Until I saved a girl from getting killed by the wendigo the pack was hunting around this time. It made me realize I could use my supernatural powers to more than just being a shame to my parents or just being aggressive. That I could help other people without those abilities. I made the decision to join the pack and it was the right one.” “We’re happy to have you as part of the pack,” Nolan admitted and she gently grabbed his arm and gave it a squeeze. “Thank you.” “Although, admittedly, someone else gave you a hard time as well” Maya teased and snickered in Theo’s direction. Liam laughed. “Don’t glare at her, T, she’s right. You were jealous of Sadie.” Theo defended himself and huffed. “I thought she was replacing me as your friend, okay?” Maya scoffed. “Please! You imagined how their kids would look like!” “What??” Sadie and Liam were equally shocked and stared at Theo. He shot Maya a dead glare. “Next time you walk in front of me on the stairs, I will push you.” “Naw, Theo, you didn’t have to be jealous. It was clear as day Liam was in love with you back then”, Sadie claimed and patted his arm.  He huffed again. “Change of topic, please!”

“Okay. After the wendigo, we didn’t get so much of a breather when a rogue Alpha came to town,” Nolan chimed in. A few pack members groaned.  Ever put her glass on the table. “I never told you that, Liam, but before you fought the Alpha, you said goodbye. It sounded like goodbye. That scared the crap out of me. But it also proved to me I made the right decision in following you. An Alpha willing to put his life on the line to save a bunch of partying college students.”  Liam shrugged. “What other choice did I have? He wanted me. No one else should have suffered because of that.”

They fell silent for a moment. “If someone would have told me by going to this party I would be attacked and therefore find the best friends I ever had, I would have laughed at them,” Tim quietly confessed.  Mike snorted. “If someone would have told me I would find myself thrown into jail with you guys weeks after the party, I don’t know if I would have been gone in the first place.” Brett furrowed his brows. “A part of me thinks it’s better not to ask, another part is highly curious. Why were you thrown into jail?” “Because we had a brawl in a back alley with some idiot. Someone called the police and we were arrested. Isaac bailed us out,” Maya filled in. And Mike added: “I really didn’t wanna be part of the pack but seeing those people were crazy enough to get thrown into jail for one another, I figured they might be my type of crazy. And I joined. I think I was the most difficult Beta to ever join Liam.” “You were difficult,” Liam agreed, “But, if that is any consolation, you share the number one spot with Sadie and Brett.”  Brett stopped with his last piece of burger on its way to his mouth. He thought this over. “You might be right about this,” he finally concluded and threw the rest of his burger in his mouth.

“Speaking of difficult, aside from your friends from Beacon Hills who clearly joined your pack immediately, which Betas was the easiest to join the pack?” Lori asked out of curiosity.  “Maya in terms of working with the pack, Ever, and Caden.” That was an easy question in Liam’s books. “Even though I feel Caden kind of got the short end of the stick with everything going on. Sorry about that.” He meant it and gave him an apologetic look. But Caden shook his head. “It’s fine. I transferred in the middle of the year and you were there, talked to me, explained things to me. You even invite me to your house and thanks to you I met an amazing woman.” He raised his hand which held Ever’s. She smiled happily and leaned in to kiss the corner of his mouth. “You gave me something to belong and for the first time my wolf side truly felt settled.”

That was good, Liam was happy about that. He had no ranking for his Betas, wanted them all to be happy and feel equally welcome in his pack. “Great. I’m also happy you two are back”, he addressed Lori and Brett. “Even though I still have no idea how.” “Oh, I have an idea. I looked further into this and I think it had something to do with the ritual Celia did. We already know she opened a portal or whatever for demons to come into this world and my guess is she managed to thin out the veil between the worlds or so to speak. That would explain all those strange things in the forest before Brett and Lori showed up,” Ever set up a theory. It was a possibility.  “Celia was the witch you fought against?” Lori was not so sure of it.  “Yes. Be happy you haven’t met her. She almost killed Liam twice.” Sadie threw her hair over her shoulder and made a face. “She can be glad she’s gone or I would have dragged her to her death myself.”  “That would have been my pleasure but you could have assisted me”, Theo reminded her.  “Oh, yeah, right. I would have assisted Theo in ripping her apart.”  

Liam leaned back and laughed with his pack. It was freeing to talk about all the stuff they’ve been through and laugh about it now. It had been terrifying and left their marks but they all survived it and he learned in Beacon Hills this was the one thing that counted.  Still. “Around that time last year, I would have not expected to become an Alpha. Or become an older brother for that matter. In some ways, I feel like I have grown more in the past year than in all the years in Beacon Hills together.” “Really?” Theo was surprised.  “Yes. I mean, when I came to Beacon Hills I was battling my IED, had almost no control over my emotions and then I got bitten. All this creepy stuff happened and it shaped me but nowhere near as close as this last year. At least, in my opinion.” Brett had chewed his burger and hummed. “Well, Liam, between Mason and I, we know you the longest. I have to say the Beacon Hills Liam doesn’t hold a candle to the Liam you are today. And this Liam right here is pretty impressive. Right, Mason?” “Couldn’t have said it better.” Mason grinned at his best friend. 

To sum the last year up, Liam used a metaphor. “The last year, everything happened so fast. One thing and then the other and then another. It was like a snowball running. But you guys are the best snowball ever.”  “Aww!” The pack cooed and Liam laughed.  “You’re the best Alpha ever, Liam. And it’s great all our paths crossed!” Maya exclaimed.  “There is a theory of soul strings. The idea that a person is connected to various other persons all over the world. Some as loved ones, some as enemies, some as friends, and so on. The string between those people leads them to one another and one day they cross paths. It is destined. I like that theory,” Caden shared with his friends. “It’s a soul pack,” Ever cited, “When you find your soul pack, you will know because you'll feel like you can be yourself and also that you can still be yourself even if you are nothing of the things you thought you were or that you needed to be.” 

****** Theo like their new bathroom, Liam realized once they all finished eating and the cleaned everything up before ultimately decided to sleep for real for a few hours. The Alpha couple went back to their room and changed into their nightclothes and then made their way into the bathroom to brush their teeth. The nice thing about the room was the two washbowls and thus both could brush their teeth without being in the way of each other. The shower had also two heads but the bathroom had already been finished when Liam got the house so he really could not be held accountable for that one. It was a nice touch tho. 

And when he saw how bis boyfriend like the space and their new rain shower, he felt justified in keeping the bathroom the way it was. Their towel racks were heatable, especially for someone like Theo, who despised the cold, it was almost paradise. 

So he left the older to his devices after he brushed his teeth and climbed into bed already. This mattress was heaven and the aspect of finally sleeping in his own bed again was pure heaven for Liam. He closed his eyes and stretched lazily, happy as it can be. Their new sheets were comfy as well, it was a possibility he would never get up again. 

“Enjoying our new bed?” Theo chuckled when he finally emerged the bathroom, turned the light off, and crawled into bed with Liam as well. He sighed. “I can see why.” A yawn escaped him. “Fast healing or not, my back suffered on the couch. This bed is exactly the right medicine to make up for it.” He yawned again.  Liam laughed to himself and snuggled closer to Theo. “Good night.” He kissed his boyfriend’s cheek and slung one arm over Theo’s stomach. Theo draped one arm around him and pulled him closer. “Good night, Liam.”

Silence spread out in the room and soon enough Liam heard Theo’s steady breathing. His boyfriend had fallen asleep. Liam himself was not that lucky, he was tired but could not sleep yet. Instead, he laid in bed, listened to Theo’s breathing and steady heartbeat, and watched little lights swirl through the dark outside the window. Fireflies, maybe. It was a soft atmosphere, safe, exactly what Liam had wanted and craved for so long. It was another cut in their lives, something new had just started, but he knew they were on the right track. Things were looking up again and they all felt a lot better than at the beginning of the week.  Sitting downstairs and remember all of the things made Liam realize once again how far he had already come and how proud he should be of himself. He had reached several milestones and could give himself a pat on the back for never losing hope. Despite all struggles, they were still standing tall. It made him proud of his pack as well. He had awesome Betas. Liam yawned. Yeah, awesome Betas.  And he fell asleep. 

****** The next days were still moving into the new house, decorating their rooms, and making the house completely theirs. The wall in the entrance hall now hung full with pictures of the pack and it got more and more homely. Coming home felt always like a dream coming true to Liam. 

He walked into Mike’s room on a quiet day since they were the only two in the house and he just wanted to check on him. It had not taken long for Mike to set up his computers and work station where he constantly disassembled various tech stuff and was roaming around the internet. He was working when Liam entered the room.  “Hey, Mike.” “Hey.” Mike pressed a button and a female voice sounded up. “Hello, Alpha Dunbar.” Liam looked around. “Where did that came from?” “That’s Kennedy. I created our very own security system. And called it Kennedy because I like the name. Do you like it? You can control her over voice.” “Yeah, uh, Mike, that’s...awesome. But we’re not the Avengers. You know that, right?” Mike spun around in his chair and faced Liam. He rolled his eyes. “I know but hear me out. You said you wanted protection for the house and no strangers. While I’m not Ever or Mason and can’t do some magical juju I can take care of burglars or intruders. I created an app exclusively for us. You know the security system at the front door has this little screen showing you who is at the gate. I can link this to the app and you get the camera picture on your phone, we all can get it on our phones. That way we have the control and always know who is at our property. Your property, whatever.” Liam grimaced. “I didn’t really intend to use the security cameras outside.” “Really? Liam, that is a very expensive, highly developed security set. To literally leave them hanging there would be a waste. Come on, please! I even added a messenger to the app so we all can stay in contact without worrying about sending a wrong text to a wrong number or someone reading what we are saying. Security all around, safe from attacks from the outside.” He was torn. Liam knew he had money now but he refused to become a rich person desperate to stay private and paranoid about his safety. Then again, one house had already been destroyed, he didn’t want to take any chances.  “Okay, set up Kennedy. But, for the love of lacrosse, tell her to stop addressing me as Alpha Dunbar. Liam is enough.”

Mike beamed at him and immediately went to work. Later that evening, once everybody else was at home, he went around with a little cardboard box. “I need your phones.” “Why?” Sadie clutched her roségold phone close to her chest.  “I want to install an app on it. Liam said it was fine.” The blonde looked at Mike’s outstretched hand and then to Liam. Her face clearly said Are you serious? Liam motioned towards Mike. “It’s okay, Sads.” She glared at Mike, still hesitant, but gave him her phone. “If you install any jump scare on it, I will suffocate you in your sleep.” “What do you need our phones for?” Theo also wanted to know. Mike explained. “Kennedy is our security system. Once somebody rings the doorbell or the bell outside of the gate, you can get into the app and see who it is. It also reacts to voice demands and has a messenger included for when we want to talk about supernatural stuff and not use any other messenger app where we have others added as well. Good enough for all of you?” “I like that idea. Has something of a secret spy organization.” Of course, that was right up Tim’s alley. His eyes sparkled. “You needed to tell me how this works. Can we use code names?” “Code names? I can’t remember code names.” Lori didn’t want that and shook her head. “But I like the general idea of the app. Good call, Mike.”

"There are two delivery guys at the front door”, Kennedy announced adjust this very moment. Liam leaped to his feet and toward the front door. The doorbell rang and he opened the door to come face to face with two package delivery guys holding a rectangle-shaped thing wrapped in a white sheet. It seemed quite heavy cause that one guy had a red face and was sweating. “Liam Dunbar?” He croaked.  “That’s me.” And Liam almost got hit in the face by the clipboard. He grabbed it with a glare and signed the sheet and the guys set the delivery down.  “Bye.” They turned around, got into their car, and left the premises. 

Liam stared at the delivered package. “What did you buy now?” Theo appeared next to him and eyed the thing critically.  “You’ll see soon enough.” Liam grabbed it and groaned. “I need help with that. Not from you!”  Theo gave him an indignant look when he refused his help. “I need the two tallest ones to hang it on the wall. Brett! Caden!”  The two appeared in the hallway and looked quizzical. “Are you into art now? Is that what this is? Liam, the art lover?” Brett joked but grabbed it nonetheless. Together with Caden, he carried it inside and Liam hurried after them.  “It should hang in the living room, on that one empty wall. The hangers are already there you can put it up. Please and thank you.” “Is this really art?” Caden inquired while he and Brett hoisted it up and hung it where Liam wanted it to be. The rest of the pack also joined, lured in by the commotion.  Brett tugged at the white sheet once it hung on the wall and Liam smacked his hand away. The tall werewolf hissed and pulled his hand away. “Ouch! Brutal, much?” “You really need to be more patient,” Lori lectured her brother. He just rolled his eyes. Liam meanwhile tugged on the sheet carefully.  “Shana helped me with that one, I hope it works the way it’s supposed to,” he muttered and finally managed to drag the sheet fully away.  

It revealed a large midnight blue canvas. In the left upper corner was a simplified drawing of the lake and a few trees. Little pictures of the council members of the lake were listed next to the drawing, all names written in golden letters, and the pictures had small silver frames. Right in the middle of the canvas were pictures of Liam and Theo right next to each other. Their frames were golden, just like their names beneath the pictures. And a bit beneath them came a line of the Betas. Each picture next to the other and in the order of how they joined the pack. Their names were also written in gold but their pictures were framed in silver, just like the Betas from the lake. Each picture was connected with a small golden line and each came together at the Alpha’s picture. Above Corey’s and Mason’s and Byron’s and Lana’s lines were two small golden rings joined with each other, above the line between Liam’s and Theo’s picture were two small paw prints. Brett and Lori had a line with two small triangles, just like Liam and Landon had. One triangle had just the outline, the other was filled on the inside. It was a beautifully crafted family tree with enough space to expand should the pack ever face new additions.  “Oh my, Liam, this is beautiful.” Sadie had both hands in front of her mouth and was tearing up a bit. She wasn’t the only one. Others were also emotional.  “From how the pictures are arranged, it looks like we all are siblings”, Tim noticed. “Aren’t we?” Maya replied and gave him a warm smile. He looked at her and also had to smile. “You are the first siblings I like.” He wrapped his arms around her and she scrunched her nose in happiness and ran a hand through his hair. “This is truly beautiful,” Theo praised their Alpha.  Liam was happy. “I read about it in the Alpha’s journal and wanted to put it up here. I asked Shana to help me and she did. Oh, wait.”  He walked into the kitchen and returned with a pen. “Shana said there’s a little bit of magic, as it’s written in the journal. So, Theo, will you start? We sign one another. Here in that corner.” Theo took the pen and signed the canvas. His signature appeared in gold but then disappeared into thin air. “Whoa!” Liam held two fingers a few centimetres away from each other. “A little bit of magic.”  One after the other signed in the left lower corner. All of their signatures glowed goldenly but then disappeared. Liam was the last one to sign. He exhaled loudly. “Okay, now flash your eyes. Corey, this should work with your powers as well, so if you could help out the humans, that would be amazing.” Corey nodded with a smile and grabbed Mason’s and Nolan’s hands. The wolves flashed their eyes and Ever let some of her magic swirl around her. 

The family tree changed its appearance quite drastically. In the right corner now stood a full moon with some clouds wavering in front of it. The eyes of every wolf in the pack flashed in their respective colors. Ever’s picture had fire dance around her like she used often in real life, Mason’s picture had mountain ash particles float around him, and Corey’s pictures had some green outline and appeared and disappeared again and again. Nolan’s picture had two crossed arrows flowing under him.  “That is so cool. Almost how it’s done in Harry Potter.” Tim’s voice was full of admiration and he stared wide-eyed at the family tree.  The others were equally as stunned. “I never, and I mean that with the highest respect to my blood family, have ever been prouder to be part of such an amazing family tree.” Maya was practically beaming.  Brett chuckled. “The surprises just keep coming. But that is one of the best surprises I’ve ever gotten. Thank you, Liam.”  A chorus of thank yous and other expressions of gratitude fell from his Beta’s lips. Liam laughed. “I was really, really nervous about that, and had no idea if it would work. It’s an old tradition but since it worked so amazingly, why not have it back?” “I am pretty sure Shana will be very happy to hear what she helped make had such fantastic results.” Mason squeezed Liam’s shoulder softly. “Thank you, man.” “Ah, stop saying thank you. I just rediscovered a tradition of this pack.” Liam didn’t want to carry off the laurels. He just had done what many Alphas before him also has done. “Let’s just say, it’s the symbol for a new start? No matter what life throws at us, we stick together and are always by each other’s sides.” “Word!” Caden declared and his fellow pack mates wholeheartedly agreed.

“Life is good now, don’t you think?” Liam had gained his positive outlook back and was just happy. About the house, his friends, his love life, everything. “Next thing, well the next big thing, is the garden. We already gathered some ideas, thanks to Brett, and we started to plant some rose bushes but there is still so much to do. Yet, the fairies seem to like the garden already.”  It was more thinking out loud than actually talking to his pack but they still had heard him and now cut into Liam’s train of thoughts. “Fairies?!” “Yeah, we have fairies in the garden. have you never noticed before? Those little floating lights?” Liam explained what he had seen several times now since they moved into the house. He had considered it fireflies but they were too bright for that and soared too collected.  “Are we talking about those little things with tiny wings?” Corey was confused.  “Yeah. Do you know other fairies?”  “There are no fairies. Our garden has no fairies. I’ve never seen a floating light in our garden.” Theo shook his head. “Fairies don’t exist, Liam.” “Why?” Liam answered with a question of his own.  “What, why?” “Why do fairies not exist? Why does every scary and creepy thing in the books exist but not good things like fairies?”  “If fairies exist, and I’m not saying they do, but if they exist, you don’t know if they're good, baby,” Theo told Liam with a condescending smile.  Liam glowered at him. “Just because you have not seen them yet, you say that. I know what I saw and I think they exist!” “I think fairies exist too”, Tim chimed in. When he saw Liam’s hopeful expression, he relented, however. “I haven’t seen on in our garden but I still think they exist. Liam is actually right, who says only the bad supernatural things exist and the good ones are just fantasy?” “You are thinking about an ideal world where everything is in balance. For any bad is equally as much good. But the world is not always fair and given the track record we had so far, I think it’s safe to say there are more bad supernatural beings in this world than good ones”, Mason made up his mind.  “Yeah but then again fairies are magical creatures and if they do not exist magic shouldn’t exist either.” Now it was Ever’s turn. “There is so much more between heaven and earth and not even supernatural beings know everything. Heck, it could be highly possible dragons exist somewhere.” “Are we counting dragons to good or bad magical beings? Because living in a world with real, gigantic dragons scares me, to be honest,” Nolan called out.  “How did we get from tiny fairies to literally the other end of the spectrum?” Maya had lost the train of thought.  “Guys, I get saved by a literal ghost wolf from time to time. How can you expect me not to believe that fairies exist as well then?” Liam didn’t understand that logic. Theo shook his head hastily. “I don’t joke around with ghosts. Those are a whole other level. Ghosts exist but they’re not the same as fairies.”  Liam huffed and Theo laced their fingers together. “I don’t want you to get frustrated. If you think fairies are real then they’re real.” “Of course I am frustrated. You don’t believe me.”  “Maybe one day you can catch a fairy and show it to us. Then we would believe you”, Mike offered a solution.  Liam was shocked. “I would never catch another being just to show it off. Despite they are fast and I’m not that dumb to not think all of you would film me running around in our garden, trying to catch them.” His friends grinned and Liam had his answer. “You’re mean. Landon also believes in fairies.” “But Landon’s nine. Liam, I think it’s amazing you and your brother get along so great and share the same imagination. But to name him to prove your idea is kind of silly. He’s a child. At his age, I also thought Santa was real”, Corey said softly, clearly, he intended not to hurt Liam’s feelings or make it seem as if he was badmouthing Landon.  “Children and fools tell the truth,” Brett cited. “There are theories talking about how only kids can see a certain type of supernatural beings. Guardian angels and yes, fairies as well. Because as a kid you have a certain innocence and the more you grow up the more you lose said innocence. Only a few people keep their innocence in a way they can see those beings. It is possible Liam is one of these people. That way he would never be able to prove the existence of fairies to us and we have to believe him. And before you ask, yes, I do believe fairies exist.” He raised his chin and looked at his friends, almost as if he was tempting them to say anything. And Liam smirked. Good to have a few believers in his corner. 

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I am sorry I took so long to upload. I hope there are still a few people left who are still interested in this story and enjoyed this new chapter. If you did, let me know what you thought of it in the comments. And also tell me, do you believe fairies exist? Yes or no?

#thiam #A tale written with fangs and claws #alpha!liam #Morning Dew Pack series #My writing

[bloodandpaintchips]

Bar & Murder Tips

Tagging→ Andrea Sheldon, Johnny Arcos Time Frame→ 11/29/2020 around midnight. Location→ Sangren, Colorado General Notes→ They’ll continue these conversation topics after the hangover.  

For a moment, Andrea was distracted with all the bottles lining Johnny’s counter, and their colors. He’d told her things here and there, tips on working behind the bar at TARTARUS but this was the first time he was showing her anything. She’d mentioned the need for a small purpose again, needing somewhere to be and a schedule before she lost her mind or herself again. She didn’t know what to expect, her palette for alcohol being very limited considering she didn’t start drinking beer until her mid-twenties and liquor, until after she “died.” She could be terrible at this, or she could be mildly competent; she had no way of knowing. “So...the sheer possibility of combinations here is kind of intimidating.”

"I find it odd that you still get intimidated," purred the witch as he set yet another bottle on the counter. Nothing too expensive, but definitely nothing he served the more... economical customers. The drinks he intended to make with Andy, no matter how terrible, would not be wasted. "Someone tells you what they have a taste for and you follow the notes of that taste to produce something they would like." With a wave of his hand, he willed the lights in the kitchen to dim and music to waft into the room like a breeze. "It does help, however, to know what the alcohol tastes like. Do you know what vermouth is, my Andy?"

Andrea snorted, turning her gaze away from the bottles to look at him. “You’d be surprised what things change and what things don’t.” She left it at that, drumming her fingers on the countertop and listened to his explanation. “Seems simple enough, except I don’t know what most of this tastes like. And no, I have no idea what vermouth is. Except I’ve heard the word. I know shots of whiskey and various beers. Please don’t be as judgemental during this as you are about my clothes,” she joked. There wasn’t much to make fun of at this moment; the great thing about training at home was the fact that she could learn this in the oversized tee she slept in, bare feet on the floor, barely feeling the cold.

"I will absolutely be as judgmental about this as I am about everything else. Your clothing is awful," he tacked on. He pulled a glass from the counter behind them, then reached for the bottle of Cocchi Vermouth di Torino. "We will drink." He poured her a glass and then himself. "Hold this. Smell it."

The only comeback she gave him was an eye roll before he moved on to grab a fancy bottle (they were honestly all fancy, nothing you’d find in the liquor store with the flickering OPEN light downtown). She could already smell it as he was pouring it, and she was intrigued, taking the glass from him and inhaling like he asked. “Wow. It’s like sweet and spicy. Really…” she raised her eyebrows a bit, holding the glass away a little. “Strong. I like it though. Makes me think of autumn.”

He sipped a bit at his glass, rolling the amber liquid along his tongue. "Vermouth comes in this sweet, red form, but also in a dry, white form - which is used for martinis. I prefer the sweet, but with the dry, I like to pair it with lemons. What do we think pairs well with our autumn taste?"

She listened, making a mental note. “In the past I may have hated the dry version, but lately I’ve been trying a lot of things I may have hated and liking them, so who knows. I like the sweet though. And I don’t know, maybe something like orange? Citrus seems like the way to go still. Do people ever pair things with juice?” She took a sip, surprised to find she really enjoyed it alone. She liked the spices and the warmth in her mouth. It made her throat prickle in a way she liked.

Nodding approvingly, he downed the rest of his drink, then poured another glass. "Everything can be paired with juice, but one must be aware of the full flavor of things. Red vermouth is sweet already, spicy... woodsy and herbal - orange is an excellent choice. Add gin and you have a cocktail." His freshly poured drink went back just as fast and he set his glass in the sink. "What is a taste that you like that isn't citrus?"

Andrea smirked, a little proud of herself like a good student when he said the word “excellent.” She watched him knock back the drinks, an eyebrow raising in curiosity. “I like cranberry. I like most berries actually. Chocolate...I’m not sure what the right answer is really.” She ran her fingers along her glass before pushing it towards him. “Do you get drunk easily? Like in terms of being human?”

"Oh, I get drunk very easily," he told her, even as he took her glass and pulled the bottle of cognac forward. Her used glass went into the sink and was replaced with a clean one, which he poured a taste into before giving it back. "Cognac can be spicy as well and has hints of fruit and chocolate. Hold it on your tongue a bit."

She took the new drink from him, taking a sip and holding it in her mouth like he asked. “I can taste that...but the thing I think I taste the most is nuts. Maybe walnut? Kinda think this would taste good with blood.” She said the last part quietly, briefly thinking about how she had to take care of that soon. She’d succeeded in making it feel like a job. For a few seconds she felt like the lamest creature ever, but she pulled herself out of the distraction by downing some more of it. “What goes with this?”

"That is not the first time I have heard that; many of our... guests at the bar have asked for a bit of this with a few fingers of O-positive." Johnny watched her drink the mouthful with curious eyes, lingering over her expression to gauge a reaction. "Overall," he continued, "Cognac is very good - alone, mixed with ginger ale or lemonade, all kinds of ways really." He poured himself a taste and knocked it back, shaking his head as he began to feel the drink. "Tequila next, I think."

She raised an eyebrow at that, feeling strangely validated she wasn’t the only one who thought that about the flavor profile. “I need to get more comfortable saying things like that. I still talk about blood like it’s my dirty secret,” she said, laughing a little. “But lemonade seems like it’d be really good with this too, so I’ll also keep that in mind. “Tequila. Don’t people usually just take that in shots?”

"Tequila is really quite versatile - shots, sours, cocktails... margaritas!" He turned and reached for the blender beside the sink then, with a blink of empty, black eyes, the blender was filled with a light green mix of alcohol and ice, buzzing away until he stopped it.

Squinting her eyes at the witch, Andrea couldn’t help but smile as she noticed he was getting a little looser with every swallow. “You get a little swishy when you’ve had a couple drinks, Johnny,” she told him, smile getting wider as she admired him. An eyebrow raised when he materialized margarita mix and she simply helped herself. “I think you should know that I’m beginning to feel these and will probably pay less attention to how the drinks are made, so for now let’s just focus on how they taste,” she said, sipping. 

"You have to know how to taste... how the drinks taste when you are serving them," he agreed with a lofty nod, holding out a glass for her to pour his margarita into. He gulped a mouthful, scowling at the brain freeze, but soon he was moving his hips to the music playing and chuckling. "'Swishy' is a good word, my Andy. More tequila - a sunrise! Ironic."

Andrea laughed, rolling her eyes and taking another sip of her drink. “Ah yes, sunrises. Loved those.” She tried to make it sound like she said it in jest, but it likely just came out as bitter. “Hopefully the drink is pretty,” she added, smirking whenever she noticed him get a brain freeze. It made her very aware of her lack of one. The more she had to drink, the more she found herself getting lost in thought about those changes.

"Yes, a sunrise!" He reached for her hand then and rolled her cool fingers between his own. "I will give you sunrise," he said, then sealed the promise by lifting her fingers to his mouth for a kiss. He then reached for a new bottle of 1942 and the grenadine. "You will find, my Andy, that adding grenadine to just about any drink will please any sorority girls that wander into the bar." Once he was finished with the drink, he swiftly exchanged her margarita for it.

She let herself be distracted by his promising kiss to her knuckles, smiling and letting him take her glass. “For a moment I was worried you were going to give me a literal ball of fire, but this will do fine.” She chuckled at his advice, tucking it away for future reference, because if she remembered anything, she remembered the greek crowd. Sipping the new drink, her eyebrows went up and she downed it before setting the glass down. “I like that one.” She slid the empty vessel toward him so he could refill it. “Can I tell you something that I have to say out loud before I explode?”

He hummed inquisitively as he swallowed the last of his sunrise and waved his fingers so that the music changed to 'More Than A Woman' by Aaliyah.

She turned around and jumped up to sit on the counter as she waited for him to make their drinks again. Swinging her legs for a moment and listening to the song, she finally went on. “I think I burned the bridge with my dad. Like burned it, totally,” she said, holding out her palm in a leveling motion. “I went back there to fix things and made them worse. I should stop trying to fix things. Drink more tequila sunrises.”

This stalled his hand as it reached for the next bottle and he turned to look at her quizzically. "Fix things? ...Is he dead now?" Quick as he could, he tried to pull what he knew about necromancy into the forefront of his fuzzy mind, but even as his fingers wrote runes into the air between him, he just as quickly forgot what he had intended to do. "Is he dead?"

Andrea laughed dryly, watching him attempt something and quickly forget with a smile on her face. “No, he’s not dead. That probably would have been easier. I didn’t make it worse like that, I just got angry at him. More angry than I’ve ever gotten at someone in like, person. I wanted to talk, but he still thinks I’m a demon. And then I kind of acted like one.” She shook her head and downed another drink. “But fuck it.”

"Well... you are a demon, I think, so the behavior is expected." He frowned down at an empty glass on the counter, then licked a finger, rimmed the lip of the glass with it and willed another drink into it. After taking a sip, he lifted his gaze back to Andy and said, solemnly, "So what shall we do about this, my Raggedy One? It sounds as if your father doesn't understand what kind of town Sangren really is."

She set her glass down and folded her arms, scoffing a bit until it turned into a full blown laugh. “You know, I guess I am a demon. I wish that felt cool instead of just me feeling like my lame self, but meaner and more okay with murder,” she replied, shaking her head. Meeting his gaze, she shrugged. “I guess there’s nothing to do about it. I don’t wanna see him again. You know, he actually mentioned he had an idea of this town and just hoped we dodged it or something. Like he couldn’t save me from the town in the end.” She growled a little, rolling her eyes and sliding her glass toward him to ask for another. “Like he’s fuckin Super Frank and movie nights and Hungry Man dinners would shield his poor daughter from the hellmouth. Incredible.”

Johnny took the time to contemplate what a hungry-person meal could possibly entail by taking another long sip. By now, the fuzz was starting to warm him from the inside out and the need to reach out with his powers to support Andy's growing agitation was growing ever more tempting. "These are survival instincts - the need to shield a child from exposure to evils for your father and that feeling 'okay' with murder for you... all survival."

Andrea was quiet for a moment, sipping her newly filled glass. “Survival. Maybe that explains the why of it, but that didn’t really work out for him did it? The pretending. His wife walked right into it all and it claimed his daughter. His daughter, who is now a demon,” she said gesturing towards herself. “I guess it’s a form of survival but it didn’t do a lot of good for him did it? He still lost everything. Staying blind on purpose and turning me away....I guess I see how it’s a survival tactic but it also feels like it was easy for him to love me and that changed in an instant. He just seems like a coward to me.” She set her glass down after downing it and slid down against the cabinets to the floor. “I...also think it’s more than being okay with murder. Saying it like that just feels better.”

He waved his hand dismissively. "'Murder' is such an inconsequential term to creatures who are no longer mortal, my Raggedy One. It's a wonder you have any appetite at all - Magic requires sacrifice, no matter what form it comes in. You see it when I bleed myself. You see how strangely it burns through Gunnar. You see it in death here, especially. It calls for this death, these sacrifices - what are people placed in your path for if not to be sacrifices?" He finished his drink, then suddenly slouched against the counter. "I'm drunk."

She let his words sink in, staring down at the ground for a moment with her eyebrows furrowed. “Sacrifices,” she repeated. Something did burn through her, and surprisingly his drunken advice had given her a bit of clarity. Just a bit. When she thought about death and sacrifice and magic in the way he described it, it made a little more sense. “Guess I’m just getting used to the order of such things,” she said, reaching up to grip the side of the counter and stand. “You are. I am a little too. How about I walk you to your room? That seems like the best course of action now.” She laughed a little and moved towards him, gently slapping a hand on his back.

He had straightened, but found himself buckling a bit at her slap. "You forget yourself," he chided lightly, even as he recovered and stood ramrod straight to allow her to lead him to the staircase that led to his bedroom. "I wonder, how long it will take for you to realize that you are now an apex predator, my Andy?"

She ran a hand through her hair and winced. “Sorry, I actually swore I was being gentle,” she replied, rubbing the spot and taking him up to his room. Being ahead of him, she walked in and pulled his sheets and comforter back so he could just fall in. She hadn’t responded right away to what he said but once they were inside his bedroom, she responded. “Yeah. Me too.”

"Come sleep," he sighed, already burying his face into his pillow. "I could have sworn I was better at drinking. I haven't done it in so long."

Laughing a little, she nodded and kicked off her jeans before jumping into the soft bed opposite of where he laid. Andrea relaxed against the pillow, smiling and turning her head to face him. “Personally I thought you were great at it.” She snuggled in, sighing and continuing to think about their earlier conversation until his words “sleep,” echoed in her head and she closed her eyes to let herself.

#ja #ch: johnny arcos #p #para: bar and murder tips

[miss-m-winks]

Instead of a summary of my art from each month of 2019 I’ve compiled a summary of my art from every year of this decade! Finding some of that old art was incredibly difficult.

And making an exact image description of all this would be too long to write or read so I’m going to do my best to describe all this in a concise and interesting way.

2010: I was a sophomore in high school, so about 15 years old. These two drawings are in pencil and colored pencil, one of some random girl character wearing brightly colored clothes and a rainbow shawl thing (??) walking on clouds it seems. No idea what that was meant to be about. The other is a reference for my old oc, the very first one I ever had, based on myself. She looks human but with unicorn ears and a horn, plus wings and a tail. I hadn’t figured out animal legs yet either so she has perfectly normal human legs that just end in hooves.

2011: still mostly pencil, colored pencil, I don’t remember if I had a laptop yet. I would have been 16 years old at this time. I picked a self portrait here, a coloreddrawing of myself in black concert dress playing the trumpet because I got to do a solo in jazz band and I was very happy about it. The other art I picked for this year is digital but in the old ms paint program (you know before it tried to be fancy with a few more realistic tools and was only pixel art tools) I do believe I was still using the family computer for this, with a mouse. I was really creative with the tools. It’s my unicorn girl oc again, flying through the sky. I included a progress image, showing how I made it. I’m so glad I saved the steps and posted them it’s really cool to see my old art process for that.

2012: 17 years old, and I think I finally had a laptop with a good art program on it by this time but I still did mostly traditional art, lots of colored pencil work. I found this old experimental art I did that year, a colored pencil drawing of a girl sitting on a tree branch, but the background is all digital, a painting of a fantasy night sky with three moons. It actually looks kinda good, the edges of the colored pencil drawing are crisp and smooth and the digital background doesn’t look out of place. I mean the shading is a bit of a mess and I used white clouds on a black night sky which is a bit funny looking but it isn’t that bad. The other image is a colored pencil drawing that was really ambitious for me at the time. I had this cool idea to draw Death with sunset colored wings, all poetic and stuff. Why did I also draw death with blue skin and horns? I don’t know. Why is death sitting on an ambiguous brown cliff overlooking a cemetery? Well I guess I just was having trouble finding any other way to make a nice background and have death above a cemetery. I should redo this one, it’s a really good concept.

2013: my last year of high school, 18 years old. I was doing digital art a lot more often this year and expanding the diversity of my ocs. One of these images is a digital drawing of two of my first characters of color, two male black elves (black as in African-based) smoochin. My first black oc was also my first queer oc, jayvyn. A gay elf. There are a lot of issues with the way I originally conceptualized his story but even when I was thinking he was the only queer person in his town and there was homophobia towards him (I was only just dipping my toes outside the mindset I grew up in) I gave him a whole massive group of friends (a boys' lacrosse team he was on don’t ask me why lacrosse I have no idea I don’t even know much about lacrosse it was a weird choice) and those friends were extremely loyal and supportive of him, even to the point of going on dates with him just to make him happy. and again, he was the only gay character I had so I was writing a bunch of straight dudes taking their one gay friend on dates in a town full of people who were at least vaguely homophobic, I definitely had a lot of growing to do in my writing and my own mindset but I’m kinda proud of myself for doing that? I could have done so much worse with my first queer oc and my first real step into characters of color, but I made the whole story about this tight knit group of boys who were all such close loving friends. (Gee I wonder if this had anything to do with my being ace and not knowing it yet). Oh yeah, the other image is also there, that one is from a photoshop class I took. We had a three-way folding mirrors the bathroom at the time so I put on a hoodie, turned out the bathroom lights, folded the mirrors in and shoved my face into the gap and then took a photo with the flash while holding my mouth open in a silent scream. The result is this really cool series of screaming faces at different angles, which I then ran through a few filters and major contrast adjustment. Could be an edgy generic horror movie cover lol

2014: 19 years old, and I just finished a year of community college and then left on a church mission for 18 months. I probably should have used some of my first college art class drawings for this year's summary but I was using my old deviantart gallery to collect these old images so I forgot I had all that college art too. These two digital images are pretty dynamic in different ways. Dynamic lighting and dark skin, an experiment I was doing to figure out lighting better for my characters of color. That’s Jayvyn again I think, with lightning shooting out of his hand because I sure love making characters with lightning powers. The other is dynamic in the posing and I’m still incredibly happy with it, it’s a drawing of a grey centaur from behind, bucking in panic because a kitten pounced on its foot. Definitely still one of the best centaur drawings I have ever made.

2015: 20 years old, I was actually on my church mission for this entire year so finding art from that year was very very tricky. One is just a small pencil drawing on another oc, Ronan with his cool mechanical leg playing fiddle I guess? I was doing a lot of synesthesia doodles that year so there are lots of swirly lines coming off the fiddle. I was also surprised to find this really neat digital art I made of Ravio from link between worlds, I almost forgot I did find a way to make digital art on my mission (no access to my laptop, limited apps we were allowed to use, super limited access to normal computers except for emails and such, always busy doing important stuff) I discovered the drawing function in the iPad notes app and every time I had time I would use it until I figured out how to make it work for me, using only my fingers, the limited color palette options, and this marker tool that had one size and only multiplied (except when using white) this is definitely one of the best ones, but I don’t know where the rest went. I had a lot. I was stunned to find this because it really looks like I could have done it on a laptop, can’t believe I forgot I did that.

2016: 21 years old. Had to get used to a laptop again. Also I created my current main oc Morianten during my church mission so here I have the very first full body digital art of him! I’ve definitely changed his anatomy a lot since then, made him much more bird like. Kinda funny to look at this old one and see just how differently I draw him now, only three years later. I also have here a digital painting of some other members of morianten's adoptive family, his dad and little brother having a father son race in nice racing wheelchairs. I still struggle with proportions when I draw characters in wheelchairs.

2017: 22 years old, and back in college. I really had a focus on figure drawing that year, I was back in college art classes and I found posespace.com which is just full of professionally shot art model photos. I’ve got one digital figure drawing of my oc Talib, another practice in lighting on dark skin. The other image is a charcoal drawing of my oc Parva, I think I did that one in a 30 minute time frame where I was taking pictures at different points to show my process but I’ve lost the process images.

2018: 23 years old, and really getting into color depth with my digital art. I found a really old pencil drawing of a dynamic dancing scene and redid it as a digital painting with extreme colored lighting dynamics and new characters. I also got super into mermay so I’ve included one of my favorites, a rainbow trout gal and her elf girlfriend having a chat after a nice swim. I’m super proud of the colors and proportions here, and the shading is pretty great too.

And then it’s 2019! This year! I’m 24! For this one I used three images instead of two, all digital. My ocs Talib and Kouto as persephone and hades in a really quick painting I did but the colors and lighting are intense and fun. No outlines painting of Morianten with some pretty intense lightning lighting. That one took ages and I’m still not entirely pleased with the way I drew his face there but I’m proud of it. And I never actually posted this last one, it’s a new oc created exclusively for the DC superheroes au I dabbled in with @askmissbernadette, a young hero called Lion riding a skateboard in a dark city with a long coat on because that’s a fun way to replace the common superhero cape design.

Overall, it was really fun to go through my art for the entire decade and see how much it’s changed over time. And to see how much my characters have changed. Hope 2020 is a good year, hope the 20s in general are good. Here’s to another 10 years of change and progress!

#winks art #accessible art #image description #winks ocs #decade art summary #long post

[mysticsparklewings]

Commission: Magician Tarot Card

Between school work and other IRL stuff, I have been chipping away at a couple of commissions I got recently; this is one of them! Here, the commissioner wanted to see my take on the "Magician" tarot card for a potential tattoo design. I actually ended up having a lot more fun with this than I thought I would! I've only looked into Tarot Cards before as they relate to the traditional card suits, and otherwise have only really seen them in passing. So going into this, I did at least a little homework to better understand what I was being asked to create. In that vein, this ended up being a sort of chance to experiment for me, as I've always felt that tattoo designs universal have a certain "look" to them, and I wanted to play with accomplishing that, on top of keeping in lime with the themes and ideas of the original card, while, of course, still making it my own. A quick Google of "Magician Tarot Card" turned up a few different variations that all seemed to have a few key similarities; the position of the arms, a red cloak and white clothing, the magician holding a wand, the infinity sign over his head, flowers, and so on. Likewise, I tried to keep most of the prevalent features right off the bat. I also investigated the Wikipedia page for a little more background on the symbolism and discovered that the arm placement did have significance, so I kept it for the most part, but I did my best to add more movement to it, as the original seems uncomfortably stiff to me. And from the very beginning, my take was that he's the magician he should look magical, you know? So I tried to bring that into the mix, too. As it turns out, normally there is a table in front of the magician holding objects that portray the four different tarot card suits. Said suits seem to have a bit of variation, depending on the deck, but I went with the ones I thought I could make work the best: Wands, Sword, Coins, and Cups. I didn't want to just set the things on a table, as that seemed boring, so I tried to incorporate them in other ways. He's already holding the wand (which I based on the design of a baton since that seems to be what it's like in the original), so check that off. I added a sword to his belt, as that seemed like almost a natural/obvious choice and makes visual sense. The coins and cups were a bit trickier, but I had the idea to incorporate the coins into the "magic" flow I had in mind for the pose, which I think worked out quite well.  The cup really got me though. After thinking on it, and deciding on the inclusion of the flowers--which are, specifically, roses and lilies as part of the original symbolism--it just kind of clicked that the cup could be holding some flowers, and from there it just kinda worked out as a way to "close" the remaining open corner. And I snuck the infinity sign in as more of a diadem rather than just floating over his head, which I thought was quite clever.   I also ended up doing the rose border as a way to give it the "card" feel without specifically tying it down to an actual rectangle or card template. I debated on adding the "The Magician" Signifier somewhere but ultimately decided against it for the same reasons. Also, I tried something different with the shading to make it more dynamic, a bit more realistic, as that was my intention with the art, to begin with. It's kind of similar to what I did on my OOTD: Witch Socks, and I think it ended up really working out. However, I also tried coloring only in Grayscale/Black and White first, then going back in with color. That's something I don't think I've ever really tried before, and it was interesting...I think it also made the process go a bit faster, but that's up for debate since I didn't time myself.   The lilies gave me a bit of trouble, as I wasn't sure how to get their shape across properly in this semi-realistic style without going to stylistic or too realistic, but I think what I ended up with turned out okay. On that note, originally all the floating flower petals were going to just be red rose petals, but a few of them really got lost and the lilies looked out of place, so I went back and made a few white to offset the balance and tie the lilies back in, and I'm very glad I did! And when I was adding color I also tried to stick to a limited color palette so I wouldn't spend too long on it or get carried away, so while there are a few pops of different colors here and there, I stuck primarily to red, white, and gold for the majority of the piece. Additionally, from the beginning, I wasn't in on the idea of adding a lot of detail to the face, and that led me to the decision to make the eyes glow, which also ended up being the light source that I based the shading off of. It also kind of ties into the halo-like impression I got from the infinity sign in the original version of the card, I think. Did I mention that I did the whole thing in Photoshop? I spent a painstaking amount of time trying to keep the lines clean/smooth. This was another experiment; one that would not have been possible without the new CC addition of the "smoothing" tool or my drawing tablet. I will say though, it did really make me miss my free trial of Lazy Nezumi, a third-party stabilizer, to the point I think I might try to save up to purchase it going forward. (Or, you know, I'll be less of a lazy potato and go back to using Paint Tool Sai when I want perfectly clean line art). Really though, I thrilled at how the finished piece came out with the shape of the cloak and the visual movement...there are things I'd spend another several hours tweaking if given the opportunity, sure, but overall I'm quite proud of this one.  And the commissioner liked it, which is the most important thing.   I have a couple of quick/smallish pieces on the back burner, but I wanted to get at least one commission done & posted and the other one started before I posted those, just so my lovely commissioners don't think I'm shirking my responsibilities.  But I should be posting at least one in a day or two to keep my art flow up in the meantime. ____ Artwork © me, MysticSparkleWings ____ Where to find me & my artwork: My Website | Commission Info + Prices | Ko-Fi | dA Print Shop | RedBubble |   Twitter | Tumblr | Instagram

[dragonmarquise]

I suppose this is more of a vent for myself than anything, but I just wanna... vent about something that’s been bugging me for a while. Though, bit of a disclaimer: this isn’t gonna be directly related to ace discourse, but I would greatly appreciate it if nobody tries to bring that onto this post, please. Be it for or against, even if you mean it as a joke. I’m gonna be trying to keep this out of the tags by using filler tags, so hopefully nobody tries to start a fight. e_e

So, while a lot of people (both ace and non-ace) debate on whether or not the ace flag is necessary, judging by its widespread use at this point, it’s not gonna go away anytime soon.

But as an ace person, the ace flag is kinda... blegh. For a few reasons.

One, the meanings. In particular, the white stripe is straight up just “allosexual” (and I swear I have seen at least one site list it as representing heterosexual instead, what the hell). Like? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?? It’d be like having one of the stripes on the rainbow flag represent straight people or something.

And then black is just “lack of attraction”, grey is “grey area between aces and non-aces”, and then purple for community. imo the only good/meaningful meaning here is the purple stripe.

There’s been a ton of ace flag redesigns (this one is one of my favorites that I’ve seen recently, though personally my only gripe is that it could be mistaken for a lesbian flag recolor), but let’s face it. With how much promotion and merch the current flag gets, I don’t think there’s any reasonable way to get it completely changed. So at the least, maybe the meanings could be adjusted?

Like, just with some general suggestions, maybe something like: Black for self-acceptance/self-love/self-respect, grey for positive relationships, white for happiness, and then just keep purple as community.

So then besides the meanings of the colors, I have an issue with the colors themselves, mainly that they... don’t exactly harmonize all that well? Basically it’s that the purple is just too bright and pulls the eye away from the other stripes too much. This tweet basically made me realize this was the issue I was having with the colors, since before I knew it bugged me but I just wasn’t sure how to describe why it was bugging me.

The same person who made that tweet also made this, which has the ace flag colors adjusted so that the eye-pulling isn’t as bad. I mean, to compare the original to the adjusted one:

It honestly looks a lot nicer to me! And plus, it wouldn’t require people who make merch and other stuff to make too big of a change, if at all, in what they’re making. I’ve already seen plenty of art and merch that don’t use the exact shade of purple anyways because of color palette/limited materials/etc, y’know?

The same could be applied to demisexual and greysexual (two other identities that generate a lot of discourse, please don’t discourse about them here either oh god).

With demi- in particular, I feel like the triangle part really should be addressed at this point. Everyone knows about the black triangle being used during the Holocaust and all, and like... you can’t really make a “reclamation” comparison, since it isn’t like the swastika where an originally positive religious symbol was used in a bad way. This is a bad thing made for one terrible purpose, which people are trying to use for a different thing (and I have seen discussions of how the flag was designed, it was definitely intentional that it was inspired by the black triangle of the Holocaust, just saying), which... just doesn’t work the same, imo. I don’t think I’m explaining myself very well here, but I hope at least if someone else is reading this, they have a good idea of what I mean.

And I mean, I’ve seen plenty of arguments from actual Jewish people about how this usage makes them uncomfortable, especially since the design decision was very much made by those who had no real connection to what happened back then. But, I digress.

So I’ve been thinking... why not just, maybe change it to a vertical bar or something? Helps make it more distinct from other flags and the ace flag itself without even needing new colors. Comparison, the original and two variations I did with adjusted colors and the vertical bar:

It works well enough!

Also here’s grey- with the colors adjusted too (original and then color adjusted):

Honestly, I’m not expecting this to be something everyone can agree on. And like I said, I’m saying all this mainly just to be able to vent about something that has been bugging me for a very long time. e_e

#* #** #*** #***** #******* #/ #// #/// #///// #/////// #[ #[[ #[[[ #[[[[[ #[[[[[[[ #] #]] #]]] #]]]]] #]]]]]]] #; #;; #;;; #;;;;; #;;;;;;; #Wren Rambles

[clarenecessities]

spooky changelings

Rating: PG 13 Word Count: 1439

Content Warning (spoilers): discussion of child abduction, explosions, not-so-twisty plot twists

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They filed into the classroom in pairs, Alya pulling Marinette along by the elbow and Adrien perched on Nino’s shoulders, turning an unblinking stare on the classroom. A few students had already gathered, though Adrien knew most only by sight and scent, not by name. He recognized Alix by her pink hair, slumped forward and drooling on her desk. He knew Rose, spinning to show off the flare of her dress, but not the ghost that floated beside her with a faint smile.

The ghost looked strange through these eyes—she was somewhat more defined than she had appeared yesterday, but the faded colors that comprised her had dimmed even more than the rest of his palette. She looked almost tangible, but so washed out she was nearly black and white.

“Cat,” came a voice from behind them, and both Nino and Adrien jumped, turning to see the massive boy with flaky, rocklike skin looming over them, looking at Adrien with keen interest.

“Hey Ivan,” said Nino, relaxing.

“Hey,” said Ivan, smiling. Adrien swore he could hear the grating of gravel as the boy moved. “Is that Adrien?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” said Nino, rolling his eyes, “but if you see him use a fork or something, don’t be too surprised.”

“Forks require thumbs,” Adrien muttered.

“Oh my god, a talking cat!” gasped Nino, clapping his hands to his cheeks.

Ivan plucked the hat off of Nino’s head, ruffled his hair, and put the hat on Adrien. “Good morning, you big dorks.”

“Who you callin’ dork, punk?” Nino laughed, shaking a fist at the retreating giant’s back.

“Who you callin’ punk, dork?” tittered Alya from her seat, rolling her eyes at him. “Face facts, Fido. He’s got you figured.”

Nino pouted at her as he pulled the cap mercifully from Adrien’s head and upper torso. “While I admire the alliteration, I object to ‘Fido’. On the basis of it being a very outdated name.”

“Well shit, I don’t have a dog,” grumbled Alya. “What do people call them? Rover? Spot?”

“My friend Bridgette had a dog named Refrigerator,” Adrien supplied unhelpfully.

Alya stared at him.

“I don’t think it was a regular dog name,” he added after a moment.

“I thought we were your only friends,” said Nino, steepling a hand on his chest in mock offense. “Am I even your first BFF? I feel so lied to.”

“This was a long time ago,” said Adrien, laughing. “She was a changeling, but she was only around for a few months or so. It used to be that my neighbors would get changelings every so often—they called it ‘summer camp,’ and arranged all these silly little games for us to play.”

“Wait, like—just straight up kidnapping?” asked Nino, losing his playful stance. “Why?”

“A lot of reasons,” said Adrien, shrugging. He jumped off of Nino’s shoulders onto their desk so he could see his face better. “Usually it was a deal for somebody’s firstborn, but sometimes it was just trespassing.”

“Only a few months, though? I didn’t realize they gave firstborns back,” said Marinette from the stair beside him.

“Well, it depends who took them,” said Adrien. “I think Trixx fully intended to keep Bridgette, but she isn’t really cut out for child-rearing, you know? Which I could have told her from her disastrous attempts at babysitting me, but hey, try telling a fox anything, am I right?” He grinned over his shoulder at Alya, who stuck her tongue out at him.

“Watch it, cat,” she muttered. “I know the sídhe are cheeky, but there’s a limit.”

“A limit to how many painfully obvious truths you can tolerate?” asked Marinette, smiling as she slid onto the bench next to her. “C’mon Alya—you’re stubborn as anything.”

“Not as stubborn as you,” said Alya, bumping her shoulder with a smirk.

“Well, I’m not just anything,” said Marinette, fluffing one of her pigtails ostentatiously.

“Uh, excuse me?” Nino interjected, voice keyed higher with humor, “I’m trying to get some fairy secrets?” He threw himself dramatically onto his side of the bench, throwing the back of his hand against his forehead like a swooning damsel, almost knocking his cap off again in the process. “My heart can’t go on like this, my dudes. I gotta get the scoop.”

“’The scoop,’” Adrien scoffed, the tip of his tail flicking back and forth. “I explained the way time works in our realm, didn’t I? How long we have them isn’t necessarily how long they’re gone for. Bridgette was out for seven years.”

“I still don’t get why you’re so sure you aren’t like, a hundred,” said Nino, leaning forward so his elbows were resting on the desk. He propped his face up with an idle fist, twisting to stare at his new friend. “I know you said you were tied to the human realm or whatever, but…”

“I guess it has more to do with being tied to the aos sídhe,” said Adrien. “Like… it knows it’s important to me, and since the realm like, acknowledges me—it tries to help. As a mundane human child, Bridgette didn’t really register, so it was like, why do the extra work? If that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t,” Alya put in.

“Well, I don’t know,” said Adrien. “It’s like, uh—blood types. If somebody puts the wrong kind of blood in you, your body’s like ‘uh, what the hell,’ you know? So I can sort of work with the magic of the realm, whereas a human kinda confuses it—or pisses it off, depending what they’re trying to do.”

“So if I were to go to your sídhe and try to cast a spell, I’d get zapped?” asked Marinette, raising an eyebrow.

“I wouldn’t say zapped,” he hedged, “but yeah, there’d be some sort of consequence. Could be as minor as the spell not going full power, could be a flash flood. It varies. Actually, depending on what the deal is with your ‘things,’ you might have consequences just for being there—”

“Seriously?” she asked sourly, making a face. “No wonder you’d never had a sleepover, if your house is gonna try to kill people.”

“There is one foolproof vaccine,” Adrien purred, seizing his chance. “A contract with one of the aos sídhe, say—a dashing familiar?”

Marinette’s mouth clicked shut, while Nino burst into laughter. Alya had the decency to try and smother her giggling.

“Just, uh—something to think about,” said Adrien, awkwardness overcoming him as he lost his nerve. Marinette ducked her head to retrieve something from her bag, (or to avoid making eye contact with him). “I—I mean, there are lots of benefits—”

THWOOM.

Adrien stiffened at the sudden sound in the courtyard, his fur bristling. Nino and Alya copied his stance, whirling instinctively to face the noise, tense, magic flaring around them so sharply that Adrien could feel it.

The wall to the courtyard buckled inwards, glass showering the classroom as the scream of ripping metal filled the air. Children shouted, some diving for cover, but for most it was too late, and the consequences of the explosion took effect.

Adrien was thrown off of the desk and against the far wall, spine twisting automatically to help him land. He immediately ducked under a chunk of cement, growling wordlessly at his surroundings.

Some of the desks had been toppled, and everything had been pushed against the far wall, including most of the students. The concussive sound and resulting shrapnel seemed to have knocked about half of them unconscious—he and the others with animal instincts had made it out, while Marinette’s fortuitous timing meant she’d dodged the worst of the blast. Maybe it was that luck she’d mentioned.

A lucky duck. Heh.

The ghost was floating anxiously beside a crumpled Rose, while Alix and Ivan were straightening with small groans.

Adrien staggered a few paces out from the pile of debris, to where Marinette was hunkered under her desk, Alya beside her. Nino had been thrown into the aisle, but was similarly scrambling to get to their friends.

“What the hell?” he asked, voice shaking as he pulled Adrien nearer, picking him up so he wouldn’t walk on the glass. “What’s going on?”

“Angry,” Marinette whispered, eyes locked on the hole in the wall that revealed the courtyard. “Cheated, jealous—mostly angry.”

“This was a person?” Alya demanded, her hands fisted into the fabric at Marinette’s shoulders.

“I—I don’t know,” said Marinette. “It’s—”

“I,” announced an unfamiliar voice, echoing through the courtyard and their ruined classroom, high and nasally and unpleasant, “am Stormy Weather.”

#miraculous ladybug #spooky ml au #clare's writing #is this corny?? i think it's corny but it's like midnight and i also don't give a heck

[thecorteztwins]

Sorry meant to do this on a Munday but you say OOC you like fashion and style do you have any advice?

Hey bae! Thanks for asking, that’s so flattering! I’m far from a style guru, but this has been my own journey/what works for me:- Fashion sense is something you can learn. I don’t have an innate fashion sense and I never did. I chose to deliberately try to learn, and I am still learning. There is a section of books on fashion guidelines and advice at my local public library, there probably is at yours too. That’s a good place to get started. I’d recommend starting with these rather than magazines, because magazines focus on trends and what’s the latest, whereas this how-to guidebooks tend to focus more on the foundations of fashion, which is a much better starting point and remain pretty stable from season to season, year to year. I also recommend the library since, obviously, you won’t have to huck out money for it. Websites are another free option.- These books will usually teach you about colors, shapes, and proportion in regards to clothing and how it looks on a body. These are really integral things to understand for how an outfit looks. Eventually, you’ll develop an eye for these things on your own, but understanding WHY something looks good or not is a good place to start.

- Color was a big obstacle for me. I have perfect color vision, but no real natural sense of what colors look good together at all. This really got in my way while drawing (a big reason I originally got into fashion was for reference with what my characters would wear >- Black/white is always a good combo in my opinion. Supposedly some seasons shouldn’t wear pure black or pure white (remember what I said about it just being guidelines, not rules?) but I think it looks good on everyone. A whole lot of my stuff and my outfits are black/white (which also spares me some color anxiety)- Owning things that look like they go to together is a good idea. It makes for a consistent style, and easy to mix and match pieces, instead of having a skirt that only goes with one of your tops, or a color that doesn’t work with anything else you own. To this, try to look at the pieces you like, and find what specifically it is that attracts you. Do you like things with lace? Decorative pockets? Minimalist, streamlined things?  Figure out the pattern(s) and start buying based on that, so a lot of your stuff looks like it all goes together. Also think of what you already have when you’re shopping, so you don’t buy anything that won’t look good with your stuff AND so you don’t buy something you already have (I tend to try to always buy the same pretty white blouse >- Just me personally, I don’t buy anything that I don’t try on first. I need see how it looks on me and how it feels. Not only can clothing look very different on you than it does on the hanger, the feel and fit is very important. Figuring out what you DON’T like and want to avoid is as important as what you like, so you don’t buy something you hate. I see a lots of tops I love, but if they have cap sleeves, it’s a NO, I fucking HATE those things. - Speaking of things you hate, don’t put up with wearing something uncomfortable. even a special occasion have something that looks nice that you can stand to be in at length. I don’t subscribe to the “beauty is pain” mentality, I think fashion should be enjoyable. I know I’ve really grown to love it and it makes me feel good. I think it should make you feel good. It should work for YOU, you should not be making sacrifices for IT. This also means don’t bother with trends you don’t like, or wear something you don’t like just because it looks good on you.- Another good reason not to buy before you try it on is that women’s sizes make no sense. They vary WILDLY from brand to brand and store to store. The numbers seriously mean nothing. Speaking of size, I hear some women saying they’ll start buying nice things and dressing nice when they lose weight. As someone who is not overweight, I know this is easy for me to say, especially with how cruel the world can be, but I think that you should dress for you NOW, not make nice clothes something you only “deserve” once you’re a certain size. - Learn the “rules” but use your judgement. For instance, supposedly kelly green goes with navy and with pink. I don’t think kelly green looks good with navy at all, and while it may not be terrible with pink but I’d rather put pink with a seafoam or mint or spring green. Maybe that’s just because I don’t have a natural sense of color (though I think I’ve learned a pretty good sense now?), but I just don’t like how it looks. So I don’t wear kelly green with my navy or pink stuff (or at all, actually—I don’t wear green, orange, red, yellow, or brown. Just doesn’t look good on me!!)- Accessories totally change an outfit’s vibe. A different jacket and jewelry can take you from dressy to casual, girly to tomboy to rocker. For instance, let’s say I’ve got a basic black tank, some tight charcoal pants, and tall boots. If I put on a flannel, a studded wristband, and my unisex black/silver necklace, I look a lot edgier/punkier. If I put on my flowy black cardigan, pearl cocktail ring, and layer some pearl necklaces, it’s a totally different vibe. But it’s the same basic pieces. This is why, if you like to do different looks like I do, having a wide range of accessories can let you do that without needing to buy lots of different styles of clothing. You can also get a lot of good-looking jewelry very cheap without it looking cheap; I got a couple of necklaces today from an antique mart that were five bucks each, but they don’t look like plastic junk or anything.- Purses are part of your outfit, so I recommend a plain one in black (or whatever neutral works best for the majority colors in your wardrobe) that you can just grab every day without having to think about it if you’re in a hurry, and then other ones in other styles and colors you can pair with your outfits based on style, color, and occasion. I’ve got a plain black one, but I’ve also got another black one that’s sleeker and has some edgy hardware on it (metal buckles, grommets, etc.) so it has a more punk look, a quilted pink one when I wear pink and purple and white stuff, a white wicker one, and a tan one to go with my navy dress and navy top. - Don’t go out and buy a bunch of new stuff at once. I accumulated my jewelry and purses and so on over literal YEARS as I developed my look and my eye for things. I think if you tried to build an entire new look all at once, you’d make a lot of mistakes and spend a lot of money for it, which would suck. I started with making small purchases from thrift stores, like buying one or two tops at a time from Goodwill for under $10, so the change was gradual and organic and I could get more confident about wearing pretty things before I spent oodles of money on them (because if you get something cute but still don’t have the guts to wear it, what’s the point?) You can experiment without breaking the bank, and learn what you like. I still try to avoid spending much money at a time on anything, really. If you’re going to invest in something though, I think it should be something you’re going to wear very often (like boots) instead of something you’re only going to wear like once, but unfortunately special occasions clothing does tend to be pricier, so I would get a couple Special Occasions dresses you can wear for Special Occasions repeatedly instead of getting a new one every time. For instance, my personal go-to for family gatherings is an Audrey Hepburn/Coco Chanel black dress with a white collar paired with a simple strand of pearls. It looks great, the aunts love it, and since they’re only seeing it once or twice a year, it doesn’t end up being a “oh she’s just wearing the same old thing again” situation.I hope this helped! I admit I kinda went with the assumption you’re a girl because…I don’t really know shit about men’s fashion or much care, because I find it really boring and limited >> And also have no experience dressing in men’s styles either. But I feel like a lot of this could apply for guys and/or people wearing masculine-coded things too!

#out of cortez #fashion #advice