#This is more graphic than I usually draw but it was a fun experiment!

[zeramara]

Hello Trigunblr, happy WooWoo Wednesday! I drew a poster for Tristamp for one of my class finals, really pleased with how it turned out! There's an animated version where the markings glow and fade away, I'll add it under the cut.

(Note for this version, I made it before I realized that I forgot to add Meryl and Vash's earrings, but I'm too lazy to fix it rn)

#my art #trigun stampede #trigun #tristamp #vash the stampede #nicholas d. wolfwood #meryl stryfe #fanart #trigun fanart #sorry Roberto I had to sacrifice you for the composition 😔 #I accidentally posted the version without their earrings on insta I'm so mad 😤 #too late to fix it now though #I'm kinda sad you can't see Wolfwood's face but at the same time #something something Vash trusting Wolfwood to have his back #dw I've got other ww art in the works #I wanted the roots to look reminiscent of a wing so hopefully that comes across #This is more graphic than I usually draw but it was a fun experiment! #millions knives #oops I forgot abt him LMAO #illustration

[multi-fan-dom-madness]

Midnight Masquerade - Hunter

Chapter Summary: The bottle lands on Hunter, and you get a classic monsterfuck.

Chapter Warnings: minors be gone; werewolf!Hunter x f!reader, kinks: predator/prey + knotting; desired fear, discussion of consent and rules, thrill of the chase, hiding, oral (f receiving), slightly graphic description of werewolf transformation, pain, unprotected PiV sex, multiple orgasms, creampie, lots of cum, breeding kink if you squint and hold it sideways, mentions of blood, one instance of near dub-con (reader says “i can’t” and Hunter says otherwise), some aftercare

Word Count: 4.0k (i'm not even ashamed of this one)

A/N: please please heed the warnings on this one. while there is a discussion of consent at the beginning, once the werewolf appears, there is no more discussion. I will say right now: reader wants everything that happens. the fear reader experiences is akin to the desired fear one gets from going through haunted houses or watching scary movies. it costs nothing to keep on scrolling if you don't think you're the intended audience for this fic.

also yes i'm posting this on the full moon. and yes it's the Hunter's Moon. i planned this >:)

...Hunter. 

As the bottle rocks to a halt, you glance up to meet Hunter’s piercing gaze. He’s always been extra perceptive, always had the ability to make you feel like he’s seeing through you, but tonight, with magic coursing through him, his eyes pin you in place. A smirk tilts the corners of his mouth up. 

Your breath shudders out of your chest in anticipation as you let your eyes wander over his costume-turned-reality. Ragged lumberjack plaid stretches over his broad shoulders, torn in places to reveal the continuation of his skeleton tattoo. His teeth have sharpened into points, bared in a grin as the smirk on his face widens. Even his hair, usually so neatly held back by his bandana, is fluffier, longer, wilder.

The strobing, dancing lights reflect yellow eyeshine in his gaze, and you shiver. Arousal already begins to pool in your lower belly, molten heat stirring faintly. Hunter’s nostrils flare as he breathes in. The way his eyes flutter lets you know that he can smell you even amidst the press of sweaty bodies, spilled alcohol, and sickly sweet fog. A whimper falls from you, unheard by anyone except him. 

Hunter twirls a fresh shot of clear alcohol between his fingers. “Well, mesh’la?” 

“U-Um,” you say. The rest of the troopers at the table don’t even bother to hide their smug smirks. “Yeah. Let’s do this.” 

Downing the shot, Hunter slams the glass on the table, shaking his unruly curls out of his face. Then he stands, his broad shoulders and narrow waist drawing your gaze down. Already you catch the hint of a bulge outlined at the apex of his thighs. Your mouth waters, body coming alive with electric desire, and you resist the impulse to squeeze your legs together.

Following his lead, you stand as well. He tucks you against his side and leads you through the crowd. Pressed against him, your senses are flooded with the furnace-like heat he radiates, the unique scent of spice and dirt that fills your nose, the tingling sense of controlled danger where his claw-tipped fingers scratch ever so lightly against your waist. You swallow heavily. Kriff, this is going to be a fun night, and you’re grateful once again to whoever sent you the invite to this party. 

To your surprise, Hunter steers you towards the bar. With gentle pressure on your lower back, he guides you to one of the leather stools, but remains standing himself. He leans his forearm on the sticky bartop next to you, his other hand resting on the swell of your thigh. 

“Need some more liquid courage, Sarge?” you say with a teasing smile, your words sounding much more cool and collected than you actually feel. 

He barks a short laugh. “Hardly. No, I would rather keep this experience between us from start to finish. I...” He trails off, eyes studying your face before drifting down to your body, sitting stiff and wound up before him. His tongue darts out to wet his lips. “...want you to know what you’re getting into.”

“And what is it that I’m getting into?” you ask. You lean closer to him, so close you can feel his warm breath puffing over your face.

“An experience that requires a few ground rules.” 

You nod for him to continue.

“One: when I catch you, don’t run,” he says. 

The bottom of your stomach drops out with excitement. “‘When’?” 

The grin he gives you is wolfish—there’s no other word for it. His teeth bare in a smile masquerading as a snarl, eyeshine glinting once again. “That’s right.” 

“W-What’s rule two?” 

“If you change your mind, you fight as hard as you can. And hit the panic button on this comlink.” He slips the small metal device from his jeans pocket and holds it between clawed fingers. “I don’t know how much I’ll be able to stay in control if I transform.” 

Gripping the comlink with shaking fingers, you locate the panic button and, with a nod, tuck the device into your pocket. “Rule three?” 

Hunter tilts his head, seeming to look through you again. You fidget in your seat until you realize he must be listening to your body—you become intensely aware of the way that your heart hammers against your ribcage, pulse racing, and of the heat scorching through your veins only to pool deep in your core. When he refocuses on your face again, your cunt clenches around nothing at the hungry look in his eyes.

“Rule three,” he echoes, “don’t hold back.” 

He tilts your head up to capture your lips in a searing kiss. You moan in surprise, body melting with little resistance into his touch. His teeth nip at your bottom lip, not enough to draw blood, but enough that the quick sting sends a jolt of pleasure through you. Resting your palms on his chest, you delight in the way his muscles flex and how he seems to quiver. Like he’s holding himself back, despite his order for you to do the opposite.

You break away with a gasp. Hunter nudges your face to the side and, growling, presses his nose to the pulse point below your jaw. You gasp as he inhales your scent.

“Fuck, mesh’la,” he rasps, his words only meant for you, “you smell good enough to eat.” 

You bite your lip to keep your moan contained, still aware of the bartender shooting you a mildly amused look and of the dozens of people around you right now. As if he can sense you holding back—because he probably can—Hunter bites your neck. 

“Rule three,” he husks. 

“I’ll follow your rules if you follow them, too,” you gasp out. “Don’t you dare hold back, either.” 

He pulls back from you, hooded eyes meeting yours. Whatever he searches for in your gaze, he must find, because a slow, predatory grin spreads over his face. 

“Deal,” he says. “I’ll give you a head start. And then I’m going to fuck you, wherever I find you. Understood?” 

You can’t stop the whine that slips from your throat. “Y-Yes. Understood.” 

“Good.” He steadies you as you slide off the stool onto shaky legs. “Now run.” 

Your brain is several seconds behind, still stuck on the barely-contained growl in his voice and the way your skin shivers with goosebumps, but your body reacts immediately. Legs pumping, you take off through the crowd. Half-assed apologies tumble from you as you knock into people. You have no idea where you’re running to—you don’t even know how much of a head start he’s giving you. You just know you have to hide. Every instinct in you screams to run, to get to safety, to evade the burning gaze you can feel on your back even as you duck and weave between troopers.

You dash through an open doorway and skid to a halt, chest heaving with adrenaline. Before you lie several choices: a branching hallway filled with doors, an exit dead ahead, or a stairwell climbing up to a second-story exit. Glancing over your shoulder, you don’t see Hunter following yet. Part of you, a depraved, wholly needy part of you, wonders how much you should even try to hide—but an even more depraved part of you urges you to make it a challenge. How long will it take for him to find you if you try? 

Mind made up, you take the stairs two at a time and shove against the push-bar so the door swings open. But you don’t step through it. Instead, you let it shut on its own, then you turn and, emboldened by equal parts thrill and desire, you brace your hands on the metal bannister. Heaving yourself up over it, you try to keep as little contact with the railing as possible. 

Your stomach lurches as you drop the ten feet to the permacrete flooring. Thankfully, no joints sprain, and you don’t feel any pain in your shins from the impact. 

Unharmed and feeling pleased with yourself, you bolt through the ground-floor exit. 

Outside, the cool night air kisses your skin and wicks away the sweat that’s already gathered along your forehead. Head turning in either direction, you frantically search for someplace to hide. There’s the crystal forest, sure—but you don’t fancy getting poked with a thousand tiny shards like the ones you walked across when you arrived. You could sneak around the building and run back to the tiny spaceport. But that feels too...predictable. Why run when you can try to hide in plain sight?

To your right, a ladder leads up to the second-floor rooftop. Grabbing onto the cold rungs, you pull yourself up, hands and feet flying. You reach the top and, panting, survey your options. 

This rooftop is barren, save for the doorway you assume leads to the stairs you leapt off. But the next building over has several clusters of chairs and tables, tucked into the shadows of a decorative art piece that twists with elegant curves towards the cloud-studded sky. 

You go to take a step when an idea strikes you. You rip off your jacket, baring your arms to the chilled air, and drape it over the edge of the rooftop next to the ladder. Maybe the extra body heat, sweat, and scent clinging to the fabric will draw his attention and throw him off?

You slink to the closed doorway, then leap past it. You really have no idea how much of your scent you’re leaving behind, or what clues he’ll use to find you, but leaving as few footprints behind seems like a safe bet. Once you’re past the doorway, you break into a sprint again. The next-door rooftop isn’t too far, and after a relatively easy jump, you stumble toward the table tucked closest to the art piece. 

As quickly and quietly as you can, you crawl under the small, square table and arrange the chairs to block your body from view. It’s not perfect, by any means, but it’s the best you can do. 

And it’s not a moment too soon. The door on the other rooftop slams open. Hunter’s dark silhouette stalks out. Even from this distance, you can make out the way his head twitches back and forth as he tries to sniff out your trail. Clenching your jaw, you do your best to calm your labored breathing and urge your racing heart to slow. Anticipation trembles in your limbs.

Hunter jogs to the ladder and picks up your discarded jacket. He leans precariously over the edge of the roof, searching, and for a moment you think you’ve won. 

The wind shifts. 

Cool air sighing past you, you shiver as the sweat dries on your skin. A moment later, Hunter’s head snaps up, and he looks straight at you.

His teeth shine as he bares them in a dangerous smile.

“Oh kriff.”  

You gather your feet beneath you before you remember rule one: don’t run. All you can do is sit, frozen and shaking, beneath the would-be safety of the small table. Hunter prowls toward you. 

When he makes the jump between rooftops, you whimper, scrabbling backward until your shoulders bump against the swirling art piece, deeper into the shadows. You know it won’t help, but the darkness is comforting. Cold seeps into your bones even as your body alights once more with fresh arousal. Kark, have his shoulders always been so broad? 

He comes to a stop directly in front of the table you hide beneath. For a moment, you hold your breath, and the world around you seems to freeze. What is he waiting for? 

The table and chairs scatter with a crash as he yanks the furniture away from you. 

You yelp, surprised fear thrumming through your veins. Above you, standing tall and imposing, Hunter cocks his head at you. He tosses your jacket in your lap. 

“Nice trick,” he says. His voice grates against your skin, causing you to shiver. “Woulda worked if the wind hadn’t changed.” Then he shakes his head. “Well, it woulda worked for a moment. Could smell your cunt all the way over there.” 

He lowers until he crouches in front of you. In the faint starlight, his skull tattoo stands in stark relief, a terrifying visage of death. Your lips part as you pant with need. 

“Fuck, you have no idea how good you smell,” he murmurs. His dark gaze rakes over your cowering form, his tongue wetting his lips. “C’mere.” 

Clawed fingers wrapping around your ankles, he yanks you towards him. You yelp, body stretching flat, and he uses your momentary surprise to tear your pants from you. The fabric yields with a loud rrrrrrip, only to hang in tatters from your waist. 

“K-Kriff,” you swear. “Hunter—”

He shushes you gently. “Let me taste you.” 

He hooks one claw under the flimsy elastic band of your underwear and, with a sharp tug, the fabric snaps twice against your skin. When he peels back the ruined undergarment, you both groan at the faint, shimmery line of slick that pulls away with it. 

Like a man starved, Hunter presses your legs wide open and buries his face in your wet pussy. All concerns about your ruined clothes flee as soon as he licks through your folds. You cry out, pleasure rippling through you as his warm mouth envelopes your center. Propping yourself up on one elbow, you twist the fingers of one hand into his curls, holding his head against you. Your hips rock in pure reaction. Hunter growls, the noise vibrating against your clit. His eyes pierce yours, dark wells of lust and need. Your mouth falls open as you moan. The sounds of your pleasure bounce off the sculpture behind you.

“F-Fuck, Hunter!” you squeal as he sucks on your clit. 

He drags his nose through your folds, inhaling your sweet scent. “You’re soaked, mesh’la. Did you like running from me, huh? Liked running from the big bad wolf?” 

“Ye-e-e-es!” you keen, throwing your head back as he fucks you with his tongue. Deep in your belly, the molten lava of your desire begins to solidify into something more solid, something that promises bone-melting pleasure. 

Overhead, past the art installation, you watch with hazy eyes as the clouds drift lazily across the sky. Steadily, the night grows brighter. Though your upper body remains in shadow, your legs, and with them, Hunter, become bathed in silvery moonlight. 

Hunter’s grip on your thighs turns painful. His claws press a little too hard against your soft skin. Wincing, you snap your attention back to where Hunter’s mouth closes around your cunt. A moan punches out of your chest as you watch his eyes blink rapidly, shifting from lust-blown to golden and shining, alight with an intelligence that isn’t quite human. 

He shoves himself back from you, stumbling away, his entire body convulsing. “D-Don’t run,” is all he manages to grit out before—

Snap! 

You gasp, unable to do anything but watch with wide eyes as Hunter’s body violently contorts and transforms before you. His limbs elongate, knees bending unnaturally, ribs cracking as a new form tears itself out of his skin. Fear and desire chase each other through your body; you don’t know which one you feel most intensely.

With a deep, sonorous howl, the Hunter you know is replaced by a hulking wolven beast. Crouched on two legs, the werewolf pants heavily, staring down at massive, clawed hands. Hunter’s clothes hang off the beast in rags, shredded by the way his body swelled and grew during the transformation. But what strikes you the most is his fur. Dark gray fur, shot through with white streaks, falls in a shaggy coat all across his body. With a jolt you realize the white fur matches exactly the skeleton tattoo Hunter bears—in his wolf form, the tattoo is still humanoid, reflecting the person now trapped within.

“H-Hunter?” you ask, voice shaky and tentative. 

The wolf snaps his attention to you. Those bright, intelligent golden eyes lock onto yours as a snarl, animalistic and deep, tears from him, his teeth bared. His snout, rough and ridged, twitches as he scents you. Your legs remain open, slick folds still bared and glistening in the moonlight.

Dropping onto all fours, the werewolf sniffs the air again. Then, quicker than you can fully process, the wolf pounces. His claws dig into your sides as he drags you closer once more, a startled scream tearing from your throat. The sound only seems to encourage him. Growling deep in his chest, Hunter—the werewolf—he lowers his head and licks a stripe up your pussy. 

You gasp at the odd sensation. His tongue is long and rough against your sensitive skin, but you find it strangely pleasurable. A shudder runs up your body as the wolf laps at your dripping core; the heat simmering in your lower belly blazes back to life, a raging inferno of need blinding you to the fear of what this wolf really could do to you if he wanted. But you don’t dare move within his grasp.

You fight to keep your hips still as you watch the werewolf lick your cunt. Gasping for breath, you catch sight of something—something thick and red, hanging between his thighs. 

A groan claws out of you. “F-Fuck. Hunter, please.” 

Whether the werewolf understands you or not, you’re unsure, but he withdraws his mouth, the fur around his lips soaked with your juices. You heave a shuddering gasp as he hooks one large hand under your ass, angling your body. His other hand wraps around his large, throbbing cock. Watching in fascination, you moan as the slim, pointed tip drags through your soaked folds. 

“Please,” you whimper. “Please.” 

With another low growl, Hunter thrusts into you, burying his thick length to the hilt. You shout, pleasure and pain biting through you in equal measures, as he splits you open. Walls fluttering around the intrusion, you go boneless, forcing yourself to relax. 

Hunter sets a brutal, punishing pace. His cock reaches parts of you no one ever has before, stretching you in ways that you’re sure will ruin you for anyone else. High, heady moans tumble from you with every sharp thrust of his hips, your nipples pebbled in the cold night air. One of your hands squeezes the soft flesh of your breasts, the other snaking down between your bodies to circle around your clit. Pleasure spikes within you, orgasm drawing closer as you play with yourself. 

“G-Gonna—” You let out a choked moan. “Gonna cum.” 

Maybe the wolf does understand you, because he bares his teeth in a terrifying display, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. Spit drools onto your heated skin. Gathering some of it on your fingers, you return to your clit to rub frantic circles there. 

Hunter adjusts the angle of your hips by a fraction, and you cum with a scream as he drives into that one devastating spot inside you. Back arching off the permacrete ground, your vision whites out as the wolf fucks you through your orgasm. Wave after wave after wave of pleasure crests over you, until you’re sobbing from overstimulation. 

Pushing with weak arms on the wolf’s chest, you somehow manage to get him to pull out of you, to give you a moment to catch your breath and recover. The wolf looms over you, panting and drooling. His cock twitches when you reach down to stroke the strange appendage.

“Good boy,” you mutter, leaning up to press a kiss to the tip of his nose. On a whim, you reach up to scratch behind one of his ears. The wolf’s eyes slide shut, a pleased hum vibrating in his chest.

Then his instincts seem to kick back in. With a huff, Hunter flips you, his nails scratching across the soft skin of your tummy. Chest pressed to the ground, ass in the air, you whine brokenly as he pushes his length into your tight heat once again. You rock your hips, meeting him thrust for thrust, mind melting into incoherency as he fucks against that shattered piece of heaven in your cunt. A second orgasm begins to build in your lower belly, and you desperately chase it, circling your clit once again. 

Hunter is getting close as well. His incessant growls are steadily becoming higher, more akin to whines than snarls. His claws dig into your flesh hard enough to break skin; tiny rivulets of blood slide down your front. You don’t care, just so long as he makes you cum again. Tears form in the corners of your eyes as your body winds tighter and tighter, orgasm threatening to pull you under at any moment. In your slick cunt, Hunter’s cock pulses, and seems to bulge. 

Then, without warning, he buries himself in you as deep as he can go. You cry out, body shuddering with pleasure as his cock—swelling and knotting—presses against your walls. You cum on his knot like that, squealing in delight, nerves obliterated and frayed as he cums with a howl. Knot pulsing, he paints your insides with ropes of hot cum that just don’t seem to stop. He fills you to the brim, and then some—you can feel his hot spend dripping down your thighs where it leaks out past his cock.

Slowly, Hunter begins to transform back into himself. His fingernails shrink, pulling the tips from your body. His fur dissolves into ash, and now against your back, his sweaty skin sticks to yours where he gasps for air. But his cock remains knotted in your cunt, both of you swollen and sensitive. 

You regain the ability to talk before he does. “H-Hunter. Hey. You okay?” 

He hums, forehead pressed between your shoulder blades. 

“I need a verbal answer,” you say between pants. 

“I’m—fuck, I’m good.” He pushes himself off you with shaky arms. But he remains kneeling behind you, locked in your tight walls. “Did I hurt you?” 

“Not in any way that I didn’t like,” you say. “Honestly kind of forgot about the panic button. Not that I wanted to use it,” you hurry to add. “That was... I don’t even have the words. ‘Amazing’ doesn’t cut it.” 

He chuckles, and the vibrations make you both moan. Your pussy clenches weakly around him. With warm, human fingers, Hunter squeezes the flesh of your ass and rocks you gently back and forth. 

“Oh stars,” you breathe. “I can’t, Hunter, it’s too much—”

“You can,” he murmurs. His hands help you move, each gentle thrust loosening the knot still swollen inside you. “You can take it, mesh’la.” 

Keening, your hands scrabble for purchase. Fingers wrapping around his wrists where he holds you, you crane your neck to look back at him over your shoulder. His face is sweaty, hair plastered to his skin, and his lips are flushed and swollen. His eyes are half-lidded and still dark with lust. In a word, he looks debauched. When his gaze meets yours, he smirks.

“That’s it,” he encourages, thumbs rubbing soothing circles into your hips. “Just like that.” 

You cum again, preening under his praise despite the way your aching body screams for rest. This orgasm is slow, bone-deep and debilitating in its power. But the extra gush of slick is enough to push Hunter out of you. You both groan at the sensation of separating. 

“Look at that,” Hunter murmurs. When you glance back again, his eyes are transfixed on your cunt. His cum, all of it, wells up and spills out of your spent pussy. Seemingly without realizing it, he gathers some of the sticky substance and pushes it back into your cunt with his thumb. 

You hiss. He withdraws his hands, then tugs you up onto your knees and cradles you to his chest. “You did so well, mesh’la.” 

“You, too, Hunter,” you mumble against his skin. For a long while, the pair of you remain there, wrapped in a comforting embrace, until you chuckle. 

“What’s so funny?” he asks. 

“Our clothes are ruined,” you say. “How are we supposed to go anywhere?” 

He laughs with you, despite not having an answer. That’s alright, you think, it’s an excuse to get him into one of those rooms downstairs....

Ragu: @the-hexfiles @thorsterstrudle @dystopicjumpsuit @clonemedickix @freesia-writes @littlemissmanga @wolffegirlsunite @anxiouspineapple99 @wings-and-beskar @sinfulsalutations @523rdrebel @sunshinesdaydream @moonlightwarriorqueen @sev-on-kamino @starrylothcat @deejadabbles @starqueensthings @mandos-mind-trick @idontgetanysleep @eyeluvmusic21 @wizardofrozz @mythical-illustrator @sleepycreativewriter @dreamie411 @bobaprint @imarvelatthestars @originalcollectionartistry @droids-you-are-looking-for @goblininawig @lune-de-miel-au-paradis @9902sgirl @jedi-hawkins if your name has a strikethrough, I can't tag you so check your settings! (if you'd like to be added or removed, click here!)

#tbb hunter x reader #hunter x reader #rhiwrites #midnight masquerade #hallowkink 23 #werewolf smut #werewolf x human #the bad batch x reader #tbb x reader

[kilikina34512]

Hands Off of Me, Please

So this is a bit outside of the usual for this series as I don’t really make it smutty, but I still wanted to write Bucky being more of a typical alpha. Not sure how well I did that, but I still like the story, so I decided to share it. Divider courtesy of @firefly-graphics. Make sure to check them out!

Pairing: alpha!Bucky x omega!reader

Summary: After getting a few "fun" toys to enjoy with your alpha, another alpha decides to make himself a temporary nuisance.

Warnings: A/B/O, alpha/omega, implied smut, sexy time toy shopping

Word Count: 962

A quick, sweet kiss was all you shared with Bucky before, much to his reluctance, you went your separate ways through the mall. Christmas was only a few days away and you had some last minute gifts to get, a few of them for your alpha. This was why you needed him anywhere else.

The holidays were always exciting for you. The omega in you sang in joy at getting to give others presents that brought them joy and happiness.

And thankfully, due to Bucky being an as needed Avenger, you got to do your shopping on Tony’s dime.

You were leaving from buying high quality pencils and charcoals for Steve’s not-so-secret secret love of drawing and on your way to get one of your alpha’s last gifts. The whole trek, you were internally preening at how festive you’d finally finished making your apartment.

The whole compound was decorated, but you’d made sure to do the same in your living space. Warm white strands of Christmas lights were swirled around garland that lined each doorway. Your personal tree that was just taller than Bucky was wrapped in the same lights with a collage of traditional red bauble ornaments and cute ornaments that marked moments in life. Your favorite one was the picture frame of your first Christmas together.

A mixture of Christmas music from both modern day and his era played when you both wanted background music. Your alpha had turned his nose up at Mariah Carey at first, but you saw the reluctant amusement as you bounced, swayed, and acted out how all you wanted for Christmas was him.

You blinked back into reality as you entered the adult store. The omega in you protested going in, knowing your alpha wouldn’t want you possibly around other alphas that had sex on the mind, but you really wanted to get Bucky his last gift.

And that meant pushing your omega’s hesitancy and following through with your shopping.

You grabbed a basket and browse through the items on your way through. The bit of brat in you couldn’t resist grabbing a candle on your way past it. The label that said, “When this candle is lit, gimme that dick!” was too tempting and you knew would provide a good laugh.

After selecting a few more things for fun times, you picked up what you’d aimed for: a plug.

Bucky has whines often that he couldn’t knot you on work mornings, since it would make him late for training, but he hated that you only carried an underlying smell of him. You were mated and bonded so your scents did combine, but you both still had your own primary scent above it your partner’s. Expect post coitus. Then, anyone near you could smell your alpha on you.

This was what led you to research solutions to this problem. A plug that would hold his cream inside you like his knot would.

After picking a black and gold one, naturally to match his vibranium arm, you proceeded to check out. Your experience had been good until then.

Just as you were exiting the store, an arm grabbed yours, halting you in your tracks. “What interesting choices you bought, and as an omega no less. You must be fun in the sack.”

The slimy voice was as grating to your senses as the strong alpha scent of burned rubber and gasoline fumes. Your lips pulled back in a snarl as you tried unsuccessfully to snatch your arm out of his grip.

“Hands off of me, please,” you growled through clenched teeth. Your anger doing nothing but making the smile on his face grow wider.

“I think I’d rather explore those toys with you, omega.”

Before you could fully give into the panic that was starting to sweep through you at the realization of what this strange alpha wanted to do with you, a gloved hand that made a whirling noise gripped the alpha’s wrist.

“I believe my omega told you to remove your hand.” Bucky’s snarl reverberated around you all as rage radiated in the dominance your alpha immediately began projecting. You weren’t sure if it was the pressure Bucky was using or the alpha had some sense of self-preservation, but the hand quickly released your bicep.

Moving you behind him with his flesh palm against your hip, you smiled contentedly as your alpha exuded every bit of the dark danger he could be. None of the sweet, docile, gentle alpha he was with you could be seen outside of his soft hold on you.  The pair stood staring at each other, aggression in each line of their bodies.  You never really saw Bucky like this: standing at his full height, tension lining each inch of him, every muscle ready to strike and defend his mate.  After a few moments of the alpha's sizing each other up, testing who was radiating more dominance, the stranger bowed his head in submission.  “Get lost,” Bucky growled. 

 Thankfully, the other alpha did. Turning on his heels, concern battled with anger in his gaze as your soldier asked, “You okay, ‘Mega?”

“I’m more than fine, Alpha. Thank you for saving me.”

“Always.” He pressed a soft kiss to your forehead before looking down at you, a fire in his eyes. “I need you,” he growled as he pressed his nose against your neck, inhaling sharply. “You don’t smell strongly enough of me.”

Grinning excitedly, you whispered, “I saw a bathroom four stores down that had an out of order sign on it.”

And that’s where you spent the next several minutes with Bucky deep inside you against the wall as you both kept your faces into each other’s necks and shoulders. You to muffle your cries of ecstasy and him to quiet his words of loving possessiveness.  

#bucky fanfic #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes x reader #james bucky barnes #bucky barnes #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes fanfic #alpha!bucky x omega!reader #alpha!bucky #omega!reader #bucky x reader #bucky barnes x fem!reader #alpha/omega #kili stories #252 notes #Nov 15 #2022

[whumpay]

WHUMPAY 2023

Well, this is earlier than usual… But, as a thanks for all y’all’s help getting prompts together, I’ve decided to release the list earlier! And, well… With the new ‘Extreme Edition’ addition, I figured a bit more prep time may be warranted.

Rules:

You only have to use one (Or two, if you’re doing the extreme edition.) prompt a day! But you’re welcome to use multiple if you want to, and it still counts for both.

I know the description of the blog says it’s a writing event, but if you want to draw or make other kinds of content, that’s cool too.

Have fun, tag content warnings (such as noncon, graphic violence, etc) and try not to be crushed by the mortifying ordeal of posting your writing.

This is a pretty chill event so you can start posting whenever but I’ll be reblogging posts made to the #Whumpay2023 tag throughout May.

EXTREME EDITION: Made to be used together with the normal prompt list, the extreme edition prompt list has 31 types of whumpees for you to use. This is entirely optional, and you don’t necessarily need to do them in order. I know it says bonus points, but it basically is just bragging rights.

(Prompt list under the cut.)

GROUP ONE: PHYSICAL WHUMP 

Day 1: Heatstroke

Day 2: Asphyxiation 

Day 3: Physical Torture

Day 4: Passing Out From Pain

Day 5: Near-Death Experience

GROUP TWO: MENTAL WHUMP

Day 6: Psychological Torture

Day 7: Betrayal

Day 8: Claustrophobia

Day 9: Lotus-Eater Machine

Day 10: Trapped In Own Body

GROUP THREE: WHUMPER TYPE

Day 11: Intimate Whumper

Day 12: Good Whumper / Bad Whumper

Day 13: Reluctant Whumper

Day 14: Vengeful Whumper

Day 15: Unintentional Whumper

GROUP FOUR: CARETAKER TYPE

Day 16: Bad Caretaker

Day 17: Parental Caretaker

Day 18: Reluctant Caretaker

Day 19: Carewhumper

Day 20: Enemy-To-Caretaker

GROUP FIVE: SICKFIC

Day 21: Working Through Illness

Day 22: Surgery

Day 23: Worse Than It Seems

Day 24: Allergic Reaction

Day 25: Deadly Illness

GROUP SIX: SICK FIC

Day 26: Scars

Day 27: “I didn’t know where else to go.”

Day 28: Self-Isolation

Day 29: “I won’t let them hurt you anymore.”

Day 30: Nightmares

Day 31: Forced Relaxation

ALTERNATE PROMPTS:

X. Sadistic Choice

X. Epistolary 

X. Dehydration

X. Anger Born Of Worry

X. Death Wish

X. Stress Position

X. Gore

X. Just Out Of Reach

X. Hurt/Comfort

X. Magical Whump

EXTREME EDITION:

Whumpee Type:

Day 1. Vampire

Day 2. Young

Day 3. Stoic

Day 4. Winged

Day 5. Whumper-To-Whumpee

Day 6. Immortal

Day 7. Defiant

Day 8. Demon

Day 9. Villain

Day 10. Possessed

Day 11. Multiple Whumpees

Day 12. Robot/AI

Day 13. Cowboy

Day 14. Team Leader

Day 15. Werewolf

Day 16. Team Outcast

Day 17. Mermaid

Day 18. Asshole

Day 19. Fairy

Day 20. Hero

Day 21. Healer

Day 22. Soft

Day 23. Comedian

Day 24. Compliant

Day 25. Monster

Day 26. Traumatized

Day 27. Touch-Starved

Day 28. Stockholm Syndrome-d.

Day 29. Vengeful

Day 30. Ghost

Day 31. Alien

#whump #whumping #whump prompts #whump writing #whump event #whumpay #whumpay2023

[fanaticsnail]

I watched the Storyteller version of Sapsorrow and knew it sounded familiar! I read "The Magic Fish" by Trung Le Nguyen. It's a graphic novel about a young Vietnamese boy struggling to come out to his friends and parents, particularly because they're immigrants and he feels they might not understand. His mother and him bond over fairy tales and there are three main tales in the novel that are used thematically, the first is Tattercoats (i.e; Sapsorrow), the second is a Vietnamese story Tâm Cám, and the third is the little mermaid. The Tattercoats story is a little different than the Sapsorrow Storyteller version or your version, but the art is beautiful I seriously recommend the book from the art alone (and if not the art, the Vietnamese fairy tale is kind of like Cinderella at the beginning but so interesting and full of plot twists).

I have to thank you for introducing me to Storyteller though, I'm gonna have fun looking at all their other retellings.

Oh my goodness, I know The Magic Fish! I haven't read that one in years!! Thank you for reminding me it exists, sweet snail. I adore it.

Of the Storyteller Series (1988), I have littered some of the plot points in several others.

Remember Me: (Shanks x Bride!Reader), I had "the true bride" in mind. Particularly her apprehension at having her hair touched. In the story in that case, it was a promise to not let another person kiss their cheek - in mine it was a sweep of the hair.

Drawing inspiration from things that impact your heart is so much fun. Makes it all the more real, in my humble opinion.

There are only nine episodes: (All are linked to YouTube for ease)

The Soldier and Death

Fearnot

The Luck Child

A Story Short

Hans My Hedgehog

The Three Ravens

Sapsorrow

The Heartless Giant

The True Bride

I would honestly love to write an OP fic for each of these.

Soldier and Death - Zoro He traps death, now unable to die. He has lived his life to the fullest, but death is the only thing that truly fears him. Reader is the reaper, ordered by Death to not claim him. Fearnot - Luffy He's just a sunshine boy who has never been frightened a day in his life. He wants to experience fear. Just once. The Luck Child - Buggy He is a failing forward king, as the usual. Circumstances demand his death, he continues to thrive. A Story Short - Usopp He has to perform a series of storytelling adventures and present them towards the court for a hundred days. On the hundredth day, he has come up with nothing. What will he do? Hans My Hedgehog - Corazon He will only reveal himself to his wife at night, cursed as a monster within the hours of daylight. She wants to break him of this curse, but has no knowledge to help him. The Three Ravens - Sanji Just imagine Sanji desperately crying out for his love to grace him with the sound of her voice, begging her to say something to aid in her defence - bound to the stake and threatened with death if she does not speak. Ahhhhh. Screaming. Sapsorrow - The one I'm actively working on with Mihawk The Heartless Giant - Doflamingo Speaks for itself, truly. He just is. I could also do this for Sir Crocodile, if I wasn't too busy shipping him with @empressofmankind's Shivs. The True Bride - Already partially did for Shanks. I would love to visit this trope again for him though. Have him be the one with amnesia trope.

Honestly, I would love to do this as a massive moot fairytale collaborative au.

@since-im-already-here - what say you, sis? You reckon I've got the characters and the prompts down for each series?

@gingernut1314, do you know this jim henson series? You want to take a crack at one of them?

@writingmysanity - go on. I know you want to do the Corazon. You so, so want to do the Corazon.

@sordidmusings 👀 c'mon now. Romance, pining. Angst. All that good stuff, dear.

@feral-artistry, you've even already drawn some puppets. You know you want to....

#one piece #opla #opla fic #one piece live action #x reader #buggy #mihawk #shanks #usopp #zoro #sanji #luffy #doflamingo #corazon #the storyteller #the storyteller au #fic prompt

[nymria]

XP PEN REVIEW

I’ve been testing out the Artist 10 2nd Gen tablet sent to me by XP-PEN!

Note, I have previously only used screenless tablets so that will be my point of comparison. I’ll mainly just share my thoughts, likes, dislikes, aspects that stuck out to me.

What I liked

Tablet set-up is pretty simple. Just plug it in, download+install the latest driver(for Artist 10 2nd Gen) on the XP-Pen website, then turn on the tablet. (btw I use Windows, not sure what the experience is like for mac users) 

Clear resolution

I liked how smooth and natural it felt to draw with the pen. There wasn’t any point where I felt that it lagged (while in display mode)

The shortcut keys and especially the artist glove (prevents your skin rubbing against the screen)

Customizable screen settings: I liked being able to watch a video full screen on my laptop while drawing on the tablet. And it was easy to set up! Usually with my screenless tablet I just squeeze the browser and sai into one screen.

Warning: Take care of any unsaved canvases before starting driver installation.

When downloading the driver you will see an .exe file to install. When you click that file and give permission to make changes, it automatically closes any graphics program you have open. After that, a window appears with a warning that reminds you to close them, even though it already closed the programs for you. I found this strange since other softwares that give this type of warning always let me pause to close the programs myself. Luckily sai 2 has a recovery function!

Pen Tablet/Display Mode

The tablet also comes with a “pen tablet” mode that turns off the display and lets you use it like a screenless tablet. I think it works okay, however, something that bugged me is occasionally the cursor would lag before registering that I was moving the pen. 

(Note: if you previously used smaller screenless tablets(like me), this mode may feel jarring to use at first due to the different dimensions.)

Size & Portability

It’s among the smaller options for a display tablet, but part of that is for portability. Normally you need to plug an HDMI and USB adapter into your computer to use this tablet, but you can also connect it to a smartphone and take it anywhere. However, I cannot judge that feature as it requires a USB-C cable sold separately.

Regardless, I appreciate how easy it is to hold and handle, it reminds me of doodling in a notebook. It’s also a bit more convenient for me since it doesn’t take up too much space on my (very crowded) desk. 

If you’re a beginner or a screenless tablet user looking to get a display tablet:

This does not come with a stand. I would suggest getting one for convenience and to help maintain proper posture while drawing and prevent back and neck issues. With a display tablet, there’s a tendency to hunch over while drawing.

The actual screen you draw on is approximately 9 x 5 inches. This can make make drawing feel cramped. (While it is a bigger drawing space than my Intuos draw, I had grown accustomed to staring at a larger computer screen while drawing.) Eventually the space felt less restrictive as I got used to drawing on it

The parallax (distance between pen nib and cursor) is very minimal, but it becomes more noticeable with the small screen size if you’re trying to sketch out a full image or body without zooming in

Overall thoughts

Pretty good. I had fun drawing on this. I’d recommend it as a simple, portable, and affordable option for a display tablet (right now it’s on sale until 02-20-23)

[fluffyprettykitty]

Heart's Delight

Pairing: college! Bruce Banner x insecure! female reader (no other specifications!)

Word Count: 1050 words

Outline: Bruce invites you out for an afternoon at the cinema.

Warnings: insecurities, awkwardness.

Author’s Note: Requested by a nonnie and then you all voted on having this fic with Bruce. I hope everyone will enjoy it!

dividers by @firefly-graphics ​//​ banners by @maysdigitalarts

Main Masterlist ・❥・Bruce Banner Masterlist

You were nervous. 

Well, you were always nervous. 

Just today you were more nervous than usual. 

Bruce Banner, the sweet boy with the dark loose curls and the cutest glasses had asked you to join him at the cinema. He could barely blurt it out at first, his whole face turning into a bright tomato red staring at his feet slurring and repeating his words until you told him that you want to go out with him anywhere he likes. 

So finally you decided on going to the nearby cinema at the mall. It was three stops away from the subway station so it wasn't too far away and hopefully not too busy. 

You didn't have much experience with dating even though you were already in your third year of college, your shy demeanor and lack of confidence kept you behind. But from when you started attending that one class with Bruce, you kept wishing for something to happen between you two. And now it seems it was your time. 

It started with cute messages on pieces of paper then it manifested to study dates for classes and exams until this very morning. Soon he would be leaving for a week on a seminar with his science class and he wanted to squeeze that opportunity now. 

You stare in front of your mirror, dressed in a skirt with thick thighs and your cutest fall boots. After having changed more than ten shirts you settle for the one your roommate suggested hoping someone else's taste was better than yours. Then you stared at the mirror as you started doing your makeup and putting on the final touches. 

Five minutes later you hear a knock on your door and putting on your jacket you shout that you are ready. Grabbing your bag you open the door to look at Bruce dressed in black jeans and a checkered white and red shirt. He looked very handsome and he even was holding a single rose that he offered, you profusely thanked him and placed it on your bedside table. 

The walk and the subway ride went by a breeze as you both were talking still about the morning class. Then easily you chose a movie, you had shared interests before so it wasn't hard to come to a decision. The mall was right at the end of the subway station so it didn’t take you long at all.

But the movie wouldn't start until an hour later and you both weren't hungry, you wanted to try the flavors the cinema provided so you opted for browsing around. After playing a couple of games at the arcade in the back and after Bruce won a teddy bear for you at a machine, he dragged you to the photo booth. 

He nervously placed his hand around you, as you posed for pictures. You tried to ease yourself around his touch, your heart racing at the prospect of him touching you so closely and when you took the film in your hands he looked at you confused. 

"Hey, are you?" Bruce sounds nervous trying to swallow a lump in his throat. "Are you having fun?" 

"Yes, I am having tons of fun." You draw your eyebrows together as you sit down on the bench next to him. “Why would you even ask that?”

"You look…" He seems to be searching for a word. "Like you are not having fun." 

Confused, you look at the pictures in his hands and you immediately realize the problem. You hated your smile because it was crooked and you had long ago learned how to pose for pictures with your serious expression. Which evidently looked very harsh against Bruce's bright smile. 

But you didn't want to tell him that, he would find you superficial or something alongside those lines or he could have thought you were too much or too paranoid so a brief silence filled the noisy room. 

"I don't like pictures that much." 

"I'm sorry I should have asked before dragging you, is it my fault."

"No, Bruce, is alright. Please don't worry about it." 

"You look beautiful though just pissed." 

You laugh and you immediately place the palm of your hand in front of your mouth like you always did in public and that's when he realized. 

"You don't like your smile?" He asks and he seems to be remembering things. "You always place your hand in front of your mouth in class but seldom when we are alone." 

His incredible observational skills have left you both speechless and mortified at the thought that he has possibly been noticing your facial features and expressions too closely. 

He begins to excuse himself again afraid he overstepped a line or has insulted you so you just want the earth to swallow you whole right now. 

"Is fine, Bruce, please don't worry about it ." 

"It's beautiful." 

He is staring at you directly and openly. 

"At first I kept bets with myself thinking I could keep you smiling again and again because you seemed to only be doing it for a couple of seconds." He chuckles and shakes his shoulders. "So I had to keep you laughing just to see you happy like that or…" he shakes his head slowly blushing himself. "Repeat every stupid joke I knew a lot of times till you got probably sick of it." 

Well, you didn't know how to respond to that so you just stared at him. 

"Wait, hang on, I got an idea. " He chuckles and then softly places his fingertips on your cheek, slowly caressing it. And then he started leaning closer and closer, titling his head until his plump lips were softly pressing against yours. 

He pulls away, still gazing at your eyes as you are now smiling at him. 

"There it is, my beautiful Y/N." 

He didn't expect you to like your smile overnight but he was extremely willing to have you at least smiling freely for him. 

When it was time for the movie, it was hard to push back from his face but he delightfully grabbed your hand and lead you first to the booth for a selection of popcorn and then to the cinema itself. 

And somehow you couldn’t stop smiling in the darkness of the theatrical room.

For updates please follow my library blog @fluffyprettykittylibrary and you could even turn on post notifications! :)

#selenewrites #bruce banner #bruce x reader #bruce banner one shot #bruce banner x reader #bruce banner x y/n #bruce banner fanfiction #bruce banner fluff #bruce banner x you #bruce banner fic #hulk #the hulk #bruce banner x female reader #college au #mark ruffalo

[secretswiftymarvelfan]

The Demigod From Asgard - Steve Rogers x Reader (Part 81)

Summary: JJ is Steve’s mini me in many many ways, but there’s somethings Steve wished JJ would never have to experience

Word Count: 4.2k

Warnings: Angst! Bullying! Mention of minor injuries! Language!

Dividers by @firefly-graphics​

Series Masterlist / Masterlist

Chapter 81: I don’t like bullies

4 Years since the snap

Steve was standing at the kitchen counter packing up JJ’s lunchbox ready for school, trying his best to ignore Scout who was sitting right by his feet waiting for any scrap of food to fall to the floor. Steve could feel the chocolate-coloured eyes of the pup following his every move.

“Scout no” Steve warned not looking over at the dog.

Scout just let out a small huff, stamping his paw against the tiled floor of the kitchen.

“why don’t you go get JJ? Where’s JJ?” Steve said hoping Scout’s love for the Kindergartener would overrule his desire for food but there was no chance.

“fine but that’s all you’re getting” Steve sighs finally relenting and tossing Scout a small cube of cheese.

Once the lunchbox was packed Steve checked the time on his watch frowning when he realised it was later than he realised and JJ had yet to come downstairs for breakfast. Pushing the lunchbox to the back of the counter out of Scout's reach before walking down the corridor to the bottom of the stairs.

“C’mon bean, time for breakfast don’t wanna be late for school!” Steve called up the stairs.

He heard shuffling before JJ’s door opened “okay” JJ called back with a sigh.

Walking back into the kitchen Steve plates us JJ’s breakfast placing it down on the table as JJ walks into the kitchen with a large yawn. Steve grabs his cup of coffee watching as JJ sat down and started to slowly eat his breakfast, spending more time pushing it around than actually eating it.

“you okay bean? Did you not sleep well?” Steve asks putting his coffee down on the side.

“Can I stay home today?” JJ asks glancing up from his breakfast at Steve.

Steve frowns since JJ usually was pretty excited to go to school, Steve counted his blessings that his son never had a meltdown or issue going to school like other kids did.

“Why don’t you wanna go to school?” Steve asks moving to sit down at the table.

JJ gives him a small shrug “it’s boring and I wanna stay with Scout” JJ explains.

Steve had to hold back a small smile as he looked over at his son “School is always going to be boring, but it's something we all have to do bean” Steve explains.

“but you don’t” JJ points out making Steve chuckle gently.

“no but that’s because I’m a grown-up, I’ve finished school” Steve explains.

“Can I stay with you then?” JJ asks with a hopeful expression.

“no bean, I have to go to work, it's something I have to do just like you have to go to school,” Steve tells him reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it gently “and school isn’t that bad, you enjoy seeing your friends don’t you? and drawing and all the fun arts and crafts”

“yeah,” JJ says with a long sigh.

“you won’t always like everything they teach you, but it's not all bad” Steve assures him gently.

“I guess” JJ sighs looking down at his breakfast.

“and look it's Thursday today so only two days of school and after school today we can go get some ice cream or something and then tomorrow we’re going to go play with Morgan after school” Steve reminds him smiling when he saw the excitement creep onto JJ’s face.

“Will Uncle Tony have his ironman helmet out again?” JJ asks excitedly.

“maybe, we’ll see,” Steve says, silently cursing Tony for showing that to JJ in the first place “so c’mon eat up so we can head to school so you can go have fun with your friends”

JJ nods eating his breakfast with a lot more enthusiasm. Once breakfast was eaten and JJ was ready, Steve grabbed his backpack and took him out to school. Smiling as he watched JJ jog into class instantly going over to some of his friends with a wide smile on his face. Steve waited a few moments just to make sure everything was okay before setting off in the direction of the compound.

Once he arrived, he found it in the same state it had been the past 4 years, completely deserted, the silence only adding to the haunted feel the campus now had. He quickly found Nat in one of the side rooms off of a lab sitting at a desk and looking at the holographic screen. He leaned against the doorframe silently waiting for her to look up from the screen.

“are you going to say something or continue to hover silently like a concerned parent?” Nat finally spoke, barely glancing over at him.

Steve let out a small huff of a laugh, nodding his head slightly “nice to see you too Romanoff” he greeted with a small smile.

Nat returns his smile with a small one of her own before letting out a long sigh and leaning back in her chair, hands rubbing tiredly over her forehead “what brings you this way then? Not got a support group to run today?” she asks.

Steve shrugs his shoulders glancing around at the room, eyes falling on all the different knickknacks that had accumulated over the years “laundry?” he offers looking back over at her.

Nat lets out a quick snort of laughter “I know for a fact you have a perfectly good washing machine at home, JJ told me all about how it sings a song when it’s finished” Nat says as Steve walked over and sat down opposite her.

“Did he do his own rendition of it?” Steve asks with a smirk.

“yep multiple times” Nat nods slowly, smiling warmly to herself “so what really brought you here?” she asks after a moment of silence.

“Just thought I’d pay you a visit, I know this place is even quieter now Bruce moved out a few months back” Steve admits leaning back in his chair.

Nat lets out a quiet scoff shaking her head slightly as she looks off to the side “I’m fine Steve, I don’t need babysitting” she states glancing over at him momentarily.

“I’m not saying you do, I just wanted to make sure you weren’t alone, gotta have each other’s backs” Steve placates her gently.

“I know, I’m sorry, just been a bit of a rough start to the day” Nat apologises shaking her head as she looked down.

“What happened?” Steve asked crossing his arms over his chest.

“Ronin” Nat sighed pulling up one of the holograms for Steve to see.

Steve let out a long sigh as he looked over the pictures of a Mandripoor crime family that had been ruthlessly slaughtered. He glanced back over at Nat to see her struggling to bring herself to look at the photos, he quickly dismissed them, turning off the hologram.

“we still don’t know for certain who it is remember,” Steve says, but even he could hear how unconvincing he sounded.

“it's him, I know it is I just-“ Nat said with a shaky sigh “I don’t understand why, why not come to us? I keep thinking about it and the only reason I can think of is that he blames us, just like everyone else”

“he doesn’t, there is no way he could possibly blame us, or you,” Steve says sitting up and reaching out to put his hand on her arm “he would know that you did everything in your power to stop it”

“then why is he doing this?” Nat asks him, her eyes glassy as she looked over at him.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry” Steve sighed shaking his head wishing her could give her a better answer “but look why don’t you stop thinking and worrying about this now, and focus on something different, being constantly surrounded by this probably isn’t good for you, you know that offer of you taking our spare room is still there, I know JJ would love to have his Auntie Nat around more” Steve offers with a small smile.

Nat smiles gently but shakes her head “I’m good thanks someone needs to stay here and make sure nothing goes wrong, or no one stupid like Scott tries to break in again” Nat says making Steve let out a huff of a laugh.

“I still can’t believe you hid that from us” Steve smirks shaking his head.

“yeah well Sam was pretty embarrassed so you can’t blame him” Nat chuckled.

“right c’mon then, pass over some of those files, let's see if we can get through these together,” Steve says holding out his hand.

“Steve you don’t have to,” Nat says shaking her head.

“I know but I want to, now c’mon” Steve smiled gesturing for the files again.

Nat rolls her eyes playfully but still passes over the files “thanks Rogers”

A couple of hours had passed and Steve and Nat had managed to work their way through the majority of the files, stopping only to make themselves lunch. While Nat was making them both a sandwich Steve’s phone began to ring, he stepped outside when he saw that it was JJ’s school calling him.

“well if I was in any doubt whether JJ was my son or not,” Steve said with an annoyed sigh as he stepped back into the kitchen.

“what’s happened?” Nat asks brows furrowed as she put the knife down and turned to face him.

“JJ’s been in a fight at school, I have to go in to talk to the principal” Steve sighed rubbing his forehead.

“shit, is he okay?” Nat asked.

“I don’t know they said he wasn’t badly hurt, just a couple bumps and scratches, but the other kid….” Steve sighed voice tailing off at the end.

“fuck do you want me to come with you?” Nat asked him as Steve made sure he had everything.

“no I should be fine, but thanks anyway” Steve sighed giving his pockets another tap over.

“It's okay, here take this, you’ll get hungry,” Nat says quickly wrapping up the peanut butter sandwich and passing it over.

Steve lets out a small concerned sigh as he thought about JJ “he didn’t want to go to school this morning” Steve admits “what- what if he’s getting bullied or something?”

Steve knew all too well how brutal school bullies could be, even at a young age. Despite it being many lifetimes ago since Steve was a kid getting bullied and beaten up, he still remembers it clearly. The idea of his son going through the exact same thing broke his heart.

“Did he say that?” Nat asks him.

Steve shakes his head “no he just said it was boring, but what if that was a lie” he sighs.

“It's a possibility, or he did just find it boring, this fight could be over something like taking a toy, you don’t have all the information yet so don’t jump to conclusions” Nat reassures him gently “and if he is, then we’ll deal with it, he’s got a whole lot of aunties and uncles fighting his corner”

“thank you Nat, I’ll see you later” Steve smiles gratefully before quickly heading off towards his car.

The entire drive from the compound to the school Steve’s mind raced at a million miles per hour. JJ was the sweetest kid on the planet, wouldn’t hurt a butterfly, even when he threw a tantrum. So to Steve it seemed impossible that JJ could have gotten into a fight that ended so badly. He just hoped Nat was right and he wasn’t being bullied.

Once he arrived at the school Steve quickly made his way through the hallways towards the principles office. As he rounded the corner he spotted JJ sitting on his own outside the office, his head downcast, his body shaking gently as he sniffled. Steve was over like a shot bending down in front of JJ, his hands cupping JJ’s cheeks to examine the scratches and bruises forming.

“hey bean, what happened? Are you okay?” Steve asked gently.

JJ just nodded, his hand wiping his nose as he sniffled back some tears.

“can you tell me what happened?” Steve pressed, but JJ just shook his head.

“Mr Rogers I’m glad you could come in” the principal, Ms Owens says grabbing Steve’s attention.

Steve stood up shaking her hand “not a problem, what happened?” he asked her.

“we’re still in the process of working it all out, but if you could join us in my office hopefully we can get it all straightened out,” she says nodding down to JJ.

“yes of course” Steve nods gesturing for JJ to follow him into the office.

Once they were sat down Ms Owens leaned forward against her desk “so far we have little information, other than what the teachers saw and from what Robbie told us, since JJ has refused to say anything” she explains.

Steve glanced over at JJ confused, watching as his head dipped more, his fingers nervously fidgeting in his lap.

“what do you know?” steve asked looking back over at Ms Owens.

“that Robbie and JJ were playing together, JJ told Robbie to shut up and that he was stupid, he proceeded to push Robbie and it spiralled into a fight that ended up with JJ punching Robbie and breaking his nose” Ms Owens recounted with a sigh.

Steve felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he heard what happened, he couldn’t believe JJ was the one who started the fight “James is this true?” Steve asked as he looked over at JJ.

JJ nodded his head slightly making Steve let out a long sigh “James I’m really disappointed, this isn’t like you at all” Steve sighed.

“you’re right, we’re struggling to understand how this happened,” Ms Owens says “JJ is one of the nicest kids in the year, I don’t think we have the full picture”

Steve turns in his seat to look at JJ, putting a hand on his shoulder “JJ did something happen that you aren’t telling us about?” Steve asked him gently.

JJ sniffles slightly before looking up and over at Steve “promise you won’t be mad” he sniffled.

Steve sighed deeply before nodding his head “I promise”

“he was saying mean things about you and mommy” JJ admitted his voice and lower lip wobbling.

“What kind of things JJ?” Ms Owens pressed gently.

“he- he said you were bad people and- and should be in jail and- and you should have disappeared like mommy” JJ admitted tears streaming down his face.

“hey, hey it's okay c’mere” Steve sighed sadly opening his arms up, JJ instantly hopped out of his chair and climbed into Steve’s lap.

Steve held JJ close as he broke down, small hiccups escaping as he cried so much. Ms Owens walked around from her desk, grabbing a box of tissues and offering them over to JJ, and then to Steve. Steve gratefully took one as he struggled to hold back his own tears at what JJ had just admitted. All these years on Steve still struggled without you, so to hear a kid tell his son that it was good you were gone because of what happened with the accords sickened him.

“is-“ Steve started before clearing his throat “is this why you didn’t want to come to school today bean?”

JJ nodded his head weakly, his face still buried in Steve's chest as he cried.

“was it just today that Robbie said mean things about mommy and daddy, or has he done it before?” Ms Owens asked gently.

“before” JJ hiccupped.

“Okay, well thank you for telling us JJ, it was really brave of you, but it isn’t right to hurt people okay, no matter how mean they are, you should have told your teacher,” Ms Owens tells him with a sigh.

“Okay, I’m sorry” JJ apologises sadly.

“what happens now?” Steve asks as he continues to rub JJ’s back to soothe him.

“I’ll talk to Mr and Mrs Pronge about what Robbie did, usually when it's comments like this it's just the child repeating what the parents said, either way he will still be punished and suspended for bullying,” Ms Owen says moving back round her desk to sit down.

“And what about JJ?” Steve asks.

“well since he has caused harm to another pupil I do still have to suspend him, but because of the circumstances it will only be for tomorrow and then on Monday we can start the week fresh” Ms Owens explains.

“Okay, thank you” Steve nods, glancing down to JJ who had finally calmed down “it’s all going to be sorted bean, you don’t need to worry about Robbie anymore”

“yes, we’ll have the teachers keep a closer eye on him and remember if anything else happens you go straight to the teacher to deal with it,” Ms Owen tells him.

“Okay, I will” JJ nods his head wiping away the last of his tears.

“good now why don’t you wait here with daddy while I go grab your bag and stuff from your classroom” Ms Owens offers.

“that would be great thank you,” Steve says gratefully, knowing the last thing JJ would want to do is go back to class and have all the kids watch him get his stuff.

“it's nothing, I’ll be right back” Ms Owens smiles gently.

Once they had JJ’s stuff, Steve walked JJ back to the car, holding onto his hand “can we still go get ice cream like you said?” JJ asks as they got to the car.

“no sorry bean,” Steve says as he opens the door, helping JJ into his seat “I know you were just looking out for me and mommy but you can’t hit people so I still have to punish you for that”

JJ looks down with a sad sigh “okay” he says in disappointment.

“you have to remember that you’re stronger than the other kids, so you have to be gentle, no hurting people,” Steve says brushing JJ’s blond locks back off his face.

“I know, I just got so mad” JJ admits looking back up at Steve.

“I know, I would be mad too hearing what he said, but even when you get mad you can’t hurt people, you just got to take deep breaths and stay calm” Steve explains gently.

“like uncle Bruce?” JJ asks making Steve chuckle gently.

“yes like uncle Bruce” Steve smiles.

“Can I still go play with Morgan tomorrow?” JJ then asks hopefully.

“yes but only if you finish the work the school sends, just because you won’t be going to school, doesn’t mean you get to play all day,” Steve tells him.

“okay” JJ nods in agreement.

“Good, now let's head back to the compound and get Scout and you can see Auntie Nat” Steve smiles, JJ smiling in excitement making Steve happy to see him smiling again.

The next day JJ’s mood had improved tenfold, Steve was relieved at how quickly he could bounce back to his happy-go-lucky self. A fact Steve couldn’t say about himself, for the rest of the day yesterday and all of today Steve was stuck in his head. The words spoken by a 5-year-old kid rattling around inside his brain making him feel sick.

Steve was past the point of caring what people thought about his actions following the accords. He knew he made the right choice. The part that was bothering him was that there were people out there that were glad that you and the others who followed him were gone, that they thought he too should be gone. He struggled to comprehend how people could be so cruel to wish a child to be orphaned, or worse, gone too.

“Daddy c’mon Morgan’s waiting!” JJ complained loudly from the back seat of the car.

“Hm?” Steve hummed before snapping back into the moment “yeah, of course, sorry bean” Steve nods quickly putting the car into park and getting out to open JJ’s door.

As soon as he could JJ jumped out of the car, Scout quickly following behind, the pair of them running straight towards the small tent that the 4-year-old Morgan played in. Steve followed slowly, heading up the stairs to the porch where he found Pepper sitting reading a book.

“Hi Steve, how are you doing?” Pepper smiled putting her book down and standing up to give him a hug.

“fine, how are you?” Steve nods shoving his hands in his pockets as he took a step back.

“good, keeping busy, Tony should be home soon he’s just gone to visit Rhodey” Pepper explains “do you want a drink?” she asks pointing to the pitcher of iced tea.

“yeah that’ll be great thanks, how is Rhodey? I haven’t spoken to him for a while” Steve asks as Pepper pours him a glass.

“good, pretty busy with everything but I’m sure you know what it's like, always serving” Pepper comments passing him his drink.

Steve just hums taking a sip of his drink so he had an excuse not to answer. He looked out over at the kids, watching the two of them play with Scout. The sound of their giggles echoed through the trees.

“Morgan’s getting big” Steve comments.

“yeah it’s insane how time flies with them, feels like only yesterday that I found out I was pregnant with her” Pepper sighs shaking her head with a small smile “she’s becoming more and more like Tony, god help me” she chuckles.

“if I didn’t know any better that would sound like an insult” Steve heard Tony say behind him.

Pepper rolled her eyes at him as Steve turned holding out his hand in greeting “Stark” he greets.

“Rogers” Tony nods shaking Steve’s hand.

“I’m going to head in and start getting stuff prepared for dinner, so make sure there’s no fighting,” Pepper says pointing towards the house.

“don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye on the kids” Tony confirms.

“I meant you two” Pepper smirks making the both of them chuckle.

The two men stand in silence for a moment just watching the kids play. The two of them ran around, JJ being much quicker than Morgan making her laugh and complain as she tried to keep up.

“He’s a quick one” Tony comments breaking the silence.

“yeah, always has been” Steve nods before chuckling to himself “he definitely kept us on our toes when he started crawling and walking,” he said thinking back to the year spent in Wakanda.

“do you think he has the serum?” Tony asks glancing over.

“Definitely, maybe not as strong but it's there” Steve nods before dropping his voice “he broke a kid’s nose yesterday”

Tony’s eyes widen as he looked over at Steve, back to JJ and then back to Steve “Holy sh-“ he says stopping himself from cursing “how did that happen?”

“There’s a kid in JJ’s class who’s been bullying him, he said something yesterday that was the final straw and JJ snapped” Steve explained with a sigh.

“wow…” Tony muttered in amazement “must have been pretty bad, JJ’s a pretty sweet kid, what was it the kid said?”

Steve clears his throat slightly before looking down at the floor “that me and Y/N were criminals and I should have been snapped along with her” Steve admits his voice breaking slightly.

“shit” Tony muttered under his breath “no wonder JJ nailed him, I’d have done the same”

Steve gave Tony a tiny smile before nodding slightly “I’m glad I never saw the parents, I don’t think I would have been able to control myself” Steve admits shaking his head.

“I don’t blame you, god if someone said that I Morgan I don’t know what I’d do” Tony agrees looking back over at the kids “but are you okay though? That must have been hard to hear”

“It’s definitely been playing on my mind ever since, I just don’t understand how people could be so cruel, and how many other people out there think the same?” Steve says thinking out loud before pinching the bridge of his nose “people can say what they want about me, but when it comes to Y/N and JJ…” he says trailing over as his voice failed him.

“I get it, but look that kid is clearly some punk being raised by some asshole parents, he’ll probably grow up to be a serial killer or hitman or something,” Tony says shaking his head.

“I’m struggling to see how that helps” Steve admits.

“What I’m saying is that family are clearly the extreme, and there are millions of others out there that would stand in your corner, it's just the small percent happen to shout pretty loud” Tony finishes.

Steve lets out a long sigh as he nods his head “you’re right, thanks Tony”

“it's nothing and look if you want the night to yourself just to kinda get your head in order then me and Pep can look after JJ tonight” Tony offers.

Steve smiles gratefully but shakes his head “thanks but I’m good, but after everything spending time with JJ is what I need” Steve says looking back over at the kids, smiling as he saw JJ and Morgan pull funny faces at each other.

“of course, the offer is always there though” Tony nods patting Steve on the shoulder.

Sharing is caring so please reblog if you enjoyed this and maybe even leave a comment to make my day!

Series Masterlist / Masterlist

I don’t have a tag list so follow @secretswiftymarvelfanlibrary​ and turn on post notifications for updates!

#NiamhWrites #the demigod from asgard series #Steve Rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x y/n #steve rogers x you #captainamerica #captain america x reader #captain america x y/n #captain america x you #mcu #marvel

[tamelee]

What are your thought about modern art? I know a lot of artists on the Internet absolutely hate modern art, and talk about it like it was the thing that was killing art in general.

Personally I don’t agree at all, I think contemporain art can bring very interesting concepts and experiments.

And usually the people I’ve seen criticizing contemporain art were the one who make an obsession about realism. Tbh I think realism is kinda overrated…

But I’m curious to hear about your opinion :D

Well, I don't think contemporary art equals a certain style anyway as it is made by people today. You see realism and abstract now as well as in our history (not photo-realism ofc.). The father of my mother (so my grandfather, but it feels weird to call him that as I never knew him) was a well-known painter here in the Netherlands and his art was very abstract with lots of colors and shapes. So what some refer to when they say 'modern' often in such discussions is mostly the more 'simple' styles where they criticize it and say "a child can make this" where the comeback is "but you didn't".. At times they refuse to call it art as it requires little to no skill. Where the actual skill doesn't really get the recognition anymore. That's when these concepts becomes experimental and it makes people talk. I guess AI in a way is part of that as well though still in a much lesser form, but a bigger issue.

If I put up a simple photo of a child depicted in a wooden box and said: "Look, isn't that great?!" You'd probably think I was out of my mind but if I told you that it was Chris Hadfield as a 9 y/o pretending the box was a space rocket because he had an ambition to become an astronaut and actually realized his dreams later- only then it becomes interesting. A picture itself doesn't always tell a story (it can) and in 'modern' art a lot of the time the same thing applies. Yes, like the taped up banana which earned the title; a piece of art.

Authenticity (as vague as that is) as told by Pine & Gilmore can actually be measured by something (a story or art etc-) being faithful to itself and/or whether it says what it is. (At least that's what we in general do when it comes to communication in business.) The banana obviously is just a banana and the creator of this absurdity said they were making fun of the person (multiple) spending 120k on a rotting banana and said they deserved to be scammed. Which fair, I don't necessarily agree with it, but in that sense, they're being true to the message. This is how you can measure most media and businesses because it almost always works. (It is a bit more complicated than this, but you get the idea.)

But here's the kicker, people, in this case 'artists' or people who call themselves one, idk, can give their creation whatever message they want despite the visuals. Though spending 120k on a rotting banana is most likely money laundering and the artist must know that as well.. so, to then say it's just 'funny critique' regarding art and capitalism and "believing" the buyer got scammed, changes the message a bit. Yes? How valuable is it then really?

Not all art has to have some deep value-driven meaning at all, but most 'modern' "art" pieces that require no skill need other ways to gain attention and do so by provoking the audience. Marcel Duchamp was called an artistic genius because he turned a urinal upside down.. a damn toilet.

How does that compare to an actual drawing where someone put their heart and soul into the making of it through perhaps even years of experience, where you can see the person has skill? Or the making of a sculpture? Even things like graphic/interior design? Have we realized what happened to photographers? If you want to talk about the toilet as 'a piece of art' or even a simplistic circle because to you ~somehow~ the meaning behind it changes the world, then bring it along to your TED-talk and actually talk about it. Become that storyteller. It is proven that through the PSE (picture superiority effect) visual elements leave a lot more impact on your audience compared to just text or speech and that you remember it better by 65%. But to replace masterpieces in art galleries and auction them off for thousands/millions worth that we know goes also into money laundering regardless and call it art? And there must be some sort of meaning.... I guess? Nah. I have no clue what 'killed art' specifically because I'm not too knowledgable on that topic, but if this is art, then why aren't we calling your average Tiktokker professional movie directors/actors etc? Why isn't your YT-short or Tiktok clip an actual short film instead? How about calling this "thought-provoking art" just a concept as you say? Or the jpg that I forgot to include in my powerpoint? Comedic relief? An idea? And yes ideas can be art, but not every idea is art. AI images are generated prompts, but certainly not art and their makers are prompters and definitely not artists. So I agree with you that it can be experimental or perhaps provoke interesting concepts, but depending on the... 'art' and its intention... we should call it as it is. That's what I think. Perhaps 'modern art' in that sense as a term is too broad to judge.

So when you say realism, do you mean hyper/photo-realism specifically? Or just realism in general? Because as an artist my own opinion is that I wouldn't want to draw photorealistically as it takes too much time and if people can't tell whether I actually used up all my time to draw it or took the photo, even used photo-bash.. then for me, I don't really see the point in putting in all the effort. But, it is an amazing way to learn how to draw though, that's how I started. Looking at photo's and replicating it. In my earlier art I tried to render it to the best of my abilities as I had no idea how to draw so I had to look at pictures and see how light falls, how colors blend, what skin does and how it reflects.. On Instagram I often got comments that it looked so real, like a photo. I didn't know what to think of that, because even though it is a compliment, it wasn't a photo, I actually drew it and so it almost feels like an insult somehow. Does that make sense? I now want to almost erase parts of what I've learned when it comes to things feeling 'real' and stylize my art better. That's not something you learn in photo's but by finding out a tiny thing you like and then doing that over and over again until the next tiny thing. And lemme tell you... that is hard. So, I don't think realism is overrated, I think stylized art, often recognizable from an artist is severely underrated.

#asktamelee #art talk

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading update: February

ahoy, gamers! after an uneven start to my reading year in January (high highs, low lows) I've had a pretty consistently excellent February! yes, I'm including Red, White & Royal Blue. it may not have been good, but it was definitely fun. more on that in a minute, but I cannot recommend enough if you, like me, are a rancid hater.

what have I been reading?

Sharks in the Time of Saviors (Kawai Strong Washburn, 2020) - @dykerory came upon this book in a pretty fruitless search for good adult novels that prominently feature sharks, a weird gap in the market that seems to ignore that SOME OF US don't ever stop thinking sharks are fucking sick. (don't talk to me about Jaws. even Peter Benchley regrets Jaws.) while Sharks in the Time of Saviors actually has much less shark action happening than one might hope based on the title, it's very much a case of "came for the shark on the cover, stayed for the phenomenal writing." the novel follows the lives of the three Flores siblings: athletic oldest son Dean, academic little sister Kaui, and middle child Noa, who possesses odd abilities that seem to be a gift straight from Hawaiian gods and just might be the savior his impoverished family needs. spoiler alert: growing up as a demigod in the 21st century is hard, and success is hardly guaranteed. Washburn writes beautifully about the the suffocating realities of struggling to survive poverty, and the ways it can both tie families together and creature fractures that are difficult to heal. apparently this was Barack Obama's top novel of 2020 and I am forced once again to acknowledge that the war criminal has taste.

Blue-Skinned Gods (SJ Sindu, 2021) - okay so this is ALSO a book about a boy being raised to believe he's channeling the divine; I accidentally struck a bit of a two-book theme. Blue-Skinned Gods follows the early life of Kalki, a boy born with blue skin and raised in a isolated Indian ashram by parents who assure him (and their many paying devotees) that he's the final incarnation of Vishnu. from a very young age Kalki is placed on a pedestal and expected to behave as a perfect spiritual leader, and you guys won't believe what happens next -- it turns out that really fucks with a kid. what follows is a coming of age story unlike any other, following Kalki's growth from a self-assured child god to a young man with a lot of questions about exactly how he fits into the world. Sindu's writing is smooth as hell, impossible to put down, and takes Kalki down some thrillingly unexpected twists that complicate every notion of identity and self. 10/10, made me want to go read all of Sindu's other work immediately.

My Solo Exchange Diary Vol. 1 (Nagata Kabi, trans. Jocelyne Allen 2016) - I was not remotely joking last month when I said that My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness was so good that I would be tracking down all of Ngata's other work in short order. her solo exchange diary continues to document a journey of self-growth with none of the usual unbearable fluff that phrase entails, instead highlighting all the discomfort that comes with realizing you can no longer keep living the way you were and finding yourself pissing, shitting, shaking, etc, in the face of learning how to do something different. I really admire the way Nagata's vulnerability is upfront and prevents her from ever sounding like some kind of self-help guru who claims to know everything; her self-discoveries are presented as unexpected gems rather than universal truths, the discoveries of someone as pleasantly surprised by her own progress as all of her readers. there's something immensely comforting in these graphic novels, which I think is the reminder that there's literally no wrong time to start wanting and doing better for yourself.

Me, Not You: The Trouble with Mainstream Feminism (Alison Phipps, 2020) - I added this book to my TBR because I noticed that Phipps seemed to be drawing the ire of a lot of TERFs on twitter, which is (in my experience) usually a pretty good indicator that someone is doing something interesting worth checking out. having finally circled around to her book, I can see why Phipps (who seems to have since deleted her twitter account) was making TERFs so angry: Me, Not You doesn't even get to page 10 without plainly stating its thesis statement that trans exclusionary feminism is inseparable from other reactionary conservative ideologies such as racism, colonialism, and misogyny itself. so that's a super promising thesis, but how about the actual content of the text? eeeeh. Phipps drops a lot of the right names -- especially Sara Ahmed, and I can certainly never object to Ahmed -- and she's certainly sincere, but I can't help feeling that many of her arguments come across as a bit shallow and under-supported for the sake of time. if I were assigning this book it would be the first week reading for, like, a semester-long exploration of white feminism, with more substantial reading to follow. not a bad primer on the whole, but lacking if you've, say, already read most of the writers Phipps is influenced by.

Nightbitch (Rachel Yoder, 2021) - this is a book that I have been MEANING to read since it came out in mid-2021, and I have FINALLY gotten around to it. having done it: I would say worth the hype. Nightbitch is an intensely internal meditation about the mundane horrors of motherhood, of isolation and endless repetition, of time and energy lost and creative pursuits stifled seemingly forever. its terror is that of the loss of self and endless stagnation in the face of duty, and how sometimes you get tired of being nice and just want to go apeshit turn into a dog and run howling through the night to kill small animals and take a shit on your republican neighbor's lawn. I don't even have a kid and it sounds good, so you can imagine how delighted I was when (vague spoilers) the book ends with Nightbitch absolutely winning. go, girlboss!

Mongrels (Stephen Graham Jones, 2016) - in another accidental two-book thematic streak, I immediately followed Nightbitch with Stephen Graham Jones' books about the saddest, grossest werewolves ever. Mongrels pulls no punches about the bloody realities of shifting perpetually between forms -- werewolves have to avoid wearing anything that won't tear away when they transform, because it will simply meld with their skin when they change back and kill them slowly; they have to dispose of their trash constantly, or risk eating something that will kill them slowly when they next turn into a hungry wolf; when human women give birth to werewolves they have to be killed quickly or, you guessed it, turn into half-dog monsters and die slowly. but despite the horrors, Jones' werewolves take grim pride in what they are and the solace they find in each other on their endless nomadic quest to avoid discovery and live the best lives they can. it's only February, but I'm absolutely confident saying that this blood-splattered book is going to be one of my favorites of the year.

Book Banning in 21st-Century America (Emily J.M. Knox, 2015) - I was lucky enough to recently see Dr. Knox lecture at the university where I work, and I'd hopped on my local library's website to place this book (her dissertation) on hold before she'd even finished speaking. while the text is a lot dryer than her very charming in-person presence, I think it's extremely important reading for anyone who has a vested interest in, you know, book banning and the prevention thereof. Knox cannily summarizes the attitudes that lead to challenges to the accessibility of various reading materials, offering examples from real challenges and interviews with challengers, creating a comprehensive study of the symbolic power exerted by fighting to remove a book from a library or high school curriculum. I think these kinds of studies are so vital, because understanding the mindset of people to whom you're pretty much completely ideologically opposed can be illuminating in many ways. I was particularly shaken by one grandmother's objections to the book I use when teaching human development to 4th-6th graders, which I consider incredibly tasteful and the grandmother in question considered pornography that was hellbent on destroying the fabric of American society. the more you know!

Red, White & Royal Blue (Casey McQuiston, 2019) - look, I pretty much already said it all here. this is a romance novel for adults who want to read about gay sex without having to see the word "penis" and believe that voting democrat is the best solution the all of America's ills. the plot is nonsense and reading it made me feel insane. I enjoyed almost every second of it because I experienced the correct way, which was reporting its many sins live to my wife, my creative partner @dykerory, and any other hapless passerby I could force to hold still and listen for five seconds. yes I will be watching the movie. no further questions.

sorry this update isn't in bulleted list form like normal, tumblr told me I had too many fucking characters and wouldn't let me post it until I separated them 💀

#reading updates

[miloscat]

[Review] World of Demons (ATV)

Okami 3???

I occasionally browse Apple Arcade to see what's been added; this time what leaped out was a title heralded as Platinum's first mobile game. Platinum of course is known for their character action games and as the successor studio to Clover, creators of Okami for Capcom. This has a very similar setting inspired by Japanese folklore and mythology, and almost identical graphic style inspired by traditional Japanese arts. After enjoying Okami and Okamiden so much, I wanted to see if this recaptured their magic at all.

It's important to reiterate at this point that this is very much a mobile game. The control scheme is simplified compared to other games from the studio to remain accessible on touchscreens, a priority for many Apple Arcade games that must be platform-agnostic. (I did play it on an Apple TV with a controller, which helped it feel better... although there's no helping the dodgy camera.) The level design is more or less simple corridors between battle arenas, with some interaction along the way: it felt like a very stripped-back Okami without the overworld.

The overall game structure too follows trends of the platform. The game encourages replaying levels with ratings and random drops, and grinding is required at times to progress or at least make your numbers go up enough. A bonus level requires a premium currency to enter, a likely vestige of a free-to-play microtransaction-driven business model which many Apple Arcade games retain even after being retrofitted for the paid service. It never fails to give these games an uncanny feeling of being neither fish nor fowl.

Anyway. The game feels good to play, those well-honed Platinum mechanics in a more accessible framework. There's one main attack button, although different weapons have tweaked attack strings and unique special moves. The dodge button gets a lot of play with well-timed activation giving you a counter. You unlock new characters for a total of four, and they each play quite differently (I favoured a combo of the fast, range-focused shrine maiden Sayo and the cursed Buddhist monk Dohzen who is slow and strong).

But the main gimmick of the game is the recruitable yōkai. These spirits and creatures of legend are the main enemies of the game and a constant stream of new ones keeps the battling fresh. When defeated they drop orbs which let you summon them for a one-time attack or effect. You also unlock permanent versions which can be enhanced, and each level lets you pick two per character to bring with you. (I usually made sure to pick at least one that would draw enemy aggro.) This is a fun way of customising your playstyle and experimenting with combinations, although with the length of the levels it's better to keep experimentation to the short sidequests lest you be punished for a poor choice.

The yōkai also have some use outside of battle, as there's a limited version of Okami's environmental puzzles. Some objects can be interacted with for a few items or an extra battle, but only if you have the right type of yōkai equipped. Since choices are restricted, and you might not get the right drop or know to save it, it's easy to be stuck without the right tools for these and feel left out; and replaying levels can feel a chore. It feels like a half-baked system, often punishing you for poor luck rather than rewarding you for smart play.

The story is pretty standard demon-and-samurai stuff, with a series of amusingly improbable revelations about character relationships as you go on. It's decent enough with a bit of flair, much like the character designs. It must be noted that after four chapters building to a climax, there's a cheap undercut seemingly setting up an Okami-style next phase (complete with a "to be continued" screen as with all the other chapters), only for the game to just not have any more content. I guess they released the game unfinished, expecting to add more story in later updates, as with Castlevania Grimoire of Souls, or Shantae and the Seven Sirens? But with over a year since the last update, who knows when or if it will indeed be continued.

Either way, what's here is a neat package. In fact I'm glad it didn't drag on too long as Okami did at times. The heavily cel-shaded art style invoking traditional ink painting is a great look, and the game systems are solid save for the yōkai interactions. It's not quite an Okami 3 but there's enough DNA here for it to be maybe an Okami 2.5, and for that reason it was a cool novelty for me.

#world of demons #platinum games #review #apple tv #apple arcade

[bluheaven-adw]

Hi ive seen your art while scrolling through the trollhunters tag and i really need to ask because this is kinda weirding me out...

Is your art a result of you drawing so closely to the show it looks like the 3d models or a bad edit of the 3d models..

Because for me it looks like both and i cant tell which one it is and it confuses me each time i see your art

🤔

Honestly, this has kind of thrown me for a loop and I'm still not sure how to take this? But I'm going to take it as a compliment. And, for those interested, y'all are getting a bit if history after the jump.

Short answer: It's the first one. I draw very close to the show. It's all my drawing. I love Jim's design and strive to get as close as possible to how he looks in the show. I'm a technical realist most of the time. I also have years and years of experience in a lot of different types of art and mediums. So for fun I thought I'd do a screen grab from my current WIP while I do a little bit of quick and dirty work. I've clicked through some of the various layers, sketch, lines, finished layers... and then my ugly process for all to see lol. I'm self taught in procreate.... I have no idea what I'm doing. Usually I'd spend way more time on things.... but that would be a long ass video. A lot of my current work takes weeks. The one of Blinky reading to sleeping Jim has over 65 hours in it, and the Masquerade Ball is close to 80.

Long answer!! All of my art is my own (with the exception of one borrowed art work, which was given credit), drawn by me from ugly concept sketch (that sometimes looks vaguely like our characters.... and sometimes just circles and triangles) to polished sketch, to final line work and then color and rendering. I'm self taught, but also have some fine art background... and some in CAD and graphics and when I first started college it was with the goal of automotive design, so I'm more of a technical artist than what most people are used to. I have a background in Copics and my color and blending from those bled over into Procreate. I have medication induced aphantasia, so a lot of times need references. I've been doing sketches of Jim every night for almost a year now. There's a few speed sketch vids on my instagram (same username). I do have photoshop, but the extent of my editing skills is photoshopping aftermarket wheels on my car to find ones I liked, and it's been an ungodly long time since I've done that. I mostly have it because, prior to disability, I spent a lot of time as a photographer shooting landscapes and such, and shooting In infrared.... but I haven't touched a camera or photoshop since...... 2017? I don't even remember how to use it for the most part. Photoshop is not like riding a bike.

Trollhunters and especially Jim, are my comfort show. Helped me through some bad times... and then RotT happened basically right when I had a major surgery, and the combo really messed me up. I started sketching Jim as a way to heal from both... and well, it was all downhill from there 😂

That's probably way more of an answer than you were looking for!

#tales of arcadia #trollhunters #toa #jim lake jr #toa trollhunters #trollhunters tales of arcadia #trollhunters toa #toa fanart #blu answers

[laurzzz]

Hello~

I hope it's not a bother, but I've decided to actually try my hand at digital art after years of dorking around with MSPaint bases.

Before I jump in feet first, do you mind giving any advice on what kind of tablet I should be looking at? All I know is I'd like to be able to use an external SD card to save my work (after losing everything off my last computer, I've become paranoid of saving backups ^.^").

Sorry to be a bother if you're busy, I just figured I should get advice from those with experience! ❤️💛🩵

Aw first of all, I'm so glad! It always excites me to see others try out the medium of art I do as well (believe me, I've dragged almost all of my cousins into drawing digitally because it's fun and somewhat convenient)

For beginners, I usually always advise the following:

• First, find what device you're most comfortable with. Experimenting a lot is helpful! Per say, are you more comfortable with drawing on your phone, a tablet device, or on pc? There's no wrong answer, I would even go as far to tell you try them all! I have done so myself :}

• For drawing digitally on your phone or on tablet devices, drawing with your thumb is personally my preferred method than drawing with your index fingers and such. The thumb is stronger and you'll have better control of your lines if you use it to your advantage. As for the program, IbisPaintX is always my recommendation! It's free and very versatile

• For pc, a graphics tablet is always my go to for beginners. One, because it's cheaper, two, because it's good to practice hand-eye coordination when drawing. It's better than a screen tablet too in terms of keeping your posture straighter lmao. As for the program, Krita is most recommended, but FireAlpaca works too! Krita needs an ffmpeg (I forgot what it's called) file folder thing for you to be able to export your works so I suggest going through some tuts for that. FireAlpaca is very beginner friendly but it's too beginner friendly for my liking, doesn't give much of a challenge to experiment and learn new tools with

• Additionally, I suggest Huion products for any and all tablet needs. I'm biased as shit, I've been using Huion for quite some time now. It's cheaper than Wacom but also has really great quality compared to cheaper tablets, imo. I currently have Huion HS64 (graphics tablet) and a Huion Kamvas 13 (screen tablet)! They're really sturdy, I love them sm.

• And of course, have fun! Experimenting is the best best part of this whole experience. I'm glad you're moving out of your comfort zone and can't wait to hear from you soon if you'd ever end up sharing your artworks publicly! (No pressure!!)

Oh no I've only read back to your ask again before posting and realized you only needed advice on the tablet oops AKDHSOSJSKA oh well, this might help someone else too so I'll keep it as is

#food #ok that was so long WKAHWKAHAKA I GET SO CARRIED AWAY WHEN TEACHING PEOPLE WHAT I KNOW OOPS

[danikatze]

hi! just wanted to say as someone who really likes your art (and has been dealing with burnout myself), im glad to hear you're getting some time off soon! I hope you're able to rest as much as you need to and are able to take care of yourself. I know from experience that it really sucks to get to the point in burnout where you're unable to even do art for fun, so im glad it seems like you're able to tackle it before it gets to that point

dunno if I really have a point to this other than, like, solidarity? lmao. its just nice to sees artists taking care of themselves

Oh, thanks so much 🥹 Currently I'm not really able to draw for fun, yeah, which really sucks.. I hasn't been this bad in years. I think trying to print old stuff will be fine though, and hopefully by that time I can draw again as well hahah.

I'm very lucky that the graphic studio I work at is closed the last two weeks of the year. Dunno if I would have taken that time off myself.

Maybe I would have though, because the last two (and a half) months have been kind of crazy. I've had to be present on weekends a lot for teaching workshops and exhibition openings and other events, and while my regular work days tend to be rather quiet, I've been teaching and assisting on those days a lot more than usual as well. And besides that we've had a lot of stress because an important (and expensive and difficult to replace) piece of equipment decided to break just when it was needed most - a lot of things have been going wrong/taking a lot more effort than necessary because of it.

It's been a lot. It's also been fun, but I'm super introverted and I didn't have much alone time that I could use for recharging.

Anyway, thanks again for the kind words, anon 💖You take care of yourself too!

#replies #Anon #also I got sick in November and there was a holiday at the start of December that's really important to my family #and I've had some bullshit issues with the postal service that I've been dealing with for two and a half weeks #I need a break #just four more days of work #don't get me wrong - I love my job but I've only worked there since March so it's all still pretty new #I'll probably be better equipped for the busy period next year #and hopefully nothing important and difficult to replace will break then lol

[alki-studio]

HxH manga rebinding! (vol. 1)

(project master post here)

Let me just start this off with that from my 7 years of experience bookbinding, a LOT went wrong with this project. Like, almost everything that could've went wrong. It is not to my usual standard of work, though I tried to make up for errors where I could.

Nonetheless, I'm doing this for practice and to document my progress, so here's how it went!

⍔ (More final pics at the end) ⍔

I absolutely adore the cover of the first volume as-is. It's really great graphically: the palette pops and gives a clear hierarchy to information in different areas, the illustration of Gon on the frog is super cute, it's overall just fun.

My first design decision was to retain the green/yellow/red color palette. I don't think I've ever done anything with these colors, I don't really gravitate towards them, so I definitely wanted to keep them in the design.

I didn't have a piece of leather large enough in any of these colors-- all the leather I use is industry scraps and remnants, so I don't really purchase full hides. So, I had to get creative with it:

I did have enough of this laurel green leather to cover a front and back board, but I'd need to hide the seam along the spine. I also have this really cool tie silk jacquard, I want to guess it's from the 80's (I got it for a dollar at a flea market). Technically I'm using the backside of this stuff, but I like it better because of how vibrant the colors are. I only need a thin strip for the spine, so I cut out a matching green, yellow, and orange section.

Here are some reject cover material contenders: different leathers, vintage kimono silk, and snakeskin!

I didn't want to just copy the cover for the board design, so I looked at the panels for some inspiration. My favorite panel from volume 1 is actually of the tunnel from the Hunter exam (left), but since this is the first volume, I really wanted to pay homage to this being the beginning of Gon's journey. So, I included this panel of Whale Island (right), along with a wave pattern.

Here's the design I sketched out, and it carved into chipboard:

Normally I'd just sketch directly onto the chipboard I'm carving, but I wanted to have a template to use for gold foiling. This is my first attempt at doing so; I don't actually have the proper tools for traditional hot stamping, so I'm using a hot foil pen (video on the tool/technique).

First mistake: Trying to brute force the original cover off the block. Lesson: Use a heat gun.

Removing the text block from the original softcover was pretty straightforward, except I originally tried to get the cover off the block by gentle tearing/cutting away at the original glue, which resulted in me just destroying the attached page anyway. This volume doesn't give you many "junk" pages to sacrifice, so it meant I'd have to glue my end paper onto the last page of the volume D:

For the other cover, I hit it with a heat gun for a few seconds, and it peeled right off.

Here's a progress shot of attaching the leather to the boards, smooth sailing there:

Second mistake: Not backing fabric with Heat n' Bond Lesson: Always make bookcloth properly

I have made my own bookcloth before (video on how to do it), and really, truly, know better than to apply liquid glue to fabric. Nonetheless, I was stupid and did it anyway. I even diluted the glue with water, thinking that would mitigate the effects of glue seepage? It didn't. My spine fabric lost all its vibrancy and was just an ugly, goopy mess.

Before I attached the board and spine to the block and endpapers, I added the foiling. At first, that came out pretty well, but then I lost patience, and started freehanding Whale Island on the back.

Third mistake: Not sticking to the template Lesson: Stick to the fucking template (and start saving for a CNC)

The drawing itself was fine, so normally this wouldn't be an issue, but because I have Whale Island sitting on top of a raised embossed silhouette, it was painfully obvious that my drawing wasn't in the position or scale it was supposed to be. My freehand lettering also leaves something to be desired, though I don't think the template would have helped a lot with this either. Honestly, for a position-sensitive blind transfer for lettering like this, using a CNC like a Cricut or Silhouette would be best. This might be my push to finally invest in one?

The endpapers are actually paper I had marbled myself, a while back, and met the green/yellow criteria. Attaching those to the block went smoothly, though I had to slightly glue over the panels at the back of the volume T^T... I used some of the spine fabric for head/endbands as well. It's... pretty ugly up close. Glue seepage, and the next mistake.

Fourth mistake: Gluing the entire fucking block upside down Lesson: Anything but that

The cosmetic mistakes on the cover this book are pretty forgivable, but the inside is a genuinely disgusting mess. I was working on getting this done before a friend came over, and was pretty happy to get the block glued in and the whole thing in the press before she arrived. I decided to take it out of the press show her when she arrived, only to realize I HAD GLUED THE BLOCK UPSIDE DOWN. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I tried to remove the block nicely, but the glue was already half dry and tacky and it was an awful awful mess, and I was already SO DONE with the project. So, I just cut the block out along the middle of the endpaper, and stepped away for the evening.

I really wanted to use the marbled paper I made, and I had no scraps to use over the seam where I had to flip the block, so I had to find a complimentary alternative. I just used some chiyogami, with, once again, green/yellow/red. Slapped that on the seam. Probably could've done a better job with it.

I had been saving the original covers, and wanted to incorporate them, so I decided to use them as sort of bookmark pages? Not sure how to call it, but like how hardcovers with a paper cover will have those folded flaps on the inside usually with an about or review section.

As for the cosmetic fixes:

First thing I did was properly make bookcloth with the sliver of extra silk in the right colorway that I had, and glued that over the lumpy fucked up original spine. It's not perfect by any means, but it's definitely a lot better.

When I started writing this, I had only done gold foil on the covers. But as I was looking back at early design process photos, I remember how much I wanted to incorporate the red into the design, which mine was absent of. So, I started to accent Gon and the frog with red paint.

It looked absolutely horrifying.

So I kept painting, and painting, and painting, trying to make it look good, and it was 4AM and I was tired, and I'm used to oil paint so I forgot you can't just leave ugly globs of paint wherever and wipe them up later, and it just kept looking worse and worse.

I got jumpscared by this monstrosity this morning:

Don't paint while tired!!

I tried to salvage my awful paint job the next day, and kept adding more colors and paint into the design until I had ended up just repainting the original cover. I didn't get the lettering perfect or anything, but I got it to a presentable point at least. I really wanted to make some semblance of a re-interpretation of the original illustration, but oh well, the painted version was a necessary fix.

It's not perfect by any means, (honestly, it's not even good either), but I did what I could, and I'm ready to move onto the next project. Here's the final pictures!

Thank you for reading this far! Please leave a comment with any thoughts or suggestions, they really encourage me to keep going :D

#bookbinding #hunter x hunter #hxh #hxh manga #gon freecss #bibliophile #manga rebind #alki studio

[genericpuff]

Any tips for other fellas out there who try to make LO "fan" comics?

Ooh, this is a great question! And one that isn't exclusive to LO fan or "fan" comics. Because at the end of the day, it's still just comics! Everything I do with Rekindled is stuff I do with my other comic projects, it's a culmination of things I've learned over the last decade of drawing comics and from what I've learned since learning RS' style.

If I can try and sum it up as concisely as I can related to LO comics specifically (because let's face it, "how to make comics" is a very broad topic that I could write an entire book about lmao):

Study your foundations! This is something you're never really 'done' learning, it's not like learning math equations where you just learn how to do one formula and boom, you're done. There's always something new to learn so you should always be open to absorbing whatever you can through studying and observing other art. Especially art outside of what you usually look at! Broaden your horizons! Everything you learn you can take back into LO art - when I'm not drawing LO-style stuff, I still know how to draw things in other 'styles' because I have a lot of those foundations down. By extension, it makes drawing stuff in the LO style even easier because I already have experience drawing anatomy, perspective, silhouette expression, etc. Learning first, style later! If making LO comics is your goal though, definitely study up on anatomy, especially shape language. Also backgrounds, lighting, texture, and color theory!

Read lots of stuff! Not just other webtoon series, read graphic novels, indie comics, weird comics you find on webcomic listing sites, novels, fanfiction, etc. Figure out what you like and what you'd want to write about. Take notes on how each artist does their paneling, their sequencing, their pacing, their page turns. Studying other comics isn't just for the visuals, either, it's also for the narrative. It's not all about art, you need to know how to write, too, and the best way to do that is to read.

Keep your goals focused. Not just with what you prefer drawing but also what you prefer talking about. The thing with Greek myth is that there's always uncharted territory and so it can be easy to get overwhelmed and bite off more than you can chew. Just focus on what myths you want to focus on, you've no obligation to try and cover EVERY single myth (even if others may be eager to see you dip your toes into the ones they want to see). Don't feel pressured to bite off more than you can chew, know your limits. Challenging yourself is one thing, pushing yourself too hard and losing sight of your goal in the process won't get you anywhere.

I hope that helps! Honestly I could go on forever about the art of making comics, but the best way to learn is to just do it! Even if you don't think you're "ready" yet, you're not gonna get anywhere with it until you start. "Thinking about it" won't get you as far as just doing it. And have fun with it! Considering we're all just doing this for fun and for free, there shouldn't be any reason to not have fun. If you're not having a good time doing it, or if it's not sparking you joy, then don't force it.

That being said, if you want to see me draw Rekindled live and get some pointers on it, stop by one of my streams sometime! I'm always happy to talk about the process <3

#lore rekindled #lore rekindled ama #ama #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #art tips