#this tags section went several different directions lol

[justafoxhound]

Tagged by @dirty-bosmer in this game. Thanks!

Lines from your fic...

Line that makes you laugh

Well, there was no harm in taking a walk, she thought. At least not when the alternative involved taking a leap in several different directions at once. “You make a convincing argument, Mr. Jericho. This way.”

-From Atomic Smitten, when Talia is being threatened by a desperate man brandishing a grenade

Line that makes you sad

She saw, for the first time in a long time, the glistening of real emotion in his eyes. He was serious, honest. Or at least more honest than she’d ever known him. She began to cry. Not because it moved her. But because he really believed it. He really believed what he’d told her, told himself, over and over again. That the Vault was the best place for her. That he was keeping her safe. That she was his number one priority. Because it was the antithesis to the story she’d lived. She’d lived a life second to his memories. Second to his dreams, to his hopes of getting it all back. Of making a dead woman happy. And he didn’t even realise.

-Talia and James in Atomic Smitten. LW and James are tragic and not in a noble way!

Line you are proud of

Gustavo watched Burke go as he smoked the rest of his cigarette. “Hey, Burke,” he called after a few seconds, jogging closer so they could keep their voices down. “What, uh… what was it exactly that ailed Tenpenny? Just out of curiosity?” Burke looked him dead in the eyes, a fire burning behind them like he’d never seen. “He wanted Talia dead, Gustavo. He took steps to make it happen. He tripped.”

-From Atomic Smitten. I am so satisfied when writing clever evil Mr Burke hehee.

Line that could have been better

It took him a few seconds to get the joke, and a few more til he was completely washed out by the wave of affection that swelled through his body.

-Burke in Atomic Smitten. I still can't figure out how to make this less literal. You know that feeling when someone does something so 'classic them', and you feel a wave of affection lol.

Line that makes you want to punch a character

“I’m not trying to justify it. Jesus fuck, what is wrong with you?” Hot tears blurred her vision. Why did he never get mad? Never. Never did he raise his voice, speak in anger, just flip out. What would it take? “You don’t fucking care, just admit it, why are you still bothering with this… act?”

He looked wounded, like he did on the way to the monument from the city. “I care Talia. It’s just that right now-”

-From Atomic Smitten. JAMES MY MAN... 'Let's put a pin in this, but know that i am dIsAppOiNtEd in you' is not appropriate reaction to the Megaton incident... Think about ya gurl for more than a second PLEASE

Line that makes you go 'awww'

“Well… whatever. Man, I hope the cafeteria has gecko steak. I don’t know if they serve that for breakfast. And mutfruit juice. Surely they get juice here-” “Talia.” “Huh?” “Are you with me on this? I’m not going on a ‘whatever’.” Talia smirked at Burke’s lazy impression of her. “Well you came up with it right? So yeah, I’m with you.” “Sure?” “Always.”

-From Atomic Smitten, Burke and Talia discussing a plan of his.

Line full of symbolism

The glowing sign bathed her in soft blue light, giving this section of the strip a calmer feel to match the soothing ebb and flow of the nearby ocean. Quietly receding from the sandy Miami shores without fanfare, only to endlessly announce its return with the crash of waves breaking across rocks. The complete opposite of how it went whenever she did this dance.

-From A Seashell Necklace, a short from Tali/Burke future.

Contains easter egg

Gustavo stroked his chin as his men bickered over another hand of poker. He seemed to be breaking up more of their stupid fights since Talia disappeared. Interesting. Even men of war seemed to need the presence of women to temper their default mood of being ready to go. And for more than a few hours a month.

“Grayson, sorry but he’s right. A straight is a hand, and it beats what you got."

-From Atomic Smitten. Not sure if this is an egg but I was playing poker with my bf and he didn't believe a straight was a hand so I immortalised the moment with Tenpenny tower security haha

Line that is shocking

Autumn frowned deeply. “You lie!” He turned away in disgust, then turned back and drew his pistol.

Well, this is it. To Talia’s surprise, her life didn’t flash before her eyes. She didn’t run or fight or even think of anything witty to say just to go out in style. Her legs actually went weak and she staggered back against the wall, slowly sinking to the ground.

This part felt shocking while writing. For all the perilous skirmishes in a Fallout 3 adventure, I got in the headspace of a prisoner, helpless, facing execution, expecting it at any time thereafter. It was a lot heavier. 😨

Line you want to talk about more

Surprisingly, Talia was speechless. She just looked around the room and began to nod. She beckoned her dog. Amata walked away and busied herself at the other end of the clinic, turning only to see the pair disappear into the corridor. 

I’ll miss you.

-From Atomic Smitten. She doesn't get much page time but I really got into Amata’s Head to write her POV. I think she really considered Talia a friend, but ultimately Tali figured Amata was hangin for the street cred, to counter being the daughter of the overseer and the flak it brought, and using her like everyone else (from her perspective). But despite what Talia did, Amata attempts to see it from the perspective they were both lied to and mistreated. She makes some very tough, thankless decisions in order for the vault to survive, and sacrifices her friendship for it. She's a real leader and maybe Talia will never understand :'(

Tagging if you want @tallmatcha @chennnington @lucien-lachance @jentucker anyone with fics who see this!

#atomic smitten #fo3 #tag game #ao3 #fallout 3 #writing #lone wanderer

[dynjir]

Hey, I read the tags on a post and was wondering... what artifacts make Lily and PV's dynamic toxic? If it's about the love potion/love letter there is no confirmation that was something either of them did... there are a lot of artifacts in the museum that are just like. General stuff from the magic school before it fell-- most of the artifacts related to Lily and PV and the ancients specifically are in the history section.

For those of you who don't really care about Cookie Run Kingdom, have a Read More bc this might be a little lengthy lol

(also, purelily shippers, you guys might wanna avoid reading this one)

So I wanna preface this with a few things:

1.) I haven't finished everything the game has to offer yet! I went through the Tower of Sweet Chaos' story, but I'm actually stuck on Raspberry Cookie in 11-27, so depending on what happens, my opinion could change and I could just look like a fool here lmao

2.) In those tags, current dynamic = Pure Vanilla and Dark Enchantress (who's also White Lily)'s dynamic I don't dislike the purelily ship or look down on anyone who does. I actually really fascinated by their history, haha. But personally, my heart's not set on shipping them in their current state because uhh... as far as I know, Dark Enchantress is currently trying to kill Pure Vanilla atm.

That said, lemme spill some of my thoughts on the relics here bc I've actually been wanting to talk about them since I discovered them:

You're right in that there's no concrete evidence that these relics were theirs. No one knows for sure except the writers themselves. But on the flipside, there's also a concerning amount of detail that suggests it being a very real possibility that I haven't seen debunked yet.

One of the biggest concerns is how the Nameless Transcript is within this set of relics. It's titled as "Nameless", but it's strongly hinted that it's White Lily's, which makes you wonder if this set of relics is partially themed after her.

The other relic within the set that's also worth noting is the Lost Portrait. It's not as big of a concern as the Nameless Transcript, but it does solidify that at least several items in this set are themed after White Lily, since this specific portrait was a pivotal item in her backstory.

That aside, let's talk about the relics in question themselves, because those two have some interesting things going on as well.

Starting with Someone's Love Letter, this relic honestly feels like a direct parallel to Pure Vanilla's letter.

Thematically, this makes sense; the set of relics this letter's in is clearly themed after Pure Vanilla while the Love Letter's relic set is hinted to be themed after White Lily, and romantically or not, these two really loved each other at one point in their lives, friends or otherwise. But the thing is, Pure Vanilla always had a strong sense of morals, so it's highly doubtful he wrote the love letter, themes aside.

White Lily, on the other hand, was always shown to have good intentions, but highly questionable morals. She doesn't mind violating any rule she has to to get what she wants, as long as the end justifies the means (i.e sneaking into several forbidden areas of the academy, suggesting taking a piece of the 1st headmaster's soul, etc.).

But the idea of her making a love potion just to get Pure Vanilla's affection sounds way too sinister for White Lily, because despite all the damages she's caused, her intentions are still shown to be good-natured. Also, Devsis makes a conscious effort to make sure the relics match whatever subject they want to associate it with, and the love potion's aesthetic is vastly different from White Lily's design.

But remember that White Lily is also Dark Enchantress. The Tower of Sweet Chaos' story showed that Dark Enchantress isn't just White Lily possessed, brainwashed, or anything like that. She IS Dark Enchantress. Once she was out of the oven, she made a conscious decision to be who she wanted to be, which means the side of her that's Dark Enchantress has always existed within her, even back when she was White Lily. And what does Dark Enchantress look like?

Colors: Check Heart theme: Check (staff) Love theme: Check (Dark "Enchantress")

If this is all true, does it paint a real ugly picture regarding White Lily and Pure Vanilla's relationship? Yeah. Do I actually believe White Lily would actually do something like this though? Also yes. Depending on what the reason is and given her past actions, I don't think it'd be above her at this point.

I will say though; her motivations are usually well-intended, so it doesn't feel right to assume she'd do something like this out of pure whim. I don't know what that motivation is, but I'd like to believe that White Lily wouldn't do this anything like this without a good reason. My personal theory is that she either bought or made the potion herself, but not for sinister reasons.

Of course, I could be wrong about everything and those relics could really belong to some rando cookies lol. But when I say I can't bring myself to ship them much, this is kinda why :')

#dynanswers #cookie run kingdom #crk #anonymous #anon #pure vanilla cookie #dark enchantress cookie #white lily cookie #originally I was going to make this concept into a short series of comics #but man did I want to talk about this lmao #hope this answers your question anon #ultimately it's all just a theory so don't take everything too seriously #also #if you wanna ship em then ship em #regardless of my theories I'm not gonna look down on you for it #I like seeing purelily content so believe me when I say that I don't care lol

[impishbiscuit]

Tagged by @missysdiabolicalmusings thank you! <3

Relationship status: happily been in a relationship for several years and a couple cross-country moves now!

Favourite colour: blue or emerald green. I also like turquoise and purple!

Favourite food: honestly fuck me up with a good cucumber. Love those vegetables.

Song stuck in your head: Run2U by STAYC

Last thing you googled: oh I heard a grad program in my field was closing down so I googled them to do some digging and see if I could find some tea as to what went down (I did, in fact, find my tea, albeit through a different source)

Time: 11:15 pm

Dream trip: if I just had a month to go explore Japan or something, that sounds like a lot of fun. I’d love to take some time to go overseas again to a world I don’t fully understand. It’s really refreshing to my mindset, and I feel like I’m really in need of that refresh.

Last book you read: it was only a small section, but “Fetology” lol

Last book you enjoyed reading: actually, that Fetology book, it’s a pretty great resource

Last book you hated reading: uhhhhhhhh that’s been a hot minute. Probably just something for school?

Bonus:

Favourite thing to cook/bake: I’m gluten free and not by choice, so baking is always an adventure. I honestly really enjoy the challenge of cupcakes and making them from scratch and trying to make them pretty (and in such a way that people wouldn’t guess they’re gluten free!)

Favourite craft to do in your spare time: crochet or cosplay. Currently deep in con crunch hell ehehehe

Most niche dislike: scotch. It’s like trying to drink the worst parts of a campfire.

Opinion on circus(es) now and in history: Exploitative of animals and of people with physical differences. I appreciate that moves have been made to make them more ethical nowadays, at least.

Do you have a sense of direction and if not what is the worst way you ever got lost:  I absolutely do not. I don’t know about worst way I’ve gotten lost, but when I was young and set off on a road trip with my mom to tour colleges, we used a Star Wars voice for the GPS. At some point, I missed my turn and was unable to correct it for a bit, so we just got barraged by Obi Wan Kenobi scolding us and telling us he felt a great disturbance in the Force. We proceeded to get extra off track because we were laughing way too hard.

i dont know if i know ten people but @wanderingaldecaldo and @sammysilverdyne please take this and spread it

#tag meme

[fallonfish]

bro there’s more josuhan fics than josuyasu fics on ao3 i hate it here 😔

#a 20 year old dating a 16 year old just. does NOT sit right with me #plus they literally hate each other for most of the part #rohan just BARELY tolerates josuke by the end #not to mention that josuke burned down his house then dipped- #im all for the josuke and rohan friendship agenda tho hand that shit over #group dad... hes the only one that knows how society works 😔 #im sure ive mentioned how much i love dadbacchio and now i just thought of dadhan am i a genius or what #i really need to get some sleep though its 3 am hhhh #anyways i only found this out bc i read a cute fic about josuke meeting his hero and wanted more josuke and his hero content #hand it over #im tired but i dont wanna sleep 😔 #god i sound like a kid #i miss that shit tho i miss when i didnt have to think or care about shit #this tags section went several different directions lol #i just cant stop typingfdjskg #perhaps🤔🤔 this is a side effect🤔🤔 of thinking too much 🤔🤔 #fuck i meant to say a side effect of bottling everything in #but whatever #anyways if youre still reading this shit for some reason hi #sorry for going off on a mini tangent about my shitty mental health ive kinda been going though it #but hey #im just a little bitch who cannot communicate her problems so i just let everything bottle up inside until i crack and snap :D #i could have made this its own post but. you know. its more likely that people wont read it super deep into the tags

[shinesurge]

I’ve been holding off on making this post because I wanted to try it out myself and get settled in and make sure everything went okay, but seeing as I’ve gone ahead and updated my site and everything I thought now might be a good time to start talking about this publicly! 

If you’ve known me for more than five minutes you know I fucking hate Webtoon, like, a lot. Every aspect of it disgusts me to the core of my being, and while Webtoon is the ugliest version of them the aspects that I hate also extend to basically any comic aggregate site. I hate that they treat artists like content robots, I hate that they treat comic readers like morons who aren’t capable of engaging with complex stories, I hate that they actively try to strip away all the cool parts of indie comics by cultivating sterile and impersonal environments that discourage artistic experimentation and unique expression.

So! I hope you’ll be interested in what I have to say about this new platform that’s (hopefully) going to be out of alpha this summer. If you think you like reading comics on Webtoon, I really encourage you to check out Dillyhub once it launches. That’s the short version, but I have a LOT to say about this! So I’m putting the rest of this under a cut.

Full disclosure, I’m not getting paid or anything for this. The creative outreach at Dillyhub contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I’d be interested in having Kidd Commander be one of their launch titles when they go live this summer. I was hesitant at first, since I actively distrust anything claiming to be For Creators at this point, but they answered my pushy questions patiently and everything seemed on the up and up so I gave it a shot; I’ve been needing a mobile mirror for KC anyway. Eventually they invited me to the alpha creator discord, where they’ve been working directly with all of us artists to improve the platform, and now to be honest I’m REALLY excited for this thing to get off the ground. Nobody asked me to make this post, but since I’ve spent years whining and bitching about how other services do wrong by their creators, I thought I’d talk about this one that’s doing things right.

So, the biggest advantage this site has for creators over others in my opinion is that it. Treats us like individuals, regardless of follower count lmfao. If you’re a new person just starting out with your new webcomic, here’s what webtoon does for you:

Note: you don’t get a custom banner, you don’t even get to choose the solid color it is. That big circle icon is ALSO the image that shows up in searches, but everywhere else on the site it’s a 100x100px square, so you have to choose whether you want it to look good as a giant circle at the top of your comic’s page OR whether you want to look good in search results. Which, by the way, is the ONLY way for people to find you if you’re not partnered. And that’s it! You have no monetization options, you won’t show up on the genre pages, and when someone DOES stumble across your page it looks super unprofessional. Good Luck! 

Now here’s my Dillyhub page(s):

You don’t get a static banner and one icon, you get a whole carousel banner with as many images as you want front and center as soon as you get to the project page. You get seven (custom!) genre tags, as opposed to Webtoon’s single tag you have to pick from their list, and plenty of room to talk about your work. The episodes are even laid out better, you get a MUCH bigger preview space to work with and they’re nice and big on the bottom half of the page:

you know, like they’re actually presenting ART lmfao.

That’s already an ENORMOUS improvement, but here’s my favorite thing.

o hm that’s a lot of super cushy settings I have for every individual episode, but what’s that, Episode Type?

LIKE.

listen, i know this is probably a bit specialized if you’re not a comic maker yourself, but this is a HUGE DEAL. You can post vertically OR page by page! You can even post pages two at a time for double page spreads, or so they read like a physical comic book! AND their specs are really open, as long as the file meets the size requirement you can make it whatever shape you want. You don’t have to reformat all your shit to post here!! I posted the entire first volume of KC STRAIGHT FROM THE PRINT FILES in like half an hour!!! The episodes can also be any amount of pages, you can post a single page or an entire chapter all in one go!

So that’s just the project page for the comic, let’s see what happens when I click on my username there.

Each author gets their own unique page (which you can tack a vanity url to!) to present themselves however they want! You always have the banner at the top, but beyond that you have a ton of options. Among other incredibly useful tools that really should just be bare fucking minimum at this point, like the ability to preview your page on different devices, you start customizing your blank page with this set of widgets,

and from THERE you can customize them MORE, you can promote your patreon or your kickstarter or whatever! Having this creator space ALSO means that if you run several comics, or if you want to promote your comic AND your illustrations, you can just separate them into individual projects! Each with their own page! This is also really nice as a reader because you can subscribe to a creator but you can also just subscribe to specific projects, if you don’t want to get ALL of their stuff in your inbox. It’s so good y’all hh.

Once again, all of this functionality is just THERE as soon as you make your account. You don’t need to be “partnered” or whatever the fuck, you don’t need to meet a certain follower threshold to unlock the ability to operate normally. You get your own creator space to present yourself how you prefer, you get pages for all your projects, you can even set up monetization options (and change them for individual pages IN a project) right from the start.

ok ok let’s compare this to my webtoon page

oh that’s right webtoon just puts your greyed out name at the bottom of each comic and that’s it because human beings don’t make this stuff, my bad lol anyway

Other fun shit that Dillyhub does that makes me feel like they’re people who have actually consumed or made comics on the internet at some point in their lives:

-When you log into the “studio” space, you’re in your creator account. When you log OUT of the studio space, it’s like you swap to a “reader” account, where you can access your pull list and comment on things with a different name and profile icon. Again, maybe only cool if you’re a creator, but if you ARE then you know exactly why this is incredibly useful lmao

-You can set up “hidden” projects, so if you only want certain things to be accessible by certain people or to not show up in searches that’s an option! You have SO much control here it’s great.

-The comment section has moderation options GODDD. You also have a real comment space, you know, so it actually encourages building a community (and a rapport with your community, if you like), and you also can just turn comments off entirely if you want! I haven’t used it much yet, obviously, but it’s been made very clear in the discord that artists want better control over their comment sections and the devs have it on their priority list.

-Absolutely every step of customization gives you a preview before it’s live, so you can easily see what these images you’re posting in different places are going to look like before you beam them to your followers’ inboxes. This includes individual episodes!

-This was sort of in one of the screenshots but it’s important so I’m saying it here too: the option to mark individual episodes as mature or with content warnings, rather than having to mark an entire comic as Mature Spooky Scary Content because of one or two pages getting a bit hairy.

This site is only in alpha right now, and it’s invite-only until they get to beta (for creators; anyone can make a reader account! but they haven’t set up a way to browse comics without direct links yet so) but honest to god it’s already blowing every other site I’ve used clean out of the water. And the staff has been really kind and responsive to us proposing fixes or changes! I will always defend individual websites as being the best option for an indie comic, but everybody’s gotta start somewhere and we NEED something that isn’t Tumblr or Webtoon to fill this role; this site feels a lot more like a symbiotic relationship than any of the other staples available for new creators right now. If you’re a comic reader and you want to see your favorite comics on Dillyhub I’d suggest keeping an eye on this site and once it’s live start poking them to look into it, and if you’re a creator follow their social media and hop in when they open up for anybody to join. I would LOVE to see this site take off as a viable option for hosting and reading comics.

Thanks for reading all this! I haven’t quite finished setting up yet, but if you want to poke around a project/creator page for yourself mine is here have at it. As things progress I’m sure I’ll have more to say, but since I’m usually so aggressively negative about places like this I just wanted to give some credit where it was due. fucking finally.

#long post #i want this site to obliterate webtoon so fucking bad lmfao

[jaqdawks]

I wrote a little short story thing, where these two go shopping lol

Gonna post it cuz why not

Word count - 2308

Trigger Warnings - Mentions to doomsday cult branding and a barely avoided panic attack

Béla pulled up by the bus, right around where Rameir stood in line. He rolled his window down and pointed at him. “Get in loser, we’re going shopping.”

Rameir obliged, glad to have any reason to postpone going home.

The inside of the car was average, other than the steering wheel being on the right hand side of the car.

“Don’t see that every day,” Rameir mused as he got in the back seat.

“Huh?”

“The wheel.”

Béla glanced back at him and then his steering wheel. “Oh, yeah. My mom was pretty determined to keep her old car when she moved from Europe.”

“And she’s giving it to you now?”

Béla shrugged. “It’s old. Anyways, I don’t have anything that’s actually warm enough to keep up with winter.” As the bus started, Béla got around it to pass it. He continued, “So we’re going to the mall.”

“And how come you’re taking me with you?”

Béla glanced at him through the rear view mirror. “I’ve been wanting to get you something decent in your wardrobe for ages.”

Rameir frowned. “I don’t have any money with me.”

“Don’t worry, shit’s on sale right now, it’ll be fine. If you really feel bad about it, we can go by some thrift stores.”

Rameir sat back and shut up for the rest of the drive. He wondered what his parents would think. He called them, but they didn’t pick up. He texted them, but his dad had a rule about calling over texting.

“Got a curfew?” Béla chimed in.

“I’ve never really stayed out before, so my parents never established one.”

“Oof. Okay, we’ll get you home by. . . How far out do you live again?”

“Almost an hour out of town.”

“Fuck,” Béla muttered, “Okay, well it’s a Friday so worst case scenario you can spend the night.”

Béla pulled into the mall’s parking lot and got a space near the entrance. Rameir hesitantly stepped out, leaving his backpack behind.

“You look nervous,” Béla commented.

“I’ve never really been in a mall.”

“Holy shit you are sheltered,” Béla whistled, “This was a good idea. I should have done this sooner.”

Rameir followed him into the building. That smell of money, the kind that’s been all around and smells more like people’s hands than paper, it was as if it hit him in the face when he walked in. Bright displays of makeup and skincare products lined the shelves, Rameir looked over to Béla in confusion.

“This is just their cosmetics floor.”

“There’s several floors?”

Béla responded as if that was obvious, “Yeah, Nordstrom is like, rich as fuck. Anyways this is just one of the convenient entrances, let’s go.”

He led Rameir through the store. Rameir felt a breath of relief when they stepped into the main part of the mall and escaped the white tiles and white floors and fluorescent lights of Nordstrom. Rameir looked out at all the shops, randomly placed indoor benches, and clusters of people walking by.

Béla raised an eyebrow at Rameir’s stare. “Jesus Christ, you really haven’t been in a mall before, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“I should have brought reinforcements,” Béla said under his breath, “C’mon, let’s start at Aéropostale.”

Rameir followed awkwardly behind him, until Béla got fed up with his non-confrontation and backpedaled to walk next to him. Rameir kept his head down as Béla tried to start a conversation with him multiple times.

It wasn’t as long of a walk as Rameir could have hoped.

As they entered the store, a cashier greeted them from behind the counter. The store was mostly empty, other than the occasional teen around their age group hidden behind wracks of clothes.

Béla started towards the back, dragging Rameir along.

They stopped at a table with folds of various shirts on it, and some mannequins behind it. “So, what exactly do you like? And if it’s anything close to what you already wear, I’m gonna invalidate your opinion.”

Rameir looked over the shirts. He hesitantly picked up one with a Polaroid logo on it, and Béla shook his head. “That's extra small. Hold on.” Béla’s hands reached around the back of his collar and flipped over the tag on his shirt. “Okay, medium, right?”

Rameir felt goosebumps prickling up his back.“I guess.”

Béla took the shirt and put it back on the pile, then flipped through it and picked up a different one that was a bit bigger. “Here.”

Rameir took it reluctantly. He stared at the shirts, not quite considering them.

“You look like a deer in headlights.”

“Sorry.”

“You’re not really in your element here, huh?”

“No.”

Béla rested his hand on his hip. “Do you need help picking things out?”

“I think so.”

“Okay, this’ll be fun,” Béla grinned. He picked up a few shirts, some striped, some plain, some with pictures or designs on them. Some he put down after considering them for a minute, some he handed over to Rameir. By the end, they’d picked out four shirts on the sale wrack and one jacket that Rameir thought looked cool.

“Okay, now what?” Rameir asked once they both decided they’d found enough for this store.

Béla motioned to the changing rooms. “Well, go try them on.”

Rameir froze. “What?”

“It’d be a waste if we bought all this stuff and it turned out it doesn’t fit you.”

“I don’t know, I don’t really like, y’know, changing in public.”

“You’ll be alone, no ones gonna see you dude.”

Rameir tensed his fists. “Are you sure?”

“Go ahead. The doors even lock from the inside.” He gave Rameir a gentle push in their direction. “I’m gonna look around for myself for a second. If anything doesn’t fit you, just leave it behind.”

Rameir sighed to himself and took the clothes to one of the rooms.

Of course, there was a mirror right on the wall to stare back at him. He sat the stuff down on the small bench and locked the door behind him. For a moment, he just stared at his reflection, before he frowned at it and slowly took his shirt off.

He avoided direct eye contact at the cult’s brand on his chest as he changed through the different shirts. They all fit fine, Rameir put his own shirt back on and gathered them up and folded them.

He spotted Béla looking through some jackets, and walked over to him with all the stuff.

Béla glanced at the folded pile and then back at the jackets on the wall wracks. “Did you try them?”

“Yeah.”

“They all fit?”

Rameir nodded.

“Great. Just gimme a minute.”

Béla gathered a small pile of stuff for himself together and left Rameir to wait on a bench near the changing rooms. Rameir fiddled with one of the tags and wondered what his parents would think when he came home with shopping bags. He checked his phone, still no reply.

Béla stepped out of the changing room a few minutes later. “Okay, ready to go,” he announced.

They took all the stuff to the cash register, and Béla swiped his card without hesitation.

“How much of that do I owe you?” Rameir asked.

“None.”

Rameir would check the tags at home and figure out how much on his own, then.

They bid the cashier goodbye and left a moment later.

“Levi’s next,” Béla had said, but they stopped at a small shop called Claire’s first. Béla didn’t push Rameir to buy anything, he found a pair of earrings with cherries dangling from them and brought them to the counter. That was all.

When they did get to Levi’s, Béla dragged him straight to the jeans section. Rameir was amazed by a store’s ability to have a whole section for jeans.

“Do you know your waist size?”

“No.”

Béla picked some ripped jeans in various sizes. “Okay, you’ll just have to see what works.” He thrusted several pairs of jeans into Rameir’s arms. “When you figure out which fits, tell me. I wanna see what they look like on you.”

Rameir gave him a puzzled look. “Okay?”

Béla waited by the changing rooms this time. Rameir found it easier to try them on than the shirts—there weren’t any suspicious marks on his legs, after all.

“Got one?” Béla called into the room.

“Think so.”

“Show me!”

Rameir stepped out, feeling not very self confident. Béla took a picture, and Rameir went pale.

“What the hell?”

“Relax. I’m only sending it to Drew, then I’ll delete it.”

Rameir’s stomach did pathetic flips, and his lungs felt too empty. He stepped back into the changing room and covered his face with his hands.

“Are you alright in there?” Béla asked.

Rameir didn’t respond.

“If it’s any consolation, Drew said you look cute.”

Rameir still didn’t respond. He didn’t know why, but he felt so ashamed.

Béla stepped in, Rameir had forgotten to lock the door again. “Hey, for real, you okay?”

“Please get out,” Rameir squeaked in a small voice.

Béla backed off. “Sorry.”

He closed the door behind him, and Rameir sat down on the changing room stool and tried to pull himself together. With a tired sigh, he changed back into his own clothes again and brought the jeans that fit back out.

Béla was having a very quiet phone call with someone when Rameir walked out. He paused mid-sentence, before saying to the person on the other line, “He’s back, gotta go.” He hung up quickly and stood up.

“Who was that?”

“Oh, just my dad,” Béla responded, “Anyways, what’s the waist size?”

Rameir checked the tag. “Thirty by Thirty-two.”

“Cool. Pretty much everything is the same here so, you don’t have to try any other pants on as long as we’re getting them in that size.”

To Rameir, he sounded like he might be stretching the truth. But Rameir didn’t question it. “Alright.”

“Let’s just grab one more, your choice.”

They found something sub par, cargo pants that Rameir could tolerate the color of. It seemed that cargo pants always came in a color that was almost a good shade of brown but not quite there. Béla texted someone quickly, before he left Rameir to sit on his own again.

“If you wanna wander and see anything else you like, feel free. I’m just gonna look around again.”

Rameir didn’t. He sat and tried to get over his feeling of overwhelm. His phone vibrated in his pocket, so he pulled it out to see who was calling. He’d hoped it would be his dad calling him back, it was Drew instead.

Rameir held the phone up to his ear. “Hello?”

Drew’s voice sounded on the other line. “Hi.” Rameir felt like the electrical technicalities of how phones worked didn’t do his voice justice. “Béla said you kind of freaked out earlier, is everything alright?”

“Kinda, sorta.”

Drew waited for him to continue.

So he did. “I’ve just never been shopping before, and it’s a bit much.”

“Yeah, I feel ya. They’re super loud and there’s way too many people.”

“Oh,” Rameir said, “it’s not really crowded right now.”

“You would not enjoy them in the middle of the day.”

Rameir laughed slightly. “Probably not.”

“Sorry if Béla is being a bit intense, too,” Drew rambled on, “He’s kinda. . . passionate about these things.”

“It’s alright.”

“So, how’s the shopping going?”

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” Rameir admitted, “I usually just got all my clothes from my cousin, sometimes my parents would bring stuff home, that’s about it.”

“Excited about the new stuff?”

Rameir half-smiled. “A bit. I feel bad though.”

“Oh, how come?”

“Well, Béla’s paying for it all, and yeah.”

“Don’t worry about him, he’s got all sorts of reward discounts,” Drew assured him with a hearty chuckle, “He could probably whittle the price of a shirt down to a dollar if he tried.”

Rameir watched Béla take a small stack of clothes into a changing room. “Yeah.”

“I gotta go now. If it starts to get late, you can tell Béla to drop you off with me. I can get my parents to vouch for you not coming home last night.”

“Thanks, I’ll consider it.”

“Alright, goodbye.”

“Bye.”

Rameir clicked the hang up button. A missed call notification popped up from his cousin. Rameir didn’t want to deal with Faust right now, he didn’t call often and he didn’t call with friendly intentions, so he ignored it.

Béla took another moment in the changing room. When he finished, they took the stuff to the counter and left with the things in bags.

“You good for one more stop?” Béla checked.

“Sure.”

They went by one more shop with a name Rameir didn’t bother to read. He got a polo shirt that Béla insisted on, and that was it. He was far more worn out than he thought.

Béla seemed to pick up on this, and made the stop quick.

When they got back out to the car, Rameir was ready to collapse. Béla put their bags in the back. Rameir got into the back seat again and pressed his forehead against the headrest. He checked the time on his phone, it read 17:09.

“So, it’s kind of rush hour,” Béla said as he got into the driver’s seat, “It might take, like, a really long time to get you out to the countryside.”

“Mhm.”

“Wanna go get some dinner and try to wait it out, or should I just take you home?”

“Drew said you could drop me off at his place. So, that, I guess,” Rameir mumbled.

“Alright.”

Rameir sat back and put his seat belt on. Béla started the car and pulled out of the mall parking lot. Rameir tried to call his dad again, to no avail, then texted Drew that they were on their way.

#art #ocs #my ocs #original story #original writing #original characters #clip studio paint #illustration #digital artwork #my art #my writing #oc #there is a mean girls reference lol #oc dynamic #doodle #artwork #digital doodle #doodles #digital drawing #digital art #digital aritst #writing

[kaitycole]

New Beginnings (10.a)

Summary: It’s been four months since Drake and Riley went their separate ways. Riley has been spending her time between the Beaumont Estate and the Palace while Drake has been holed up in Lythikos.

This is the first part of the tenth installment of My Best Friend’s Wedding.

I recommend listening to Friends Don’t by Maddie and Tae, the lyrics are used as well as it fits Drake and Olivia.

A/N: I really am working to wrap this up but this part is going to come out in two pieces and then the ending will come. I swear I didn’t expect this, but I just write what comes to me, guys lol

Pairings: Drake x MC (past tense), Liam x MC (mentioned), Drake x Olivia (platonic??)

There’s also some smut, so by reading you are agreeing that you are 18+

Word Count: 2044

Tag List: @liamxs-world @lynn1214@mynameiskaylabella @mrswalkers-blog            @drakelover78@gardeningourmet @zilch3 @speedyoperarascalparty   @umccall71@mrsdrakewalkerblog @hopefulmoonobject  @sleepwalkingelite            @annekebbphotography @jared2612 @indiacater @lodberg  @lauradowning29 @dcbbw @araihc-ce @cora-nova @pedudley @custaroonie​

           He’s sitting in the wine cellar, well technically it’s a wine/whiskey cellar because Olivia added some shelves just for his whiskey. If you sent him a letter, it would probably be addressed a little something like this:

           Mr. Drake Walker

           The Cellar under the Stairs

           He doesn’t mind spending his days in the cellar, he actually preferred it to being around anything. In his opinion, it hasn’t been long enough since his disaster of a wedding for him to come out of hiding. It was only a month after their “wedding” that he saw Riley and Liam on the cover of a tabloid, showing off their relationship, as if Drake was never a part of the story.

           “Hey, Walker.” One of the Lythikos servants says to him as she comes down to gather a few bottles of wine.

           “Party tonight?”

           “There’s a state dinner tonight. To discuss the upcoming soc—” She pauses franticly, her eyes widening and she tries to think of something quick but draws a blank.

           “Social season? Whose getting married? Maxwell? Bertrand? Penelope?” He’s confused, he hasn’t been out of touch with everyone that long.

           “It’s best you speak to Lady Olivia,” she scurries up the stairs, disappearing.

           Well hell, guess its time to come out of here.

           He walks up the stairs, letting out a deep breath when he gets to the door before opening it. He hears conversation towards the ballroom so he heads in that direction.

           “Drake! You’re upstairs!” Olivia quickly smiles at him before dropping it so no one sees it. She notices that his stubble is overgrown and his hair is long enough to put in a short ponytail. He had been doing fine, he was sleeping in the guest room, eating regularly, and he wasn’t drinking more than a glass or two of whiskey a day. But once the tabloid cover came out, she found him more often in the wine cellar than in his room. She even found that he had put a cot in the cellar so he didn’t have to leave.

           It broke her heart to see him broken like this, to see him striped down to this raw shell of himself. Later that week she requested a section of the cellar be allotted to whiskey, just for him. Don’t ask her why she did, it just felt right. She thought maybe he’d after a day or two down there, he’d come upstairs, but it seemed he only came out when she was away.

           “Heh.” He runs his hands through his thick hair, it’s greasy from lack of care, “I uh…heard there was a state dinner.”

           Olivia’s eyes widen, she glances around looking to see who could have told. One of the kitchen maids look a little too red to Olivia, who is giving her the side eye. I guess I have to tell him.

           “Drake, let’s go to the study to talk, shall we?” She guides him down the hall before turning around to her servants, “Finish the ballroom decorations and I’d like to see tentative seating chart when I return.”

           The pair walk down the hall and slip into the study. Drake sits down in the chair that sits in front of a fireplace and Olivia takes the one across from him.

           “Just tell me what’s going on, Livy.”

           She cocks her head to the side, he hasn’t called her that in years. When she was a young girl, she hated it, but now. But now it made this weird fluttering sensation in her chest, yuck.

           “There’s a social season starting up in a few weeks. Today is a state dinner to see whom from Lythikos will represent it as the suitor.” Her words switch between no emotion and emotion because part of her is lying. Well not lying, but definitely withholding a huge piece of information.

           “I hadn’t heard from anyone.” He checks his phone, yup still on and working, he even checked his email that he never does, causing an annoying 538 notification to sit on the corner of the app.

           She takes a deep breath. She can sentence people to the dungeon, make the strongest man kneel to her with just one look, she always has control, but here she doesn’t. “Drake…it’s Liam.”

           He snorts, “Of course, doubt he’d be off the market long. Got bored of Riley already?” He stands up, pacing, mumbling to himself, “Maybe we can fix things and get back together.”

           “He’s marrying Riley, Drake.”

           He stops dead in his place, there’s anger in his eyes that Olivia has never seen, but it excites her.

           “Riley…? Already?” He sinks back into the chair and Olivia places her hand on his knee.

           “They have the courts approval, but for appearances they are doing a short social season. Something about unity and not looking so scandalous.”

           He starts laughing uncontrollably, he doubles over and Olivia swears he’s about to fall out of the chair.

           A psychotic break? Is that what he’s having right now? What the hell is wrong with him? Torture victims don’t even act this strange.

           “I’d really prefer if you didn’t die on this rug. Legend goes the first dagger was used on a rug just like this, many years ago. By a woman too.” She smirks.

           He clears his throat as the laughing stops and he sits up, he even wipes a tear from his eye, “Man, I really needed that laugh, Liv.”

           She stares at him, completely confused before he continues, “They think a social season will make this look less scandalous.” He starts chuckling again.

           Before she knows it, Olivia is laughing herself. She realizes just how ridiculous it sounds now. Thinking that making a few stops around Cordonia and pretending to be interesting in others before ultimately picking the American, that you either love or hate.

           “So, am I going to be asked to dinner?” Drake asks, after the two have calmed down.

           “Oh.” She’s taken aback, “I thought you hated those stuffy noble events?”

           He looks at the ground and smirks, “I wanted to help pick out who Riley’s competition will be.”

           “You’re on. Meet me here at 5:30?”

           Drake nods before walking back to his guest suite. Once he’s in the room, he leans forward, stretching his back. He starts unbuttoning his shirt and pulls it up over his head, dropping it on the floor. He stretches his arms in front of him, before undoing his pants and stepping out of them.

           What should I wear? These clothes are filthy and I don’t remember bringing many options. He turns on the hot water before heading back in the room to grab his phone.

           “Oh! I’m sorry!” Olivia shouts as her face reddens and she turns away.

           It wasn’t until Olivia turns away that Drake realizes he’s fully nude. Quickly, he grabs a pillow and holds it in front of himself.

           “I heard the shower,” she stammers, “I...I...was just going to bring this.” She places a bag on the bed.

           He gives her a puzzled look, “What’s that?”  

           She’s drawing a blank on the word she’s trying to say, “Uhm….uh….” a light bulb goes off, “Clothes! I had your clothes from New York sent here.”

           “Oh?”

           “I figured you wouldn’t go back to New York, so I had all your things packed up and put at your family’s cabin near the palace.”

           He rubs the back of his neck, almost dropping the pillow, “Oh. Thank you.”

           She points towards the door, “I’m going to…uhm…go.”

           Drake watches her rush out the door before getting in the shower.

           A blushing Olivia rushes down the hallway before stopping, leaning against the wall, trying to catch her breath, she feels herself become damp. Of course, she thought Drake was easy on the eyes, but she wasn’t prepared for what she saw today.

           Has he always been that…attractive? Does he work out? That can’t be natural, he has to work out, right? And what he was packing wasn’t bad either, she bites her lip at that last thought before shaking it off and heading back to the dining room.

           The hot water runs down Drake’s back as the silence between the song change fills the room.

           The upbeat guitar strumming begins to spread, erases any silence that remained. The slight ting of the tambourine surprises him.

They don't cancel other plans Have conversations with nothing but their eyes They don't hear each other's names and forget to concentrate Hits a nerve and lights you up like dynamite

           Drake wasn’t really feeling any kind of lovey song, but this one he could tolerate. This one, he never thought of Riley when he heard it. There were several other songs that he would sing and think of her, but never this song. As if maybe, just maybe this song was being saved for someone else.

Friends don't call you in the middle of the night Couldn't even tell you why They just felt like saying "hi" Friends don't stand around, playing with their keys Finding reasons not to leave Trying to hide the chemistry

           His cheeks redden thinking back to Olivia walking in. Sure, she was beautiful, but they grew up together and came from different sides of the tracks. Good thing I’m not a grower, heh.

Drive a little too slow, take the long way home Get a little too close We do, but friends don't

           The lyrics swirl around the room, he closes his eyes, letting himself sway to the music. He feels relaxed, for the first time in weeks. Flashes of Riley start to appear before they fade into Olivia. He thinks about the way she ran her fingers through his hair the night of the wedding, the way she smelt which was a strong orchid scent that could be overwhelming but not to him.

They don't almost say "I love you" When they're downtown somewhere, just a little drunk They don't talk about the future and put each other in it And get chills with every accidental touch

           He recalls how caring she had been since he came to Lythikos and understanding she had been. He half expected her to slap him around and force him to sleep out in the snow until he stopped wallowing over Riley, but she never did.

I keep telling myself this might be nothing

But one look in your eyes and, God, there's something

           Drake places a hand on the shower wall for balance before using his other hand to stroke himself. It sucks in a quick breath, he couldn’t tell you how long it has been.

           Flashes of Olivia’s surprised face fill his mind as he slides his hand up and down, adding the slightest pressure to the head with his thumb. He thought of her making that face as his fingers slowly trailed down her thighs, his tongue exploring around her outer lips before delicately flicking the tip of his tongue on her clit. He imagines her moaning, her back arching as he slid his fingers into her wetness. He begins to pump his length faster as a deep moan leaves his lips.

           Drake gets lost in his thoughts of Olivia and before long, his breath hitches and spills his cum on the shower wall. Panting, he tries to catch his breath as he uses the shower head to rise off the wall before quickly rinsing himself off.

           He wraps a towel around his waist, cuts the water off and walks into his room. He quickly gets dressed, trying to shove the thoughts he’s just had to the back of his mind.

           I can’t have these thoughts right now. Olivia doesn’t feel that way, I definitely can’t feel that way about her. I can’t do another one-sided relationship.

           He pulls on his shoes, running his finger through his hair to get it out of his face while making a mental note that he needs to get it cut.

           Grabbing his phone, he cuts the music off, allowing the last line he hears to linger in the air.

You can lie to me and say you don't But I know you do, and I love you too

…

Get a little too close We do, but friends don't Uh uh uh Friends don't.

#choices #choices the stories you play #choices the royal romance #choices drake #choices liam #choices mc #choices riley #choices olivia #drake x mc #liam x mc #drake x olivia #pixelberry #drake x Liam x riley #my best friends wedding #mbfw #smut

[dollsorwhatever]

Doll hair tips: heat styling

It’s been a long time since I’ve made a dedicated post for doll hair styling, and my methods/product recs have changed quite a bit so I figured I’d provide another one! I’ve been using my current methods for several years now, so I can confidently recommend all of them!

I’ve been styling doll hair since I was in...well idk elementary school, and while I’m probably not the BEST out there, I know what I’m doing and I hope my experiences will help some people because I’m incredibly passionate about doll hair lol.  This is what works for me, doesn’t mean it’s the end-all-be-all of doll styling!  I get asked pretty often and rather than making a new post every time, I figured I’d make something more permanent that I can link to. <3 Let’s start with heat styling! I’ll make a post about products and tools as well, one about curls, and one about bangs because this post is already massive.  Some of this information will probably be really obvious to some of you but hey...you can never be too thorough lol.

I style all of my dolls with a flat iron. I know this is scary for some people because a lot of us were told that a flat iron would DEFINITELY melt the hair, but it’s honestly my favorite method and provides the best results by a landslide! Boilwashing is great and is definitely a good start, but if you’re a perfectionist like me, you’ll notice that it doesn’t always give the best results possible and for that reason, I only boil for a couple of reasons, and it’s always just a step in the styling process: - Boiling is great for flattening down the hair on a doll’s head, for example if some of the plugs are sticking up from an updo, or if you just finished a reroot and need the hair to lay flat.  -It’s great for curling hair with rollers, or braiding the hair and boiling it to give a wave -It’s a good finishing step for kanekalon hair, and  -it’s good if you want straighter hair quickly, or if you’re just straightening out the kinks after you unbox a doll.  I use boiling water for those kinds of things, but in all scenarios, a flat iron provides the most control and gives the best result. Some tips about boiling if this is what you want to do: -Wash the hair first. -Comb from tip-to-root to prevent snags, and detangle the hair prior to straightening.  -Don’t dip the hair and swish it around too much, because it won’t do a whole lot; the hair is suspended in the water and therefore will have nothing to weigh it down and straighten it. You want to dip it in, pull it out and comb it into the shape you want, or pour it over the head and do the same. Repeat until you reach the desired texture.  -The positioning of the hair is EVERYTHING, because once it cools down, that’s how it will dry. I recommend combing it while it’s still hot, and place the parting how you’d like it to stay primarily. Don’t dip her in upside down, this will disrupt and potentially unthatch the parting, which leads to messed up layers and bald spots. -Be mindful of the parting. Don’t comb out the parting or disrupt the thatching, it’ll mess with the layers and reveal bald spots underneath.  -If the doll has particularly long hair, I would separate it, using the parting as a guide and boil one half at a time, then do a finishing pour over her hair once you’re done.  -If you’re boiling wavy hair and want to maintain some of it’s original texture, don’t boil it or comb it too much and while it’s still hot, scrunch it up with your hands and then twist it in the direction the curl naturally goes, then rinse it with cold water to set the wave.  -If you are boiling kanekalon, be very very diligent about how the hair lays. This hair is very heat sensitive and will take to whatever shape it’s laying against- for example, if you’re boiling a synthetic mohair wig, it’ll form to the shape of the wefts underneath. I recommend using almost-near-boiling water for kanekalon for this reason, and I recommend combing it with a flea comb (from tip to root) and boiling in sections to prevent it from getting any weird shapes when it dries or getting snagged in the comb. Flat ironing

Note: every temperature listed is in FAHRENHEIT. 

I’ve used several flat irons for dolls since I was in middle school, but my top choice for almost a decade has been this ION Titanium Flat iron for several reasons: -It has a digital heat setting with settings that go all the way from 160 degrees and up to 450, so I can style any hair type with it efficiently. -it regulates it’s temperature and won’t get hotter the longer it’s on, so there’s no need to shut it off to cool down while you’re styling.  -The barrel is small, making it perfect for adding wave to a section of hair (and even curling kanekalon!).  The listing says it starts at 180 but it definitely starts at 160, which is a good, mild temperature to start at if you’re new to doll hair.  I’m sure there are other options, but all flat irons are different and this is the only one I recommend despite the price tag, and every person that’s gotten it on my recommendation has loved it.  I recommend trying on a few bait dolls of different hair types so that you can practice before starting with a doll that you love. When I flat iron a new doll, I always start by washing the hair with a clarifying shampoo (that 2$ Suave one is my favorite) and conditioning. My favorite conditioners are Suave Sleek and Shine and Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine. The Suave is more mild and is best for hair that doesn’t need a lot of work (or if it’s curly and you don’t want to weigh the hair down), while the Garnier is very thick and heavy, which I prefer when I start out styling a doll, then after I’m done, if I feel it’s too heavy, I’ll wash it again with the Suave conditioner.  I start flat ironing while the hair is damp- you might want to lay a towel under the doll if you’re holding her between your legs because there have been several times where hot water came down and burned my thighs lol. Don’t be me.

The hair does not HAVE to be damp to be flat ironed at the right temperature, it just provides a little more control and is helpful on especially unruly hair. If the hair is at risk of melting without being damp, your flat iron is too hot.

I work in sections, going by each row of plugs, from the very bottom and all the way to the top row! This is most efficient for me because I hold the sections up with clips, and I’ll have to go through and re-do the top sections if they get bent by the hair clips.  I’ll straighten until the hair is completely dry usually, and if I feel I need to keep flat ironing I will spritz the hair with water and do it again. I straighten one section multiple times until I get the desired texture, and if the hair is wavy (or if I want to give it a wave), I’ll curl it under with my fingers while it’s still hot, and keep repeating until I get the shape I want. Make sure to go in the direction the wave naturally goes, otherwise it’ll unravel and go flat! Most doll hair will curl in one direction all around, and it’s difficult to train it to go another way and it never looks as nice.  My favorite tools for flat ironing are a flea comb, a toothbrush and a regular rattail comb or a two sided comb with varying widths on each side! Depending on the level of frizz or level of straightness I need, I’ll use one of those tools, both combing while the hair is still hot, to organize sections and as a comb-chase. Now onto the hair types: Saran is the most common hair type and imo the best of them all- it can tolerate temperatures anywhere from 160 degrees and all the way up to 230 degrees (sometimes higher but if you’re a beginner, I would err on the side of caution). I always start low and go up depending on how the hair is reacting.  Nylon (Used on most MGA dolls circa 2018-present,  some Disney Store dolls, Just Play dolls and some hasbro dolls) is the second-most-common and it’s the strongest of the hair types- I typically start at 200 with this hair type which is usually sufficient, but sometimes I’ll go higher if the hair is unruly or has a really difficult texture like the crimps on my LE 17′‘ Ariel doll; I went up to 400 with her and it never melted, actually I don’t think I’ve EVER melted nylon no matter how hight the temperature.  Polypropylene ( this is the ‘bad nylon’- commonly used on dollar store dolls, various Mattel dolls from 2016-onward. MGA dolls from 2008-2012, it’s on a lot of the current MLP dolls and DS dolls) Is the third-most-common hair type and in between Saran and Nylon with temperature. This hair is best flat ironed at 200-250 degrees, anything over 250 usually makes it frizz up in my experience. This hair sucks regardless tho so I’d recommend a reroot lol.  Doll grade kanekalon (otherwise known as synthetic mohair) is very common on 80′s-90′s Barbies and Liv dolls but has since been discontinued for playline requires the lowest temperature, as it’s very heat sensitive and easy to style. I never go above 200 with this because it’s just not needed. You can also curl kanekalon with a flat iron! This doesn’t need much of an explanation, there are plenty of tutorials for this online with human hair and it’s basically the same method- curve the flat iron while the hair is passing through it, all the way until the ends come out- poof! Curl! This does take some practicing but once you get the hang of it, it’s pretty fun.  Once you’re done ironing, I recommend washing the hair again, combing it into place and putting the doll on a stand to dry. 

#dolls #bjd #doll hair #barbie #monster high #ever after high #dcshg

[warp6]

If you're still doing the fic asks from yesterday, 2, 4 and 13 for with beautiful reluctance!

(put a fic title + questions from this list in my inbox!)

aaah thanks for the ask!

2: What scene did you first put down?

This is such an interesting question for a longfic that was over a year in the writing. I actually went back and looked at the version history to figure this out, and it’s a good thing that I did because it turns out I was totally wrong with all my best guesses as to what it was!

I jump around a lot (within scenes, between scenes) when I write; that’s always been my writing style, since as I’m writing one portion of the story, as soon as I have an idea for a later part, I just jump ahead and write out the part I’m thinking of. (Fucking hilariously, I had to come back and finish that sentence just now because I’d jumped somewhere else in this post after writing ‘portion of the story,’).

My memory before checking the version history was that the first scene I’d written had, in fact, just been the first scene of the first chapter. According to version history, though, I wrote down the first 1.5 sentences of the first scene:

The sky is overcast and the garden is overgrown. The woman walking up the path

(unchanged from the final version, except for the substitution of ‘person’ for ‘woman’), and then jumped to writing the scene where Janeway finds the stuffed animal and its tag at the end of Chapter 3.

More broadly, I have a pretty clear memory, considering it was well over a year ago, of the first night I started writing this fic–where I was, what I was feeling, etc. Pretty much from conception of the idea, I knew the premise of the fic, what it was about, and where it was going–though not all the major details, which I fleshed out over the next year as I outlined and wrote.

When I opened the new document, I believe I first hunted down the beginning quote–from which the fic gets its name–then came up with the setting of that very first scene, which snapped together in my mind from the quote in combination with a concept from the young adult novel that is credited on AO3 at the end of the fic. Then, evidently, I jumped ahead to the stuffed animal scene when I thought of it, to go ahead and get that down. I also wrote a rudimentary list of chapters that night, since the name/setting/[important spoiler characteristic] of each chapter were key to the premise of the fic.

About a month later, I started working on the fic again, and it looks like I then laid down sections of the first three chapters all at the same time.

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Remaining questions under the cut for mild fic spoilers (I’m avoiding spoiling anything too major even under the cut, but there’s definitely some discussion of later-in-the-fic stuff) and length!

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Ohhh, you know exactly which one. (Despite being the cretin who wrote it, I still practically scream every time I read over the scene and reach that line. ;)

Second favorite… I think I’m going to go with this line from Chapter 15:

“But I think he’s ready to come home.”

I think I like this line so much in context because it connects to so many different threads of the story, and also because it (I think/hope) successfully feels like a resolution to them. (I literally only just now went and checked, and it turns out it’s essentially the last line of dialogue in the fic! There’s one more spoken line but it doesn’t really count–plus the epilogue–but basically, it’s the last line spoken by one person to another. I never actually realized that this line was the last real line of dialogue when I was writing or editing, maybe because there is a full scene after it and an epilogue after that. In other words, I wasn’t thinking of this line in that light when I wrote it–which makes it interesting to me that it was the first potential second-favorite line I thought of, several weeks later, even though I’d never noticed its significance as Last Line of Dialogue while I was writing).

Elements of the fic that this line connects to, off the top of my head, sans spoilers: It’s a line about him (and all the moments that connects to, throughout the fic and at the beginning especially). It echoes the most famous line from the show itself, “Set a course…for home;” this fic was definitely a love letter to Star Trek: Voyager (and said line even makes an appearance in Chapter 10.) It also echoes Janeway’s end-of-Chapter 13 realization about she would have wanted ***** to do (which, in that moment, both really is and really isn’t about *****). And finally, it concludes the conversation Janeway has just had with ***** in Chapter 15, metaphorically being a final affirmation (with “he” in this sense being a stand-in for *****) of *****’s right to feel safe, not worry about protecting *******, and know the whole ordeal was over.

But despite all this, the line itself is just a lowkey end to the conversation, not any kind of emotional bomb. At least to me, it (hopefully) feels sort of gently satisfying, the end of the emotional catharsis I was trying to bring about in the final chapters (and which I sure as heck went through at least as the writer, lololol). In addition to all those direct connections to story elements, I feel like the line just has a nice all-around vibe of “Hey, you know what? This whole angsty story? That you took the time to read, and the characters went through in-universe? It’s over. The End. :)” It just feels very softly, peacefully conclusion-y, somehow.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

THANK YOU FOR ASKING THIS QUESTION SO I CAN TALK ABOUT MUSIC! Musical inspiration was so important to me when I was writing this fic. :D

First of all, I’m just gonna copy what I have in the fic endnotes:

* By the power vested in me, the official theme song of this fic is Dance to Another Tune by First Aid Kit.

* I also listened to this specific piano cover of the Lullaby from Pan’s Labyrinth when I was writing the garden scenes…which, as luck would have it, is only present on the Internet as the first song in this Ancillary Justice fanmix. (You don’t have to have an an account to listen, and it shouldn’t show you an ad when you listen for the first time). (This is a similar but slower version on Youtube.)

So those are the most important songs that helped me–I don’t always listen to music before I write, but for this fic I made a real point of listening to that Lullaby cover to help me capture the particular feel of the garden/observatory scene.

ALSO! :D I was considering making a playlist for the fic, which I didn’t really get around to doing since (judging by commenters/lack thereof) readership dropped off pretty sharply as the fic got longer, so I just didn’t think that many people would be into it, and I was also pretty tired from all the work I’d poured into the fic itself and ready to go focus on other things. But I would still enjoy doing it for myself–and I know that, of the people who did read the fic, there are a couple of major music lovers–so I might still get around to it some time!

Songs slated to be included are The Grey by Icon for Hire (ironically, the song is more relevant for the chapter called “The Theatre” than the chapter called “The Grey”–and furthermore, now that I think about it, Icon for Hire itself also has a song called Theatre that isn’t at all relevant to this fic, LOL), Navigate by Band of Skulls, maybe Never Let Me Go by Florence and the Machine, and maybe a few of my general Janeway/Voyager favorites that happen to be relevant to this fic: Falling by HAIM–relevant to the earlier chapters (“Never look back and never give up, and if it gets rough it’s time to get rough”)–and We Are All Made of Stars by Moby for the epilogue.

#fic asks

[themadcapmathematician]

all i know abt transformers is the shia movie and the fact that darren criss plays one in the cartoons i think? should i get into transformers is what i'm asking

Oh god this is my favorite question. I’m not sure how to answer it but its my fave. Pull up a chair. I hope you’ve got some time on your hands.

The short answer: yes. You should at least give it a try. Transformers is a 30+ year old muti-media franchise that gets rebooted almost every 3 years so it basically has something interesting to offer almost any fan. If you end up not liking it that’s cool but there’s a lot to try before you decide.

The long answer is: yes you should and here’s why and here’s a rough idea of all the options you have to sample. I’m about to go on a long rant anon so you can check it out now or later or whatever but I’m just warning you ahead of time.

The basic Transformers plot (which I’m sure you know but I’m gonna go more in depth in a minute) is that a race of giant robot aliens who can turn into vehicles and other things have been engaged in a civil war that has lasted millions of years. This is the basic plot that all tf franchises spawn from although some explore slightly different subject matters. If that doesn’t appeal to you I mean there /might/ be a few other things you might find worth sticking around for because there’s just so fucking much of it, but you’re welcome to turn back now because that’s the basic things tf has to offer: giant robot aliens, cars and planes, fighting, some drama. Those are what tf is best at, with some variation.

It has a very active and long lived fan base and each section of the fan base is interested in different stuff with some crossover. There are people who literally only care about collecting the toys, people who wont try any other series except g1, people who only like the comics, etc. Etc. You’ll probably find people who like what you do pretty readily. If you like the toys there are toy forums and blogs. If you like the cartoons there are forums and blogs made for that too. If you like the comics, same. There’s a pretty active following of the comics and cartoon series on Tumblr alone; I would try searching the #maccadam tag since most tf activity has been moved there since the bay movies came out. Id also use the tf wiki liberally because it has pm all the information you’ll need to know about the fandom and the canon lore. There’s also plenty of fan fiction on Ao3 and ff.net if you’re into that and pm anyplace that hosts fan art has tf fan art.

Now there are several series, including comics, cartoons, the Michael bay films, the cartoon movie, spin off books, and video games. I’m gonna go over my personal favorites because I like and know them best but there are more than these if you’re interested in digging deeper.

(More under the cut)

G1: there are a lot of forms of what fans refer to as Generation 1 or G1 but if you live in the US its likely they’re talking about the very first cartoon series.

Summary: the autobots and the decepticons stripped their planet of resources and went looking for a new planet to continue surviving on. They both crashlanded on earth where they lay dormant for millions of years until conveniently awakened somewhere during the 1980s, where they continue their war all over again

Why you should try it: listen its cheesy as hell and full of nonsense plotlines and animation errors but not only is it good fun but at least watching an episode or two might give you a decent grasp on what spawned this enormous franchise in the first place.

G1 movie: this movie was a game changer. Its technically right in the middle of the g1 cartoon but it works as a standalone film too. while it has many trappings of the cartoon its better animated and has a more consistent and dramatic story.

Summary: Optimus Prime and Megatron fight, OP dies (yes he fucking DIES for the very first time. thousands of 10 year olds bawl their eyes out), Megatron gets mortally wounded, and the Matrix of Leadership (aka an autobot holy item/macguffin [this is the proto-cube btw]) has to choose a new leader.

Why you should try it: decent animation, classics lines, tons of 80s rock music, and it establishes a lot of tf conventions that would be carried over to all series that come after it.

Beast Wars: haha the 90s couldn’t be left out of the transformers fun, now could it? This was one of the first all-cg cartoon series in history and while its not much to look at nowadays, it was a big step in the 90s.

Summary: the series doesn’t center on Optimus Prime and Megatron but their decendants. The war is long over but some factions are starting to clash once again. Several members of these factions do the whole “crash land on earth while fighting” thing except they wake up during times before humans and instead of taking vehicle modes, they take animal forms, thus the name.

Why you should give it a try: it establishes the idea of Sparks for the first time, it has historical significance in the cgi realm, and it has a decent storyline with interesting characters. If you can muscle through the 90s-computer-animation look it might be the show for you!

Transformers: Animated: I dont think its a secret that this is one of my favorite tf series of all times. It was the first cartoon series I ever watched of tf and it also features my favorite toy line.

Summary: Optimus Prime is much less a war hero and more of a ..janitor really. He flunked out of the academy and spends his time repairing space bridges. One time during repairs though, they stumble across the Cube and just their luck, Megatron and some nearby cons are looking for it. They portal away to earth where they, you guessed it, crashland, until they’re awoken sometime in the future and go on adventures in futuristic Detroit.

Why you should give it a try: I like tfa’s art style and story and characterisation best tbh; Optimus is younger and more unsure of himself but also more earnest, with more visible baggage. The rest of his team feel like a ragtag band of misfits (which I have a weakness for no lie lmfao) who are still trying to find their place in this conflict and the future ahead of them. Sari is also one of the more beloved human companions and the show’s take on classics characters feels fresh and interesting, and the interpretation of the autobots and decepticons themselves is surprisingly nuanced.

Transformers: Prime: remember that 90s animation? Kiss that shit good bye my friend. This cgi is some beautiful shit. More than a few fans wish tfp is the art direction the movies had taken, storyline aside.

Summary: the autobots are already on earth, staking it out and fighting a more subdued sort of conflict with the cons. One day they get some human kids involved and stumble across some conspiracy shit and it all spirals out of control from there.

Why you should give it a try: great animation and atmosphere, gorgeous character designs, a solid interpretation go the characters, and it offers a more serious take on the story over all.

Rescue Bots: I’ve noticed this show doesn’t make the list a lot which is a shame? It has a much younger audience than any of then other series but its still quality and one of my fave tf series.

Summary: the ship of four non-combatants who were left in stasis before the war detect a transmission telling autobots to go to earth, so it…goes to earth. There they wake up on some island and are told they’ve gotta start building a repatoire with the native species…but they can’t reveal that they’re sentient aliens yet.

Why you should give it a try: ok ok, most of the series are made for 7-12 year olds with the teen and adult fans sort of in mind, this show…is a show made for pre-K kids, no joke. Its a lot less…murder-y, and this is especially saying something because it came out at the same time TFP did and in fact is supposed to take place in the same universe!

BUT, but it has a consistently well-written story and characterization, it addresses stuff I never thought it would, and its a nice break from the ridiculously high stakes of the other series. Honestly Rescue Bots is great and I wish more people talked about it because its a series totally worth watching, certainly as much as any of the others.

More Than Meets the Eye comics: there are a lot of comic series but so far this is my favorite one lol

Summary: the war is over, Optimus is done with everyone’s shit and splits the matrix in half, giving one to rodimus and they other to bumblebee. And what does roddy do with his newfound matrix half? Decide he’s going on a quest of course! And who better to go with than literally every unqualified misfit the autobot and neutral factions have to offer?

Why you should give it a try: ridiculous shenanigans, horror, drama, intrigue, strong characterisation, and a killer aesthetic. Damn it may not always give me what I want but its got a lot of exactly what I’m always looking for.

There are some video games (Fall of Cybertron, War For Cybertron, Transformers: Devastation), other comic series (Robots in Disguise, G1/UK comics), and the Robots in Disguise cartoon, however I don’t have a decent enough grasp on them to describe them super well I just know they’re pretty good and have had people recommend them to me. You’re welcome to try those as well of course.

Also if you’re into toy collecting or want to get into it there’s a lot of materials you can read and such but my personal advice is pretty simple:

1) go to walmart, target, a store that sells collectibles, a convention, or a garage sale

2) buy a cheap toy that you like. Don’t spend over like $20

3) decide if that was a fun experience or not and if you like having this toy or not

If you liked it enough to keep buying, then congrats, toy collecting might be right for you! Do your research, Don’t blow too much money too quickly, take it easy, have fun.

But yeah sorry this is really long but I do hope you consider giving transformers a try since I know I love it a lot and it really has a lot to offer. I hope this wasn’t like…a crazy response. That a crazy person might give. And that I didn’t scare you away or anything XS

the key is to try some stuff and have fun and if its not your thing that’s cool too! Have a chill night anon

#transformers #maccadam #anon #madcap rants #madcap replies #tf #info