#my drafting process is a mess but it works for me ok

[inkandgeese]

i love when i remember why i love to discovery write. like yes this is a process that works for me and it has for years. yes i still doubt myself immensely

#just. ahh!! i figured out a sequence of scenes that flows really smoothly together and i'm SO excited #jade and elliot get to burn things and then be co dependent <33 i'm so excited #my drafting process is a mess but it works for me ok #my process is literally. write the random scene ideas that pop into my head and frantically jump around like a mad man #and then i kind of slowly fill in the gaps #for some reason this process works for me and i've just accepted it at this point #if i try to outline it just. doesn't work. like i need to be on the page to know what needs to happen #and if i try to write in order i just feel SO trapped #this does result in fairly messy first drafts but i would far rather a messier first draft if it means the draft exists in the first place

[rreids]

Hey love I have an ask bc I’ve been feeling super depressed lately and I haven’t wanted to get out of bed lol can you do a one shot when spencer leaves for the week on a case and comes home to the house a mess and the reader laying in bed crying and he makes her shower and eat and cuddles her

oh my love <3 i hope you are feeling a little better. please make yourself a nice warm drink and try to spend some time outside or doing something outside of bed, even if it's just five minutes <3 it's worth it, i promise — someone who also bed rots often

LITTLE BY LITTLE • S. REID X READER

hurt/comfort; reader in a depressive episode; mentions of emotional eating and food; perfect bf spencer; nonsexual nudity and intimacy; kisses; pet names; fluff; ~1k

Spencer being gone was normal, a common occurrence. You didn’t normally struggle when he was gone, but with a mix of bad days at work and him being gone, you could barely bring yourself to eat.

You liked to keep the house clean while he was gone so he’d have one less stressful thing to come back to. This time, it was a mess, clothes and food packaging left around. You’d raided the sweets stash, and made a mental note to replace his chocolate bars before he realized.

“Honey?” Spencer’s voice calls, and you blink away the sting of tears. You weren’t hydrated enough for more to roll down your cheeks, but you didn’t want to worry him. With a swipe of your (his) sweater sleeve, you work on rubbing away tear stains as he comes into the bedroom, tilting his head at the wrappers and mess on the nightstand. “You okay?”

You shake your head, not trusting your voice. “You’re home early,”

“It ended well,” he tells you, gathering the trash left sitting. He doesn’t even comment that his nice chocolate bars were clearly eaten. “How long have you been like this?”

“Few days, maybe?”

“Why didn’t you call?” He sighs. He sounds exasperated, but you know he’s not upset at you as he rubs a soothing hand over your cheek and lets you lean into him.

“I didn’t wanna worry you,” you mumble, voice muffled into his palm. You press a kiss to it, smiling softly when his fingers twitch at the ticklish sensation. “‘S okay.”

Spencer shakes his head adamantly, you know he disagrees. “Find some nice pajamas for me, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He comes back after throwing out the trash. “I put some water on. Tea or hot cocoa?”

“Tea,” you mumble, rubbing your throat.

“With honey. Don’t even try to tell me not to add it.” Spencer grabs the pajamas you scrounged up. “I’ll fluff these in the dryer, too. C’mon, gorgeous,”

He helps you stand and lets you curl into his side as he walks you into the bathroom and helps you undress, pressing a gentle kiss to your shoulder as he tugs the sweater off. You shiver at how cold the air is, and he reaches behind you to turn the water on and let it start to warm.

Spencer carefully brushes your hair out of your face with his fingers, frowning when you pull away a little. He doesn’t comment on it, just studying your face with his intent stare.

“Stop looking at me,” you mumble.

“Just trying to see if you’re okay, sweetheart,” he whispers, ghosting a kiss over your cheek. “You’ll tell me about it after. Do you want me to help you wash up?”

You pause. “Dunno.”

Spencer chuckles. “Ok, well, I’m gonna go start fluffing your clothes and put water in the kettle. Let me know when I get back?”

You nod, wrapping your arms around yourself as his movement creates a draft.

When he peeks back in, you’re staring at the water.

“You have to get in, honey,” he reminds you, voice sweet. It makes you feel like crying.

“I know. I think I’m okay.”

Spencer pauses as his mind processes what you’re responding to. “Okay. Take as long as you need. I’ll be waiting in the living room,”

The water is nice — heated exactly where you like it to be —, and you take much longer than normal letting it run over corded muscles and wash away your sadness as you get clean. It’s nice, and you know you’ll feel better when you get out. Part of you hates that, because it just makes another thing Spencer is right about (and he’s always right about things, so you pride yourself on the times you beat him). 

When you finally step out and towel dry, you find your warm clothes on the counter. He must’ve brought them in while you were distracted.

Finally dressed in clean clothes, you drop the dirty ones in the hamper and pad out to the living room.

Spencer is in comfortable clothes — a Washington DC hoodie, sweatpants, fluffy and mismatched socks — and his hair is no longer styled. That’s the first thing you notice. Then you notice the tea, the bowl of perfectly cut-up fruit, and the spread of cheese, crackers, and lunch meat.

“Figured you wouldn’t want a full meal,” he tells you, patting his thigh. You walk over and settle on him gently, squeaking in surprise when he pulls you into him more tightly and presses kisses on your face until you squirm from the contact, giggling. “C’mon, open,”

He taps the strawberry piece to your lips and you roll your eyes as you eat it.

“I love you, you know that?”

“‘Course I do, Spence,” you tell him, voice soft and scratchy.

“Then tell me. Please? Me not knowing you’re upset hurts more than being unable to be here for you. I can at least call you and leave voicemails or talk you through stuff.”

You sigh, shoulders dropping. “But you’re busy and dealing with hard stuff already.”

“And I will always choose to deal,” he says the word like it’s poisonous, “with what you are struggling with first. I signed up to be your number one supporter. Always,”

He hands you your tea and waits for you to finish drinking before he takes it and sets it back down. He holds your hands, rubbing his thumb over the back.

“Okay? Tell me.”

“Okay.”

Spencer smiles and relaxes, kissing you more gently. “Now eat up, sweetheart. It’s all for you.”

You whine at that, and he cuts you off with a stern look.

“My chocolate bars are not proper sustenance for an adult of your—”

“Spencer.” You mumble, picking up a grape. “Shut up. I’ll eat.”

He smiles, pleased, and leans his head on your shoulder. It should be weird, him watching you eat, but it fills you with warmth and happiness as he traces aimless shapes on your thigh and makes sure you’re okay.

title is bc: little by little you will be okay. i know you will. we all will be.

#my works #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid fanfic #spencer reid x you #spencer reid fic #spencer reid #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #spencer reid scenario #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid imagine #requested

[sameschmidtdiffname]

Can I get a Derek Danforth x shorter Male Reader where reader is like the only person Derek cares about. Reader is very cuddly but Derek isn’t big on PDA but when they are alone Derek loves holding the reader in his arms.

If not it’s ok!

OFC YOU CAN!!!

I had like fifteen different drafts for how this story could go and I couldn't make up my mind until literally last night, thus why it took so long. I hope this is okay!!!

Tangled

Derek Danforth x Male! Reader

Summery: The holidays are a miserable time of year, especially when ones mother won't even talk to them to let them know she's not coming, sending Derek into a breakdown and wrapping you up in the process.

Tags: No use of Y/N, short! Reader, hurt/comfort, mommy issues, drug use (marijuana), arguing, breakdown, banter, comedy, injury, eventual fluff, holiday fic. (I don't give a fuck that it's Febuary, shut it.)

Notes: honestly I was HYPED when I saw this request. I fucken GOT YOU babe and I am so sorry it took this long. I hope this was worth the wait <3

•°○《▪︎☆▪︎》○°•

I'm going to ask you a question and I want you to be honest; who likes the holidays?

The decorations are nice. The food's better. But in the matter of family and visitation, could anyone honestly say they liked the whole routine? Picking who to see, booking flights, trying not to lose yourself in a bottle of liquor that you bought on the way to their house.

Maybe not every detail is the same, but you get the general idea.

"Please sit down," I begged Derek, watching him pace the floor. All week Derek had been in a mood, which isn't totally uncommon I will admit. But usually he could be coaxed out of it, sweet words whispered in his ear finally bringing him off whatever edge he was ready to fling off of and convince him death was for another day. This week however was different, Derek always tapping his foot, glaring at something. And pacing. Neverending, always thinking, lasts through the night pacing. I was beginning to feel sick from the anxiety, and my mood was making Derek even shorter in his.

"I'm fine," he snapped.

"You're clearly not," I said. In his hand he gripped his pen, clicking it to life with five rapid clicks before taking a long pull like he couldn't breathe without it. "Derek."

"I said I'm fucking fine."

"I have never seen you as more of a mess, will you please just sit down for one moment?" I pleaded, shifting closer to the edge of the plush loveseat kept in front of our bed. "I'm worried about you."

He wants to snap. His jaw is tight, teeth gritted as he spins on the heel of his black, pointed boot, mouth opening as he begins to point one finger at me. But the minute he actually makes eye contact the edge drains, his shoulders sagging slightly as he exhales his smoke, bags appearing under his eyes. Derek had a reputation for being a hard-ass, but when we were alone and I grabbed his attention, his demeanor would shift into one more gentle, more honest. He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he finally crossed over to me, sitting beside me and wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I'm fine," he said quietly, tucking my head under his chin. His hand strokes up and down my back, his heart still pounding but beginning to calm as the smoke begins to work into his bloodstream, allowing him to focus on me more than his thoughts. His cologne compliments mine, smelling mostly of cinnamon to match the winter season. The silk material of his red shirt is soothing against my skin, little silver snowflakes decorating it. Always a pattern with him.

"Is it your mother?" I asked quietly. He stiffened, his heart rate picking back up against my ear.

"I don't want to talk about this," he said quickly, beginning to pull away. I gently grab his arms, making him look down at me before he can close off once more.

"We've been together for almost a year and you won't say anything about your-"

"I said I don't want to talk about this."

"We have to talk about this at some point or you're going to have a giant fit and I won't be able to help you."

It isn't meant as an insult, but I hear it as soon as the words come out. Derek's eyes narrow into slits, bitterness seeping through.

"Fuck you. I don't throw fucking fits." He pulled away quickly, the battery of his pen glowing as he took another hit, long and deep, blinking rapidly to show he's hit his limit.

"You are on the cusp of one right now. You're in denial," I said concerningly.

This time he really is about to snap when someone knocks on the door, popping her head in to announce dinner will be ready shortly.

"Is she on her way?" Derek asked the redheaded assistant, blowing his smoke out through his nose, hands on his cocked hips. The woman presses her lips together tightly, glancing between the two of us before speaking.

"I haven't heard anything from President Danforth for a few hours, sir," she finally said. Derek sighed deeply, looking down and pinching the bridge of his straight nose as he taps his foot at impressive speed.

"Thank you," he said quickly, not meeting anyone's eyes. She takes the opportunity, quickly nodding at me and ducking out of the room with the quick click of the door, leaving us alone again.

I simply stare at him, hands folded on top of my lap as I wait for him to say something, do something. When he goes to take a third blinker, I finally stand.

"Don't you fuckin' dare," Derek warns me, holding out his palm.

"You are going to get stoned to the point that you'll fuck up this dinner the you have been worried over for the past week. What the fuck is wrong with you?" I hiss, stepping closer.

"There's no fuckin' point, she's not coming," he said, shrugging harshly and scoffing.

"And that bothers you. Will you just admit that?" I said. I step closer, close enough to reach for the pen, but I wait, letting him narrow his glazing eyes at me first.

"What is your obsession? You want me to break down? Cry? You wanna fix me, huh?" His tone is harsh, paranoia settling in as he takes a step towards me. "Whatever savior shit this is, I'm not taking."

I snatch the pen quickly from his grasp, only to have his hand grab my wrist without any real thought. Derek towers over me, gripping me tightly enough it hurts.

"Drop it," he growled.

"No," I growled back.

"I'm not asking."

"Tough shit."

"What is your-"

"Derek." The snap does something, my voice bouncing around in his ears as he glares at me, but releases my wrist nonetheless. I step away quickly, tucking the pen into the inside pocket of my evergreen blazer. "You'll get this back tonight," I tell him, not looking back. Derek mutters under his breath, brushing past me to exit the suite. Fine. Let him hate me. See if I care.

Derek never liked public affection in the first place. Growing up in a house with a politician for a mother he was hyperaware of all the right and wrongs to a public reputation. I think he also just had no desire to be seen as any kind of vulnerable in a crowd. But tonight it's different. Tonight there is a tinge of hate with the distance he creates, and my side feels cold without him. With each step forward he takes five back. People filter in and out of each room, some I'm sure just here with a friend of a friend for the free food. But if there's anyone I never see through the passing hours, it's Derek's mother. I can see him checking his phone every five, three, then every other minute.

It was a touchy subject. Derek loved his mother, adored the ground she walked on. And when she would visit him or welcome us over to wherever it was she was staying it was obvious she loved him too, allowing him to get away with things most mothers wouldn't. But her head was always in work, her eyes always scanning a document with a pen in her hand to sign off on anything at any given moment. There were times we'd spend the visit gathered in silence lest she retreat to an actual study, claiming she could not focus with our chatter. Derek loved his mother, but it was obvious he was neglected by her too.

He'd been planning the party meticulously. Ordering dozens of sample just for garland, asking my input on plates. Yes, Derek was known for throwing elaborate and wonderfully tasteful parties, but if he thought his mother would be in attendance he would go the extra mile, not sparing an inch of detail and making sure that it was so perfect she'd have no choice but to attend.

Problem is, Madame President has many choices for her perfect Christmas party.

It isn't until the clock strikes ten and security begins to push people out that he finally locks eyes with me, the hate draining and giving way to the exhaustion underneath. He disappears through a doorway, and I follow after him, watching his snow white suit that matches my shirt perfectly work its way quickly through the endless halls as I chase him down the rabbit hole. Oh yes, don't think I escaped his scrutiny just because I'm a living being. I didn't even know we'd have complimenting outfits until I stepped out of the shower that morning while he worked on a cigarette, waving it around between his fingers on one hand with the hangers in the other and a phone pressed between his shoulder as he shouted something in Spanish at the poor assistant on the other line.

He doesn't bother shutting the bedroom door behind him whether he knows I'm following him or not. But when I gently push the door shut behind me, finally turning away from him, I feel his warm body press against mine from behind. His arms wrap around me, one around my waist and the other around my shoulders, alcohol thick on his breath as he buries his head into the crook of my neck. His hand finds my hair, burying his long fingers in it as he takes a deep inhale of the pine scented cologne dabbled on my neck. His body is heavy against mine, swaying slightly from exhaustion.

"Hi," he says softly.

"Hi," I say just as soft, reaching up to find his curls. I smile slightly at the feeling of his fried ends, tainted from overprocessing. "You wanna talk?"

"No," he maintained. But his voice cracks, and the collar my shirt is starting to feel wet. Not to mention his arms are shaking.

"You wanna not talk on the bed?" I ask him.

"I'm fine right here," he says in a broken voice. But when he softly sniffles and takes a tiny gasp for air, he's finally done in and dragging me towards the oversized bed, not bothering to actually open the canopy as he flops himself down onto the lush, green and gold duvet.

"It's fine, I'm fine," he insists even though he's dragged half of a gold chiffon curtain down and around him and he's too high to figure out how to get it off. "She has meetings, this happens."

"Yeah, well. It happens a little too often," I say gently, trying to help him before he gets this thing wrapped around his neck. In his vulnerable and understandable fit he's making this curtain situation much worse, actively reweaving whatever I untangle from him in his blind confusion.

"I mean, I get it. Running the country, having a conversation with your own son, it's fine," Derek hiccuped as he gestures his hands like scales weighing the options, one drastically higher than the other. His face is as red as his shirt, large tears streaming down his face as he paws uselessly at the fabric. He swipes frantically at them, clearly becoming frustrated at being unable to control his raw emotions. "I mean, priorities shift so what the fuck am I complaining about?"

"Honey, I think you're sitting on it."

"What?"

"The curtain."

Derek moans inconsolably as he throws himself against the bed, taking down the rest of the gold chiffon and covering us both in the material.

"What does it matter?" Derek cries pathetically. "I could hang myself with this and she'd have a fucking meeting in Germany!"

"Your mother would come to your funeral," I say softly, stroking his hair as I press my lips together, letting him heave out his sobs. He brings a bundle of the fabric to his face, bunching it up and sobbing into it before raising his head once more for another comment.

"Probably have a flood in Uganda day of. I'd fuck up my own suicide day," he snaps to no one in particular.

"No you wouldn't," I say, continuing to run my hand through his hair. Derek sinks into the golden bundle once more, curling in on himself like a child. Then suddenly his eyes grow cold again.

"And the fucking appetizers were cold!"

The comment is so out of left field that a short laugh escapes me, my hand immediately covering my mouth. I instantly feel awful, looking away as I try to compose myself from the dramatic change in complaint.

"Don't laugh at me," Derek snaps. "I paid good money for those."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, that was just a bit random. Would you like to get off of the curtains you also paid for?" I ask him softly, fighting the fit of giggles his hateful eyes inspire to continue. I try to wrap my arms around him in comfort but he moves away in irritation. Or tries. This curtain is keeping us pretty close, which only adds to the whole thing.

"No," he says as he finally gives up. He crosses his arms in irritation and huffs, but after a long moment and a glance at my bemused face he moves to get the curtain off of his own. "Yes. Get this off of me!"

"Okay, I'm coming."

"Where the fuck is the end?"

"I told you, I think you're sitting on it."

"Your mother is sitting on it!"

"Let's not bring anymore mothers into this-"

We struggle in the cocoon of chiffon, twisting and turning in the same and opposite directions, both of us bickering over who has what and who's preventing our freedom.

"This shouldn't be fucking hard!"

"Quit moving, you're making it worse."

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck you!"

"Hang on, I think I-"

With a forceful tug I pull the end out from underneath of Derek. Unfortunately, Derek had shifted himself to move off of the end at the same time, leaving me to fling off the side of the tall bed and hit the lush rug underneath that hardly cushions the oak floor with a loud 'thud' that makes the artifical blond gasp.

"Fuck! Are you okay-?"

Derek scrambles to the edge to look down at me, but he's too high to realize he's overshot his position and sends his larger body crashing on top of mine, making me cry out as I break his fall.

"Eat a salad," I groan, curling in on myself as I try to catch my breath.

"I did, that's why I'm the tall one." Derek and I are once again tangled in the curtain, laying on the floor in a pile of limbs and half of Derek's face is burned from the rug. "Are you okay?" He asks worriedly, looking over my body for obvious injury.

"Have roses at my funeral," I cough, clutching my stomach.

"Rose's are cliché."

"Rose's are fucking iconic."

"If you have basic taste, then yes."

"I don't mix snake and cheeta."

"It's French."

"Then get fucking cheeta print rose's."

"Don't be hysterical."

I shoot him a look and finally he manages a laugh, wiping at his nose with the cuff of his blazer and smiling.

"Maybe I'm a little hysterical," he offers.

"I think I have a concussion."

"Oh, you don't have a concussion," Derek says dismissively. He cups my cheeks gently, his soft hands forcing my eyelids open wide as he checks my eyes. "Oh, fuck. Yeah, you have a concussion."

I laugh, pulling him close and keeping my eyes closed to keep from getting sick.

"Mister 'I Don't Throw Fits,'" I tease.

"I can just not take you to the hospital."

"Bitch."

"Cunt."

"Dickhead."

"Fuckface."

"Fashionably handicapped."

"Poor."

Derek finally figures out how to free us from our prison, pulling away the fabric and looking down at me from above with a gentle smile on his tear stained face. "You've got good bone structure, though," he says.

"It's my daddy's," I tell him.

"I don't remember buying you that."

I smack Derek's chest playfully, groaning as I try (and fail) to sit up. "You're awful."

"You love me," Derek says softly, sitting beside me. The statement is true and meant as a playful reminder, but it's the way his bloodshot eyes still glisten with leftover moisture that makes me cup his face. Or try. I can't see.

"I love you," I say softly.

"That's my chest."

My hand moves.

"Knee."

My hand moves again.

"That's my dick."

"Jolly good friend," I say with a squeeze and overexaggerated British accent. This knocks the last bit of sorrow out of Derek, making him laugh loudly as he finally lays down beside me. He wraps his arms around my smaller frame, pulling me close to him as he presses a soft kiss to my forehead.

"I'm sorry,' he says softly.

"We really do need to talk about your mother at some point," I tell him, stroking his arm that lays across my chest.

"I know." Derek's voice is soft, his fingers playing with one of the buttons on my blazer.

The silence is sweet, the sound of Derek and I's breathing the only sound in the room. And the slight ringing in my head.

"I think you need to call someone," I tell him.

"My problems aren't that bad," Derek says in a hurt voice, moving to look down at me.

"For me."

"Oh!"

▪︎《•☆•》▪︎

I'm going to be so fr, I haven't watched 'The Beekeeper' since it was in theaters so if the mommy issues are inaccurate that's on me. But y'know what it works better for his character so it's °~*accurate to meee*~°

Taglist:

@cassiecasluciluce @gh0u1ishly @joshhutchersons-slut @schmidtsbimbo @sugarevans @wompwompwomp57 . Thank you for your support pookies!!! <3

Masterlist

#josh hutcherson #josh hutcherson fanfic #josh hutcherson x you #josh hutcherson x reader #josh hutcherson the beekeeper #the beekeeper #the beekeeper fanfic #derek danforth beekeeper #derek danforth x you #derek danforth #derek danforth smut #derek danforth x reader #derek the beekeeper #derek danforth imagine #derek danforth x male reader #derek danforth fanfiction #jhutch #josh hutcherson fluff

[oddrock]

Do you ever look at how you analyze media and go ‘huh. Well my upbringing affects this analysis substantially. Ok’

Because I‘be been watching the original doctor who and All I See Are Sets And Costuming. Like I’m following and enjoying the narrative, truly. However the costuming and sets and makeup are so significant to me in how I enjoy the story.

And it’s like, oh. My mom went to school for Costuming and spent significant time studying fashion history. I grew up with a shoe-sized textbook on the history/different types of shoes, which she got partially because of that cute size-of-subject detail, and partially because she was fascinated by the subject matter and the fact that the photos and drawings in the book was almost all to scale. This is the one I mention because it’s the one I could reach on her shelf and flip though most easily, and tbh I really liked shoes when I was little(still do, but not as aggressively) but she has three shelves of the book space in her sewing room holding textbooks about drafting(historical and modern) practicality of different clothing items in different situations, where and when certain clothing items and styles existed and were popular, just all the ‘how’s and ‘why’s and ‘when’s of clothes being what they were. She gave me a book on natural dyeing(which I keep in my reference shelf) when she realized she’d never use it and heard me mention being interested in the array of color in natural dyes, and how most things are likely synthetically dyed. She already had a book in the process of making and using natural dyes, and gave it to me and it lives on my reference shelf. She worked in Live Theatre for a while and helped with props when needed, and had a focus on if things made sense for the time the shows were in.

And while watching Dr Who, my first thought with every outfit I see is ‘does that make sense for the situation.’ And I love that. I love that lens she’s created and how you can see that so well. Maybe I’m not good at drawing clothes yet, maybe I don’t have her encyclopedic knowledge of fashion history and have fun mixing eras in my head. But the practicality of costuming and how it’d be made is something I see and pay attention to, and I’m so glad that I have that. Yeah, she messes up, and I’m not sure if I want to stay in contact with her after college. But I’ll always have that lens when watching shows or reading comics, and it’s like a little ‘I love you’ from her, and a lovely reminder of what I think is one of the most genuine parts of our relationship.

I dunno. I just think it’s worth thinking about and talking about how things influence us and how we feel about that influence. And while I want to shake of some of the things she’s influenced in my being, this is one thing I want to keep.

#j me #writing

[lokimobius]

hi, would you mind posting a gif tutorial? your gifs are so pretty!

helloooo! thank you so much for saying that 🥹

firstly, when it comes to making gifs, i like to use 4k files. at the very least, i don't want to use anything lower than 1080p. this post helped me in finding where to download things like tv shows, movies etc.

i'm really not very good at explaining how i make gifs, so i hope that it's ok if i can link you to some tutorials that i have personally used and that have helped me learn more about making gifs.

i'll link along the way and show you some of my settings!

when i got back into making gifs a couple of years ago i used this tutorial. it's so thorough and takes you through every step you can think of. it has lots of really good information and it was so helpful to have a reference to help me get myself reacquainted with photoshop and the whole gif making process.

here are some of the things i personally do when making gifs.

SHARPENING: these are my sharpening settings! mess around with each of the bars and drag them to see what suits you. you may want your gifs to be sharper, but this is what works for me!

here's a gif i made, fully coloured, before sharpening:

here's the same gif after the sharpening has been applied:

as for colouring, i like to make colours bright and vibrant. i focus a lot on using the vibrance and exposure tools to create this effect. i like to try and bring out the colours that are already in the video and enhance them without washing out the subject. this takes A LOT of trial and error but it's so much fun to experiment with.

this tutorial is SO helpful when it comes to the basics of colouring. i also found this tutorial that was so helpful when learning to colour gifs and tackle yellow lighting in scenes.

this post also has some really good resources to help you colour gifs without white washing people of colour.

finally, these are the settings i use to save my gifs:

the settings really do change the quality of the way your gifs display on tumblr. mess around with these settings below to find a look that you feel happy with.

when posting to tumblr, i like to save every gif set i make for a set into my drafts before posting for everyone to see. colours look different on every screen so i like to check how things look on mobile too before i post!

sometimes it really helps being able to visually see a whole gif set together. it can help point out to you if your colourings look consistent and then you can tweak anything before posting!

i really hope some of this was helpful to you. sorry for not being able to articulate and explain for myself. the ops of the tutorials i've linked have been so thorough and have explained things far better than i could. i've always got them saved in my drafts just in case i need to reach for them again.

#anon #reply #i hope this helps a bit!!!!

[eventually--darling]

How do you make gifs? Care to share your process? o3o

oooh yes i can!!! i tried not to get too detailed with it since im interpreting this as just asking for my process rather than an actual tutorial sudhf.

the general tools i use are photoshop (i pay $10 a month T_T), vlc media player, and one of my various video downloading sites. i don't torrent or anything bc that scares me and i dont understand it. plus, since i almost exclusively gif kdramas the video uploads are generally in pretty decent quality and dont get scrubbed from the web the way western shows do.

so once i have the video downloaded i open it with vlc media player. I use a really inefficient method to extract frames but it works well enough that i don't really care to change it. plus i cant really figure out another way? they say that certain video programs can capture frames for you but none of the ones ive tried seem to have that feature. there's also supposedly another method to do it in vlc media player but it's never worked for me. anyway.

so to extract frames in vlc i find the moment i want to capture and then use the "e" hotkey to skip to the next frame and click the little screenshot button to capture it.

i do this over and over at lightning speed until I get all the frames i want. yes this does often lead to accidentally skipping frames (which can make the gif a little choppy) so sometimes i redo it, but sometimes i don't bother.

after i've captured the frames, i copy them from my pictures folder (not entirely sure why they end up there but im not going to mess with the pathway) to a specific folder ive created for that gif or gifset.

then I'll go through and make sure there are no duplicate or missing frames. after that, i edit them down to about 70 frames per gif, then select them all and rename them so that they're in numbered order (photoshop loads them out of order if i don't).

I do 70 frames mostly bc my sharpening action on photoshop doesnt go past 70 frames and i haven't bothered to fix it lol. also it's comfortable length for a gif so there's not much reason to. you can usually get away with about 40-50 frames tho before it feels too short.

ok nowww i open photoshop and things get good.

first thing i do is load the files into a stack.

i have a bunch of settings in place to make life easier so i already have my sharpening action created (which sharpens all the frames for me rather than having to do it manually. gift from God), and my timeline visible. so now i just play my sharpening action

then load the frames into an animation and reverse them so they dont play backwards.

then i set the frame delay to 0.05 seconds. it's interesting bc gifs played at normal speed look kinda weird. so having it slowed down a little is ideal. not too much though or it looks choppy.

now i crop the gif. i dont have to do this here but generally i do. just helps me focus without the distraction of the tv bars on the top and bottom and just. All the other stuff going on in the background.

nowwww i color. usually start with a color adjustment curve layer. when you use the little eyedrop tool this can really deepen the image and bring it to life. you dont realize how dull tv looks until you gif lol.

that gives me the base tones i want and deepens the image.

sometimes i brighten the gif with the curves layer, but in this case adding a separate brightening layer worked better.

then i'll export the gif with tumblr dimensions and upload it into a draft.

if it is still too dark or the colors look off, i'll just mess more with the layers. in this case, i only needed the two, but a lot of gifs will need a few different adjustment layers like vibrance or selective color to look right.

And that's kinda it!

colored:

uncolored:

hopefully it makes sense lol. Like I said, im not thinking of this as a tutorial or anything but i still want ppl to know what im talking about uhsfusd

#asks #sorry this took a minute #ty for the ask!! #giffing chatter

[safyresky]

Ok, this is gonna sound dumb, but how does one get motivation to write? Like, I have characters, scenes, etc planned out in my head, but I'm always stuck on how to start out. I was wondering if you had any tips on going about that? Do you have endings planned out first in mind, or just go with the flow? Any charts made, etc?

Oh no, not dumb at all! A very good question actually. Starting something is the hardest part, imo :). I think it's the question I see most people ask fellow writers.

Starting is hard! I totally understand. It took me YEARS before I finally posted, and that was because Rise of the Guardians was coming out and after watching the trailer I went "ah shit, people are gonna think I ripped Jacqueline off of Chris Pine Jack Frost. That's no bueno, better get this mofo OUT!" I am a notorious procrastinator and the thought of negative feedback actually renders me useless, so I needed a bit of a kick in the butt there 💀💀💀

I think it depends on the person, really. Everyone has a different thing that works for them! Some plan, some just go FUCK IT, WE BALL, and do just that! Here's my kind of. Idk if I'd CALL IT a system? Or a process? But here's what I do, and maybe it'll help you find what works for you?

So I don't really have the end planned right away. I don't usually have ANYTHING planned lol. Generally, most of the things I write start with a hazy concept or idea. For example:

Crystal Springs: What if Jack went through the same thing Zuko did in Book 3, since he thawed? What if someone had to reteach him how to find what powers his powers? Who would they be? How would that work? (this then proceeded to spiral out of control into CS as we know it today).

Frostmas: If Jack was Santa, who was Jack Frost? How did we get from the usual business to a THEME PARK?!?!

Sometimes they're srs like that, other times they're downright silly:

Frog Warning: Haha, I misspelled fog when telling the hubbers about the weather. That's some Crystal Springs ass shit. Jacqueline and Charlie are just minding their business when a frog comes bouncing down the street, the weather is FROG WARNING--oh. Oh, this could be fun!

Actually starting is the hard part, but here's my lil secret: I usually don't start things in order! If I have an idea, I'll go ahead and write it down--whether it be in hazy notes, or actually writing a rough kind of draft, I just get it down and go from there! It works for me for the most part, and then I usually go with the flow from there. Where does this scene fit? What happens before it?

This usually leads to the mess that is my onenote notebook for Crystal Springs, lol. Each story has a tab, and each page is usually a chapter, and I just launch into notes there and go absolutely crazy. Completely HAM. I don't worry about proper grammar or spelling, I just write what I think happens, and brainstorm from there! That's how I get gems like this:

Or like this (CS spoilers abound):

Where on the left is the outline, I suppose, of the work (Chapter 26 of CS I believe this is) and thoughts I have after reading them back go beside the section I thought them about!

Then after that, the actual writing part becomes a LOT easier: I have a sort of outline, and can just refer to it as I make it less messy notes, more actual story chapter. And then, a couple read throughs later, maybe some scene rewrites, and voila! I've got me a story >:)

Starting is hard. SO hard. You're so right, Anon! And before I get too ramble-y, here's my "advice", if you will (aka a tl;dr)

Everyone has something different that works for them, because everyone's writing styles are different. Here's what works for me:

Start wherever. Not at the beginning, not at the end. If a particular scene/part is on my mind, I get it down right away! You don't need to start at the beginning! :)

Get those ideas down! Write out the scene, the character, the idea, the plot point. Doesn't matter how: could be notes, could be writing the entire scene, could be a shitty doodle, just get it written down. Make it real! Put it on a page somewhere!

GET EXCITED ABOUT IT! Be your main cheerleader! give yourself the Fandom treatment and theorize about what happens next, what happens where, etc. And write anything that makes you go OH YO THAT'S GOOD down!

If something else crops up, don't be like "oh man, I gotta finish this scene, though, I can't jump into another thing". Jump into the other thing. Just write it down! Who knows? It may become part of your final story (this has happened to me often enough that I've lost count).

Once I've gotten the burning ideas down, it tends to grow from there. Sometimes going with the flow works very well (and it does for me, for the most part).

After that, I sort the ideas, place them where I picture them (beginning, middle, end), and write notes leading up to the scenes I've already got.

The notes then make it super easy to write the rest of the story, and suddenly I've got a 16k chapter and 20 more ideas to fill the other portions of the story!

So, yeah! Long post, sorry for your dashes, I can stick a readmore somewhere in here if everyone wants, but there's my process. The takeaway?

JUST WRITE! WHATEVER IDEA YOU HAVE, WHETHER IT'S BEGINNING, MIDDLE, OR END, WRITE IT DOWN! :D

Once you've got something, it's a lot easier to start. And when you just go with the flow, and write what you have in mind, it becomes fun, and worrying about starting? Not a problem anymore because holy shit am I having fun, and wow! I've got so much to go off of now! (Also I hate deadlines and self imposed goals, they only make me feel pressure and then the writing isn't fun anymore, it feels like a chore, or a project, or an essay, or a work task. I'm going to be a terrible profesh writer one of these days)

ANYWAY I have no idea if this is what you were looking for, or if this helps at ALL. I hope it does a little bit! I'd strongly encourage you to write the concepts you have in your head right now, and don't worry about putting it all together just yet. Go with the flow, have fun with it, and see where it takes you! :)

And, uh, if any of my other writer friends have any tips and tricks, @lmelodie and @kscribbs and @shittyelfwriter (if u take a breather from kingdoming those tears lol), feel free to add! :)

#long post #dani answers #anonymous #writing #writing advice #SORRY THIS IS SO RAMBLY? I had to really think #I was like hmm. How DO I start? #it can be very hard i will say #these are all things I've done to help get the ball moving #maybe something here will help you anon! #maybe someone else has tips and tricks for starting too! #i will book club this shit i s2g #and ty for asking! seeing someone ask me this??? had me feelin ALL SORTS OF FEELINGS #I was like. I am HONOURED #then immediately went oh no. i hope this does not disappoint #also sorry for all the WEATHER TYPOS #i have since fixed them. weather is on my mind today #frost warning in may lmao

[volfoss]

Doll faceup below the cut aka i got a bit SILLAY w it and impulse ordered this guy w no concept of what i wanted to do and then had a silly time with the faceup

I ordered this Bobobie Apollo with not a ton of ideas other than I wanted to try my hand at the old style bjd faceups that were very dramatic and edgy because I ADORE how they look and he's an older sculpt! Along the way I decided I wanted to give him a sort of edgy style as well as a purple and teal (this eventually turned into green) color scheme.

First draft of the faceup with eyes photoshopped in (before i got the doll) vs the second draft (in which I decided I would figure piercings out later)

I then had um. Horrible terrible failures the first time I tried to do this faceup to the point where I just wiped it fully and set it aside for a few days. I wasn't used to the style nor working on white resin so it was a mess with blush and the lips. I then went in for the second try with a MUCH lighter blush and the goal to keep around the lips as clean as I could (both of those were big issues with my first attempt)

So I did what I do with faceups I prefer to be more natural, going one coat of sealant at a time (versus 3 coats) so the color shows up a lot less bright. The first coat was promising with the blush showing up how I wanted it and the brows were going pretty ok (hard to see here but i used a light grey pastel to slightly figure out how i wanted them placed)

The lips were coming along pretty perfectly by the time I hit my second coat of sealant and I was nearly ready to start on the brows (in terms of using watercolor pencils to draw the hairs)

The eyeshadow looks very scary in both versions of this faceup at first but I KNEW how I wanted it to look and it had to go through some rough patches before it got better. The brows were still VERY light by this point even with the hairs on them but it didn't worry me as I had a light purple wig that I'd bought for this doll so it would look ok if they were too light!

I added some lines to the lips using a watercolor pencil as well as some slightly darker colors to get the lips to that perfect color that reminded me of the older style goth faceups (goth used VERY loosely here). The shadows were still pretty scary but i knew that as soon as I added the black pastels on top that it would work out just fine. The brows were about as dark as I could get them, so this layer was pretty productive in terms of how much I finished.

The eyeshadow was FINALLY good and I made the lips a teensie bit darker since I hadn't put my gloss varnish on them yet (which is my very last step w lips when I do them). It was FINALLY time for acrylics which was also when a lot of the harder work came in (ie. The scar)

^ I finished the eyeliner but it's VERY hard to see from this angle and finished the scar (took pics of the whole process that I'll post separately since Tumblr photo limit 👍)

And then the finished product :)

I'm honestly VERY happy with how it turned out, it all came together really well in the end with what I was trying to do and I feel it has the early edgy bjd faceup aesthetic but also met the goals I jotted down when doing my mockup!

#bjd posting #twist rambles #the lighting in my room is atrocious im so so sowwy but i needed the wig to be in full view bc it is STUNNING #the eyes were fun to work with too like. i love the eye shop i use bc they do such a good job #dindrane

[onmyliteraturebullshitagain]

Hello! I’m a big fan of your work. I write some myself, but I often have a hard time sticking with my stories, even if I love the idea and characterization. As soon as something isn’t coming out exactly like I envisioned, I kind of just rage quit lol.

So I was wondering if you could explain your process? Do you make an outline? Does it come to you as you go along? How do you stay excited about what you write?

Hello there! First of all, I'm SO sorry this took me forever to answer, but I was having a bit of a mess with my own writing and process and then just... life. All that. But here I am now, and I'll try to explain what I can!

Ok so first of all, I think everyone has some projects they just rage quit or sputter out on, and I think that's part of the writing process. But I do think there are ways to make staying at it easier!

Here's my big one, which I also tell my students with academic stuff: a first drafts only job is to EXIST because you can't revise a blank page. So remember that when you're writing, it's most likely NOT gonna be perfect on the first write though! Sure, sometimes you have moments that are just genius right away, but often, stuff takes work. I rewrite and revise ALL THE TIME. Probably more than is healthy, honestly, but letting go of that perfectionism and just trying to get the first draft to exist on the page can make a big difference in continuing to write things to completion.

As far as outlining, my answer to that is sort of weird? Because I don't do any formal sort of outline but I do basically always have a general idea of the end of the story when I start writing. This could be the big climax moment (the couple gets together, the hero saves the day, etc) or even just the internal development I want to see a character work through by the end (the protagonist starts out closed off from others but learns to accept help by the end, etc). Either way, I see my stuff mostly fizzle out if i don't know what I'm writing toward. That ending point might (and often does) change through the writing process, but there's almost always SOMETHING I'm writing toward.

I also do make ridiculous notes for myself about character and plot points and ideas of endings just so I have them to refer back to. Again, they usually change a lot bc I'm not a rigid outliner, but it helps me to have some sense of what's happening and why. Let me see if I can find an example.

Haha OK, here's a WILD example of my notes for The Play's the Thing way back in the day:

Is it a Google doc of slightly messy nonsense? Yes. Did it give me a place to brainstorm and refer back to later when I was writing? Also yes.

So I'd say figure out what sort of notes/outlining/planning works for you. Also remember that you don't have to write in order! No one reading it will know, so sometimes it helps to jump around in the narrative if you feel like you're getting stuck.

In that respect, I also sometimes use brackets if I'm in the zone and don't wanna derail myself with looking for the write word or figuring out details of some little scene that doesn't matter at the time. My first drafts are littered with [add word] [characters travel to next scene] [time period specific clothing] etc that I can then find via searching " [ " and revise later. That can help keep you from getting hung up and/or bogged down by the fiddly details when you're writing for the broad strokes.

As far as staying excited about what I write, I'm not sure what to offer except that I like knowing what I'm writing toward and also allowing the story to grow and evolve as I'm writing it. Characters come to life when you get writing, and sometimes letting them surprise you can do wonders for keeping a story going. It sounds crazy, but allowing a story to grow and adapt and head in different directions (as long as you've still got that sense of where the story's headed and that it's heading toward something) can really keep you interested and motivated. I'm also just weird and usually enjoy the writing/revising process as long as I'm still feeling excited about and enjoying the story.

Which leads to the reminder to write what you want and what makes you happy! It sounds like you've already doing that if you like the characters or ideas, but maybe finding plots and styles you enjoy more could help too. :)

OK, that got very long and was definitely a look behind the curtain at my chaos, but I hope maybe some of it could help keep you writing and feeling good about it! I hope so, and I hope to read some of your stuff someday!

#writing #writing process #outlines #notes #the chaos of writing #writing tips and tricks #ask #idk if what i do works for anyone else but here we go #although i think everyone can use the first draft advice!

[smzeszikorova]

Hey hey! I have zero context for your ocs so howabouts you introduce me to them! Tell me some fun facts about them, if you have any favorite ocs, if any of them have notable traits or features!

Ooh! Ok! Well, now's as good a place as any for an introduction. Warning, this might also be kind of long. I could list fun facts about my characters all night, since I've got so many. But I'll limit it to the main cast of book one for now.

Catherine Leures (pronounced "Loy-ray" for a couple of reasons, but neither of them are good ones): Book one's MC. When she's not running the family farm, she's operating the Suvlin Chronicle's printing press or waiting tables at Carrigan's Tavern. Tragic mess of a human being. Basically if pent-up fury were a person. Likes to think she's super practical and down-to-earth about everything, but she's definitely a hopeless romantic. Emphasis on the "hopeless" part. She loves reading poetry and singing, and does neither because her busy schedule doesn't allow for it. Her life goal is to have all her financial worries suddenly vanish in a puff of smoke.

Lyn Leures: Her husband. He's also a tragic mess of a human being, but he's a lot more self-aware about it than Catherine is. His job is to handle all the housework (and most of the farmwork, since Catherine's usually at one of her other two jobs). He's pretty much given up on all his dreams, but if he could have any career, he'd want to be the Baliszkan (fancy-ass southern Pemokese city, but not quite as fancy as Drosil) Symphony Orchestra's first chair violinist.

Victoria Leures: The eldest of Catherine's younger sisters. Her life goal is to become an architect, but she pretends her life goal is to help Catherine and Lyn avoid bankruptcy.

Petra Leures: Middle girl. Also a hopeless romantic. Her life goal is to transform into a princess and never set foot into Pemoki's north end again. (Catherine would never admit it, but she thinks Petra's got the right idea.)

Eva Leures: Baby of the family. The only one who actually enjoys farmwork because playing with the big draft animals is the closest thing to a childhood she'll ever have a lot of fun! Life goal is to eventually take control of all the farm management stuff.

Ernest Wolbert: A baker. Used to be close with Catherine's mom. Aside from getting with Catherine's mom, which is unfortunately no longer a possibility, all his aspirations have been realized.

General Darion Adrona: Super important military guy. Aleonian-born citizen of Pemoki. (Aleon's a hell of a lot bigger and more powerful than Pemoki is, and also they're allies, so Aleonian-borns living in Pemoki don't have to deal with half the shit Kenacian-borns do.) Was General long before Levi was coronated. But until that happened, there wasn't much international conflict going on, so Adrona mostly worked in diplomacy. Now he's leading the Pemokese in the war against Kenacia. Also, he's Aorin and Rolyn's dad.

Aorin Khozlova: Adrona's confidante. For "no-military-rank" reasons, he really shouldn't be, but he is. Adrona has his reasons; in spite of all my previous claims to the contrary, Aorin's actually very intelligent. He's fluent in Pemokese, Lewyndan, Aleonian, Kena-Anglian, and Qhironese. He was top of his class in university, and he skipped a few grades to get there. He just also happens to be a reckless, self-sacrificial idiot who absolutely should not be allowed on the battlefield for any reason. (That's Adrona's thought process, anyway.)

Rolyn Czeres: Rolyn is Aorin's brother. He's technically older, but he was adopted second, and he gives off major younger sibling vibes. Adrona doesn't let Rolyn near the battle plans, but he trusts him more with field assignments, which Rolyn appreciates, since he never thought strategic stuff was much fun anyway. He is extremely snuggly, and somehow also the most prickly person you will ever meet.

Sverlyn Kjovra: The badass cinnamon roll. Son of a Pemokese legislator. We torment him unnecessarily. He was one of Aorin's best friends in school, and they basically consider one another family.

Sergei Kjovra: Sverlyn's sweet but uptight twin brother. When Adrona isn't around to serve as the family's brain cell, he leaves Sergei in charge.

General Kasia Arkhonieva: A powerful Pemokese general who works closely with Adrona.

General Yono Aamitok: The leader of the Qhironese rebellion. (For reasons I'll explain in the next section, the Qhironese really hate Levi.) She's also General Arkhonieva's wife.

King Levi Niacera: Levi's existence became common knowledge in Kenacia after the rest of the Kenacian royal family died for very mysterious reasons, leaving him—a then twelve-year-old kid—as the Kenacian throne's only available successor. At the time, people were pretty relieved. ("He can't be worse than his father, right?") Levi took the throne at eighteen, and then proceeded to try and conquer every country he could get his hands on. His first major military success was in Qhiron. Now he's got his sights set on Pemoki.

General Paul Firesky: Kenacia's youngest general / one of Levi's military advisors / the reason Levi's conquest of Qhiron was so successful / a very sad and tired boi.

General James Blightwood: Another one of Levi's generals / military advisors. He isn't too important until book 3, but you should know who he is in the meantime.

Alan Winson: He dropped out of medical school, but thanks to his connections with Levi, he's also Kenacia's most famous—and possibly the whole world's second most famous—trazian systems scientist. (That's just another word for my pseudoscientific magic system.) And it's thanks to his invaluable contributions to the field that he's one of the only people who can get away with acting like an asshole to Levi.

Adriel Castlyre: Rags to riches? More like sad janitor to sad interrogator. You could make a case for this guy being the first book's other main character. His older brother, Hugh Oliver, is the world's first most famous trazian systems scientist. But Adriel really doesn't want to be remembered as "that one awesome guy's unremarkable little brother". So instead he makes a name for himself as "Levi Niacera's boy-toy".

Captain Sera Selney: She's a notorious Miaccoran pirate hired to scout the seas for Kenacian spies by the Pemokese king, who I haven't listed here because he's that much of a non-character. She's not too fond of being a law-abiding citizen, but she still takes her job very seriously, since the king has promised to grant her citizenship and a fresh start (and also a fuck ton of money, but that's totally not why she accepted his offer) in exchange for her services.

#p&k #ocs #i spoil a few plot points here #but that was unavoidable #thanks for the ask!

[jamiethebee]

ohohoho i need to get my embarrassment out so hopefully my brain stops thinking about this but lmao like its a lot.

so i went to a convention this past weekend, cosplaying as per usual, and it's sunday, the last day of con, i'm standing outside of one of the last scheduled panels of the day. now, it's been a LONG weekend. I con crunched late for the past week, i got like 2/3 hours of sleep, then 6, then like 4 hours the days of the con. i am sensory overloaded badly. it's not great. social skills have been eroded to basics since the day prior or perhaps even friday. i had a headache start about 45 minutes prior and knew it was going to turn into a migraine at some point within the next few hours. honestly im kind of a mess and just barely holding in there. also important: i'm with a friend that is a hugger. this will come into play later.

uuuh readmore cause this is long

ok, so i'm outside this panel and someone comes up and goes a kurogiri has been looking for you (i assume just a shigaraki cosplayer and not me specifically) and this group of friends would like to get a picture. which of course i say yes, sure of course. so i walk over. at first i see some non kurogiri cosplays and then turn slightly and see a kurogiri walk up. EXCEPT my peripherals and middle of my vision is obscured due to shigaraki's wig. i see this someone walk forward and arms moving and my brain just,,,, short circuts? and goes "oh, hug". i think "eh that's a little weird" but keep in mind that i've been around someone who is a hugger, combined with the body language, my social skills being so far degraded, and my processing time being slow didn't think past that. so i basically hug a complete stranger. very nice, nothing said about, i take objectively a terrible cosplay photo (as i said, basically out of it and couldn't think of a pose? despite having done many shigaraki poses)

anyways, you might think oh not that bad. but one of the other cosplayers in that group i had run into on friday and exchanged instas with, and turns out i know from tktk????? and also i know the kurogiri???? (as in i've seen their content on tktk, i don't personally know them or anything and i don't follow them). but now????? now???? it's not like it's random con goers and as long as i'm not early series shigaraki i'll never be recognized, nono! we're all active on social media! the kurogiri is mutuals with one of my best friends! i can't! unmortify it.

the best part? it took me 2 hours to fully process that "wait, maybe i interpreted that wrong and they weren't going in to hug a total stranger".

2 WHOLE HOURS. and then after relaying this mortifying mistake my friends pull up the "cosplay =/ consent" and goes "omg I'd be mortified". meanwhile the previous friend i mentioned basically goes "no it's fine i don't think you misread anything" but? they don't have any hesitance with physical affection and i don't know if they were paying attention really so there's a chance it was more platitudes than anything else. anyways, mention that i'm mentally drafting up apology and both friends go "don't fucking do that at all. if it wasn't embarrassing before it'd certainly be bad bc of an apology"

SO basically: i can't stop thinking about this situation but there's also? nothing i can do? friends said don't contact and so i'm just sitting here wanting to melt into the earth and cry. doesn't help being tagged in photos and now ??? do i act normal in a comment? like?

plus, there's tons of con guides ppl post on stories like what they're ok being called or referred to or touching (in regards to person, props, ect) so?!?!? there's a real possibly i not only hugged a complete stranger but violated a boundary (badly) and they've already made clear? (i mean that's not my fault for not knowing as i don't follow them, but it's more the fact that boundaries are something that are talked about a LOT with cosplayers and due to my brain just. not working. i probably fucked up real badly.)

the best/worst part? i don't like being touched by people at all ever. i just accepted a violation of my own boundaries (or i guess perpetrated?) to conform to a social expectation that didn't even exist in the first place and was probably very uncomfortable for this person as well.

also. the cosplayer i exchanged socials with, we mutual followed one another on friday/saturday and now i'm just like. they know my online persona. i'm going to become that weird person that they have a story about i just…. the full weight settled on me and i don't know how to deal with it? other than just try to ignore it.

(side note: i posted a general "sorry if i did/said anything weird this weekend" kind of thing on my story but that's it.)

trying real hard to keep identifiers out of this but geez idk how well i did.

#the bee talks #i'm not necesarily asking for input but if anyone has something to say in regards to this feel free to message me #tdlr: i hugged a stranger at con due to me (almost certainly) misreading social cues BUT we're both active on cosplay social media #so now i don't know what to do or how to exist.

[nick-djarin]

You are the best - Tech x Reader

Hellooooo, the university has me trapped, so I have not been able to write what I have in draft, but today I got a little inspiration to finish this Tech work. Because my cute baby Tech deserves a little love.

Summary: The guys never tell Tech he does a good job, so that's your self-assigned job on the Havoc Marauder

Warning: None, fluff, just a little spice,

Words Count: 1439

"Tech, where the pink wire should go?"

"In the output port, just below the orange one" Tech's voice comes through the comlink.

"Got it" you said, connecting the wire in the output port, and tightening a couple of screws that had come loose in the process.

"Did you finish the wiring?"

"Yeah! Just finished" you answered.

"Did you put them in the correct order?"

You sigh "Do you wanna came here and check it?" obvious sarcasm gushing out of your voice.

"Sorry, just making sure, come up here to turn it on" you smile and came out from behind the panel you were working on, closing it before heading to the cockpit. Tech was sitting in the pilot seat.

"Ok, everything is ready, turn it on!" You said and stand behind him, looking at the controls over his shoulder, he ignited the engine moves a couple of switches, and pressed some buttons, you just waiting, then an image of a ship and some codes appeared on the screen.

You put a hand on Tech's shoulder and shake it with a big smile on your face "It works!"

He smiles looking at you over his shoulder "Yes, the encryption system works perfectly, and the other improvements we installed also seem to work fine, you did a great job"

"We" you corrected him, he turns the seat looking at you with furrowed eyebrows, confused

"We did a great job" you clarified, a big smile on your face, he adjusted his goggles in an attempt to hide his slight blush.

"I-I barely do something, I just gave you instructions"

"Oh, but very good instruction if I can tell" You kiss his temple, looking at how his lips curl up in a shy smile.

Tech likes it when you praise him for the things he does, you notice a couple of months ago when he helped you fix the battery on your datapad, Tech found the fault with just a couple of seconds when you had spent days trying to understand the problem, and when you told him how smart and amazing he was, he couldn't help but blush and mutter that it was his job, but you didn't miss the little smile in his face.

You had already noticed the attitude of his brothers towards him, they loved him that you knew, but they never mentioned the great work he was doing but they did emphasize when he made a mistake, so after the incident with the battery you decided to verbalize your thanks to the most followed.

"How are the repairs going?" Hunter's voice brings you back to the present.

"Very well, the new encryption system works better than ever" You said turning on your heels to face him.

Tech turn as well "We also fix the heating system and the broken main area control panel is operational again, better tell Crosshair to be more careful the next time".

"Yeah! That panel was a mess, Tech did a really good job with it" you look at him smiling while he looks away rubbing the back of his neck

You looked back at Hunter, expect him to say something to his brother but he just nods and turns to leave the cockpit, but before he could walk through the door frame you spoke again a little louder this time.

"Don't you think Hunter?" He looks at you over his shoulder, eyebrow raised.

"What?"

You sigh, putting your hands on your hips "That Tech did a good job".

He looks confused at you, then at Tech, and back to you again. You raise both eyebrows and jerked your head at Tech.

"Sure, good job Tech" he finally said giving a half-smile to his brother before leaving.

You sigh again, a little more exasperated this time, and let yourself fall in the copilot seat.

"Are you mad at Hunter?" Tech asks

"No..." arms crossed over your chest, Tech smirk, looking at you waiting for you to continue "Not mad, but...forget it," you said waving your hand.

Tech catches your hand in the air, turns his seat to face you, and gets closer to the edge of his seat so he could get a little closer to you, as he began to draw circles with his thumb on your knuckles. You got a little tense of his sudden action but immediately relax, he chuckles at your reaction and looked at you with a sweet gaze, half-smile on his face

"you said 'but', don't tell me to forget it..." he said in a playful tone.

You smiled as your eyes went to the window of the ship, your smile fades slowly "They never recognize your job"

The silence stretched out for a few seconds before Tech spoke again. "They do... Maybe they don't say it very often, but I know they appreciate what I do-"

"That's not what I meant" You cut him "I know they appreciate your work, of course they do!" You turn to face him "But it would be nice if they say that you are doing it good more often".

He half-smile and pulled your hand, making you get up and walk towards him, he patted his lap and you accepted the invitation and sat on his legs, yours hanging over the side of the seat, one of his hands rested on your back to support you, while the other kept holding your hand. "I don't need them to tell me"

"But you would like to"

His silence gave you the answer you need, you leaned in to leave a kiss on his cheek.

"I must admit that it would be nice if they... express it out loud from time to time... but I have you, you are always telling me that I do a good job, or that I am intelligent or attentive" you giggle and release his hand to cup his cheek.

He placed his hand in yours at the same time he leaned into your touch, closed eyes, and furrowed brows "And that is enough for me, it makes me feel special and..." With the palm of his hand against the back of yours, his fingers ran through the space between yours, trapping your hand, separating it from his face just enough to kiss the base of your palm, the next words came from his lips like a whisper "...and loved".

When Tech looks at you, he couldn't help but blush, you have the sweetest smile on your face, your eyes full of adoration, you looked at him like he was the most beautiful creature in the whole universe. His eyes travel to your lips, and you knew what he was asking for, so with both hands on his face, bring your face closer "You are special and deserve nothing but to be loved" you whispered before capturing his lip in a kiss.

Your heart melted when you hear him sigh and whimper on your lips, You separated your body from him, without breaking the kiss, settling on him, each knee resting on the seat now, on either side of him, his hand found its way to the back of your head, tangled his fingers in your hair as he deepened the kiss, his lips moved over yours with dedication, making you feel in the clouds.

You broke the kiss, gasping for air and he leaning his forehead on your shoulder, trying to normalize his breathing, his heart hammering hard against his chest.

His hand traveled up your arm until it found yours, taking it and intertwining your fingers, you press your lips on his head. "You are a very good kisser"

He chuckles and straightened up so he could see you, "really?" he asks with a playful tone.

"Mmmh" you nod "the best" you peck his lips.

He smiled and when he was leaning in to kiss you again, a loud sound came from outside the cockpit, followed by a burning smell.

"Kriffing Hell Wrecker!" Hunter's voice was heard through the door.

"It wasn't my fault! It was Crosshair!"

"Don't get me into this!"

"Tech!!!!"

Tech sighed tiredly, leaning his back on the seat "Not again."

you laughed and got up from him, holding out a hand "Well that happens to you for being the best repairing things here"

"I'm the only one who knows how to repair things here" he replied as he took your hand and got up.

You laughed again, dragging him towards the door, but before opening it you turned and pulled the collar of his armor to lower him and give him a quick kiss "Shut up and let me praise you".

#bad batch tech #tech the bad batch #tech simp #tech my beautiful boy #the bad batch tech #tech x reader #tech x you #tech x y/n #the bad batch x reader #the bad batch #tbb #tbb x reader #tbb tech

[calciferstims]

how do you make stimboards? i wanna start doing them <3

Ok you know what, BET, you’ve unlocked

✨the official calciferstims tutorial✨

No no ok I’m just messing around, but I will try to walk you through my whole process! 😅 I figure you might not be the only one interested so, what the hell. Prepare for rambling, sorry in advance.

obligatory disclaimer that there is no one way to make stimboards, you don’t have to follow my process, I might put too much effort into it or less effort than someone else does, stimboards are just for fun!!! make em’ however you want! These are just tips/how my brain works.

first of all: picking your themes!!

Surprise: They can be anything!!! And heck, a lot of stimboard themes are just ‘purple cleancore’ or ‘food in pink and blue’, and those are pretty self explanatory. But a lot of the boards I happen to make are themed around characters, and it can be a little tricky to pick your themes!

First of all, I would recommend picking a color palette to try and stick to. Let’s pretend I’m making a Loki stimboard so I’ll probably go with green, gold and black.

You can chose any themes to go with those colors!! Like I could do a Loki stimboard with themes of lovecore and soft things or whatever. But if I’m not going off of anything specific, I usually try really hard to pick some cool themes to match the character. (Of course, you don’t need to do this,, it’s just for me I think it’s a lot cooler to have gifs that fit the character/subject rather than just random slime and stuff). So like, idk, maybe for Loki I want knives, snakes, fancy stuff, all that jazz! But again, it doesn’t matter too much, I just like to isolate those things!

Then you can just search for all your gifs and save them 😌 I usually try to dive pretty deep and try plenty of searches until I get a nice collection to chose from. (But then again I get overwhelmed by that sometimes, lmao). Important: please pretty please find your sources directly via tumblr, and try your very best to locate the original gifset or at least check that the links on a stim board actually lead back to the og creator! Google and Pinterest can be very unreliable places to find stims with actual sources - you have a whole organized system of blogs to search from right here. And please save your sources as you are looking - I save them right to my drafts, but you can save them anywhere you want as long as you keep ‘em.

And yeah, it’s really not that complicated but I’m extra so that’s how I go about it 😅

second: putting the darn thing together

Super simple!! The only hard part sometimes can be picking what gifs you want to include (I definitely struggle sometimes, lol. Nine gifs can be so limiting 😭 damn you tumblr!)

Hot Tip™️: ✨pretty arrangements✨

A big thing you might notice is that, in my opinion at least!! Stimboards tend to look a lot nicer if you organize them in a satisfying, even way! Of course you don’t have to do this, just throwing that out there again - but I think it makes a more out-together looking board.

Usually, I’ll kind of group certain gifs together based on color, theme, kind of stim, ect, and then try to arrange the board so that it’s ‘even’ and looks nice to me.

Some examples of what I mean (using colors to show different themes):

Again, not necessary, but a personal preference!

Also important detail I almost forgot to mention: Another thing that I just think makes everything look way nicer.. Try your best to make sure all your gifs are square so you don’t have like, awkward skinny rectangles in there. You can use a website like ezgif.com or something similar to crop gifs and edit them in other ways!

And that’s about it!!

Oh, but one more thing….

INCLUDE THE SOURCES OR I STEAL YOUR KNEECAPS

Ok that’s all ☺️ no but seriously, it’s very easy and takes two seconds. Most people link them with little x’s or emojis or whatever, but you can do it however you want, as long as they’re easily available. For adding links to text/emojis, you can add them by highlighting the text in question and clicking the little link symbol 🔗 that pops up next to the other text editing features. Make sure to double check that all your links are working, finish up however you please, and you’re ready to post!!

That’s all folks! I hope that answered your question nonny, sorry for the long response 😂 This is kinda less for one person and more to take the chance to explain everything for anybody else! And of course I cannot resist being overly thorough. Good luck making your boards anon, I can’t wait to see them!! :) /gen

#hot tip for the themes and stuff too like. idk if you can’t think of anything SUPER specific there’s still sm you can do with vibes #like if a character is more sophisticated and fancy I’ll do wax seals or calligraphy or something #if they’re magic you can do crystals and sparkly things idk #if you want something warm and cozy you can go for food and soft things and whatnot #idk there’s so many themes to chose from but it’s fun to think about! #ask box #tone indicators #oh sorry this took me a while to get to btw!! almost forgot to mention that

[interact-if]

Day 9 of the interviews! Introducing Hollis!

Hollis, author of The Starless Throne

People With Disabilities Month Featured Author

You play as an inquisitor, a member of the de facto law enforcement in Blasse, the largest city on the continent. You transferred into this division of the guild 2 months ago, and funnily enough, you also joined the guild 2 months ago, when you took an inquisitor out behind a tavern in the dark, murdered him, and took his job and identity. You know, for work.

Truth is, you’re a private contractor of sorts, and the job you’re on now has brought you to this wing of the guild. Everything is going great, until on what’s supposed to be the last day of the job, things take a turn for the worse. An old partner in crime has popped back up out of nowhere, and things are getting complicated (more than they already are that is) fast.

Demo TBA | Read more about The Starless Throne [here]

Tags: High Fantasy, Subterfuge

(INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT UNDER THE CUT!)

Q1. So, tell us a little bit about the projects you're working on!

I’ve got 2 – the first is the starless throne, which started as a pretty generic high fantasy dnd campaign and has turned into a game about overthrowing the government (as they all do). The other is a side project I started to mess around in twine that I ended up really liking, a little astrohorror game about the challenges that come with interacting with aliens and what first contact is like/the fermi paradox.

Q2. What has been your favorite thing about interactive fiction as a medium? What are some of the biggest challenges?

Traditional fiction mediums have never really worked for me, despite how much I love storytelling. I can’t say how many times I tried drafting a novel before I found IF. I really need something like IF, where I can get bored with a certain part/lose my motivation with it, and there’s still something about the project that I’m excited about that I can bounce to and keep working.

Q3. Has your disability influenced your work? Whether it's worldbuilding, the design, the process, and positive or negative--what is your advice in working with your disability and being creative?

Accept your limits! There are some days where no matter how much I want to work, my energy levels or executive function just are not going to let me. And as painful as wanting to do something more than anything in the world and just not being able to is, I really had to learn that I can absolutely still be successful and also accommodate my needs, and none of that makes me lesser than someone who can churn out thousands of words every day without fail. I’ve also had to learn that I can’t really keep up a social media presence like able bodied people might be able to, and that it’s ok to run things how I want to, and to prioritize other things over my public image.

Q4. What's an accessibility issue you see glazed over a lot in IF? and what accessibility features would you like to see implemented more in IF?

The biggest one I’ve noticed is how often IF games have huge walls of text that you have to scroll through. After about 3 paragraphs, my ability to focus on what I’m reading goes out the window. I’d suggest utilizing bolding and italics to help break up the visuals on the page, as well as using page breaks often. Keeping the paragraph count to around 3 or 4 and then moving to a new page would be huge.

Q5. What is something you'd love to see in interactive fiction?

More rep for “invisible” illness in characters, like chronic pain. Also I really love protagonists who aren’t competent from the start, and have to actually learn their skills through out the story, so I’d love to see more of them!

Q6. Any advice to give to aspiring devs?

Scope creep is so, so immensely real. Learn your coding language of choice while working on small, throwaway projects, and work your way up to the magnum opus you’ve been thinking about for so long. Also, do things how you want to! You may see trends in how characters or types of stories are written and want to follow those, and while it’s absolutely ok to take inspiration from games and authors you admire, it’s so important to make the stuff you’re writing stuff you genuinely want to write. You won’t get a good game from writing things you aren’t passionate about :)

#if: events #interactive fiction #People With Disabilities Month 2021

[bunny-xoxo]

Modern!au Hange Zoë Relationship Headcannons

Hange Zoë x reader

a/n: hi!!! This is my first post for aot on this blog! Plspls tell me your thoughts and if you guys like this :) requests aren’t open quite yet but will he soon, I just need to finish some things up in my drafts first :) you can look at WIP page on my pinned post on my blog to see some other aot works I’m working on atm before I open requests :) pls enjoy !!! I luv them on god

gif not mine, credit to owner

Please tell them to go to bed, they have no self regard for their sleeping habits and WILL stay up for 2 days straight

It does not matter if they’re in bed with you either, they will lay with their back against the headboard and you cuddling into their side while they stroke your face until you fall asleep and then IMMEDIATELY start reading

The amount of times you’ve woken up to them still awake in the middle of the night looking at you like 👁👄👁😃 good morning sunshine~~ just go back to bed ~~ maybe you’re dreaming ~~ , cause they KNOW you’ll scold them and they’d like to avoid that at all costs

PLS they definitely wear one of those stupid little head light things so they can read while you sleep

AND IT JUST ADDS TO THE DISORIENTATION YOU FEEL WHEN YOU WAKE UP ABAJSKWJWNA

* 💡

* 👁👄👁

“good morning sleepy head”

I truly feel like they’re a pro at getting you to fall asleep though, not even so they can stay up they just are so good at soothing you

That one spot in between your shoulders thats always sore? They’re hands find it without you even having to mention

The way you have to cuddle laying on your right side and your left? They’re already adjusting themselves on the couch so that can happen

The way you like kisses on the top of your head but not your temple? Check ✅ they’re fingers are resting at your temple to remind them it’s always the top of your head -as if they’d forget-

Expanding on this, they’re just so good at remembering details about you in general???

And of course some of it is the basics like your favorite snack, your favorite candle, the current show your binging, the laundry detergent you always buy, etc.

But some of it you wouldn’t have even asked them to remember?? Like it gets more and more obscure the longer you’re together

Like how you wouldn’t like the leather seats in their car, which you mention once cause the skin on your legs were sticking to them in the summer

And then they’re in the market looking for a new car and this one doesn’t have leather seats, which to yourself you’re like oh cool :)

But then they just bring it up while you’re driving with them one day like

“Isn’t it nice that now when you wear shorts your legs don’t stick? I tried keeping that in mind for you, babe.”

And it’s just??? You’re almost questioning how they even KNOW that until they tell you about the one ☝🏼 time you mentioned it and it was at least a couple years ago and it’s just??? Thank you?!?

But yes, anything you do Hange WILL remember it for better or for worse cause they just see it as a part of getting to know you and love the person you are!

Okok emperor fidgety over here ‼️

WILL talk with their hands so intensely that they’ve knocked over countless drinks, vases, has even flung their fork once

Queue wide eyes and awkward laughing while they blush a little before they rush for a towel to clean up their mess

But will still continue to ramble while they clean, nothing stops their talking

Carpet cleaner is your best friend

Let’s just say when the two of you decided to move into a new place together, hunting for hardwood floors was a must

But BECAUSE this fools always making a mess and needs to just ~lower the chaos a teensy bit ~ they WILL grab onto your hands while they talk

They’d be getting particularly animated and loud and you’d just let out a giggle and nod your head, letting them know you’re listening and they don’t have to be so loud

And they’d just giggle and shush themselves and be like sorry sorry I know with some big stupid smile on their face

They’d reach their hands out and grab yours and clear their throat and raise their eyebrows a little,

“Ok, so, here’s the best part though. Get. This.”

And they’d just go back to ranting but this time they have so much more energy being focused into you rather than combusting out of them

Their eyes are locked onto yours so hard, no longer darting all over the room while they speak

Their hands moving yours only a little, swinging them up and down, squeezing them when they get particularly excited

Their voice is more hushed and deep, their words shooting sharply at you with an intensity vibrating off them making your cheeks burn

Now, when something would normally result in a flying fork, instead it’s a tug on your hands to bring you closer while their voice gets heavier and quiet - almost a whisper - sharing this moment with you and ending it with raised eyebrows and a squeal - sometimes even shaking your arms about if it’s especially exciting news

Speaking of ranting, when you rant you better expect Hange to get JUST as involved as you

You’re frustrated? Yeah Hange is getting heated too, riling you up in the process, it’s their problem now too

You’re happy? Hange is squealing and jumping up and down with you as if they got the promotion ajakskajaja

I feel like the only exception to this would be if you were stressed, upset, or sad

They’re immediately quiet and looking all over your face for any sign of distress with the most sincere eyes

Nodding and responding with little hums of understanding, ready to scoop you into their arms the moment you need them too

The RULER of taking care of their s/o when they’re down or sick

Not only cause they know everything there is to know about your existence lmao

But cause I think they’re smart enough to be able to not be over bearing when they’re taking care of you

They’ll check in a lot for sure, but never smothering you more than you’d like lmao

Their love language is definitely quality time in my opinion

Do you remember how excited they were when Eren agreed to listen to them talk and they talked literally ALL night?? -I miss them like this pls-

Please just spend time with them while they’re doing research at home or reading, they’ll never feel more loved and appreciated

Ok but like :

It’s late, it’s been dark outside for hours now. Your eyes became heavy hours ago but, you don’t have work tomorrow, and you’d hate leaving Hange in here by themselves, so you decided on cuddling up in the living chair in their office - that they definitely put in there for you - on your phone. You were scrolling mindlessly through apps trying to keep your mind stimulated enough when you heard their chair move from the spot they were in for the first time since you’ve been in their. You looked up to see them crack their neck and stretch their arms above their head, they’re shirt riding up just above their belly button.

They sighed deeply and slowly walked over to you, running their hands down the side of your face and cupping your cheeks to turn your head up to face them.

They leaned down at an agonizingly slow pace and pressed a deep kiss on your lips

“Let’s go to bed now, yeah?”

And while you were laying together drifting off to sleep, they’d just kiss your head one more time and tell you how much they love you

Pls you’d mean the world to them

HANGE IS A SEXY DRIVER HANGE IS A SEXY DRIVER HANGE IS A SEXY DRIVER

Like,,, WHEWWW

This isn’t even a relationship HC LMAO

I mean a little -

They’d LOVE to go on roadtrips with you, you can’t tell me otherwise

A fun stupid adventure to buy shitty souvenirs along the way? Meeting strange people and getting all these new stories together? Hange is at peace like this lmao

But more on them driving 👁👅👁

Definitely drives stick, and they’re a FAST driver

Always a little above the speed limit

So good at changing lanes, especially on the freeway

The way they check over their shoulder?? Lawd almighty

Sometimes they’ll check over their shoulder that’s facing you and flick their eyes to your’s for a moment, cause they can feel you staring at them in that brief moment, and they’ll just raise their eyebrows and shoot you a cocky little side smile

And then after they change lanes they reach a hand over and squeeze your thigh before they keep driving

Ok does have bad road rage though LMAO

Not in a dangerous way they just,, swear very loudly in the car and then roll their eyes and apologize that there’s idiots on the road LMAO

Anyways

All in all, Hange is a very attentive and loud partner, so I hope you’re ok with chaos and intensity

———————

a/n: thanks for reading yall!!! Feel free to check out my blog, more aot content coming soon! And I always love to hear from you guys :)

-🐇out

taglist: @plutowrites

#attack on titan #aot #attack on titan hange #attack on titan headcanons #hange brain rot rn #hange zoe #hange x reader #commander hanji #hange x you #hange imagines #hange headcanons #shigenki no kyojin #modern!au aot #modern!hange

[blackbat05]

Nervous Butterflies

Bucky x Reader 

A/N: I’m a HUGE Bucky fan so yes this has been a long time coming as I had this sitting in my drafts for a while! I think this headcanon is mostly inspired by what I was going through last week. I always like to think what my favorite characters would so in my situation even though it may not be comic/movie accurate but hey, that’s what writing is for right? Anyways hope you enjoyed it! Like and comment if you can! 

Bucky’s a very observant person. He walks into the study room and sees that you are extremely quiet in front of your computer. 

‘What’s on your mind?’ He places your favorite ginger tea on the coaster. 

It took you a while to process his question. Your heart was beating faster than usual, you just had lunch but your stomach felt strangely hollow and your chest tightened at every thought that passed through your mind - oddly reminiscent to the main lead in a horror film preparing for a jump scare. 

But you figured that it was best to get things of your chest least you turned into a walking zombie for the rest of the day. 

‘You know how I’m taking this advanced counselling course at my workplace?’ He nods. ‘Well, I have to do a roleplay in tomorrow and I’m just anxious about messing up.’

As you take a sip of the warm tea, Bucky nods thoughtfully. Bucky was a man of few words, you learnt that from Sam, former colleague at the VA and now Captain America. When you first met the quiet man, he barely said more than ten words while the three of you were at a café in Brooklyn. 

‘I know, it sounds stupid. This is my job so why am I feeling so nervous right?’ You chided yourself as you realized how ridiculous you must have sounded. 

One thing about Bucky? He knew the right words to say the exact moment. 

‘It means you’re human,’ he tells you. ‘Nerves will never leave us till the day we die. It’s up to us to deal with them. Some people deal with it better. Some people? Well… just look at Sam,’ he finishes adding his usual dry humor. ‘The point is, it’s good that you don’t want to make mistakes… but you will. Learning how to accept that fact is what makes you a better person.’ 

He offers to take your cup back to the kitchen, leaving you to mull over his advice for a while. 

When he’s done, he drops by your room, telling you that he’s going for a night jog. ‘I’ll go slow,’ he promises, ‘and maybe we can have some pizza afterwards.’ You accept. 

As you pound the pavement with your running shoes, you feel that every muscle in your body is working to pump the much need oxygen. But you feel alive.

You had your reservations running with a super soldier. Especially on a 5 mile run. No surprises there, Bucky kept his promise. He had paced you perfectly - not too slow, not too fast. You ran to keep yourself fit but it was never your cup of tea. There were always exceptions though, like today. You felt that your mind could wander around the never ending grassland that you set up in your mind.

While waiting at for your pizzas Sal’s diner, Bucky decides to start the conversation. ‘Feeling better?’

You were enjoying your coke that was just served, so you didn’t expect the conversation starter from him. Careful not to let the liquid go into the wrong pipe, you answer, ‘Yeah… much. Thanks Bucky.’

He pauses for a moment. This is so not like him, it’s more of Steve’s thing. But Steve isn’t here anymore.

‘Before you begin tomorrow, just take three deep breaths. I can’t guarantee you that you won’t be nervous anymore, but you’ll feel better. And when it’s all over, you realize that it was all ok. Take it from this 107 year old guy here.’

Bucky was right. If you took the time that you spent worrying about things, you could have probably done at least ten other things with that time. Life was unpredictable. There was no use worrying about not being able to control it.

After the quick heart to heart conversation, the two of you happily chomped down on your pepperoni pizzas to replace the calories that you had burned.

Arriving at the compound, you were about to split from Bucky as both your rooms were in different directions.

‘Hey Bucky,’ he turns back waiting for you to finish your sentence. ‘About today, thanks. I mean it. I think I’ll kill it tomorrow.’

In his usual fashion, he gives you a thumbs up before walking back to his room. 

‘Let me know how it goes tomorrow! I’ll take you out for Japanese! I know a mean place.’ 

Yeah, your friendship with Bucky was starting to grow more and maybe, who knows? 

A/N: I kinda dig the whole platonic relationships but I also love romantic ones! It’s just that I can’t help but to cringe whenever I write romance stuff so I guess that’ll be a challenge for me in the future! You writers who can write romance stuff so well, you have earned my respect too! Hope y’all enjoyed my first Bucky headcanon! 

#Bucky Barnes #bucky x reader #bucky headcanon #sebastian stan