not sure what to name her yet but practiced with drawing water themed things. I should really do something for Mer-May or Ani-May. What do y'all think? Anyways, enjoy!
John "Soap" MacTavish
Soap stares at the worn VHS tape in your hands like it's holy. "No way," he breathes. "That's Barrel Bustin' Billy's Action Hour-season one." You nod, grinning. "Original. Complete." His jaw drops. "Mum always said it was too violent Said I'd try to swing from the roof. "He's already putting it into the player before finishing the sentence. Thirty minutes later, he's curled up in a blanket on the floor, eyes wide, giggling like he's eight again. He pauses it mid-chase scene just to pull you close and whisper, "You really you remembered." You kiss his cheek. "Always"
Simon "Ghost" Riley
You hand Ghost a stuffed animal. A well- made, custom plush dog with big floppy ears and a stitched Union Jack bandana. He goes very still. "This..." His voice is rough. "There was one like this in a store window. I used to pass it on my way home from school. Mum could never afford it." He holds it gently, almost reverently, his thumb brushing its little nose. "Thought about stealing it once. Didn't You don't speak. He doesn't look at you for a long time. Then he sets the plush on your shared bed and quietly says, "Thank you. For seeing me."
Kyle "Gaz" Garrick
Gaz opens the box and lets out a breathless laugh. "No way. A complete set of those dinosaur skeleton puzzles?" You nod. "You said you only had one piece when you were a kid." "Just the Triceratops skull. My mum found it at a market. I built and rebuilt that damn head for years." He's already dumping pieces out on the table, eyes gleaming. "You don $t understand-I used to dream about finishing the T-Rex." You sit beside him and help with the spine. It takes all night. But watching his grin when he clicks in the final tooth? Worth it.
John Price
Price blinks down at the small, rust- orange tin. "Is this....?" You nod. "Royal Navy playset. 1974 edition. Mint." He sits down hard, cradling it like it might fall apart. "My uncle had this," he murmurs. Wouldn't let me near it. Said I'd break it. I stared at this bloody thing through the glass case every time I visited." He opens the lid and stares at the miniature ships M. and sailors, eyes misty. "God," he chuckles, "look at these little buggers." He looks at you then, softer than you've ever seen: "You didn't have to do this." You smile. I wanted to."
Gary "Roach" Sanderson
You give Roach a brand-new pair of light- up sneakers-bright, obnoxiously cool, with lightning bolts that flash red when he walks. He screams. Like, high-pitched squeal. "I wanted these so bad!" he exclaims, slipping them on and stomping around the room to light them up. "Mum said they were impractical. 'Not good for running." He's jogging in place, kicking, twirling. "LOOK AT 'EM FLASH!" He runs up, grabs your face in both hands, and kisses you square on the mouth. "Best Gift. Ever." You're half laughing, half crying from joy You're gonna trip." "Worth it!
Nikolai
You hand Nikolai a snow globe. Not just any globe-the snow globe from the GUM department store in Moscow. "I broke this," he whispers. "When I was ten. Dropped it right outside the store. My sister cried. I did too. Mama was furious." He turns it over in his hands, watching the tiny glittery snow fall over the cathedral inside. "I looked for this exact one for years." You found it. Tracked down a collector. He's silent for a long time before pulling you close and murmuring 'in Russian, "Ты подарил мне мое детство обратно.- You gave me my childhood back."
Alejandro Vargas
Alejandro opens the box and gasps. "No. You didn't." Inside is a bright red lucha libre mask, handcrafted and stitched with gold embroidery. "This was the mask of El Jaguar Dorado," he says, awe in his voice. "They only sold five of these. My cousin had one. He never let me wear it." He picks it up, gently pressing it to his face. "I used to dream of being a luchador. You-you remembered." You help him tie it on. He poses dramatically, cape and all, then sweeps you into his arms. "Mi amor, I'm never taking this off again."
Rodolfo "Rudy" Parra
Rudy stares down at the book in your hands, eyes wide. "Wait... is that the holographic dragon sticker album from the fair?" You grin. "Found it online. Took forever." He laughs, almost teary. "My older brother got one. Wouldn't let me touch it. I used to sneak looks at it while he slept." He opens the cover and gently flips through the shiny pages, tracing the sparkly dragons with reverence. "I never thought I'd see this again." You kiss his cheek, and he leans into it. "You always surprise me. And somehow, you always know exactly what matters."
Valeria Garza
You hand Valeria a small, bright pink plastic toy gun with glitter-filled cartridges. "This was in every catalog," she mutters. "Every damn commercial. My parents refused. Said it was 'silly."" She holds it up like it's sacred. "I used to draw fake ones. Make them out of paper. Pretend I had it when I played with the boys." You've never seen her so still. Then she raises it with a wicked grin. You shouldn't have this thing's dangerous." She shoots you with glitter "I love it." Then, quieter: "I love you."
Keegan Russ
Keegan lifts the worn cartridge from the box like it's made of glass. "Blood Stryker II?” he whispers. "How where ? You shrug. "I heard you mention it once. Said your dad threw it out before you could even try it." He stares at the label like it's a ghost. "Said it was too violent. Thought it'd rot my brain." He slides the cartridge into the ancient console you found, sits cross-legged on the floor, and turns it on. "I used to pretend I was the guy in this game. Now look at me." You sit beside him, and he smirks. "Still got better gear now."
König
When he unwraps the box, his eyes widen behind the mask. "A crown?" he murmurs. Not plastic-this one is hand-forged metal, polished to a sheen, shaped to mimic old Austrian royalty. "I always wanted to wear one in the school play," he admits, voice low. "But the other boys laughed. Said I'd crush it. Called me 'King Freak."" He sets it gently on his head, unsure, almost trembling. "But you... you think I'm worthy of this?" You step closer, adjusting it carefully. "I know you are." He smiles under the cloth, quietly glowing. "You make the boy I was... proud."
Nikto
You place the delicate makeup kit in front of him-bold colors, metallics, detailed brushes. He goes still. "Where did you find this?" His voice is quiet. You explain it's the exact brand his mother once confiscated when he was a boy, claiming it would "ruin" him. He brushes a thumb over the packaging, jaw clenched. "I used to sneak out to wear it. Until she found out." He doesn't cry, but his silence is loud. You kiss his cheek, then start carefully applying silver shimmer to his eyelid. "Wear whatever the hell you want now," you whisper. You're beautiful." He believes you.
Krueger
The plush snake coiled in the box makes Krueger's eye twitch. "That's... Rattles the Rattler," he mutters. "They stopped selling those after one choked a kid. I begged for one. Parents said no. Too dangerous." You snort. "It's literally the most floppy thing I've ever held." He lifts it by the tail, frowning, before tucking it under his arm and walking away without a word. You think he doesn't care-until later, you find Rattles tucked on your pillow with a note: "It's yours now. I don't want him to miss out on affection again. You cry. Just a little.
Philip Graves
You walk into the room holding a shiny pink, glitter-coated Easy Bake Oven."... You didn't." "Oh, I did." Graves flushes scarlet. "My sister had one. Mama said I' couldn't play with it. Said I needed to act proper." He runs a hand over the plastic, smiling faintly. "I used to fake sick sol could stay home and watch her use it." You watch him mix the little batter packet like it's a sacred ritual. Twenty minutes later, he's beaming, holding out a gooey brownie bite like it's five-star cuisine. "Don't laugh," he says. "I'm finally livin' the dream."
Farah Karim
You place the old, dog-eared comic in her hands. It's in Arabic, the pages fragile but intact. "Sahra: Defender of the Stars," she breathes. "I haven't seen this since I was a kid. My father threw mine away. Said it wasn't for girls." She runs her fingers over the cover, silent. "I used to hide it under my mattress. Pretend I was her." She turns a page slowly. "She was the first person I saw who fought for people. Who looked like me." You sit beside her, listening as she reads aloud. You gave me back part of my fire."
Hadir Karim
You gift him a battered paint set, the kind sold at street markets. Cheap brushes. Bright colors. He grins. "These were banned in our house. Said I had no time for art" He picks up a red crayon and twirls it in his fingers. "I used to draw rebels with capes. Give them names. Stories." You watch him sketch on the floor, tongue poking out in concentration. "They always had someone who believed in them. Just one person." You hug his shoulders gently "Now they do." He pauses, smiles up at you, and colors in your name beside the hero's.
Alex Keller
Alex opens the oddly shaped bundle and starts laughing. "No way. You found this?" He pulls out an old nerf blaster- one shaped like a crossbow. "I dreamed of this thing. Christmas, birthdays-you name it." He flips it over, muscle memory still strong. "My neighbor had one. We made a pact to share. He reneged. I never let it go." He loads a foam bolt and hits the kitchen trash can from across the room. "Still got it." Then he grins. "Hey... don't think I won't ambush you with this later. This is war, babe."
Kate Laswell
You hand her a beginner's chemistry set, still sealed. "Is that ?" "You said your school science fair banned you from using one 'cause girls weren't supposed to 'mix stuff unsupervised." She exhales, long and low. "I saved up for one. Then they wouldn't let me enter." She pops the lid and starts sorting the powders with expert ease. "They were afraid of me back then." You smile. "They should be now too." She smirks. "Let's see if I still remember how to make the paper glow green." You lean closer. "Let's see if we make it explode."
Vladimir Makarov
You give Makarov a child-sized violin restored, polished, with new strings. He takes it slowly, hands uncharacteristically delicate. "My father smashed mine," he says flatly. "Said music was weakness." He sits on the couch, tuning it by ear, eyes distant. "I never got past two lessons. But I remembered the sound." You sit beside him in silence, until a single, trembling note echoes from the strings. Then another. He doesn't look at you. But when he speaks, it's soft. "This isn't a toy." "No," you say. "It's healing." He doesn't reply but he plays.
I made myself cry on the last drawing I posted so I made something to cheer up XD I could just imagine Maezie's Omega cuddling Bones. Also the character does not belong to me but the awesome @evilsmyname aka Fluffyevil on AO3. Check out their work!
My boys! Meet Federico and Felipe Del Oro. They are two of three triplets from my story From Silver to Gold. Check it out on wattpad! https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/370129058-from-silver-to-gold
Spoilers! More Fanart of Maezie and Nikto from Fluffyevil's story Provider! This fic has me falling for them so hard. Enjoy! more fan art soon to come! @evilsmyname
There's a fanfic you love so much you'd like to have a physical copy of it? But you don't know how to make it? You've come to the right place! I'm a teacher and I've done this with my pupils (11 year olds), so you can do it, too!
To preface this, obviously this is only one of many methods to bind a book, and it's not perfect, but it's easy enough for my pupils to do it, so I thought I'd share how I do it, to hopefully help people who want to bind fanfics but have never done it before! :)
Here are some examples of what my books look like when done:
Part 1: Preparations on the PC and printing
To start off, a book is made up of several signatures, which is just a bunch of pages folded in the middle. I've found the best signatures for this method are made of four A4 (or letter format) sheets of paper, folded, so it makes 16 pages in total. But signatures of 5 or 6 sheets work well too!
That means you need to prepare your pdf to have a page count that is dividable by 16 (4 sheet signatures), 20 (5 sheet signatures) or 24 (6 sheet signatures). I usually just add blank pages to the front and back of the book until I reach a usable page count. Also check that your chapters start at the page you want (odd pages are on the right, even ones are on the left).
If that is done, you can get to printing. I print signature per signature, and use Adobe Acrobat for that. Apparently, the free trial version can do this too, so no need to pay for it if you don't have it!
The fanfic I'm printing has 320 pages, so I'm gonna print 20 signature made of 4 sheets (16 pages). I write down which pages make the signature so I can them just type them in:
Signature 1 consists of pages 1 - 16
Signature 2: 17 - 32
Signature 3: 33 - 48
Signature 4: 49 - 64
...
Signature 20: 305 - 320
Now, printing works like this:
In Adobe Acrobat, open your pdf and click on print. In the printing options, you first chose the "Booklet" option and then type in the pages for the signature you want to print (e.g. 1-16). Hit print and you'll have your first signature, which you can then fold in the middle! Repeat this step for all the signatures until you've printed the whole book. Done!
If you've got any questions or need clarification an anything, feel free to ask!
(This is just a screenshot from the web, so the numbers don't match, but my Adobe Acrobat is completely in German, so it would probably be even less helpful!)
About the paper: I use normal printing paper in a bit of a yellowish colour (looks better than the sharp white of normal paper). Printing paper has, however, the wrong paper grain, so if you have access to paper with grain in the other direction, take that instead! The results with printing paper are okayish, with maybe a few wrinkles, but nothing too bad (in my opinion, haha).
The parts of this tutorial:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
FanArt and Doodles @rainey9 - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag