Friendly Reminder That You Should

With the wedding date approaching, Sienna's finally completing tasks on her wedding to-do list! ♡

AVOIDING COLLAB LIMBO™️: OR, HOW TO ACTUALLY MAKE THAT COLLAB HAPPEN

a strength of Royal Simblr™️ is how common and easy it is to do collaborative projects. our stories and characters can be delightful on their own, but there’s something special about building a plot, a relationship, a character, an event, a whole entire world with someone else. among other things, it’s also a good way to make friends !  however, not everyone approaches the project the same way; this isn’t always a problem, but it can become one when it prevents a collab—especially one between simmers who enjoy each other’s work—from getting off the ground. you might know the feeling. you and another simmer express the desire to do something together. it’s exciting, especially if you admire their story or just think they’re a cool person. this is the beginning of something new and fun, until … the conversation never moves beyond that starting point. 

welcome to Collab Limbo™️

why does this happen? how do we avoid it?

gabe (@armoricaroyalty) and i have compiled some best practices in a brand-new guide. yes, yet another Royal Simblr Guide. the components of the guide are simple—so simple it boils down to three words and two phrases: 

intentionality

familiarity

reciprocity

“yes, and”

“no, but”

INTERESTED? READ THE GUIDE HERE ! ✨

lior & khoa's living / dining 🥐🪴🎮

𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬   |   EPISODE NO. 1 "Goodbye Mama"

❧  𝐚𝐥𝐥  /  𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

welcome to a new and uncalled-for series, brought to you by Second Simblr Wind™ or whatever this is :^) i was flipping through 1992 to finally do a fashion rundown inspired by jennifer's analysis of her characters, and i realized 1) i was doing good work once upon a time but have improved a ton since and 2) my favorite shots often aren't the ones that get the most attention. so, here we are. i crave attention like everyone else on the internet, so questions, comments (of your favorites), and requests welcome. if you're new, go catch up !

𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭 ↓

01.01 - safya dies : I know this isn’t that standout shot from this post, but it is the one that I find the most striking. It may be the interplay between the dialogue and what’s happening, but the tentativeness of the gesture and the way her ring is conspicuously absent makes it noteworthy to me. I also just love shots constructed this way: side profile, cut off so the only expressiveness you see is the lower nose and mouth.

01.02 - leonor has a nightmare : It was hard to choose for this set. The runner-up was the close-up of Safya applying sunscreen with her ring very visible—which, of course, raises questions about why Leonor’s dream version is ring on versus ring off. There’s also a blue-brown contrast in this post, and that one exemplified it because Safya’s swimsuit is a pale pink that blends into her skin and the surrounding wood. HOWEVER. I chose this one because it’s just more visually interesting. There’s details, like Safya’s watercolors on the table, the way Rodrigo shadows her on the right margin, how she’s casting a backward look at him or us or both …

01.03 - arturo attempts to comfort leonor : Another color contrast scene! Blue versus orange, although, of course, Leonor’s thoughts are on the color red. There’s some analysis to be done on that alone, but I won’t bore everyone with half-baked ruminations on literary color theory or whatever, lmao. This one—! I actually had to redo this shot for some reason, but I was very insistent about getting it right. I guess it’s simple: this is child Leonor’s perspective of her mother. Emotional recollections and flashbacks are always more powerful when you can’t see someone’s face. Maybe that’s because we often struggle to remember people’s full faces as the memory of them fades over time. In any case…

01.04 - blanca helps beatriz bathe : This may be one of the tenderest shots in the entire story as it stands! Despite having helped care for younger siblings, I didn’t appreciate the fragility and intimacy of caregiving until my grandmother needed me to help her bathe, dress, clean her wounds, rub lotion into her feet, brush her hair … So, that’s what is being conveyed here. Obviously Beatriz is spry and capable, but it says something, to me, that she clearly must have asked this of Blanca. Is it something she’s done before? Is it something Safya would have done instead? The moment is tense in some ways, especially since Beatriz reprimands Blanca for her nail polish (contrasted with the, well, plain “elegance” of Beatriz’s hand here). It is, however, the most vulnerable we see Beatriz—even more so than when she’s openly sobbing in later scenes—and, to me, a visual representation of the unconditional love Blanca has for her mother.

01.05 - prissy and leonor discuss beatriz : I have less to say about this one, but the context is this scene was a bitch to shoot! It was originally in a different location, and I redid it in its entirety three times. This still isn’t right, but that was my mistake for going with a ton of white/cream. I do like this shot because of the depth, the colors, and the interaction between Leonor’s averted gaze and Prissy approaching with the sideways glance at her.

01.06 - arnaut returns to uspana : This is a beautiful daytime garden scene, but this final shot is my favorite. It’s established that Leonor is watching them from the moment they arrive, but we don’t see her face until the end, when little Abelina presents Arnaut with some flowers to cheer him up. What’s going through Leonor’s mind? She knows why he’s here. She knows how close he and her mother were. She knows he’s basically a foreigner at this point. She knows he’s a good father. Either way, it’s telling that hers is, to me, an unhappy, even negative expression.

01.07 - the family gathers for dinner : This scene is another than I redid because it wasn’t good enough. It still isn’t, but don’t tell past N. that! Anyway, the foreground-background interplay is what I like about this one. Visually, it’s interesting, but Arnaut having a breakdown while Mateo and Leonor convey, mostly, exhaustion … I dunno. I just like it. That and the blurry glasses and plates to remind us this table is set for a formal dinner no one felt like having. They’re more like anxious lingerers in a waiting room than dinner guests or reuniting family members.

01.08 - matias and sal have a moment : In retrospect, this is such a special scene. No one had all of the backstory on how Beatriz’s family came to be—how she ends up with these two men comforting each other outside her bedchamber, as it were. So, I wrote this hoping their dynamic would fill that void and show the product of decades of learning to live together. It’s also a rare opportunity (outside of the main story) that people who are a little bit more on Beatriz’s level talk frankly about her as a person, not as an iron lady or distant matriarch. Anyway, there are more visually interesting shots in this scene, but this one … It just arrests me, somehow. The look on Mathias’s face says it all. An exhale, finally.

01.09.1 - the day of the funeral arrives : I had to go back and pick this out because I forgot I’d split this scene into two posts! Freebie. I can’t say what I like so much. It’s an unusual angle, relatively speaking, and it has intersecting angles from the squareness of the bed, the carpet, their bodies. Something about Leonor’s expression visible in profile like that, and then the empty space of the bed … It focuses you somehow. The dialogue is melancholy and reflective, and the composition suits that to me. Of course, most likely, I stumbled across this angle because flipping face shots back and forth gets boring in a conversation scene!

01.09.2 - leonor makes a decision : I don’t even have anything clever to say about this one. I just love the bursts of yellow in this scene, and the fact that there’s a lemon tree to complement Leonor’s paint made it fun to shoot. This is another scene that underwent a redo, and part of that was moving this part of the conversation outside. I think it looks better that way. Certainly, the lighting was better! Maybe there’s some symbolism, too, with the fresh air and such. Maybe not. Reader’s choice, the postmodern way.

COMING SOON ...

LOVESTRUCK WORN PLASTER WALL RECOLOR

Today I decided to share this mediocre recolor but it still looks pretty nice so I hope you guys like it!!

LoveStruck and BGC Version **

23 swatches ***

If you have any issue, please let me know!

** I tried to do a base game version for everyone who doesn't own LS, however the textures look a little weird. If you own LoveStruck I highly recommend you downloading that version.

DOWNLOAD - Patreon (Free, you need to join for free to get it).

*** I'm using the sunblind mod in my game; the colors may look different in your game if not installed.

Reshade: Warm Reshade by awingedllama

it's summer 2012 and clarity is playing on the radio...

A chill day off and I made this 70's style modern take on my dream home.

mud tracks - The Anythings

★☆ EP coming soon! ☆★

Chapter 11.1 - A Little Stab-Cute

Vlad doesn’t waste a moment before tackling Akira to the ground. 

“Is this how you greet every visitor?” 

“We don’t have visitors.” His eyes are wild as he wraps a hand around Akira’s neck. “We have enemies.”

That was a fucking understatement.

The Strauds greeted the mailman with a hatchet if the mood moved them, and they had a virtual graveyard hidden in these hills. Sims (it was always sims) seemed determined to fuck around and find out.

“Do I look like an enemy?” Akira teases. He's hoping to rile Vlad enough to throw him off his game, but the man is focused. Growling, he plunges his knife into Akira’s side. It’s unpleasant but also invigorating.

No fae ever died from anything so small as a knife wound. Healing it is almost as easy as breathing. 

“Hold still!” Vlad hisses, as he pulls the knife out and lifts his arm to bring it down again. He tightens his hold on Akira’s neck, veins popping as he squeezes harder.

Lust and lightheadedness war as Akira snaps his arm up to block the knife’s descent. “I want you to know my devotion, but you get one.”

“I get as many as I need.” Vlad’s nostrils flare as he bares his teeth. “You have been haunting me!” He tries to thrust the knife in again. “You made me think I was crazy! I couldn’t sleep! I couldn’t eat. I thought you were a figment of my imagination!”

There’s a broken note in his voice that stops Akira cold. “Time out. You didn’t imagine me.” He pushes the knife away and sits up slightly, rubbing the bruises on his neck. “And I was never trying to make you feel crazy. That wasn’t my intent. You should not have seen me but I guess that was my bad.”

Gently, as if he hadn't just been trying to slit Akira's throat, Vlad reaches down and strokes the tips of Akira’s ears. “You are far prettier up close than I imagined,” he murmurs.

Akira shifts, suppressing a groan. This isn’t a great location for sex, but Vlad is literally sitting on his dick and looking at him like—

“Can I behead you?”

“What the fuck? No! Get off me!”

Vlad rolls to his feet and pockets the knife in one smooth movement. “I wasn’t asking permission. I just wanted to know if it was a viable method for killing you.”

The fucking ego on this guy.

“I am not telling you how to kill me,” Akira bites out. “In what universe would I pop into your yard to give you a crash course on how to eliminate me?”

“In the same universe where you’ve been hiding in the bushes like a rockstar cosplaying an assassin.”

“Excuse me?”

Vlad tilts his head, his eyes glinting silver in the moonlight. He really is gorgeous. “You’re wearing leather pants.” 

Akira feels a blush rising at his blatant stare. “There is nothing wrong with leather pants. I don’t know why you would bring that up.”

Vlad doesn’t agree or disagree, he simply lunges. And that’s how Akira learns the sim is fast. 

Preternaturally so.

His momentum works against him, though. As he twists, Vlad’s knees hit the pallet of construction bags behind him and he falls backward.

Akira dives after him, taking one blow to the jaw before dodging a second. “Are you finished?” he grounds out.

“No. I am just getting started. I could do this all night.” 

The combination of conviction and breathlessness sends Akira’s pulse racing. “Yeah, I could too, but I think we’ve got better ways to pass the time.” 

“Do you want a weapon?” Vlad purrs, but Akira has learned his lesson. The man could go from seduction to murder in under 60 seconds. He doesn’t relinquish his position, gripping Vlad’s thigh before he can kick out.

"Nope. And you’re not gonna kill me because you’re gonna date me."

“Date you?” Vlad goes still. “I’m flattered, but I couldn’t possibly. I’m already seeing someone.”

Leaning down until his lips are nearly by Vlad's ear, Akira whispers, “I know. She’s gonna date me too.”

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(Part 2 of 3)