Wild Surge

The spark of fire glowing brightly in her palms cracks and fizzles out, leaving a tiny stain of soot, barely noticeable against the skin of her palm.

"Again," Ran's raspy voice - the one of the few real giveaways that pretty face did not belong to a woman - chuckles into the back of her head "A match'd give ya a bigger flame." She furrows her brows, fingers curling slightly before his own hands wrap themselves of her always too-big ones. "Again."

"I'm afraid." heat blooming her cheeks, embarrassed at admitting a weakness "What if it'll hurt?" What if the spell explodes in both of their faces? She rubs her fingers together, skin still tingling from the feeling of that one spark going off; the sensation of skin being pulled too tightly over callused palms. Life on the road was not the easiest and she was still trying to grow into the role; silks and confining dresses replaced with old leathers and bandages. A delicate quill of her writing lessons gathering dust at the house she left behind, in its stead a dagger or a sword or, nowadays more often, a quarterstaff in one hand and a spell in other.

A shrug against her back pulls her back from her memories, long arms pulling her closer; Ran looked a bit too lanky at first glance, it took a moment all those limbs were lean muscle and veins pulsing with raw magic. The older tiefling was a fighter even if all of that was hidden by wide smiles and loose clothing and an attitude that often ended with him being threatened with a punch to the face.

More than once, the threats came for Valeria herself. Though, as she learned with quite a bit of pride, she could pack a mean right hook if having the advantage of surprise.

"Well," a hum "We do have some healing salve for the burns," Another chuckle and she tenses, curls shoulder around her head.

"What if," she starts. Pauses. Licks her lower lips. "What is that happens again?" That. The Surge, explosion of wild magic; a current of energy threatening to swallow them whole and spit out who knows what.

Valeria didn't understand the expression at the time, but she still remembers her Mother's chalk white face, wide eyes, and brows furrowed in anger.

Ran is quiet for a moment, before giving a quiet sigh and pulling her closer against him, pointed chin resting on her shoulder.

"These are the cards we've been dealt." he starts, slowly "I'm all about fighting destiny and all that crap but some things about ourselves cannot be changed," his useless wings give a flutter in agreement. He pauses again, arms reaching out again, hands wrapping around hers "This magic is part of you, it is you; wild, loud and an acquired taste," he ducks his head with a chuckle to avoid the headbutt "Accept it; work with it. Let it flow with you and if push comes to shove - ride that fuckin' wave."

She closes her eyes, loose hair falling down onto her face but there is no hiding the small smile that plays around the corners of her lips.

"Now," he smacks his lips "Again."

She closes her eyes, scared, to ground herself. Ran might have had the aura of someone who had not one worry in his life but she knew better - and she knew how demanding of a teacher he could be.

Sighing, she curls her fingers slightly, almost feels how they tingle from the inside from the Weave swimming through her veins. She takes a deep breath; the smell of burning wood and smoke washing away as a new scent tickles her nostrils - sharp and metallic with an undertone of cleanness that comes only from using strong concoctions.

"Ignis,"

The spell comes out quieter than Valeria would like, but she doesn't have time to be embarrassed about it as a new spark blinks into existence between her cupped hands. There's a crack not unlike that of burned wood and it bursts into a small flame; not but not burning, dancing happily.

"I did it!" she utters with a gasp "Ran, I did it!"

"So you did," Val turns her neck to stare at the man; her bright smile reflected on his face "The weave is as much part of you as your horrible singing voice," he chuckles at the offended look "It is you, Val. To be ashamed of it, to hid it... It's as you were to hide yourself. "

"Don't ever hide yourself Val," Kieran pulls her closer again "And fuck those who want to make you feel like you need to."

She should say something to that. Years later will be angry with herself for never talking more. Never thanking him. For being too quiet when she wanted to be loud and alive.

But in this very moment, she could only stare amazed, as the flame danced at the tips of her fingers.

*

The pungent stench of ozone burns at her nose, metallic and too clean, chemical.

The lighting crackles in the palm of her gloved hand, agitated. Release me, it seems to scream, licks at the worn leather. She squeezes her hand into a fist, extinguishing the spell. Gale is talking in the other chamber, Astarion picking at a chest stained with blood and guts. Smells like iron. Everything here smells like iron and rot.

Her hands, once again covered, are dirty, the changeling's meat stuck under her claws. Her body a twisted, mangled, half burned mess even if her dying laugh still echoes in Valeria's head.

Samuel is alive again, remaining wounds tended to by Shadowheart. They will need to get going soon. Take care of the tyrant, one last push and the Stones will be reunited. Just a little bit more and this all will be over. One way or another.

She clenches her fist, the spell cracking and breaking apart as if it were a physical thing; an empty eggshell too delicate to withstand the assault.

Locations

Snapshots and Photobooth

There are some really lovely maps included with these two mods but some of my favorite places include the "Null Room" in Photobooth and the "Emperor's Bedroom" and "Alternate Elfsong" maps in Snapshots, because there is a lot of space for when I decide I want to make my own little set. I also use the maps more or less as created, but it's fun to really customize things to a particular vision sometimes.

above is something i put together from scratch in Photobooth's Null Room last night; i wanted a more neutral wall for a more modern setting and i tried to suggest that it's in a larger room with lighting

and here are some shots where i've only enhanced the lighting and either adjusted where things are to better serve the composition (Snapshots—Alternate Elfsong, left), or added a few extra elements for visual interest (Snapshots—Selunite Courtyard, right)

this shot was built from scratch in the Emperor's Bedroom map; the only remaining elements from the original map here are the window/curtain, the walls, and the tapestry

Stuff

Adorable Decor

If you have rakor's MoveHere, many of the furniture/decor items have adjustable colors, so I always check (though FridgeTroll also offers several in a variety of colors, so you don't have to worry about that if you don't care much) You can use Easy Cheat to summon individual items if you don't want to summon the whole category (which is nice once you know what your favorite items are... like pillows >_>)

P.S.—this mod is fucking huge, so I also recommend having a Tutorial Chest summoning mod to yeet unwanted items into when you're done with them (though I think the mod author also gives you the ability to remove and destroy any items you're done with, i just like cleaning up inventory as I go)

Props 2 U

Modern props! I've been using the furniture the most, but there's a lot in there. I find some need to be resized, but MoveHere or Realm Builder should be able to help with this.

My best friend, Utrennyaya, releases a mix of fun props on Nexus and on her Patreon (and has made props for use with several of her pose packs); which reminds me that I still have a date with some adorable skeletal horses... >_>

More Furniture and More Decor

Great if you want a smaller/more manageable mod than Adorable Decor (though I have both because they don't overlap as much as you think they would); I love More Furniture's selection of chairs and I will sometimes pull up the More Decor bag just looking for little items to fill out a set, though there's a lot more than just trinkets in that bag. In both cases, the items from More Decor and More Furniture are summonable with Easy Cheat.

Tools

EasyCheat

Get almost anything you want directly into your inventory. Changed my fucking life ;_; you can search for items by item name, mod name (i think), or by category (like "food" or "helmet") and maybe more; you can also use it for teleporting to specific locations in the game, but I still haven't figured out how to consistently get good results. Should check if anyone's published a good cheat sheet...

Lighty Lights

Lighting can make a set just as much as the stuff you fill it up with, so this is a big one for me. I've taken some shots I'm really proud of before I ever knew LL existed, but between the lighting options, the PM tab and now Bonezone, this opened up a whole new world of possibilities.

It can feel overwhelming when it's still new, you can definitely overdo the lighting and just blow everything out (I did this the other day, lol), and there are elements of it that I'm still learning how to use even after a year, but I've not regretted any of the hours I've spent with it.

Note: if you're using LL, I personally recommend trying to apply your lights with photomode's default post processing settings off (if you go the post processing tab and open the drop down for presets, select "original"). Some people prefer leaving that alone, but I feel like I have more control over the contrast and saturation this way.

my first time using this mod (left) vs something i did last week (right) lol

screenshots of one of the above pieces with and without my added lights

here is a shot from the Bare Moon Bath House map where I used lights in various shades of green to try and give the scenery a green cast that felt natural and enhanced the native sunlight coming in from outside (I also used a couple lights to give the impression of another window in the foreground, where there was none)

Backgrounds

Not one I really use much, but I'm including because you can use it to do things like blocking unwanted lighting sources out of frame, or to create more abstract sets, like these below.

these were built in the Null Room with shapes generated with the Backgrounds mod and assets from Feel the Rhythm

Realm Builder

I have not used this personally yet, but people seem to like it. I'll have to try it out at some point. To my understanding, this would replace at least two mods I use all the time: MoveHere and MMMPMS (both available for free on the Faerun Fashionists discord server, but the latter mod is no longer being updated or maintained). I just don't like change, so it will take me a while to try this new one out—but why have two mods if there's one that does both jobs?

Note: I do use Otis and Reshade for most of my shoots these days, mainly for tweaking contrast, saturation, and light balance in-game, applying bloom if it feels appropriate, and I do prefer the IGCS Depth of Field tool over the native DoF sliders however the native camera and post processing tools are still great on their own (those last two shots for my friend's lookbook were shot with the native camera and using photomode's post processing tab).

Some of these mods have been around for a while, so maybe no one needed me to point these out, but I used a lot of these so often that I kind of wanted to shout them out.

Valeria, Eli, and Aisling all belong to @wild-surge/@utrennyaya <3

The spark of fire glowing brightly in her palms cracks and fizzles out, leaving a tiny stain of soot, barely noticeable against the skin of her palm.

"Again," Ran's raspy voice - the one of the few real giveaways that pretty face did not belong to a woman - chuckles into the back of her head "A match'd give ya a bigger flame." She furrows her brows, fingers curling slightly before his own hands wrap themselves of her always too-big ones. "Again."

"I'm afraid." heat blooming her cheeks, embarrassed at admitting a weakness "What if it'll hurt?" What if the spell explodes in both of their faces? She rubs her fingers together, skin still tingling from the feeling of that one spark going off; the sensation of skin being pulled too tightly over callused palms. Life on the road was not the easiest and she was still trying to grow into the role; silks and confining dresses replaced with old leathers and bandages. A delicate quill of her writing lessons gathering dust at the house she left behind, in its stead a dagger or a sword or, nowadays more often, a quarterstaff in one hand and a spell in other.

A shrug against her back pulls her back from her memories, long arms pulling her closer; Ran looked a bit too lanky at first glance, it took a moment all those limbs were lean muscle and veins pulsing with raw magic. The older tiefling was a fighter even if all of that was hidden by wide smiles and loose clothing and an attitude that often ended with him being threatened with a punch to the face.

More than once, the threats came for Valeria herself. Though, as she learned with quite a bit of pride, she could pack a mean right hook if having the advantage of surprise.

"Well," a hum "We do have some healing salve for the burns," Another chuckle and she tenses, curls shoulder around her head.

"What if," she starts. Pauses. Licks her lower lips. "What is that happens again?" That. The Surge, explosion of wild magic; a current of energy threatening to swallow them whole and spit out who knows what.

Valeria didn't understand the expression at the time, but she still remembers her Mother's chalk white face, wide eyes, and brows furrowed in anger.

Ran is quiet for a moment, before giving a quiet sigh and pulling her closer against him, pointed chin resting on her shoulder.

"These are the cards we've been dealt." he starts, slowly "I'm all about fighting destiny and all that crap but some things about ourselves cannot be changed," his useless wings give a flutter in agreement. He pauses again, arms reaching out again, hands wrapping around hers "This magic is part of you, it is you; wild, loud and an acquired taste," he ducks his head with a chuckle to avoid the headbutt "Accept it; work with it. Let it flow with you and if push comes to shove - ride that fuckin' wave."

She closes her eyes, loose hair falling down onto her face but there is no hiding the small smile that plays around the corners of her lips.

"Now," he smacks his lips "Again."

She closes her eyes, scared, to ground herself. Ran might have had the aura of someone who had not one worry in his life but she knew better - and she knew how demanding of a teacher he could be.

Sighing, she curls her fingers slightly, almost feels how they tingle from the inside from the Weave swimming through her veins. She takes a deep breath; the smell of burning wood and smoke washing away as a new scent tickles her nostrils - sharp and metallic with an undertone of cleanness that comes only from using strong concoctions.

"Ignis,"

The spell comes out quieter than Valeria would like, but she doesn't have time to be embarrassed about it as a new spark blinks into existence between her cupped hands. There's a crack not unlike that of burned wood and it bursts into a small flame; not but not burning, dancing happily.

"I did it!" she utters with a gasp "Ran, I did it!"

"So you did," Val turns her neck to stare at the man; her bright smile reflected on his face "The weave is as much part of you as your horrible singing voice," he chuckles at the offended look "It is you, Val. To be ashamed of it, to hid it... It's as you were to hide yourself. "

"Don't ever hide yourself Val," Kieran pulls her closer again "And fuck those who want to make you feel like you need to."

She should say something to that. Years later will be angry with herself for never talking more. Never thanking him. For being too quiet when she wanted to be loud and alive.

But in this very moment, she could only stare amazed, as the flame danced at the tips of her fingers.

*

The pungent stench of ozone burns at her nose, metallic and too clean, chemical.

The lighting crackles in the palm of her gloved hand, agitated. Release me, it seems to scream, licks at the worn leather. She squeezes her hand into a fist, extinguishing the spell. Gale is talking in the other chamber, Astarion picking at a chest stained with blood and guts. Smells like iron. Everything here smells like iron and rot.

Her hands, once again covered, are dirty, the changeling's meat stuck under her claws. Her body a twisted, mangled, half burned mess even if her dying laugh still echoes in Valeria's head.

Samuel is alive again, remaining wounds tended to by Shadowheart. They will need to get going soon. Take care of the tyrant, one last push and the Stones will be reunited. Just a little bit more and this all will be over. One way or another.

She clenches her fist, the spell cracking and breaking apart as if it were a physical thing; an empty eggshell too delicate to withstand the assault.

the second shot wasn't taken anywhere specific; i just filled a corner of camp with assets because i was looking for some interesting textures to put behind Mal