#my head feels like its going to explode

[the-dw-archive]

Experimenting with work-skins on AO3 day 1.

Boy, did I spend way more hours on this than I meant to considering I have actual deadlines to meet.

notes under the cut-off:

Textures as backgrounds was a game-changer ngl (really it's just a background-image: url("link") !important) - credit to La_Temperanza on AO3, check out her tutorial on formatting letters and stationary here!

However, I so wish that AO3 allowed fonts. Not because web-safe fonts are bad, but there's so few. Just using the cursive (as seen in Joel's letter) might accidentally translate to a goofy ass front on microsoft devices. So a few more options, or the option to embed fonts one day would be *chefs kiss*

I have no idea when or if I'll use the Sibyl's Diner check, or F's computer (rewriting, I'm thinking of different ways of opening the story. I don't like the current one lol) but I just think they're neat so they get to stay.

Coding is like, surprisingly easy. Did I have a few hiccups with the texture urls? yes. But did I win in the end? Yes.

[barn-dawg]

"yeah you're probably experiencing headaches bc your prescription changed by a fair amount so your eyes are compensating, anyway come back in two weeks for your new glasses"

[churrobird]

polylosa please stop giving me cute fluffy adorable fic ideas when im laying in bed and dont want to get up and write right this second. please.

[sobbycd]

Femlock ness x oc art for my friendling, Mr goonster

[lovesickeros]

lord its so dark in here the sahara desert of tsaritsa content you are like a shining oasis. your characterisation of her compels me & mihoyo would be hard pressed to top it imo.!! caaaaan i humbly request yr thoughts on her first meeting w a reader of any kind, or maybe even multiple kinds (sagau, sagau god au, isekai, etc) if you so desire...

it really is like a desert here. being the fan of a character we aren't getting until the last damn nation is driving me up a wall but i will persevere bc if nothing else i support morally bankrupt women in media. we r in a severe drought over here but i do my best. unfortunately nothing i say is ever coherent so pull out your translation notes its abt 2 be messy

also this got out of hand but thats bc first meetings w the tsaritsa are tricky to write + a LOT of her characterization lies in deeper exploration then just surface level yknow...NOT A DIG AT YOU this is just my excuse for rambling. gently pats the tsaritsa she can hold so much complexity i do not have the word count to delve into it completely :]

gonna talk cult au for a bit here though because that's 99% of my content. and honestly? she thrives in sub au's of the cult au like villain au + imposter au. it's basically made for her. i mean, early days, the imposter au had been going around for a little while but one of the first few ideas was the Fatui taking reader in so like. it kinda technically actually was. pretty sure cult au Tsaritsa popped up because of the imposter au. a lot of it's writers kinda left though which. man am i getting old or.

anyway.

there isn't much of a chance her first impression is all that positive. at best it's usually neutral, imo, but rarely if ever positive. specifically because i view the Tsaritsa as someone who isn't as fanatical as most of the acolytes typically are towards the creator. she's not exactly going to worship the ground you walk on unlike a certain geo lizard. which is partially why i think she thrives in the sub au's i mentioned.

imposter au, for example. she meets you at your lowest. there's no gaudy extravagance or pampering from the acolytes waiting for you because your own acolytes have turned on you. for all intents and purposes you aren't a "god" at all. which is why i don't think she meshes well with normal cult au reader. the Fatui are made up of outcasts, basically, and imposter au slots right in just perfectly. you're weak, at your lowest, when you meet the Fatui in the imposter au. and the Fatui can help you, too.

a mutual exchange, really. the Tsaritsa sees a tool she can use to one up the rest of the nations and especially Archons, and she has no qualms about you using her and the Fatui in turn. you both want something out of it, after all. whether you just want to be safe from the rest of the acolytes, or you want revenge, or whatever else..she'll give you the power to fulfill it, and she gains the strongest piece on the chessboard when all is said and done.

the best way i can describe the first meeting is "practical", i suppose. she sees an opportunity in you. the ultimate gamble. because if she "saves" you, and you dont trust anyone else because they tried to kill you, well..she holds all the cards, doesn't she?

but the Tsaritsa, imo, is just as capable of being just as fanatical towards you as anyone else. she just won't worship you as the creator. but as yourself? clawing your way back to your divine power and taking back what belongs to you? the Tsaritsa is, to me, a character who's character flourishes in long-term fics more because she changes a LOT between "just met reader" and after having been with reader for some time. she's practically apathetic at the beginning but a lot of her character, in my characterization, shines through LONG after the first meeting.

[floorpancakes]

ok but im rly into the idea of till having a new era that brings the light back to his eyes and drives him forward if he gets to escape the arena. idk where he'd go from there but i want to see ivans sacrifice both haunt him and drive him to actually live his damn life after being the captured bird refusing freedom cause of mizi. once he knows she's alive with the resistance he might be able to actually experience other things and widen his world and if that happens and he puts his personal sense of rebellion towards the human cause OR settles into finding some other way to feel fulfilment that isn't a single person that could be deeply fascinating to me i think

[cherrycuttles]

My head has been hurting really bad for the last couple of hours and there’s a lot of pressure behind my eyes…

this is so Scott Summers core (I’m suffering)

[porcubus]

really really do not like the subset of fans who view anything negative happening to gemma as a win for their ship war

[imperiuswrecked]

gotta turn asks off for now, my head hurts too much. after this I dont think there's a single thing the mcu could do to make me hate them more. they've finally broken me. gonna focus on stuff that i actually enjoy than think about this for another moment.

[wlw-cryptid]

nothing is as scary as telling a grown man how to maybe learn babys first emotional intelligence for the sake of everyone including himself

[girlbobdylan]

wait is levon showing nipple through the shirt in those photos or am I finally losing it

[dangaer]

ships where muse a is outwardly insane and while muse b is much more calm than them, is equally or in their own way insane inside ( especially if its towards their dynamic with muse a. ) are truly beautiful though.

[sobbycd]

Magma doodles by a crazy person

[indigo6f00ff]

had fun in my first therapy appointment today

[downsteepy]

i am very grateful that im not someone that has to deal with daily seizures but it is evil when it takes like a week and a half's worth of business days to recover from a seizure

[erizee]

are we mutuals, francis