#this is a small worldbuilding thing I’ve had for a while

[nyaagolor]

Random headcanon I don’t think I’ve ever posted before: In the Pokémon world, language education encompasses the native language of the region and “common language” which can be spoken anywhere without much issue. The reason the protagonists can move across the world and still understand everyone perfectly is because people are speaking common language to them out of courtesy. When characters (Hau and Nemona for example) speak in slang or a different language, that’s fragments of the region’s native language they’re incorporating

[comicaurora]

Hey, sorry if you’ve been asked this before, but I have ADHD and I’ve been following your comic for years and just now have started to write my own comic (partially because you really inspired me). But I’m really struggling with staying on the project even when it’s boring and getting myself to work on it in the first place. Do you have any tips on how to keep your brain invested or just to make yourself do the work at all?

I have excellent news, I literally just figured out something really important about this.

So when you're an ADHD kiddo or otherwise have difficulty staying on task in a structured environment where Task is the Priority, the main way people try to MAKE you stay on task is by removing your access to anything that is not The Task. No phone, no TV, no doodling, no going outside, etc. In practice, this just makes us miserable because it takes the boredom that's always simmering around a 2 or 3 and cranks it all the way up to 11. In the same way that you would have difficulty staying on task if you were in physical pain, this crushing existential monotony makes it very difficult to work. The work might get done simply because you have no other options, but it will not be done quickly or well, and it will take a while to recover from how much it hurt.

What I realized earlier this week is I caught myself doing this to myself. I had 42 pages of background colors to do, and I thought to myself "this sounds really tedious, but I suppose I have nothing better I can do." And I realized what I'd just thought, and got very alarmed.

Because back when I was an ADHD kiddo imprisoned by school scheduling and a million little factors that keep children immobile and restrained, I couldn't stop thinking about how big and exciting the world was, and how much I wanted to be anywhere but here. When I was feeling really crushed in I'd pick a random spot on the maps on my wall and just imagine being there instead of my bedroom. This was the impetus behind almost all of my creative energy. I've said it before - anything is a prison if you can't leave, and being in a prison makes it easy to imagine how amazing things could be outside of it. Aurora's initial worldbuilding was forged in the crucible of fifth grade misery. My enthusiasm for art and my creative drive are inextricable from my sense of wonder and yearning for excitement in the real world. Not escapism, but appreciation. Wonders unimaginable are out there, and I gain just as much joy seeking them out as I do conjuring them up in my head and sharing them with all of you.

So now that I'm a grown-up with actual freedom in every way I've been able to get, the idea that I was staying on task by making myself believe the world was small and not worth seeing was extremely alarming. It could keep me on task for an afternoon, but at the cost of slowly extinguishing the thing that made me want to make art in the first place - the hunger to experience and draw inspiration from all the myriad complexities in the world.

So what I've been doing is I've been purposefully and intentionally taking excursions whenever I catch myself thinking "I could take a break but it wouldn't be worth it, it's the same outdoors as always, I'll be uncomfy and unproductive and tired." Because that is never true. Every time I've put down the stylus and gone out, I've been renewed in one way or another, and when I come back to comfort fully recharged I get a lot of shit done. Because it is easier to work on anything if you remember why you wanted to make it in the first place, and it is self-defeating misery to just lock yourself in with it and tell yourself you're a bad person if you can't get it done.

I honestly don't know how widely applicable this is. I have worse wanderlust than anyone I know, so for me this has always been modeled as imprisonment vs freedom. I've also been extremely lucky to find myself in a profession that lets me set my own pace on literally everything I do. But I genuinely believe that when it comes to making art with ADHD, you need to give yourself freedom to move laterally, not just in the direction of obvious forward progress. We don't think linearly in any other part of our lives - art is no different.

[ataleofcrowns]

Hey! I love AToC and have been following its development for a few years now. But whenever a new chapter was released, and I sat down to read it, I often found it hard to carve out time to do so. So, it got me thinking - if it’s hard for me to read it consistently, how much more difficult must it be to write it consistently? It is admirable the act of writing this takes, And while I’m sure there are slower periods in the whole process, it’s inspirational how you dedicate time to writing. I write sometimes, definitely not a lot, and I want to dabble in a few short stories. So, how do you put in that time or really cultivate that habit of writing - especially when pesky "IRL logistics" get in the way? Are there any specific rituals or routines that help overcome such circumstantial challenges? I’ve been in a bit of a rut with the pen lately, and honestly, hearing anything - whether it’s how you approach sitting down to write or just your thoughts on the process - would be incredibly helpful at best and, at the very least, really interesting to hear! Appreciate you sharing your thoughts if you’re able :p

I take an ice bath, chug 6 cans of energy drink back to back, sit down and white knuckle my desk while yelling "LOCK IN" and write 10k words in one hour-

Ok but seriously, I appreciate the ask!! 💖

And honestly it's just a matter of forming the habit, at least for me. I try to write at the same time every day. For me that's in the evenings since I'm more productive at night, but other people might feel more productive in the morning or the afternoon, it all depends! Once it becomes a habit it's much easier to switch your brain to Writing Mode around the same time every day.

When you first start trying to form the habit, don't be down on yourself if you don't get a lot of writing done at first. Try to write things that pique your interest, even if the scenes or snippets aren't in chronological order. Getting something on the page is what's most important!

Also, don't be too hard on yourself while writing, and try not to edit while you write either. This is a bad habit I used to have that I had to unlearn because of my perfectionism, but it's perfectly fine to have a bare bones first draft that you can return to filling out later. Your first draft is not supposed to be perfect, so just focus on writing it first, and evaluating it later.

And write what you feel inspired to write! Like, sometimes I can't be bothered to write out descriptions or character actions, but I get inspired to write a certain conversation between characters, so I literally skip all the descriptive words and only write out the dialogue. Other times I feel inspired by worldbuilding that I want to add, or an environment that I really want to describe, so I write snippets for that, etc.

I also like setting wordcount goals for myself because I get a dopamine boost when I hit the target and it feels like I accomplished something. If you go that route, start out small! Like 250 words every day for example, and as you get into it, bump it up little by little. It also feels good if you go over your wordcount goal, at least for me.

Some other minor things that have helped me: putting on background music (ymmv), removing all potential distractions by closing everything on my pc and fullscreening my writing program, ensuring I have a place where I can write uninterrupted, drinking my favorite tea, motivating myself with rewards for once I hit my wordcount goal (snacks/video games/watching a show).

I hope any of this is useful for you!!

[highhhfiveee]

mint

pairing: mike schmidt x blackfem!reader summary: you’re abby’s mint chocolate-loving babysitter. mike takes notice. wc: 1.3k tags: suggestiveness, swearing, fluff. *minor movie spoiler that isn’t a spoiler fr but kind of is* a/n: oi. this is my first official piece of fanfic on tumblr and i'm excited but also super nervous. i never knew what characters i wanted to write for as most of my fandoms are obsolete tbh (teen wolf and maze runner, i'm looking at you 💔) but after watching the fnaf movie and falling in love with j hutch like i'm 14 again, i wanted to try to write for mike!  i'm sorry if this story sucks tbh. i wrote it pretty quickly, did not edit it in any way (watch for grammar and spelling errors!) and i'm still trying to establish characters and plot and do all this silly billy worldbuilding, but i'll get better! i'm also taking requests for both fluff and smut, so if y'all would like to send anything for me to write, i'll def accept! like i said in my last post, i think i'm gonna redo my tumblr layout so i can feel like a true fanfic/misc blog lmao so ignore its under construction phase ((: i hope y'all enjoy this though bc i've been thinking ab mike schmidt all night 

i have sooo many ideas, but between last night and this morning, i’ve been thinking of abby’s babysitter!reader (bc fuck max). 

you’ve been channel surfing in the living room since you put abby down, working with her to lock down a nightly routine. ideally, she’d bathe, eat dinner (god willingly), brush her teeth, and then you’d be able to get her to lay in bed and doze off. some nights, this required dessert. 

“you just brushed your teeth though. it’s gonna taste gross.”

“not if it’s one of those mint chocolate things you always have.” you straighten up, eyes squinted at the child before you; she meant the small, sometimes melted, squares of Andes mint chocolate you always kept. they’d always been your favorite, a guilty pleasure in this fucked up world. 

you hadn’t been babysitting abby for long, and you didn’t realize that she'd been watching you crush the chocolates like it was light work. they were easy to eat, and once you had one, you found out how easy it was to eat another one, and then another one, and then another one until there was a mountain of crinkled foil next to your phone and chocolate smeared on your face. 

"please, y/n. just one," you didn't exactly know if it was a lie. abby was convincing, able to break you down with her eyes, pleading and puppy-dog like. "please." 

you cave, leaning down to brush her hair back from her forehead and place a gentle kiss on the skin. with pursed lips, you whisper, "fine, but tomorrow night. i have to get some more." 

abby does nothing but smile, eyes fluttering closed. you stay with her for a bit like you always do--watching the way her chest rises and falls, and how her features twitched with slumber. features scarily similar to mike's. 

of course she'd look like mike. they were siblings, no shit, but the resemblance occupied your brain. there was sweet abby, with her colorful clothes and scribbled drawings and persuasive aura, and then there was mike. 

you shake your head, giving abby another kiss before exiting her room. you didn't need to think about mike. he wasn't what you were here for. you'd come to abby's school as an aide and after she'd privately confided in you about her home life, you knew you had to help her. you would do anything for her, even if that meant taking care of her while suppressing the overwhelming school girl crush you had on her older brother.

mike was a bit older than you, which didn't scare you at all. guys in their early 20s were rarely mature, doing anything they could just to fuck; but guys in their late 20s, mike specifically, had only ever shown you couth, surprisingly. 

for nearly two months, five mornings a week, the sound of the door being unlocked would ring out. you'd turn to see sunshine pouring into the living room, enveloping mike's brooding figure in a radiant golden glow.

he'd hang his coat on the wall hooks, drop his bag down to his feet, and give you a small but warm smile. you'd try to not to embarrass yourself as you two made small talk, packing up your things.

you always left unscathed, but recently it'd been hard. you were always thinking about him, dreaming about him even; how his hair would feel between your fingers, how his hands would feel on your face, how his face would feel between your thighs. 

the thought is washed away, drowned out by the sound effects of a loud infomercial when the door opens, and you're turning and squinting against the wash of pale yellow on your face. mike steps forward with a, "hey, y/n" and you meekly raise your hand to wave. 

he hangs his hoodie up to reveal his shoulder blades flexing under an uncharacteristically tight navy blue sweater. you can't help but stare.

"just wake up?" his voice is raspy, but he's still facing the wall, rummaging in his bag for something. 

"um...yeah. brain's still turning on," you lie, tossing the thick blue blanket off your body. you didn't sleep at all, kept up with your thoughts and the last of your Andes mints (though you loved her, you couldn't give abby your last ones).

"hm," he mutters, finally turning to you but keeping his hands behind his back. something crinkles in them and you raise your eyebrow at the tired yet amused expression he takes with you. it's enough to make your body hot and you awkwardly pull at the collar of your shirt, fanning yourself off.

"hot?" the gravelly tone sends you into a giggling fit, shaking your head as you shoot to your feet. you have to leave before you do or say something you regret. 

"uh, yeah, it was s-super hot under that...um...blanket. i shouldn't have worn sweatpants to s-sleep," you stutter, nodding your head along with mike as he steps closer to you. this couldn't be the moment something happens, right? it'd been so casual between you too, very friendly, and he'd never shown any signs of trying to do anything with you before. why would he choose right now, so spontaneously? 

he stands before you, the slightest bit taller than you. you're able to see every pore, every freckle, every microscopic detail in his eyes and lips.

you open your mouth, hoping your heart doesn't fall out, to ask what's happening, when he reveals a bag of Andes mints, one bigger than you've ever seen.

your mouth stays open in surprise. "wh-"

"abby's been talking about them. i wondered where she found out about them but--" he nudges his head towards the coffee table, where a small mound of green wrappers lay. you swear under your breath, cursing yourself for not throwing them away like you usually do. 

"i'm sorry," you whisper, blushing beyond measure as you begin to frantically pack your things. "i should be more careful with that stuff."

"god, y/n, you're saying it like it's coke," mike chuckles. he sets the bag down on the couch and reaches out to you, placing his hand on yours as you shove things into your tote. "hey." 

his voice forces you to stop and look up. you melt under his stare just like you do with abby. the puppy-dog thing must run in the family.

"i feel bad about not being able to pay you yet, and i really appreciate all you're doing. abby told me that you loved those mints, so..."

"thank you, mike," you say over the sound of your pounding heart. you didn't care about the money, you didn't need it. being appreciated by someone who made your heartbeat resonate throughout your body was payment enough. "this is really sweet." 

"thank you, y/n. you don't know how much this means to me." You scoff, throwing your tote over your shoulder and looking down at your feet. 

"i'm always happy to help." you and mike stand facing each other for what feels like hours, the air as thick as molasses between you. his eyes were squinted, low and dark and intriguing.

you wished you could read his mind. what was he thinking? did his heart do the same thing as yours, wacking against his ribcage with no end in sight? did he stay up thinking about you when he was supposed to be sleeping, imagining how you felt, what you sounded like, how you tasted---

"see you later tonight?" his voice rocks you out of your trance. he's not thinking about you. he's tired, wondering when you'll leave so he can fall into his bed and doze off. 

"yeah. tell abby i said i'll see her tonight." your smile is tight as you exit the house, cursing at yourself as you get into your car. 

you didn't know how long you could go on like this. 

ya, i know this sucks and it isn't really anything but we're gonna work our way through these fics and blurbs to really develop a cute relationship (,: i will still be writing other fics for mike, and possibly using another babysitter!reader in a different universe, but as for now, we're gonna be rocking with these two (: (thinking that we’ll label her as 🌱🍫!reader)  all notes are appreciated (: thanks for reading!

[falmerbrook]

Western Solstice/Season of the Worm Cult 1 Thoughts

TLDR: Liked the zone, liked the side quests, liked the basic narrative of the main quest but wasn't happy with its execution/dialogue.

So you know that thing I’ve brought up before about how the writing in this game tries to have its cake and eat it too? Where they want every zone story to be accessible to new players (and players who forgot anything or don’t pay attention to what’s going on) while still having reoccurring characters and plot threads? And how in the end it does a disservice to both; to the story as its own thing and as a continuation of things? Yeah, well I think I reached the end of my patience in this zone with that problem. I like the story itself, but am frustrated with its execution.

Major spoilers under the cut (also sorry this is so long)

Ok, first of all, things I liked:

Skordo my beloved <3. Always a king. His voice is back to normal. I cherish him.

I liked the zone itself! I was kinda expecting it to be small and empty, and while it was empty in the same way a lot of the more recent zones have been, I was pleasantly surprised by how big and like a real island it felt. Sunport and the Writhing Wall are such good set pieces and are gorgeous at sunrise and sunset, and I thought the sight lines everywhere were really good and helped it feel like an expansive place. I also liked the aesthetics of the tropical setting, the Argonians, and the mix of Argonian and Altmer architecture in Sunport. Just a cool place overall.

I also liked the worldbuilding and side quests! The history and culture and religion of the Corelanyans and Tide Born was very cool and imo a good addition to the world. I always love seeing cultures that are shaped by their environment and having the Tide Born be a hist-less Argonian culture whose way of life and beliefs have adapted to island living was super awesome. The history and development of both cultures just felt very natural to me (e.g. the Corelanyans going from necromancers who made deals with daedric princes to worshipping some of the more morally acceptable princes). I'm excited to hopefully learn more about the Stone Nest in Eastern Solstice since it sounds like they are Argonians still following the older ways with Xanmeers and the lot. The Nords felt kinda out of place, but were interesting enough to get a pass from me (and that quest with them was cute).

On the note of quests, I like the side quests! I had a good time with them! I particularly liked the Meridia temple one (always cool to get more Meridia lore and seeing characters have crises of faith imo), the ghost hunting one, and the Tide Born village one.

My feelings about the main quest are more mixed, but on the positive side I thought the narrative itself (ignoring execution) had enough compelling and interesting point to keep me invested in what was happening next or where things were going. I already like the set up of this storyline being split in two this year because it gives us opportunities to have hints and implication dropped now that we can muse over that will be resolved in the next part (e.g. what's going on with Vanus, who his ally is, etc.).

Also I fucking love angst. Thank you Gabrielle Benele for fulfilling my angsty needs. I am almost certainly not going to be satisfied with the pay off of it but for now I can revel in the heartbreak. Love you Gabby <3

EDIT: forgot to mention but I also liked the roleplaying options. I know some were dissatisfied with the them not having huge effect, but dialogue options that continue the story in the same direction but just elicit a different response from the other characters is pretty much exactly what I wanted.

On the note of dissatisfaction though...

On to my concerns and issues.

Just let me get it off my chest one more time. If I have to here "Gah-bri-elle" or "Gaudy-er" one more time I'm skinning myself. Ok, ok, it's out of my system now.

So I really think the main story here is the most egregious example of the issues I brought up at the beginning so far. This expansion was literally marketed as a sequel to the base game's main quest, yet the characters (almost all of whom are characters we got close to in the base game) barely acknowledge any relationship we may have with them, nor the information we'd likely already know. The Vestige is really at their most moronic here and it was getting to the point it frustrated me. The characters kept explaining things to me that happened in the base game and prologue like our character wasn't there, and the dialogue prompts for the Vestige that were need to progress conversations also assumed we had no idea what was going on. Like I've said before, this is a writing problem that permeates the whole game, but it felt really absurd here given the marketing for this story and the characters present. Especially because, I feel like if I was a new player, I would get, like, nothing out of this story. Outside of a few moments (namely Gabrielle's confession at Li-Xal or optional dialogue with Raz) we don't really get any moments to connect with the characters (and the intention with that Gabrielle moment is probably more to foreshadow her actions later than have a moment to get to know a character tbh, as much as I loved it). I feel like all of my investment in them is based on past adventures with them, so if I was a player who didn't remember them or hadn't met them before, all of the emotional beats at the end of this story would've had no weight I think. Acknowledging that, why is the dialogue written for those players first, and the players who are keeping up with these things are just given a few optional dialogue options at the ends of conversations sometimes? I've had random ass side characters from delve quests I didn't remember have more personal dialogue with the Vestige than these reoccurring characters we've literally been to hell with.

I don't know what kind of player this is meant to appeal to. is it new players? Is it players returning for the first time in awhile who forgot? Is it player who don't pay attention to the stories of quests? I don't know, and to be honest, I feel like they shouldn't be the ones being catered to primarily for a story like this one. Rather than starting out dialogue/conversations assuming we don't know what's going on and then throwing us bones later in the conversation, start out dialogue (if we've completed the requisite quests) assuming we know what's going on and then later throw a bone to the folks who don't. Just accept that people who are going into this without having played a single other story in this game or who mash through the dialogue are going to be confused. Maybe I'm being callous, but I feel like that's on them. I feel a little ridiculous feeling this way, but it was genuinely starting to piss me off in this story that it felt like the stuff I'd done in the past had no impact on what was happening there. No game, I know who Darien and Vanus are. Why are you assuming I don't? I know you can tell I've completed the quests with them before! I'd rather you develop the story or characters more than waste more time reiterating what I already know.

I get that having options to recap who's who and what's going on is helpful because obviously not everyone is going to remember anything, but I was rereading some dialogue from Elsweyr and I feel like that storyline handled balancing that so much better (Elsewyr is honestly peak character writing in general).

The main quest was also weirdly short, which didn't help this issue. Each individual quest in it was a lot shorter than I think they've been in pretty much every expansion, and there weren't many of them either (and the side quests felt longer than usual I think too?). Like, I didn't think it was paced badly, it just didn't have a lot of the waffling around trying to figure out some mystery that other stories have had. Which sounds like it would be a good thing when I type it out like this, but in hindsight I think that length is good for helping us get to know and get invested in the characters, and I just felt like we didn't have almost any of those moments here. It was like the bare minimum was a satisfyingly structured story. There weren't many slower times to get to know the characters or get a vibe on what they are thinking or feeling about current situations. For exmaple with Wormblood, it felt like he barely existed as a person and not a vessel for Mannimarco to possess at the end. While the drama of Gabrielle's sacrifice was *chefs kiss* and I liked the foreshadowing up to it, I am pretty sad she's gone since I wish we had more time with her in this story (I'm huffing copium rn that she ends up coming back somehow, extra permanent death be damned!!). Anyway, I'm hoping part 2 is longer (and doesn't get bogged down trying to explain to me who's who), and I'm choosing to remain optimistic about it.

Any finally, I'm a little worried about Darien. Idk it's hard to explain but also everything at the end happens so fast that I'm still trying to mull over it in my head (and UESP hasn't put up the dialogue yet waaaahhhhhhh). But basically, between Gabrielle and Skordo talking about Darien as if he's been dead since the assaults on Coldharbour (and them not mentioning at all how every other time we've seen Gabrielle she's basically been dedicating her life to finding Darien and insisting he's not dead), the way he's brought back implying he was dead, and Darien's dialogue once he's back, I have this nagging feeling in my head that they're overlooking or ignoring what happened in Summerset?? Maybe?? I might be dumb but I was under the impression he wasn't actually dead. I'm sorry idk how to explain it but the vibes are off and Darien's dialogue was confusing to me. Maybe I'm just being stupid.

idk I think a lot of this is just on me. Maybe I had my expectations too high. Which is a little odd for me because they weren't very high after seeing the reactions from PTS folks. I was thinking I'll try to lower them for part 2 but I also like being excited for things so knowing me I probably won't.

Anyway, hopes and predictions for part 2 to end on a higher note:

I'm hoping (coping) that when the story got split up it got split unevenly and this is more like 1/3 of the story rather than 1/2, so there will be more main story in the next part. I'm also hoping that this will truly be a part 2 of the same story, rather than a wishy-washy kinda part 2 like the DLCs used to be like.

I'm hoping my issues with the dialogue will be at least partly alleviated in part 2 because it’ll be a part 2 (like the epilogues in the yearly storylines)

I'm not at all worried about the side quests really. Looking forward to them.

I'm very excited (and very very nervous) to have Darien back. I don't really have any predictions I just really really hope they don't fuck it up and whatever they do with him feels satisfying.

I'm looking forward to seeing what ends up happenings to Mannimarco/Wormblood and Vanus. Is Wormblood still in there too or are we just facing Mannimarco from here on out? If Wormblood is still present in his body somehow, will there be conflict between him and Mannimarco? hmmmmmm

I wonder who Vanus's ally is? He kept mentioning having one and that didn't get resolved to I bet it will be addressed in part 2.

I'm curious if Gabrielle is truly dead-dead or if they're gonna pull something off with her. Everyone is talking about her like she's dead-dead so I guess that's the case, but also we don't truly know how the Gift of Death/Light of Meridia works. I'll be fine with either I think. If she stays dead, I hope they keep some weight to it instead of just moving on and never bringing it up again (not optimistic about that one), and if she comes back I hope there are still some consequences to her sacrifice rather than it being a return to the status quo. Whatever happens, I just hope it’s narratively satisfying.

[quibbs126]

Okay, so I’ve got some designs for Alpha Trion in my AU now

Okay so first off, I translated that top left design from what I drew yesterday at work

I was trying to do a design for AT, and I was using his One design as my main inspiration (though also some g1), since I like how round he is there. But in the process, I got a design that I thought looked too young and buff to be normal Alpha Trion, so I was like “maybe that’s a younger version of him?”

And since I didn’t know what else to do for his design and I thought the design looked half decent anyways, I just translated it to digital today

I’m gonna be honest, kind of like the pen sketch version a bit more, but whatever

But yeah, Alpha Trion here used to be large, buff, and probably not unattractive either. I’m also thinking he fought people plenty too, possibly was a gladiator? I have no explanation as to why I chose to do this other than what I listed above

Optimus and Elita will be shocked to find pictures of the old man in his younger days

I wasn’t really sure how to then translate this design to old, but I gave him some small facial hair, shortened his middle horn, gave him his cape and a sort of slouch, and I guess it works? I don’t know, probably need to do more

Giving him this design, I don’t really know if I feel the smart, probably magical old guy vibes he’s meant to have. But oh well

I also wanted him to have more One colors, with the white instead of the red, but I thought the red looked better. I also wanted to give him pink, maybe even make his eyes pink, but when I was playing around with that pink color, it didn’t look right and I was trying others, and frustratingly, blue looked really good with the other colors, so that’s what I went with. Someone needs to have not blue eyes, I swear

Anyways, onto more character stuff. But to be honest, a lot of it is still ill-defined with AT here. I know he built Elita-1 and then later Optimus, giving him the Matrix of Leadership, and he currently works with Elita in investigating the virus outbreak outside of Autobot command

He’s probably got a complicated relationship with Elita due to giving her an unstable and flawed ability to stop time, along with other general imperfections in her design, but they are able to work together at least. There’s probably also something to be said about them both being combat bots, and how responsible he is for that, which probably now has its own ties into his fighter backstory

I still don’t know what the definition of him “building” Elita and Optimus is, which is why I didn’t draw him with them during that point. Like did he reformat two young bots into Elita and Optimus, giving them new identities? Did he build them from scratch and they were born adults? Or did he build them as sparklings who had a whole developmental period? I really don’t know which one to use, which unfortunately hampers things when it comes to their backstory

And then there’s also the fact that I don’t really know what to do for his backstory. Because while the X AU is loosely based off of Mega Man X, Alpha Trion’s backstory would long predate that. I suppose I could have his more follow the original Mega Man timeline, but what would that mean? Gonna be real, I don’t think the original games were that known for their intricate story and worldbuilding

I like the idea of him being a former gladiator, but what does that mean for him, other than potentially giving him a reason to make Elita and Optimus warriors? What does this backstory do for the story?

Honestly with his similar-ish helmet shape, I’m debating having Alpha Trion’s younger days coincide with Megatron’s true origins, though he wouldn’t come online for a long time after. It could work maybe, I just need to figure out how it works

But one thing I do know is that prior to giving it to Optimus, Alpha Trion was the last bearer of the Matrix of Leadership, and has been the one harboring it since, waiting for the right person to give it to. Not sure how he got it though

He probably also has some issue with governmental authority, given he’s working with Elita independent of the government-backed Autobots, and the fact that he kept the Matrix, despite the higher-ups probably wanting him to give it to them or use it for their purposes

I don’t know, I’ll see what I do with him. The big thing is that I just need to decide on stuff with him, and the other two as well

[sincerely-sofie]

I’m a skeleton gal who likes to draw and write! Currently I’m posting chapters of Better the Wool!

Find Me Here: KoFi | RedBubble | Ao3 | YouTube | Twitch | BlueSky | Sideblog

Featured Tags: #Stuff by Sofie (Tag for my creations) | #Sofie Says Stuff (Tag for my rambles) | #Sofie Answers Asks (Tag for responses to my inbox) | #Obbyposting (Tag for raving about how awesome my boyfriend is)

You can read more about me, my projects, and what I’m up to under the cut!

About Me:

I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

I’m interested in writing, making webcomics, game dev, 2D animation, character design, programming, singing, small business management, self-improvement, and all around way too many crafting mediums to count.

I like green, bugs, hot chocolate, kawaii future bass music, video essays, Ooblets, and Animal Crossing.

I have a pet blue death feigning beetle named Gamer Girl, sometimes fondly referred to as GG!

I make a lot of things. This blog is a way for me to record the various projects I create on my journey to be unashamedly sincere!

Some of My Projects:

Better the Wool: A Cult of the Lamb AU focusing on the Lamb and her relationship with Narinder as she works to resurrect the Sheep killed by the Old Faith. Has a dedicated tag on my blog.

The Present is a Gift: A finished, but still semi-active, post-credits AU and fanfic for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky which focuses on the hero taking in an amnesiac Darkrai. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. Also has a dedicated sideblog for chapters and can be found on Ao3, Tumblr, PMD Fanfiction, and Wattpad through there!

Mortality Exchange: A collection of “What-if” scenarios based on a piece of worldbuilding in my Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanworks— if a Legendary pokemon dies, a nearby mortal pokemon will inherit their powers and immortality. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. There are no plans to make a long-form storytelling project of this.

Dugtrio Day: A time loop AU for Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky that stars a prickly Eevee hero, a sociable Treecko partner, and a nihlistic Celebi. Has a dedicated tag on my blog. There are currently no plans to make a long-form storytelling project of this.

Common Questions:

My inbox is always open if you want to ask or send something in! I like to queue up responses to things sent into my inbox, though, so sometimes they take a while to get posted. You can always send a DM or additional ask about the state of the thing you sent in if you’re curious!

I don’t mind being tagged in things. It’s a great way to make sure I see something :>

Fanart and other works based on my AUs, original work, and persona are all things I love to see! If you ever make something along those lines, send me a pic or the link to where it’s posted! I’d love to be able to shout it out if possible!

If you want to voice act / do a dub of my work, the same rules apply from the above bullet point! I’d love to see it! Send me the link! However, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use AI to dub over my work. I’ve had my work stolen for use in AI dubs in the past, and I’d really like to avoid the stress of that happening again.

If you’re curious about something, send in a question, whether anonymously or not! You don’t need to be nervous or shy about it. I’m a pretty chill gal— I promise I won’t bite!

[writingquestionsanswered]

I've often heard that it's not okay to put any sort of worldbuilding info(dump) in a prologue. But what are the parameters in which it would work well? I know Avatar has done it and it was fairly brief but I'm just curious as to how far one can go with "infodumping" in a prologue without it becoming boring to the reader. Also if it does get to the point where it is too much or not necessary then what are some ways you can explain worldbuilding in the story when every character is usually in the know of how the magic system works or whatever?

Info-Dumping, Prologues, and Weaving In Details

First, it's important not to confuse "info-dumping" with providing information in your story. Info-dumping is specifically when you use exposition to "dump" a whole bunch of information into the story at once, rather than weaving those details into the narrative through a balance of exposition, action, and dialogue. In The Hunger Games, for example, details about Katniss's life and the oppressive world she lives in are doled out between exposition (her first-person thoughts), dialogue (with Gale), and action (walking through District 12, hunting outside the electric fence, the Reaping.) If it had been info-dumped, the entire first chapter would just be Katniss "telling" the reader all of those things rather than the reader getting to experience some of them through action and dialogue.

Prologues have a very specific use, are rarely needed, and are often misused--which is why writers are typically told to avoid them all together. Prologues aren't there to be used as an expository introduction to your story's world, characters, back story, or situation so that the reader is up and running in chapter one. Prologues are meant to house a scene (or small group of scenes) that take place before the main timeline of your story but which provide critical information and details the reader must know going into the story. Just as with any other scene or chapter, prologues need to be a balance of exposition (explaining), action (things happening), and dialogue. A good example is the prologue at the beginning of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. The scene takes place north of the wall and features some Night's Watch rangers encountering a White Walker. This scene is important because it sets up the hidden conflict at the heart of the story--the battle between humanity and the magical undead ice beings from beyond the wall. While we do certainly get some expository information in the way of world building, character details, and back story, it isn't dumped on the reader. Some of it is expository, but the rest is woven into the action and dialogue as these characters range beyond the wall and encounter the White Walker.

Even when your characters are "in the know" about the details of your story, that doesn't mean they can't think about them, interact with them, or talk about them. In the real world, we may not do that a lot, but books are not the real world. Books are a storytelling device which requires you to transcend some everyday realities in order to keep the audience informed of what's going on. Part of that means finding ways for your characters to think about, interact with, or talk about things that will help deliver the necessary details to your reader. For example, in The Hunger Games, we get a lot of world building details and Hunger Games set up through action and dialogue while Katniss walking through District 12 to meet Gale, and then hunting with him in the meadow. The entire scene exists solely to introduce the reader to Katniss, her world, the people who are important to her, her internal conflict, and the story's external conflict.

Have a look at my post Weaving Details into the Story for more help. Happy writing!

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[sharkblizzardblogs]

Author Ask Tag

Thank you for the tag!

What is the main lesson of your story?

Nowhere to Nowhere is about love, loss, growing up, and self-reflection. It is a way to take overlapping perspectives into account when solving problems that wear the guise of fantasy but underneath are all based on common situations that people experience as they spend their days learning and growing. Sam is a dreamer, filled with trust and an unmatched openness. Jennifer is fierce and protective, willing to sacrifice her own needs for those she loves. And Bryn, Bryn is tricksy and curious, devoted to a life of learning. Splash in a healthy love of the outdoors and waaayyy too much time with my nose in a book about faeries and there you have it!

What did you use as inspiration for your worldbuilding?

I’ve talked about this a bit before, but everything. Shadows cast by streetlights on my drive home, the particular sound of wind bouncing off mountains, curled strips of shredded tires, my favorite camping spots as a child, the creatures I imagined while playing on my grandparent’s farm. All of it. People too, the ones I know and the ones I only get a glimpse of in passing observation.

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? So you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help them grow as a person?

As mentioned above the metaphorical meaning of the story comes from common situations that we deal with as we grow and how different ages and stages of ourselves may have looked at that same problem with a different lens. As far as MY goals as a writer? I want to write a story I enjoy, I want to work through some of my shit in a therapeutic and constructive manner, and I want to remind myself that I’m never too old to play pretend.

How many chapters is your story going to have?

Good question! I have NO idea, I’m thinking around 30 or 40 but honestly? That changes based on which way the wind blows so I guess we’ll see. I do know how many doors there are to go through though.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

This is entirely original content. I post snippets and tag game related things here on Tumblr but if you visit my pinned message, I’ve got links to my ToyHouse account where I post full chapters (and chapters in varying states of completion because I won’t let writer’s block kick my ass). You do not need an account to read the posted story or explore the world pages, feel free to check it out and let me know what you think!

When did you start writing?

All the way back in Elementary school. I was probably seven or so and I wrote, organized, cast, and had all my classmates preforming a play about the song Baa Baa Black Sheep for our teacher. Teacher thought it was so creative and this play was the first of a handful from the same year I had my hands in. From there I would consider my first ‘true’ bit of writing to be the blatant Animorphs based ‘original’ story I wrote featuring shape changing kids and a villain by the name of Starbuck. It exists on a floppy disk (yes really, I can’t get the damn thing off there because the computer doesn’t connect to the internet and floppy disk drives don’t exist anymore…it’s a whole thing) that I have kept stored away all these years.

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr?

I could fill an essay with all I wanted to say, but instead I will leave a small anecdote to make my point. That story I mentioned? The one with Starbuck? I used to print out and mail, email wasn’t as much of a thing then, each chapter to my Great Grandmother who lived a few states away. She was in her eighties and we saw her once a year in the summers. She was an amazing artist and a real published illustrator. This was her hobby and part of her career and she never flounced it about or acted snobby about it. Instead, when I sent her those chapters she always mailed me a handwritten note on one of those notepads you stick to the fridge for grocery lists and she would tell me how good the chapters were and how much she enjoyed my writing. She never corrected my grammar or spelling or critiqued my skill. She praised me and a step beyond that, my favorite note and one I still have, she offered to illustrate the story for me. Now, we never got there due to life and then to death but I treasure that note amongst my most valuable things. My advice is this, write like that kid that I was. Write with stars in your eyes. Astronomers are in far more places than we give them credit for and they are ready at a moment’s notice to gush about how amazing their latest ‘galaxy’ is.

Gently tagging these fine folks and anyone who is interested!

@aether-wasteland-s @seastarblue @the-golden-comet @agirlandherquill @fangedcinnamonroll @paranormalsaga @artmagicly @juliana-jones @aalinaaaaaa @auspex-author @whenwecantsleep @macabremaenad @avidreadersandemergingwriters @tinywater @faeriecinna @clairelsonao3 @meganprimrose22 @amaru2020 @philosophika @jacobmatthewstark @that-weird-kid-from-your-school @mauvelilywilliams @meerawrites @jessicagailwrites @wardenwyrd @chauceryfairytales @dreamworksfanatic @loartacc @ieppiq @aziz-reads @viridis-icithus @desconstruindoeu @redellena97 @tearzofgaia @bi-focal12

[aquamarinebling]

Who is your current favorite (or at least most focused on) OC?

Can be multiple there are no rules here~

I HAVE MANY!!! This is a long post so here’s a few of them below the cut :3

I also have. 10 gabillion more ocs on my toyhou.se page :]] bc there’s only 5 in this post and it does not cover them all by any means.

“Kitty Boat”, who’s featured in this post, is at the forefront of my mind lately!! them & the friend group/party ive been sketching out have plagued me terribly. I wanna make a bigger post about them sometime soon, progress is just so slow and the concept in my head is still so big!! I have worldbuild in my brain that must be contained… <- bad at containing. Kitty is very much a WIP- I’ve been mostly spinning them in my brain with about a 100 ideas that I just can’t pick from yet.,,

another oc of mine is half of a duo with my friend :] no name yet either, I’ve been calling him “Funky” for a while now. He’s a robot working on a space freighter crew, helping to move boxes and act as security. Him & the other half of the duo work as “night guards��� and keep running into monsters/aliens/break ins every single night. The whole thing plays like a monster of the week comedy anime, to me.

he’s just. silly. to me. he’s big and boisterous and a little air headed and appears generally unfazed by anything- only to be the most spooked cat in the local universe during the night shifts. I love him lots.

And then of course is my loveliest oc who I’ve had. The longest. My favsie lady ever, ms Hina Fukuda <3 she’s my waitress oc who I love to draw in pretty outfits sometimes. thats honestly about it for her.?? she’s a former danganronpa oc (ultimate waitress) and the amount of torture I’ve put this poor woman through is probably going to put me in hell. and she works multiple minimum wage service jobs on top of it…….

Another one… here’s Haywood Horn!! My cowboy/rancher man (CANONICALLY TEXAN‼️‼️‼️). Haywood my favorite male oc of mine. He’s a big ol sweetheart who runs his own ranch in a small town. (I have ALSO subjected him to daily mental torment. this is standard.)

For my last oc: I present… Pandora!! He’s my little lab rat robot fellow (who is like 7 ft tall) who’s lived most of his life in an underground lab getting and ordered around and hanging out with lab mice and getting put in electric chairs for testing. He’s also the #1 jellyfish fan in the entire world.

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

Analysing my favourite lines from Six of Crows chapter by chapter: Chapter 4

Same as usual: famous or popular quotes being missed doesn't mean I don't like them it just means I don't have anything new to say, and some quotes will not have explanations because I just like them I don't really have anything to analyse

“Inej knew the moment Kaz entered the Slat” - first of all I think it’s relevant that this is our second chapter from Inej’s POV and both of them have begun with the focus entirely on Kaz, the first one being the infamous “Kaz Brekker didn’t need a reason”, which she immediately disproves to be factual and instead shows as something created by the opinion of the many who don’t really know Kaz and disputed by the few, herself included, who do. To some extent it’s possible that the same action is being completed with this introduction, since it’s actually less about Inej being aware of Kaz’s presence than it is about her being aware of the Dregs’ acknowledgment of him. Secondly I find it an interesting parallel between the pair, that Kaz recognises Inej’s presence despite no-one else knowing she’s there whilst Inej recognises Ka’s presence because everyone knows he’s there. This not only summarises their drives, for Inej to melt into the background and stop being noticed for her physical appearance and instead valued for her skills, and for Kaz to be seen, to rise to prominence, and to be noticed by Pekka Rollins, but also tells us about their particular gifts for reading people. Kaz reads individuals incredibly well, he explains this in many of his quotes about lock picking and blackmail and we also get the brilliant idea of the way he notices everything about a person down to their scent and the story that their scent tells (I’ve written before about the relevance of him being bothered by the fact that Inej doesn’t have a scent but in the Bathroom Scene he comments on how he can smell soap on her), he sees small details, tells, and nervous ticks and these things give him a massive advantage in the control he exercises over individuals. Inej reads crowds, she sees collective responses to people, events, or objects and uses that response to evaluate the thing that caused it, she doesn’t notice tells until Kaz suggests she looks out for them but she is able to very quickly assess Kaz’s chances of success, and how quickly those chances change, when he faces the Dregs at the Slat and leads a coup against Per Haskell in Crooked Kingdom.

“The worst part of the Barrel […] Most of the buildings in this part of the city had been built without foundations, many on swampy land where the canals were haphazardly dug. They leaned against each other like tipsy friends gathering at a bar, tilting at drowsy angles” - I love the description, I love the imagery, I have a deep obsession with worldbuilding… this is just great, like I don’t really know that’s there’s anything to say it’s just great

“Inej’s room was on the third floor, a skinny slice if space, barely big enough for a cot and a trunk. But with a window that looked out over the leaked roofs and jumbled chimneys of the Barrel. When the wind came through and cleared away the haze of coal smoke that hung over the city, she could even make out a blue pocket of harbour” - ok first of all I’m obsessed with the imagery and the description, and second of all I’m actually just going to copy and paste a post I made a while ago about the window because I find it an incredibly important detail for Inej and I think this is worth saying again:

‘I find it really interesting that Inej’s favourite part about her room at the Slat, despite it being “barely big enough to fit a cot”, is that she has her own window. I think this is important not only because all the windows at the Menagerie were barred, but also because the whole idea of a window is representative of the difference between her life in Ravka and her life in Kerch. Travelling through Ravka, she had no need or want of a window because she was part of and at one with the outdoor world, free to explore it and enjoy it as she saw fit, but in Ketterdam windows and rooftops are her way of travelling the city. They bring her a source of hope and connection to the life she lost whilst simultaneously being her method of completing jobs for the Dregs to slowly claw her back to that very life. So in a way, the window has become a physical manifestation of both a veil of separation between her and everything she’s ever loved or cared for, a literal sheet of glass between her and her world, and of a hope for salvation to return to that love and care.’

“If you had a gripe, you settled it outside where you didn’t risk interrupting the hallowed practice of separating pigeons from their money” - I love this quote so much but I also think it could be interpreted as quite sarcastic on Inej’s part; she talks a lot about how “nothing [is] sacred to the Kerch except trade” and finds a lot of their traditions baffling since their cultural attitude and religious attitude are both so different to the ones she was raised in. This could be seen as a subtle undermining of the culture that abused her whilst appropriating her own culture of peace, which is of course deeply ironic of them, and also reflective of the battle constantly waging inside her over the morality of her surroundings and the core moral code she knows she has broken and will continue to break because circumstance has left her no other choices - possibly linking to the way she specifically considers more fear of her parents not forgiving the actions she’s taken since leaving the Menagerie than what she was forced to do whilst imprisoned there

“I didn’t hurt you none. It was just words” - this is Rojax’s response to Inej punching him in the face whilst wearing brass knuckles after he insulted her, demanded money that neither she nor the gang owed him, and then tried to grab her collar. Now ignoring the money since to be fair we don’t know how much he stole and how much his pay cheque should have been so we don’t know if it evens out or not, the important thing here is that Rojax fails to identify his ability to do Inej damage by calling her “little girl” (words Tante Heleen weaponised against her), referring to her as though she’s Kaz’s property, and threatening violence towards her. I don’t think Rojax meant to affect Inej in the way he surely did, but I do think it shows so well that there’s a massive lack of understanding in the Barrel for the kind of pain that people like Inej have experienced and carry with them, especially since she herself comments on the way even though she hid the scar from her Menagerie tattoo “they all knew it was there”. I how this makes sense I’m not sure if I’ve articulated it quite right

“People were watching now, so she hit him again”

“It would’ve been easy enough to turn away when they called her names or sidled up and asked for a cuddle, but do that and soon it was a hand up your blouse or a try at you against a wall” - this again emphasises that there’s no real acknowledgment of Inej’s experience as traumatic but almost as intriguing or even erotic, and it reminds the reader of the rampant misogyny that travels through the Barrel not only in the dehumanising treatment of women and children in the pleasure houses but also in the cultural attitude as a whole. Although no-one sees Inej as a less threatening force because of her sex, it’s undeniable that the Barrel sees women as something to be conquered or won, and we also see this reflected by the upper classes in the attitudes of merchants and in Van Eck’s marriages.

“Nothing was sacred to the Kerch except trade” - laughing at myself because when I talked about it earlier I didn’t realise this quote was in this chapter

“Inej like Rojax, but right now he was just a frightened man looking to feel bigger than someone”

“Still clutching his cheek like a stunned toddler”

‘ “You look exhausted. Will you sleep at all tonight?”

Jesper just winked.

“Not while the cards are hot. Stay and play a bit, Kaz will stake you”

“Really, Jesper?” she’d said, pulling up her hood, “If I wanna watch men dig holes to fall into I’ll find myself a cemetery”

“Come on, Inej!” He’d called after her as she passed through the big double doors onto the street, “You’re good luck!”

Saints, she’d thought, if he believe that he really must be desperate. She’d left her luck behind in a Suli camp on the shores of West Ravka. She doubted she’d see either again” ’ - this conversation is so important in developing the reader’s baseline understanding for Jesper’s situation and addiction, and it’s not something I see people talk about a lot. Other than Kaz staking him and Jesper calling himself “a creature of habit”, this is the first concession to Jesper’s gambling “habit” being a genuine and debilitating addiction, and I think it’s important for us as the reader to so early on see that Inej, someone whose opinion Jesper so highly valued and someone he is evidently so close to, is unable to talk Jesper out of the card game - in fact the entire conversation to me gives the air of there having been many previous conversations where she tried and this one being one of many following where she’s all but given up. She expresses her opinion on the situation with the beautiful cemetery line, she directly confronts him in the issue by asking if he’s going to sleep tonight, and doesn’t hold back on pointing out that the addiction is having a physical impact on his health by saying that he looks exhausted, but she doesn’t make active strides to pull him away from the game. I think Inej has reached a point where she accepts that it isn’t her job to try and fix the people she cares about, but that doesn’t stop her from wanting to. She desperately needs Jesper to hear what she means through what she’s saying, and if he isn’t going to then she cannot stand by and helplessly watch his self-destruction. Jesper on the other hand seems to seek support in her and her presence because of his fears surrounding failure and not being cared for by others as much as he cares for them; he knows Inej leaves because she can’t help him and can’t watch him, and he knows that her trying to help him would make little long term difference as he explains in Crooked Kingdom when talking directly about his addiction, but that doesn’t mean that the cruel, self-destructive, disparaging part of him isn’t taunting him with the idea that she’s leaving because she doesn’t care about him and because she doesn’t want to help him, and that fear/pain only makes him feel more hollow and only makes him need to play more. Again I hope this makes sense it’s starting to feel like I’m just rambling

“Inej moved aside a bucketful of cleaning supplies that she’d placed there precisely because she knew no-one in the Slat would ever touch it” - I couldn’t cope in the Barrel. There’s no way I could cope with the fighting anyway, but if I by some miracle survived it would only be for the general lack of cleanliness to finish me off

' "This place is like anything in Ketterdam. It leaks,"

Inej could've sworn he looked directly at the vent when he said it. ' - I love this so much because Kaz never mentions anything about this himself but it just so fluidly becomes part of the way he's always aware of her presence. There's also never any surprise at meeting her right outside the closet she's hiding in immediately after the conversation with Haskell so I think we get the idea that's quite routine, and it begins more and more to introduce us to this quiet dependence Kaz and Inej have on each other without addressing it; there are so many things that they each know the others does but never mention, and I think generally speaking they both know that the other knows as well but their ease with one another doesn't require voicing it aloud - if anything it may even rely on keeping it silent, since neither of them are in a position yet where they can admit to themselves the need to rely on someone/the care they feel towards each other.

"You're smart Brekker, but you need to learn patience," - this line always catches me out a little, but I think it's actually just giving us another hint to the extent of disconnect Haskell has from the real experiences of his gang members. We already know Kaz to be a patient character at least in some of the situations we've seen so far, and he goes on to prove himself as immensely and genius-ly (I have no idea what the real word for that is, work with me) patient in his processes and his plans - particularly in Crooked Kingdom when he explains that "you don't win by playing one game". Remember it's in chapter TWO of Crooked Kingdom the Kaz puts the plan to hand Wylan his father's fortune into motion, we just don't know it until after the auction for Kuwei's indenture. Kaz does have a quote somewhere about how too many people aren't patient enough in committing crimes and that's how they end up making mistakes but I can't remember it exactly (I'm working off my audiobook at the minute so I can't flick through and find it), if any one knows it feel free to comment it because it's a great quote and a really interesting reference for this! My point here is that we know Kaz is a very patient person yet Haskell, someone who would appear on the surface to work so closely with him, is accusing him for a lack of it. Because realistically, Haskell has no idea of the everyday workings of the gang or anything of the scope of work Kaz puts into it, and I htink this is just another of the many unsavoury characters building hints we have to encourage the reader to develop an immediate disliking for Per Haskell in this scene.

"But you'll get your twenty percent" - it took me a while to actually think about the money and why the total is 30 million but the main six characters are only getting 4 million kruge each because honestly I won't lie it just didn't occur to me to actually think about the maths. Like I was vaguely aware that didn't add up but I didn't really think about it. But let's talk, because 30 million kruge split between 6 crew members should have meant each character receiving 5 million kruge each (30/6=5). But Per Haskell is owed 20% of any money that the Dregs earn, so he's taking some of the money. On the surface, does 20% seem like an unfair margin? Probably not, considering that theoretically the Dregs members owe him money, live at the Slat seemingly rent free, and are his employees in a business taht has to make money somehow. Personally I odn't think it's a great business model, but I literally know noting about business and also that's not really the point right now. The point is that on the surface 20% doesn't sound wholly unreasonable, and it doesn't sound unreasonable in this conversation. It's not until later, when Kaz offers Inej and Nina 4 million kruge to join the Ice Court Heist that it really occurs to us that they're kind of getting screwed over. Because 20% of 30 million kruge is 6 million kruge. SIX. This man is about to make 2 million more kruge by sitting around in Ketterdam playing with a ship in a bottle than any of our main characters are about to make for nearly dying a thousand times over and successfully infiltrating the Ice Court. What is interesting to me is how the decision of the money is made, because it seems that we're regarding it as if the income is solely Kaz's so he's paying Haskell is twenty percent then choosing to split the remainder between his crew, which seems to make sense since he was the one who was approached for the deal and the one who was offered the money. But if the money had been offered to hte six of them, the financial implications could have been far more complex. Wylan and Matthias aren't members of the dregs, so they would have no need to lose 20% of their income. They would each take 5 million, whilst the other four took 4 million and gave Haskell 1 million from each of their hauls. SO HASKELL WOULD STILL MAKE EQUAL TO THEM. Wylan and Matthias would come out marginally richer than the others, which neither of them were particularly bothered about anyway, and Haskell would still have done nothing and successfully screwed over Kaz and the other Dregs members. And I'm not saying they would've gone for that, because I don't doubt that Wylan and Matthias would have suggested splitting the income the way they do in the book anyway, but I'm saying it's so important that ultimately the person winning here is always Per Haskell. But what's really interesting about Kaz is that not only does he never question the suggestion of splitting the money evenly when he could have easily claimed more for himself as the person who made the deal nad hired on the others, effectively putting himself in Haskell's position except with more involvement, but even when he cuts Haskell out of the business he keeps none of the 6 million kruge for himself, instead splitting it between Rotty and Specht for their smaller roles in the Ice Court Heist. Kaz represents so many things that Per Haskell doesn't, and in that way he comes to represent key things that Pekka Rollins isn't as well, since the book makes strides to show Haskell and Rollins as effectively representative for all the gang leaders. Even though Rollins appears far more involved and on the ball than Haskell, when Inej attacks him in the final chapter of Crooked Kingdom he is forced to question the last time he "felt real pain" since no-one dared to actually fight him any more. I really hope this makes sense because it's very rambly and I'm starting to think I just explained fairly straight forward maths for no real reason.

"Rich as Saints in crowns of gold" - ok I love this because it shows us so much of what Kaz, or if we assume this is a common saying then the Kerch or just citizens of the Barrel, think of the Saints and of religious iconography. We know from the King of Scars duology, the Lives of Saints, and probably to some extent Shadow and Bone that the Saints' lives were not ones of riches, fame, or power, but Kaz exercises this idea of people turning themselves into religious icons for crude, financial purposes. I actually wonder if the way he views them is a kin to the way I've talked about viewing Jarl Brum as a reader, and I think that it's really important to hear this from Inej's perspective because we're already heightened to such an opposite idea by the overall style and tone of the chapter.

"And why Pim? The thought shamed her a bit. She could almost hear her father's voice: So eager to be the queen of thieves, Inej. It was one thing to do her job and do it well, it was quite another to want to succeed at it. She didn't want a permanent place with the Dregs, she wanted to pay off her debts and be free of Ketterdam forever, so why should she care if Kaz chose Pim to run the gang in his absence? Because I'm smarter than Pim," - First of all shout out to the Inej narrator of the soc audiobook because she nailed the intonation of "I'm smarter than Pim" I love it. Second of all we get this really interesting implication of Inej's moral code here, because as I've talked about before her morality is incredibly important to her and the necessity of crossing that line to survive has wreaked havoc on her emotional and probably mental states. She sees a clear distinction between doing what she has to in order to survive and enjoying what she does and I think this is possibly her 'new' moral code to cope with the inability to control her life and stick to what she considers her core moral values.

' "What would you say to 4 million kruge?"

"Money like that is more curse than gift,"

"My little Suli idealist. All you need is a full belly and an open road," he said, the mockery clear in his voice.

"And an easy heart, Kaz"

That was the difficult part. '

"We'll be kings and queen, Inej. Kings and queens,"

"Kaz was not a giddy boy smiling and making future plans her. He was a dangerous player who was always working an angle. Always."

' "I'll need Wylan waiting at the Crow Club tomorrow night,"

"Wylan? If this is for a big job..."

"Just do it," ' - Inej throws so much shade on Wylan early in six of crows and I always seem to forget and then be caught off guard when she's just complaining to Kaz that he's useless and Wylan's like '... I'm right here,'

"One moment he made her blush and the next he made her want to commit murder,"

' "Fence it,"

"Whose is it?"

"Ours now," ' - I shouldn't find this romantic, should I?

"Move the DeKappel we lifted from Van Eck's house into the vault. I think it's rolled up under my bed," - pleaseeeeee he doesn't even have the painting up, the audacity in this boy know no bounds. I talked a lot about the DeKappel when I was writing about the last chapter so I'm not going to detail it here, but everything about it makes me so happy

"Please, my darling Inej, treasure of my heart, won't you do me the honour of acquiring me a new hat?" - first of yesssssssssss we love, and secondly I wrote a whole thing about Kaz using sarcasm as a defence mechanism and the complexity of his inability to express emotions a while ago with particular focus on this quote and a few others so if you want to you can find that on my page or I might be able to tag people on it or whatever if you can't find it because it was some time ago now

' Inej cast a meaningful glance at his cane.

"Have a long trip down," she siad, then leapt onto the bannister sliding from one floor to the next, slick as butter in a pan. '

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed and that my scattered thoughts made at least some sense <3

[m1ckeyb3rry]

will you ever share what other routes you were thinking of taking threefold 👀

(your writing is absolutely stunning btw 10000000000000000000/10 stars)

HIII first of all thank you so much!! hehe i really appreciate it and yes of course!! to be honest i mostly had threefold planned out from the start i wrote it all down in like a fever dream but there are def small things in my original note that didn’t make the Final Cut of the story which i can share!! it’s mostly worldbuilding stuff that i just didn’t think was necessary/forgot to add so it’s not that it didn’t HAPPEN it just wasn’t mentioned if that makes sense 😭

i will also add that the idea for threefold did marinate in my mind for a while because i have had a very specific gladiator au that i’ve wanted to write for AGESSS and i was thinking of doing it for dan heng!! but then i was like wait why would i put him in a greco-roman setting when there are characters that CANONICALLY are of that vibe?? but i didn’t know mydei/phainon (who were the options for obvious reasons) Like That so i never got around to it even though ig it kept marinating in the background…like i think that’s where the idea of mydei as a prisoner came from JFKDND it was just an offshoot of him being a gladiator really🙂‍↕️❕ since many gladiators WERE prisoners of war

adding a cut here because i don’t want this to get too long on the dash/for any lurkers HAHA

so this is like the ORIGINAL thought i had…i’m not joking when i say i woke up at an obscene hour with the paragraph in my mind KDHDDJ time stamp included for proof

obviously i ended up editing it a bit more to flow better in the actual story but this is quite similar to the paragraph included to the masterlist!! i’m not sure why my brain included the term “thrice-blessed” but that throwaway description is actually where the entire motif of threes came from HAHA which is kinda crazy actually (fun fact the original title for threefold was “panthera” which is now the title for just part one!! it took a bit before i was like wait maybe i should just have the motif of three be the title itself too) also note that i do typically write in cursive but i wrote this entire thing in print to make myself think about what i was writing OFJDJDJ

i think mydei’s backstory is the one i left out the most about looking back on my original note!! these are what i first had planned for him:

i honestly just forgot about this part i think but it’s fine it wasn’t Necessary to add just cool i guess!! so yeah there’s some threefold mydei trivia for you 😜 i also remember he was going to mention that in kremnos if a man kills a woman’s husband he essentially marries her?? which was supposed to be the outcome of him destroying the statue — he “wins” reader which frees her to give him to her husband. i ended up not including that because i feel like poor reader already has enough trauma from marriage and i think mydei would not Want to do that to her 🙂‍↔️☝🏻 like he loves her so much he only really wants to set her free even if that means she won’t be with him if that makes sense !!

now as for reader’s backstory most of it stayed the same!! we learn the most about her just because so much of part two and the story as a whole is reliant on mydei knowing her whereas we don’t really need to Know mydei himself — the obstacle on reader’s side of their love was coming to trust him if ykwim…but here are the original plans for reader!! the hometown’s similarity to carthage/south italy was kinda just hinted at because ofc that wouldn’t make sense to outright state but that is indeed where i got the inspiration for the southern sea and its kingdom!! i think everything else in this was mentioned besides her being very sought after as a girl although i think given that she’s a princess it makes sense she would be?? plus we got the news that mydei has been in love with her since he was a little kid and heard her name for the first time (at the announcement of her birth) so i think it makes sense LOLOL

AND FINALLY the proof that the ending has been planned from the beginning!!

the only things from the ending that i changed from my original plans: the husband didn’t mock mydei for thinking that he was in love with reader (in the first draft as you can see he was going to say something about how in kremnos they don’t understand love so it makes sense that mydei confused “bloodlust” with “actual lust” but i wrote the entire ending scene in a trance and it just didn’t come to mind HAHA instead we just got a throwaway line of the husband saying mydei isn’t capable of love) and originally the husband was going to shame READER for thinking that mydei would’ve loved her (in the final draft, he shames mydei for thinking he loves reader…honestly either way could’ve worked but i think it ended up a two-birds-with-one-stone moment where having him say it to mydei served to both deride mydei and get the message across!!)

SO that ended up being a lot of nonsense LDJDJS i am sure you were not asking for this much of my original ideas 😭 but yeah!! threefold has been a very complete idea in my mind almost from its inception and almost all of the changes have just been the natural refinement that comes along with actually writing something in full vs just jotting down notes for an outline 🤩

[thehandwixard]

Hi! I really like your worldbuilding and was wondering if you had any ideas for how their equivalents of a printing press would be considering that Firth mentions getting the paper and I imagine they have some type of reading material like books or scrolls. 

Like if they use ink of some sort, the most obvious answer being from squids on some level or if they have a different form of manufacturing it as since squids are sapient here, they probably wouldn’t be too enthused about being mined for ink. Or it’s something like old thrown out paints, inks, and writing material from humans, though either way the question of how they would get certain materials to adhere underwater is questionable in itself. There are such things as waterproof paper and underwater writing utensils but I don’t imagine those would be common to come by nor do I think they would have that great of a ability really have much of the ability to manufacture them themselves on a large scale.

Or they just cut out the letters and symbols from stuff already printed by humans serial killer style, sort of like what the Bottom Feeders sign does

Hi, I wrote this one out in a doc to format it because i was thinking about so much information. This is going to be typed more formally than it would be otherwise because my program autocapitalizes lest i go insane. Its gonna be a little disjointed regardless. <3 giant wall of text under the cut im not subjecting anyones dash to this unprompted

As a preface: gonna assume paper, fabric, and other organic and/or delicate goods have a longer shelf life in this society, taking the same stance as for in-game props made of these materials. The cigarettes do not really dissolve and some paper can exist indefinitely, though it and cardboard are understood to be soggy. Whether this is due to sapient creature activity/preservation, or just due to the more cartoon logic of the setting and game design needs.

like this is just a good statement for my analysis and reads on this game's worldbuilding in general: there are a lot of things in crabgame that are not scientifically accurate and that is literally the most ok thing in the universe because of the needs of the gameplay, the story, just like ETC there is a lot of love for the real ocean in crabgame and thats what matters, and ill work around that. i, however, am also insane.

Also keep in mind that humans dont really do manufacturing and crafts underwater so while i’ve tried to keep water stuff in mind there is just not the info for how making oil based inks or individual batches of paper would work underwater yknow? Educated guesses. Wikipedia educated guesses.

Further assumption: Definitely agree with what u said about crabs not really having an ability to manufacture stuff on a large scale. I’m gonna assume factory work could definitely be a thing, but maybe not widespread like… industrialization. Industry is certainly a big and well-known thing in new-carcinia, and i don’t doubt that shellfish co. probably has some machine-powered factories, but most industry is probbbably going to be supplied through scavenging either way, even if it also includes craft and such. 

Third assumption: easy answer is that due to the trash economy yeah a lot of paints and inks used in theoretical printing, writing, and art would probably be, and have been scavenged from trash for a long time, probably superceding any of the previously implied small factories or home production joints. This isnt to say that these production methods could not be adopted for the trash economy though. Ill get into it. 

(clears throat) with all that said, through my basic research id have to say i think much manual writing and art, if made either through wholly original production or a mix of scavenging and refining, would be done through an equivalent to Grease Pencils, a wax writing tool which can make marks on hard and glossy surfaces, such as (relevant to crabs or other water critters) rock, ceramic, glass, metal, etc. there are many sources pigments for these writing implements could be derived from, like iron oxides (for use in reddish dyes), tyrian purple (there is actually a snail in the pacific that can be farmed for this dye without execution, Plicopurpura pansa iirc, who knew!) and carbon (ill return to this). 

You mention the ethical concerns of farming sapient squids for their ink and I do agree with those, no matter how much ink cephalopods produce its still like… a resource made from a person and production cant exactly rise to demand without the horrors occurring. However, i’m mostly just skeptical of how useful squid ink would be for writing underwater. This ink is almost entirely melanin particles bound together with mucus, which does eventually disperse in water. Not to say it couldnt be collected, but i feel like underwater application would be kind of a fruitless task. 

As an aside, with the general (really frightening (in a good way) to me) lack of molluscs we see in another crab’s treasure, tyrian purple or anything derived from molluscs would likely be largely out of the question. Some sea hares can also eject ink colored from the pigments they ingest from seaweed but also, this ink is toxic and… same mollusc problem. I guess people irl can eat sea hares so maybe with prep crabs could… who knows . Oh fuck pigments could be derived from seaweed and algae. Keep that in mind. 

I don’t… reject the possibility that crab society could have agricultural or dye farms but we only hear tell of like… One sardine farm and it is not sounding good for them. I don’t think these guys would really have any incentive to farm as little guys who can eat most things, one soldier in slacktide mentions scavenging heartkelp with their own claws. Probably some very small operations if any. 

ASIDE OVER THAT WAS JUST PIGMENTS MOSTLY, to me the tricky part is what IS the waxy part. The grease. The thing that does not dissolve in water. Again, these component parts can probably be scavenged (and probably Have been scavenged since even before the trash economy, canisters of wax definitely fall overboard whaling ships and such) but i honestly can’t think of many ways a crab could make such a substance wholecloth. Perhaps creation of a quasi-inkstick with agar-agar or animal glue (fish glue/isinglass) and pigment? Which would naturally be a bit wet and wouldnt need an inkstone to gather the substance onto the printing apparatus.

For the stuff crabs actually write or print on, assuming a form of this is possible underwater i think pressed homemade paper would be a perfectly reasonable option for small-scale applications, though honestly imo “the paper” (newspaper) that firth mentions is probably printed on either re-used scavenged coated paper or scavenged/manually flattened thin plastic sheets. With access to machinery, shellfish co. would likely be able to manufacture thin plastic sheets, the npc LaTuna mentions her dress being created somehow by Shellfish co. and so i dont doubt that type of simple production is possible. We also see a lot of writing on cardboard so im gonna assume scavenged paints or these like. Agar inks and paint stamps will work on those? Maybe with some kind of sealant…

And of course as u mention bottomfeeders and shellfish desires both have signs that are made out of english letters that were pre-made, so thats probably a good option when applicable. 

[saturncoyote]

Hello, I am again returning with a small collection of my almost-no-context troll knowledge

Prior to assuming Mr. Dinkles was basically a stuffed animal that made noise, I did think that he was some sort of troll larvae, only to later see Hibiscus and the troll reproduction post and go “Ah. Probably not then.” (Tangentially, based on how you described troll reproduction, I’m tempted to say it sounds like they kinda passively pollinate eachother just because of the phenotypic variation in the children, but also that’s the spec bio nerd in me, not an actual guess at trolls lore).

I know that trolls have genre-based settlements of some kind, and I’m under the impression that there’s some form of monarchy in at least some of them because Poppy is a princess(?) and I’m 80% sure, based on very doggy memories of the first trolls movie, her dad was some kind of troll king in the tree that got the bird cage around it.

Also, there’s definitely different species (or races? I guess it depends on if you’re going with the kinda DnD style thing if calling all different sentient species a “race” or if you’re going by existing human definitions of race). I know that the trolls are one species and the bergens are another, and I suspect that Mr. Dinkles is also a separate species? And there has to be at least one more species because I’ve seen bits of the big tall noodley looking ones, and I can’t imagine they’re bergens just because they don��t look like them at all.

also, it seems like the Bergens and the trolls both have wildly different tech than the noodley ones cause I recall the noodley one’s dad being a dentist and it sounded like their society had to have at least gotten past the tech equivalent of the industrial revolution since they had boxed cereal and modern dentistry and suburbs(?). And I recall the Bergens appearing to have a medieval-looking castle that didn’t seem to have any fancy new tech like gas stoves or anything. Also, I’m reasonably sure the trolls have spotlights, so maybe it’s just the Bergens that don’t have much tech.

Also, to end this with a complete side note, I am deeply curious about what trolls eat because they’re so small that I imagine farming must be extremely difficult for them without significant physical infrastructure to support it. Even somewhat small foods like berries and such grow on comparatively very large plants and, while I can definitely imagine a society getting food from what is essentially a gargantuan fruit tree, I can also only imagine that it’s physically tricky since It’s A Gargantuan Fruit Tree. Also, I have to wonder how being able to get so much food from one single source would effect their society and culture. Would berry bushes and other similar troll-accessible food-producing plants be to ancient trolls as river deltas were to ancient humans? Would relying on singular plants encourage more nomadic lifestyles due to the unreliability of having one or two singular plants as your food source, or would they simply find ways to cultivate plants for longer?

Anyway, I like to ramble about worldbuilding, if you can’t tell, so I’ll happily ramble about more trolls assumptions as I remember them. I am very curious to see how many hold up because, oustide of your posts, the clearest trolls-related memory I have is from listening to a MBMBAM podcast episode where the hosts were joking about how they needed to voice act for trolls 3 (or 2? I forget) and then laughing at some article I ran into about how they actually got into it.

Ok first of all troll larvae is fucking insane we're really diving into the "trolls are bugs" territory with this one, we've cracked the code they're not monotremes they're fuzzy bugs, like woolly chafer beetles

You are correct about the troll monarchy, if anything the second movie confirms that most (or at least a good part of em) troll societies have a leader of some short (most having kings or queens, Country trolls however have a sheriff/mayor and Classical trolls have a conductor) plus Poppy is indeed a princess and is promoted to queen at the end of the first movie

There is like a SHITTON of different species in the Trolls universe (different genres of trolls are a bit tricky to categorize because while they are refered to as purely different 'tribes' it would make sense to call them subspecies of trolls since many of them are so physically different from each other) some of those would be bergens, vacaytioners (tall puppet guys) and mount rageons (the noodley ones as you call em) Mr Dinkles however is just a worm, there isn't much more to that guy

The technology of the trolls world makes absolutely no sense because although mount rageons seem to have very advanced technology (they have floating car lanes for god's sake) and bergens hold a more medieval style of life (although the Bergens cookbook tells you to put the trolls in an oven, and they do have pizza) the technology of trolls themselves varies from actual robots to wooden boats and sometimes just straight up bugs (there's caterbuses, it's a caterpillar that is also a bus)

Fun Fact trolls actually canonically farm animals since in the second movie Country trolls are shown milking and turning buffalo creatures into burgers, there's actually a variety of plants and animals that are just troll sized (puffalos, glitter fish, grossums and eight goats being some of em) and although the diet of pop trolls seem to canonically consist of mostly sweets and fast food i'd like to think that the rest of their diet consists of assorted fruits and also more bugs, i think they should be allowed to eat the bugs, let them eat bugs

Plus i can confirm that the McElroy brothers have indeed voiced characters in the second movie, they have very important roles like Techno Beat Drop button, actual tumbleweed, the single tear rolling down a rock troll's face and the single tear rolling down a country troll's face, oh and also this thing

[colliehollie]

16, 15 , and 20 for any of your ocs, and maybe number 1 for yourself??

questions r from this

15/Something that your character’s different sized friends do that annoys them.

Barret often mocks Chandra based on her tiny stature and she has to protest that she does have her own strengths. he’ll always find the opportunity to taunt her, even when she proves herself to be of some help. like healing his wounds, having valuable knowledge on wildlife and nature, or the small amount of magic she can utilize to aid in fights.

Barret finds it annoying how Chandra will stay up all night and sleep all day. he had to help train herself to become less nocturnal. Barret used to tell her “don’t come in my bed or you’ll be sleeping on the ground.” at some point, Barret noticed Chandra shivering, and decided to let her sleep with him. after that it became normal for them to fall asleep in the same bed, since Barret realized since she was so small he barely noticed he was sharing the bed with somebody. he still acts like it’s an inconvenience even though he’s the usually the one who bothers the other when they’re sleeping, like snoring, throwing his limbs over her in his sleep, or sleep talking.

16/After meeting someone of a different size, how has your character's opinion on giants/tinies changed?

Chandra always thought of humans as barbaric. she was taught to avoid them at all costs, and for good reason. there exists a market for fairy dust, since it has magical properties. and the wings sell for even more, as long as they’re still intact/beautful enough.

when Barret finds Chandra for the first time, his first thought is how beautiful her wings are. he makes a deal with her, either he’d take her wings and sell them, or she’d join him so he could keep the magic all to himself.

of course, she chose to join him, because without her wings she’d lose her magic and die. she planned to just make her escape once the time was right, but she got to know him by staying at his side. by adventuring together, they opened up to each other, and learned things about each other’s respective species. Barret learned that fairies can think and feel and are more than just objects to buy and sell. Chandra learned that humans aren’t all terrible, and it is their own battle for survival that drives them to so bad things. she learns, deep down, Barrett doesn’t want to hurt her, and that he wants a friend he can depend on.

20/Random fun fact about your character

i can’t think of any little facts i haven’t already shared so i’ll give you some worldbuilding.

i’ve expressed that fairies are the product of the gods of the sun and moon. the children of the sun and the children of the moon used to live together in harmony. over time, fights started between the two groups, and in turn they segregated. in appearance, they have some differences. sun fairies are the more traditional idea of a fairy, with more dragonfly or butterfly-like wings and short thin antennae. while moon fairies have moth-like wings and feathery antennae. fairies of esther god will get offended if another species doesn’t understand the difference between them. Chandra never understood why they were seperated, but she followed the rules to not enter territory of the sun fairies. but after adventuring, she grew used to the not caring of what species your companions are.

[ace-of-hats]

Ok, after a month I think it's time for me to actually say stuff about my OCs! (be warned–this is going to be kinda long.)

I have a few stories/worlds (three I drew characters from I think–) so I'll break it up based on that. After the character’s name, I'll put a day I drew them (I don't want to write descriptions…)

1 - A fantasy world set a long time ago. Basically, the world runs parallel to our world. Set around the year range 1000-1500 (i had a really specific one but i forgor). There are significantly less people than in our world because when “wizards” (normal people who take magic from places it isn't supposed to be taken from) die, there are great natural disasters/magic related catastrophes. Along with wizards, there are naturally occurring magical creatures/people. (I’ve done a lot of worldbuilding for this over the years, so if you are confused I would be happy to elaborate! I'm not going to write it all in this paragraph because that would be. a lot.)

Dandelion (day 2): she is a shapeshifter (can be a human or a mountain lion) who comes from the forest surrounding a small kingdom. Her mom was killed when she was young and she gets separated from her siblings, but she ends up making her way to the outskirts of the small kingdom and eventually becomes some sort of royal guard thing. She wants to go back to the forest, but her best friend (Lev) isn't allowed to leave, and she wont go without him.

Leverett ‘Lev’ (day 13): he is a prince of the kingdom, but not in line for the throne (that's his older sister). He gets sick easily (and is allergic to grass and pollen and whatever), and so is not allowed to do lots of things his sister is. Despite this, he wants to go on a “grand adventure” (with Dandelion) and sneaks out to try to do that more often than people usually want him to. He is really friendly, and is well liked by pretty much everyone he meets. This sort of makes up for the fact that he was taught zero survival skills.

Pon (day 12): they are the literal shadow of the latest wizard. They were brought to life in the wizard’s attempt to live forever (it's complicated) but it didn't work. After the wizard died (old age), Pon lived with his widowed wife until she died a few years later. They inherited the house, a small cabin/cottage in the middle of the woods, and they keep up the garden and read to pass the time. Pon is solid in direct light, and can be solid in the dark, but can also become more like a shadow and also move through walls. They meet Dandelion when she breaks into their house.

2 - Platformer video game concept I've had for a while that I probably wont start for a few years, if at all. Very basic, there are five areas: ocean, volcano, clouds, forest, and mirror world.

Farris(name may change)(day 24): main character. The flower behind their ear gives them a different power/attack for each area. They are friendly/helpful to a fault, causing them to help a magic talking tree.

Briar (day 3): she is the person who gives little hints about the map and the controls. She seems to know a lot about this strange world–more than Farris, maybe more than she should…

Cat merchant(day 27): is a calico cat that sells stuff. She's real silly. Makes Farris eat cat food.

3 - set in 2024 but there's magicians and vampires and dragons etc that are kept secret from normal people. Magicians do magic with the help of a familiar. A magician’s magic is passed down through genetics. Most people have some magic in them but not enough for them to do magical stuff. Not really important but I thought it was a cool idea–vampires drink the magic that's in blood, and if you don't have any magic in you, you're immune to vampires (and some other magic stuff). Same with werewolves–you would just get chomped and have to go to the doctor probably. But I'm getting off topic here. The type of magic that magicians use is different than the type of magic that magical creatures (vampires, dragons, etc) use.

Korbin (day 7): he's a highschooler who thought for all his life that he was just a normal guy. One day he discovers that he is a slightly cooler guy (can do magic), and makes friends with a couple other magical teens. His familiar is a raven named Peanut. She likes peanuts. Korbin really likes drawing, reading and going to the library. He 100% almost immediately gets a crush on Viktor. Because of some worldbuilding that I don't think I wrote down and have mostly forgotten, he accidentally does something and gets features from his familiar (aka cool wings).

Hecate (day 23): she has known she was a magician. She really really wants to do weird necromancy shit, but it is illegal (she does it anyway)(her parents dont know). She wants to be a doctor (100% for necromancy reasons). She has a snake familiar, I forgot her name tho. Snakie is totally on board with the whole creepy bones magic stuff, and she brings hecate small animals to “practice” on, causing hecate to have a bunch of small bones on her at all times. She is a grade younger than the other three. 

Erin (day 20, dragon form day 4): she is a dragon who was secretly swapped at birth with a kid in a magical family. She can change from dragon and human forms. When she uses magic, her eyes turn from brown to a yellowie gold like they are in her dragon form. She is very silly i love her. Since she is not a magician, she has a fake familiar (pet)(a possum named Theo) to blend in more (dragon changelings are really rare and her parents let her keep the possum that she found in her garage). She doesn't like Viktor as fast as Korbin and hecate do, but she warms up to him. She likes sewing.

Viktor (day 8): he's a vampire who grew up in a cult trying to get rid of the type of magic that magical creatures have, out of the fear of it being “too powerful”. He has a cat “familiar”(as a vampire he doesnt need one) named moon. He usually wears a turtleneck to hide his bite scars from people, but his family and the leaders of the cult do know about his vampirism, and are using him as a sort of test subject to try to learn how to un-vampire someone/take away the more potent magic from a magical creature. He ends up becoming friends with the other three after they learn that he's not a crazy cultist.

aaaand as a reward for reading all that (or just scrolling through idk), heres some of my favorite pieces from oc-tober!