#Probably won't be able to draw too much but I'll definitely try!

[solardee]

Hey look! I'm doing something (hopefully lol)

Gonna be pretty slow given my lack of free time and with school starting for me this month but I'll try to attack as I can!! First time every doing this LOL

Profile HERE!

All attacks posted to my tumblr will be tagged with "art fight 2023"

[roxtron]

Day 5: Rabbit, Reclaim

AGJGDFJF FINALLY IT'S DAY 5 SO I CAN POST THIS

For some reason everytime i draw him he looks so young because i'm accidentally overcorrecting since i'm used to drawing older characters. So unfortunately he looks way younger than i meant him to lol, whoops.

But wait there's more- AHAHAHA

While I did initially plan this for GGY week I eventually got the idea to use this as an excuse to draw other GGY designs, soo..

(Not sure why tumblr formatted it that way with 1 of them big but it doesn't matter lol)

I've been wanting to do this for a while, I put the tags of each person next to their design but ofc I'm still gonna tag them in the post itself so you can see their art for yourself if you haven't already. But I enjoyed each of these in their own ways so if you don't mind I think I'm gonna type a bit of text next to them..

@chipistrate This was one of the first I drew out of these, the design was pretty fun to draw but sorry if I messed up a few details, it was a bit difficult lol. The mask and goggles are really fun to draw and they make for a cool design, along with all the glowing blue. (and yes, I tried to subtly include the heelies lol)

@lunzi0 This was the first fursuit one I did lol. I adore the little stars in the design, they personalize it so well and make it really unique. I wanna try this design again since I feel like the other ones show my improvement a bit better, but I hope you can appreciate the effort I put in on my first attempt <3

@carouselrabbit This one was really fun to draw, I absolutely love the eye shape/lashes, it stands out and I always love drawing eyes with a bit of eyeliner lol, the daycare theme legwarmers is a cool nod to the balloon boy arcade machine being connected to them, and was just a fun addition in general lol, I like the style of legwarmers what can I say, fnaf changed my fashion sense a bit. also the subtle paraells to freddy's design is a nice way to connect a bit to gregory himself.

@puhpandas I can't remember if I talked about this design last time I drew it but, overall I'm really happy with how this came out, it's such an indicator of improvement since I started drawing this and I'm glad I was able to draw it better than last time lol. All the patchwork and similarities to Vanny's suit work really well, and the rabbit you chose to base it off of was a good fit, the colors make it a bit more difficult to shade for but i like detail lol, hope you like it too :)

@dykevanny I knew I wanted to do this since I started but I wasn't sure if I'd have time, and I'm glad I did! I hope you don't mind I combined aspects from the first design I saw and the second one you replied to my ask with, I liked the big purple sleeves lol. (I just realized after doing all the shading I forgot to include the oil splatter on his jacket, sorry!) It was definitely a bit difficult due to the head shape being so different but.. fluffy. i love drawing fluff. And the glowing swirl on the goggles, the shape of the ears, I love a lot about this design. :D

I have a hard time with writing compliments but I wanted to get some of those thoughts out, some of the things I like about these designs apply to multiple lol. I adore every one of these designs but I find it hard to put into words what I enjoy about them, hope the original creators are happy with these. <3

I also kept the ggys without as much lighting effects on a separate file, I felt like I should add them since they're a bit brighter lol, makes them look different.

Okay now that I've gotten all that- Sorry this post is so long! I didn't think it'd end up taking up so much space lol. Buut.. working on this drawing and thinking about it and potential context behind it gave me an au idea for it, but I'll put it under the cut since I understand most people probably won't care and just wanna see the drawings lol.

Idk if I'm confident enough to write for it but I'll give a bit of a summary.. I'll keep it under the cut for people who aren't interested and just wanna see the art though lol.

After the main events of SB and Ruin, now that the mimic's been set free, Cassie's taken control of by what's left of Vanny, using her as a new host. But with Cassie being the only human left alive down there, after being reawakened, Dr. Rabbit has nowhere left to go but back to his old host.

Vanessa, Freddy, and Gregory hadn't gone back to the Pizzaplex after ruin, but they were trying to figure out a plan to get Cassie back safely. One night after Freddy and Gregory disappear, Vanessa leaves to go find them. As dangerous as the pizzaplex is, it's her best guess for where they might've gone. She doesn't want to think about what could've happened to them, in denial for the worst case scenario. She tries to keep herself calm by telling herself they probably just left to go back for Cassie, maybe they didn't want her stopping them.. but deep down she knows it can't be that simple. She knows something's off, even if she's not ready to admit it.

When returning to the pizzaplex, she brought along her own V.A.N.N.I. mask, though unlike the one Cassie used, it was clear of the mimic's influence. After all, she was going to need some way to travel through potential blocked routes.

By the time she found Gregory, she'd still been wearing the mask, seeing him down the end of a dark hallway. He looked confused, afraid, his mind was a wreck of conflicting emotions. She started rushing towards him, happy to see him okay, until he finally spoke.

"You need to get out of here."

She stepped back, taking off the mask, only to be faced with the worst case scenario.

It was a wreck, covered in stains and tears, but it was still recognizable. He was wearing that old suit again.

As he waved, she could see Freddy's claws peeking out from the doorway, as the two stepped closer towards her.

So, she did what he told her to do, and started running. She could hear a faint voice coming from the mask, and put it back on before finding somewhere she could hide.

It was his voice again, telling her which way to go.

I guess that was the dramatic way to summarize the main idea behind it, lol. Basically Gregory and Dr. Rabbit work the way Sun and Moon work in Ruin, whichever one is in control in the real world, the other is left behind in the AR world. Or at least that's my interpretation of how they worked, considering Sun was always in mask-on scenes and moon was mask-off. I'm not too sure where the plot might go from there, and maybe I'll consider writing for it, I dunno. I've never wrote fanfic before because I get deadly afraid of writing them out of character lol, but maybe?? I have ideas for scenes and premise and stuff but I don't know if I have the confidence to write it.

But anyway! That was just more of a fun side-idea I came up with while working on this, if you read this far thanks, hope you enjoyed :)

here's some silly little lineless doodles as a reward for making it to the end hehe

now that's what I call an art dump

@ggyweek2024

[eldstunga]

Hi! I really love your art! The lines are so bold but the colours so natural that it feels distinct but grounded?? I'm obsessed with the shapes in your work

I was wondering if you had any advice for drawing bodies? Whenever I try it either my proportions are off or an arm ends up looking like a calf or something.

First of all, thank you <3 That's so nice and I think "lines bold, colours natural" is some truly aspirational words to say about my art, I'll strive to be what you say I am <3 I do not, unfortunately, have any great tips on drawing bodies - it's a very wide topic and fundamentally just really bloody hard. I fail horribly 9 times out of 10. How to approach it I think varies a lot with like...HOW you are struggling, and who you are as a person. For proportions and anatomy there are definitely books to look at, and some rules of thumb that can help you - anything from "the shoulders are about 2.5-3 heads wide" through "feet are the same length as the forearm", "elbows are in line with the navel and the navel is two sternums down" etc etc. For me, realising just how big the ribcage actually is and learning how to use that as a unit of measure was a big event (the torso is about two ribcages long). Look at references, Draw over low opacity references and try to look for patterns that help YOU. Like... "Hm, do the shoulders line up with something useful?"

Having a good ref model to double check things helps too. The pen is pointing to about the bottom of the ribcage. But there's also stuff like maybe you're getting too hung up on construction and then it might help more to try to draw from references by ONLY blocking in a silhouette first. This helps me sometimes still:

Or you could be like me, struggle with all of the above and then some - like how to make poses look natural and/or dynamic? Weight distribution is a whole other topic.. gah, it never ends, but it's fun to learn.

Lastly, this took me way too long to realise and I think it should be said: Do not fret too much about STUDYING. The unfair thing is that the better you are at something, the better you will be at actually learning from doing studies and exercises or reading books. We accept this with many other disciplines and sports but rarely art. Mileage is king, and mileage is best gained from having fun and enjoying what you do. If you find studies suffering and frustrating you're probably better off just drawing what you enjoy and fuck it if it isn't "pushing your boundaries" or whatever. Eventually you'll get to the point where studies start to give more than they take, and then you're home free. I'm not gonna recommend a billion resources you likely won't enjoy but here are some things I genuinely found helpful lately: * a physical anatomy model, they're pricy and not necessary but being able to just look at it every now and then, turn it over etc helps. * The "Morpho" series of books, they do not teach anatomy, but they are very useful quick reference books and much more easily digested than most anatomy material. Just try to find a real anatomy book to read once your appetite is up as well.

The zig-zag/Lightning bolt method for arms and legs, fuckin' thing revolutionised how I sketch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCkmB030GpQ

Gottfried Bammes "The Complete guide to Anatomy for Artists and Illustrators" This thing is insane, it's from the 50's and like 600 pages long. You could absolutely kill someone with it, but a lot of the pages are more philosophical or art history you can skip and despite its age and fear factor this dude writes in a witty, clever and just wonderful way that I've seen nowhere else. Fantastic photos. By far, FAR the best anatomy book I've ever seen. It's not a book I'd recommend for someone starting out, I would not have been able to digest it like four years ago, but once you get to a certain point it's amazing.

That's a lot, uhhh, feel free to ask me for more specific tips this was a bit of a rant. Hope some of it was useful!

[cheekinpermission]

hello! I was just wondering, do you have any advice for getting so many gems in Twst? Also thank you for your wonderful art, I enjoy looking forward to see what you draw next :D

Buy them

Just kidding! I've only made one purchase for TWST. It was less than $10 and was way back in the beginning for some kind of deal or something.

My 16k gem stash is the product of two years of grinding and selective pulls. I really wish I could say I had some kind of hack but that's really it. I'll talk about how I approach spending resources in the game, though, if anyone finds that useful.

As per usual, I ramble so it'll be under the cut!

1. Pick a favorite character

HEAR ME OUT I KNOW ITS HARD BECAUSE ALL THE CHARACTERS ARE GREAT! But it helps a lot if you're limiting who you're willing to pull for instead of every pretty card that comes out.

Personally, Riddle is my favorite (+ Grim but he's not really a concern card wise) so I'm committed to getting all of his cards. I'd really hate if I couldn't get one of his cards that I really want because I spent my keys / gems on a card that I only kind of wanted. So that's something to think about if it helps keep things in perspective.

All my Riddles!! (I definitely don't have a favorite Riddle shhh)

For example, I absolutely love Ortho's Fairy Gala card. I think it's one of the prettiest in the game! But I didn't pull for it because Ortho isn't a favorite character of mine.

It works the opposite, too. Kalim, Vil, and Ruggie are among my favorites but I've passed on a lot of their cards for one reason or another. I passed on Tsum Kalim because I didn't like the groovy, I passed on Silk Adorned Vil because I didn't like that it didn't have an attached vignette, and I passed on Camp Vargas Ruggie because I didn't like the event itself. While I really love these characters, I'm picky about which ones I'll pull so I don't miss out on a better one later.

For characters that I like quite a bit (top 5 ish), I'll use their free ten set you get on their birthday to try and pull for them. If I don't get them within those ten pulls, I accept it and move on.

I also want to say that this method has allowed to me to get pretty much every card that I've actually wanted. I can even pull for characters that aren't among my favorites (e.g. Idia who has THE BEST SSRS FOR SOME REASON??) and still have a big gem safety net.

I don't pull super often, I don't think, but I've gotten everything I've wanted so I think it's a fair trade-off.

Given my gem stash, you might be able to get away with collecting for a dorm but it'd have to be one of the tiny ones (Scarabia would be excellent because Jamil has almost no SSRs rip)

2. Plan ahead of time using JP TWST events

One of the biggest advantages of JP TWST releasing events way before Eng TWST is that we know what's coming ahead of time so we can plan accordingly. Obviously, this won't work if you're trying to save gems on the Japanese server.

You'll have to be okay with spoilers for the English server, too. At least enough to know if a character you like is in the event. I like to look at the card art and groovies, personally, as those will influence my decision if I'm on the fence.

SPOILERS FOR JP TWST EVENTS

I know which cards that I need to save for in the future:

Riddle’s Swimear SR

Ruggie’s Clubwear SSR

Rollo's SSR (pending available keys)

Riddle's Bloomquet SSR

Vil's Luxe Couture SSR

Vil and Malleus's Tsum SSR (pending groovies)

While we don't have a definitive schedule for a lot of these, a lot of them you can kind of guess.

For example, Riddle's Swimwear SR is part of Stitch's event which seems pretty summer-y to me. It'll likely come out in June or July of this year. Clubwear cards come relatively quickly so I'm anticipating Ruggie's Clubwear SSR fairly soon, too. Gotta make sure I'm saving right now for those bad boys.

Rollo and Riddle will probably come around the same time (Aug-Nov) so I've got a bit of time to build up my collection of keys again.

The others just got released in Japan so they'll take awhile before they reach us and I'm not too worried about them just yet.

SPOILERS DONE!

I think of it like going to the grocery store with a shopping list. Stick to the list and you know you can't overspend!

3. Don't pull for dorm cards

"That's easy for you to say, Cheekin. Riddle is your favorite character and you can get his dorm card for free at the beginning of the game!!"

Why, yes. Yes, you can. Thanks, Riddle!

(Ngl I might've caved and done it for Riddle but ONLY Riddle because he's my fave :D)

Now that all of the dorm uniforms have been released, dorm showcases aren't really a thing but in the event that they do a re-run I would avoid spending keys / gems on them. Same goes for the standard show case. Neither are worth it, IMO.

Dorm uniform cards will always be in the SSR pool regardless of the event, so I think it's better to just take your chances and collect them slowly overtime. Of course, the odds of getting the one you want aren't super high but you'll amass quite a few dorm cards just by pulling for event cards anyways. You're bound to get one you like eventually.

For reference, I've gotten Dorm Idia, Ortho, Vil, Jamil THREE TIMES, Kalim, Azul, Ruggie, Jack, Trey TWICE and Deuce TWICE as a byproduct of pulling for event cards. I wasn't trying to get them but they're here now and I love them for it <3

---

And that's about it! Nothing too groundbreaking. The biggest thing is knowing when to stop. Sometimes when I'm on that gacha grind high and I want to pull just cause it's been awhile since I've gotten an SSR, I'll tell myself to do it later because 99% of the time I'll just forget and it'll never happen!

I have been burned by too many gacha games in the past that I refuse to let it happen to me again in TWST (cough Obey Me COUGH)

Here are all my SSRs so you can judge for yourself how effective it is. (Or if its worth it)

I genuinely have no clue what the average number of SSR's a player who has been playing for over 2 years like me has, but I'm comfortable with what I've got. I've gotten all the cards I've wanted and most of the cards I was interested in so I think it's worth it.

tldr: be selective about your pulling, plan ahead, and resist the urge to pull constantly

Thank you for your kind words about my art!! (And if anyone got to the end of all this WORD VOMIT thanks for listening! Reading. Whatever.)

[hangmansgbaby]

Gunpowder & Lead P R O L O G U E

Masterlist

Emory's POV is written by @mamachasesmayhem and Jake's POV is written by me.

Banners are POV changers.

"I can't do this anymore, Matt. I'm leaving." The words leave my mouth with only a slight tremble. 

Matt barks out a laugh. "What was that, baby?" 

I take a deep breath and steel my nerves. "I'm leaving."

"The fuck you are!"

Matt's statement is punctuated with a fierce blow to my cheek, knocking me sideways.  

I thought that his recent lack of interest in me would have made this easier. I thought that maybe he was finally tired of me, that maybe he wouldn't care as much when I tried to leave. Clearly, I was wrong. 

A kick lands on my ribs after I land on the floor, followed by a few more. I try to no avail to block them, only earning bruises and likely more fractures to my arms. He grips my hair to pull me up only to slam my head into the floor.  My head spins as I feel blood pool beneath me.  I'm barely conscious when he finally decides to stop, probably thinking I'm down for the count. I hear him grab hiskeys from their hook by the door but when I catch a glimpse of the hooks I realize it wasn't just his that he took, but mine too. Shit, that makes this more difficult. His stupid ass Camero revs in the driveway and the sound of his tires peeling fills the small house. I fight to stay conscious because I can do this.  

I don't know how much time has passed when I pull every ounce of will and strength in my body and finally crawl onto my hands and knees.  

I can do this.  

It could have been minutes or hours since Matt left, so I don't waste a second.  

I can do this.

I stumble out of the door and adrenaline floods my nervous system.  

I can do this.

My bare feet carry me across the pavement and then through the woods across from the house. It'll hurt like hell later, but it's much shorter to cut through them to get to Birdie's house. This is a route I've memorized, having to sneak out to see my best friend when Matt eventually stopped allowing it. I can get there with my eyes closed, and it's entirely possible I do. 

I eventually break through the tree line and push past the pain that's threatening to overwhelm my body. The light to the back porch is on, drawing me near like a lighthouse to the coast, and I stumble the last few steps to the door. I fall against the cool wood in a heap, frantically pounding my fist against it as darkness clouds my vision. The door opens underneath me and I let it take over, finally able to rest. 

It's warm when I come to, a gentle voice rousing me. "Sweets, can you hear me? Shit, Jav!  She's breathing and has a pulse but she's not responding to me."

I groan and try to peel my eyes open. That voice definitely does not belong to Birdie. It's not her husband Bob either, and that's what startled me enough to fully return my brain to my body.  My eyes land on a face surely carved by Aphrodite herself. 

"Am I dead?" I mutter out. With a chiseled jaw and concern swimming in mossy green eyes staring down at me, I must be. Especially if I'm not scrambling to get away from a man that isn't Bob Floyd. But a tiny voice in my head tells me that he's safe and that he won't hurt me, so I let myself listen to it. 

A small smile pulls at the lips of the man above me. "No, sweets. You're alive, it looks like you fought real hard to be too. How'd you end up here?"

The realization I didn't make it to Birdie's makes me gasp and try to sit up. "I was trying to get to Birdie's house, where I am?!"

I notice I'm cradled in his lap when his arms tighten around me in an attempt to keep me from jostling the multiple injuries I'm sure I have. "Easy, I got you. Birdie Floyd? She's right next door, you almost made it. Just a hundred feet short."

A voice crackles through his phone, clearly on speaker given that I can hear it so clearly. "I'm about 3 minutes out, Jake. What's going on?"

"She's awake, Javy. I think I can manage until you get here, but I'll keep you on the phone just in case."

He turns to me and I can hear sirens in the background of the call. "I'm Officer Jake Seresin and on the phone is my best friend Javy Machado, he's a paramedic.  He's working tonight and I called him the second I opened the door, he and his partner are on the way to come look at ya, ok?" My nod prompts him to continue. "I can go get Bob and Birdie if you want?"

"No!" I yelp. "Please don't leave me alone! H-he might show up..."

"It's ok, pretty girl. I got you, I won't leave you alone. You're safe with me." His voice is calm, soothing. "Even though I'm off duty, I called in some backup. I don't want ya worryin' when you hear the sirens and see the lights here shortly."  

His thumb rubs small circles on my upper arm as red and blue fill the night sky. 

Jake carries me outside to meet the paramedics and I can hear Birdie from across the yard.

“What’s going on?” Her eyes scan the scene and finally land on me and she immediately runs to me."Emory! Oh, honey! What did he do to you this time?" She starts sobbing as her hand gently traces my swollen cheek. "How'd you find her, Jake?"

"She found me. She knocked on my door thinking it was yours." His chin tips up in acknowledgment when Bob joins his wife. "Hey, Floyd. Javy just rolled up and called in some backup."

No sooner than the words leave his mouth, a tall man with a mocha complexion hops out of the ambulance and rushes over. Jake reluctantly lets me go and nods at me as Javy takes over and lays me on a stretcher. As he's taking inventory of my injuries and rolling me to the ambulance, I hear Jake talking to Bob.  

"Where's the fucker that did this to her?"

"If he's not at home, he's at The Den." Bob replies, anger clear in his voice. 

Jake climbs up the step into the ambulance, just beside Birdie and reaches out and gently squeezes my hand.  "Javy's the best there is, you're in good hands. I'm gonna go get the sad excuse of a man that did this to you and he's gonna go rot in a cell."

Tears well in my eyes as relief washes over me.  "Thank you, Jake."

Jake did as he promised, immediately arresting Matt and tossing him in jail. After confirming I did, in fact, end up with new fractures in my arm, a concussion, and severely bruised ribs I returned to work about a week after I may have been sporting a neon pink cast, fading bruises on my face, and stitches in my lip, but I'd never been happier. 

The trial officially concluded and Jake was there by my side through the entire thing, volunteering to be my personal protection detail.

6 months later

Jake had walked through the door of Cora's, the bakery Birdie and I have been working at since we were undergraduates at UT Austin. Once the recognition hit me, I gasped. "It's you."

His smile was soft, almost shy, as he blushed. "It's me."

"You saved me, l-I don't have enough words for how thankful I am for you."

Thankfully, he dropped in during a slower time so my rambling isn't holding up other customers.  

Jake reaches up and rubs the back of his neck as he looks down. "I'd like to think it's what anyone would do, having sworn an oath to protect and serve and all."

I take the time to finally observe what he's wearing, and he looks damn good in his uniform, before smiling up at him. "Well, take your pick officer. Anything you want is on the house.  For as long as I work here."

After that day, he made it a habit to stop in at some point during his shift for coffee and a pastry if he was feeling particularly cheeky.  "The coffee's always been free to the boys in blue, I can't take advantage of your kindness all the time, Sweets." He'd told me. 

And eventually Jake asked me out. "I know you were in a terrible relationship before, so if this is too forward, stop me. But now that it's not a conflict of interest, how do you feel about dinner with me?"

"Dinner sounds amazing." I'd told him with a wide smile and his quickly matched my own. 

From that day forward, we'd been nearly inseparable. With his support, I'd finally caught up with Birdie and finished my MBA. While in school, I met the little spitfire named Adalaide Blake.  She had been in her final semester of law school and studying to pass the BAR exam. She quickly became close to Birdie and I and we've been thick as thieves since.  

Honoring the promise she made to a couple of 19 year old kids, Cora, the owner of the bakery, turned it over into our capable hands and retired. Cora was the grandma I had always wanted.  She took me in when I had nothing and loved Birdie and I as her own. Not long after we took over, Matt was released from prison. Jake had delivered the unfortunate news after plying me with ice cream and tequila a few days before our one year anniversary. He promised to keep me safe and asked me to move in with him. We'd discussed it more the next morning when I was sober and he assured me his reasoning was more than just keeping me safe, he wanted me as part of his every day routine.  

Within a few months of my moving in, I helped Jake study for and pass his detective's test. He soon promoted and we celebrated by christening the new home for the bakery. The new location included a large, secure basement with the intention of housing abused women and children.  Thanks to Jake, the rest of his squadron at the department, and connections they've made through the years, the changes weren't made public knowledge.  

There was a caveat that Jake wasn't aware of: Birdie, Addie, and I had been planning something. While we were absolutely making the new construction a safe haven, we also wanted to find a way to make sure men like Matt didn't ruin any more lives. We realized we could make that happen thanks to the combined knowledge of my studying with Jake for the detective test, Birdie hearing all the stories from Bob about work, and Addie having spent a few years as a defense attorney, we could do it. Birdie had the idea to open a secret speakeasy that would be a way for us to meet with potential women who needed help. The brave souls who sought our help were instructed to ask for a pomegranate scone, which was not sold in the bakery.  They were instead provided with a time to meet back here at the speakeasy that we named "The Underworld." 

Over the next 2 years, we caught cheaters, helped mothers get sole custody of their children, returned money stolen by swindling slimeballs, and rescued women and children from abusive homes. Along the way, we'd made some new friends and became known as The Furies. The Furies consisted of a team of powerful, badass women who shared the same mindset as us. We also made some new enemies...one of them being the Austin PD. A task force was born to stop the ring of vigilantes, and the most ironic part of it all is that many of the Furies have a personal connection to a member of the task force.  For me it was Jake. The man of my dreams and love of my life, had taken on the lead. He had risen through the ranks quickly, finding himself on many cases involving the work of the Furies. With his extensive knowledge, it was a no brainer for the department that he be the commanding officer. Even Birdie’s husband volunteered to be the CSI Specialist for the task force.

Jake and I were almost 4 years into our relationship when my ruse was finally up. I had successfully kept the two facets of my life separate until that fateful night. 

We had been running a sting on a local biker gang known for human trafficking, Demeter and I had been at The Den while trying to sneak our way into the back by posing as "entertainment" for the club. Apparently, one of the guys there that night had known Matt and therefore knew who I was. That's when shit hit the fan. While I'd been training extensively with Jake in MMA classes and with our ex-military friend learning to evade capture, one me against five men was no match. I'd learned how to take a hit with minimal damage and that was my saving grace. With my ass thoroughly beaten, I once again found myself stumbling through the dense woods that lead to Bob and Birdie's house. Leaning against the doorframe, my knuckles rap against the wood for her to come usher me inside and help me get patched up.  

If my right eye wasn't swollen shut, I might have noticed that the door was a deep blue I'd personally picked out instead of the dark maroon I was expecting. The door opens and I don't even look up before I start talking. 

"I'm an idiot, I know. Might need to call someone though, I think one of those fuckers broke my nose," I whine. 

"Emory? What the fuck?!" A deep voice bellows from the open door. 

I look up and my eyes make contact with very angry looking green ones.  "Aw shit, wrong door again."

"What the actual fuck, Em? Get inside." I try to usher her in but she takes a step back.

"No, I'm gonna pretend this didn't happen and walk over to Birdie's." Emory tried to walk away but I reached out and snatched her hand. "Jake what are you -? Ow ow, fine, I'll go, just let go of me." 

I let go and she pulled on her hand to get rid of the feeling. I could see the war in her one good eye as she reluctantly followed me inside. I led her into the kitchen, lifting her up onto the island before moving to grab the first aid kit from under the sink. I silently began working on cleaning up the blood on her face before moving down to see if there are other wounds to treat. 

"It's just my nose." She mutters and I release the breath I didn't know I was holding as I check on her nose. It wasn't broken thankfully and it didn't look like she was going to have a concussion either so I was able to relax a little. 

"Well it doesn't look broken." I sigh as I move to grab an ice pack from the freezer. "Just need some ice and you'll keep your gorgeous face in perfect condition." She gives me an unimpressed glance as I hold out the ice pack to show her how serious I am about fixing her nose. She grabs it and gingerly presses it against the bridge of her nose.

The air around us was thick as we sat in silence. I took the time to really take her in: the way her hair is still messy and her eyes are still slightly swollen, the bridge of her nose was red and she was sure to have bruising around her eyes tomorrow. I could tell by the way she stared at the tiled floor of our kitchen that she was in her mind. She was supposed to be at the bakery all night, and now she's showing up at my door bloody, again. I'm just about to say something when she speaks up.

"So I guess I gotta explain why we're having a deja vu episode."

"That would be nice." I say with a deep sigh. "But I'd rather make sure you are okay."

"I'm fine. I'd like to explain it all now, rather than later." Her voice sounded strained and for someone who was usually so confident, that was saying something. "Okay, shoot." 

She takes a deep breath before she starts. "I would like to state that if you never wanna see or speak to me again after you hear all this I completely understand, because it's a lot and you're probably gonna hate me afterwards and—"

"Em, please, stop." I cut her off, unable to deal with any more of her self deprecating rambling. "We're gonna have to get married before you continue so I can claim marital privilege."

"Wait, really?" She drops the ice pack to the counter as her eyes widen at my words. We've only just recently started talking about marriage being an option because I wanted to wait for her to be ready for it. "Seriously? You wanna marry me before I tell you all this?"

"Really, sweets." I smile, reaching out to cup her cheeks. "I love you and nothing could ever make me hate you! Shit, you could be the fucking leader of the Furies and I would still only see my Emory. I even have a ring upstairs." 

"No you don't." She chuckles nervously. 

"Oh, I do, trust me." I lean towards her and place a small kiss on her lips. They're chapped but warm. She leans forward as well, tilting her head slightly. We pull apart with a soft chuckle.

"So should we get you that ring and then go tell Bob and Birdie?" I smile.

"Yeah. Yeah I think we should." She nods before looking back at me. "You wanna help me clean up?" I laugh as I grab a washcloth to clean up the rest of the blood. 

Once she was cleaned up and changed into some new clothes, we made our way across the shared yard to the Floyd household. 

"I doubt they're even still up." Emory mutters as I knock on the door. "I mean seriously, it's 4 am. They wouldn't still be up, would they?"

"Not that I can tell." I frown and look back toward Em. "Let's see." We both peer inside the house through a window and we both see that the lights are still on, albeit dimly. Suddenly, the door opens to reveal Bob, his eyes already tired and his glasses fogged up from sleep. His hair was rumpled as if he had been running his hands through as his vision focused on us.

"Hey, what are you guys doing here so late?"

"We need to talk to you guys." I answer as Emory nods. 

"About what?" The tone in his voice indicates that he isn't buying into anything. He's definitely suspicious of us. 

"Nothing important." I lie and Emory quickly steps in.

"But you should go get Birdie."

"If it's enough for the both of you to interrupt mine and Birdie's sleep schedules, then it is important." Bob sighs, "Come on in." He gestures us in before locking the door and heading towards his bedroom where Birdie was surely sound asleep.

It's a few minutes before we hear the tell tale signs of Emory's best friend running down the hallway. 

"Em! Are you okay?" The brunette girl drops beside her friend, checking her over for injuries. "Should I call…?"

"I'm fine Bird, everything is okay now." Em assures her and I could see Birdie's shoulders visibly relax before she reaches for a pillow.

"Then where the hell have you been?!" The brunette exclaims as she pulls away from her friend, hitting her with the decorative pillow. "I thought you were dead! There was always a chance you were in deep but what the hell?!"

"I'll explain everything later, but we need you to do something for us first." Emory smiles softly, pulling the pillow from Birdie's hands. Both Birdie and Bob look at us confused as I move to the seat next to Em. 

"We're getting married tomorrow." I say.

"Oh." Bob answers shocked.

"Oh? Oh my god! Finally!" Birdie jumps up cheering. "Wait! Why tomorrow?"

"I might've fucked up on which door I knocked on again." Emory giggles. I laugh with her, Birdie just stares blankly at us before she speaks.

"So you're gonna...?"

"After the wedding, he wants marital privilege." Em answers.

"Oh well then by all means Mr. Seresin, dive in head first!" Birdie replies, laughing. "Break her heart after this, they won't find your body."

"I'm gonna kill you someday Birdie." Emory mumbles.

"No you won't." Birdie blows her a kiss. "Now you get the guest room." She says, pulling Emory from the couch and pushing her down the hall. "And you get to go home and sleep alone!" She says, looking at me. 

"But..."

"It's bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. Now get out of my house." Birdie ushers me towards the door.

"Ya know we could've done it in secret." I tell her.

"Then you'd be dead. Night Jake!" She smiles before closing her front door and locking it. 

With that I turned, headed towards home. I felt slightly lightheaded and giddy; I couldn't believe it actually happened. I didn't feel scared or worried, but I guess I should have. I knew I loved Emory and nothing could change that, why would she even think that anything would? As I thought about these things walking through my front door, I glanced at the clock, noting the brightly shining 4:36 am. The courthouse opens at 8, sleeping now would only make us late so I walked to the living room and threw on the morning news.

Our wedding, although a simple one at the courthouse with only Bob and Birdie present was perfect. I never needed the fancy suit, the white gown, and the big wedding to prove that I loved her. Seeing her stand before me with the ring I've been holding onto for a year was more than enough. Bob and Birdie treated us to breakfast before heading back to their house. And then Emory tells me everything. And I mean everything.

I sit in shock on the loveseat as Em paces across the living room from me. Birdie's in the kitchen making drinks and Bob speaks up from his seat on the other couch.

"Well thank fuck someone else knows." He sighs, relaxing into his chair.

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!" I shouted, turning to who I thought was my best friend. "You knew they were doing this?"

"Why else do you think there was never any definite trail linking them to any of the crimes? I've been busting my ass around the clock out here!" Bob defends. "Nat and I can't take it anymore!" Bob immediately slaps a hand over his mouth. My eyes widen, if possible, more than they already were. 

"Nat knows?!"

"BOB!" Both Emory and Birdie shout.

"Am I the only one who didn't know?" I question, my eyes trailing between the girls. 

"Uhhh, Jake. Let's talk more tomorrow after we've consummated our marriage and can't have it annulled." Em chuckles softly and I already know the answer. Everyone, everyone knew before me.

"Did everyone know before me?"

"At least Cyclone doesn't know. Especially about—" Bob is cut off again by his wife who's abandoned the drinks. 

"Robert!"

"The dam is broken, Birdie. There's no turning back now!" 

"I knew we should've let Psyche make him sign the NDA." Emory sighs, groaning as she drops into a seat.

"Well I figured he feared his wife more." Birdie shrugs.

"And I do!" Bob jumps up, trying to defend himself. "I don't fear jail because I know what you bunch are capable of."

"Robert Floyd! Did you only marry me cause you thought I'd kill you?!" Birdie shouts, turning to glare at her husband.

"No! I love you! I do!" Bob panics, trying to dig out of the hole he got himself in. "But I definitely don't wanna be on the receiving end of one of Em's special recipes."

"BOB!!!" Em, Birdie, and hell even I shouted at him, knowing that was definitely something he was not supposed to tell me.

"I'm gonna go shower now." Bob mutters, walking towards the master bedroom.

"I swear I'm gonna—"

"Let us leave before you go all Hera on his ass." Em laughs as she pulls me to the front door. I'm still processing everything she told me as we enter our home.

My girlfriend—my wife— is THE Persephone, the leader of the Furies. The woman who has been avoiding capture at my hand for years now. The love of my life is who I've been chasing this entire time. Holy shit.

"You okay over there?" Her voice drags me from my thoughts. I look up to see her staring at me expectantly. 

"I'm okay, I think?" 

"Are you asking me if you are okay?" She laughs, stepping up to me. Her hazel eyes still sparkle the way they always have, but especially since she now has the diamond ring I got paired with her now. This is still my Emory, not the known vigilante that I've been hunting for years. 

"No. I'm okay." I smile at her. 

"So... the handcuffs are still for in the bedroom and not for arresting me right?" She asks, smiling as she slowly pulls me towards our room. It's only then that I realize how painfully hard I am.

"Please stop talking. My dick is hard and I'm so confused as to why." Emory laughs at my statement, stopping in her tracks as she snorts, doubling over from her laughter. "This isn't funny Em! I'm conflicted!"

As she calms down she looks up at me with lust filled eyes. "At least you know that I don't entirely hate you for all the times you shot at me." She shrugs casually and walks into the room leaving me standing there in shock, her hips swaying a little more. 

Then it hits me. Some of the nights that we had the greatest sex— it was right after I had a shootout with the Furies. She would jump me the minute we were both home and my god—

"Don't you dare start without me, sweets!"

Taglist: (tagging those who might interested, join the taglist to keep being tagged or to be tagged next time) @mamachasesmayhem @eternalsams @sarahsmi13s @hookslove1592 @sailor-aviator @callsign-magnolia @goldenseresinretriever @callsigns-haze @some-lovely-day @buckysteveloki-me @bradleybeachbabe @lovinglyeternal @footprintsinthesxnd @ohtobeaspettyasleah @untoldshortsofthefandoms

Mama may's Everything tags: @aviatorobsessed @callsigncurse @teacupsandtopgun @trickphotography2 @thedroneranger @sweetwhispersofchaos @capoteera @hardballoonlove @buckysdollforlife @kmc1989 @seresinhangmanjake @shanimallina87 @dizzybee03 @hisredheadedgoddess28 @lynnevanss @jynxmirage @na-ta-sh-aa @whatislovevavy @dingochef @dempy @dckweed @just-in-case-iloveyou @tgmreader @djs8891 @marvelousnightjengale @soulmates8 @sorchathered

[starlingflight]

Drunk prompt for Miss. Starlingflight

Harry gets Dobby’s restraining order processed through the Ministry

or

Dobby challenges Harry Potter to a duel for Ginerva’s affection using carrots as swords

🧟‍♂️

A/N this is officially the stupidest thing I've ever written. Congratulations @dobnny you've show the world the real Holly and she's unhinged:

It had really gone too far this time. 

Harry didn't know what he'd expected when he'd walked into his house to find his carpet strewn in rose petals… well, actually, the problem was that he did know what he'd expected. 

And it wasn't Dobby laid out on his and Ginny's bed draw-me-like-one-of-your-french-girls style, with only a very thin sheet to protect his modesty. And Harry's eyes. 

“Master Harry! You were not supposed to be home yet!” 

This much was true, Harry was supposed to be on a mission for at least another two days by his own estimate, but, for once luck had been on his side and he'd been able to return early. Or at least he'd thought it was luck until the moment he'd opened the door on an almost-naked house elf. 

He sighed, accepting that life would always have a new challenge to throw at him, before inclining his head towards the door. “Dobby, get dressed and I'll meet you in the kitchen.” 

He turned and headed for the hallway without awaiting a response. 

The trouble, as Harry saw it, was that Dobby was Not Like The Other House Elves. He would always find a way to skirt Harry's orders and continue to pursue Ginny. And, really, Harry couldn't blame him, for there was little he wouldn't do for a sliver of Ginny's attention either.

What was any male, Wizard or House Elf, supposed to do in the face of Ginny's allure? 

Ginny would probably say that was sexist. Harry simply thought it was a problem to be solved given Dobby's increasingly unhinged behaviour.

A loud crack permeated the kitchen and Dobby appeared, thankfully fully clothed in a sweater vest, denim hotpants and bright red Wellington boots. 

“You wanted to see me, Master Harry?” 

“Yes,” Harry agreed, eyes casting around the kitchen for anything that might be useful in this situation. He needed to appeal to Dobby's deep sense of honour, without doing anything that might injure the hapless elf. His eyes fell on a bunch of carrots on the counter. “Dobby, I challenge you to a duel. The winner gets Ginny.” 

She would definitely divorce him if she ever heard such a sentence come out of his mouth. 

Dobby looked uneasy at the suggestion. “Master Harry,” he said, a hint of apology in his voice that had definitely not been there ten minutes ago when he'd been trying to seduce Harry's wife. “House elf magic is more extensive than Wizard magic. It would not be a fair fight.” 

Harry nodded, pursing his lips together as though he were deep in thought. “We won't use magic,” he said slowly. “Or swords. We're going to duel by a far more ancient tradition which relies upon one's skill with root vegetables.” 

[amethystina]

Hi!!! Im a big fan of ur fics! I noticed you reblogged the tdj third anniversary event and was wondering if u were going to be participating as a fic writer? Ik ur going through burnout rn so no pressure!! But ill be rlly excited if u r participating :)

Thank you so much 💜

Unfortunately, I don't think I will be participating as a fic writer. Not because I don't want to (because I do), or because I'm not tempted (because I am), or even that I don't have ideas (I most certainly do), but simply because it's not what's good for me right now.

The burnout is definitely a factor but, on top of that, I'm experiencing some pretty serious anxiety about the number of projects I'm currently juggling. I'm a person who usually finishes a fic before I start posting them and I currently have way too many of them that are ongoing, each one only making me feel more stressed.

(And more like a failure.)

And adding new ones, no matter how short they are, would require postponing the fics I'm already working on. Which, predictably, would only make my anxiety worse. So even if I love the event and would have loved to be able to participate, I really don't think I can.

My goals for my writing this month are to a) finish posting my Stuckony fic, b) start posting the self-indulgent 46k+ fic I wrote for a completely different fandom, and c) get as close as possible to finishing my Black Knight fanfic, since it's probably the easiest to complete at this stage.

After that, we'll see.

If I can, I'll try to draw something for the TDJ event, though, since it's a lot quicker and, quite frankly, a lot better for my mental health xD Drawing doesn't require nearly as much mental bandwidth and, unlike writing, doesn't actually drain me of energy. A lot of the time, it does the opposite.

So yeah. Sadly, I won't be writing any fics for the event. For the sake of my mental health, if I'm writing, I'll be working on projects that are already ongoing, not starting new ones.

[kawarikisaki]

What if Hakuba has figured out why Kaito choses to be Kid and that’s why he’s more obviously supportive of him even if he wish he’d stop being a thief.

I think he probably has figured out part of it, but realistically, he's probably missing a lot of the details.

Like, he definitely knows Kaito isn’t doing it for the thrill as he probably suspected early on. All the evidence he needs to Know that Kaito’s motive is something personal is the fact that he has enemies that are actively gunning for him (whether we want to take the specials as canon or not), and the fact that Kid's heists are scheduled in such a way that they normally align with the full moon (we haven’t gotten to see Hakuba witnessing how he checks gems like Conan has, but its not too much of a stretch for him to have noticed the moon's involvement.)

It's even fairly safe to assume that he’s noticed that Kid's disappearance 8 years ago just so happens to coincide with when Kaito’s father died in a tragic stage accident. Which would definitely tell him why Kaito is Kid.

But that doesn’t really tell him what purpose Kid has.

So Hakuba is still left with Questions.

'His dad died, it was reported as an accident, but what if it was a murder?' 'Is Kaito after revenge?' 'What does the moon have to do with anything?' 'Kaito wouldn't kill someone, right?' 'Why is he primarily targeting gemstones?' 'Why does he return what he steals' 'it'd be more efficient to not send advance notices, is there a reason he needs to draw attention? Or is it just for style points?'

And maybe he has a few of those answers... but he doesn't have all of them, and Kaito won't confirm anything.

So if we take the Kaitou Kid specials as potential canon (cause they do change things, but there’s so little canon Hakuba that I'll take some dubious canon as a supplement) then Hakuba knows about Spider and has been specifically investigating him, so its not much of a stretch to think he could also be aware of Snake and have some degree of knowledge about the organization they work for. And if that's the case, maybe he's heard snippets about Pandora, maybe he's able to make some assumptions about the how and why of Toichi's death...

Maybe he wants to pull a 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' with Kaito, perhaps even try to get Kaito some kind of pardon for helping with the investigation. He may not have the power to grant that personally, but perhaps he could pull some strings or get his dad to pull some strings.

But even if we assume he has that much information on the situation, he still doesn't know for sure what Kaito intends to do.

He's almost certain that Kaito doesn't intend to kill anyone. But he can't be 100% sure, because Kaito won't talk to him about Kid, and even if he did Kaito has a skillset that's optimized for lying. Even so, Hakuba believes Kaito wouldn't do that, he believes that Kaito is simply trying bring his father's killers to justice.

And he wants to help.

He's trying to help. Doing all he can to offer short of outright saying it.

But he can't really do much unless Kaito lets him in.

[morimakesfanart]

Sweetie are you alive?????

Somehow??? ;0;

I know I disappeared and I've been trying to figure out how to explain it when I post the next chapter. I have been unwell in multiple ways ;-;

I'm going to use this ask to try to figure out how to say it

First, the day after my birthday (yes the day after posting the last canon chapter) I went through something extremely scary that I don't want to talk about. I thought I was okay, but I'm the type to compartmentalize until I am actually safe enough to feel which turned out to be a few weeks after the event. I was actually so shaken up by what happened that I couldn't write or draw or do anything for fun for nearly a month. I was like a robot

Second, just as I was getting better emotionally, I got very very sick, had to see many doctors and specialists to figure out what was wrong. I had 3 conditions making each other worse. I won't get into the details here but it hurt to open one of my eyes for a long time and then I developed sever vision fatigue in both. Last week I was finally diagnosed as being infection free after months of treatments, but it went on for so long that I'll probably be having symptoms for at least another month as my body calms down.

The biggest saving grace is that I now I know I've been fighting an infection for who knows how long and got cured of it, maybe I won't get as sick all the time for a while???? ((Please🤞🤞🤞))

I started working on the art for the next chapter 2 weeks ago as the pain started fading enough that it didn't hurt to look at my art tablet. Not sure how long it will take because I keep getting vision fatigue very quickly. Patreon got to see the sketch version already. I'm practically desperate to draw and write at this point so as I'm slowly able to do so it's rushing out of me like tsunami. I have chapters 40&41 mostly done being written now too

Medical TMI for the morbidly curious :

(not a lot of details, but I wanted to hide it because I know eye stuff can be scary for people)

I learned that I had an ongoing eye infection in my eye lids and around my eye lashes for the past several years that was misdiagnosed (that doctor definitely didn't like me so I'm not surprised tbh). It only revealed the truth because my immune system couldn't keep up anymore and the infection started spreading under the skin in an extremely huge and painful way. The past several months I've been doing treatments. It was only last week that I was diagnosed as cured of both infections, but it will still be a month or more of living with the after effects. It has hurt to use my eyes and keep them open for most of the past several months. It doesn't hurt much anymore at least. I have another appointment coming up to see if the current symptoms were from the infection+ meds, or if all of this was so bad that I have glaucoma now. It runs in my family so I'm at risk. Also, it looks like I will need eye drops for the rest of my life, and developing dry eyes was most likely a big factor in why I got the first infection.

I'm so done with being sick

[whatinthehale17]

Okay so, this is a bit of long shot but I'm planning on starting a fanmade project for TE. It's my favorite choices story and there's still so much you can do with it.

I'm currently figuring out how to use Ren'py right now and watching videos and what not to figure out how to do this. I'm pretty new to all this but I think it'd be a fun project.

I'm probably gonna do some of the writing like the plot and Shreya's route (best girl) and also as I said I'm figuring out the coding as well.

But I'm definitely gonna need some help on this. I know others have expressed interest in a 3rd book and now is your chance if you're willing to help. Again it's fanmade and we're not making money off of this, this is just for fun and you can bail at any time.

I'll be making a discord once I start to get some interest in this so the link will be up at some point but if you're interested, just comment saying you'd like to help and what you'll be able to provide for this project.

Co-runner- I'm gonna need someone to help me run this project, help me keep the thing running and I'm a bit of an idiot so I'll be coming to you if I need help with anything. You'll be the Atlas to my MC lmao.

Artist- If you're a good drawer or you just love to draw and wanna help out on this project, we'd love to have you. I'm thinking we'll need some new characters for the plot and if you want, maybe some new backgrounds too (or we could just pick ones from the multiple backgrounds choices already has)

Writer- I'm a lesbian and obsessed with Shreya so I don't really have any idea about the other routes. But I know a lot of people are obsessed with like Beckett and the other love interests so anyone willing to help work on the different routes would be great. Not to mention the plot of the book, the adventures the pend pals could be getting into and side stuff like your relationship with your mom and the villains and such.

Coders- Like any great game, we'd need people who can code or wanna try it out like I'm currently doing. I've always heard Ren'py is good for that stuff and that's what the ILW crew used and that's what I'm currently learning right now so if you wanna try it out or already know how, we'd appreciate the help.

And of course, if you just wanna help out, you can join and I'll figure something out for you to do. My work schedule is kind of whack right now so this week we probably won't be getting anything done unfortunately (maybe Thursday or Friday if I have people and what not) but hopefully the week after, i'll have things figured out.

Last but not least, my idea for how I think the plot should go-

The gang is back for their next year of school

MC, Shreya, Zeph, Beckett- Juniors

Griffin- Senior

Aster, Atlas- Sophomores

But just like always, the school year is never simple for them.

The High Attuned has been watching over the school and visiting more frequently, keeping an eye on you and Atlas.

Zeph is having trouble with Thief captain as much as he hates to admit it.

Griffin is having parent troubles after they found out about his interest in Natural disaster field work instead of being a professional Thief player.

Shreya has hired an assistant to help with Serene and Sublime, though the assistant keeps messing things up and causing Shreya to lose customers, important ones at that.

With Beckett's urge to please his professors, he works himself too much to the point he begins to experience burnout and freaks out over the smallest things resulting in him pushing his friends away.

Aster is having trouble running the shop and keeping up with her studies and she's worried she might have to close it down.

Atlas is happy to catch up on lost time with their mom but when their mom becomes a professor for the school, Atlas isn't exactly sure how to feel about it and starts to lash out on Theia, resulting in the MC to have to try and fix the relationship.

MC does their best to help everyone with their problems but begins to have problems of their own when the school recruits another sun-att who does everything in their power to one up MC in every way.

Of course, it's just a rough draft of how I think the year should go, but we could always change stuff around if people have better ideas. Also, of course, there will be new spells to learn like in the other books and I was also thinking like...was I the only one that shipped Dean Swan and Theia together? Like Dean Swan already acts like a mother figure to the twins. And some of the sources will be back like Gemma and I really wanted to incorporate the High Attuned because we got like two minutes of information about them and then nothing ever again.

So yeah, this is super long and we can talk more on the discord but if you're interested just tell me what you wanna do.

[dreadnotau]

Its been a decent couple of months of productive work, so it's sadly time for a schedule change. I'll be posting pages two weeks apart again. Details provided below if you're curious as to why.

In all honesty there's no big dramatic reason this time around. I've just slowly lost drive to work on Dread Not as often and as thoroughly as I used to be able to. As I said in one of my previous posts (that sounded suspiciously like this one), I want to focus on other projects as well. One of those is my personal art blog, which I've neglected even though I've had art on the backburner that I've been meaning to post for AGES. Kingdomrune is another one of those, where I have shit I could post that I just... never did. Dread Not takes a lot of time and I miss being able to dedicate that time to consuming media instead of just grinding and trying to produce my own. One of the most important things to do as an artist is to broaden your horizons and take in as much art as you can, to diversify and expand what you know and what you can make. But, when all day every day I'm just sitting and drawing my own thing, it's like I have tunnel vision and my creative resources run dry. It's starting to feel weirdly soulless on my end, because I don't feel nearly half the inspiration to make the pages as I did when the big hiatus ended. It's all dependent on time and exposure, and I can only crunch for so long before it starts to feel damaging to me instead of fun and creatively fulfilling.

So what does this mean, practically speaking? Well, for one, I'm spacing out the page upload for the rest of Act 1, as previously mentioned. I'm well aware this will kill the pacing and it'll drag out longer than it theoretically needs to, but I'd even rather that than trying to rush out a page in the Two Days I have free this week (yeah, ONLY two days free out of the ENTIRE week. Don't ask me why it's not even my fuckin' fault this time). If pages become even more scarce than 1 page per 2 weeks, blame it on college. I'm getting new subjects and I don't even know the class schedule yet. Concerning Act 2 though, I'll be changing the structure of the pages from their core. I'll be switching to a different drawing software (probably Krita, suck my dick Photoshop) so it'll take some getting used to. I can't even promise bonus content or anything during the necessary break between acts because of that shift in software happening, I've never done a massive technical move like this. However, it'll allow me to, not only work on Dread Not better, but expand my art overall, so it's definitely worth it. I've wanted to get into animation for YEARS and Krita seems like an okay place to start (the gif on this post WAS made with Photoshop, but shitty gifs are about all I can make as animations in Photoshop). Act 2's style will, predictably, differ heavily from Act 1 and (with how long writing the dialogue alone for it is taking), it might end up being Longer than Act 1, too. Visually, it'll probably be something like cleaned up and coloured sketches, with simpler colour palettes and simpler (big airquotes) visuals overall, and it'll speed up the process and possibly allow me to post more than one page at a time. Possibly. That's not a promise.

I'm sorry if that's disappointing to anyone, but I physically can't make myself continue the current artstyle across all acts. It's just not feasible.

For those curious about the FARTHER future of Dread Not, I have plans to turn Act 3 into a series of fics rather than full comic pages, and something maybe a bit more insane for Act 4. I don't have everything figured out yet, and I don't want to make any false promises or give any grand ideas I won't be able to commit to, since only time will tell how my creativity will flow years from now. If you all want more content from me specifically, again I'm planning on reviving my art tumblr like a half buried zombie, and you'll probably see more there than you bargained for once I actually get into the habit of posting things. If you're mayhaps interested in my original stuff, keep your eyes peeled for a guy called Duro, I might start posting about him some time soon.

As always, thank you for your patience, and apologies again if this news was disappointing to anyone. I'm just one guy and this comic is a titan of biblical proportions. I'll keep you all posted on any further developments and plans for the future! Stay tuned!

[kandismon]

Do you have any tips for those who wish to create a webcomic?

I do apologize if this has been asked before!

this is a pretty big question that would probably be easier to answer if you had any specific things you'd like to know about!

but i can give you a summary of general things i've learned over the years!

disclaimer: these are my personal experiences, if any of this sounds like something that doesn't fit your workflow or preferences, please disregard!

if you've never made a webcomic before, i would personally recommend starting small. do a short oneshot first to see how it feels instead of diving right into your multi-season 2000 pages big epic story, because i feel like the workload can get really overwhelming really fast if you go from 0 to 100 right away. some creators thrive on that but it was definitely not for me. i have a lot of failed and unfinished projects sitting around because i was too ambitious and didn't know what i was getting myself into. later on i started drawing short comics for various fandoms & ships i was invested in deeply, and those got progressively longer until i suddenly felt ready to seriously tackle one of my original stories again. which was when i finally started working on #MUTED!

don't worry about sticking to the strict 60+ panels weekly schedule that you see a lot on platforms like webtoon for example. unless you've signed a contract, you make the rules and decide how much and how often you post. i've seen a lot of creators burn themselves out over that when there really wasn't any need because no one was forcing or paying them to churn out so much all the time T -T) you can still find an audience and success with a slower pace (for example #MUTED was released with 2 episodes a month, 1 ep usually had around 20ish panels iirc)

finished is better than perfect. if you're a perfectionist this can be difficult to accept, but i promise most people won't look at your panels for longer than 1.5 seconds. some wonky lines here and there don't matter much, it's more important to get the feelings across imho.

vector layers (for inking) are your best friend \o/

imho having a pretty clear outline for your story can be really helpful and take away some stress, knowing where the story is going without having to constantly sit down inbetween chapters to come up with more plot is a blessing and i wish i had been better about doing that with #MUTED. i did have a rough outline but a lot of holes in between chapters and in the end some things i would have liked to explore more never got touched on because my planning was bad and i wasn't able to find the room in the story (like some emma back story, more about jasper's family dynamics, also a bit more of a deep dive into kai's relationship with his family) (also towards the end i felt pretty burned out and just wanted to move on haha) [i'm not saying to plan every scene right from the get go, there's always room to adjust and remove or add stuff while you're working on the project, but a few important anker points here and there are important, at least for me!]

shortcuts are also your best friend, use all of them. 3d models too!

when you start publishing, don't get discouraged by algorithms and statistics and numbers (i say as that's something i still struggle with daily LOL), agonising over these things is pointless because they're mostly out of your control, focus on things you can actively do to be proud of your work. also instead of comparing yourself to others, instead compare yourself to past you! look how far you've come compared to the you from last year :>

i hope any of this helps, sorry for rambling lol if there's ever any specific questions, my asks are always open and i'll do my best to try and help out!! i'm also still learning and don't consider myself to be a person who really has anything to teach to anyone, but i can share my progress and experiences and hype you up if needed, hehe

good luck with your comic!!

[dragonmasterhiccup]

“You’re right there, he is definitely happy; I swear, I think he’s more in love with Luna than you are with Astrid, and that’s saying something.”

“Yeah, and all the ‘old fashioned’ Berkians will probably be dead by then— Kidding! Haha, just kidding! Aren’t I just hilarious?”

She held her hands up in mock surrender. “Hey! That’s not what I was trying to say, but… I am not denying that claim, if anyone fits that category, it’s definitely you! And you can’t be mad that I agree, because you brought it up!”

“You’ve been eating Astrid’s cooking? Physically consuming it? How are you even alive right now? Wait, am I just hallucinating you? Did you actually die and become a fragment of my imagination or something? Oh Gods… Hiccup, if I am really talking to you, I’m gonna need you to prove it; state my full name and age, and… just, I dunno, prove you’re actually alive.”

“Duh, she’s a one month old baby, of course she’s fragile.” Her eyes widened a slight bit, and she stuttered for a brief moment. “Well, uh, I was honestly just wondering.” She shrugged. “I wouldn’t be opposed to it, I mean I love flying either way, so it doesn’t matter too much to me, but don’t you think that should be a family thing? And by ‘family’ I mean you, her, and Astrid.”

“Do I? Do I really know you? Or have you been tricking me for over a year?” she asked teasingly.

When they entered the stables, Danny immediately started looking inside the fish barrels, seeing if they were full or not. “Uh, by ‘we’ you mean that you’ll do the measurements and I’ll do the drawing, right?”

Finishing up her search for supplies, she concluded, “The two barrels over there by the Monstrous Nightmares are empty, and we should probably stock up on some more saddle polish…”

Laughing, he nodded. "I can't disagree with that!"

His jaw dropped. "Wait, wait, I only said it that way for lack of a better phrase! I'm your brother, don't you have anything kind to say?"

He stopped, looking at her, completely deadpan, and poked her hand. "See? I'm not dead. Dead tired? Yes. Dead? No. Your full name probably won't convince you, since we have the same last name. But I assure you, I am not, in fact, dead. Now, as for Astrid's cooking..." He continued walking. "Yes, I've had to eat it. It is getting better, especially if she follows a recipe, but if she doesn't?" He just shook his head.

"Well, I suppose...but, if you wanted to be there, I'm not going to refuse."

Rolling his eyes, all he said was, "Oh, ha-ha. Very funny."

Chuckling, he held up his hands. "Hey, you do like to draw, don't you? Look, I figure it's something we'll be able to do together. I'm more than happy to draw it out if you aren't interested."

"Okay. Easy enough. I'll add it to the list, see if our traders can bring back extra."

Looking around, he noticed there were less dragons than usual, but that could have just been him. "How's Twilight? And Camicazi?"

[zyiainautumn]

Hi!! So this is a rant and a vent and really just everywhere so you don't have to read at all. If you do or don't just know that I love you!

[this shit is genuinely just a ramble. I've got so much on my mind]

Anyway... My birthday is in 6 days, I'm turning 16 and “You shouldn't put your age on the Internet” [Shrug].

I feel like my life is genuinely going to mean nothing, like that's not a problem to others but to me it is. With the way I grew up I feel like I have to be important but it's so hard.

I have this urge, this stupid thought that I've got something I need to do in my life but I don't know what it is and it definitely won't matter. That's the truth. It's so annoying. I have so many dreams but I'm not talented and I know this.

Yes I can draw - It's not good enough

Yes I can write - It's not good enough

I'm not pretty, I'm not smart enough, I can sing but I'm not good enough to be anything, if I tried I could possibly act but again I'm not good enough. Sure all of these insecurities are probably my fault and I should get over them but it's so hard.

I could've been talented I really could've but I've gotten to a point in my life, unfortunately, where I can't. I could try and apply myself but it won't help.

I had something going for me at some point. I was in band. I guess I was good and even if I wasn't , I had a purpose. I quit because it got to be too much. I've had to go through so much in my life while still being able to attend practices and be there.

Sure the performances were worth it, the feeling of accomplishment was worth it, it was worth it to hear the place we got and jump around excited, and absolutely house a whole bunch of junk food but at the end of the day I was exhausted and the finances were too much for my mom while everything was going on so I quit.

I only went to one performance to watch my friends perform and the moment I heard the intro I was done for. I've never actually had to leave something because I was like an actual sobbing mess but I did that night. It was like a realization that I didn't matter without band.

Now however...that changed. I love band and it's the biggest part of me but I couldn't do it again. I realized now that I couldn't handle it again. I had every right not to like the people I didn't like. I didn't like one of the directors, a kid in my section made me...UGHHHH, it truly was exhausting, and I'm absolutely not built for that.

I'm doing theater my junior year but maybe this'll be better and I'll feel better about myself.

Okay because that was random here's my real problem. I want to do so much with my life but at the end of the day I feel like I'm just gonna end up being the living embodiment of Jobless Monday by Mitski. I know dwelling on these thoughts are practically manifesting it but what the hell else am I supposed to do? I have no help and can't get any. Fuck insurance because why is it cheaper for me to just sit and suffer? whatever anyway.

Take some of my favorite songs.

[lazar-codes]

04/03/2024 || Day 19 (dop)

TLDR:

🔸 practised ASL fingerspelling

🔸 started learning PHP

🔸 started learning Blender

🔸 sketched a page in my sketchbook

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work

Volunteering - Last week was tiring, but fun! The event that I was volunteering at focused on people with intellectual disabilities, and I was part of the health screening section (though I was merely recording data, not conducting the screening). This event had people from all over Canada too. Because of that I had to brush up my french skills, which I haven't used in nearly 8+ years, so that was a struggle. What was less of a struggle was communicating with ASL!! I had one person who was deaf and when I realized it I was able to sign to him! Mind you, when he signed back I didn't 100% understand him because I was too focused on what I was signing, and I definitely made a few mistakes, but I'm still really happy!

5in5weeks - Ok, @izicodes made a challenge 2 years ago to spend 5 weeks learning 5 programming languages, and I thought that was a super good idea and that it would help with my burnout. (link to the project can be found here). Now, I'm gonna be taking weekends off (and I'm out of town for the next few days later this week), so I won't be doing this daily, but I'm gonna try my best not to take random days off. That being said, I'm starting this off with PHP! I covered some basics today by watching a youtube playlist, and I probably won't get through all 100+ videos in a week, but my aim with this challenge is to get the basics done and create something simple. After this challenge, I'll delve deeper into the languages that I like.

💌 Day 1: What are you most looking forward in learning PHP?

I had to use PHP for a class about 2 years ago and I asked my friend to help me (because I had no idea what was going on and it wasn't taught in class), and he basically did the work. Now, I keep on seeing PHP as a requirement for job applications, so I decided to finally get started on learning it. I actually applied for a job half a year ago and they emailed me asking if I knew PHP, and having to say no made me feel like garbage. So...time to change that.

Art - I've been wanting to delve into 3D art for a while now. 3 years ago I looked up the classic donut tutorial for Blender, but that's it. Now I'm gonna do the same thing, but this time progress past the tutorial and actually make things on the regular with it. Hopefully I will be as obsessed with it as I was when I was first learning how to draw, and just pump out as much as I can (quality doesn't matter at the starting point). There's just so much to the interface for Blender that you need to learn...it's overwhelming and intimidating.

[stargazer-sims]

15 OC Questions!

I was also tagged by @van-yangyin - thank you! I love how many times I've been tagged for this. I'll happily do as many as I get!

Anya (Baranova) Pavlenko

Are you named after anyone?

I'm not entirely sure, to be honest. My real name is Anna-Valentina Alexandrovna (The first part is pronounced like Anna from the movie "Frozen" if you're curious). "Alexandrovna" is the patronymic from my father, Alexander, so I suppose technically I'm named after him, but I don't think it really counts because all Russian names are like that. Anya is a diminutive of Anna, although it's my preferred way to be addressed.

Anyway, there's a family rumour that my father named me after his first crush which, if it's true, must've absolutely thrilled my mom. Her name's Yevgenia; Zhenya or Jenny for short.

When was the last time you cried?

I try to cry as little as possible. The last time was quite recently, though. It was a couple of weeks ago, at the airport, just before I boarded the first leg of my flight home. Kolya — you know him as Nikolai. He'd never tolerate that particular diminutive from anyone who's not close to him — came to say goodbye to me. He was trying so hard to be brave, poor thing, but he was crying a little bit and trying desperately to hide it, and that set me off. He doesn't cry often either, but it absolutely breaks my heart when he does. I had to hurry off so we didn't embarrass ourselves by giving away our weaknesses in front of each other like that. I cried my eyes out on the plane, though. I love him so much, and saying goodbye is always hard, no matter what I may claim is the "official story".

Do you have kids?

Thankfully, no. Children would definitely cramp my lifestyle. I don't think my darling Kolya wants kids either, so I'm sure that even if we do manage to settle down at some point, I'll still be able to dodge that particular bullet.

Do you use sarcasm?

I do, but not excessively.

What’s the first thing you notice about people?

I tend to notice little imperfections; asymmetry in a face, birthmarks, moles, wrinkles, scars... that sort of thing. Those are the things that make faces unique and interesting and beautiful. The little creases between Nikolai's eyebrows, for example? I love those. I'm a professional photographer, and I think I've always had an eye for fascinating physical details.

What’s your eye colour?

My eyes are blue.

Scary movies or happy endings?

I'll admit, I enjoy scary movies. Not the ones with senseless, gratuitous violence, but the ones that have the potential to be truly scary. Psychological thrillers and films that are scary enough to make me look over my shoulder for a few days afterward. When we're together, Nikolai watches them with me sometimes, but I know he doesn't like them. When the really scary or messy parts come up, he just wants to be cuddled and doesn't really want to look. I won't lie... I like scary movies for that reason, too. I'm a bit enamoured with the idea of him needing me to protect him from something. He's typically the strong one, or at least that's what he'd like everyone to think, so it's oddly nice when he lets himself be even a little vulnerable with me.

Any special talents?

Ooh... I don't think I should say what those are on a PG-13 blog. Ask my Kolya what my special talents are. Watch him blush. It'll be adorable and amusing, I promise.

Where were you born?

Brindleton Bay

What are your hobbies?

I would say photography, but that's also my job, so probably that doesn't count. My main hobby is painting and drawing. I also enjoy cooking and trying new recipes. I absolutely love to dance. I think that could be considered a hobby as well. Oh, and I like to knit.

Have you any pets?

No, I don't. My job requires a lot of travelling, and it wouldn't be fair to the pet if I constantly had to leave them with someone else while I'm away.

What sports do you play/have played?

I used to be a competitive figure skater. I also did gymnastics when I was young. One of my favourite sports is skiing, and I also enjoy weight training and yoga.

How tall are you?

165cm

Favourite subject in school?

My favourite subject in school was always art. I also liked physical education and history.

Dream job?

I'm lucky enough to have my dream job right now. I'm a professional photographer, and I specialize in sports and entertainment. My studio is called Shooting Stars, and I've gotten contracts from all over the world to do shoots for actors, musicians, athletes and performing artists. My photos have been in magazines, on the internet, and in loads of advertising and promotional materials. Between contracts, I actually do have a physical studio in Brindleton Bay, where I do both corporate and private portrait shoots for clients. It's just a little hole-in-the-wall place, but it's mine and I love it. My flat is above the studio, so it's convenient to be so close to my work when I'm at home. I can't possibly imagine anything better. Not everyone can say they're living their dream, but I'm proud to say I am.

______

I've tagged so many people already, but this time I'll tag @van-yangyin (because you tagged me), @bl-sims-anime @akitasimblr @enniewritesathing

As always, feel free to ignore if you've already done it, or don't want to do it!