#anyways googled this book while looking for the cover image

[do-you-know-this-adhd-character]

Do you know this (canon) ADHD character?

Proof: Discussed within the book, from chapter 2

[moodymisty]

Surprise

Author's Note: Loosely based off my personal experience struggles learning Spanish and Portuguese. I wanted to do something sfw to work on König's character and get a feel for things with CoD. I'll make some filth soon lol

Any German used is one or two very easily understandable words, and anything more in-depth is just implied via italics. Far easier than making an arse out of myself with Google translate because we all know how that works.

Summary: You've been studying German in secret from König for weeks now, hopefully it pays off.

Relationships: König/Fem!Reader

Warnings: I do not know German so I apologize, Fluff, Reader is implied foreigner but from where is not specified, Fluff without plot

Word Count: 2016

Closing the book in your lap you take your hands away from the pages and rub them over your face, feeling the way your eyes almost burn from overuse. Squeezing them shut helps, but it almost seems like the letters are burned into the back of your eyelids.

No more information can be shoved into my brain; Not tonight.

It's late- the sun has long since set and if you start another section, you might end up hearing the birds outside start chirping by the time you finish and go to bed. With König gone and it being the weekend you can at least sleep in, to cover up your late night of studying.

Getting up off the couch and taking your notes and textbook, they both come with you to the bedroom; Where you hide them underneath the cushion of the window seat. It was a place that he would never look, at least not without good reason.

That was part of the plan after all, for him to be surprised by all this.

As for all the time you've known König his mother tongue has remained a mystery to you, unable to understand whenever he mumbles it under his breath while fixing himself something to eat, or yelling at a door frame he hit with his shoulder or head by accident. Which happens frequently, as unfortunately the apartment isn't exactly built for a man of his size.

You’ve picked up words and small sentences over time; Maus, danke, bitte, ich liebe dich; Scheisse as well, much to König's playfully faked distress. He's always tried to refuse teaching your swears, but you've picked up on them anyways. He thinks they sound too cute to take seriously when you say them. They just make him laugh.

But none of it is enough to hold any length of conversation. König is sweet and always helps whenever you need something translated, but you know sometimes words just don't cross over one to one. Not to mention you don't want to always rely on him. So you decided to learn as much as you could, but keep it a surprise. At least for a bit. There was only so far you could get without speaking it, using it- but for now you could at least try and listen.

''Can you help me?' You stumble out in practice before sighing, slipping into your nightclothes as your bed remains unmade and calling out to you.

Could really use some of that right now.

You keep mumbling to yourself, the words floating through your head, hoping they'll stick to the image of an object or scene that follows in tandem. It's such a silly, impossible goal, but you want to impress him. You slip into bed and begin relaxing, hoping you'll be able to sleep before light starts bleeding through the curtains.

The ring of your phone however distracts you from any further thoughts, grabbing it off the bedside table where it had been charging. Only one person will call this late, and since you’re already in your nightclothes, you answer without even checking the caller id. It would just say 'Unknown' anyways, if it was him. You answer and speak up.

"Good evening. Or morning? Afternoon?"

König chuckles and even if it's hundreds or even thousands of miles away, it still makes you smile. When he's gone you usually don't hear much from him at all, so it's always a wonderful treat when he does manage to find a moment.

"Evening. The sun is just about to set." You're sure he can hear you rustling of the blankets as you pull them over your body, laying down with your phone on speaker right in front of the pillow.

"Keeping busy, Liebe?"

"As busy as I can, it's really late. Was just about to sleep." König hums, and you can hear the scratch of him rubbing his head.

"Ahh, am I keeping you up? I don't want you tired because of me." Just as you go to answer him back someone must enter the room, asking him something. You can hear the question and König's extremely curt and irritated response to it, and it's a struggle to not laugh when you realize you understood enough of it to put the pieces together.

So all this studying wasn't for nothing!

It's nice to finally see that you've been making at least some sort of stride. Once he finishes grumbling a reply at whoever had interrupted him- ignoring how cute you find it that he's so feverishly defending what tiny bit of time he has to talk to you- You answer back.

"Don't worry, I want to stay up; I miss you. I miss hearing your voice before I go to bed." You hear König let out a shy cough, rustling around. Sometimes he still gets a little bashful when you're particularly overt with how you feel about him.

"Then I will stay with you as long as I can." You know that's asking a lot of him; To even get a few moments time while he's deployed in the middle of god knows where is asking for a miracle. A damn good miracle at that.

"I miss you too, liebling."

His voice sounds so quiet when he speaks; You don't know if it's because of there being someone else in the room with him, or that he's just still not used to saying things like that.

The bed is warm and the blankets are soft, but it's still nowhere near as pleasant when König is here beside you. Neither of you have any idea how long he's going to be gone this time, but you always prepare as if it's going to be a long while. Hopefully however, it wont. You're not going to last very long without having him here with you. Just the feeling of being stuck in his arms because he's dead asleep and his grip is so strong- you miss it. You miss him kissing you on the cheek to wake you up in the mornings, and the feeling of his hand on the dip of your waist. His voice always sounds so gruff and sore in the mornings, whispering in English or German or a mix of both as he hides his face in your neck.

The sudden increase in background noise from the other side of the call jolts you out of any sort of fantasizing you were in, thankfully before it went down a path perhaps a bit more appropriate for such a late hour. König speaks up before you have a chance to ask if he needs to leave.

"I have to go; I promise I will try and find another moment to talk to again, ok?" You can hear the sudden rustling around in the background; Some of it from him, some clearly from elsewhere in the room.

He whispers again; Unsure under his breath 'I love you', the words still a bit shy and experimental on his lips. You return it quickly before the line goes dead. You have to reach a hand from under the blanket to lock your phone, staring at the lock screen for a moment.

Now the room feels almost, eerily quiet.

You turn over to set your phone down on the nightstand and turn off the last of the lights, heading to closing your eyes and trying to get some sleep.

When König returns, it's usually not without a fair share of eventfulness.

Normally he spends a day or two somewhere else first before coming back to you, which you understand; He doesn't want to bring 'that side of him' back home. Doing what he does isn’t a 9-5, and it’s not something that’s easy to leave at the front step.

After having a bit to decompress he's finally returned, having just closed the front door. He finished unlacing his combat boots and putting them beside your own shoes, as you shuffled off to get him something to drink after already tackling him. You had nearly jumped on him the moment you hear his key hit the lock, feeling him mumble a surprised but happy greeting against your lips.

Leaning over he goes to pick his pack back up off the ground to move it, but it either gets hooked on something, or the fabric finally gives. Either way the contents then spill out all over the floor, from clothing to whatever else he has stuffed inside.

"Damn it! You fucking piece of-"

The stream of swears he lets out makes you nearly winge, between about how he's going to damn the thing to Hell or set it ablaze. Either or. You try not to smile and quickly go to help him clean up the mess of his belongings that's now scattered all over the floor. You shoo his hands back a bit.

"Here, let me help, instead of you yelling about trying to set it all on fire."

König quickly stops what he was doing, and watches as you come closer. He looks confused for a moment, brow furrowed as if trying to see if you’re just being silly, or got lucky guessing what he was saying.

“...Did you understand me?” He experimentally says; As If in disbelief. You can’t help but smile and respond back.

“Are you surprised?” You cover your mouth and laugh, while cringing.

"Oh god my accent must be terrible, I haven't spoken it to anything other than the-" König bursts up from his awkward squat on the ground and wraps his arms under the crease of your bottom, lifting you off the ground. "-Wall!" Your arms wrap around his neck trying to keep yourself upright while he eagerly kisses your cheek. Over and over again, until it’s nearly red.

"Meine Liebe you sound perfect, how long have you been keeping this from me?" In any other context he probably would've been upset you were keeping secrets from him, especially big ones, but he seems too happy with the outcome to even care.

"A couple months. Long enough that I was scared you might catch me." The idea of him 'catching' you seems to make him laugh, but he still refuses to put you down.

"You made my terrible day so much better, I hope you know." He gives you another kiss this time on the lips, made easier from you being lifted to his height. Your arms snake loosely around shoulders as you giggle against his mouth, fingers tangling in his messy, soft hair. He's long since abandoned his mess on the ground at his feet, finally putting you down only to awkwardly bend over with you and kiss you again. His lips feel soft against yours and his hands cup your jaw so gently, before his lips leave yours with a soft pop.

"I hope you know you don't have to do this for me, liebling."

His eyes are tired from spending so long awake, hair messy and unkempt. You know the moment the excitement is all over he's just going to want to take a nap.

"I know, but I wanted to." You awkwardly try to hug him around the shoulders. "You're dedicated to helping me now, though." König lets out a quiet laugh.

"Of course, but can we take a nap first?" He always says we, as even though you're probably not tired in the slightest, he quietly hopes you'll join him for his own piece of mind. You help him sleep better, he confessed one night.

"Go lay down; I'll pick this all up." Listening to you he leans up to his full height and sluggishly walks off, retreating to your bedroom as you pick up his belongings. You stuff them all in the bag for him to go through himself later, before you follow and find him already face down on the mattress. He barely even bothered to change; Only his trousers are swapped to something more comfortable.

The moment you climb onto the bed with him he's trying to drag you into his arms, wrapping them tight around you and tugging you close to his body like some sort of stuffed animal. He feels so warm, your hands softly laying against his back.

You hear him mumble sleepily; Something about you being his little 'stuffed bear', before he's out like a light.

[lxgentlefolkcomic]

Info and FAQ (Please read before sending asks)

What is this?

This is the League of Extraordinary Gentlefolk, a comic project based on the premise of Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Think The Avengers, but with characters from Victorian lit.

If you’re familiar with the Alan Moore comic, or the 2003 movie, don’t expect this project to look much like either one. I’m keeping the name, the basic premise, and most but not all of the core cast, and going my own way with all the rest.

Where can I start reading?

For the start of episode 1, click here. For non-canonical bonus material, click here.  I’ll be updating this post with more links as the comic proceeds.

Who’s working on this thing?

The LXGF team consists of:

Chicken (@mayhemchicken-artblog​): Project leader, artist, blog owner, part-time writer

linguisticparadox (@linguisticparadox​): Writer, blog admin

Dathen ( @dathen​, @datheneth on Twitter, Dathen on AO3): Editor, image description writer

L. Spooner (@fruitviking​, @voiceofspoon on Twitter): Writer

@see-arcane​: Writer

Mr. Pinniped (@mrpinniped​, Mr_Pinniped on AO3): Writer

Rosie C. (@absolutely-and-always13​): Writer

Lemur (@drowninginaseaoflemurs​): Writer

The Collector of the Whimsies (@pop-goes-the-weasel​): Writer

Jesterbells (@jesterbells): Writer

Luna: Editor

Drakontissa (@thegoatsongs​): Writer, image description writer

@cattuladaily​: Writer

@severedfeetpics​: Writer

@kouvei​: Writer

@the-constellation-collective: Image description writer

Hiri (@hirilelfwraith): Image description writer

Jade (@riseofthesea​): Image description writer

Do I need to read all the books and stories this is based on?

We’re aiming to make the comic accessible to people who have never read the original works. Reading the stories will enrich your experience with the comic, but it is by no means necessary.

If you’re interested in reading the original works, @linguisticparadox​ compiled a fantastic Google doc with links to all the texts we’re using as inspiration. (at least, all the ones we can currently share without giving away future spoilers... :3c)

How will you be handling [insert issue/plot point/character portrayal from either LoEG or one of the source texts here]?

Hopefully, in a respectful and nuanced fashion. We’re doing our utmost to remain faithful to the source texts we’re drawing from whenever possible, while at the same time avoiding uncritically reproducing the prejudices present in those texts.

What are the guidelines for sending in asks?

Be respectful. This is the “goes without saying” rule, but this is Tumblr, so I’ll say it anyway. Trolls, hate, bad-faith questions, and exclusionism will be deleted.

Read the FAQ. If your question is covered in this post, odds are I’m not going to answer it.

Be patient. I’m only one person, and I’m not always going to be able to answer asks in a timely fashion - or at all. This is my first time running a blog that receives this level of interaction, and I’m still figuring a lot of things out as I go.

Are you looking for guest artists/writers?

Not currently. We’ve talked about this possibility for the future, but as of right now we’re not accepting submissions for new writers. I’ve also had a couple people offer to help with inking/backgrounds, and while I appreciate the offer, I would like to clarify that I do not intend to do either. The comic will remain black and white and sketchy indefinitely.

What characters are part of this?

There are a LOT of characters planned to appear in this thing. I’m working on a separate cast list page, but in the meantime, the core League by the end of Episode 2 will consist of: Mina and Jonathan Harker, Irene Norton (better known as Irene Adler), Dr. John “Jack” Seward, Dr. Henry Jekyll/Edward Hyde, Ashley Griffin, and Captain Nemo. Additionally, expect to see a wide variety of supporting cast members in roles both large and small, including more official League members to be added down the road.

Why is Jonathan Harker here?

Because he loves his wife!! And I love him. Also, he’s a white-haired kukri-wielding genderqueer possibly-a-cryptid, and how can you NOT put a character like that in your comic?

(Slightly more serious answer: Because this comic is founded almost entirely on spite and self-indulgence, and in my humble opinion the Harkers were done dirty by Alan Moore. I’m a huge Dracula fan thanks to Dracula Daily, and I want to give Jonathan Harker the spotlight I feel he deserves.)

Where can I learn more?

Join the Discord server! We’re discussing the comic, the works that inspired it, Alan Moore’s uhh...questionable creative choices, and more! There’s some bonus art in there, too.

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 4B - The Judge's Guild Roundup Completed

Oh. Oh we're still doing this? It won't end? Gods. At least we made it to 1978. Anyway, happy eclipse to every. Reminder: the people who run Judge's Guild now are full-on nazis, do not buy their books. Go hug your loved ones instead.

The Thieves of Fortress Badabaskor (1978)

Maybe I was too hard on the Prince Valiant-ass artstyle. It looks very proud for a bandit fortress, don't you think? The full color version that comes out later is even nicer -- it's the one you find on google images first. Anyway. Fort Badboybaskaur was founded by ''The Emperor of Glorious Doomfire''. It truly was the era of so-bad-its-good naming! The fort was built so that if raiding happened, the many small villages could congregate there for safety. Only, it turns out there was a red dragon underneath. And then that got resealed. And then an evil demigod took over. And then bandits took that over.

I read this section like five times and for the life of me I cannot find a prophesy here. They just kind of say it because it sounds cool. The prose in this hand out is, really really rough, it's a lot of proper nouns and moral history tropes -- empire becoming successful and spawning evil religion yada yada yada. The proper noun addiction is strong with this one, we get quite a few undefined proper nouns here. He's another classic: "Zanaaphic the All-King of the Spirit Universe". I have so many questions! None of which will be answered. "Angall of the Perpetual Void" Wow! Those are some neat nouns! The net effect, however, is there was a really skilled evil wizard who got confronted by a god, beat him, and by defeating him became a four-armed dragon-skinned bat-winged magical null. He does up to 16 pips of damage with his silly flails!

So the cover image is lying a little bit about the fortress. In both of the presented maps, there is no cool rampart that you have to slowly siege, there are mountains both in front and behind the fortress, and there are way more than three turrets. I am actually a little fond of this keep layout-wise, it's less cramped than the Keep on the Borderlands is. Naturally, it sits at the foot of Mount Deception.

It's a nice little fortress, no? I would recommend getting a modern copy of the map if it wasn't for the ownership sucking ass in an extreme way. Plus, having dungeons under your keep on the borderlands seems like a great idea, actually. Or, shit, having a rival keep on a rival borderlands sounds kinda rad. Anyway, the room by room is pretty rote. The exterior rooms are mostly just services you'd give to anyone walking in, but the real juicy stuff is all kept inside the mountain walls. We've got your usual suspects. Guard captain, bossman, bossman's terrible wife (and the wife is legally required to be evil because male writers), pawnbroker, human trafficker, tavernsssssss, gemcutter, blacksmith, et c. Some of the names are okay, "Hole in the Hill Inn" run by ogres was really funny to me, I would change them to hill giants to complete the joke.

The dungeon has an interesting conceit where there are some generic "alternate rooms" in the back of the book that come with a blank room number that you can swap if you dislike the default room contents. I'm really in favor of this mindset. I have thought for a while that it'd be kind of nice for adventure books to be shipped in some sort of editable capacity? Like if I wanna do open heart surgery on a floor of a dungeon, but I like the other 4 floors, it'd be nice to keep it in the original format instead of having the adventure book and then some loose-leaf with the changes penciled in. Tragically, the alt rooms are overwhelmingly just monsters in a room, with the outlier being a wererats with a little kidnapping scheme.

Underneath the fortress there are five levels, one is actually above ground level and in the cliff face behind the keep, and the third level leads to the surface via caves. Neat! I'm kind of imagining Gerudo Fortress here on a lot of levels. Here's a quick skim of the best contents:

There appears to be a little rat treasure hoard where the rats have to pay their dues to their little rat kings? What's going on here is kind of unclear to me, but I can't help but imagine one of the guards trained the rats to hide money in the walls for him and the ten rats with silver formation are a kind of animal-passcode.

A chest trapped with some sort of reverse truth serum -- it removes your ability to speak, see, or hear for a week if you open it without permission. Naturally, the chest is decorated with the three wise monkeys 🙈🙉🙊 (and a mysterious fourth monkey the text implies nothing about, maybe it's Sezaru? Curse of erectile dysfunction!)

The alarm system seems to be gong-based

Oh, I don't like this beholder at all. Ewwww! But also, why is this drawing here? There's no beholders in here? Is this some kind of silly trap for snooping players? In fact, most of the monster illustrations are…kind of just random monsters.

The treasury is booby-trapped to hell and back. We have a standard guillotine trap disarmed with a tile puzzle on the wall, a hell-hound guard dog, and the most prominent magical item is a necklace of strangulation. Rough break! Just go ahead and put all of the treasure on pressure plates with flame jets at that point.

A reverse gravity pit-trap -- you pull a book, you fall through a hole in the ceiling and then it traps you in the ceiling. It's just a pit trap at the end of the day, but way vivid!

A chair made of a dragon's arms and horn that will animate and attack you if you try to pry gems off it or attack anyone

Two wizards are having a battle over who gets to own a trained lizard that can sing and carry heavy loads. I understand guys. That lizard is worth it.

Under a sarcophagus is written "If you can read this, you're too close", as well as some explosive runes

The treasure hoard of a lost king, if you attempt to steal it, will turn into a treasure construct shaped like the king. Awesome!

"A similar cabinet on the north wall is labeled "For Future Imperialists". In the top drawer is a Gem of Brightness, the second is a pair of Bracers of Defenselessness, and in the bottom drawer is a pouch of Dust of Sneezing and Choking." I would fully lean in, make it a Cursed Gem of Brightness that you can't turn off, and put the Bracers in the top drawer if the goal is to prank an evil character into hurting themselves.

A reverse-vampire giant lizardfolk that consumes the unlife from undead. So, Tomb of the Lizard King got beat to the vampire-lizardfolk punch, I guess?

Large swaths of this dungeon genuinely feel randomly generated. The worst parts are about half of floor 2, 3, and about half of floors 4 and 5. It just feels like padding to me. And in true Judge's Guild fashion, there are treasure stores in the temple that are "instantly max your character" amounts of loot. Now I get that shares are a thing and you gotta pay your hirelings, but still, 1.5M gold represents like, even if you're a party of 10 you're still looking at instantly maxing a thief, shooting a fighter to level 8, and shooting a wizard to level 9. And there's no way you were at 0xp when you smuggled that statue out, that's going to be an instant max for just about anyone. The big reveal that I…guess you could conceivably puzzle out? Is that the dragons were nearby because they were minions of a dragon-king entombed under this fortress before it was built. A cool idea, that desperately needs more foreshadowing. The love clearly went into making those tombs cool, so if I was going to rip anything off from this module that'd probably be my second port of call.

Gen Con IX Dungeons (1978)

What a name, right? How come Tsojconth got a name and these dungeons didn't? Blatant favoritism. Well actually one of the two dungeons may as well be called the Halls of Grsk. And, wow, everything about the design notes are ominous. "Simplicity would be the prime requisite". So….does that mean this adventure is boring on purpose, Bob?

The adventure is split into two bits, the player-side info and the gm-side info, which…okay. Sure. The titular dungeon is set in the "Celtic mythos", whatever the fuck that means (Bob, the Celtic cultures covered almost all of Europe and parts of Asia. That phrase is meaningless!). TL;DR the old king's wizard went evil and killed the king, left no one to rule, and then went nuts and much later summoned a bunch of demons to protect his loot now that he's old and dying. The local wizard, Framschamsnaggle (seriously?) bullies you into raiding his tomb to get a staff back. There's a dragon in there and you were handed a teleportation amulet that will zip you out as soon as you get your hands on the staff.

Oh. Oh that's not good. That's a very not good dungeon layout. That's a very bad dungeon layout. And the contents are, as bad. I wonder if it was considered bad at the con itself? I couldn't find a single remarkable thing in this whole dungeon. It is neither weird, nor funny, nor clever, nor interesting. It's 30 random dungeon rooms in a row, with a rare trap that is practically randomized also.

The sole joy I can find in this module is this illustration, which looks like a shitpost.

The second round of the tournament (1st round eliminates) is set in a completely different place, which is more properly called the Halls of Grsk. Almost all of this area is also just, save or suck traps and monsters. There is one trap that's kind of classic and okay -- picking up the giant ruby locks all exits, many red herrings, room starts heating up like an oven. The solution is to smash the ruby, which instantly kills the heating element. It's not amazing (how are you supposed to guess it's a ruby? It behaves like a pressure plate trap but the ruby itself is contact-activated) but it's the least bad thing in here. The portal-that-eats-you prank in particular grinds my gears, the game communicates every possible thing to say it kills you, and by blind faith you go through and is the best solution. Picking up the fake secret item instantly kills you, because fuck you. The fakeout trap's sole hint is "why are there two normal doors on the north wall?" which, it's a points-based dungeon, they're going to assume it's for extra points. Also, the whole dungeon is a massive straight line in disguise. It's a wreck.

Actually, the whole scenario feels like a worse "Tomb of the Lizard King" in a lot of ways, down to the silly rhyme on the last page that gives you a critical clue about how to kill the undead baddie. In a sense it's also like Tomb of Horrors in that way, I guess, but the vibes are a lot more like Tomb of the Lizard King.

Damn it Bob, you made it boring on purpose.

Citadel of Fire (1978)

This is truly one of the dungeon covers of all time.

Is… is that The Golem? I hope Rabbi Loew is available. Or, maybe it's good that he's not in the module, because obviously this construct's creator is going to be evil in this module.

This is the least least imaginative of the Judge's Guild modules in this series. It is, simply a wizard's tower. If you have ever in your life read a wizard's tower module, you've read this one. The JG staples of constant slavery mentions continues with slave girls being in every single damn room of the towers. There's, not really much plot to go on either. There are wizards, the hill is good for magic, they are aligned with the goblins, go chop 'em up.

Sigh. Here's the memorable bits.

Nearly out the gate, we get one of those paragraphs that you would hope would be so obviously bad to the writers that they would second guess the decision. Why the actual hell did you stat out some 200 nearly identical goblins manually?

What is that and when do I get a bestiary entry for them? That's not a joke, the module never mentions what this is and now I want this Weresalazzle in my adventures.

The vague allusion to "Shabast", which are apparently a species of people who are intelligent clouds? But only sometimes.

A variety of pens for animals the wizards are working on, which include an Irish deer, a jackalwere, a baby lammasu, a giant slug named Skippy, some orcs, man-eating apes, an elephant, and a hydra

For…some reason there's a tavern on the 2nd floor of a dungeon. In the lightest defense of the module, at least the 2F has a surface access and no pre-programmed encounters between here and the tavern (random monsters thoooo). The owner sleeps with a new person every night, highly critical detail.

?????????????????????

OK so many rooms later there's a pyrohydra with a toothache. Mystery solved, that's why there's a magical dentist!

I hesitate to complain, but after multiple dungeons with 100k+ gold rewards, this dungeon's treasury having roughly 11,000 gold in it feels like an anticlimax. The fact that it's protected by that pyrohydra and electrified locks adds insult to injury.

This is a joke, right? That's your final floor? Anyway, this is just The Demon Floor. There is more treasure here than upstairs, which is a little strange given that the demon serves the wizard and not the other way around.

So on the whole, deeply shit. In conclusion, Early Judge's Guild leaves a lot to be desired. Next time we will -- wait, am I free? There's no more pre-G1 modules? I get to finally do TSR shit and leave this mire?

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS (edit: I was half-right -- there was one more pre-G1 module, but it was TSR!)

[byierficrecs]

not sure how it's possible but your work keeps getting prettier and prettier! can i ask what your process/method is for creation?

hello! sorry it's taken me a little to reply :S first of all, thank you!! that's very sweet ^-^ anyway, i'm not sure this will be particularly insightful :( but here goes nothing:

step 1: check the form for new submissions!

and then delete them all >:) ,,,but not without copying the information to a variety of spreadsheets. behold the madness:

in this one i copy the information that was submitted as it is.

these are where i rearrange the information so a) my brain can understand it and b) so that i can copy/paste stuff while making graphics and at the time of posting.

the first one is for the captions i attach to every tumblr post, and the second is the alt text for the images. there's a third one for twitter, but it's the same as the tumblr one.

and this one is where i keep track of all the steps i follow!

spreadsheet: copying the information from the forms

proofread: open the ao3 work to quickly check that someone didn't sneak explicit stuff or something like that

read and graphic: self-explanatory

captions and alt text: registering the information in the tables i showed before

twitter and tumblr: scheduling the posts to go up

(3 and 4 are inverted, but i'm too lazy to change it now x.x also, notice how they are (mostly) arranged in groups of three; before i even proofread things, i roughly decide the general aesthetic of the graphic: dark, pastel or colourful)

i do this almost every night. since people usually submit stuff in bulk, i often spend one or two hours simply sorting through the forms.

step 2: read the stories!

i usually read a story, then make the graphic immediately after. this is so i don't mix things up and the story is fresh in my very-forgetful mind~ while i read, i try to imagine things as they happen and pick at least one element i want to include in the graphic.

for instance, for this one (post), i wanted a duck somewhere. evidently, it ended up being a very minor detail but there they are! ducklings! :]

step 3: try to imagine the graphic

this is admittedly the hardest part tbh. i stick to my statement: i am not an artist. give me a minute and i will come up with a decently fleshed-out story idea. art or visual aspects are a different tale x.x some days my creativity leaves me altogether and i just stare into space for hours with absolutely no clue of how to make a graphic for one story.

hence why i rely so much on inspiration. some days i ravage my bookshelf, some days i google "spider book cover", some days i browse spotify and look at the album art and many days i end up scrolling through the canva templates section for hours until i see something that sparks an idea.

this one (post) is random. i was stumped on what to do and then i glanced at the video i had on the background and that was that.

i look at anything and everything for inspiration,,, again, i have no idea how artists do this x.x not to imply that they don't struggle (i'm sure they do), but i'm genuinely bad at this,,, especially since i try to make all the graphics as unique as possible; i like flowers, they are pretty and go well with most stories, but i think it'd be quite boring if everything i made had flowers :S

step 4: make the graphic

anyway, when i (finally) have an idea, i go on canva and get down the first element i had in mind, or the colour i want to use, or the general composition,,, anything. sometimes the only thing i've thought about is the text.

and then i just go from there, often with no plan or ending idea in mind :S

some graphics are simple and i can get them done in two hours, some are complex and i get them done in ten hours. perfectionism is how my brain is wired and i always feel like i need to bring things to perfection, so i tweak everything a lot even if i know i could get away with leaving some stuff as it is.

alas, i try to have fun during the process and sometimes i surprise myself with making something i am super proud of!

like this one! (post). as you can see, there are a bunch of layers and details. i went in with literally no plan but i kept adding stuff until it felt good :]

it's not as simple as just sticking some of canva's assets together, though. i often have to do a lot of editing. everything in that tunnel, for instance, was just lineart (?) with no option to give it a background colour, so i had to go in with my limited artsy knowledge and paint things until they looked the way i wanted.

these are all the different canva assets i used in that one + a finn silhouette. i'm trying not to use too many silhouettes because, like flowers, it's easy and i often gravitate to that but no >:( i shan't fall prey to the impulses.

speaking of silhouettes,,, there must be an easier way to do it, but the software i use (gimp; it's free x.x) is a little confusing to me so i just end up "tracing" over the outline of photos i like.

in the process, i tend to go all,,, frankenstein.

i chopped off finn's arm in the first one :( but then i gave him a jacket for the second one because his silhouette looked cold ^-^ (also gave noah will-hair). third one i just,,, mirrored the other arm x.x 1st story || 2nd story || 3rd story

other minor changes i often have to do is recolouring stuff and the like

again, these are edited with gimp and i'm sure there are weird errors, but i felt the story needed something softer (post).

some elements i actually find from other free source (?) websites, but it's rare.

last, but not least, sometimes i do try my hand at art x.x i'm not sure i'm good in the slightest, but it's been somewhat fun to try. i tend to look at artists i like, mainly for colour palettes because i never struggle with the graphics but i get stuck when trying to draw :S

for instance, the colours in this one (post) are all inspired by the second artwork in the tweet.

step 5: double check before posting

confession: yesterday i forgot to add the author's name to a graphic. there are at least three graphics in this account that are missing the "ratings" altogether. sometimes, there are minuscule mistakes that could've been easily spotted and fixed and i just,,, didn't see them.

i often catch a million things like that while making the graphics, but things do slip at times and i end up thinking about them for weeks x.x so i double and triple check everything and i never catch everything, but i try :S

i try to get my brother to help me a little, but the dingus always says everything is okei and goes back to his shenanigans >:( he is an actual artist so it's all the more frustrating but alas, there's nothing i can do about it x.x

step 6: schedule things for posting

uh,, not much to say about this. i just add the graphics, copy the information from the spreadsheets i showed you, then add all the links and tags and leave things be :]

except,,, i don't. i move on to something else and then i go back to check for mistakes and i keep looking for errors and i sometimes change things last minute x.x

the little detail in the corner where mike is screaming? that was added a minute the thing went up,,, (post)

it's uh,, overwhelming. i know i overthink way too much (about my writing, too), but it's been ten years of getting anxious about these things so i'm not sure it'll stop anytime soon :(

the little comments you guys leave really help though! so thank you for that :]

step 7: post the thing and "rest"

again, i continue to search for errors after i post, but unless it's a big thing (like the aforementioned "i forgot to add the author's name" moment from yesterday) i force myself to leave the post as it is. my brain hates me for it, but it's the one thing i manage to do to ease my anxiety x.x

so, with the post up and big errors mended, i get to rest! for a bit! and then i have to do it all over again!

this entire process (step 1 excluded) takes around 4-6 hours (or more) so by the time i post something, i'm already late at making the next graphic :S hence why i usually take a couple free days every few graphics.

i've also been really sick lately (covid + randomly passing out because of overarching health issues) so things take a bit longer :(

it's fun though! i'd never tried my hand at any visual stuff and some graphics are admittedly lackluster, but sometimes i surprise myself with some very pretty things i make :]

in addition to the ones i've already shared, i'm quite proud of these graphics~ 1st story || 2nd story || 3rd story || 4th story || 5th story || 6th story

plus, i get to talk to a lot of nice people, read/share wonderful stories, and more importantly, do something nice for authors! so it's all worth it, i think :]

random, but i'm not sure i'll ever get to use this little guy so i want to share him :D

anyway, i could continue to procrastinate for quite a while but i have to (gues what!) go make today's graphics x.x shoutout to all the authors whose stories i randomly featured here; please check all their stories as they are all amazing.

@itsromeowrites, @ghoulsanderson, @wiseatom, @eggo-owl, @smoosnoom, @byeler, @bookinit02, @lilacline001, @astrobei, @voulezvulcan, @sevensided

i'm going to take a nap now. apologies if, after all this, i didn't even answer your question.

personal blog || support me on ko-fi x.x

[gender-trash]

Hi! New follower here (yes from the one post). You seem fairly knowledgeable about bookbinding and I've been fascinated by it for a while, but I've only actually tried my hand at kettle stitch with no more than 12 signatures. Do you have any recommendations on resources to learn more about binding and how to do it? Also that one text block you showed clamped with the code book is really pretty :)

join ussssssss... free yourself from the tyranny of Big Book...!

my top recommendation is to join the @renegadepublishing discord -- even if you just lurk (which is what i mostly do) you can learn a LOT by reading other people's questions and looking at their progress photos. @renegadepublishing also has a resources page with a bunch of links; i know people really like DAS Bookbinding's videos on youtube but i am immune to the effects of video tutorials so i mostly learn new techniques by googling them and staring at a random image result with a diagram

i really really enjoyed the bookbinding museum in SF -- when i went, they had a temporary (now-closed) exhibit on book restoration, but they have on permanent display a bunch of example books with different construction left with the spine exposed so you can see what's going on and handle them in your hot little hands. sadly this is not useful to you if you don't live vaguely near sf :/

ugh also i can't find the blog post for my favorite book construction technique anymore but you add extra signatures of like one sheet of folded bristol board when you sew the textblock and then you just glue the cover boards INTO the bristol board signature and it's like an easy cheat version of bradel binding. would recommend

anyway as a Special Treatsie heres some more photos from the construction of the big chonker!

i did like half the typesetting for this in a fugue state while recovering from top surgery and then printed + bound it as soon as i was recovered enough to do that. this general state of derangement is why many of the decisions i made are the way that they are, but i do like the final product!

(except the cover... i might redraw a new cover and glue it over the old one at some point :p )

[carbomcoco]

I feel like we gotta start demanding people's information sources more. Unless they're the primary source of the information (like, they're sharing about something they directly experienced), they got the information from somewhere. And if I can't track down what that is, that's immediately a red flag for me. And most of the time it's just annoying little things, like people making up fake origin stories for song lyrics, but sometimes it's big things!

You may have seen a viral tweet claiming that the leader of France said that France has never invaded anyone:

The attached image is just a picture. It's not a video of him saying this. So where did the user get this information? There's basically three options:

1) They were actually there when he said this.

2) They got the information from another source. (Hopefully a credible one, like someone who was actually definitely there when he said this, or a press release or post from Macron's team.)

3) They made it up.

It's probably not #1. This seems to be a random person. It's unlikely that they talk to the President of France very often. They don't seem to be a reporter, and if they were, there would probably be a proper record of that interaction.

It could be #2. But if you do a Google search (or whatever your preferred search provider is), there's no record of him saying this anywhere beyond just this one tweet (which, again, provides no proof that this happened as the attached media is just a photo). But if this is true, they had to get the info from somewhere. So either this random internet stranger has access to information sources that are inaccessible to the general public (i.e. you and me) or...

They probably just straight up made it up. Shocker. And like yeah, it's great that we have "community notes" now on Twitter, but we shouldn't rely fully on them instead of doing our own research. Remember, we're more susceptible to misinformation that makes us scared or mad (Source: American Psychological Society). So if you think "holy shit, that's so bad, I can't believe that", probably a good sign that you should double-check that it's actually true. Yeah, the world sucks, it's gonna be true a lot, but you know what I mean. Make sure we're mad about stuff that actually happened.

And on that note, I think a lot of the misinfo that spreads around here just comes from people saying stuff with their full chest even though it's only a guess or they're just straight up wrong. But even if we're not lying on purpose, it still causes problems! A while back, my favorite guitarist got kicked out of his band and didn't say anything. But noticing his absence when the tour started, fans invented a narrative that he'd temporarily left to help another band and he would be back halfway through the tour, despite neither him nor the band indicating anything of the sort. Clearing all that up wasn't fun for anyone.

I've also seen lots of people claiming that "blood is thicker than water" is actually short for "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". There's literally no indication that this is true. The shorter one has been traced back to the 12th century, and the two books (both published after 1990, hundreds of years later) that claim the longer one is true do not cite their sources. (But also, like, it's just a proverb. It's not a law of the universe. If you disagree with it, you don't have to act like it has a secret historical meaning that a conspiracy theory has covered up. You can just be like "nah". You're allowed to disagree with the 12th century dude. It doesn't mean everyone in the world is misremembering it.)

I've even seen posts inciting outrage about a user getting banned, only to look the user up to find that their account is still there and they have no idea what people are talking about.

Anyway. Point is, we can also stop the spread of misinformation by just not making it in the first place. If you don't have proof that something is true, don't act like it is. If someone else makes a post claiming something they couldn't possibly have insider knowledge of and you don't know where they heard it, dig. If you can't figure out where the info's actually from, and they won't say, red flag.

[skaldish]

I'll level with y'all on this—I've been focusing on my store a lot because I'm trying to find an additional source of income in the face of disability.

To the shock of no one, I'm a web designer by trade. My background lies in writing and art. It's not lost on me how much I can do with my skillset...but there's also not a lot I can do outside of it.

A few years ago, I started developing chronic soft tissue damage in my dominant hand due to daily computer-work for my job. This, combined with my rapidly-declining mental health due to the pandemic, forced me to move from full-time to contract with my current employer so I wouldn't completely destroy my body or my mind.

I'm blessed that I live in a state that with quality state health insurance. My living expenses are extremely low and I don't need to make a whole lot to squeak by.

However, I now live with a permanent physical limitation, which limits what I can do on a day-to-day basis. Because of this, I've started to look into setting up long-term investments. This includes literal economic investments like stocks and bonds, but also in projects that will sort of just...semi-run themselves after I put in the work needed to get them going.

Given my skillset, e-commerce is perfect for this.

Let me tell you all a little secret. Setting upon an online store and selling things is stupidly, ridiculously easy. It's even more ludicrously easy when you know how to use what I call "rich people tools"—the kind of online marketing solutions wholeass companies use to advertise and grow.

These tools run like a well-oiled machine. Everything about them is about minimizing effort while maximizing profit. Most so-called "social media," like twitter, facebook, and pinterest? They all integrate with these tools seamlessly, because the true purpose of these websites is to be marketing platforms for business owners, so they can deliver their ads directly to people's eyeballs in environments where their guards are down.

It's actually pretty fucking disgusting.

(I've always hated advertisements and the culture that surrounded them. It's why I don't try to push products too heavily here even though I know I can queue up a million reblogs for them. Knowing what I know now just makes me hate it all even more.)

But anyway, for the last month or so, I've been thrown into an ethical dilemma. I don't want to, and never wanted to, monetize Skald's Keep. Its purpose is to be a free website that competes against the monetization and commercialization of Heathenry.

But it's also supposed to be a trustworthy website. By having a store that clearly sells a plethora of direct-to-consumer products, it looks like I have ulterior motivations, and that's not what I'd call trustworthy.

And yet, I need a livelihood, and e-commerce is the strongest play I've got.

Fortunately, I think I figured out my own problem just by hashing things out here—I need to start my own business separate from Skald's Keep. An entirely different website altogether that's clearly just a store, one I can market to hell and back with the disgusting tools capitalism built for itself without sacrificing my intentions for Skald's Keep.

As for the current Skald's Keep store? I think it would be a BALLER idea to turn it into a hub for indie pagan publications—a place to feature all the devotionals, guides, and workbooks I see so many people here make but don't have one place to put 'em.

It would be stupidly easy too. The product entries can link off to whatever platform you're hosting your book on; lulu, amazon, etc. All you'll have to do is give me the link to your book, the image of the book cover, and the paragraph description, and I'll plug it all in. That way, I can showcase the work of the community without necessarily needing to "recommend" it for educational reasons. You'd basically just take advantage of my high-ranking results on google.

It will also create a library where people can easily find non-Folkish stuff, which takes money away from them and puts it in the hands of the average pagan.

Yes, I think this is the plan y'all. We will have our cake and eat it too.

Thanks for being such a great audience and for putting up with my hair-brained shenanigans as I was working through this. <3

[missmorosis]

being stupid at 3am

-> feat. oikawa, kuroo, bokuto and bonus. tsukishima

word count: 800

genre: fluff, crack-ishhh

no bc these are all actual conversations ive had with myself at 3am HEHDHD

"Mmm, do jellyfish have brains?" you asked, your eyes spaced out as you spoke your thoughts aloud. It was a genuine question, and you needed an answer.

"Wha-" You saw Oikawa, who was lying down next to you, turn to face you in your peripheral.

"Y'know, they're all clear and stuff." Your eyes met his. "Where's their brain?"

"Wait. Y/N." Suddenly he was wide awake, and he bolted upright, reaching for his phone. He opened up Google on his phone, his fingers typing fast to find an answer.

He misspelled "jellyfish" in both excitement and sleepiness, instead spelling it as “jelylyfsh” but the search engine got the idea. He pinched his screen to zoom in onto an image of the bowl shape of the jellyfish, and low and behold: there was no visible brain, like you expected.

"WHERE IS IT?" He looked back at you with wide eyes.

"EXACTLY."

"Maybe they don't have a brain? They just vibe in the ocean, brainless. Like... zombies," he reasoned, sticking his arms out ahead of him, mimicking a stereotypical zombie. Most logical answer possible.

"They just..." you looked for the right words, "...bop around." You leaned back into your bed, moving from your sitting position into a sleeping position. Your eyes traced the edge of the ceiling as you thought about what jellyfish truly did.

"I wish I could be a jellyfish." He flopped his head onto your stomach, you becoming his personal pillow. His arm hung off the edge of the bed, casually swinging as he thought. "You could sting who you wanted and you don't even have to think. You just dance and float all day,” he sighed, his hands moving animatedly as he spoke, and you hummed in agreement.

You loved this "free" and "silly" side of Oikawa: something you saw the most past 2am. He had always worried about being perfect during the day, around his fangirls, classmates, and such, and while he still had fun, he wasn't as carefree. Maybe that was why you wanted to stay up later.

“Who decided that ‘gen z' was known as ‘gen z'?" you voiced. It was just on your mind, and Kuroo blinked at you, squinting his eyes because he had trouble keeping them open. "Like... did we all just collectively decide on that?"

"You're still awake?" he asked. You nodded, clearly wide-eyed.

Sleep was not one of your intentions; you just wanted to know why "gen z" was "gen z," and who had decided on it. It couldn't just be an overnight decision if everyone in the world referred to your generation as "gen z."

"Go to sleep," he muttered, his voice small and raspy with sleepiness. He trapped you with his leg, pulling you closer as he tried to pull you into sleep as well. He tucked his nose into your shoulder, mumbling other thoughts incoherently.

"But who decided?" you pressed.

"I don't know, but we can find out in the morning." You groaned: you needed to know now rather than in the morning.

"It's already morning," you reasoned. You gestured to your clock, ticking away on the wall, which flashed "3am" to back you up.

"Technically yeah, but 3am is still considered night for many, since people go to sleep at this time." His eyes were closed, but his mouth kept moving, which you somehow found attractive.

"Tetsurouuuu, I need to know." You pouted, but he couldn't see, of course, since his eyes were closed.

"You'll know... in the morning." You huffed. "Sleep."

"Why are hippos purple in like little kids's books?" Bokuto asked randomly, and you hummed.

"That's why I'm saying!" You talked with wide hand gestures. "What about elephants, why are they blue? Both are gray, anyways." He nodded eagerly in agreement. "Why do you ask?" He looked at you proudly before sticking a piece of paper in your face.

"I'm coloring!" Bokuto cheered, and you grasped the paper he shoved into you. It looked like something straight out of a kindergartener's homework. It was like a safari of colors if it was on a paper.

"You're coloring... at three in the morning?" He looked to the wall clock, confirming that it was indeed three am.

"I guess so." He shrugged, as if coloring some printable coloring page from the internet was more important than sleep.

"Can I join you?" You smiled, and he grinned back even wider.

"Of course!" He handed you some blue for the skies, and the two of you got to work.

The crayon compared to Bokuto's hand was tiny, and you were surprised to see how carefully and gracefully he was able to fill out the lines of animals. Impressive.

bonus: tsukishima

"Why do donuts have hol-" you started, but Tsukishima put one hand out blindly to cover your mouth.

"Sleep."

"Okay." There was no arguing with Tsukki.

Haikyuu Taglist: @floralkawa ​ @ray-ofmoonlight ​ @sushijimawakatoshi ​ @bokutsumie ​ @felixsamour ​​

OKAY GN IM AT 4% BATTERY AND I LOST MY CHARGER SEND HELP

[purplealmonds]

Here’s my first rather unorthodox contribution (my avatar/fearsona doesn’t count!) to the TMA fandom - a logo redesign!

Copious amounts of artist commentary & behind the scenes goodies are right below the cut!

My reason behind redesigning the TMA logo is at the time I didn’t know there was already an official redesign ... well honestly speaking, there are already plenty of fantastic character-based fan arts out there. I wanted to create something outside of that niche.

That said, let’s take a look at the first iteration of this design:

This was the first and only sketch that I liked amongst a bunch of uninspired duds.

It was sketched with a round brush, which resulted in it looking as if it were inked with, say, a rusty quill!

As for the stylization of the text, I just went with whatever looked quirky. The eye was added as an afterthought to frame the text. Spontaneity at its finest! 

This freeform method had its challenges though. I liked the asymmetrical design, but it was extremely unbalanced. Suffice to say, I had to channel a bit of Robert Smirke to finalize the lettering.

Then I mocked up a few color explorations to make sure the design was readable on light, midtone, and dark backgrounds. Here are the results!

I could have stopped there, since the original purpose of this design was to a neat watermark to plop onto my future TMA fan arts.

By that time I already invested in quite a lot of time tweaking and refining it, so I decided to push the design a bit further. Give it a neat background treatment, spruce it up. Perhaps it’ll look like an album cover!

My first idea was to add imagery of the different fear entities squeezed in the spaces between the lettering. I wanted it to emulate the gold foil embossing you see on really old fairy tale books, maybe do a GIF with the shine animation over it!

And then... Photoshop completely corrupted the file. Oddly appropriate it happened when during my first foray into TMA. Behold: the single layer that remained upon reopening the damned thing. The eye was the only part of the image that wasn’t erased. Ominous!

I was able to download an un-corrupted version of the PSD via Google Drive, but by that time I was getting rather burned out from the whole project. So I opted to a simpler, less hand-drawn solution: extracting text from a statement.

If you look closely, the script I used for the background was from Episode 1: Anglerfish!

I would have published the logo then and there, but for some reason, it didn’t sit well with me. It sat in Tumblr draft limbo for some time. 

I attempted to animate it in Premiere to spruce it up, but something about the core of the design felt... incomplete in way that would show through all the bells and whistles. While the idea of the statement text as the background was interesting in concept, it looked rather stale and lazy especially given my initial idea for the piece. So, when inspiration struck and my energy levels were much improved, I took another stab at it. 

File corruption aside, what initially kept me from pursing the first idea was finding a way to incorporate the other Fears into the composition. I had a  breakthrough – framing each entity within the irises of each eye – symbolism of how the Eye spectates each of them at the end of the world! 

Anyways, I’m 100% happier with how this logo design finally came out. I’m glad that I let it sit/ferment for a bit so it could come to its full potential!

[hanazou]

matching onesies with him.

Books : Dazai | Chuuya | Oda

Shelf : Mixed

Genre : Fluff, domestic

Note : I did this of my own accord because I am, in fact, a softie

Dazai Osamu

This clingy crackhead.

Dazai will be the first to come up with the idea. It's actually a random one and he asked it so spontaneously, he doesn't expect you to actually say yes.

"Sure, why not?" You agreed.

He's both surprised and elated, and he didn't hide this reaction at all.

"Oh, darling!" He wrapped a hug around your neck. "You always revive my heart with your love!"

You both will be enthusiastic about picking the onesies and agree to surf the net instead of looking from shop to shop since Dazai is under the supervision of a certain angry Kunikida

It almost feels like babysitting. Not that you hate it right? Should you get an identical pair with different sizes? Or complementary ones?

Dazai will call the customer service to ask if they have black crow onesies since crows represent death in some cultures. The response is obviously no and it's obvious that the customer service was confused.

"That's a shame," Dazai whined disappointedly, shoulders dropping. "Wouldn't it be both cute and poetic if we had a double suicide while wearing matching crow onesie? Two achievements in one!"

At that point you wouldn't even be surprised anymore. You will just take the phone away from him to apologise and thank the customer service. You have to convince Dazai that you won't find a onesie of that kind

"Wait, don't tell me," You stared at him. "The reason you want to get onesies is just to wear a matching crow pair?"

"Is it?" He grinned mischievously. "Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, but I just want to match with you."

Other ADA members will wonder what you and Dazai were doing, Kunikida the most. He isn't exactly curious, more like suspicious. What's that good-for-nothing Dazai up to now?

Eventually you find a pair of identical ones. Kind of rare designs too! Guess what?

Crabs! In red! The little eyes on the hood!

It will take less than a week for the onesies to arrive in a small box. When it does Dazai will pull out a cutter so energetically Atsushi will think he's going to pull a suicide attempt with it

"AAH! Dazai-san! No!"

Nothing will happen aside from Dazai stabbing the box (while making sure he doesn't cut the onesies inside. he's good with blades, ex Port Mafia and all)

The crab pincers for your hands are soft like mittens and so smooth???? Imagine sweaterpaws but with crab pincer mittens (!!)

It will take everything in you to stop Dazai from wearing it that instant since a client Fukuzawa talked about will be coming. You will need Atsushi's help to take it off him but let's not talk about it

Both of Dazai's legs are already in the onesie too..

It seems like Kyouka wants one. Yosano and Naomi will tell Atsushi to buy the girl one and match with her

When Dazai and you go home together, he will be so excited to wear the onesies immediately. Dazai will be light on his feet.

And when you finally put yours on? Pictures. Dazai will take lots of pictures of you. You're a piece of art and he wants pictures so he can recall the image anytime

"Oh, dearest~ How is it possible for you to be so cute?" He began his dramatic poses, a hand over his head while spinning like a ballet dancer.

You both will take a lot of couple pictures.

"Love, you are so adorable I want to eat you!"

"Is it me who's cute or the crab?" You teased back.

When Dazai makes a troubled expression to answer your question, you will have to pinch him 💢

If you can cook crab soup, wouldn't it be funny to make and eat one with Dazai while wearing crab onesies? He will be so clingy when you do it, like an old school married couple; when you cook, he'll be bugging you while hugging from behind. It feels cozy, don't blame him

You have to be keen with your eyes so you won't miss Dazai secretly pouring ajinomoto to the soup. Get him a healthier diet, I'm begging you.

"Look, the crab is red like us." He pointed at the soup. "And like your face when I do this." He took advantage of you turning your head to peck your cheek.

He will also pinch your nose with his pincer mitten. "Boop!" It's a challenge. Boop his nose back.

You think he's already as clingy as he can be, huh? Wrong. You are absolutely wrong. If he previously sticks around you like a magnet, this time he's glued to you.

Even in the shared living space, he won't let you go. Is it the softness of the onesie under his touch, the warmth, or your cuteness? Well, it's all of them. What then?

Snuggles.

You both cuddle together in the futon until falling asleep together. You feel twice as warm.

He's the big spoon, let him feel the smoothness of the onesie while feeling your heat. And for once, the double suicide joke stopped for the rest of day. That's how much this impacts him, and you're proud of him.

Nakahara Chuuya

Matching with Chuuhuahua in a onesie? You lucky fella.

You have to be the one initiating it with Chuuya. Baby boy will be like "Eeh?" at first. He's not against it at all but more like, confused. The request is out of the blue

"Come on, why not?" You tilt your head. "It will feel so soft to cuddle with?"

That's it, that's the spell for him to agree

Mans is a Port Mafia executive, you can't go out from shop to shop in a mall to get your onesie with his schedule, so you have to settle with online shopping with this guy too

Only when he has time to spare from beating up people

You will sit together on a couch at the headquarters once Chuuya and you don't have missions. It's a good chance to relax and unwind together too

Chuuya knows best where to find clothes, including onesies. There are so many options! Dinosaurs, frogs, bears, Sanrio characters, Doraemon, Pikachu, Line characters, pandas, unicorns, penguins!! (I should stop fantasizing Chuuya in each of them)

Chuuya will act cool and chill about it at first, but he actually got invested in choosing and thankfully he isn't a crackhead unlike a certain someone

He has a good fashion sense I don't accept criticism, and this side of him will jump out while both of you scroll the catalogue. He nails both street wear and mafia outfits daily, so you can bet he'd pick the best onesies for you both

"This one doesn't suit you," He moved to the next option. "These are the only colours available? Pass.", "What's with the unnecessarily long tail?", "Oh maybe this? Wait, I don't like the stripes."

Of course, he will listen to your opinion too but since you feel he's better at this, you just either nod or shake your head with him

You have to be careful with your words when picking the size (this is much more valid if you're taller) or he'll go "I'm not that short!"

Kouyou and Mori (+ Elise) will catch you both on the couch together while browsing, comfy and all, and Kouyou asked what you two were doing. Chuuya's face will be as red as wine.

When you want to explain, his gloved hand will cover your mouth and he frantically shakes his head, screaming "Don't!" silently.

But alas, while you want to tell him there's nothing to be embarrassed of, Kouyou will take the phone from your hand with a curious grin and a "What's this~?"

Chuuya will just accept fate at that point, growling to himself and all

Kouyou and Mori won't expect to see a catalogue of onesies, apparently. The "Huh," on their faces are hilarious, and Mori will be instantly inspired to get a full set for his Elise-chan, much to her distaste.

While Mori and Elise are going at it, Kouyou will actually share her opinions. Chuuya will crawl out from his burrow of embarrassment and listen to her with you.

"Rather than identical ones, these would be much better. They have variety." Kouyou said. And you both will agree. You both have been eyeing a specific pair anyway

You both will decide to get complementary ones! Chuuya's will be a brown teddy and yours a white bunny! (Try googling Line's Brown and Cony, they're cute you won't regret it) Kouyou will totally agree with the decision.

When the package arrives, both of you will open it together. Chuuya's eyes for clothes are never wrong, the quality is immaculate. So warm and smooth, not a seam out of place.

Imagine the blush on Chuuya's face when you put on the white bunny onesie. The bunny ears on the hood! The fluffiness! His flustered face!

He will be slightly hesitant to put his own on, but when he does, you swear you can die from the cuteness. Want to see more cuteness? Tease him about it, and maybe he'll tickle you down until you're too breathless to tease him.

Chuuya doesn't want to say it explicitly but it does feel really comfortable, it's suitable for winters too.

As usual, Chuuya will be the big spoon. You will melt into his warmth and the smoothness of his onesie, and you can tell he's enjoying it too, from the way he'll drag his hand all over you to feel the smooth fabric

"It's a good thing we listened to ane-san's suggestion, hm?" You asked. "I didn't exactly like the matching penguin pairs."

"Yeah, this isn't bad at all." Chuuya admitted, snuggling his chin into the crook of your neck. "You're so warm."

Oda Sakunosuke

First off I'm Odasaku's lover before I'm anything else.

When the weather gets cold, it's your idea to get onesies for the kids. They could use some cute onesies to sleep in.

Unlike Dazai and Chuuya, Odasaku will have time to spare to go shopping with you. Being the handyman of Port Mafia has its good sides, after all.

The atmosphere is identical to a date! You both meet up at evening after work, have a simple dinner first, then start the shopping. Shopping for the kids' onesies with him makes you feel like a parent doesn't it?

Odasaku and you will make sure not to pick flimsy, thin, or rough ones. Only the best for the kids. Both of you put your keen eyes to use, examining every considered piece

Odasaku and you will definitely discuss whether to get five identical or different ones. After considering that the kids have different personalities, choosing different pieces will sound more ideal. You both will grant them the liberty of picking themselves.

"We just have to make sure they don't fight over it." Odasaku said.

Lion, dinosaur, piglet, panda, and penguin. That's what you both will choose!

Odasaku is a man who doesn't wear his emotions on his sleeves, so you relied on his eyes when it comes to him. You will see love and sincerity. He picks each piece with careful consideration.

The store clerk will throw an unexpected (yet clichéd shoujo) question at you both. "You picked such good choices. We have sets for adults too, why not match with your children?"

Odasaku and you will widen your eyes. First of all, parents? And match? Both of you stare at each other in confusion. Should you get two get a pair for yourselves?

"Why not?" Odasaku eventually said.

Odasaku's will be a brown dog and yours a white cat (remember that one official art of Odasaku with puppy ears? <3)

Odasaku and you will immediately visit the kids and give them their onesies. Their excitement in picking one for their own made you smile, and you can see the joy in Odasaku's eyes when the kids thanked him and you. He doesn't smile, but you don't need him to just to know he's glad his children love your pick. The way he pats their heads already speaks volumes of love.

Thankfully no kid wrestled to get what they want. You were especially concerned Kousuke will compete with someone

Odasaku will bring a secondhand polaroid he once bought at Yokohama's flea market to take pictures of the kids. You will herd the children to gather for the picture while Odasaku looked for the right angle in the other side of the room.

"Why don't you stay there for the picture too?" Odasaku asked you, half of his face behind the camera.

You kneel behind the kids and put your hands on Sakura and Yuu's shoulders, the ones who stood on the far left and right. That much is enough to warm Odasaku's heart, but when you too, smile for the camera, he freezes for a while to take the sight with his eyes

The picture comes out nicely. You will end up convincing Odasaku to take more but with him in it, together, all seven of you. You would need the curry diner owner's help to take the picture

"Sakunosuke, smile, will you?" You held his shoulder while you both kneeled behind the kids for the picture. He would be a little stunned

He smiles, but it was faint. Nevertheless, you recognise the content in his eyes in the photo, and it's enough.

When it's just the two of you in the living quarters, you will have to remind Odasaku that he too, bought a onesie. He will gladly put it on him since you look so eager, he's curious how it feels too

Your heart stops when he put on the hood with the puppy ears. You will have to fight back the urge to attack him with cuddles right there and then when his confused and innocent face matches the onesie so much!

"You're adorable," You smiled half teasingly, taking in the look of confused Odasaku who looked down at his onesie. The weight of the material felt right, it's like a cozy blanket.

"Try to put yours on," He says. When you did, his heart also missed a beat. The kitten ears on your head! The pure snowy white on you!

Odasaku is a bear hugger and when he hugs you, his embrace will feel tighter than usual. It's no surprise, he likes you and cats, and the way you interacted with the kids that day played tricks on his heart. You hug him back and ruffle his head while he mumbles his thank-you's at you

That night's sleep will be filled with nothing but cuddles of love and adoration. Yes, Odasaku is the big spoon, but you will also hold his arms tighter around you as you both drift into the night, chatting about life.

[imagine-it-to-be-true]

Fix You - Caius Volturi x FemOC Three Shot: Part 1

Hey guys! Thanks so much for reading. Hope you like the one shot. I do take requests! Please have a look at my list of characters, and the rules. Feel free to reach out.

Notes about the One Shot:

Summary: As Caius walked around the streets of Volterra, he came across a girl being assaulted and badly injured. He couldn't explain the pull he had towards her, but all he knew was that he needed to save her. Caius Volturi x Fem!OC. Mentions of blood, injury and death. Nothing too gruesome though. Also posted on my Fanfiction page.

Word count: 2679

Firstly, I don’t own Twilight, the Volturi, or the image used.

I sincerely apologize for my Italian and Greek phrases; I don’t speak a word of the languages and was at the mercy of Google Translate. 

Caius’ wife Athenodora does not exist. 

Also, imagine him how you want but I much preferred his appearance in New Moon, so that’s how I described him.

~ Enjoy :)

Cloud cover in Volterra was a rare sight. Most days the sun shone brightly, making the town not particularly an ideal place for vampires. Yet here they were, the powerful three, the ancient kings who were tasked with up-keeping and enforcing secrecy of the vampire world, in a town where they remained inside the walls of the Volturi Castle. Caius often wondered why the coven chose to remain there, and not move to a less sunny place. A lack of opportunities for outings meant that he was falling intellectually behind. One need not look further than his clothes, not to mention his mentality to see he was not one for modernity. Not that he cared. Humans and their achievements were so minuscule in his eyes. Nevertheless, he enjoyed the opportunity to venture out into the town, feel the cool breeze on cloudy days like today and observe the lesser kind. It was remarkable for him how the world changed since his childhood in Ancient Greece, yet the scape of Volterra harked back to it with its old buildings.

Caius was lonely. He was angry and cruel; many would even say sadistic. But no, the last part was not true. After over 3000 years of living alone, never aging, never moving forward, being forced to hide himself, and never seizing to hunger, it’s no surprise that one would become angry. But he was not a sadist. He did not enjoy the pain of others. He fed only when he could no longer contain his thirst, not over-indulging himself. But he understood the need for justice, and was not tolerant when punishment was due. This was often mistaken for sadism.

Volterra was extra busy lately due to an overwhelming influx in tourism. One could no longer walk in peace. The pushing and shoving of the crowded streets became too much for Caius. He looked around him, and noticed a less busy street to his right. The more he followed, the less people were there. He kept going until he was left alone, in peace, and stopped, and leaned his back against the wall, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, exhaling through his mouth. He took a moment to collect his thoughts. And that is when he heard it. 

From his right, came a feminine scream. It snapped Caius out of his thoughts. It sounded desperate, and then quieted down before he heard the female’s voice again, yelling in English with an American accent, “PLEASE! Somebody help me!” In one swift motion, Caius pushed himself from the wall and walked towards the pleas. He rounded a corner and between two buildings, there was a thin, dark alleyway. It was there that he found the source of the commotion.

A tall, heavy-built balding man had a significantly smaller female pinned up against the wall with his body. His left hand grasped her around the neck, while the other clutched a gun to her head. Caius spoke Italian - one of the many languages he’s mastered - so he understood plainly the filth coming out of the lowlife’s mouth as he barked at the poor girl. She, however, was clueless and sobbing, begging him to leave her. 

In the split moment that he observed the scene, Caius’ eyes landed on the female. She was small, about 5”2, looked to be in her early twenties and very slim. Her hair was golden blonde, long and fell in thick, luscious curls down her back. She did not appear to be wearing much makeup, yet her eyebrows were naturally prominent and neat, and her lips were full, petal pink in colour. But it was her eyes which Caius noticed immediately. They were large and the most captivating colour: a mix of emerald and sapphire. It was as if staring into the waters of a deep, stormy ocean. However, when they met his eyes, they were full of terror. She quieted her struggle and looked at him, as if calmed by his presence, mentally begging him to save her.

Typically, Caius did not give two thoughts about humans. Yet this time was different. The girl before him stirred something inside of his frozen ancient heart. His eyes shifted from the girl and landed on the lowlife.

“Togli le mani da lei, feccia.” (Get your hands off her, Scum.) he snarled.

The man jumped in surprise and turned towards Caius. When he saw him, the lowlife sneered. Compared to him, Caius did not look all that threatening. He was tall and well-built, but thinner than the scum. His fashion choices didn’t help either. His near-white blonde hair combed to perfection and pushed behind his ears. He wore a blood-red dress shirt, paired with a black blazer and black dress pants, topped off with a silky red scarf. He looked like an escaped runway model, not a man that could do damage.

The man Caius addressed continued sneering and chuckling. 

“Cosa hai intenzione di fare al riguardo, bel ragazzo?” (What are you going to do about it, pretty boy?)

Caius took a large step forward and retorted, “Strapparti la testa e bere il tuo sangue è divertente?” (Does ripping your head off and drinking your blood sound like fun?)

The man raised his eyebrows in surprise at the viciousness, but still obviously not taking the situation seriously. He laughed and turned back to the girl.

“Vedi, bella ragazza? Sta cercando di mettersi in mostra per te. Ma è solo un ragazzo. Lascia che ti mostri cosa fanno gli uomini.” (You see, pretty girl? He's trying to show off for you. But he's just a boy. Let me show you what men do.)

Before Caius had a chance to comprehend or react, within a fraction of a second, the gun pressed against the girl’s temple was lowered. The scum aimed it at her stomach and shot twice. She screamed in pain, and dropped to the ground, gasping.

Caius took a second longer than normal to realize what had just unfolded. The man had the gun pointed at him now. He aimed at his chest and fired. When Caius was hit, he did nothing but stand there. Then came the second shot and to the scum’s surprise, he did not drop. A smirk began to form on the vampire’s face, before he simply said, “Avresti dovuto scappare quando ne avevi la possibilità.” (You should have ran when you had the chance.)

As the man continued pointlessly shooting at Caius, the vampire closed the distance between them in less than a second. He grasped the man’s neck with his right hand and pressed him up against the wall, lifting him up with one arm. The man squirmed and groaned, futilely attempting to free himself. Caius didn’t enjoy hurting people. But this time was different. He snapped the man’s neck and threw him down, like discarded trash. He took a breath and turned to the girl on the ground.

She was no longer making sounds nor moving, but lay there motionless, face down on the ground. Caius could see a large red spot in her stomach area, with blood seeping through the thin fabric of her white summer dress, her blonde curls hanging like closed curtains over her face. Caius leaned down, extending a hand to gently move them aside. He pushed the curls behind her ear, running his knuckles down her soft cheek. Those beautiful storm eyes were closed.

“Can you hear me?” He whispered to her, but she did not stir. 

Caius felt a deep pain in the pit of his stomach, and a pressure rising up to his throat. He felt anger, rage, but most prominently sorrow. He had this feeling like he never wanted anything more in his life than for her to look at him and say she was alright. The situation was not made easier by the fact that her deliciously smelling blood was pooling more and more. 

Quickly, he reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out his iPhone. Alec had gifted it to him the year before, and this was the first time he’d use it. He couldn’t figure out the damned thing; books and scripts were more useful anyway. With some effort, he found the number he was looking for in his contacts and dialled it. The ringing seemed to go on for ages, until finally…

“Dr. Carlisle Cullen speaking.”

“Cullen. You are speaking to Caius.” He barked into the phone. A silence followed before Carlisle hesitantly responded, a hint of fear in his voice at what the Volturi king might want.

“Lord Caius. I was not expecting you. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I am with a human. She was shot with a gun in her stomach twice. There is a significant amount of blood. She is not responding to me. Her eyes are closed and she is not moving. What shall I do?” He spoke in a hard, fact-based tone.

“Well Caius, it sounds like she might be dead…” before Carlisle could finish his thought, Caius cut him off.

“You are foolish to think that I would waste my precious time calling you to hear something so unacceptable. Tell me how to fix her!”

“Okay, I’m not sure if she can be. But let’s try. I need you to put the phone on speaker.”

“What is that?! Talk quickly Cullen, her bleeding has not seized!”

“Okay, Caius, you see the small picture of a loudspeaker on your phone? Push it.”

Caius did as he was told. “Now what?”

“Put the phone down on the ground. I need you to turn her on her back. GENTLY! Don’t forget you’re a lot stronger than her.”

Caius gently pushed the girl’s shoulders and was able to turn her on her back, grabbing her head so it did not hit the concrete. It was then that the significance of the wound became apparent, as did the scent of her blood. It became nearly too much for the vampire. He was close to damning it all and indulging in her sweet taste. But then he looked at her perfect face. How he longed to see those beautiful eyes again.

In a struggling voice, he spoke, “Alright, it is done.”

“Now, take your index and middle finger and push both to her neck, under her chin, on the side of her throat. You should feel her heartbeat if she’s alive.”

Caius did as he was told, but initially could feel nothing. After a few failed attempts, he hung his head. Just as he was about to remove his fingers, he felt it. So faint and tiny, but it was there.

“I feel it! It is very faint! But I feel it.”

Carlisle waited a moment before speaking. “Can you describe the wounds to me? Where are they specifically?”

“They are both in the same place. One is at the base of her ribs to the left, and the second is just under it.”

Carlisle sighed and softly spoke, “Caius. She’s not going to make it. She’s on her last few breaths now, and we can prolong her suffering, but we can’t-“.

“No!” Caius cut him off, “She will not die. There must be something to be done!”

“Well… you could always change her.”

Caius let out a breath. He would not wish his own endless existence on anyone. Not to mention the unbelievably excruciating pain of the process. After 3000 years, there was one thing he remembered with vivid accuracy: his own change. But at the same time, he was in a panic. He was not sure what it was, but the thought of her dying was destroying him inside.

He swallowed and spoke in a gentler voice to Carlisle, “Is there any way to manage her pain during the change?”

“Morphine. It needs to be injected before the venom. Give it 5 minutes to take effect and then change her.”

“Thank you,” Caius whispered before hanging up.

He immediately gathered the woman into his arms, lifting her up with ease, and began running back to the castle. He made it in a matter of minutes, storming through the doors of the great gathering hall, where Aro and Marcus were speaking to Jane. Immediately, all eyes were on Caius and the little bundle in his arms.

“Brother,” greeted Aro with his child-like smile, “you came home with takeout, I see,” he cackled. 

“No! Do not approach me now brother. I wish to change her, and so it will be. No one comes near her!” Caius exclaimed. His two fellow kings looked at each other, befuddled. “Jane,” Caius turned to her, “find me a shot of morphine immediately and bring it to my chambers.” With this, he stormed out of the hall. 

Aro, with a confused look on his face, took a step to follow, only to be held back by Marcus. “He cannot just bring some random off the street and claim her as his own!” He exclaimed, but Marcus shook his head and smiled.

“I felt their bond. He has bound himself to her. Neither might realize this yet, but they are mated. She is his now.”

———

Caius rushed her to his room. He gently placed her on his bed, which he hadn’t used in years for obvious reasons. As he laid her down, the girl began to gain consciousness. She began feeling the pain of her injuries. Tears started fall down her cheeks and she softly, weakly moaned in pain.

Caius sat down next to her, brushing her tears away with his thumb, gently pushing her hair back away from her face.

“Shh, it’s alright. Breathe.” She seemed to respond to this by attempting to open her eyes, yet not having enough energy to do so. Caius was dying inside, seeing her suffer. He couldn’t explain why. This was the first time in 3000 that he cared so deeply about the well-being of anyone, let alone a weak human.

“Breathe for me. That’s it. You’re alright.” He whispered. She tried, but couldn’t. She attempted to say something along the lines of “I don’t want to die,” but was only emitting squeaks.

“Shhh, don’t talk. He’s gone, I’ve got you. There is not a place in the world safer than here with me.”

Just then, Jane burst through Caius’ doors with a large syringe filled with clear liquid. She quickly handed it to Caius and stepped back, lingering. Caius turned to her and harshly barked, “Leave!” She bowed and turned on her heels, heading out the door.

The girl had opened her eyes briefly and saw the large syringe. This frightened her, and she attempted to cower away. Caius returned his attention to her.

“Shhhh. Don’t be afraid. This will help you stop hurting. I will fix this. I will fix you,” As he spoke those words, a tear formed in his own eyes and rolled down his cheek. He was about to change her. Was it really fixing her, or was he selfishly wishing she would fix him? Give him companionship he so longed for? He didn’t care. He took the syringe and injected the morphine into her quickly, being as gentle as he could. Then, he waited. He needed her to stop crying. This would indicate the pain was gone and the morphine had taken effect. He held her hand, whispering sweet nothings to her. When she began quieting, he gently asked her.

“What is your name, omorfiá mou?” (My beauty), the last part in his native Greek.

She gasped and whispered, “Andromeda.”

Caius smiled and thought about how fitting the name was. The pain was gone now. He turned to her and brushed her hair out of her face. 

“Close your eyes, my beauty.” He gently brushed her hair back away from her neck. Leaning down, he brushed his lips on her ear, whispering “do not be afraid. You will live forever. You are mine now, and I will never let anything hurt you again.” 

With that, he sunk his teeth into her soft skin, and the journey to her transformation began.

[monachopsis-11]

So I’ve decided the best place to start is with how I realized I’m autistic. I honestly hadn’t ever had any exposure to anyone on the spectrum so I had no clue what Autism even was and I’d barely heard it mentioned either. So I’d been doing research online for years about different mental disorders and all kinds of other things trying to self diagnose but I could never find anything with more than a few symptoms I related to. Anyway you could imagine my surprise when I was reading Lady Midnight and relating to Ty Blackthorn intensely. Now I don’t actually have all of the more stereotypical behaviors that he has but it was the first time I’d ever related to a characters behaviors. I’ve always been a huge reader, I read my first magic treehouse book in kindergarten and never stopped and most of my special interests have been books/movies/tv shows/characters. So I’ve definitely found a lot of characters who I related to emotionally because of struggles they were going through that mimicked the things I experienced but with Ty I could actually relate to what he was doing. I don’t remember all of the examples but I remember him organizing his books by color, asking about things other characters said that didn’t make sense to me either, having sensory issues, and wearing headphones. Now this is just off the top of my head but I know there were more as well however in the book the characters are part of a government that doesn’t acknowledge mental health/neurodiversity etc. so the other characters don’t know Ty is autistic. Then all the sudden I’m reading a half a page interaction where another character who grew up in the human world and has basic knowledge of things says:

So I went “huh autistic? This could be worth researching.” And proceeded to create a 37 page Google doc with everything I read that seemed important color coded according to how much each symptom/experience related to me. From there I proceeded to obsess over it for weeks to the point where I felt like I had made it up because suddenly I was realizing all these things that I didn’t think about before like how much eye contact sucks and how stimming can be really soothing whereas in the past I just did eye contact because other people were doing it and I only really stimmed when I was really excited (like jumping up and down flapping my hands etc.) From there I decided to ignore it because I felt like I was making it up or at least exaggerating massively so I tried to focus my attention elsewhere. Elsewhere meaning 4 college courses (Photography, English 1A, English S, Women’s Studies), 2 high school classes (Integrated Math 2), and 4 AP tests (English Literature and Composition, English Language and Composition, European History, and Psychology) without taking any of the corresponding AP classes I might add. So as far as distractions go very effective and very stressful. Finally after deciding that I was ready to think about things I proceeded to do more research, this time about autistic peoples experiences and after realizing how much of a spectrum things are and how sensory issues can change over time etc. I was finally able to accept that I was autistic and look into resources for therapy and hopefully a diagnosis at some point. So while this is obviously the short version of the story it covers the main points which I thought I’d share. Feel free to leave comments/questions as I’d love to talk with anyone who has had similar experiences.

FYI not my image so credit goes to whoever it belongs to 😊

[nereiix]

A Broken Blade, Short comic: Making-of

The very short comic I drew for A Broken Blade took me a lot of time and effort and I would like to share the list of resources I used as well as some of the concept arts, sketches and drafts I made throughout the process. I don't know if anyone will be interested, but I feel the need to share anyway. =)

Sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes, English is not my first language.

Literature resources

First things first, while drawing the first page I decided to read some books about how to draw comics because I have very little experience in this field. I chose two books:

Foundations in Comic Book Art: Fundamental Tools and Techniques for Sequential Artists by John Paul Lowe

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Comics: How to Create and Sell Comic Books, Manga, and Webcomics by Comfort Love & Adam Withers

It's been a while since I read them, but if I remember correctly I liked The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing Comics better because it's very complete (it’s in the title) and covers all aspects of how to draw a comic. It has a lot of great examples too. Foundations in Comic Book Art talks a lot about inking (which I wasn't particularly interested about), but it also has a nice chapter about perspective. Both have very useful tips so if you are interested to draw comics you might want to read them.

I've also read really good stuff on Making Comics – with Salgood Sam, in particular the article about flow in comics.

Inspiration

I usually start every project by making an inspiration/mood board so I made a small collection of comic pages on Pinterest to see what kind of layout and style I could use. I was mostly interested to see different ways of representing movements and sounds.

Layout & composition

The first thing I did was to draw a thumbnail for each page to get an idea of how I would represent the scenes. I think you're supposed to draw several thumbnails for each page but I was okay with the first ones I drew so I decided to keep them.

I worked on each page separately after that, always starting with a draft. It was really the most important step for me because it helped me to visualize what kind of atmosphere I wanted to use and where to place the lighting. I tried to keep them simple but you can see different degrees of laziness depending on the page. xD

Some of these sketches are very ugly but it does the job. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I wasn't satisfied with the first composition I made for the second page so I made another, more sketch-like, version. I ended up using a mix of the two versions for the final page.

Now, a very important point was that the part of the fic I decided to draw is about Sev having a nightmare. I really wanted to bring this aspect in the comic so I tried to play a lot with the lights, shadows and blurred elements. For the same reason, I decided not to use straight lines for the panels’ borders. I had in mind that it could depict how confused Sev is.

I think colors also play an important part in telling a story. For the general atmosphere, I decided to use the complementary colors blue and orange to separate the moment Sev is dreaming of cold, fear and death to when he wakes up to warm, security and family. And of course the red is for danger, blood and Sev himself.

References

First of all, I can't talk about references without mentioning PureRef, which is the program I use to make reference boards. I can't praise this tool enough so don't hesitate to check it out.

I always use a ton of references when I draw, and I'm not even exaggerating, I can easily spend hours searching for the right ones. There are plenty of places where you can find good references but sometimes you also need to be creative. I usually gather most of my references from Pinterest, Google Images, DeviantArt and Sketchfab (for 3D models). I also have a big folder of refs saved on my computer for the things I often draw. When I can't find what I'm looking for, I try to make it myself with 3D, videos and photos.

Here is a part of the references I used for the comic:

I said it's only a part because I also have separate boards for clones armors and SW characters/species designs.

Among all of these you can see some concept arts and screenshots from various Star Wars series/games that I used as inspiration to draw the interiors. And since I'm bad with interiors, for the panel with Scorch I used SketchUp for the first time to make a very quick model of the scene. I tried to use the rule of thirds for the composition:

There are a lot of photos of my hands too, I don't have much trouble drawing them but references are still very welcome.

After finishing the first page I've invested in a drawing mannequin (S.H.Figuarts - Body Kun) and I can say for sure that it was my best purchase of the year! It's absolutely amazing to make custom references:

I decided to draw over the photos of the mannequin taking the pose because it is waaaay easier that way than trying for hours to get the proportions and perspective right.

Finally, I often put tutorials from other artists on my reference boards, here is the links of those visible on this one:

[Nose tutorial] • [Ears tutorial] • [Hands with knife] • [Folds tutorial] • [Mouth tips] • [Arm studies] • [Folds material comparison] • [Pant shapes and folds]

Character & knife design

For Sev, I decided to use the original design from the Republic Commando game rather than the simplified version we see in SW:TCW. I really struggled to find references for his armor's markings that showed all angles so it's not 100% accurate to the original design, but I don't think that's really a problem. For the armor itself, I prefer the more realistic look so I used references from Star Wars Battlefront II as well as 3D models (mostly this one and this one).

Since I'm a perfectionist at heart, I tried to keep all scratches on the paint the same from one panel to another. :’)

The trandoshan is only visible on a couple of panels but he still needed a design. I used references from different sources but I was mostly inspired by the trandoshan concept arts visible in The Art of Star Wars: the Mandalorian (bottom left and bottom right images).

As a side note, I used one of my own character’s design as inspiration for his muzzle’s markings.

In the fic, the blade is described as being “beautiful” and the image that immediately came to my mind was one of these knives with a Damascus pattern (I just learned that's what it's called). I used various references from regular knives and vibroblades. One of my friend made a speed modelling of the knife I designed and I used it as reference as well, look at this!

Sources of the middle top vibroblade here and bottom left here. The reference on top right is from The Art of Star Wars: the Mandalorian.

Did you know that non-energized blades are called dead blades in Star Wars? It's a pretty cool name in my opinion.

Fonts

The fonts I used on the comic come from Blambot. I used Anime Ace for the regular texts and Death Rattle for the big sound texts. I also use NexusFont to manage the fonts on my computer, it’s pretty useful if you want to use fonts without having to install them.

I think that's all. I hope someone will find this useful and kudo to you if you read the whole thing! ^^

[familyhoteluttarakhand]

Uttaranchal - A Road Less Traveled

A holiday always means searching for and booking well-known tourist spots and getting the opinions of friends and acquaintances who have visited these spots.

Since most tourist spots are logistically well developed and have a good network of catering facilities, it is less of a hassle to visit such places. But a trip to Uttaranchal last year completely changed my idea of ​​travel.

After that I realized that most of the popular tourist spots are overcrowded, polluted and mostly commercialized by the locals.

My itinerary for the trip: Corbett National Park was quickly found after a quick search on Google. I found it a perfect place for a vacation where the whole family can relax and enjoy.

Planning started early as jungle resorts within the CNP (Corbett National Park) require 3 months advance booking. There are many places to stay outside of the CNP but you lose the adventure of being in the real jungle with the wilderness.

The U-turn: The original plan was a 3-night stay at the CNP, on to Nainital, and then visiting a few nearby places.

A phone call from my childhood friend from Uttaranchal made me change that plan a bit. She invited me to her place in Uttaranchal called 'Didihat'!

"Where on earth is this ?" mumbled my exhausted husband, digging deep into the map of India. He was a little worried because he wanted to travel to an unfamiliar place with young children.

"You just book the tickets and come to Haldwani and I'll take care of the rest," my friend reassured us.

All aboard: We arrived in Delhi as planned and boarded the Ranikhet Express to Haldwani. The Ranikhet Express departs from Delhi at night and travels to Kathgodam, the last point where Uttaranchal is connected by rail. Buses and jeeps are the only means of transport available to get to these mountainous regions.

We reached Haldwani early in the morning and anxiously awaited our jeep driver that my friend had organized. A small Pahari man greeted us with a smile and asked us to sit in the jeep.

The abundance of nature: Perfect pictures, lush green mountains, and a cool breeze made us forget the tiredness of the journey.

Was it a bad decision? The situation changed when our jeep started going higher into the mountains. Steep roads, hairpin bends and low air pressure made us all dizzy and nauseous.

Suddenly the whole trip looked like a bad decision and I blamed myself for accepting my friend's request. Anyway, our misery came to an end and we saw my friend at the door of her house, where she greeted us with a big smile.

Heaven in the Highlands: My girlfriend, who was a little upset by what had happened, woke us up the next day with a hot cup of tea. The night's rest made us fresh again, we felt very cold (in May) and asked her for a sweater.

It was foggy and the sky was covered with thick smoke.

Jungle fire and fog is a common phenomenon in the mountains, often obscuring visibility in these hilly areas. Most of the images were therefore blurred.

My eyes widened as I stepped onto the balcony. I sat and drank tea while having the majestic Himalayas in front of me!

There's a lot to see," said my friend, who asked us to take a day off before exploring the beauties of the mountains. We couldn't have asked for more from this vacation.

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Visit us for the best travel experience with your family: https://familyhoteluttarakhand.com/

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[randoimago]

Okay, Circle of the Crimson Druid anon here, I tried to send you a link, but tumblr wouldn’t let me. But just looking up Circle of the Crimson Druid subclass on google should be fine and there should be a description sheet in google images. Hope it’ll turn out fine, and hopefully I’ll hear from you soon.

Original Ask Here

Part 2

FANDOM: Critical Role

Character(s): Beauregard Lionette, Caduceus Clay, Caleb Widogast, Fjord

Type of Request: Headcanons

Warning: Body Horror

Word Count: 524

Note(s): Okay the first thing that popped up was a Reddit thread so I'll use what's listed on it and hope it's okay (again shows Body Horror type stuff)! I'll also do this in two parts just so I can include everyone!!

Beau

Gonna be honest, thinks your transformations and stuff is pretty gross. Like regrowing limbs? Tearing your flesh to makes wings? Not great.

Definitely really suspicious of you and how you started following this druid circle. Might have to make reports back to the Cobalt Soul because this looks like some fucking evil magic to her.

I mean, you’re great in combat. You’re a badass, but she is really not okay with all the body horror crap. Eyes appearing on spells you cast and tumors showing up?

Definitely is going to feel sick a few times while trying to fight or do things and honestly it might cause more fuck ups than none.

Look she’ll play along and be all buddy/buddy with you but idk know if it would actually be a friendship because what you do just screams “Evil” to her and she’s dealt with enough idiots trying to go against death.

Caduceus

So saying this right now, probably won’t work with Caduceus. 

His whole thing is protecting nature and preserving the dead as well as life that feeds off of the dead.

Description of the class says: “To these druids, preserving life is futile without first rejecting the enemy of life: death” and Caduceus believes it to be a full circle and you can’t just reject any part of the circle.

So yeah what you do seems like it goes against what he stands for. Especially considering his quest from the Wildmother is to get rid of tainted nature and that is what your magic is. 

He’ll want to find some kind of common ground at first just so he’s not judging a book by it’s cover but he would not be able to stand for your transformations.

Caleb

Your magic is rather interesting and unique, he’ll give you that.

The magic is very powerful but he also knows it’s pretty unnatural. While he himself doesn’t care too much, he knows the rest of his group would.

Might try to ask you a bit about your magic to see if he’s able to use it in anyway. Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

Caleb has seen a lot of horrific crap at his time in the academy thanks to Trent so he probably doesn’t even flinch when you do your transformations or spells that have malformities.

Due to your magic and belief with your Circle, there will be suspicion on Caleb’s end and he probably is going to be slow to trust you at all, but he’s the most likely to give you a chance.

Fjord

Nope. Naw, not happening.

He already feels his stomach working against him the first time he sees your transformation.

Also very creeped out. He’s the easiest to scare in the group and seeing all those eyes and limbs and... yeah no he would like his breakfast to be inside him, thanks.

Also because he follows The Wildmother, he is probably not going to be okay with your magic and mindset when it comes to nature.

Rather he actually fights you is another thing, but definitely very suspicious of you and probably not going to trust you at all.