#at least make /some/ progress
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good morning!! <33
#woo it's sunday :3#so breakfast as usual#then me actually playing hsr as promised#(ended up distracted by a kpop random dance yesterday and didn't have the energy for it when i was done oops hehe)#but anyways i should have plenty of time to do it today#at least make /some/ progress#then... writing hopefully#anyways... i hope today/tonight's kind to you! <333#morning rambles
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Really says something about the dire state of offerings for men interested in sewing their own clothes that even searching things like "interesting men's clothing patterns" brings up articles with links to four or five whole websites that primarily offer admittedly nice but practically identical patterns for making button-ups and work pants and maybe a varsity/bomber jacket if you're lucky.
(Branching out into historical costuming for everyday wear is like your one shot at variation, and even then, the ratio of men's to women's patterns on every website is frustrating to say the least.)
Patternmakers as a trans man I am begging you. Give me a little more to work with here.
#can you tell i have been browsing patterns today#anyways after i make some progress on jonathan i'm going to buy some loud weird prints and at least jazz up a pants pattern#i want to have clothes that i like but god is it hard if you lean masc and also like fun
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Zelda goes mushroom girl
#tloz#a link to the past#zelda#link#my art#I was happy with that first one but for some reason decided it still needed a companion piece so I spent way too long on that second one...#I don't think there was any time during the progress where I was happy with it but hfduhdfu at least I got to Attempt drawing moss hell yea#I also at some point sat in Pyu's art stream and said I enjoy drawing legs As I was being murdered by the infamously impossibe (imo) squat.#it's ok I had fun !! but I need to learn how to let doodles be doodles or I'll never finish stuff at this rate dfsuhfd#if everything in my tloz tag looks like it was drawn by different people uuuh 2023 was art crisis year ngl......#I'm falling back into my old ways rn though#anyway I think about these two a lot I think they're both stone faced and awkward ppl in different ways but they try rly hard to be friends#like I like to think it starts out so incredibly awkward and a bit sad bc they keep stepping over each other's toes accidentally the harder#they try but idk they find comfy middle ground idk in my brain they have a very interesting friendship I wanna get around to drawing it#in a proper way that might make sense....#if I don't write 200 tags I will die maybe it's bc I grew up on dA or smth#and yes I know how to find 1 (one) type of mushroom /I/ am not mushroom girl unfortunately smh
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as far as i understood from previous posts, Machete loves snails, but how does Vasco feel about them? does he try to love them for Machete's sake?
Maybe "loves" is a strong word. He certainly likes them more than an average person, can get lost quietly observing a passing snail for a long while, and has read about them to understand them a little better, but they aren't his main passion in life or anything. He sees a snail and feels fond, positive emotions for reasons he can't fully explain. They're common, overlooked animals and they remind him of his childhood.
If Vasco ever picked up on this, he might start to doodle little snails on the letters they exchange (in an unintentional callback to the snails you might see in medieval manuscripts). But I doubt it'd ever go beyond than that. Vasco's innate relationship with snails is largely neutral.



#Vasco on the other hand is an avid equestrian and Machete has always felt a little uncomfortable around horses#but he very much tries to learn to love (or at least tolerate) them for Vasco's sake#and over the years he does make visible progress#if Vasco says they're cool and trustworthy and smart and gentle animals then it must be the case#answered#anonymous#Vaschete lore#you know how you sometimes offhandedly reveal to someone that you have a particular fondness for some slightly more uncommon animal#oh you like hedgehogs? every birthday card you get from here on out will have a hedgehog on it#you have been assigned a new theme animal
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Living with a disability, especially a progressive or dynamic one is so fucking stressful. I don't know whether I'll be able to do things I can do now in a couple of years or even a couple of months. Maybe today I'm up and dancing but tomorrow I can barely leave my bed. I'm already grieving the things I know I won't be able to do in the future and it's so, so so so hard. The worst part is that there's nothing you can do but try to enjoy life right now and hope you can keep doing what you love
#not to vent on main but this week has been hard for me#at least i have anime#and yall my friends and irl moots have been very supportive#ig my fam is supportive in their own way#seeing another specialist in a couple weeks hopefully we can make some progress#still worried i won't be able to perform if I don't have more accommodations#vent#vent post#disability#disabled#heds#potsie#pots#mcas#ehlers danlos syndrome#hypermobile ehlers danlos#the holy trinity of chronic illnesses#chronically ill#chronic illness#chronic pain#chronic fatigue
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decided to join in on @quezify’s eggtober again this year as a little art warmup and I actually ended up really enjoying it!! it’s obviously way outside of my usual comfort zone so I’m very happy that I was able to create an end result that I’m proud of :)
#eggtober gives me SO much joy I’m so happy it’s happening again#I did two eggs last year and really enjoyed them so I thought it would be fun to try again and I was right!#I experimented with some new things and I really think I made some great progress from last years attempts :)#eggtober#eggtober2023#my art#art#‘warmup’ my ass lmao. I spent at least an hour on this.#felt rlly good tho#v fun I highly recommend trying to make an Egg even if you think it’s way outside of ur abilities!!#it really pushes you to experiment and play around and just have fun with art!
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part 1 of a little comic / art sequence that i've been working on! :D it's part tribute, part experimenting with brushes n colors and trying new thingz :]
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ... |
and thus continues my endless quest of spreading the carrot fics like a plague! if you've seen my art floating around you probs already figured that this au holds a very special place in my heart, forever and always!!
if you haven't heard of it, it's a fic series by @crowned-ladybug called carrot soup!! it made me wish i could speak colors and i need more people to share my struggle xd
go check it out if you're into sweet voice lore and qpr level gayness and just wanna feel warm and soft and warm (hurt/comfort my beloved) <333 there are some heavier themes cos everyone's traumatized but they're working through it! be sure to check the tags and stay safe! <3
#hlvrai#half life vr but the ai is self aware#frenrey#carrots au#<- gotta remember to tag the other ones as well#art tag or whatever#yippie im so excited to finally start sharing these with people!!!#there will be at least 5 parts in total maybe more idk#i just wanted to illustrate this little snippet of the first fic#maybe i'll draw more of these if i get another vision#i am still trying to work on the animatic so that would probs include most of my visions anyway#i think im gonna post a wip sometime soon just in case i lose interest#also i crave validation and reading people's tags and comments makes me so so so happy!!!><#btw it kinda feels nice posting something like. after a while#cos it's been quite a bit since i finished this first.. part? page? thingy#and it's nice to finally stay out of the whole instant gratification thing#please do still go crazy in the tags tho? if u want?#mkay enough rambling for today i've got things to do#like be cozy n read fanfics n drink water n stuff yk?#all the important thingz#and who knows maybe i'll even make some progress on.. whatever it is that piques my interest today#bye for now!!! take care and have a very orange day <3
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all i wanna do is untie all your knots, dissolve all your thoughts
#yttd#your turn to die#shin tsukimi#sou hiyori#midori yttd#kmgsn#kimi ga shine#kgs#shadowart#OKAY TAGS TIME#HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST CHARACTER EVERRRRR#SO the caption is from cash cab cause originally i was thinking of staying up all night to make another video like i did last year#but then i realized im fucking lazy#and i just plain haven't drawn a regular drawing in a long while#so i was like well. maybe i should like. yknow. do that. LOL#uh wow my style really evolved since i last drew them i feel#well not midori because i drew him again very recently#but at least im finally happy with how i stylize his stupid fucking hair#i wanted to use a sort of odd colour palette to give this drawing a feverish quality#i found it very fun to work with#i feel that i have been using more interesting palettes a lot more lately#their poses were very fun for me to draw too#it's very interesting to think about how my style has progressed into exaggerated and excessive clothing folds#because before that i actively avoided drawing clothing folds#i dreaded it and it shows in my older art#i don't know what changed. i decided they were fun#i didn't do any particular studies but there is an artist that influenced the switch#but it'd be embarrassing to name them here LOL#overall my takeaway here from this piece is that im very happy#sorry that this has been some of my longest notes yet and thank you for reading
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The fandom can't make up its mind on what's supposed to be a joke and what's supposed to be serious because the show can't either half the time. It's a tonally disjointed mess that wants to have absurd over-the-top humor as well as a plot and moments of drama, romance, and angst that demand you see the characters as people and feel for what they're going through. Except you can't do that without also treating the dumb bullshit in a somewhat grounded way. Like, you're still dealing with the same characters. You can't just go "Oh, that? Let's ignore that!" the moment it's no longer convenient to you. You've opened this can of worms and now you have to sleep in it. So, every character flip-flops between two different versions of themselves depending on what the writers need in any particular scene.
This is not to say surreal humor can't be used right alongside characters you're supposed to empathize with, Teen Titans (not Go) did that and it worked. It's just that the absurdity can only come from the setting (Mad Mod, Mother Mae-Eye, pretty much anything Control Freak is in) or from designated joke characters (Date With Destiny). Teen Titans never had the main characters acting in clearly absurd ways as the butt of a joke unless those characters were brainwashed somehow, because the writers knew that would ruin any of the more grounded moments they wanted to write. The writers of Miraculous missed the memo on that one.
I don't disagree. A perfect example is Derision where the show takes all of the bad jokes about Marinette's crush and decides to take them seriously as if you can possible take them seriously without making Marinette come across as unhinged and dangerous. You can't, which brings us to the topic at hand: how do you even begin to understand these characters when the show is constantly making character-breaking choices?
My approach - and the approach I recommend others take if they're going to keep watching the show - is to focus on the characters' cores and reject anything canon does to violate those cores. I don't argue for this stance because I love the characters so much that I only want the good things to count. I take this stance because, if you don't, then the characters fall apart. There is no way to make them work as fully realized characters while embracing every choice canon has made. Miraculous has massive characterization issues that go well beyond the humor.
For example, Adrien has multiple moments of terrible behavior that are played in a serious manner such as the moment in the episode Frozer where he tries to start a fight with Ladybug in the middle of an akuma attack because she wouldn't accept a rose from him earlier:
Setup
Ladybug: I can't accept this rose from you. I told you already. I'm in love with someone else. Cat Noir: I know, M'lady. But if he weren't here, would things be different between us? Ladybug: Well, you know, I can't even begin to imagine him not being here. I'm sorry, Cat Noir. I really gotta get going, and you better do the same. (Swings her yo-yo to head back home; Cat Noir is sad, looking downwards, with one petal of the rose falling.)
Payoff
Ladyice: Cat Noir. We need to set up a trap for whoever turned the city into a giant ice rink. (throws yo-yo) Icecat: (bitterly) My feline instincts prefer to track and observe before I attack. You go your way, I'll go mine. Ladyice: Please don't tell me you're mad at me about the rose. Icecat: There may be a certain chill now between us. Ladyice: I get it, but we should really focus on saving Paris right now. Icecat: We don't always have to do everything together, after all. It's not like we're a couple. (skates away)
There's no way to argue this off as a bad joke. While Adrien has every right to feel hurt, those feelings don't excuse him acting like a pouting child in the middle of an akuma fight. It doesn't excuse him acting like this at any point! Ladybug is not a villain for telling him no. She wasn't even mean about it!
I clearly fully agree that Adrien looks awful and selfish here, but I'd still argue that it's not something that should be used to define Adrien's character if your goal is to tell the "ideal" version of Miraculous. "Ideal" being the version that canon seems to be going for based on the overall picture we can sort of make out if we back way, way, way up and look at the extremely abstract picture canon is clumsily painting.
Unless canon is going to do something monumentally stupid, Adrien is Marinette's endgame romantic interest. It's also clear that there is no plan to cut him from the team. He's going to be Chat Noir for the rest of his life or at least well into his adulthood. This means that he is supposed to be a good hero who deserves his miraculous just like he's supposed to be a charming and cute romantic lead. These are the two things I keep in mind when trying to shift through canon to figure out what writing choices I should fully embrace and what writing choices I have to either ignore or treat as true flaws that get an actual character arc. In my book, either approach is fine because most of the characters are deeply flawed at this point and you can't give them all arcs without bloating the story to nonsense levels.
My goal with this approach is never to say, "oh, that moment shouldn't count in terms of how people feel about the character." It's more, "that moment goes so hard against who this character is very clearly supposed to be that I can't take it into account if I want to tell the kind of story that Miraculous is trying (and clearly failing) to tell."
As an example, let's list off Adrien's worst behaviors. The things that make him look terrible:
He sucks at communicating his needs and feelings, leading to multiple moments where he gets mad at Ladybug for things she's totally unaware of
He has quit or considered quitting without warning multiple times and only one of those was because of something he did "wrong" (NYC Special)
He puts his feelings before the safety of Paris on multiple occasions, even going so far to purposely miss akuma fights to see what happens
He is incredibly pushy about his crush, often ignoring Ladybug's feelings on the topic by continuing to bring it up even after she asked him to stop
There have been multiple instances where he almost cataclysmed multiple people in a fit of anger
His love for Ladynette isn't strong enough to let him break free of things like akumas and nightmare dust even when he's looking her in the eyes making him a pretty crappy romantic lead
People will argue that some of this behavior makes sense for his character because of the abuse that canon has technically introduced, but that the writers seem blissfully unaware of. I don't disagree with that argument, but that doesn't change the fact that none of this is acceptable behavior for a hero and Adrien is a hero who keeps doing these things. A sad backstory doesn't give you the right to behave poorly without consequences.
At the same time, if I fully embrace these elements of canon, what I get is an Adrien salt fic where he loses his miraculous for good while Marinette finds her real true love or even just a non-salty fic where Adrien leaves for his own meatal health and gets replaced by someone who can handle being a hero right now. Canon's not writing either of those, so the only way to engage with these flaws while enjoying canon or aiming for the same end goals as canon is to say, "I guess this doesn't count" or "I guess I need to tone this way down and work through it via a character arc" or even "I guess that was just a bad joke maybe?"
That is the essence of what I mean when I call myself a writing salt, character sugar blog. It comes from looking at canon and seeing that there's simply no way to embrace the worst moments and the best at the same time. We're not dealing with a coherent plot and/or complex characters. We're dealing with a nonsense plot that will warp the characters to bizarre shapes to make random ideas work even if those idea go wildly against canon's end goals.
As an example, Glaciator and Frozer should not exist in the same universe or, at the very least, something should explain why Chat Noir randomly changed his stance on Ladybug's crush from acceptance to pushiness. As is, the pieces don't fit together. The behavior is too contradictory. Remember, this is how Glaciator ends:
Perhaps Ladybug will love me someday. I mean, like, I love her. I have to believe. In the meantime, her friendship is the best gift of all.
Where did this version of Adrien go? Why did he regress in Frozer? There's no in-universe reason. It happened because the writers weren't ready to let the love square date or grow close, but they also wanted the love square to cause drama, so Adrien ends up looking terrible just like Marinette ends up looking terrible when it's her turn to cause love square drama. Her terribleness takes a different flavor so it can be hard to realize that this is a systemic issue, but that's what it is. It's deeply frustrating, but it also clearly stems from cheap writing and not quality characterization.
This is also why my stance is that canon as a whole only supports my Doyalistic core-character analysis style of approach. The writing is too poor quality to do Watsonian analysis where you embrace the full picture and try to put it all together. The closest I'll get to Watsonian analysis is pointing out how much the writing botches a Watsonian take by showing you all the way the writing contradicts itself, twisting into a nonsense pretzel of frustration where the payoffs never satisfy! (See the season four rant for an example or anything where I talked about Chloe's supposed damnation arc.)
There are even characters where canon is such a total mess that you can Doyalistically argue for two separate takes! Gabriel is a perfect example. He is all over the place and his ending was so poorly handled that you can make strong arguments for writing him as a cold-hearted villain or a sympathetic villain without the end result feeling like it spits in the face of canon because both takes maintain his one core element: villain.
That's the big thing I keep in mind when I look at the characters and the lore and the plots and try to come up with versions that the average fan would like. I don't think that there's one true version of any of these things, but I do feel comfortable saying that there are versions that will very clearly only appeal to people who are salty about a specific thing that canon did poorly. That's not who I want to appeal to in my adaptions, so while I'm not going to argue that those takes have no backing in canon, I will argue that those takes are not supported by canon as a whole. Embracing them requires you to take the worst parts of canon at face value while ignoring what canon is clearly trying to do with the overall story.
I get the appeal of that, but it's not fun for me because that approach feels like rolling around in the mud with the pigs. I don't want to sink to canon's level! I want to have fun! That's why I talk about how to make canon into its best self, not its worst self. If you want its worst self, just go watch the actual show. I will be shocked it if disappoints you.
#anon ask#ml writing critical#ml writing salt#pandaofsecrets#character core#Once again none of this is meant to excuse any specific actions as “not that bad”#This is just me explaining how I approach the characters#I know there are fics out there that try to be sugar while embracing some of the bad parts of canon and that rarely works for me#To address these issues correctly you basically have to rewrite canon with the goal of properly setting up and addressing a specific issue#You can't just jump into canon as-is and fix anything in a truly satisfying way because canon is such a disaster#Lila and Alya is a perfect example#Alya's writing in Lila's episodes goes so hard against who Alya is supposed to be that you have to completely rework Lila and/or her lies#Which is why my list of favorite Lila takedowns is so short#Even the ones that are kind to Alya have her painfully gullible because of how badly written the Lila stuff was#You can't have Alya smart and clever while including all the things she's canonically done in the Lila plot and I hate it#Season five at least temporarily killed the fun of writing for this fandom for me#I hope to get it back so I can finish my in progress stuff because I really do love these characters#Canon just makes it so hard to have fun these days#The stuff I've heard about season six is just depressing#I hope my love for the characters and ideas comes through on this blog in addition to my frustration#I wouldn't be here if I just hated everything about the show#Canon is so beyond saving that I can't even read a lot of non-salty fanfic these days#The stuff that tries to embrace the later seasons while also giving happy endings just depresses me because it never works.#I can only read early canon stuff AUS and reboots#Only way I can enjoy the fandom is to treat canon as a popular but horrible fanfic that a bunch of the fandom is embracing for some reason
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if i ever say that i dont like digitaltime . thatz not me – a skinwalker haz violently murdered me and stolen my identity – immediately seek shelter
#that last image iz basically tony in a nutshell#/j#i showed a couple of friendz my first drawing [which iz based on another one i made a while ago but i digress]#n one of them politely asked me to put christmas hatz on them#nd i did#maybe ill upload it separately ? whoz to say – dependz on whether or not i deem it tumblr worthy#az it standz . i just have some silly gay people that i wanted to show off cuz i miss them#ive kinda come to termz with the fact that the project ive been stressing about so much izn't going to be finished in time for the 25th#i guess itz just gonna have to wait until next year ... if ill even be around until then .... or . rather . if ao3 will ....#im rlly disappointed though – i managed to write 26k wordz in the span of a week in the past#but now i wazn't even able to squeeze out more than 5k in the span of like . 2 monthz#pathetic . no ?#sighhh#better luck next time ...#dhmis#dhmis art#dhmis ship#dhmis au#high voltage au#dhmis tony#tony the talking clock#dhmis hv tony#dhmis colin#colin the computer#dhmis hv colin#dhmis digital time#digitaltime#whatever . at least i managed to make thiz . right ?#thatz progress . yeah ?#yeah ...
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Them ✨ that is all
#aloy could you yearn any less#i think this is the first time i went for glacier pics (proper) in the remaster?#the glitch still works#but aloy accelerates to the speed of light whenever you try to position her there#i don't remember it being that way#also eyes don't seem to open automatically anymore? at least in some cases#used to be every time in the old photomode#which is a neat improvement! albeit unexpected#anyway. yes. i am so very unwell about them#aloy x ikrie#aloy#ikrie#horizon zero dawn#hzd remaster#hzd photomode#my dear beloved glacier. the one true reason why my main save doesn't make any progress
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When things get tough and/or I start catastrophizing and I feel like giving up (mostly related to career/studies/future studies because that's my biggest monster to slay rn 🐲⚔️):
Remember how younger you passionately worked her ass off to get you to where you are now. How would she feel if you didn't make the most of her effort?
Remember how hard your family — your parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, etc. —worked so that you could even think of your dreams as real possibilities to aspire to. They had a dream, and it was difficult for them to achieve it too, but they didn't give up.
Remember how past generations of women and their allies fought to give women a place in public life if they so chose it. You might not always believe in yourself, but people who didn't even know you believed in you enough to fight the inequality. Despite the setbacks you may face, they believed you belong and that you have potential. You should believe the same of yourself too.
#okay that last one is probs a broad romanticization since when we say women and their allies started fighting for equality#it wasn't for ALL women...#and tbh idk much about the history of women in STEM#which is my 'public sphere of life'#but i still find it quite empowering to look back and see all the progress we've made since then#i mean there's still lots of progress to make#but we have come a long way#at least in some places of the world...#women in stem#stem academia#stem student#stemblr#studyblr#study motivation#med studyblr#studyspo#studyinspo#don't give up#monday motivation#god knows i'll need it
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Me banging out 1k+ words in like an hour: "oh we are SO fucking back."
Also me: 'proceeds not to write for a week straight'
#i binged the entirety of the last of us in two days so that was fun#i am...incredibly confused by some of the directions they're taking in season 2#like season 1 was good even if i felt it could be a bit longer and could use more fight scenes#i get that they wanted to make it more realistic from 'video game protagonist kills hundreds of people'#and the fact that joel is over 50 and is going to have some old man issues#like that's fine but it stil could have used a little more action#but the big fight in season 2? looked cool but...why?#and i am pretty salty that they seem to be writing out tommy's angry side#and maria being a terrifying force of nature that even joel is scared of#and they were fucking cowards for not casting someone jacked to play abby#or at least asking kaitlyn dever to bulk up#abby needs to look like she can peel off the hood of a car with her bare hands that is a core component to her character#like they're trying to be super progressive with their casting and then they're...regressive where the game was progressive#it's weird#i swear to god if they censor lev's storyline#i'd say they can't because it's such a vital part of his story but so was tommy's rage and lust for revenge#and with politics being what they are they'll probably feel pressured to change lev's story or heavily obscure it#ugh
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i just caught up with a breach of trust and I don't even know WHAT to say. thank you? jesus christ? oh my god? my husband and friends all hate me bc I won't shut up about it? I've never read a fanfic that could hold a candle? a match even? I've been reading in all my spare time. I've had dreams bc it's the last thing I'm thinking about at night. then I read more over breakfast. WOW? wowowowow? thank you again?
(A Breach of Trust)
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Thank you for being as brain-rotted as I am over this Utter Behemoth of a fic!! It's woven into the fabric of my being at this point.
I've poured my heart and soul into it and it means so so much to me, so hearing that OTHER people are like, bothering the people in their OWN lives about it? Wow. I'm very happy over the notion that there are strangers who know vaguely of ABoT because their loved one wanted to tell them all about it.
I've really loved building it up from an empty Word document. I'm really happy and lucky other people have come along for that. Thank you!!
#A Breach of Trust#ABoT#isa-ah#and there IS more to come#at least 5 more chapters#which in writer speak probably means 7 or 8#its been on hiatus for life-reasons and not for lost-interest reasons#in fact that 'woven into the fabric of my being' thing--#you know that thing where you listen to an old song and it nostalgia-BLASTS you with your life from that period?#stuff ive written does that for me#ABoT ESPECIALLY#its followed me so far#and i had some life changes which made it hard to pick up the next chapter#since it blasts me with 'REMEMBER how things used to be'#but im untangling that#and making progress on ch48#ALSO. I AM EATNG THAT FANART YOU MADE#I SAW IT RIGHT BEFORE THAT#IM DOING CARTWHEELS ABOUT IT
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Another Arcanum fan here^^ thank you for the awesome fanart! i went looking for other arcanum fans around 7-8 years ago and the scene was basically dead, i think i could only find literally 1 piece of arcanum fanart on tumblr at the time lol. BG3 and YouTubers doing videos on arcanum has really brought back a little life to its fandom i think
Hello to another fellow Arcanum fan! It's so lovely to see y'all come out of the woodwork haha~ It's a pleasure to make fanart of this absolute gem of a game!
Here are my two favorite dwarf lads: Logs and Mags~ 💛
lol I am one of those folks who discovered Arcanum because of YouTubers, specifically through MandaloreGaming's video back when it came out in late 2022. The game's name immediately intrigued me because I love "steamworks" (the 19th century/Victorian/steampunk aesthetic) and "magick" (high fantasy settings). I knew I had to play it after watching the video, so I did!
On the left is the first pass at the design for my Living One, Rí'an Mal'los back when I first started playing the game in January 2023. I eventually overhauled her design completely (right image that I finished in February 2025) to match the colors of her in-game portrait + sprites. mutton sleeves, my beloved...
(I also have an unhealthily large historical fashion reference collection, a lot being about the 19th century, so this game allows me to play fun dress-up with my Living One and the various NPCs)
I remember playing super sporadically/on-and-off for a while in my first playthrough. Based on my screenshot history, I blitzed through most of the game in April 2024 after I finally got through my roadblock of finding Renford A. Terwilliger's book, because after T'sen-Ang, I just tore through the main quest (Master of Persuasion route because heck yeah!).
I finished my first playthrough in September 2024, hence the huge uptick of Arcanum fanart from me since then. I just enjoyed the game so much and was inspired to draw! It reawakened the character/clothing designer within me since the limited graphics leave a lot of fun room for interpreting how the NPCs look.
I'm currently early on in my second playthrough, but I find myself feeling the urge to draw more rather than play, which isn't a particularly bad thing imo haha~ 💛
#stellastra's art#asks#arcanum: of steamworks and magick obscura#arcanum of steamworks and magick obscura#arcanum#arcanum fanart#Loghaire Thunder Stone#Magnus Shale Fist#dwarf#these asks are so sweet i'm so happy to see more arcanum fans 💛#i'm super late to the arcanum party but better late than never y'know? plus my fandom bandwagon days are over#i love a sort of chill niche old fandom. even if i may lament the scarcity of fanart compared to other fandoms#but as for the art - I like to make Loghaire and Magnus' designs be foils/very contrasting#Loghaire is like 600 years old and Magnus is 150 - so a lot of differences just by age alone#Loghaire's got this big ol' bitchin' beard while Magnus has a lil' city dwarf baby beard (he's working on growing it out. he's just young)#i imagine as the game progresses & Mags' personal quest happens - he adopts some of Loghaire's fashion + customs (i.e: braids + accessories#Loghaire wears a more traditionally dwarven LotR movie-like armor while Magnus has that Victorian city armor (early in the game at least)#as for that little notch in Magnus' right ear#i figure sometime late in the game Mags gets shot but bc his tech aptitude gets so high-Virgil can't heal it back so it just heals like tha#sorry for the big ramble both under the 'Keep Reading' section and these tags#when i'm passionate it makes me throw brevity out the window
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RealAgeAU Drabble - Haven
I am back with my BS AGAIN :D @spotaus You know the drill friend come over :D I can not be stopped. I have grown too powerful!! (just played dnd. Checked the chapter to upload tomorrow for my main au and i wrote a bit on a new story. I AM POWERFUL!) <- says the woman who will probably crash in under an hour lmao.
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We got no beta and no editing as we just go! maybe that is why these drabbles for going so well. me just kinda going and not worrying too much about the in between bits or mistakes or grammar. I just write and say that is done.. huh... writing lesson i guess. ANYWAY! back to the family :3
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Cross hums as he finishes cutting another wood board in the right size. He puts it with the others on the pile before checking the list he made before hand.
Cross nods as he looks towards the house "Got them all ready for the downstairs!" Cross grins as he takes a moment to just look at the house. Their house!
When Horror had returned with the news their new acquaintances had secured them a house they had all been sceptic at best, Dust had been downright suspicious.
But it was the truth! aparently they had managed to build up a good enough reputation that they had been trying to figure out a solution. An empty and abandoned farm and ground? That was too small for most to do anything with? hidden mostly by a forest?
Perfect for them!
They had gone to check it out and it is amazing! It is secure and easily to defend! Sure it is an old building but Cross and Horror can fix up the house easily enough! Dust had handed Nightmare over to Killer and had started looking around the house to inspect it.
long story short? He thinks he can fix most things.
With a hopeful plan they spend the inspection day also cleaning. That had been yesterday.
today? They took most of the old construction wood Crop and Straw had stored away and they got to work. Dust is cleaning and fixing what he can while Horror and Cross himself did contruction work.
Killer is on Nightmare watching duty. Mostly because Killer doesn't have nay skills in construction. Neither of them mind as they had been exploring their new area and territory together. Hoenstly it was adorable to see Killer walk by with Nightmare on his shoulders.
Horror walks out of the house as he takes the planks "Thanks. Walls?"
Cross grins proudly "All of them. Including the walls and the new banisters for the roof."
Horror blinks before grinning "great. thanks Oreo." nad he chuckles as Cross sputters.
May be because horror isn't wearing a shirt. Which kinda makes sense! Becuase horror is pulling a lot of old wood away and rebuilding stuff. the chances of him ripping his few good shirts is rather high. Still Cross is trying very hard to just focus on his face and skull. it is fine! No one notices!
Cross turns back to the pile he still has. it has been reduced quickly which sucks. He looks through it with a frown.
Crop stops by him with a knowing smile "Hey Cross!" he grins wider "Getting heated?"
Cross glares at him "Well the late autumn sun is rather warm!" and he goes back to shifting through his pile.
Crop nods "It is it is..." then the grin falls and he frowns "You guys already that low?"
Cross shifts through it more "Yeah but it is okay! I can probably use this to make the cabinets for the kitchen still..." still they will need to get more materials for everything else.
Crop frowns and must have made the same conclusion "Hopefully Straw gets back soon with more stuff."
Cross rubs his neck "You guys really didn't need to help this much... we already own you big time..."
Crop shrugs "That is how a community works Cross. We all help each other. We will eventually pay it back with helping them back." he smiles "We are only a tiny town and only have ourselves to count on. You heard how the deal with the repair service from the big city went. People are quick to think off us as dumb or naive. We gotta stuck together."
Cross shoots him a grin "We will try to ffigure something out... eventually." he groans "we don't even know what type of farm to make yet!"
Crop shrugs "You guys will have to test some stuff. See what works for you and your land..." he grins again "I don't think a diary farm fits you guys though."
Cross glares at him "Not funny. I swear Betty knew she freaked me uot."
Crop nods "Oh absolutely! Cows are really smart."
Just makes them more terrifying in Cross's opinion and he has no doubt that thought is clear on his face.
Crop laughs but a honk of a car pulls them out of their conversation. and. That is a giant truck. much bigger than Straw and Crop's truck.
Crop blinks "Dani and Ellie?" he raises to his feet and waves.
The truck stops and Ellie leans out "Hello! Your lovely neighborhood lesbians have brought you." she puts ahand under her chin and wiggles her eye brows "the wood."
Dani chuckles as she jumps out "Straw told everyone around town. Most people are grabbing their stuff but this was all stuff we were planning on giving to the community anyway." she shrugs "tree farmers after all."
Ellie grins as she waves them over "Come! lets see what you need! We have all types of trunks with us. They will still need some work and treatment but Dani is amazing with her magic!"
Dani grins as she gives a thumbs up "figure out how to treat wood with magic instead of the slow treatment. Most still want the traditional work but i figured you guys would be okay with this help."
Cross is unsure how to react. People don't just help them. People hate them and what they do. Tehy hadn't expected this much help and it is overwhelming "I... I... I don't know how to... We don't have money?" he is lost.
Dani shrugs again as Ellie smiles "Hey. We have been where you guys have been... well not exactly but people werent'exactly welcoming of us either... as soon as we graduated we grbabed my old car and just left. we foudn thsi place and people were nice enough to take a chance on us." she grins "We now pay that forwards. We are doing this!" she grins and winks "Will just have to invite us over for a prime tour of the farm once you guys are all done!"
Dani nods as she starts untying the many trunks "What Ellie said. the Danielle's are at your service. Now what do you need?"
Cross is still lost when Horror joins them curiously. no doubt hearing all the noise. He pauses as he takes in the sight before tilting his skull "What?"
Cross just kidna waves at the two "We... euh.. got help? And thinks? Do you know what we need?" his mind is in shambles at the moment.
Hroror sees it and smiles as he walks past. patting his shoulder before going over to the dog and bunny and having a short conversation. Horror hears their whole speech and smiles. he thanks them and explains what they need for what. The two woman listen closely before nodding and starting to organise the brought materials with practised ease.
Horror joins his side again and grabs Cross's lists. He takes a pencil and writes some tree names by a few of the items before handing them back "They will help prepare the materials. They are nice." and he disappears back inside.
Welp!! If Horror says that that means they are nice and most likely trustworthy! They get over to him and Cross explains the system he had and what they had calculated to need for each area. The two monsters nod and ask if they should start on the porch while cross continues preparing stuff for horror. Which Cross thanks them and agrees wiht.
They are hard at work when Killer nad Nightmare return. Killer laughs "Criss Cross! you are not going to believe this! The like east area just has a tiny field at the edge of the forest and part of that forest is still in our little area! better yet that means some of the forest animals are like right there!" then he notices the guests and grows quiet "oh... hello." His hold on Nightmare's leg tightens.
Ngihtmare tilts his tiny skull at the two monsters "Dani and Ellie... right?"
Ellie coos as Dani grins "Good memory. I can't imagine remembering all the new faces you meet only once is easy." and she finishes her spell on a piece of wood which Ellie pulls over to cut.
Nightmare shrugs as he hugs Killer's skull "good memory..."
KIller nods as he glances at Cross "Sooooo... Hello Lovely ladies!" he grins "What brings you here?"
Dani raises a piece of wood "Neighborhoodly friendliness." and she continues with her task.
Killer stares at him and Cross grins "They brough over some wood" he ignores the eye brow wigglign "after they heard from STraw that we are getting the house fixed up. aparently it is a community thing that everyone helps everyone." he shrugs at the doubting look "Don't look at me. it is new for me too. Horror said it is fine though."
Killer blinks "I mean... if Horror said it is fine..." he looks at Nightmare "What do you think tiny boss?"
Nightamre shrugs and hugs his skull.
Killer nods "notion accepted. Got it." he grins at them "We are going to look at some of the other stuff Straw and Crop brought along. See what is in there."
Cross nods "Good idea!" and he watches Killer walk off with Nightmare.
Dani chuckles and looks over "Not good at construction?"
Cross groans loudly "Killer is good at a lot of things... not construction." he shrugs "It is fine. We don't want Nightmare near this stuff anyway." he is too small to lift everything and could too easily get hurt. it doesn't matter he is technically a god he is not going to have to work. They don't agree with child labor.
Dani nods "I get that. best to have a child safe corner for them to sit in." she turns back to the next trunk and gets to work as Ellie cuts pieces.
They work for a long time and the sun is well past midday when more people come by. They deliver some older looking furniture and more tools and items for them to use.
Most don't stay for long aside from dropping things off or asking if they needed anything specific. Some brought over some premade food for them and other snacks because aparently 'breaks are important!'.
Crop and Straw, when he returned, work on clearing the road betweent eh main road and the farm and getting some clear markers on where to go.
Dani and Ellie leave later in the afternoon and by the end of the day their group of skeletons looks back at their progress. They aren't done yet but it starts to look more like a house than an actual falling apart piece of junk.
Dust is covered in ashes and when they look at him he just says 'fireplace' which probably means he found a challenge of somekind. Then again Cross thinks he spotted Dust on the roof once or twice but each time he had looked back to check he hadn't been there.
They are packing up when Killer and Nightmare return. Killer looking very proud and Ngihtmare looking a bit more nervous as he fidgets.
Horror and him share alook as Horror looks at them, now once again fully dressed "yes?"
Killer grins "Remember how we were told most farms have a name?"
Cross give shim a look "We are aware. we also agreed we would take time to think about it."
Killer grins "True. But! Nightmare thought of one and I figured it was perfect and fine!" Ngihtmare shoots him a glare and crosses his tiny arms.
Dust tils his skull "fact. Waht is the name?"
Cross wants to disagree but also if nightamre wants to clal it something specific he is fine with it. Nightmare never complains about them deciding stuff so why would they complain about this.
Nightmare mutters something but when he sees everyone looking and waiting he speaks louder "It was just an idea... Killer got excited..." still staring and he rubs his arm looking embarresed "It is silly... I thought... I figured Haven would fit. Haven Farm."
Cross stares at Nightmare and feels a bit of tears try to form as the meaning sinks in and what it implies and means. He can't stop it as he picks nightmar eup and hugs him close. Purring much too loud as he speaks "I agree it is perfect!" their home. their safe place. their hide out. their haven.
Killer grins wider and nods "Which i agreed with. So!" he pulls out a board from behind his back.
It is a name plate. It spells Haven but the letters are a bit croaked and nailed to the backboard. it are all different sizes and different colours nad Cross fucking loves it!
Killer grins "We made it together." he rolls his eye lights "don't worry i did the cutting and nailed it all together. Ngihtmare was my supervisor."
Dust looks appeased as he nods "Seems good."
Horror nods as he takes the plate and puts it by the door, too hang later "Will need a bigger one for the gate at the enterance."
Cross grins as he feels ngihtamre relax at the approval and start to purr himself. Cros sjust nuzzles the babybones.
They still have a lot of work ahead of them but that is fine. It will be all so very much worth it once it is done and they have their house to finally just be them.
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#utmv#realageau#nightmare sans#deaged nightmare#cross sans#dust sans#Killer sans#horror sans#bad sanses#farm sans#farm papyrus#So many characters today!#But i did it! and fun fact i had this one planned for a while as well but i had to do some groundwork before this one would be as satisfyin#as it is now! At least it is that way for me now#Killer and Nightmare both got stuck in the stay out of the way and busy zone because neither can do construction#dust also got stuck in the chimney for a bit but no one knows this because dust didn't ask for help and shimmied his way out himsefl again#he is just covered in ash now becuase he got stuck for a good 30 minutes as he wiggled#the hearth/fire place/chimney in the kitchen is all clean and ready to use now!#he is going to take his time fixing and checking the other one for anothr day#Cross and horror know basic construction and learned more at the castle and even more at crop's place#they knew what to do and how they just needed materials and tools#which luckily magic can do a LOT of work for them#The house isn't done yet but they are making progress and they got a name! Haven Farm!
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