#behold! i actually finished a wip for once

[hecatesbroom]

I thought you might like the fic asks! :) questions 6, 16 and 19 for you!

Haha I absolutely do! Thanks for the questions! <3

6. the word that appears the most in your current draft

My current draft is actually not a fanfic, but an original project I started the other day! (For anyone who's curious: my most used word there is "envelope"). But for some fic drafts I'm most near to finishing: it's "little", "flowers", "just", and "all" (for 4 golden girls wips respectively).

16. favourite place to write

I'm not too picky with the place I write in, but I prefer writing anywhere at home! Admittedly I don't really go anywhere else at the moment lmao but it's a lot easier to focus on what I'm writing when I'm home!

At the moment I usually sit on the couch, but I like to switch things up by moving to a table or my desk from time to time. It's mostly the couch though, because I tend to be very tired & it feels less exhausting to sit there for some reason! (Plus, it's easier on my back :)

Added bonus about the couch is that my cats tend to opt to sit on my lap instead of my laptop when I'm writing like they do at the table, haha.

19. the most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

Oh dear -- I honestly don't know! Am I exposing myself too much here by saying I don't research much at all at the moment? I just wing it and usually hope for the best haha (so I mostly avoid writing about topics I'll have to research! I'm keeping a list of things to look into once I do have the time and brainpower again).

I think the one thing I looked up that hit hardest was the symbolism for ivy, for the appropriately titled Ivy. I'd written the whole thing before I figured: hey! maybe ivy works well as a symbol. And lo and behold: its meaning turned out to be even more heartbreaking than I'd hoped!

But mostly it's just a bit of fact checking :) or looking for appropriate songs, like the one for oh, my dear / our love is here to stay, for which I really wanted them to dance to a Sinatra song (because all girls mentioned they love him, so it only seemed appropriate)!

[onejellyfishplease]

So, I noticed that Tinker-the-dragon showed you storyboards of their own animatic (which looks great btw, can't wait to see it), and since you said you enjoyed seeing the process, I figured I'd do the same! After all, having people acknowledge and get excited for my WIPs gives me a sense of accountability to finish it, which makes it much more likely to actually get done.

So, behold my chaotic, colorful rough sketches!

The process is slow-going, since I am simultaneously working on a couple other creative projects, some are tangentially related to this one (like how I'm finalizing my headcanon designs for all the turtles beyond just Donnie), and some aren't (like drawing long overdue art of my D&D party's characters).

I'm also making some guesses/taking some liberties when it comes to the timeline. Like, I'm assuming that this AU takes place post S2 finale, and thus will take place in the new lair, but I don't actually know. (If this has been addressed in asks before, I'm probably too new of a fan of SnapDonnie to have paid attention to those asks, and don't have the attention span to scroll through a ton of asks just to obtain a specific bit of information)

Similarly, I don't know exactly at what point Donnie starts attracting flies. It might not be as early as I'm depicting here. I can certainly move that part to a later section, but I don't know what I'd replace it with.

In general, if you have suggestions for things to be changed/switched around to better fit with the 'canon' of SnapDonnie, I'd love to hear it. It's better to make changes now while things are still very rough and flexible, than once I'm more committed and frames have taken quite a bit more effort to make.

Sorry for the super long 'ask,' this ended up being a bit of an info-dump lol.

WHA- YOURE MAKING ONE TOO????

thats so cool omg!! And im just gonna go a bit crazy over the frames if u dont mind me~ BUT THE ONE WITH THE SHADOW??? thats literally so creative im obsessed with it. I love cinematic shots like that, they just make my brain buzz <3

and the one where hes doing thumbs up to Raph absolutely cracked me up!

Also to answer your questions- SnapDonnie takes please after the movie, So Raph has a blind eye and hole in his shell/plastron, Mikey has his scars (though u cant drawing them in bandages to aviod drawing them if i want -i always forget to draw them lol) and Leo has a leg brace.

And as for the flies, Donnie starts to attract them basically immediately once the physical changes start, though he basically douses himself with insect repellent at first (while he still wants to repel them) So frames 24 and 25 would go after he really starts to change instead of before.

Hope that helps!! It looks amazing so far! <3

[plushmayhem]

Progress talk thread

I like to take a lot of backups as I draw so we I can show off my widdle Lilly wips!! I'm drawing again that means I get to talk about drawing again yahoo

Lately when starting a drawing I've been trying to block out very rough thumbnails as seen above! I usually just start drawing like, the head, and trying to then figure out a body under neath and line by line it all ends up pretty similar to my past stuff because it's just not planned out! I don't know where the road is taking me!

So by starting out and trying to throw together the general pose with just a blown up light brush I'm coming up with much more interesting piece! I can figure out the general shape of the entire piece and then start working on top. No making a shoulder then drawing the hand over it and then erasing the shoulder and getting frustrated because it just doesn't look connected right because I didn't plan it out… where does this drawing end? where's the limits?? where am I going?? So my current workflow involves

Make the dimensions of the piece roughly (just throw a coloured rectangle down) -> very roughly block out the shape of the body within it

This also has the benefit of inspiring me to fill in the blanks with a pose I didn't initially expect! The body is reversed from my initial vague idea because seeing the blobs made me go OH IT'D BE COOL IF I DID IT WITH THE BODY FACING THIS DIRECTION ACTUALLY LET'S MAKE THAT WORK!! If you look at the initial you can kinda see it looks more like she's looking down at you with the raised arm being the one facing you.

Anyways after doing my personal Holiday pic the other day, I was like, it would be cool to do a small run of postcards to send to people yahoo!! I checked the sizes of postcards and none were even close! They all had like an extra inch on of extra space on the bottom whoops! I free style my rectangle sizes when planning an illustration and I guess they're closer to square than the ideal rectangle! Whoops!

So for this one after getting the initial sketch down I thought, hey how close is this to 5x7? AND LO AND BEHOLD IT WAS THE SAME ISSUE!!! So I took filling out the extra space as a challenge. I'm trying to be more dynamic with my art after all!

I spent time adjusting the piece in sai2 using the transform tool with it's perspective skewing on. I wiggled and rotated and pushed n pulled and you get what you see above. A much more dynamic piece filling out the canvas!

The thing that took the most time in this phase was getting the skirt to a shape I found acceptable.

Up next was moving towards making it a finished piece!

Thick lineart is something I've been deciding if I want to stick with or not but honestly it's my natural state! I love thick lineart!! I grew up on manga I wanna see some black lines!!! In the future I wanna go back to colouring lineart as well but for now I believe I need to lean into my natural tendencies for thick lines!

I threw down my lineart to a mostly acceptable state, and brainstormed ways to fill the empty space surrounding Lilly. I found there was just a lot of empty space in the bottom left and I didn't really solve that in the final, but that's ok. It's something I'm trying to be aware of as I actually attempt illustrations. I want to finish pieces right now, I'm not in a place where I can let perfectionism slow me down.

Currently my layers are (face) and (lineart) I throw down some flat colours, a light layer above and for once I tried a shade layer too! It might of been a multiply layer. It was probably was. Anyways this is what I was happy with before moving forward with refining it. I'm currently going with more focus on like, backlighting/rimlighting because it's easier to make it work with my no context existing in da void illustrations haha.

To refine it, right now, I'm playing around with mainly using one layer. So I slammed together my layers other than the face (I made that mistake with my previous piece and that's how we ended up with the eyebrow incident. I wasn't going to put myself in a place where I had to erase an eyebrow again) and started sculpting!

I think sculpting is the best way to describe it, really. It's a lot of slamming down chunky lines, and since the lineart is on the same layer, I'm constantly pushing colours out and finding the ideal shape of both it and the lineart. It helps me push my shapes even farther and let the colours take priority when they need to. Instead of them being separate things I worry about they're all just one big piece!

I was a bit worried about merging the plaid pattern down as well, but I did my best to get the skirt in a place I wasn't going to adjust much after the merge. That was the biggest priority of the previous step really.

It's a lot of fun! I recommend people try it! Try sculpting your lineart a bit!

I added the necklace accessory after since I knew trying to fit it in earlier would also be a pain in the ass haha. I'm not a one layer purist! I'm just having fun!

The background, I went in with no idea for a bg. So this is what we get. I think it works fine for this piece, it's a vtuber attacking you with big fluffy bear claws with no context other than that they are a bear and they're going to fucking get you. Red fits, Lilly has a very orange/red hued design and it's an aggressive attack so the mood works. I could of even gone harder and made it look a bit more splattery but I wasn't sure if I was going to fill up the bottom left space or not.

Looking back maybe I could fit in her name on a cool blood splatter there but I am not a graphic design major my brain is growing slowly in this department thank you

Also fluffy claw gloves usually have much less defined fingers but I couldn't make mitts look good with my initial plans so I stuck with my initial idea!!! Thank u.

Anyways follow Lilly [Twitch]

[kardia-library-official]

20 Questions for Fic Writers:

(Tagged by @aashiyancha! :D Posting here instead of on the main blog tho, because I want it in with all my other fic-adjacent thoughts.)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

10! Which doesn't feel like many to me, buuuut...

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

...317,249! 8D

3. What fandoms do you write for?

For the longest time, it was just RF, but I have some stories for something else waiting in the wings because the brainrot just got to be too much. >_>; I also used to write a lot of original fiction (that's how I started writing actually), and hope to do so again whenever I feel like it. ^_^

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Behold:

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes! Mostly just because I get excited and have no chill. But also because you can't leave kudos on comments, and I want people to know I read and appreciate them. <3

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This was kind of a hard question, because the way I generally roll is that the bulk of the fic is angsty and the ending is kind of bittersweet or hopefully ambiguous. But I think it's actually Afternoon Lullaby. Which had an outwardly mostly breezy ending, but at the end of the day it's like... "Your love is doomed, and you will grieve him for many times longer than he'll even live." But the love is there and it is real! Which might only make it worse! Gah!

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Honestly, probably Four Seasons Casebook. Mostly just because it ends with hints at things being... Too happy... >_>; (I don't consider this a spoiler because fellow Lucasheads already know what's up. :P)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Everyone has been really chill and nice! The real hotheads in this fandom are all busy on reddit trying to wish Cecil into the cornfield or whatever, I think.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

...Define smut, ha. >_>; I do write sex scenes, but I don't really do PWP, and I'm pretty vague/non-graphic about intercourse proper. But I love getting all horny and lingering about making out and foreplay, people's kinks, etc. I guess it can be best described as a "whole meal of appetizers" approach. Weird sexual tapas bar! Woo!

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Does combining different games from the same series count? I feel like it doesn't.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No, and I would be genuinely surprised if this happened.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I hereby give permission to anyone who would like to take a crack at it!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, and I'm honestly not sure how that works! (Or maybe I'm just a control freak?)

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Of the ones I've written, I'm ride or die for Lucas/Terry, and have accepted that it's kind of my Thing.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't tend to have a lot of things going at once, because I have a one-track mind and don't multitask well. I'm currently only working on one thing, and am halfway through the initial writing phase! But I have two longfics in the queue after that, and I gotta admit, I'm kinda "how will these EVER be DONE!?" about them, because there are two, and they are long. But I've written two longfics before, and they got wrote, so I'm sure these will too!

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have an eye for detail, and a lot of visual imagination.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

My fics are long and tedious and bogged down by details and tangents. But I see that as inextricable from my strengths, so there isn't really any fixing it. I'm just a certain kind of writer!

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

Knock yourselves out! I unfortunately only know one language, at the moment so I can't play right now. :(

19. First fandom you wrote for?

RF! I actually dabbled a little waaaaaay back in the day, and it's still floating around out there probably, but I haven't interacted with it in years and can't vouch for it.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

Probably Four Seasons Casebook. Something about that one really came together! I also have a lot of affection for All the Night Gardens, mostly because it was just so fun to be cringe and free and in my feelings while I basically chewed on the walls pecking away at it for over a year.

I tag @twilightscribbles, @wordspastsaturn, @tinylantern, and @nullnomore! But no pressure! And feel free to do it even if I didn't tag you!

[not-poignant]

Hi Pia x

How fast could you finish a fic, from start to to finish, if you didn't work on anything else and had so other commitments and just didn't start posting until it was done? It took me over two years to finish my long fic whilst I was writing and posting it chapter by chapter. Then I joined a creative writing course and we were challenged to start and complete a full story within a certain amount of time. I didn't post while I wrote this time round and I finished the entire thing within three months which is wild to think about. I've just started posting the fic I wrote now and don't have to worry about future updates. Do you think you could write a full fic or most of a fic before posting it or is it something that doesn't interest or work for you?

Hi hi anon

Do you think you could write a full fic or most of a fic before posting it or is it something that doesn't interest or work for you?

I mean yes, because this is literally the process of novel writing and I've published two. They're in my pinned post!

But I hated doing it this way.

I know I can write an entire work before doing anything with it because I've done it before. But I hate doing it that way and honestly anon, if I enjoyed doing it this way I would not be giving y'all free original serials, I would've taken all of that directly into novels and I'd have around 30-40 (if I included my fanfic in that, it'd be up to about 60-70) published by now and there's a high chance I'd be way more successful financially than I am now and actually like...able to afford all of my bills.

But working this way - writing ongoing serials - suits my ADHD, and I really enjoy doing it this specific way, so I do. The day I start enjoying writing full works more than ongoing serials I will disappear into novel writing because with a backlist of the kind I could generate with my wordcount, I'd be like...

I'd be living a very different life.

And I cannot tell you how much I've resented/hated that I don't enjoy writing full works before putting them up / publishing, because I know that's the biggest barrier in the way of more tangible success as an author for me (not just financially, but also among my peers who just value books more than web serials).

But yeah, did it, didn't enjoy it, and haven't done it again since. Now what's more likely is that I will spin novels out of already published serials.

How fast could you finish a fic, from start to to finish, if you didn't work on anything else and had so other commitments and just didn't start posting until it was done?

Honestly it takes me a lot longer if I'm not putting it up.

So I know from experience (From the Darkness We Rise) that I can write a full ongoing serial without focusing on anything else in about 3~ months. I mean if we look at my monthly wordcount average, I write around 35-50k per month, sometimes up to 90k if I'm excited enough about a project or have an unusual amount of energy.

Longer serials take longer because they're, well.........longer. x.x

But if I'm not putting it up at the same time, and it's a long original story, it will sometimes take me several years. Don't underestimate the brutality of needing to manufacture dopamine with ADHD. This job is ADHD compatible in a way that novel writing isn't for me.

(That being said, I still wrote Blackwood and The Gentle Wolf pretty fast because they're short, and I was writing serials alongside and the dopamine helped carry me through. But imho, it's still a longer process and it's a lot less enjoyable. And the publishing process takes me way longer and I enjoy that a lot less too).

(Just because I can do something doesn't mean I want to, or that it's sustainable).

(I was completing novels by the age of 12, tbh. Completing stuff isn't the issue and never has been for me (behold the field of my finished once-WIPs), but how I release that stuff determines how much I enjoy writing).

I've just started posting the fic I wrote now and don't have to worry about future updates.

I don't have to worry about future updates either!

That's the thing when you've completed every serial you've started (barring two, which were deliberate choices) in a 10 year period, to the tune of 5.5 million words, is that you just stop worrying about future updates.

This is something I really don't have to worry about with anything, because I know that I'll complete my stories. Having that kind of faith in my own writing is fun.

There's upsides to having a story finished before posting it online, but I will say there are some cons too:

You can't live in the moment in the same way as your readers. When you're all experiencing the excitement of an unplanned story together, that's a feeling that, imho, is not topped by any other publishing feeling to date. It's enthusiastic, absorbing and awesome.

You can't pivot based off reader feedback. I don't let most reader feedback influence plot, but every now and then I get a level of feedback that lets me know to focus more or less on something in a very organic way. Characters like Mikkel would only have appeared in one chapter if it weren't for readers. I cannot tell you how many times readers have helped me go 'oh this character needs to be in this story more.' From The Raven Prince to Kadek, reader enthusiasm took a bit-part player and drew them more into the story. Hell, even Dr Gary would not have gotten chapters to himself with Efnisien in Falling Falling Stars without that reader feedback. You just can't pivot at all unless you're willing to do rewrites, and that doesn't seem as much fun to me.

Writing one's self out of cul de sacs with the pressure of a deadline is actually a lot of fun for me.

You actually can still write a few chapters ahead (which I do for many stories these days) while still not having the story finished. I'm about 2-8 chapters ahead on almost all of my stories depending on the story itself. I may be close to 10 ahead on Underline the Black.

Others I'm forgetting about. But I know I wanted to say something about length, and also about deep characterisation. No one will prompt deeper characterisation exercises than readers who ask questions you will never think to ask as you write something in an ongoing way.

(All of this is obviously dependent on actually getting feedback if you post a serial chapter by chapter and write it on the go. I am very lucky to get this kind of feedback by the best readers. Serial writing isn't fun at all if no one is interacting).

I make the choices I make anon not because I can't write in other ways, but because I don't enjoy it, and because I genuinely feel like writing this way makes me a better writer. I like the stress and the pressure of the job, and I enjoy it.

I'm glad you've found something that works for you, and it does mean that like, if you write enough novels (if that's a direction you want to go in) you're likely to end up way more successful than I ever will! And that's a great place to be. *high fives*

[belabellissima]

🛼🧃🕯️

🛼- describe your latest wip with 5 emojis

Behold the next cruel prince idea I had- canon divergent from twk ending:

🤢⛓️‍💥🏃🏽‍♀️🤺💍

🧃-share some personal lore you never posted about before

I had to get the full rabies vaccine set a few years ago! I had to go back a couple times two weeks apart (? Something like that) because that’s how long you have to wait between the individual shots now, except the hospital wasn’t able to make appointments, even though they were “scheduling” it. So basically every two weeks for two months(?) I had to drive 30 minutes (since that was the closest hospital with the vaccine in stock) to sit in an ER waiting room. the nurses got to know me there pretty quickly so ironically, the last three times were the quickest ER wait times you’ve ever seen. they literally checked me in, took vitals (as was policy), gave me the shot, took down insurance info, and got me out within 30 minutes so that they could move onto the actual emergencies.

🕯️- on a scale from 1 to 10, how much do you enjoy editing? why is that?

1! I can’t stand editing 😭 once the first draft is done I feel like I’ve already finished so I never want to go back and do more. This is why I’ve been sitting on a finished first draft of a novel for a year and a half and haven’t touched it for edits yet despite wanting to publish and knowing exactly how I should edit it/what needs fixing🥲

[rebelmeg]

20 Questions For Writers

I was tagged by the lovely @takadasaiko!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

I just finished posting my 238th fic! It's one of my few longer ones, so I've been putting the chapters up one at a time.

Cupcakes and Kisses, a Bucky/Darcy bakery AU, and behold, a moodboard!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

830,043

3. What fandoms do you write for?

MCU almost exclusively, though I did post one Harry Potter fic awhile back, and I've got a couple WIPs for other fandoms that may never get posted.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yes, and I love doing so! The reader feedback is one of my very favorite parts of fandom, because they get to tell me what they liked, and I get to be super happy about that. Often times a reader will notice something I didn't even put together in my own writing, or they will love a line that I personally thought was amazing, and nothing beats that! It's just a circle of love, and I live for it.

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

This one is definitely the saddest, because there is no After.

The Price We Paid, in which Tony activates a Coffin Protocol in the suit, which is exactly what you think, featuring MCD.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I mostly write fluff and shenanigans, so really, you could pick at random and it would probably be a super happy ending.

Though I think I could recommend several from my Iron Family series, since most of those are fix-its.

8. Do you get hate on your fic?

I have once or twice, but that is something I do not tolerate anywhere in my fandom life. I have anon disabled, and I moderate comments, because this is a fun space for me. Fandom is where I go to be excited about these adorable little blorbos with my fandom friends, and hate has no place there. Neither does condescension or meanness, so I have absolutely no problem with deleteing that from my life.

9. Do you write smut?

Wouldn't you like to know.

10. Do you write crossovers?

I don't think I ever have, but I have definitely read it and enjoyed it!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Yes, actually, @newnewyorker93 and I had a collab fic stolen. Luckily one of our readers spotted it and it was taken down.

I Went to the County Fair and All I Got Was This Alpaca is the fic in question, and it has alpaca-snuggling, so I highly recommend.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I know I've given permission at least once, but I admit I don't recall if it did get translated or not.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic?

Many times, and I love it! Writing is so much easier with a writing buddy! I'm always open to a good collab.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

Pepperony. I just... I just love them. I love a lot of ships from a lot of fandoms, but Pepperony is the one that I've been with the most. The most fanfic, the most interaction with other fans, the most feels.

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Well, I never say never with this kind of thing, really. It often takes me years to finish something, but I have finished a good number of things that did in fact take me years to get from idea to fully formed and written fic.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Definitely dialogue and one-shots. I cannot plot for the life of me, so I largely stick to what I'm good at, and I'm happy there. (This is where co-writing is amazing, because other people can plot when I can't!)

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I've done so several times, but it's usually single words or phrases that I've trusted Google Translate for. Which I know can be sketchy, so I try to limit that.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

The one I'm still writing for, the MCU!

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Definitely can't pick a favorite kid, but I think I do have one that I've reread the most.

Save Another Life (It Will Be Worth It) is a Bruce-flavored remix of How To Save A Life (It Just Might Be Yours), in which the Winter Soldier finishes a mission with baby Tony Stark in tow, and then raises the baby as his own while his conditioning falls apart.

In that fic, there were several cameo appearances by other Avengers as kids, and Bruce was the saddest one. When a couple readers had questions and comments about it, it sparked the remix in which Bruce gets saved too. Made a moodboard for it too!

[astyr-art]

imma be real, i only posted that wip cuz i did not expect to finish this in one session, but lo and behold, it is DONE. tbh its mostly cuz i actually sped though the lineart for once. thats that csp good pen for you

i tried out some new things w/ colours+layer effects and it helped make this turn out just as cool as i was hoping it would be. yes. hell yes. hell. fucking. yes.

[aiyexayen]

Tell me about xichen/yanli and also about link fucks? 👀

both excellent choices if i do say so myself :chinhands:

behold! an excerpt from xichen/yanli, which is an au where they met as children and i have no idea where it's going to end up but it's going to be very sweet:

Summer in Yunmeng is hotter than anything Lan Huan, newly confirmed zongzhu of Gusu Lan, has ever experienced before in his life. Even the cool, damp breeze drifting up from the lazy river to brush across his face can't stop the sweat from gathering in the creases of his new robe. He's shaded from the sun and it seems to do him no good whatsoever. Wistfully, Lan Huan takes in the unfamiliar atmosphere--the scents of strange foods; the sounds of strange training drills; the unruly shouts of disciples chasing each other from one end of the pier to the next, half of them tumbling over each other to plummet into the water--and thinks of the fan his mother gave him. It's never had any use to him but he would have gladly brought it if he'd known about the heat. In his mind's eye he can see precisely the shelf it sits on in his room, so far out of his reach. He sighs. Hopefully A-Zhan is nice and cool wherever he is right now. Hopefully he's not missing his gege too much. Hopefully-- "Lan-gongzi," a soft voice from behind him startles him out of his thoughts. Lan Huan jumps and tries to cover it up as he turns, drawing himself up with all the calm he's practised. It must not work because the girl giggles when she sees his face. "Can I help you, guniang?"

and then link fucks, which was actually going to be my fic for polyship week day 3 (bed-sharing/long-distance relationships/outsider pov) but i did not even come close to finishing it in time [gets out the clown makeup]. it's a post-botw fic about zelda travelling around with link and slowly realising that he is fucking basically all of hyrule on the regular.

excerpt:

The strangest of Link's new quirks, however, occurs at night. They navigate the land bit by bit, from inn to encampment to stable, and each time Link acquires only one single bed. And, well, they never once share it. The bed is only for Zelda. At first she worried and fretted, thinking perhaps Link was working with too few resources to spare any for himself in the absence of her sponsorship (Zelda, in fact, has no earthly possessions to her name, which is one thing that ought to be strange and is only strange in how she doesn't care at all). Link must be nobly consigning himself to sleep on the ground outside. They certainly make camp where they need to, but when the relative luxury of a real bed is available they should take advantage of it! Her fumbling attempts at making it clear to Link that she did not mind sharing her bed with him, that it did not need to be a point of awkwardness or rank or fealty, and further, Hylian gender-based propriety is exhausting and she had not practically grown up with her mother in the Gerudo desert and survived the collapse of the kingdom of Hyrule just to follow-- Well, in any case, her attempts fell flat. She was met simply with amusement and Link's assurance that he was never without a place to sleep. "If I run out of options," he promised cryptically, "I will remember Zelda's offer."

wip ask game

[motionjames]

Wake up girlies, it's time to return to the frontline!

Guess who has insomniaaaa! 🤗💕💕

A month of cramps, nausea, increasingly worse insomnia (but a strangely good mood) has lead me down the path once again. I caught wind of some strange "gfl2" thing and after being struck with nostalgia, I grabbed bluestacks and fell into hell once more. I'd deleted gfl off my phone simply because it took too much space but now that it's on my computer, it's become DANGEROUS...! Github and clip studio up front with logistics running forever in the background. Yes, the ideal working experience.

Anyhow, everyone say hello to Contender.

I've been making more progress in these past two days than I had in the entire two months I spent with my new account because I realized how to (partially) Not Be An Idiot. Turns out there's a thing called "anchored construction" and you can get some pretty nice units (eventually) if you realize it exists! Wow! I got the girly and now I'm working on grabbing Carcano because she is pretty but also insane skillz.

Also, there's a discounted gatcha running right now and that means I can finally get over my mental block and spend tokens... I was surprised at how easy it's been to acquire them, so I've just been shilling em out. My dorm was totally bare until now. I'm sorry, everynyan...

As for actual gameplay, I finally made it past 2-6. It might seem like a simple thing to most but I was yet again, being an idiot. I was under the impression that I HAD to have dupes of the girls to dummy link them when I actually was swimming in dummy cores 🤦🏽‍♂️ What's wrong with me... Well, I jumped over that hurdle, blasted through the emergency missions, and am finishing chapter 3. The first parts arent so bad when you learn how to read! 😃😃😃

First eschalon is good, it's the standard one that everyone seems to use to clear the early game. This second one is a WIP mess that I'm readying for night missions. You see, I'm really hurting for half-decent SMGs and rifles, the second one there is kinda lacking in defense/fire power... I wanna create a decent second eschalon and night mission groupie but I gotta figure out what units to invest in. I hope for Carcano soon. She is cute. Also, feel free to berate me for my bad decisions and suggest decent compositions. I am so lacking in SMGs that dont immediately explode (mpk you are so cute but so stupid). I'm currently looking at friend's compositions to figure out what formations work...

In completely different news and only further proving how dense I am, I only recently learned that Girl of the Bakehouse was related to GFL. I've had my eye on Reverse Collapse for a while now since it's a remake (of a remake?! I didnt play the previous one) of a visual novel I played in 2012 or so. The original vn was made in 2009 in like Kirikiri script and I was a young lad very fixated on all things with girls and guns (Gunslinger Girl was and still is a favorite of mine, I would've read it one summer at my Uncle's out on the front porch). There's an english patch now, but back then it was only in Chinese so I had to use text extracting and image translators, looking up the characters as I went. I got a cup of coco and opened up a patched version last night for old times sake. It's clearly a doujin work with those rough edges but it's so damn confident in its presentation you can't not get swept up in the presentation. The sound work make it very immersive. I highly reccomend reading it if you want a solid, emotional war story. Looking at the sepia soaked sketches, down-to-earth narrative, dense wordbuilding and general war otaku sentimentality... It really predicted a lot of my tastes, huh... 😅

Behold, teh wolfguy...

Back to work. Logistics still running. I can and WILL continue being stupid. The nostalgia is really strong, I'm tempted to draw fanart despite the sour memories of the past. Again, please berate me and tell me of your team compositions. I think my ID is 772030 but I promise you, I won't be any good on teh battlefield 😇 this machine runs off hopes and dreams, not realities!

[happiness-of-the-pursuit]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @read-and-write- :)

Technically this is finished but not yet published b/c it's for another day of First Prince Week (and all my other works are in very rough or outline-y stages). It'll be out on Day 4, Clandestine Meetings.

“Alright,” Henry shrugged. “I have to know, what is that on your shirt?” Alex grinned. “Only the eighth wonder of the world, the Bass Pro Pyramid in Memphis, Tennessee. Went on a road trip through there once, it’s truly a wonder to behold.” “Christ,” Henry responded, looking scandalized. “You’re telling me that’s something that actually exists?” “The tenth-tallest pyramid in the world is a Bass Pro shop, yes,” Alex stated seriously. “Then there’s the World’s Largest Ball of Twine out in Kansas.”

And I am tagging @inexplicablymine @suseagull04 share if you want!

[da3dm]

HI I PROMISE I'M SLOWLY GETTING INTO YOUR CONTENT, I FINALLY FOLLOWED YOU AND WILL GET INTO THE G/T FIC THEN IRZA AND VARA SOON AFTER!!! PATIENCE PLEASE IM NOT A QUICK PERSON!!!

ANYWAYS

🦅, ✍️ , 🌞 , 💖 , 📚 for the writer ask game! :]

ALSO you should make a playlist for vara or irza or vaza (coining an unofficial ship/duo name LMAO) or even eze !!!

— brick

i will unveil myself like a normal anon will, just for fun :)

HELLO YDXKGCKUGC

It’s perfectly fine, you actually startled me when you followed me! Which is actually pretty hilarious, and thank you for this ask...‘anon’!

You should’ve asked for a snippet of a wip or something bc I’m in extreme I MUST WRITE mood bc I feel very sick

I already have a playlist for Irza and I definitely don’t listen to it daily and write to it...

Here are your answers! Behold!

--

🦅: Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

What’s an outline???

No—in all seriousness I absolutely never outline. I attempted to outline for Night Light and it went nothing like what I planned for the very beginning of it but flowed sooooo well.

✍️: Do you have a beta reader?

Not really? Only dingbatnix bc I started proofreading theirs and decided to ask for some help with mine too! I don’t mind having more than one person read over it before I upload it though, since everyone catches something completely different...

🌞: Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

When I’m tired. That could be any time, but when I’m tired I hyperfixate on writing and easily spew out a few thousand words in about half an hour depending on how much I’m interrupted.

💖: What made you start writing?

I have absolutely no clue. I’ve been writing since kindergarten, although back then I drew a picture book and had my mom write the words for me and that never really went anywhere. I’ve also been told that, you know those tangents and stories toddlers will go on when telling a story with their toys? My brothers always ended after maybe a week, sometimes a little more, but I would carry on for MONTHS, and randomly bring it up like telling my mom “Oh! that gave me a great idea for “this and this” character!” Since I carried on forever tho my mom had no clue what I was even talking about bc she’d kinda tune me out. I once had a stuffed toy duck I insisted was a “rabies rabbit” just bc it fit my story, but I had toy rabbits....

📚: Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?

If possible, ABSOLUTELY! I actually want to publish the book Voidshire if I can ever get around to finishing it! It would be my first published ones, altho not the first one to be finished.

—

I had fun answering this!

[sentanixiv]

AO3 & Fic Questionnaire

Tagged by @emmithar-blog

How many works do you have on AO3? There are 27 posted fics associated with me and two that were co-written with another fan that I've left in their credit/name. One remains in WIP status - Down On His Luck - because I'm still writing the draft. My rule (now) is that I don't start posting a fic until I've finished the draft and/or started typing it up, so the other "WIP" ones are unofficial. And numerous.

2. What is your AO3 wordcount? 576,399 words, of which 392,723 belong to a single work

3. What fandoms do you write for? Red Dead Redemption/Red Dead Redemption 2; I fixate on specific fandoms, but have written for many others over the years.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? A Sinful Mercy - 832 Patient Obsession - 197 Endearments - 158 Beauty and the Beholder - 155 Treasures Unseen - 140

5. Do you respond to comments? Yes! Eventually! When posting ASM, my rule was to catch up on comments prior to posting the next chapter. That rule sort of holds true to this date, but with regards to needing to clear out comments before posting a new fic. However, my job is mentally exhausting and I've fallen behind to the tune of 77 comments pending a response. Imma get there, I promise!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I don't really do angsty endings; as a Hurt/Comfort specialist, the comfort usually dominates the ending. However, being that it's an in-progress fic series, Cold Coffee & Empty Coffers counts for this one.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Presumption of Debt for shippy romantic endings; it's a very rough ending, but I wanted to outline a little bit of the good that came to the gents in it. Treasures Unseen for genfic (and the idea of Arthur sneaking two kittens into the gang).

8. Do you get hate on fics? No. I've been questioned on why I write certain themes, but no hate. Rumour is that I'm terrifying or have a terrifying reputation of punching people? C'mon, guys, it's been years since I last punched anyone's lights out.

9. Do you write smut? If so, which kind? Yeah. I'm one of them sex-positive asexuals and have my share of smut - though only a few have been posted. Vanilla ain't my thing; control, bondage themes, dom/sub undertones, and usually explicit. The Amoral Confessions stories rely more on vague references than explicit content.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve ever written? Once upon a time, I crossed Weiß Kreuz with Yami no Matsuei? Generally don't do crossovers so much as AUs. I love AUs.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Uhhhhh, probably. I've had actual non-fandom writing stolen though and I went scorched earth on the perpetrator.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? I'm amenable to it, but nothing since my current penname came into effect.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? Yeah! I find it fun to co-write because you get multiple perspectives and possible plotlines. When I wrote professionally, I worked with a co-author on 80%+ of my projects. They tended to provide foundations and world building, I found ways to carry the story forwards and add layers to the plot.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship? Morston. The aggressive dynamic of sass and badass is my weakness; the fact that there's no damsel in distress and a lot of emotionally stunted stupidity makes it... /chef's kiss

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? My professional novel manuscripts. I lost my interest, intent, and motivation to make it professionally after a series of, well. Unfortunate events rofl.

16. What are your writing strengths? Character voices and natures that carry through the narrative, sounding like they could've been drawn from canon. Being able to write a long, convoluted plotline without dropping threads. Having an endless fountain of ideas (I have TWO boxes of just ideas on index cards and they are both full).

17. What are your writing weaknesses? What in the hell is an outline and why would I ever do one. I trust my instincts to guide me through a story. Invariably, I will end up with a tangled deadend if I try to pre-plan too much of the story. When I just let my mind and words flow, everything sorts itself out.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic Flavourful bits work out, but I think it's too onerous for the writer and reader to have to translate everything being said. Nicknames, curses, and common phrases that the character themselves used in canon are what I turn to.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Sailormoon, circa 1997. No, none of that has survived.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written? A Sinful Mercy; this was the first long-form writing I'd done after the clusterfuck that saw me retire my authorial career. After years of nothing, being able to write and post that really helped my confidence. It also reminded me that writing can and should be a joy. I'm never happier than when I'm writing.

In The Moment; the first chapter highlights a lot of tension and expectation. It was my "John's back with the gang after a year away" contribution and I will never not love the way I wrote him encountering Arthur and the lead-up to the near execution.

[ogdoadfates]

🍉, 🍭 and "what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?" (the emoji isn't showing up for me for this one)

( From this ask game )

Ooo, lots of questions lol.

🍉: in what ways has writing helped you process trauma and/or navigate through your own life?

Tbh writing has exposed me to where some of my issues/trauma originated from which is a fuckin wild ride but it helps to figure those things out. It also has just helped me keep my stress levels just a little bit lower, it's a fantastic outlet for all the ideas that bounce relentlessly within my head. I don't talk about it much but my dream job is to be a graphic novelist, those elongated comic book things. And this helps me so much with learning how to implement my ideas and how to get things to just work, it makes me feel like I'm actually moving forward? I've always felt held back due to well a lot of issues and kind of was starting to think that my dream was out of reach. Long story short, helps me feel better and has exposed me to the orgins of some of my traumas.

-

🍭: why did you start writing?

So funny story, a person here on tumblr. Who actually follows me now, which is beyond interesting lol. If you want to know who it is I'm alright dming ya who, I'd just feel awkward randomly mentioning them here out of the blue lol. But yeah! Like stated previously I've always been interested in writing but I never actually took the plunge, then low and behold I get into the Critical Role fandom find a writer on Ao3 then find them on tumblr and they post a ton of fantastic aus headcannons ect, so I finally took the plunge to post my own aus and headcannons and once they started to gain interest I finally took the plunge so I kind of owe it to that one tumblr user. Tho I will say I do owe a little bit to you too actually, I'm pretty sure you were the first critter to ever follow me!

(insert the mystery emoji here): what is your post-writing/sharing aftercare? How do you take care of yourself or celebrate yourself when you've finished a fic?"

Yeah same idk what the emoji is. Ha okay so nothing XD I just panic for one hour and then chill out with a friend in call or draw or continue to write something else. (or ya know go to bed since I seem to only post late at night for some reason)

I only share my wips with three people or more like two since I've lowkey stopped sending my best friend wips since they don't know the characters that well. The other friend we don't get to talk a lot but I had found out relatively recently they actually are a fan of CR! And tho they don't know a whole lot they know a fair bit. The last person is well you lol which has been a blast but with any of y'all it makes me feel elated and so so happy to see y'alls enjoy it and I only feel a spec of fear for the first few seconds lol. So I don't really have an aftercare/celebration? I just have an in the moment thing?

[checkfortraps]

Doom upon the Faithful

This is a rewrite of a little origin thingy I made for my human war cleric Alessa as part of a prompt list ages ago, detailing the day where she lost her husband, her best friends, and part of her sanity while fighting a necromancer lairing in an old abandoned temple of Torm.

Under a cut for length. If you find typos and faulty grammar, you’re very welcome to keep both.

They fought in a tight formation, four souls forming a ring of light against a tide of undeath, of bone-white heresy.

The cacophony of armor and weapons clashing deafened Alessa to the point where she should barely make out her own racing heartbeat. The earth shook under the power of the arcane, and the air smelled like blood and decay. It truly was one of the worst battlefields she ever laid eyes on - and she had seen a lot, both as healer and as warrior.

She was not sure for how long the confrontation with the necromancer had been going on already, but the collection of dents in her plate armor and the exhaustion seeping through the thrill of battle were proof that it had been too long already. They had to wrap this up fast, or face defeat. And defeat in this case meant annihilation at best, and serving as the newest recruits to the necromancer’s army at worst.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a skeleton smash through Myrna’s mage armor. No room for a shield bash, so she gritted her teeth and raised her arm, intercepting the blow with her bracer. Divine energies deflected most of the impact, but her arm still went numb. She let out a defiant yell, then drove her sword through the skeleton’s sternum, shattering it. The abomination crumbled to the ground in a clatter of bones, bereft of the foul magic animating it.

Next to her, Myrna conjured crackling electricity into her open hands, then grabbed two skeletons at once with a terrifying snarl contorting her features. Blue-hued energy cloaked them, turning them into glowing dust that swirled through the stale air like a faint afterimage.

A cry rose over the combat noise then, half frenzy, half pain. Alessa deflected another blow, this time with her shield, then spun around, tired eyes finding Senna on the ground, bleeding heavily. Despite her wounds, the dwarven woman fought on, hunkering down behind her shield in an effort to gain additional cover, her war axe hacking away at the enemies surrounding her.

It was a valiant effort, but ultimately futile. The tides of undead was already closing in on her, ready to swallow her whole.

She needed help, and fast.

Myrna followed Alessa’s gaze. Her lips drew into a thin white line. “Go’”, she yelled over the noise, extending a hand to blast three skeletons with a wave of fire, almost absent-mindedly. When Alessa hesitated, she gave her a shove. “I said go! I can handle myself.”

Alessa nodded, breaking into a dead run. A prayer formed on her lips. She wasn’t sure what she even prayed for, but the intent seemed to reach Torm nevertheless, for holy energy alighted on the front of her shield where his symbol decorated it. A wave of radiance burst forth from it, blinding her temporarily. 

When the black swirls before her eyes faded, she found herself next to Senna, both of them covered in ash, the skeletons around them annihilated by her god’s righteous fury. The heat of divine power still lingered in her shield, noticeable even through the thick metal of her gauntlets.

“Praise you, my lord”, Alessa whispered under her breath. She glanced back at Myrna. The sorceress had cleared the area around her entirely, ash and soot the only testimony of the previous presence of an undead plague.

She wondered briefly why she had ever doubted the half-elf’s abilities. Old habit, maybe. When Myrna had joined their group, she had still been wet behind the ears, fresh from the academy. Her power had grown considerably in the last three years.

Senna gripped Alessa’s hand, hauling herself back to her feet. “Thanks. I was sure I’d see my ancestors soon.” She glanced around, dark brows furrowing. “Where’s Theo?”

Alessa felt her blood run cold.

“I fear he might be … indisposed.” A voice like icy waters, like winter and death personified. Alessa spun around and found a cloaked figure standing atop what seemed to be a podium at the far end of the chamber that might have been used for sermons once, before this temple had been ransacked and defiled. Red eyes burned in the shadows of a hood drawn low, meeting her gaze with a dark kind of mirth. Next to the figure hovered a giant hand made from arcane energy.

And in its translucent fingers, a limp body dangled, grey hair trailing over silvered plate armor, the helmet shattered on the ground alongside a mace that still glimmered with the remains of divine wrath.

“Theodore!” Alessa’s voice caught in her throat, the horrified scream turning into a strangled whisper. She wanted to run to him, to free him from that terrible grasp and then bash the necromancer’s face in with her shield. But her body betrayed her, limbs frozen in terror.

A flash of startlingly white teeth beneath that hood, a stark contrast to the eyes and the darkness cloaking the rest of the necromancer’s face. “Ah, allow me to guess. Your brother? No. Your lover. Delightful. It’s been a while since I had the pleasure of killing a couple. I wonder what your screams will sound like when I crush him.”

Darkness swirled at the flick of their gloved fingers, and the sound of metal bending under the pressure of the hand closing around Theodore filled the air, deafeningly loud. His screams died in his throat as it crushed his torso, squeezing the life out of him.

“No! Theo!” Alessa desperately tried to will herself to move, but her mental strength crumbled alongside her husband’s armor, and she found herself unable to break through her paralysis. Only now did she feel the blood drenching her gambeson, flowing freely from dozens of wounds all over her body. Her grip around the hilt of her sword had grown so weak she could barely hold on, pain and grief draining the fight out of her. Even if she managed to actually move, she’d never reach the podium in time to save Theodore.

A furious scream echoed through the chamber. Blue-tinged bolts of pure energy streaked past Alessa, so close she heard them buzzing like angry wasps. The giant hand dissolved under the onslaught of the magic missiles, proving that Theodore hadn’t gone down without a fight. Theodore hit the ground with a loud thump, groaning in pain.

He's still alive!

The realization filled Alessa with new strength. She reached for the white-hot blaze of faith in her soul and pulled. The paralysis fell away from her, and she crossed the chamber with the frantic speed that could only be conjured by desperation. She jumped up on the platform, roaring. Radiance burst from her shield again, washing over Theodore to close his wounds. Using the momentum of the motion, Alessa raised her sword and struck recklessly, anger driving the precision out of her attacks. Still, she managed to bury the blade deep in the necromancer’s chest with a sickening crunch when it hit bone.

Somewhere behind her, Myrna let out a triumphant howl, accompanied by Senna’s heavy footfall, like a war drum signalling victory.

Alessa found herself smiling at the carnage before her, at the blood coloring the necromancer’s black robes even darker. She was quite sure she missed the heart, but judging from the wet cough escaping her fallen foe, she had punctured a lung instead. It would be a very slow kind of justice for them.

One that did not align with Torm’s ideals. Even foul creatures like this one did not deserve to suffer for so long.

She stepped closer again, ready to twist the sword to bring this ugly business to a quick end, but she found it stuck. Her eyes widened in terror as she noticed the necromancer had gripped the blade with their hands, blood seeping from the cracks in their leather gloves where the sharp edge cut through them. Alessa saw red eyes and white teeth, and laughter filled the chamber, ugly and cruel, bloody spittle splattering her face as the necromancer leaned in closer.

“How very generous of you, offering up your life force so willingly. I’ll make sure to honor your sacrifice. But first, behave.”

Their bloody hand cupped her tear-streaked cheek, almost like a caress. Tendrils of black magic rose from their fingers, shrouding her vision until she was sure she’d gone blind. She tried to shove the necromancer away, but her body didn’t belong to her anymore. Her concentration on her Shield of Faith crumbled as crippling pain surged through her, the warmth of life draining from her until she shivered from cold and exhaustion. She sucked in a single shuddering breath, terror a tight coil in her stomach.

Then the world fell away from her, and she dissolved into nothingness.

Death.

[cirrus-grey]

Wip game!

Tagged by the wonderful @tired-beholding-bitch to find the words "pause," "care," and "heavy" in my wips and post the relevant excerpts!

Pause: I found a lot of "pauses" and "paused," but here's the one that used the plain form of the word! From my far-from-finished wwdits AU.

"Are you alright?" Jon asked, a hint of worry entering his voice. Martin's eyes were red from crying, and he looked haggard, as though he hadn't been sleeping.

"Um." Martin stood up, brushing his clothes down and, Jon assumed, using the pause that offered him to gather his words.

"I'm not great," he said, once he was settled. "But there was actually something I wanted to ask you." He took a deep breath, then met Jon's eyes with a serious expression. "Will you take me on as your familiar?"

Care: Wow, I use this word a lot! I don't want to make this post too long, though, so I've just picked one - from a S3 fic where a love potion has gotten loose in the Institute and Martin may (or may not) be affected by it...

Jon was looking back at him, a small half-smile on his face. Whatever claims to professionalism he had once made, they had all failed him now: he was dressed in a t-shirt, well-fitted but loose enough that his collarbones were visible. His bare arms showed off the pattern of scars across his skin, and the small mole that sat in the crook of his left elbow. His hair was mussed - not from lack of care, just from the constant disturbance of his hands raking through it and shifting it out of place over the course of the day. He was absolutely beautiful.

Heavy: Didn't even have to search for this one, I was working on it yesterday! From a future Castaways installment where Martin, ever the romantic, attempts to carry a sleeping Jon to bed.

“Lift with your legs, not your back,” he muttered to himself, and picked Jon up.

He was-

Heavy.

Martin felt himself tipping backward, unbalanced, under the sudden weight. He stumbled backward, trying to compensate, and his shins collided with the coffee table.

Tagging @stopitjon, @nat-20s, @statementends, and @fataldrum! No pressure, as always ^_^

Words: "soft," "uncertain," and "weekend."