#i haven't drawn is years so here ya go

[ohlawdthebirds]

Attempted to draw Fluttershy from @punkitt-is-here 's horse comix (ignore the note over her head, I scribbled this in my planner).

[wileys-russo]

Girlfriend ficlet with Lucy pretty please 🩵🩵

girlfriend ficlet

"luce! we need to go or we'll be late man." you yelled out, rolling your eyes and tapping away at your phone. "aih alright alright, perfection takes time y'know?" your girlfriend finally joined you with a cocky smile.

"your confidence is as always, nauseating." you gagged, the taller girl chuckling and pulling you into a kiss. "i know you only act like ya hate it, when really it turns ya on baby." the defender mumbled into the kiss with a grin.

"sorry hang on-" you pulled away and again fake gagged. "such a child." lucy clicked her tongue and shook her head, shoving yours to the side. "ah! your perfection takes time? my hair takes longer, hands off the merchandise bronze." you warned wagging a finger at her.

"not the kind of merchandise you're slingin that i like to have my hands on anyway stanway." the brunette smiled with a wink, grabbing your bag for you. "didn't you just yell at me we were going to be late?" lucy teased holding her hand out which you accepted.

"hey its not me whose going to have issues with you being late." you chuckled, your dinner guest the one you knew would be causing problems if any.

your girlfriend retorting something back in spanish knowing you wouldn't understand you rolled your eyes and smacked her.

"we get it, you live in barcelona!"

~

"god man we said seven, its nearly seven thirty! not only do you corrupt me little sister but you're a bad influence on her time management lucy." georgia scowled the moment you arrived at the table.

"older sister! thank you very much." you pulled your younger sister into a hug as she stood to greet you. "older but smaller, big little sister!" georgia teased patting your head condescendingly. "don't you encourage her!" you warned your girlfriend with a sharp glare as she chuckled.

"gonna have to do a bit more than laughin at my jokes to get back into me good books here lucy." georgia warned, though you relaxed a little when she hugged the taller girl and all three of you sat down.

"its been a year now georgia, get over it." you rolled your eyes playfully, conversation flowing easily as you tucked yourself into lucys side despite the teasing from your sister.

"so, did you make a decision yet?" georgia asked only a half hour into the meal. "christ gee i haven't even had my entree yet! lay off man." you sighed, your contract with city due for renewal once again as you'd only signed on for one year extension.

you felt lucys fingers trace absentminded patterns on your shoulder, the brunette already knowing your answer and that georgia wasn't likely to take it all that well.

gratefully she didn't ask again, clearly picking up on the vibe that you weren't ready to talk about it and not wanting to ruin the time you did have together.

with a small hamstring strain you'd been ruled out of games and proper training for two weeks, so you'd flown to barcelona to see your girlfriend each weekend in between your rehab program.

conveniently barcelona had drawn bayern for their group stage of the uwcl and it almost seemed divine timing that you were actually able to watch, some of your teammates teasing that you were faking the injury to watch the match.

taking your seat the following afternoon you were wedged between lucys brother and mother, having already been absolutely berated by your sister over facetime earlier this morning for your outfit choice.

also ribbed by your older brothers who'd made the trip too you were grateful to be sat in the home section and away from their constant teasing you were bringing shame to the family in your bronze jersey.

the game started off with both teams coming out swinging, no goals conceded on either end by half time, lucy finding you and her family in the crowd and sending a grin and a wave in your direction.

your sister on the other hand caught your eye and flipped you the bird, something you were certain would be circulating twitter in a matter of hours.

you and lucy hadn't officially come out as dating but you also didn't shy away from 'soft launching' as leah had taught you it was called, and you allowed the rumour mill to circulate, no doubt in your mind your appearance here would only send it haywire.

the second half kicked off and from the very first touch it was apparent the barca girls had come out with a vengeance, bagging three goals in the first twenty minutes all with different scorers, your girlfriend assisting two of them.

the game finally ending with barcelona reigning supreme winning five to nil you were up on your feet as the stadium let out a thunderous cheer and the girls did their laps, a smile curling on your face watching your sister and girlfriend walk together, pushing one another around and joking with a grin.

after georgia had found out the two of you were dating she hadn't taken it well, getting over the initial shock and refusing to speak to either you or lucy for three whole weeks.

eventually leah and keira had gotten in her ear and spoken smacked some sense into her, reminding it was your life and your choice and your happiness, and she'd be a bad sister to stand in the way of that.

so to see them back to normal joking around and hugging flooded your body with relief, an immense weight off your shoulders of months of being the only connection between them, their new clubs meaning besides international duty they hardly saw one another.

eventually the crowd was dispersed leaving all the girls and their respective friends and families, you sat up on the barrier as lucy stood in between your legs, hands splayed across your thighs as you spoke with a few of her friends and teammates.

"so, am i wrong to hear we might have to see more of you soon chica?" mapi grinned as you pinched your girlfriends hip sharply and she winced. "maybe." you answered with a sly smile before grumbling in lucys ear about how she had a big mouth.

"you don't normally seem to mind my mouth though babe, especially when it serves you." the brunette mumbled back, stretching so her lips grazed your ear and she squeezed dangerously high up your leg as you blushed bright red and smacked her shoulder.

"well if that is true then maybe lucia will stop looking so miserable and going on and on about how much she misses you." alexia smiled, accent thick but you appreciated their efforts to speak english with you as a few of the girls laughed and lucy shot her a glare.

"we should go see my family luce, i think gee's done licking her wounds." you murmured as lucy nodded, turning her head to peck your lips and pushing herself up as mapi wolf whistled sending the two of you a wink.

you laughed as lucy rolled her eyes and helped you down, taking your hand as you waved the girls goodbye before the two of you crossed the pitch to where most of the bayern girls were spending time with their own families.

"well well well, the little traitor returns." sol grinned as you punched his shoulder and both you and lucy made the rounds greeting your family, keira also speaking with georgia a few feet away.

"just tryin out the colours before the big move then aih?" sol of course had to open his own big mouth right as georgia and keira returned, the blondes eyes widening at your brothers words.

"the what?" she sent you a glare as you smiled guiltily, sinking into lucys arms as she held you from behind, really using you as more of a human shield than trying to offer you any sort of comfort.

"surprise?" you smiled, biting your bottom lip as keira sighed and pinched her forehead and georgia let out a laugh. "so, barcelona then? officially?" she asked, scarily calm as you nodded.

"won't be announced until the summer, the contracts all but signed." you admitted as georgia nodded, seemingly processing as you started to relax a little assuming she was taking it better than you'd worried.

you were wrong.

"LUCY COME HERE I'M GONNA KILL YA AGAIN!"

[pawseds]

I convinced our Delta Green game master to have a play-by-post (basically text roleplay) section in our game's server and uhhhhh maybe I've been having too much fun with it. Writing is faster than drawing comics, what can I say?

(Long ramble about writing stories below hehe oops)

While we're here! A bit about writing: I like writing! I've written for loger than I've drawn for (because school). I think I'm better at writing than drawing for that reason (I'm more confident at least). I've written short stories. I've written short stories about TTRPG things. I've also written a ~100k word novel by hand for 2 years. While writing it, I had 'writing class' (technically AS/A level Ennglish Language classes). It was the only class I had confidence in and high expectations for.

With those 2 combined, I burnt out pretty quick LOL. Specifically, I had a big perfectionism issue because of the high expectations I had from my teacher and especially myself -- it was the one thing I knew excelled at in school, so I better do it well! After I was done with the novel and A levels, I was supposed to edit the novel. It's been years and I haven't done it yet, and I wouldn't write non-assignment stories (except 2) until now. Writing became more nerverwracking than it was fun, so why would I?

To get back to the PBP thing: I've been in a campaign that was fully PBP. With my mindset being the way it is, hey! This is just one big writing exercise, so I ran along with that and had fun with it. I saw how some players would make their own PBP and essentially monologue/have a scene only with their PC. That was cool to see.

And now, my current Delta Green campaign (tagged 'Helvetia'). Hrothgar (guy in drawing) and his kids were ported over from a previous D&D campaign (the fully PBP one!), so the crew had a very well defined background already. Of course I get tons of drawing ideas for them, except I don't have the time to draw them all (compsci hard). But since the server has a PBP section, I had like 2 weeks to kill between session 0 and 1, and I was bursting with ideas... I made a lot of solo PBPs that were essentially short stories.

It didn't quite hit me until some time ago, but the PBPs actually made me enjoy writing again -- enjoy it a lot more, in fact! I think the format of Discord threads and messages removed most perfectionism tendencies I had. I just had to fire the story away, message by message. It didn't have to be amazing, and it was fun! (Also I really don't know how to shut up with them LOL)

I'll definitely be cleaning these PBPs up and posting them here as stories. Some of them are just silly, fun, slice-of-life character sketches. (These were the stories I wrote after my novel... and yes, they were about my other set of Delta Green characters LMAO) (and I've posted them here under pawsedswrite btw!) But some I see as legitamite short stories that I would edit more heavily and present as a short story. They were the kinds I could see myself writing on a document rather than on Discord.

Well, I lied. 'I would edit' is false. I have already edited one, because I spent like 5-6h writing this one PBP (oops) instead of writing the draft for my short story class/elective (oops 2). I joked to my two friends saying that I could just submit it as my assignment. Apparently, they both really liked it and said the dialogued slapped. So I did!

I procrastinated like hell on it though, because I was very nervous to go back into the PBP with an axe to edit it. Being in a writing class where nearly everyone else has been formally studying writing for some years kinda puts some pressure on ya!

Like the last assignment (which I'll post here after editing), I had a lot of worries. But the feedback and grade I got from my last assignment, the peer review I got from the current one, and also the support from those two friends (shoutout @katastrofish <3) made me feel more confident in myself. And also the fact that I had a lot of fun editing the PBP!

Uhhh this ramble was way longer than expected LMFAO if you've made it this far, damn, thanks for reading! If you also write or have similar experiences, feel free to share em. And have a good day!

(bonus POV editing)

[kinfriday]

The Irregular Ascetic

In August, I briefly made a new friend on Tumblr.

His account has long since vanished for reasons I do not know. Maybe this place just didn't click for him. I've been here for years and always found it welcoming, but I know that, like everything, this site is not for everyone.

He'd send me a message, ask a question or two, and when I checked every week or so, I'd do my best to reply.

Then, one day, he was gone, but not before leaving me one last question:

"An ascetic heathen life? What does that look like to you? I want to see that visual."

And that's kind of the question, isn't it?

The thing about callings is that they aren't always clear-cut. I may feel drawn towards an ascetic heathen life, but it's not like my Gods sent me an Ikea flat-pack kit.

As seems to be the pattern with the Germanic deities, they tapped me on the shoulder and then said...

"Here ya go, figure it out."

And here we are. Forty-Two, with over ten years as a member of the Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), I haven't finished my dedicant path, nor started the clergy track.

I can't remember the last time I did a full ritual.

All in all, I seem like a pretty crappy monk, don't I?

Sister Snow Hare, indeed...

It seems that my vanishing friend pinned me to the wall. I've been chewing on this again, trying to work it out.

If you're reading this, buddy, know that you kicked off a lot of introspection about my path, and you inspired this long rambling Tumblr post.

The best place to start is the beginning. (A little free wisdom)

So, what exactly is monasticism?

Good ol’ Mr. Wikipedia defines it as "a religious way of life in which one renounces worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work."

No matter the faith, this is a feature of monastic life: asceticism, self-denial, and focus.

Have I mentioned I can't remember the last time I did a ritual yet?

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.

Nothing makes me feel guilty, like comparing myself to the standards and practices of others. Somewhere out there, a Buddhist is living on four grains of rice, meditating eighteen hours a day, stopping only to sleep. The five minutes a day he spends on Tumblr, he's laughing at me.

I just know it. >.>

You could say I've been feeling a little convicted about this.

Yet the calling is still there. My relationship with my Gods isn't just good; it's warm. While not formal or official, I have a fulfilling spiritual life that's not structured like anything in the faith org I faithfully send my twenty dollars a year to and then largely hide from.

So what's going on?

I've begun to realize slowly over the last year that my faith path will probably never be recognizable as anything routine, rote, or by the book, but what it will be is mine.

Where does my asceticism show?

Let me take you through a typical day.

Waking at 2300 (11 pm), I plank for three minutes, do about ten minutes of calisthenics, wash my face, and then meditate for twenty minutes to a half hour, offering that time to the Gods. Then, with that done, I recite my creed and head off to the gym.

I have a creed. I'm that fancy!

While I'm in the truck, I informally pray. Often, I'm talking to my Lady Eostre, but the other Gods definitely get included. Woden and I have always gotten along, and Thunor, I call big brother because he's always watching out for us and protecting us.

Now it's time for my hour minimum at the gym. Half an hour each of cardio and weight training. This is so I can be in good condition and proper shape.

Good health is important to me, but more on that in a moment.

When I get home, I clean for about an hour, something I call "service meditation." Scrubbing floors, cleaning counters, and sanitizing bathrooms is a gift I can give daily to my loved ones with whom I make a home. While I work, I reflect on them and consider all they give me.

After a much-needed shower, I'm in the office and might finally have breakfast. I eat, ascetically, often the same thing every day; I keep my calories low and usually take up a 16-hour fast between my last meal and first meal.

Everything gets weighed down to the gram and tracked on my calorie sheet.

Next comes editing, writing, often some informal online counseling, or time spent on networks like Counter Social, Telegram, and Discord trying to help people, even if it's only getting them to smile.

Hope is big for me because my Lady Eostre is the goddess of Spring and the Dawn. She is hope personified, a goddess of fresh chances and potential. Pointing back to her and her values is my purpose. It's what I was made for.

My day continues like that until I'm in bed at 1600 (4 PM), after an hour cool-down where I go through my creed and have one last conversation with the Gods. That's when I set out my fruit offerings if I happened to have any that day.

It's a hard and fast rule. The gods always get the best part of the banana and the strawberry.

This is the way.

My bed is a mat that rolls out on the floor. I started that in 2020, and I've never been happier or slept better, and when I travel, it comes with me.

And I travel a lot.

My family here calls it "missions." Every now and again, someone in my network will need help. They might be having surgery, a mental health crisis, or are moving cross town or cross country. Whatever the reason, the call goes out, and if I can make it work with money, I'll hop a plane, train, or bus and get out there.

Beyond the joy I get from being in shape and capable, this is why I work out. It's much easier to load and move boxes or help lift people when you're in decent physical condition. 

I actually have training as a CNA, so I know how to do all the transfer stuff, and I have decent experience in post-surgical care.  

I don't want to go into this part too much because it feels like bragging, but I've been all over the States and soon to be Canada just helping people. I ramble in, do what I can, then return home and take back up my discarded routine.

And this is my life, apart from writing my books. As I looked at it and began breaking it down, I realized that I am already living a disciplined ascetic life.  

My gods and my faith are at the forefront of what I do, but what defines my faith isn't the regular application of ritual, but action. Indeed, one of the sayings I live by is actions show what words claim.

So I'm not on a mountaintop, meditating with the sun's rising and setting, or dwelling within a monastery, cloistered from the world, living to sing hymns. There is beauty in that kind of asceticism, but it's not my asceticism.

Yet, we do have things in common.

My life is one of service, with a focus on the divine and the advancement of their aims for the world. It is my hope (there's that word again) that I can show the wisdom and cunning of Woden, the strength of Thunor, the honor of Tyr, and most of all, embody the hope of the Dawn in all I do.

Of course, I'm not perfect, and Saturdays are often waffle day, but life is about growth, not static metrics.

It's dawning on me that I may never be fully recognized in my path. I don't seem to jive well with organizations and dogmatic structures. I may never have Reverend by my name or "Sister" formally. When it's time to go, I may not even leave much behind save my books and these Tumblr posts.

When I do cross that far horizon, and I am again before my Lady, I hope she will look back on all I did during this strange human odyssey and see that while I may have been taken from her for a time, I never stopped being her devoted one, her servant, and that is all the formal recognition I will ever need.

For me, an ascetic heathen life is one of actions, denial, and service, which I seek to live every day.

[hikari-kaitou]

Memories 1

The trilogy gives off a strong image of winter. What place does Phoenix feel himself drawn to during this cold season? This time the character everyone has been waiting for (?) will make an appearance!

Maya: So what's with this sudden "I want to go see the lake" talk?

Phoenix: Our trial doesn't start until 10, right? I just kinda felt like stopping by beforehand.

M: Gourd Lake, huh… Oh, I bet it's because you're remembering Mr. Edgeworth's case.

P: Well, that too, but… there's just something about this place that brings back memories.

M: Did you kill someone here too, Nick?

P: Don't be silly. It's just the time of year… it makes me want to visit the place for some reason.

M: Hmmm…I'm sensing some romance in the air.

P: …This is the first place I came for fun in this city.

M: Huh?! You mean you're not from here originally?!

P: I moved here to work for Fey and Co. Law Offices.

M: Huh… I see.

P: I was still trying to get used to my new life when Mia and I came to eat hotdogs on this bench together.

M: …Oh? There's someone lost in thought over there.

P: You're right, and he's eating a hotdog.

M: I feel like I've seen that neck frilly before… Ah, he glanced over here.

P: Hey! Don't quickly avert your eyes and try to scurry away!

M: Heyyy! Mr. Edgeworth!! Over here!!

Edgeworth: Hmph… so you found me.

M: What brings you here? Did you receive another suspicious letter?

E: It's not that. It's just something about this time of year… it makes me want to visit this place.

P: Because of that case… I bet.

M: But we already solved that case!

E: …Thank you for that. I mean it.

M: There's something about the look on your face that doesn't seem settled.

P: He's got that wrinkle in his brow as usual, doesn't he.

E: …Could you at least call it a furrow instead of a wrinkle?

M: Speaking of wrinkles, your suit looks as flawless as ever. I can't see a single one!

P: In spite of the usual furrow in your brow.

E: When one is a prosecutor, there are times when one loses one's sense of calm.

M: Oh right, that happens to Nick all the time.

E: When that happens, I intentionally put more effort into arranging my outfit. Having not a thread out of place or a wrinkle to be seen makes me feel calmer somehow.

M: Nick is covered in lose threads today.

P: Leave me alone, would you? I was in a rush this morning.

M: Uh oh Nick, your badge is missing!

P: Crap! I forgot it at the office!

M: And your dress shirt is on backwards!

P: I knew it! I wondered why I was having trouble folding my collar!

M: And look at your shoes! They're both right feet!

P: Whoa! I knew I should have bought a different pair!

M: Not only that, look at your pants!

P: Crud, I forgot to wear any!

E: …. You clearly haven't.

M: ……You could have played along with us, Mr. Edgeworth.

P: Oh well, he's always like this.

E: …It's about time.

P: Right. Well, see ya.

E: Mm, see you in court.

At People Park

Chocolate statue

A Wright and Co. Christmas

New Years

Turnabout Goodbyes

Valentine's Day

White Day

Justice For All, Now on Sale

The New Student and the Rookie

Swimming in the Ocean

Seasonal Wardrobe Change

English Version

[angelbabyblog777]

Pisces Season!

Happy Pisces Season my beautiful bbs. This deep, watery season is all about inner knowing, change and creation. If you haven't gotten the rest you've needed this winter, now is the time!

Pisces to me is like the song "escapism." Everything about them is like they're in their own little world and interacting with them is like opening a portal right into that world. There is a feeling of detachment about them, an old soul type feeling even when you're only looking at them. I feel like they have an inner knowing of the vastness of the soul. It's as if they know they've been here before and this life they're living is just a little blip compared to everything they've already experienced. That's why some pisces may act a little unhinged at times; Living multiple lives and being inter-dimensional in a way other people can't seem to understand could make anyone go cray cray.

As pisces season approached, I found myself drawn again to witchcraft. I struggle with my "faith" and also go against the grain a lot. I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to be told what to do. The more I learn about the dark side of Christianity, the more I question why people mindlessly believe what is said in the Bible. Although I have seen witches turn to Christ. I just know that I was brought up in a catholic setting and I want to experience things differently at this point in my life. I am drawn to witchcraft and paganism and I always have been. My best friend and I used to make "potions" in her backyard, or salads with poison berries in them hahha.

At this time in my life, I want to learn more about plants, herbal medicine, gardening, animals, birds, harvesting and anything to do with the natural world. I'm going to surrender to the flow of my life and stop trying to control every little thing. I'm going to rest when I need to and I'm going to stay up late if I want to!

Ostara is 30 days away and I want my Chi to be at 100% by then! That means DETOXING and I personally have been feeling called to just BE ALONE! The world can wait! I have a handful of loose leaf teas I want to make each night before bed. I can also use these in a nice herbal bath. I'm being called to cut out the shit I put in my body like extra sugar, processed food, soda and even shitty television, social media and all that JUNK!

Pisces have a deep knowing. They know the ins and outs of the world, they know the evils at play. They know that most people don't have your best interest at heart and maybe that's why they belong so deeply to themselves. This is the last zodiac before the astrological new year, April babies, Aries season, Spring Equinox! What are your plans for this Pisces season?

I found a new witchy blog I love if you want to check it out too! It's www.softspirituality.com ! She has a blog all about Pisces season too! Hope you're well and things are looking up for you.

Love ya xoxox - Kaylee

[busymagpie]

Hello! Hope you're having a good day :D

I hope this question isn’t rude or anything but since you posted a few sketches lately I just wanted to ask if you maybe have some Turgon sketches laying around that you would like to share? Just because I love him a lot and there is not very much art with him, sadly. The two (at least I have found only two) of your pieces with him in it are s o good and I would love to see more of him in your style! Feel free to ignore this ask though, if you don't have/don't want to share anything, I hope this isn't a weird question.

Anyway, while I'm at it let me just say that you're great and your art is amazing (I especially love how you draw so many different faces so distinctively and expressive. Also hair. So many different, pretty hairstyles!!) and I really like spending time on your blog!

Have a nice day <3

Heyo :) It's been pretty good, thanks! It's not rude at all! But I'm afraid I have to disappoint since I only recently started to keep my digital sketches instead of trashing them right away and I haven't drawn him all that much lately. The only thing I have is a wip I'm set on finishing some day. It's shippy though, and also a year old as of now so there are already so many things I want to change about it. Since I'm going to finish it eventually, I don't want to spoil it completely, but here ya go!

Also thank you! :') 💕 So many nice compliments, you're making me tear up! (well actually I'm wiggling in my seat, but it's pretty much the same really) Have a great day as well! ❤

[turntableart]

okay hi, this character yes this on, is so far called yellow.rom and he is heavily inspired by kinitopet

I LOVE THAT GAME GO PLAY IT GO PLAY IT RIGHT NOW

ehem anyways :] yellow is my take on that

what you need to know before hand is that yellow is a character I've already made and used for a good chunk of time he's actually an fan made Addison from DELTARUNE and in this lil universe he's in, he's in a computer that belongs to a human version of a pink ad called click, they're human name is clark, go to bright goats page to learn about him I love they're stuff sweet Jesus you have no idea, I have no idea how to link people shit bush help

Anyways!

Yellow was completed in 1999 and managed to get on Clarks computer a little later, he popped up in Clarks emails with a year free trial and theyve been stuck together like glue! They are besties and stuff I love them, before that tho yellow was sat in an old computer at the studio that made him, he was cancelled a week prior to his release so when he caught on that he wouldn't be able to literally be friends with everyone on earth he leaked his own files :3 by request of his creator Thomas Greterson who disappeared later that night, that's when he fell into the spam mail box on Clarks computer :]

thank you to bush for doing rps with me so I can get his story down they love him just as much as me it makes me so happy, they also love Thomas, they love how wet cat he is and how bbg he is

Now what can yellow do as an ai assistant? Well he can do surprisingly a lot! He can do the basics like interact with you personally but he can like uh talk? He uses a tts so you can give him your name and he'll say it!!! What tts does he use uh... I haven't decided yet he's only a few days old give me a break, he can interact with you and tabs he can manipulate stuff and activate stuff like your mic or camera if you let him

He can block you from seeing certain things since he was made for a younger democratic, so no ao3 no corn hub no stuff like that... Unless you turn child mode off which is quite hard to do, you need to actually prove to him that your allowed to use that stuff

yes he can read what you search for and he can see what your looking at you dirty sinner

He can judge you. He will judge you. He is programmed to be your best friend :] and is semi self aware, he's self aware enough to feel panic when technology starts to advance and he's worried he'll become obsolete, he doesn't Clark is a smarty, He's also an anti virus, his way of getting rid of viruses is... Interesting

no were not talking about how he's illegally a virus to he doesn't like to talk about it

Hes actually 3D! Or 2.5D I'm not sure what you call it, I plan on making him a 3d model but that'll take time, But he can spin he is an orb and a pyramid with s t i c k s we love him :3 he also has a text box cause he's nice like that, he adds faces into them like :] :3 :D ya know? He kinda has to when he don't have a mouth, his form can be altered if he let's you, he let's Clark edit it cause they're besties :] so often times yellow is littered with stickers and little additions that Clark as drawn on Microsoft paint, sometimes he draws a mouth on yellow :] speaking of mouths, yellow can edit himself as well in a less permanent way, what he does is open a paint tab and he draws his own features such as mouths and eyes and stuff even though he does have a lot of animations already built in but sometimes he just needs a little change up

So far that's all for yellow :] heres a lil about Thomas his creator! Thomas Greterson is the human name for yellow, cause when he's an Addison hes called turnon. G. Addison :] and in this world he's in his late 30s and has been working on yellow for years, he has two kids Clara and evan with his wife Cathryn, when he quit on the day of yellows cancelation he called his wife and was met with the voice of a man he didn't know, turns out she had been cheating on him for the whole of they're marage and most of they're relationship, you see when yellow would be released there was big talk of him being a company success and Thomas would've gotton a big pay out which is the reason Cathy was with him, hearing that he wouldn't get it just made her file for devoice right they're on the phone since I guess her affair was found out, Thomas hung up the phone and walked to a bar and while later he was stumbling back home and was hit by a truck, he didn't survive and now is currently in the hands of the goddess of light

who is the god version of my friend bush, she adores this sad overworked man I am not joking I also have a god form as well as another friend of mine who isn't on here so I won't give em a name well his character is called add-on who is also in this world as a teacher Clark and him don't get along

Anyway so far that's all I've go :3 I hoped enjoy my little read! I enjoyed writing it and I can't wait to write more when I ad more to this hehee *ad* more hehehe

BY THE WAY PLEASE LET ME TALK ABOUT MY AD OC I LOVE HIM SO MUCH I WANT TO TELL PEOPLE ABOUT HIM SO PLEASE ASK ME QUESTIONS I SWEAR I WILL GO FERAL I WANT TO SPREAD THE YELLOW AGENDA PLEASE PLEASE ASK ME ABOUT MY OCS I'M BEGGING

[elvenbeard]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you so much for the tag and reminder @kharonion! :D Gonna tag @pinkyjulien @humberg @chevvy-yates @theviridianbunny cause I haven't been keeping up with tumblr much lately and would love to know what you're all doing atm if you wanna share 👀

As always, I got way too much stuff at once I'm doing, and apartment hunting is awful and really robbing me of my motivation, so I'm doing a lot of low-brain-effort stuff that calms my nerves at the moment really. Let's see...

VP Stuff

Currently working my way through my "Vince through the years series" :D Two posts out (2067, 2069), one drafted and still needs some text, the others are still a work in progress XD While 2067 was a bit about Vince's home life, 2069 about his transition and time in Kabuki, 2071 is gonna have a focus on Jackie 👀

I should have it ready in a few days :3

Art Stuff

I actually had a little drive to draw something lately :DD working a bit on the comic I teased the other week, slowly chipping away at the lineart, but really enjoying it so far, even though my process is slow!

First page lineart done (for now xD I might go back and fiddle more with it). I am... very tempted to paint the background, but I think I will for once settle for the easy approach and fill in my backgrounds with modified screenshots for this. Cause why tf not xD If professional manga artists can do it, so can I for my silly fancomic!

Writing Stuff

I started chapter 8 of Love is Stored in the Olive Jar and I know it's gonna be a difficult one cause I've really been building up to it and now I got the "you gotta deliver now!!" anxiety XD But I'm still looking forward to finally getting to Mr. B's solution for V's Sun-Ending problem 👀

“So, she got any final words of wisdom?” Kerry asked, fingers gently drumming on the steering wheel. They had swapped cars at home, and with what Rogue had just said now V wondered if it might not have been better after all to use Kerry’s Aerondight to get here… But then again, if shit hit the fan in some way, he didn’t want any unnecessary negative attention drawn to Kerry. “Not really,” V shook his head, “Nothin’ I didn’t think of already at least.” “Told ya so,” Kerry shrugged, pulling out his cigarettes and only paused when he noticed V’s stern stare. “Ah, fuck,” he mumbled and then got out of the car. They had not only swapped cars but changed clothes quickly while they were home. As he slipped from the driver’s seat, Kerry’s wide black bomber jacket rode up briefly, revealing the gun kept in the waistband of his cargopants. “You shouldn’t do that,” V said as he got out himself, “Posers in action films keep their gun in their pants. In the real world that’s gonna get you shot in the ass faster than you think.” V closed the passenger side door with his elbow, flinching slightly at the pain shooting through his shoulder and chest. He took a deep breath, adjusted his own gun holster worn snugly under his coat. “Fiiine,” Kerry sighed, lit cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, and he put the gun into his jacket’s pockets. Not ideal still, but better. V smiled at him, and then slowly turned to look down the short, narrow side street they were parked in. They were close to the Santo Domingo district border, in the middle of the industrial area at the edges of the city. The location coordinates Mr. B had sent him lay not far ahead. A new, sleek white building, V guessed it around ten stories tall, rose at the center of what he remembered to be factory grounds formerly. It was far from imposing, a little bit lost on the large lot even, but it blended in well with the surrounding corpo complexes. The entire compound was fenced in, V spotted cameras and security turrets near the heavily secured entrance gate. No security staff though, not even mechs or drones, much to his surprise, at least not visibly out in the open.

Modding Stuff

I have a handful of things on the backburner... A very silly t-shirt (the replacer works already, but I wanna make it Archive XL!), band merch, and my custom hand holding poses... but with my anxiety-riddled brain wolvenkit is a bit too daunting at the moment, but I'm really looking forward to continuing all these projects :3

[leiawritesstories]

Last one for now j in promise but city boy rowans parents come (since they come every summer) and see how they’re drawn together and meddle/maybe catch them in a compromising position

A Fine Woman

Rowaelin Month 2022, Day 10: Unconventional Way to Get a Date @rowaelinscourt

thank you for the prompt anon and i’m sorry it took so freaking long to get this done and posted lol

word count: 2,006

warnings: lots of parental meddling

enjoy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Love?" Rowan's lazy whisper floated into her ear.

Aelin cracked her eyes open, not budging from her very comfortable position sprawled in Rowan's lap on her porch swing. "Hmm?"

"I, uh, there's something I have to tell you."

"Fire away." She shifted so her gaze was on him. "I'm listenin', city boy."

He released a short huff. "My parents are coming."

"Really?" She sat up, resettling herself into his lap. "Oh, that's wonderful news! I've missed 'em here."

"Yeah, well, they've missed the place too, and they managed to get a couple days of vacation while I'm still here. They'll be arriving tomorrow."

"Yay!" She beamed at him. "D'you need to pick 'em up from the airport?"

"No, they're renting a car. I just..." He blushed a little, the color hidden by the falling darkness. "I thought I should probably warn you."

"And why's that?" She kissed his nose. "Your parents know that we're grown adults, they can deal with us havin' a...friendship."

"That's just it, love." He swallowed. "They're going to meddle, I just know it."

"Because..."

"Because they don't know that I'm your boyfriend," he blurted, his whole face flushing scarlet.

Aelin burst into laughter, cupping her city slicker's face. "Oh, city boy, you haven't told your parents?" She calmed her giggling. "Well then, I s'pose we'll just have t'let 'em make their meddlin', yeah?"

"You're evil," Rowan pouted.

She kissed his puffed-out lips. "You love me."

"I love you," he chuckled, kissing her warmly.

"Thanks for the warnin'," she grinned, laying her head atop his broad shoulder. "But don't worry, Ro, I adore your parents just as much as they adore this place. We'll be fine."

~

Enna and Peter Whitethorn arrived at Galathynius Ranch shortly before noon the next day, strolling into the guesthouse wearing big bright smiles.

"Aelin!" Enna exclaimed, folding the ranch owner into a warm hug. "I've missed you, dear."

"Welcome back," Aelin grinned, embracing her. And moving on to Peter, who greeted her just as affectionately. "It's so good to see y'all again! I've missed you 'round these parts."

"Not half as much as we've missed being here," Peter chuckled. "Have you seen that son of mine anytime soon?" He flicked his wife a sly wink. "I remember him saying something about being here to greet us when we arrived..."

Enna nudged her husband in the ribs. "You're not being even remotely subtle," she whispered.

Rowan strolled into the atrium then, beaming at his parents. "Hullo, Mom, Dad."

The Whitethorn parents immediately rushed to their son, folding him into a tight embrace. "It's so good to see you, son," Peter murmured, hiding the emotion choking his voice. With Rowan working so much, he was hardly able to see his parents save for scattered FaceTime calls and the occasional holiday visit.

"It's good to see you too, Dad." Rowan handed his mother a handkerchief. "Don't get all weepy, Mom, I'm right here."

Enna sniffled. "Don't sass me, boy. It feels like I haven't properly seen you in years, and look at you!" She winked. "All grown up and just begging for a wonderful woman to take you home."

"Mom," Rowan groaned. "At least wait until dinner to start your matchmaking, okay?" He grabbed both parents' suitcases. "Where's your room?"

"Where it always is," Aelin laughed, handing Enna the room keys. The Whitethorns had been staying in Room 324 since they started coming to the ranch. "It's all ready for ya."

Peter threw another grin at his wife as they watched Rowan effortlessly heft their suitcases and head up the stairs. "Look at our strong manly son go," he hummed, just loud enough for Aelin to hear. "Any woman would be lucky indeed to have him in her life."

"Peter," Enna chided, winking at him even as she pinched his side, "I thought we'd agreed not to be obvious!"

Aelin had to turn around so they wouldn't see her blushing.

She counted herself lucky indeed to have Rowan in her life, yes she did.

~

"Well look at that," Enna smirked as Aelin finished her little speech and strolled through the dining hall. "She really does know how to bring the place to life, doesn't she?" A casual elbow into her son's arm. "Doesn't she?"

"Wh--huh--Aelin?" Rowan jerked his gaze away from the woman in question. Or, more accurately, from the way her blouse exposed far too much skin for him to remain cool and collected. "Yeah, she really brings the guests into the ranch life."

His mother nudged him again. "Am I correct in presuming that you, being a high and mighty city man, don't partake in the ranch life?"

Rowan smothered the comment that rose within him regarding exactly how much he partook in ranch life. "I've gone horseback riding!" he protested.

Enna laughed. "Son, you could go horseback riding in Seattle." She beamed at him. "Oh, look! Aelin!" Before Rowan could protest, Enna waved Aelin over to their table.

"Well hey there," she greeted them, smothering her wicked grin at the rather uncomfortable expression on Rowan's face. "What's up?"

"Aelin dear," Enna beamed, "Rowan was just telling me that he wants to do more of the ranch activities!"

Aelin quashed her furious blush. "Well, Enna, I oughta tell y'all that Rowan here's actually participated in quite a few of the ranch events. Heck, it seems so recent that he was doin' lasso lessons and ridin' cranky ol' Erawan like a pro!"

Rowan groaned deeply, burying his face in his hands. "We agreed not to mention the Erawan incident!"

Aelin smirked. "But yer a ranch legend now, city slicker." She flashed a grin at his parents. "Ask any of the guests, they'll tell ya all 'bout Mr. Whitethorn here and his adventures."

"Isn't that wonderful?" Peter grinned. "Say, Aelin, how about you tell us when the guests go horseback riding and we'll go along with out son, yeah?"

"Of course!" She handed them a little brochure listing the activity schedule. "I go ridin' with everyone for the morning slot, and my ranch manager, Darrow, does the afternoon."

"Then we'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning," Rowan's father replied. "Looking forward to it!"

Rowan hadn't lifted his face.

Chuckling, Aelin winked at his parents. "Y'all might want t'cheer him up a li'l," she teased. "He looks awfully miserable. Poor Mr. Ranch Legend."

~

"Poor Mr. Ranch Legend?" Rowan practically wailed, flopped on his back on Aelin's couch. "You're evil, love. Evil."

"I know." She grinned down at him, his head lying in her lap.

He sighed. "Ae, how in the hell are we gonna keep them from 'accidentally' leaving us together at the side of the trail?"

"Whoever says they'll do that?"

"Mom's in full-speed-ahead matchmaker mode," Rowan mumbled. "I've a bad feeling that she'd stage a wedding right here, right now, if she could."

Aelin chuckled, carding her fingers through his hair. "And would that be such an awful thing, now?" she teased, playing the devil's advocate just for the hell of it.

He caught her wrist. "Cowgirl, I haven't even proposed to you yet."

"Is that a promise, city boy?"

Something impossibly soft flickered in his pine eyes. "You're my forever, Aelin," he whispered, "I know you are. But I'm...I'm not ready to take another step yet."

She caressed the sharp planes of his face. "I know, my love. Neither am I." Then she flashed him a smirk. "Won't stop your mother from tryin', though."

~

Brimming with slightly wicked glee, Aelin made it her mission to tease the absolute hell out of Rowan on the next morning's excursion, starting with putting on her very favorite pair of jeans. His very favorite pair of her jeans. The ones that molded seamlessly to the curves of her ass, her hips, the defined length of her legs. He'd gone into the guesthouse for breakfast, not wanting to give his parents any more hints than they picked up about how he and Aelin were actually dating, so he didn't see her in those jeans until she arrived at the corral for the ride.

"Mornin', everyone!" she greeted the group of fifteen or so guests. "How y'all doin'?"

Rowan's eyes just about bugged out of his head, his brain emptied of everything except the overload of Aelin wearing those jeans in front of the whole group.

Enna elbowed him. "Quit gaping!" She grinned. "I know she's a gorgeous woman, but you can't just gawp at her, my boy."

"Mom!" Rowan hissed, flushing. "Stop that!"

Once everyone was settled on a horse and moving along the trail, Aelin trotted over beside the Whitethorns, tipping her hat. "Mornin', y'all."

"Good morning," Peter grinned. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Perfect for a ride," she replied, sliding Rowan a sidelong glance.

Rowan choked on whatever he'd been about to say. "It's lovely," he wheezed, his ears flaring bright cherry red.

Aelin winked and settled into pace with his parents. Giving him a high quality view of her ass as she rode along the trail.

Fucking hell.

As the group started off again after their quick water break, Rowan noticed that his saddle was loose. Odd. He'd been certain that it had been secure. So he dismounted, stroking the horse's neck, and checked the straps. Sure enough, one was loose. He grumbled a string of swears and reached for the loose strap.

Only for Aelin's hand to land atop his. "Uh-uh, Ro."

"Huh?" He blinked. "Aren't you supposed to be with the group?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm s'posed to be makin' sure none of the guests do anything stupid like try and fix a saddle they ain't got no idea how to tighten."

"Oh."

She chuckled. "Stand aside, city boy, I'll have this fixed in no time. And don'cha worry, Galan's with the group, they'll be fine when we catch up." Efficiently, she re-secured the saddle strap, murmuring to the horse as she quickly tightened the leather. "There ya are, Ro."

"How the hell'd it happen?" he wondered aloud, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I thought everything was all set when we left the ranch grounds, Ae."

She shrugged. "Saddle straps loosen. Only takes a moment to fix."

His quizzical look morphed into slyness. "A moment that we now have alone, hmm?"

"You're bad, city boy," she chuckled, stepping closer.

He smirked, sliding his hands over her hips. "Is it so bad to want a little kiss?"

Her lips curled wickedly. "With you, Ro, nothing's little."

He swallowed her giggle with a claiming kiss, his tongue brushing against the seam of her lips. She sighed into him, opening her lips at his gentle, coaxing demand, leaning into his body for one stolen moment.

A wolf whistle jerked them back into reality, and they sprang apart, both blushing madly.

"I knew it!" Enna Whitethorn's triumphant declaration rang across the prairie.

Rowan groaned, yanking his bandanna up to cover his face. "Mom!"

Enna giggled, beaming at her son and the ranch owner. "I knew you two wouldn't be able to resist each other, I just knew it!"

"Doesn't mean you had to loop all the way back here to see it," Peter teased, stopping beside his wife.

"Oh, you are the worst," she returned. "Wasn't it your idea to keep them held up back here?"

Aelin gasped. "You set us up!"

"Guilty as charged," Enna admitted without an ounce of regret.

Aelin tipped her head back, breaking into laughter. "Really?"

"You two make a very cute couple, if you were wondering," Enna grinned, waving her fingers at the two of them, Rowan in distress, Aelin laughing. "I don't regret a thing, dear."

"I do!" Rowan groaned, turning back to his horse and swinging himself a little clumsily into the saddle. "That might be the most embarrassing moment of my life, Mom."

"Well then," Aelin began, flashing her city slicker's parents a very wicked grin, "in the spirit of embarrassing your son, I think I should let you know that we've been seeing each other for a while now."

~~~

TAGS:

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@cretaceous-therapod

@clea-nightingale

@autumnbabylon

@nerdperson524

@claralady

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@rowanaelinn

@wesupremeginger

@story-scribbler

@nicolivesinbooks

@mackenzieclutt

@stardelia

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@swankii-art-teacher

@wordsafterhours

@cookiemonsterwholovesbooks

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@throneofus7

@elizarikaallen

[dream-beyond-the-dawn]

Coffee and meetings (Aph Russia omo)

This was requested by anon so...here ya go. If you're reading this, I hope you like it. I'm not proud of it because it's definitely not my best work. Truth be told I haven't really been in the Hetalia fandom since I was like 14 lol almost 10 years ago. But I tried lol.

Meeting after meeting after meeting. That's all Ivan had done ever since the time he woke up that morning. He took another sip of what had to be at least his third coffee that morning while glancing at his watch from the break room. He still had 15 minutes to finish his coffee.

He relaxed back in his office chair. He probably could be spending his break doing something more productive- considering he was about to attend a meeting lead by the notorious talker- Alfred Jones. But all he wanted to do now was sip on his coffee in the break room with no one there to bother him.

At least it was his last meeting of the day. And it was only an ally meeting so that meant less people.

Ivan finished his cup of coffee, deciding he should probably go to the bathroom before the meeting started. They were notorious for lasting anywhere from thirty minutes to a couple hours. He didn't usually even have anything to say. Ivan preferred to listen and not speak up much. That and he knew a lot of people found him intimidating, something that didn't bother him.

He turned the corner to the bathrooms only to see they were both cautioned off. Then he remembered someone mentioning in passing that the building was being partly remodeled. He was pretty familiar with this place by now and he knew that they only had one bathroom.

Maybe drinking three cups of coffee wasn't a good idea. But he shrugged it off and headed to the meeting anyway. He'd never particularly had a small bladder anyway so he would be fine.

He sat by himself on the very end, far from anyone. He wasn't sure what the meeting was about but he didn't really care.

"We have a lot of ground to cover today." Alfred started out, sounding as enthusiastic as ever. "We're going to be discussing national security. Does anyone want to start?"

Ivan tuned out most of what was being said. Ludwig started the conversation which wasn't exactly shocking.

So far all the meeting has consisted of was a projector playing a video of what each country was doing in an attempt to lower crime. Some of them admittedly weren't bad ideas but there was something distracting him.

The coffee that he drank was starting to fill his bladder. It wasn't bad yet but if the meeting lasted as long as predicted then a potential problem was in the making. And only 30 minutes had passed too.

Ivan leaned back in his chair and tried to get comfortable while each person took turns on their speech after their segment of the slideshow ended. He knew his turn was coming up which made him nervous. Public speaking had never been his thing. It wasn't necessary that he was shy- he just didn't particularly enjoy any attention drawn to himself.

Which is why he had to be even more careful with anyone catching on to his predicament.

"Ivan what about you?"

He stiffened. What were they even talking about? He was so focused on his bladder that he wasn't paying a bit of attention to what anyone was even saying.

"Forgive me, I am just a bit jet lagged, da. I'll sit this one out." He said it with a smile but knew it came off as forced.

There were times when everyone being various levels of scared of him paid off. This was one of them.

He got a few somewhat annoyed glances from the others who likely didn't want to speak up either but he didn't care. The sooner this was over the better.

Something he'd learned how to do throughout all the years of having to attend meetings, he had learned to tune them almost out by distracting himself.

Sometimes he would tell himself stories and sometimes he would reminisce on the past.

Right now he was finding it hard to do anything other than think about how badly he needed to use the bathroom.

He glanced at the clock. The meeting hadn't even made it past two hours. He was glad his sister, Katyusha wasn't there. She definitely would have noticed and likely said something. His other sister- well he didn't want to talk about her.

Another hour passed and Ivan was now starting to sweat. He was so focused on anything other than his bladder that he didn't notice Feliciano address him out of concern.

"Are you okay? You don't look too good."

Shit. Now they were all paying attention to him. They all knew. They had to.

The stress of his situation made a single drop escape Ivan, who was trying not to panic. He let this go on for too long.

"Are you okay dude? You look like you're about to puke." Alfred paused the slideshow that was playing. "do you need to step outside?"

Ivan stood up, barely managing to keep a relaxed posture and exited the room without word. He was too desperate to worry about how embarrassed he would definitely be about that later.

When he turned down the hall away from the room, he stopped and grabbed himself, crossing his legs. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard it started to bleed. 'I can do this.'

After being hunched over for a few seconds he was finally able to gain some control. His bladder throbbed in pain, begging for release.

Ivan tried to make it to the exit building- if he could just go outside he could-

"Dammit!" He was hit by a wave of desperation so strong that even holding himself wasn't doing anything to help him hold it back all that did was make him realize how wet his pants were.

Ivan took one more agonizing step towards the door and that was the breaking point. He stared down in shame as his light colored pants turned dark as they became saturated with piss.

The feeling of relief was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He couldn't hold back the small sounds of pleasure he made.

It took about three entire minutes before he was done. Now be was left with cooling wet pants. Ivan took his coat off and wrapped it around his waist which made it hard to see what had just happened.

He looked up when he heard the sound of a door shutting followed by footsteps. He quickly hid behind a door to one of the other rooms so no one would see him.

"Where did Ivan go?" Arthur asked sounding impassive.

"He didn't look like he felt good. I bet he went home." Alfred responded back.

So they must've been leaving together. That meant he would either have to sneak out after them or wait until everyone else left.

"He's not supposed to be doing that."

"Did you wanna be the one to stop him? C'mon the dude is nuts sometimes. I don't want him to beat me with his magical pipe of pain."

That was all he heard before they left. By now his pants were extremely uncomfortable but he noticed a small clothing store across the street. It would certainly beat driving back to his hotel with wet pants.

He waited a few minutes before leaving the building and heading straight for the clothing store. He wasn't sure where everyone else was but he didn't want to stick around and find out.

[just-a-carrot]

Hey Carrot do you have any beta designs for your characters that your willing to show I don’t really care what game it’s from I just love your character designs in general and how you draw them… ya that’s all

Do you mean like designs of characters for games I haven't made yet? Or like early art of games I've released?

Tbh I don't really have any other art of original characters (except for like,,, REALLY old stuff that is literally embarrassing to look at LOL) as until I began doing game dev I pretty much mostly only drew fanart 🤣💦 I don't have any beta-ish art for Easter, as everything I drew at some point got used either in-game or online (and I also just didn't draw all that much for Easter because I drew everything with my mouse back then which was tiring and took a long time ldkjfad).

I do have some early art for OW from years ago tho. OW was going to be a variety of different things, from an RPG horror (but I got too frustrated at my lack of pixel art skills) to a storybook-style VN without sprites and just CGs (but I quickly realized it would literally take me years to finish). And I still have some old art and assets from those versions. Everything looks very weird looking back on it now,,, also it was again all drawn with a mouse since I didn't get my tablet until two summers ago. But I can share some of it here!

You can see that some of these clearly influenced some of the Arc 1 CGs lol...

And here's some assets from the RPG Maker version:

Actually I forgot there were even two different RPG Maker ones LOL This deep dive reminded me that I started one in VX Ace, then decided to change to MV so started all over again. Dang I really tried to start making this game so many different times in so many different ways 🤣💦

[clairelsonao3]

Happy Storyteller Saturday!

Are there any places, objects, or even people in your stories inspired by or directly borrowed from your real life?

Share a snippet if you like 💜

Thanks for the ask, Winter! Happy STS! So sorry it took me almost until the next STS to answer! I wanted to make sure I did it justice.

And your answer is:

Yes, many. I think virtually everything I write is to some extent seeded in reality, no matter how wildly the story diverges from there.

My YA romantic thriller The Adored (which I haven't shared much about here yet) was heavily inspired by having grown up in a musical family (with members who were much more successful at it than I was!), singing in school choirs and musicals, and then later being involved in the indie music scene during college and grad school. Some of the MCs, their friends and family share personality traits with friends and even family members of mine, although altered enough to be unrecognizable (I hope!)

Even Good Slaves Never Break the Rules, as out-there as the plot is, has some drawn-from-life elements sprinkled around.

I started writing it almost eight years ago to entertain myself on a transatlantic sea voyage (that's worth another whole post altogether), and some of the characters and early situations (I won't say specifically which ones!) were inspired by that. In general, the unusual dynamics that pop up when strangers from vastly different origins and roles onboard are pressed together in a small space with no choice but to work and spend time together (although needless to say, very soon, my imagination wildly diverged from what actually happened 😂). There were numerous other influences of course, including several plays and other works of literature, but those are best suited for yet another post, I think.

And yes, I did live in Arizona and even went to university there [although the one I attended has been ported over to the larger city to the north for plot purposes], though I didn't grow up there and have lived abroad for years now. (I do go back frequently, however). The excerpt I'm going to use -- after much thinking and probably some more interesting snippets I'm missing -- has to do with that. As it happens, the university (and its fictional, relocated counterpart) is actually world-famous for its research on both optics and astronomy, which explains why it's host to one of the world's largest liquid mirror telescope labs -- which of course found its way into GSNBTR, only appropriate given the characters' interests in science.

The direct route to the mirror telescope was in a red brick building not entirely on the other side of campus, but almost.

"Hey, it's — what are you doing?" she exclaimed, chasing after him. "You’re going in completely the wrong direction.” 

“Maybe it would help if you actually told me where we’re going.” 

“Maybe it would help if you’d listen to anything I said!"

He crossed his arms impatiently. "Well?"

"The mirror telescope building,” she said. “To meet someone named Milagros.”

To her shock, his whole expression transformed before her eyes. “Wait. Mirror telescope? The Zenith telescope?”

“Yeah, it’s made out of liquid — "

“Liquid mercury, I know," he continued eagerly. "In a paraboloid shape. It’s the biggest in the world outside of the Himalayas. They’re now testing the same technology in microgravity to see if they can build one like it in a crater on the moon.” 

If she weren’t still so angry, she might have actually smiled at how this sudden overload of sheer science-geekery had his eyes shining like she hadn’t seen them shine in days.

Lastly, anything concerning business, finance, and/or the world of startups and technology is drawn partially from my interest in those topics I developed writing about them as part of my IRL writing job.

Thanks for a great question!

[thegamingcatmom]

Hey!!♥️😽 I see you haven't posted in a while I hope everything is going well!

I have a question. How do you think maggot mommy would react to their mate cuddling up to them in their sleep? Maybe because it's been a long time since they have had physical contact with an actual person, or because they are unconscious and it's just a natural response for them? Miss ya!

Okay so I kinda got carried away a bit so now there´s quite a lot leading up to the actual moment you´ve actually asked for - the grande finale, if you will - and I dunno I´m...sorry? I- 💀💀💀

BUT, first things first-

Why hello, dear nonny! 😽

Everything´s peachy! Life´s just been quite busy these past few months and it´s likely gonna remain that way for a little while longer. But all good things (hopefully)! 🤞🍀

Thank you for asking, that´s very sweet of you. ♥

And I hope things are going great for you as well! 🙏💚

NOW, let´s get to the juicy part. Hope yall are ready for a rather horny mf confused gremlin in this next installment of "Evil Dead Rise...but gayer":

Monsters

This is a direct follow-up to my last installment where Momma got half her face ripped off. Just so yall know where we currently are time-wise. ✌️

Oh, a fair warning: The tone of things might be beginning to...change from here. Just a smidge. 🤏😇

(Sidenote: I was mainly listening to this while writing. I've always been drawn to anything supernatural, and this song gives such otherworldly vibes, trying to lull you in while actually being quite sinister and tragic at the same time. 💔)

LET´S GO!

When you were little, your mother would sit with you every night, tuck you in, and tell you "bedtime stories" - stories that would haunt you for the rest of your childhood and well into your adolescent years. Crafted to keep you from getting into trouble, to make you behave by using a "weapon" that is as cliche as it is effective:

A monster.

There´s always a god damn monster somewhere.

"Do you know what will happen to your socks if you keep leaving them strewn about? The Sock Monster under your bed will snatch them up. One day, it might not be just the socks."

"Do you know what happens to children who stay in bed all day? The Monster in your closet will come out late at night when everyone is asleep to drag you out of the bed and into Closet Land."

"Do you know what happens to children who won´t wash themselves when told to? The Shower Monster behind the curtain will come out, grab you, and drag you down through the drain into the sewers."

Needless to say, you were thoroughly traumatised. At some point though, you managed to snap yourself out of those irrational fears, recognizing these stories for what they really were: Illusions. And you firmly believed in that up until a few weeks ago.

Until the day these "Bedtime stories" became more than just stories. They became your reality.

One of these... things is currently occupying the spot under your bed. Its eyes are unblinking, staring into nothingness. It´s emitting a clicking sound now and then but is otherwise as still as a statue... or so one might think. Its clawed hands are firmly embedded in the floor, its whole body poised, as if waiting for something.

Another thing has taken up residence in the closet. Its doors are cracked open just enough, allowing anyone stupid brave enough to wander into this room to see the eye staring back at them. There's no missing that bright, ominous glow. Nor the heavy breathing.

And then there's the thing in the adjacent bathroom, sitting—no—lounging in the bathtub. One leg out, foot propped up against the tap, the whole skin sporting a discolored look with darkish splotches that extend all the way up to the nails - causing them appear nearly black. One arm thrown over the edge, hand suspended in the air, drops of water dripping from tips that resemble more talons down onto the floor - the only sound in this room. The bathtub is filled with rather colorful water, and if one were to take a closer look, they could see bits and pieces of... something swimming in it, breaking the surface every now and then.

The curtain is open, giving burning eyes a clear view into the bedroom and to the bed where you are, dead to the world. Recent happenings finally took their toll, no doubt, causing you to pass out shortly after your head hit the pillow - a clean head at that, for once. Still a bit damp and slighty soaking the pillow. You couldn´t care less though - this is the best sleep you´ve gotten since...well, since everything went to absolute shit.

You still can´t believe you managed to wriggle your way out of that rather wet chokehold and into the bathtub. Can´t believe how easy it actually was. It was sort of a knee-jerk reaction on your part as well. Having absolutely had it with your demonic roommate mounting you, leaving its slobber all over you-

Your whole body had tensed, hands shot up from where they'd been hanging onto bony shoulders for dear life after that latest onslaught to grip a sunken face very tight indeed - nails digging not only into skin, but also muscles and tendons because, in your rage, you kinda forgot that thing was still missing half Its face. Fingertips hooking into an exposed jawbone to yank! It towards you, noses nearly touching, staring It down and right into Its soul, absolutely willing to throw caution to the wind if it meant getting your message across loud and clear, and, oh boy-

Loud and clear you were.

"FUCKING STOP USING ME AS YOUR FUCKING STRESS RELIEVER, YOU FUCKING WEIRD ASS PSYCHO BITCH!"

...

The silence that had followed was deafening, the only sound being your heavy breathing, and you feared you´d just signed your own death warrant. Well, so be it then. At least you were going down with dignitiy.

What you hadn´t expected, however, was the reaction that followed. Or, lack thereof.

The look of utter disbelief on Its face was priceless - the slow blinking being the only indication there was still some form of life within that decomposing body. But, more importantly, it had given you enough time to-

You had been eyeing that rather sharp-looking piece of wood from what used to be a dresser for quite a while earlier, poking out between Its rips, practically begging you to pull.

Using Its dumbfounded state to your advantage, your hand had released Its jawbone and reached down in a hurry, seizing that stake and ripping it out in one go, sending dark red blood spurting out of Its torso.

You hadn´t given It a chance to react, to even realize what was happening, before you had that stake burried deep in Its head - using the gaping wound on Its face to ram the wooden piece in and all the way up, sending parts of brain and skull flying.

It had taken a bit longer than you´d anticipated, considering you´d just impaled Its head on a spike, but, eventually, the desired effects kicked in:

Eyes were slowly dimming, losing their ominous glow, until milky orbs were staring back at you. The grip on you had loosened, a clawed hand ripped out of the wall, as Its body went slack, collapsing to the side like a sack of potatoes.

You had quickly picked yourself up off the floor, having learnt from your previous scissors-attempt that this wasn´t a permanent state but rather... hitting the snooze button. You had minutes, best use them wisely.

You hadn´t bothered looking for an escape, simply because there was none. You had checked. It´s what you do in your leisure time these days. What´s been keeping you from going insane.

With nothing else to do, you had then opted for the next best thing, which meant-

You were getting that bath at last.

So, here you are now. Having the best sleep in a long while, blissfully unaware of the many glowing eyes currently watching you, observing you, guarding you.

Carrying out Momma´s orders.

And Momma´s been a lot more careful about her pick this time around. Thoroughly weighing up her options before coming to a decision which one of these pathetic creatures would be assigned the duty, the honor, of watching over what is hers.

In the end, her choice had fallen on what she believed to be her most capable soldiers. She still wasn´t certain if, or rather, how much she had been influenced by that wretched echo she just can´t seem to get rid of. The cunt that had previously inhabited this shell - Ellie.

Because two of those titty-sucking parasites were, right in this moment, watching over her precious mate.

This time, there better be no incidents, or so help her.

It has to be said though...she hadn´t expected that.

You putting that toothpick through her head after she so passionately made you hers again, well, she couldn´t care less about that, really. As if something as trivial as that was enough to fatally injure her. As if you would want to, anyway.

As if you could.

In fact, her twisted mind was brought back to a moment quite similar, where you had grabbed those rusty scissors and plunged them right through her nose, making that pathetic shell shut down for a while, too weak to withstand even the smallest of nicks, apparently. Disgusting.

But how could she blame you for that, when what she´s been doing to you must´ve felt absolutely heavenly - you singing for her so sweetly, so overcome with the throes of passion you began trashing about, which had then ended in said scissors-incident.

So yes, Maggot Momma could absolutely understand you going feral for her.

What she was still trying to wrap her warped mind around, however, was your...temper tantrum. By now, she´s become used to your rebellious tendencies, finds them to be quite enticing most of the time. They make this game of cat and mouse the two of you are playing simply mouthwatering.

This time, though, it had seemed different. You had seemed different. Like you weren´t playing anymore.

For the first time since the entity had taken over this shell, It had felt something other than the need to conquer and tear and dominate and rip rip rip SLASH THEM ALL OPEN make them rot in hell-

She had been vibrating when the entity had resurrected this shell, trashing about, smashing her head against the wall over and over and over-

She had felt too much, yet not nearly enough. It was most confusing, overwhelming, frustrating - driving her wild.

Something was trying to push its way past the haze of insanity. Something that had made her pause in the first place, when you were having that temper tantrum - grabbing her, screaming at her, stabbing her-

Refusing her.

The fog, at least for the moment, had been lifted.

The vibrating had stopped.

She´d gotten up, pulling that stake out of her head as she went, and had made her way to you - body gone into autopilot. Finding you had been rather easy - she was able to sense you, smell you. Smell your fear and-

Your excitement.

Or rather, lack thereof. A most acrid smell.

Seeing as you had locked her out, again, she had made her way up and through the vent until she´d reached the opening, directly above the room you were currently occupying. She had crawled out and down the wall, until she was standing directly in front of the bed you were still resting on, looking so peacefully. So unlike this other version of you she´d witnessed not too long ago.

She liked you better like this. Like you were now.

Her darling Drama Queen.

So obedient.

So submissive.

So good for her.

There had been steam coming from the bathroom, carrying a delicious aroma, urging her to investigate. The bathtub was filled with pinkish water still - an indication that you had cleansed yourself off recent happenings.

Off her.

The iron smell permeating the air was so prominent, she could almost taste it, taste you - that scent of yours easily overpowering everything else, drawing her in like a moth to a flame.

Thickening the fog yet again.

She had stumbled towards it, coming to a stop right in front, before letting herself fall, face-first, into everything that is you.

That smell, my god-

She wants it everywhere every time all of it-

And, technically, she could. There was no need for her to come up for air, at least not for quite a while. And even if she were to drown, the entity would simply bring back this shell like It had many times before.

However-

There was that nagging again, pushing its way through the haze to remind her of the more pressing matters at hand. Of you. Currently resting right next door. Unsupervised.

She won´t have that. Especially after recent events.

So, a choice had to be made.

～You titty-sucking parasites better not disappoint Mommy.～

Seeing as they all worked as one, there had been no need to leave her current position, good. She had called upon them using their shared link - a hive mind, if you will. Seeing all, hearing all. Had seen and heard many souls that were rotting in hell now.

All in all, very convenient.

So, here she was now, observing you from her place in the bathtub. Burning eyes almost willing you to wake up so she can do-

Something.

She wasn´t quite sure what to do with you, to you, once you´d wake up.

It was driving her mad.

Your form started to twitch then, turning this way and that. You were murmuring something, too incoherent to understand.

You´ve always intrigued her, the monster in her, from the very moment you´d first set foot into her territory. Trespassing. Asking for a direct trip to hell.

And yet-

Something about you had made the entity pause back then. Just like now, when you were-

Refusing her.

She was on the move, her gaze never leaving your twitching form, using her grip on the bathtub to slide herself over and down the other side, remaining low on the ground as she crawled her way over to you, soaking the carpet.

A clawed hand closes around the foot of the bed, the other followed suit, pulling herself up and sitting down cross-legged, hands coming to rest on her knees. Watching you.

Observing you.

Trying to figure you out.

You were still talking, no more than a breeze though. Still mumbling utter nonsense. Sweat was starting to form on your slightly flushed face, indicating you were having a dream. Or a nightmare?

Her head was slowly tilting to one side.

"Hm."

She was torn. Torn about what to do with you and your sudden outburst. What to make of it.

What´s brought this on? What´s been going through that pretty head of yours, as you were shouting at her so passionately? Something she would´ve found quite flattering under different circumstances, would´ve felt very smug about it indeed, as it usually meant you were thoroughly enjoying what she was doing to you, eyes alight with desire.

This time though, your eyes were the darkest she´s ever seen them, staring her down, challenging her, defying her, tempting her to-

She´s gonna gouge those eyes right out and swallow them whole, sink her teeth into its throat and rip it open, dig her claws into that chest and tear out the thing that keeps this pathetic shell going, sending its resident to ROT in hell for all eternity for revolting against her, trying to DOMINATE her as if it COULD when it´s up against an ALPHA, against DIVINITY WHOSE JUDGEMENT WILL MAKE THEM ALL BURN IN THE DARKEST PITS OF HELL BY THE HANDS OF THE DARK ONES-

No-

The enitity is shaking Its head then, hitting it over and over and over, claws digging in, piercing skin and bone and ripping out strands of matted red hair as they went, lips pulling back to reveal a sharp set of teeth that´ve come together with a pop!, the heavy breathing being the only sound in this room as-

No.

Not you, never you, her mate, her angel, meant for her as she´s meant for you, brought together by fate, meant to rule together as one and deliver judgement where judgement is due-

Besides-

You´re her good girl, are you not? Surely that twisted mind of hers is misjudging things. You simply meant to spice things up a little, didn´t you? Naughty girl. Pretending to revolt against her, to try and dominate her, just to see how far she would let you take your little game. You wanted a reaction from her.

That´s what she chose to believe anyway, because-

Momma would absolutely detest having to remind you what it means to be a good girl.

Her long, slender form was slowly bending forward, stretching out and over your huddled figure, long claws tenderly moving along your covered body as she went, caressing you, almost.

Hands come to a stop on either side of your head, caging you in. The added weight made you sink deeper into the bed, but you remained fast asleep.

You also didn´t take any note of the wet hair brushing against your cheeks, surrounding you like a curtain, as her head bent further down, nose nearly touching yours.

Burning eyes willing you to wake up, yet again.

You couldn´t care less though, it seemed. Even going so far as to burry yourself deeper into the sheets, a soft sigh escaping you, the corners of your mouth just so lifting, making you look softer, like you´re most content-

Another look she hasn´t seen on you yet.

How utterly confusing today is turning out to be.

Were you mocking her? Was this yet another game of Play Pretend? Was she about to have her head impaled again? This waiting game was really starting to irk her-

"Mmph!"

She´s been so busy staring into your soul that she didn´t notice you actually doing something, your touch coming so unexpected, she nearly started hissing, about to sink her teeth into that arm-

The arm that´s currently thrown around her shoulders, keeping her close, squishing her face into the pillow, cheek to cheek-

Caging her in.

You were stronger than you looked.

And she was feeling utterly confused.

One of those clawed hands remained gripping the pillow for support, the other was hovering just above it, next to your head, as if it didn´t quite know what to do, where to be. Burning eyes were wide open, wildly flitting about - left, right, up, down, right, left - like they were looking for an exit.

Now, Maggot Momma doesn´t do panic. She´s the cause of it, she thrives on it, it´s her trademark. The only time she would ever admit to feeling something that loosely resembles panic was when her prey was about to escape her clutches.

Something that has yet to happen, ergo-

Momma doesn´t do panic.

However, she´s still not quite sure how to get herself out of her current predicament without waking you. If you woke up, that´d mean she´d have to do...something, and considering she doesn´t know what something is yet, she´d rather you play dead for a little while longer. But that still raises the question-

How to get out of that chokehold?

On the other hand, her body was already starting to tingle-

Seeing as her sight was currently limited, the hand still hovering next to you was cautiously starting to feel around, searching for your hand that was hanging off her shoulder somewhere. As soon as sharp tips made contact, they were dancing along your skin until they reached your wrist, fingers slowly starting wrap around-

"Ssss-!"

Momma doesn´t do panic.

However, she will admit this caught her slightly off guard. It is for this reason she did absolutely nothing to stop you from rolling over and into her, letting you treat her like a giant doll that you could handle as you pleased, how utterly mortifying, beneath her-

And yet, you´ve managed to come out on top.

You seemed quite content there, too. All of you is by far not enough to cover all of her, but you still tried - head burrying in her neck, arms wrapping around her middle, legs stretching and stretching-

...And stretching some more-

And yet, it´s still not enough. Adorable.

There you were now, clinging to her like a baby koala. And there she was, laying motionless aside from her hands hovering over your body. How utterly pathetic, letting herself be dominated like a bitch in heat, if The Dark Ones could see her now-

"Hmm..."

And yet...

As your angelic voice reached her ears, warm breath hitting her neck repeatedly in short puffs, she found that she couldn´t give a lesser fuck. She was divinity itself, and she did as she damn well pleased.

Clawed hands come to rest on your back then, one between your shoulder blades, the other on your lower back, encasing you. Nose burrying itself in your hair, breathing you in. Once burning eyes - now dimmed to a soft glow - were starting to fall shut. Hips are not beginning to move, because-

For the first time since your arrival, the monster in her slumbered.

And she was right, after all-

You are still her good girl.

[friendly-rat-king]

2023 Books

In October I decided to start writing short tumblr posts in response to each book I read. Did I follow through with this decision? Absolutely not! Here's a half-assed list of books I read in 2023, assembled way after the fact:

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (4/5)

I enjoyed comparing/contrasting it with The Handmaiden (aka Park Chan-wook's 2016 film adaptation, which shifts the setting from Dickensian England to Japanese-ruled Korea and dramatically changes the ending). As with The Handmaiden, which I watched first, I feel like if I cut the story into pieces and Frankenstein-ed it together into two separate stories, I would end up with one of my favorite books and one of my least favorite books.

Why I read it: in the process of reading Sarah Waters' entire bibliography.

2. Bunny by Mona Awad (2/5)

This book sucked, BUT there was a really funny scene about 1/3 of the way in where the narrator's high school crush inexplicably shows up and dances with her. It might be worth reading just for that scene (you can stop reading immediately afterwards).

If a book is supposed to be a satire about wealthy women attending graduate school, its not a great sign when it seems like the author has never met a rich person, a woman, or a graduate student. This is even stranger because the author, a woman, attended an Ivy and got a graduate degree in creative writing. I'd love to read the book this is trying to be, but this isn't it.

Why I read it: my sister-in-law recommended it to me specifically (yikes) and I felt obligated to finish it.

3. Infamous by Lex Croucher (5/5)

In the summer of 1816, 18-year-old Mary Shelley famously stayed at the Lake Geneva villa of noted jackass Lord Byron. Trapped inside by shitty weather, Byron's guests competed to see who could write the best ghost story (the winning entry was, of course, "Frankenstein"). Lex Croucher obviously thought this setting in itself was a great book premise, and was absolutely correct.

I was expecting the basic shape of this novel after reading the back cover, and my assumptions about the plot were basically correct. I was NOT expecting even the most minor characters to feel three-dimensional and complicated or to be hit so hard by - well, I can't tell you without spoiling it, but three different conflictto s that are simultaneously of their time and cut very, very close to home. I also wasn't expecting to laugh as hard as I did.

Why I read it: people on my dash kept recommending Gwen & Art Are Not In Love but I didn't want to read YA.

4. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco (4/5)

It took me forever to finish this one because I kept finding myself pausing to design a digital glossary to accompany the book. What if, as you read through the description of the garden, the glossary's map of the monastery was suddenly filled in with all of the herbs mentioned, and as you hovered over each illustration (drawn in a pseudo-medieval style, of course) you could learn about the purported and actual properties of each herb? What if I illustrated the intricately carved portal and thoroughly researched the symbolism and history behind each of its components?

Anyway, I was lukewarm enough about the actual ending that I gave up on the project. It would probably be impossible for any ending to live up to a beginning this ambitious, to be fair.

Why I read it: I read that it was an inspiration for Pentiment (a game I still haven't finished, oops).

5. The Bell by Iris Murdoch (4/5)

I might try reading this one again -- there was obviously a ton of cool symbolic symmetry going on that I never quite got the significance of. What I did enjoy was Dora's POV. There's this really wonderful scene near the beginning where Dora spends several paragraphs internally justifying why she shouldn't give up her seat on the train for an old woman. Then, the moment the old woman asks, she impulsively gives up the seat without even thinking of it. Dora spends the rest of the story stumbling haphazardly between moments of grace, never quite aware of why she does any of the things she does, in a way that's simultaneously alien and yet completely plausible.

Why I read it: @conven1encestorewoman mentioned it was one of her favorite books.

6. Either/Or by Elif Batuman (5/5)

I would read anything she wrote. Fingers crossed she makes this into a four-part series.

Why I read it: I loved The Idiot. (Shout-out to @a-rhombus to loaning me her copy.)

7 + 8. A Free Man of Color & Fever Season by Barbara Hambly (5/5)

The book that made me love murder mysteries. The author obviously did a ton of research on 1830's New Orleans and I do love great historical fiction, but what really made it shine was that the "red herrings" weren't dead ends -- each one was essential to the themes of the novel. Highly recommend.

Why I read it: I think @sea-changed mentioned that it was good, I added it to my library queue, and then didn't think about it again until I was notified it was ready to checkout.

9. Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica (2/5)

Mehhhhh. All (attempts at) shock, very little substance.

Why I read it: my baby sister recommended it.

10. Geek Love by Katherin Dunn (5/5)

"Geek" as in "circus geek," a performed who bites the heads off of live chickens. Tender is the Flesh fuckin wishes it had what Geek Love has. (I have reached the point in this post where I realize I'm not even at the halfway mark and decide to hurry up -- sorry Geek Love, you deserved better.)

Why I read it: @mylestoyne mentioned there were some cool parallels to The Tempest and I decided to check it out.

11. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson (5/5)

Absolutely lived up to the hype.

Why I read it: the hype.

12. The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (4/5)

The rare book I consumed in audiobook format -- reading James' prose was very difficult for me, and filtering it through an actor helped. I don't know that I enjoyed the process of listening to it, but I really enjoyed thinking about it afterwards.

Why I read it: the prologue of The Haunting of Hill House name-dropped it.

13. The Tempest by William Shakespeare (3/5)

Look, I bumped it up to 3 stars because I felt like I couldn't give Shakespeare anything lower than a 3-star rating, but I really disliked this. Part of is is that I was already familiar with the highlights, and putting them in context diminished them. Ariel's song is way less interesting when you know for a fact that the man supposedly undergoing a sea-change is completely fine; Prospero's final monologue feels less like it's tying together broader themes and more like Shakespeare thought it would be cool to break the fourth wall at the last minute.

Idk, maybe I'm just an idiot. I immediately sought out a series of lectures on youtube about the play + texted people I know who love this play to elaborate on their opinions so they could correct my incorrect opinion, but so far, no dice.

Why I read it: because of the Geek Love parallels.

14. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell (2/5)

Bad, as previously discussed.

Why I read it: someone at by brother's wedding said the essay on ketchup was worth reading (it wasn't).

15. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin (4.5/5)

Why I read it: because I wanted to read the sequel.

16. Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl (4/5)

Discussed previously.

17. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (4/5)

(Already reviewed this on Goodreads so I can just copy-paste, hurray!) An enjoyable read. The pacing was great, the scene composition reminded me of a Wes Anderson film, and the footnotes were a very effective way of shifting the POV from third person limited to omniscient and back again. I checked the author's Wikipedia page midway through and was unsurprised to learn that he is an investment banker from New York; after all, the villain is the only character who refers to Rostov as "Comrade" (everyone else continues to deferentially call him "the Count") and he doesn't even know his wine pairings! The idyllic representation of pre-revolutionary Russia partially undermines the author's ability to convey the horrors of Soviet Russia. That being said, the tone of the novel is mostly light, and I was able to have fun in spite of this.

Why I read it: my older sister mentioned it was the last book she tried to read before she had kids and they took over her life. So I guess I tried to... symbolically finish it on her behalf? Who knows.

18. Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin (5/5)

No idea how to describe this one, so I'm just screenshot-ing the first page:

Why I read it: an @a-rhombus recommendation.

19. The Merry Spinster by Daniel Lavery [reread] (5/5)

Extremely effective horror retellings of fairy tales. Impossible to pick a favorite.

Why I (re)read it: because I read a bunch of other good horror fiction this year (not my usual genre) and it reminded me how much I love this collection.

20. The Mask of Apollo by Mary Renault (5/5)

Set during a failed attempt to make Plato's Republic a reality (a historical event I somehow didn't know about but that is Highly Relevant to my interests), told from the perspective of an artist (the most interesting viewpoint Renault could have chosen). The descriptions of places made me desperately want to hike across Greece when I get the chance.

Why I read it: @catilinas posted an excerpt that compelled me.

21. The Once and Future Sex by Eleanor Janega (3/5)

Spends a lot of time proving a thesis about modern women I basically already agree with when what I really wanted was more historical details. My fault for not taking the blurb at its word.

Why I read it: a friend I play D&D with recommended it.

22. The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K Le Guin (6/5)

Ok it's almost midnight and I don't want to fuck up one of my New Year's resolutions (10 minutes of yoga/day) when I'm only three days into the year. Real summary coming soon (hopefully. maybe).

Why I read it: one of my favorite worldbuilding youtube channels mentioned it was in her top 5 books.

23. Borne by Jeff VanderMeer (3/5)

The thing about giant flying bears is that they're just kinda silly.

Why I read it: the Southern Reach Trilogy was so good.

24. Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (4/5)

Very strong start -- strong enough for the four-star rating -- but the final act pulls way too many punches.

Why I read it: I heard emilyenrose was publishing original fiction.

[redelliavalentinos]

Happy Halloween, everybody! Still here, pulled this old drawing out of my gallery and finished it off. I think I started it at least a year ago. I think. My passage of time is kinda...bad. Either way, here ya go! Haven't drawn Danny in while. Thought I'd do an art dump, but it's been so long there wasn't enough for that.