#i wish i was up for drawing a bunch instead of just writing out my thoughts

[transvoxman]

Ok actually I was wrong in the tags, laserblast was never outwardly a jerk in highschool, not for anything that could be traced back to him. He was Always nice, he was Always the bigger person, specifically just so that no one could ever say "he wouldn't make a good hero, he was mean to me once." Poor guy created his Whole Personality around having a career as the Most Successful Hero Ever, he never did a genuine/true-to-humself thing in his whole goddamn life until he started being Venomous.

[ravixen]

hi hope ur doing well! i wanted to ask if you could write a reaction of when the boys forget about a date and leave you waiting for a while for them? i'd like the members to be joshua, mingyu, seungkwan, vernon, and dino if possible! thank u sm in advance!

svt + forgetting your date

➔ reaction || requested

➔ warnings: none || 1167 words ➔ notes: fluff ; i'm doing pretty well! getting a lot of things done these days :) i wish i could spend a little more writing and drawing, but it is what it is. if you enjoyed this, please reblog! also if you're interested in any writing/art commissions, check out my carrd. or visit my ko-fi just cuz!

JOSHUA: you know that this guy never checks his messages, so whenever you need him for emergencies, you always call instead. that's why, when your signal is only strong enough for a flurry of texts, he doesn't see them until an hour later. your last message reads i'll just go home. confused, he scrolls up to find a bunch of emojis and ? are you standing me up lol and ...are you seriously standing me up, and it takes a second before he finally realizes what today is. fuck. fuck. he's the one who scheduled this date, going on a spiel about how you haven't seen each other in a while, so you went out of your way to free up your schedule. and now he looks like a grade-a asshole for forgetting. scratch that, he is a grade-a asshole. he makes a few stops around town to pick up your favorite things for a night in before going to your place. it won't make up for the missed date, that much is obvious from your unimpressed stare as you open the door, but he's going to try his best to earn your forgiveness. in fact, as soon as he sees you, he gets on his knees on your steps with a dramatic declaration of, "love, i'm so, so sorry," and you have to drag him to his feet, saying that he's embarrassing you in front of your neighbors. but hey, at least you cracked a smile.

MINGYU: when seungcheol asks if he wants to continue their biking excursion to hit up a cool restaurant, mingyu says yes, even though he feels like he should have declined for some reason. that feeling continues tickling the back of his mind, up until they pay for the meal and cheol asks if they should get dessert. that's when you text him, informing your boyfriend that there's about ten minutes of trailers if he's running late, and his heart drops. he completely forgot about your movie date today. he tells you to go in first. i'll be there later, he types, i have my ticket on my phone. then he tells seungcheol what happened, and seungcheol asks how the hell he'll make it in time when they still have to bike back to their car. spoiler alert: he doesn't. by the time he makes it to the theater and pathetically slinks into his seat next to you, the movie is already in its final arc, and you're aggressively eating your snacks, ignoring his presence. he trails after you once the movie ends, waiting for your verdict and hoping that you'll take pity on his bedraggled state. you pause by your car and sigh. "well, c'mon," you say, opening the trunk for his bike rack. "i'm not so angry that i'll make you cycle all the way home." he decides during that tense car ride that he'll make the best dinner of his life tonight.

SEUNGKWAN: it's late, and you're still not home. after a while of worrying by himself, he calls and asks where you are. he almost thinks that the call dropped because you're silent for a full minute before asking him, incredulously, if he's serious. of course he's serious. he just finished an episode of a new drama, and he never makes it through one. "i've been waiting at the restaurant for the past twenty minutes," you say slowly. "and you're chilling in the living room?" no way. isn't that tomorrow? he flicks open his calendar and gasps when he realizes his mistake. "wait there for a bit, okay? i'm on my way," he says, scrambling to his feet, but you quickly stop him with a scoff. "you still need to get dressed and then get all the way here. they can't wait that long. i'll just leave." he feels awful. he slaps himself on the cheeks to get sense back into him. seungkwan, he scolds himself mentally. how could you do this? how could he forget this date? and it's not like you didn't try to reach him—he sees all the texts and phone calls now, blocked by the do not disturb that he forgot to turn off. "will they let you in by yourself? why don't you eat whatever you want and charge it to my card, hm? i'm so sorry."

VERNON: he doesn't know what he did wrong, but apparently he did something because you just went radio silent yesterday afternoon, even though you're still posting on your story. when he wakes up in the morning, he sees that even his good night texts are ignored. he sends you a good morning text anyway and asks how you slept, asks what your plans are for the day. by the time he gets to work, there's still no reply. "hey!" seungkwan yells out, rushing to his side. vernon automatically reaches for the coffee that he knows is around somewhere—seungkwan is nothing but predictable—and hums when he finds it. "so what'd you end up getting y/n yesterday? i thought you'd ask me for gift ideas, but since you were so secretive this year, i figured it was big." vernon blinks at him. "what was yesterday?" seungkwan blinks back. "you're kidding...their birthday dinner? you wanted to celebrate a week early? hello?" he snatches back his coffee. "you're the one who insisted on it. did you forget?" seungkwan's withering look bounces off the absolute dread that vernon feels. no wonder you were ignoring him. he pushes past seungkwan, already pulling out his phone. "i need to make a call really quick. can you tell the others i'll be late?"

CHAN: this is the lamest excuse in the book, but his phone died, and while he could've borrowed a charger...what was the point? if there was an emergency, people knew to call the other members. that's why he doesn't bother plugging it in until after practice, and when it finally charges up, the belated alert for your date appears, and he swears loud enough for the others to send him a look. "sorry!" he says, throwing all of his things into his bag. "you guys eat without me. i have somewhere to be!" he flies down the stairs and books it out of the building. something about his expression makes everyone jump out of his way, wondering what the heck has him so harried. somehow, he makes it to the place in record time and scans the crowd for your face, lighting up when he sees you under an awning. then his smile falls when he sees your expression. he feels so, so bad for leaving you waiting out here. he shrugs off his jacket and puts it around your shoulders, ignoring the fact that you don't look happy to see him. "why don't we get something warm to drink?" he murmurs, clasping your cold hands. at least he didn't miss the main event—if he missed that, he doesn't know if you'll forgive him.

[runa-falls]

the love bite - steven

pairing: steven grant x reader (what's new)

warnings: biting (lol), physical hurt/comfort, FLUFF, unhinged!reader, sub-ish!steven [I CAN'T HELP IT OK], small reference to the boys' past/their job, a bit suggestive but not explicit!

a/n: blaming @whatthefishh for this thot after the comment on the flowers fic about wanting to bite him i had to write. and @leoluved for encouraging me to write this instead of my wips -- hehe :3

prompt (by me): i wonder how steven would react to the reader just biting him out of love...

w/c: ~800

masterlist

---

With Steven, the initial chomp would happen during a normal hangout with each other. 

Like you'd both just be chilling, sprawled out on the couch, with the tv droning in the background:

You love these moments with Steven. The unspoken acknowledgment that you are both pretending to watch what's on when really you're just sinking into each other's touch, enjoying each other's company.

Soft, lazy days like this have become increasingly rare as Konshu has Marc sent out on missions in the States every few weeks. You don't blame them. You could never blame them. You just miss them.

Steven is snuggled right behind you, a sweater-clad arm securely wrapped over your shoulder to keep you close to his body. He sighs softly into your hair, wishing to just lay here, legs tangled with yours forever.

He doesn't notice or care that his oversized sleeve bunches at his elbow as he repositions himself behind you, but your eyes instantly catch onto his revealed forearm, tan and strong, but relaxed, resting right above your chest.

Sometimes you forget how strong your boyfriends are, how they can handle you with such care, touches as light as a feather when all they've known in their life is pain.

Steven settles closer to you, face nuzzled against your shoulder, subtly breathing you in with a soft sigh. His warmth soaks into your back, surrounding you with undeniable comfort. You look down at his arm with interest in your eyes, teeth gnawing at your bottom lip.

Suddenly you have this urge, this impulsive thought to just --

Steven chokes out a high-pitched yelp.

"HEY!" He’s barely able to process what happened as he swipes his arm away from your mouth. "W-what was that for?" He stares at you with furrowed brows while his other arm slips out from under you to rub at the fresh bite mark on his arm.

You sit up a little, eyes trained on the indents as his fingers gently swipe over them. Pretty. You didn't bite hard so they're quite faint, but you can still make out your bite pattern. 

You bite the inside of your cheek, "I dunno." 

It sounded dumb coming out of your mouth, but you really can't explain why you did it. You just needed to. Something about his softness and the pure affection you hold for him compelled you to bite him…and you kind of want to do it again.

Your hand darts out and you try to tug his arm closer, but he struggles against you, no longer trusting his limbs anywhere close to your mouth. He whimpers softly when you tug harder, trying to resist your eager grip.

“What d’you mean ‘I don’t know’?!” His arm is immovable, but you keep pulling at him. “You bit me!” 

When he pulls away from your body, attempting to push himself up to a seated position, you huff in frustration and yank him back. He falls back with a squeak and you hold him close, leaning in instead of pulling him in this time.

You brush your lips against his warm skin, hovering right over the last bite and he relaxes a bit, believing you’d soothe the bite with a kiss as an apology. But you don’t. 

It’s less aggressive this time around. Less of a bite and more of a nibble. 

He tenses at first, instinctively wanting to draw away from you, but as you gently suckle and lick at him, he starts to settle against you, seeing as you mean him no harm. 

“I-I still don’t get it.” He peers down at you as you leave soft marks along his arm, “What – Why are you doing this?” 

You sigh, “Steven…just let it happen.” 

“Um, ok.” 

—

Since that initial bite, your lips have made their way around his body, taking time to show every inch of him some love and affection. He’s littered with love bites and phantom kisses, but he still yearns for more. 

He shudders as you drag the edge of your teeth against the crook of his neck and eagerly leans into your touch, hungry for physical contact.

No matter how much he mewls and begs for you, you’ve taken it slow, drinking in each bated breath and soft cry. 

You breathe a whisper against his skin, “You like this, Steven?”

He doesn’t answer your question.

You place a gentle kiss on his sweet spot, but pull away when he starts to whine for more. 

“Please, darling.” 

He wants you to bite, but you stay put and watch him writhe for your touch. 

Your thumb swipes over a blotch of purple on his shoulder and he shivers at the sensation of pleasurable pain, “Why do you like it so much, sweetheart, hm?”

“I dunno,” He’s delirious, only able to think about you and your touch, “I just – please.”

“Ok, baby…”

[doorp]

as much as we joke abt Annabel shitting herself during a possible divorce arc we have to remember that lenore would be hurting just as bad. lenore is just as obsessed with Annabel, just as down bad, it’s just lenore wants to let herself be happy and Annabel is a big idiot who’s sticking to what she knows- and what she knows is don’t trust anyone emotion is weakness weakness can be exploited. she thinks everyone is out to get her, she’s paranoid and clinging desperately to the only person who can actually make her feel things. But back to the point, we’ve talked abt how Annabel would feel during this but not how lenore might. This was lenore when she didn’t even remember Annabel yet-

She knows literally nothing abt this person except that she has some weird draw to her and she’s smacking orbs out of the air and running around the academy with scissors looking for her. She can’t stand being apart from her just as much as Annabel- the first time they met lenore literally grabbed her skirt under the table when Annabel giggled at her

Annabel Lee “would you do something for me?” Whitlock and Lenore “anything” vandernacht

She said I will not only write you a song I will fake my death and commit fraud and we will get married - after knowing this woman for 6 months.

Miss “the world is a cruel and terrible place- omg Annabel!! I can’t be late for my midnight rendezvous with my wife!!”

She wants to be w her all the damn time

“I’ll miss u 🥺” “even today i wish you would’ve been by my side instead.” “I wish you were here with us instead. that’s the only way this afternoon could’ve been perfect. ” “what will I do without you return to the attic?” “Im not leaving her side!”

“How the devil haven’t we seen anyone else yet?”

“Why, you looking for somebody? 🤨”

Divorce arc lenore will be lennabel having gayass and tension filled arguments and lenore going to sleep at night having gayass dreams of memories abt Annabel and waking up and crying angry tears and throwing pillows at the wall as she goes off the walls bonkers. Both of them are going to get so much worse and I love that the plot needs to keep them separated bc otherwise they would fuck absolutely everyone’s shit up.

Lenore and Annabel quite literally make each other insane. If the deans want drama separating them at the beginning was possibly the best way to achieve that.

Lenores gonna be angry heartbroken I hate that I need you sad and annabel is going to be my wife hates me I hope I die and im going to make it everyones problem sad

Do not separate white raven or they will both go off the rails and do insane things bc they are stupid crazy uhaul lesbians

sorry if I said the same things a bunch of different ways but the point still stands !! a divorce arc might be sick!

[infinitebrians]

Favorite Games of 2023 Part 4: Pseudoregalia

I knew Pseudoregalia was going to be good the minute I started the game and did the input for the Mario 64 side flip jump and the game’s main character Sybil did her own version of that satisfying jump. One of my all time favorite things to do in a Mario game (or any game) is that side flip, a jump that is as practical as it is just simply satisfying to do. Sybil being able to do that jump without needing any of the power ups found in the game told me that the developers of this game knew the importance to making character feel good jumping around in a 3D world. Her movement only gets better from there with a bunch of new platforming abilities that makes her capable of getting what feels like anywhere in that game world if desired. The pure control you have over Sybil's platforming capabilities gave me so many great moments of pure curiosity to experiment with what could work. What's better is watching friends and others play the game and figure out their own solutions to the game's open ended platforming design. There are no wrong answers in the world of Pseudoregalia, just results.

This game was a complete surprise in just about every way, just the best feeling platformer I’ve played in a long while in this small, cleaned up former game jam game. I’ve followed the main dev rittzler on twitter for a few years because the gameplay clips of their work have all looked fun and impressive and they always shared other really cool indie dev work as well. So, I was excited to finally play Pseudoregalia when it was announced to be released. It's super low price (6 dollars USD) and being something I was able to finish in the span of one day alone was a huge breath of fresh air in this current gaming environment. It’s something I’ve been personally thinking a lot about recently is the appeal of a simpler, lower priced game. It’s appeal to me coming from playing something that never needs to be some sort of omnipresent, super game. Instead, Pseudoregalia presents itself in a humble statement of, ‘here, enjoy a few hours jumping around this wacky maze like castle as a goat bunny lady!’.

I'm not a person who typically ever has a desire to replay a game right after finishing it, I usually prefer to immediately move on to another game that I've been wishing to play for for a while. Pseudoregalia is a game I've played four or so times now from start to finish, I even started another playthrough in preparation for this drawing/writing and found myself wanting to play it all the way through again. Its the first time I found myself actually physically seeing the appeal of speedrunning, a hobby I always just enjoyed as a spectator. Pseudoregalia just lends itself so neatly to that part of me that loves routing out a path for stuff. How quickly can you find all the vital movement abilities for Sybil? What's unnecessary, what can be improved, what can be gathered while on the path of gathering something else. From at least my perspective of not actually investigating the proper speedrunner's routing, the options feel immense. From these handful of times replaying the game I've gotten a good handle of finding my way around the map and a good idea of how to get a lot of the really important movement abilities almost immediately. It also made the game feel quite different from how it felt to me with my first playthrough, what was once mysterious and labyrinthine was now a familiar playground.

That is one thing I will miss when doing those repeat playthroughs is that sense of discovery that occurred with that initial run. Soon before Pseudoregalia came out, I watched a lot of Videochess and spaghoner's exploration and documentation of the incredible Mario 64 hack, B3313 ( https://youtu.be/pLKB0SG0i8c ). I found that hack incredible at creating a sense of uneasiness and wonder from simply keeping you constantly guessing what was next behind each door something even those two expressed while streaming. During my first playthrough of Pseudoregalia, I was completely lost in that castle and was constantly finding paths that led to new zones or ones circled me back to old ones from hours ago. It was a pretty incredible feeling of discovery that only wore out it's welcome at the end when I just needed one more big key necessary for progression. What helped make exploration in both of these games engaging the whole time is that aspect of having a really fun character to move around as while being lost. It was okay with being completely lost because I could still just keep doing these long jumps into wall kicks that just make Sybil go fuckin' fast in an immensely satisfying way.

I think in the time it's taken me to think about this game again, and briefly revisit it in preparation for this art/writing I've come to decide that this is probably my favorite new game of 2023. In a year full of fantastic platformers to pick from, this one was just a class above in terms of movement design and movement application.

[o-uncle-newt]

I'm not going to reblog Neil Gaiman's thing about how S2's episodes "don't have any fat on them" but I DO have some (spoilery) reactions to that below the cut-

OK so I already did another post here where I gave my impressions of the writing- but Gaiman mentioning this actually reminded me of something that I didn't put in there at all but kind of wish I had.

Because honestly, I don't think that the episodes not having any fat on them is a good thing.

Here's the thing- Good Omens, the book and the first season of the TV show, is a bunch of set pieces that loosely come together into a plot. The TV show less so, maybe- there's more of an effort to create a narrative- but fundamentally it's a bunch of ridiculous stuff all strung together to create the Apocalypse. (Like, there's a reason why book fans were so upset when the Four Other Horsemen of the Apocalypse didn't show up in the show- they did literally nothing for the plot but they were absolutely hilarious.)

So far, in the first 2 episodes of S2, I have to agree with Gaiman that there's no fat on them. And I think that's one of the things that kind of threw me. EVERYTHING that has happened thus far has felt like it's something that's probably going to lead to something else, like it's connective tissue for the upcoming story that will presumably make more sense later- and while there's plenty of entertainment and humor and sweetness, it's all to the point. You have to be paying attention, you have to take everything seriously (even if it's something that by rights feels inherently unserious) because it could matter later.

In S1, you didn't have to think too carefully about why a telemarketer is being eaten by maggots or even why there's still a witchfinder in the 21st century (for the show) because fundamentally it doesn't REALLY matter. Something will all come together at the end and in the meantime you can just enjoy it in the spirit in which it's given, which is of course an insane one. Each scene is just fun on its own. (I think this is in some ways truer in the book than the show- there were a lot of these scenes that I don't think worked on the show- but that was more about the execution than the concept.)

The fat in S1 was the good part, really. The plot wasn't all that important- it was all the moments along the way.

The closest thing to fat (to continue to use the metaphor) in S2, so far, is the minisode. It's the only thing where it doesn't necessarily feel like you'll be tested on it later. And it's also easily the best part of those episodes! You can just watch it and take all the ridiculousness for granted because it doesn't really matter. It's there to draw out the characters, it's there to give the world more color, and it's there to entertain.

Not that S2 isn't also there to entertain- it very much is, but it doesn't really have time to. It can be silly and random in the way that the book and S1 are, but instead of those being random throwaway moments (like Newt blacking out all of Dorking in the book- which signifies that his tech-unsavviness may be relevant to the plot later but is really mostly just there to entertain because it's so out-there), they are intrinsically tied into whatever the plot will turn out to be. That's really clear, even though we don't actually know yet exactly what the plot is going to be! The leanness of the plot is immediately evident.

I think, so far, that the main negative consequence is that it makes it so much harder to suspend disbelief. When you have a ridiculous moment in a throwaway scene, that's worldbuilding- it shows that this is the kind of world where ridiculous things happen, and then when a particular ridiculous moment ends up being important to the plot, that's fine because it's part of a whole constellation of ridiculous things in this ridiculous world- they've already deconstructed our sense of disbelief. When all you're getting is plot, when something a bit crazy happens you're like "oh, hang on, that doesn't make sense, that's a bit farfetched."

I think that that's one of the things that, so far, is giving "fanfic vibes" to the first two episodes. Maggie and Nina get locked into the cafe? In their first episode?! When we know that they're going to get together?!?! That's ridiculous. In the book and to a lesser degree S1, where like five other ridiculous things would have already happened that aren't heavily signaled to be important to the plot (Gabriel doesn't count because we know he's important to the plot too), this would just be one more ridiculous thing. In S2, it feels like something we need to suspend disbelief for because we haven't really had it suspended for us yet.

Everything I write about Good Omens here is going to come down to John Finnemore in the end because I can't help myself lol, but honestly, my first thought was "well he's really into plotting, so maybe this is part of that." But- he's also done nine and a bit seasons of a sketch show. While he was writing this he was also writing a season of JFSP (the sublime S9) where there was very minimal plot but everything was propelled by character building sketches, very much in the spirit of Good Omens. He knows exactly the power of random ridiculous moments to build the world and explain its ludicrousness. When him being a writer was announced, I saw so many people say "he's definitely got a bonkers enough brain to do this" except that it turns out that, while true, his bonkers sketch-writing brain doesn't really have a lot to do here.

That, plus the fact that I'd be really surprised from everything that I've heard over the last 2ish years if Gaiman wasn't the first and final voice behind everything written for this season, leads me to the conclusion that the issue might just be that S2 may be, as a group effort, over-plotted for its length. There's little room to breathe and live in the world. There are barely any humans, and as such there's not much time to remember that the story is set in a world where humans matter, which, as I pointed out in my previous post, is something that was really important in Good Omens the book and S1. It just doesn't have any fat.

Now- I should be clear- as I said with the other post, it is way too early to tell if GO2 is good or not, because all of the stuff in E1-2 was clearly building up to other things that haven't happened yet. I actually think S2 probably will be good. The above may not be "issues" per se. But I do think that talking about the original Good Omens like the "fat" is the problem kind of misses the point of why so many people liked it- and leaves GO2 with a pretty big burden to overcome in order to convince viewers that it is a continuation of the same world and same story they loved in S1.

[marinesocks]

writeblr intro!!

hi hi!! i'm helena/danger (she/her) and i'm new to tumblr but i saw a bunch of people doing writeblr introductions and wanted to join in!! i'm a bit shy when it comes to reaching out but if you interact with me at all i will like. 100% respond!!! ok here goes!!

about me

i am a:

adult,

lesbian,

ADD haver,

third culture kid,

hobbyist reader,

psych major,

avid dog enthusiast,

wannabe artist,

horror movie fan,

ecology nerd,

and, as you might have guessed,

a writer!!

i'm not incredible at it but for some reason i cant stop doing it so here i am!!

favorite genres/niches

fantasy mostly!!!

i like to think i like plot but honestly i'll like anything if the characters are good enough

HUGE mythology and folktale fan!! i have very strong opinions on how to incorporate those into a novel tho, so only ask about that if you dare!!

surprise creepy concepts and crapsaccharine worlds are like my favorite of all time. i 100% support lying about the contents of a project to keep that twist extra shocking!!

romcoms might not be my favorite but im a sucker for cute couples, especially if they are LGBTQ+

psychological horror is excellent, one of my favorites (even if i'd never dare to write it)

depictions and representations of mental health is probably the thing that's most consistent throughout my work? maybe its just the psych major talking but i find that stuff endlessly fascinating

i've lived in various places overseas for most of my life, so i enjoy stories set in unique locations absolutely DRENCHED in culture!!

current projects

i feel a bit awkward sharing these because again, i'm not a great writer, but i like reading about other writeblr's projects so i figured i'd give other people the option of seeing mine! warning for pretentious titles for very straightforward and basic concepts

WIP - flowers that mean "we'd miss you" - a short story I wrote while testing out subtext, character dynamics and prose!! the basic run-down is that a boy wakes up in the hospital and now he and his friends have to navigate a very difficult conversation. the subject matter definitely requires a content warning, and it has a few gaps i still need to fill, but overall i really like the direction it's headed!! out of all of these projects, it's probably the one i have the least issues with.

in the ataraxis of aftermath - this one is a novel i wrote for NaNoWriMo 2020! it is post-apocalyptic with elements of fantasy, slice-of-life, and romance, specifically lgbtq+ romance. it's about a girl exploring what remains of her flooded city when she suddenly finds another survivor. despite the genre, this novel is very slow-paced and calm, relying more on the character dynamics and emotional journey of the protagonist instead of traditional story beats and plotlines!! i finished the whole first draft that november (and without any real outline to guide me, so altogether it's a bit of a mess), and i plan on rewriting it after i finish the two following projects!!

WIP - the owl's wish - originally intended as a short story for just a friend and i, this project is quickly expanding into a full-on novel!! it's a haikyuu!! fanfic, but i've been told that the story is well enough removed from the show that it can work even if you don't that context. the only summary i can give without spoilers is that it's about an owl spirit with amnesia who finds a friend, and together they set off to get their wishes granted by the mysterious Lady of the Yellow Springs (but it's about more than that, i promise ;) ). it's set in ancient japan, and i referenced a few traditional fairytales when drawing up the outline, but otherwise it's a completely original folktale that can hopefully be accessible to anyone who picks it up!!

WIP - currently titled ouroboros paradox - this is a novel i am currently plotting, so honestly i'm not so sure how much i can say!! this is a fantasy novel coming from my intense passion for large creatures, horror elements, and norse mythology. as far as i know now, the story will follow two protagonists in the city of jörmungandr - one from the past and one in the present - as they try to navigate life, religion and ethics in a world where murdering living beings lengthens your lifespan. i plan on finishing my outline before this november, so i can try to hit 50K for nanowrimo this year!!

where to find me

Instagram, Wattpad, Art Fight, AO3, & Toyhouse! If you would like to read my writing but don't have a Wattpad account, i've linked the google docs directly to the titles :)

and that should be it!! if you read this far imagine i am giving you a very firm handshake with very watery eyes. if you'd like to reach out, ask questions, or share some of your story tidbits with me, please do!! i'd be so happy to reciprocate however you'd like :) have a great day!! drink some water!!!

[kwillow]

Answering Some Asks!

Forever ago, I said I'd try to answer more of the asks I get with text, so I don't have them sitting around for years on end. Then I didn't do that. Well... gonna try to do a few now!

Character Stuff

Probably not, since it's solid all the way through, so there's no space for the air to vibrate and make cool sounds. It'd be like flicking a column of glass or gemstone, probably just make some tapping or "thnk" noises and that's it. Alas!

Beggars can't be choosey.

But more seriously, probably words of affirmation/compliments or quality time. Though he doesn't believe compliments often even if he wants them - he's more apt to believe he's just being mocked or manipulated unless he already trusts someone (and even then, he has his doubts).

I talked a bit about this in the tags of this drawing, though I can elaborate in a bigger font size as well, haha.

As his story stands now, he has exclusively pursued women as partners. I tend to think of him as straight.

That said, I'm not opposed to his hetero being flexible if, in the future, a story opportunity popped up where he'd need to be curious about a man. (Jack, another character of mine, started off as straight and then slid inexorably to "bisexual, heavy on the girl" so it has happened before, haha.) AND if other people want to write/draw/think of him as straying from straight n' narrow that's obviously fine with me. :P

He's not a royal - he wishes, haha. He is nobility, though! His father his a marquis, which gives him the courtesy title of count (or "comte", using the French variant) until he inherits his father's title (though the Old Kingdoms are destroyed before that ever happens). Tough when he's much older he just assigns himself pope-kingship so I guess that counts as self-appointed royalty.

BUT ANYWAY

Yes he's had crushes, infatuations, love affairs and flings. Too many. Though it's interesting you bring up status - as a lot of his crushes tended to be on people from lower societal positions than he was. His first crush, and one of his longest (and most tumultuous) relationships was with a stablehand's daughter. When he did get infatuated with well-born women, it tended to be women who were already engaged, married or otherwise unavailable for him to marry. He's just got a taste for things he can't have...

It was extremely infuriating for his father.

(Of course, another part of his lack of discrimination between noble and common ladies might be due to him seeing himself as above ALL mortals, so what's the difference between a peasant and a noblewoman, really?)

Non-Character Stuff

Hahaha well I welcome that! Ambroys should be bullied on as many fronts as possible.

Thank you! It's a combination of purposeful research while also ignoring what I research for stuff I think just looks fun. Admittedly, I also am bad at drawing things consistently, so in some ways it's easier for me to just put a character in an entirely new outfit instead of trying to draw an old outfit the same way again, ha. xD

Not to sound like a soccer mom, but I'm a fan of Pinterest for browsing and collecting reference images of outfits that just "feel" like a character, so you have a broad visual library to draw from. You should also pair that with research into how the clothes you want to draw are supposed to fit. For historical outfits, you can get a lot of mileage out of the blogs of historical fanatics who enjoy eviscerating movie costumes from their period of interest. For modern day clothing, you can look at style blogs and tailoring information to learn how clothes are supposed to fit - and then break those rules if you want (for example, in mens' suits, the pants are not supposed to be bunched around the ankles, but I draw Theo's trousers that way to emphasize that he has unusually short legs).

My secret tip for coming up with lots of outfits for characters while keeping them cohesive is to determine a few things about their fashion sense (using Theo and Ambroys to contrast with each other):

What cuts/kinds of clothing do they wear often? What's their "taste", basically. For example, Ambroys wears tight pants/breeches, ostentatious coats and vests, lace and lots of jewelry. Theo, on the other hand, always wants to wear formal clothes that cover most of his body. From that, you can find other clothes that fit that mold and take inspiration from them, expanding what kinds of clothes they wear while still making it feel like "them".

What color palettes do they tend to wear? Theo wears dark colors and red and purple pretty much exclusively, while Ambroys wears a lot of colors, but only in light shades.

What thematic elements can you incorporate into their outfits as decoration? For Theo, I tend to include blood-drop designs and heraldic symbols like the ermine spot, while Ambroys is associated with flowers (especially roses), eyes and wings. You can add these elements to outfits to add a little extra spice (there are a lot of Ambroys' outfits that are really the same thing, but in one I put daffodils on him and another I put feathers on him, for example).

I hope any of that is helpful!

Thank you so much! I honestly have no clue what I'm doing when it comes to rendering, so I'm glad it's looking okay, heh!

I've heard Gravity Falls is great, but like many shows that I've heard are great, I have never made time to watch it. I know vaguely of Stanley Pines, though.

But thank you so much for saying you like Theo. He's a nasty little guy but he's very near and dear to my heart, and it really touches me that you see complexity and charisma in him. I do aim to make characters that are textured, weird little bastards.

And I don't mind you roleplaying with Theo, I think it's sweet. xP I'm glad he got to enjoy some pizza.

[nanjokei]

i think the spread of character ai usage (and ai art generation usage also) is definitely an issue with people wanting instant gratification which actual rp usually is just not sustainably built for unless you're doing chat rp, even then your friends aren't awake 24/7 waiting at beck and call to entertain you. it's not literally entitlement, but it 100% stems from entitlement to be entertained constantly and passively instead of actually going out and finding something to do.

god this sounds like such boomer shit but the creation of endless scrolling like on tiktok with specifically tailored algorithms has made people so PASSIVE. ai can never come close to human creators but if people, especially the younger generation, are getting too cozy with choosing it over seeking out other human beings (whether it be indirectly via consuming fanmade work or directly via actual collaborative stuff like online roleplay), then how different is it from the ai "winning"? i don't think any of the excuses are valid. it's a subpar product in every way. it's almost never im character, it breaks if you propose anything too left field, and it's ultimately empty wish fulfilment and i have no idea how anyone past the age of 16 AT BEST gets any gratification from it. is it just the spread of a lack of reading comprehension? OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!

i do think it's an issue of people not being comfortable with boredom, always needing instant gratification, not wanting to sit down and hone a craft, or give the people who hone a craft themselves the time of day because they can't crank out """content""" for you 24/7. in a way, i'm thinking right now, when i'm bored i just channel surf on tv even if i don't do it as much anymore. but most people don't have tv anymore (personally we pirate iptv so LOL). i don't blame it on that necessarily, but i think with the rise of streaming, you just sit there on a media library staring at a bunch of thumbnails and posters, having to make a decision on how to invest your time. in this case, i get why people are so passive. tiktok is easier, character ai is easier. because i never ended up watching anything whenever i opened netflix (when we had it years ago). one could argue that watching tv is passive, but there's still a choice. you check the tv guide or google it and you know a certain show is on tv a certain channel at a certain time so you keep that in mind. what do you do in the meanwhile? i remember when that was an actual routine for me. i'd be slacking and not doing my homework, so maybe i'd draw a bit, maybe i play on my ds for a while, maybe i go make myself a snack or bake some pastries if i have all day, maybe i continue a book or even surf the web a bit.

the instinct of "aight, im gonna do something else on my own while i wait" is kind of dying. yes i'm on my phone! the difference is my use case. these days i'm not on social media aside from here so i don't use it as much aside from talking to friends on messaging clients and playing games (rarely tho). i say this as someone who stares at the ceiling not doing anything for a good bit each day, but at least i feel like i still have retained some ability to sometimes go, ok time to learn about a new hobby! i don't have to even pick it up. just entertaining it is gratifying on its own. i'm not a writer, but sometimes i'll write a little bit for fun then go "yeah i get why i don't jive with this". lately, i've been interested in competitive pokemon (with not much interest before) because i've been replaying platinum. i research a bit, watch videos, i even got a little brave and tested some sample teams on showdown. it was a fun time killer! i might keep doing it. i might even do it later today. i started reading pokespe too to scratch the pokemon itch too. and it's not like i don't suffer from crazy hard executive dysfunction but hey, this is a product of my effort. lately i've been thinking i wanna pick a character in guilty gear and learn at least one combo! trying new things is fun!!!

i'm sure this post sounds self important, self impressed, self absorbed (c-c-c-combo breaker) and boomer ish as fuck but honestly i don't care anymore. if someone who struggles with simple tasks on the daily like me can find shit to do that isn't just instantly caving to endless scrolling and resorting to chatting up an AI then i'm sure most people can too. it is so much more gratifying actively seeking out fun than to be passive about it.

[prawndip]

Cold Hands (as well as Everything Else)

CHARACTERS: Beidou, Diluc, Thoma x gn!reader

TAGS: fluff. reader is an adventurer (diluc)

WORD COUNT: 1 935 in total

SYNOPSIS: world cold. you’re cold. partner warm.

NOTES: written as part of the @2022gisecretsanta writing event for @spoops-inliyue ! hi. tis I, your secret santa :] I hope you enjoy and happy holidays! tbh this isn’t as snow-themed as it probably should be, I just went with being cold in general instead. I’m willing to make any changes if you want!

BEIDOU:

accompanying beidou on the alcor was a common occurrence. you, who would get the privilege to sail to places most people only had the dream of seeing, and beidou, who would be able to make many precious memories with you while sailing all over teyvat.

though no matter how much you sail the seas with her, one thing has never changed: although the sun would shine so gently on you, its rays resting on your skin with such a delicate touch, the wind would always prick at your skin at the same time, sending shivers down your spine as you find yourself being kicked down by the cold winds of the sea. it's not like it snowed or anything - you're incredibly far from both snezhnaya and dragonspine - it's still just a little too cold for you to handle when things get a little too windy for your taste.

today was one of those days, where the wind blew with such ferocity no matter how bright the sun was. you decided to help beidou and her crew moves boxes around, yet you feel the way that the cold begins to make you shiver, placing the box down and rubbing your hands together, blowing warm air on them in an attempt to feel some sort of warmth. you swear it’s colder than usual today, for even though there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky, you felt the wind roaring in our ears.

you soon feel a large, soft blanket draped around your shoulder, and a pair of large, calloused hands cup around your own. they’re warm, familiar hands, and you turn around to see beidou grinning back at you.

"sheesh! the wind is really starting to pick up now isn't it?" she exclaims, letting out a small laugh as she began to guide you inside, still keeping her hands wrapped around yours, though you try to cling onto the blanket before the wind could tear it away with you, letting out a shiver as you sat down somewhere within the interior of the ship, pulling the blanker even more so around you as beidou managed to shimmy herself underneath it with you. as she leaned her head onto your shoulder, you could feel the way she warmly pressed up against you, letting out a sigh of relief as you feel the warmth seep into your body.

"don't worry about all the boxes. my crew can finish up the rest of them. so just relax, ok? once the wind settles down we can go back out and enjoy the nice weather. man, I don't remember the last time the skies werre so clear! so let's take it in when it isn't so windy!"

she puts an arm around your shoulder, and you feel yourself melting into her touch, your eyelids beginning to flutter shut as you leaned on her shoulder. her warmth is making your drowsy. you can't see it, but beidou looks at you with an adoring smile, holding one of your hands with one of hers, rubbing her thumb over the back of it as you fell asleep.

"that's alright. you've done a lot today. rest easy, love."

DILUC:

dragonspine expeditions were always the worst, you think to yourself. normally you would decline those sort of commissions, for the unbearable cold of dragonspine was never to your liking, but the leader of your guild insisted that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to look at some of its ancient ruins in person. a part of you wished you just stayed home instead, cozied up next to your boyfriend instead of fighting for your life in some of the most coldest conditions in all of teyvat, where someone in your guild accidentally ticked off a bunch of hilichurls barely a few feet into dragonspine’s harsh conditions.

drawing your weapon, you would have helped your guild fend them off after chastising one of them for causing this in the first place, had you not been knocked into the freezing cold water by one of the hilichurls. the water was shallow, thankfully, but you could already feel the icy water creeps into your clothes and settle on your skin. in literally anywhere else in mondstadt, the water would have been relieving in contrast to the pulsing sun that beats down on youwhile completing your commissions. in dragonspine, however, in this weather, it only served to make you even colder than you were before, so cold in fact that your skin felt like it was on fire, your fingers and toes going numb as you pulled yourself our of the water. you could feel the way the cold began sucking the energy out of you.

that’s how you found yourself stumbling out of dragonspine, covered in your fellow guild member’s various blankets, having stripped yourself of your thick jackets and extra clothing that would have otherwise kept holding water and dragging you down. since you barely made it into dragonspine, it was just better to head back to the camp that laid just on the edge of dragonspine. you were being supported by your guild members as you tried your best to avoid freezing to death, mumbling various things about wishing to have been at home instead, and how none of them could make it three feet into dragonspine without complaining about the cold, and how maybe they should turn back and give up on the commission. you loved your guild, truly, but they’re a little simple minded when it comes to experiencing new things. the four of you settled at the camp just out of dragonspine, the warm sun doing nothing to combat the soaked clothes that hung on your body.

when the other guild members began to attempt to start a fire, the wood suddenly lit ablaze, shocking you and your guild members. fire doesn’t usually do that, so it’s probably the work of a vision, who-

someone suddenly waves a warm bowl of soup in your face, and as you look up you recognize that the red hair and the look he was giving you and your guild mates belonged to diluc.

“diluc? what are you doing here?” you look at the soup, and then at diluc again, as if both were an illusion. usually diluc would be in the winery at this time. why was he here?

“I had a feeling none of you would be able to make it three feet into dragonspine with some sort of accident occuring. I didn’t htink one of you would fall into the river.” you feel the way you and your other guildmates share sheepish looks as diluc sits down next to you, and your guildmates start profusely apologizing, for despite everything, diluc was still a man with a reputation, and you were his partner. this was a bad look ont he rest of them. he places the bowl of soup in your hands. “I’m glad you all made it out safely. are you alright?”

though his voice is stern, and though he terrifies the living daylights out of your guildmates when things go wrong, he has genuine concern for all four of you, and especially you. he cupped his hands around yours as you guided the edge of the bowl to your lips, and you hummed happily as you took a sip of the soup. a soft smile had crept onto his face as he watched to make sure you were ok.

“I’m ok, diluc. just cold is all.” you replied, feeling relieved as warth crept through your body, a relief from the non-stop shivering you were experiencing mere moments ago. the fire was warm. the soup was warm. your boyfriend was warm as he pressed his forehead against yours, closing his eyes and sighing contently. your guildmates were watching (though they were preoccupied with their own bowls of soup, so it was less about watching you and more about eating soup now).

“good. I don’t mind if you go into dragonspine, but you gotta be more careful.”

scolding the rest of your guild could happen later. right now you were safe, and that’s all that matters.

THOMA:

at first it was just supposed to be a routine shopping day, go buy food from the merchants, stop by the yae publishing house to get a new book, and then head home to make dinner. everything seemed fine at first, everyone was chatting with each other and you were happily walking through the streets of inazuma. you just didn’t expect it to rain. well, you sort of did. you saw the clouds beginning to loom over inazuma city, but you didn’t think too much of them until they began hurling rain at you. the rain sure began to fall hard. and fast. just like that, the mood quickly flipped as everyone began heading inside for shelter, leaving you to have to bolt it back to your home.

if only I brought an umbrella, you thought to yourself, maybe then the water wouldn't be soaking into your hair and clothes, your goods, and also your book.

you found yourself clutching soaked goods as you sprinted back home, feelings your clothes get continuously weighed down with water and the cold creep onto your skin. as you ran home, water that pooled on the ground would splash as you sprinted through them, your feet completely drenched as they continuously shuffled through puddle after puddle. the wind began to howl, and you could hear thunder in the distance. you shivered as you finally made it back to yours and thoma’s shared home, completely drenched, goods soaked, and you’re quite sure the book didn’t make the trip without being completely ruined by the water. you can hear the sound of your boyfriend practically scramble to the entrance as he heard your arrival, where he found you standing in the entranceway looking like a drenched puppy.

"there you are y/n! I was worried you got stranded somewhere once that big storm rolled in, but you're absolutely drenched!" before you can say anything, thoma had already handed you a towel, and a spare change of clothes, taking the drenched goods from your hands and heading into the kitchen. "let me go make you a nice warm tea! maybe that'll help you warm up before you catch a cold."

you're left to your own devices to dry yourself off and change out of your soaked clothes before wandering into the kitchen. though dry and out of the rain, you still felt the cold lingering on your skin as you hugged yourself. you soon noticed that thoma had already prepared a cup of tea and draped a thick blanket over your shoulders as you sat down, before joining you in taking a seat and holding a cup of tea in his own hands. you let out a content sigh as you felt the warth of the tea seep into your hands. your boyfriend had prepared it just right. it was warm, yet not so hot that it burned to even touch it, and as you took a sip you felt yourself begin to warm up, grinning happily at your boyfriend. "Thanks Thoma."

"of course, darling." he places his hands around you hands, and you can feel the way both the cup of tea and his hands were beginning to arm up. "and don't worry about the book. we can go get another copy tomorrow together! although I can't help but feel it might rain tomorrow too..."

you find yourself begin to softly chuckle at his words. "I'll make sure to bring an umbrella this time."

[vacayisland]

HIII! YOURE LIKE MY INSPIRATION I HAVE LIKE A QUESTION SOO,,im having trouble writing a fanfic

do you plan out your stories beforehand?

(because personally when i write i would want to add a bunch of things and ended up dragging the whole story)

i did try to make a plan but i keep changing it because if i added something, i will want to change the whole thing. and it will get me nowhere (i hope it makes sense)

I LOVEE YOUR WORK THEYRE AMAZING 💕💕

Okay I totally gets this, because this happens to me with longer fanfictions! It's a real struggle for many writers I've talked to, so you're actually not alone in this. But for starters, for my one-shots or "head-cannon" like stories I don't really plan them out. I have a vague idea of where I want to go and just kind of follow the flow with most things. But that's how I do it, and I know not many people are like that. I have a friend who needs to plan everything out, reread their stories thrice and then change things they don't like. Which is totally fine! Remember writing is a creative art, it's meant to represent the person who is typing the words just as art is meant to represent the person drawing it.

So, going into planning works gets a bit more complex because it means you might actually have to stick to a vague plot. I'm going to try and explain this through the rough idea that I have going for the Mafia! Trolls au that I've scrapped up. You'll want to start with a basic idea first. You cannot get anywhere without a starting idea to bounce off of! (and this does not mean this has to be your story through and through, this is just a starting idea. It can be changed. But too much change might mean you'll be writing a different story than what you started with so be weary of that.)

Example: Brozone Mafia au where the reader gets sold to Brozone.

A one sentence starting idea is your baseline. From there, depending on how long your fanfic is you'll go between two options.

Shorter fic: what is the plot that I want to do? Longer fic: How can I make this fit into the already established world and/or how do I make it fit?

For shorter fics, you don't need as much world building as longer fics. This is because they're meant to be little chunks of your writing; think of it like a snack instead of a full meal or maybe a sampler. Shorter fics are meant to be digested in relatively one sitting, they're meant to be sweet and fulling but not stuffing. As such, that'll severely hurt how much you want to put into a fic! Personally, I do an average 2-5 scenes for a short fanfiction. And for those, if you really need to structure and limit yourself, pick the top 2-5 things you want and/or need to put into the short fic. Remember, not everything has to be used, the more you store for later fics the better! Because one day you're going to run out of ideas and wish you didn't shove them all into one fic when you could have expanded it out between multiple. Furthermore, I don't know if this will help but to stop myself from dragging on I remember one rule:

If you get bored writing and reading your own writing other people will get to!

Literally, if you're sitting there bored out of your mind writing something because it keeps dragging and dragging and dragging very few people will want to read it. And it's not because your writing is bad it's just boring because scene A keeps dragging when scene B should have started and there is a lot of dead space between actions of dialogue. Remember you can achieve the allusion of time passing with words instead of writing full paragraphs detailing everything a character is doing. Furthermore, you can also achieve the same illusion of background characters doing things without fully describing what they're doing! If it's not important don't spend more than three sentences on an action!

In example, say Branch is doing bunker up-keep in the background and Poppy is trying to talk to him. Would you rather read: Option A "Branch come on!" Poppy exclaimed towards Branch, standing in the center of his bunker tapping her foot. watching as he climbed his later to grab his ration jars. He was doing his daily bunker upkeep, counting out his food and tallying his water all the while Poppy kept pestering him. or Option B "Branch come on!" Poppy exclaimed towards Branch, standing in the center of his bunker tapping her foot. Branch was scaling up his latter to grab jars of peanuts, nuts, berries, and anything else he had managed to scavenge from the wilderness; Bringing them back down to pour on the table as he began to slowly count each nut. Poppy was less then amused watching this, hearing Branch's slow counting as he went from one to two to three to four.

That might have been a poor example because I'm not in my writing mode, but it serves its purpose. Most readers know what Branch is like, furthermore what his rations is and how he's about them! So option A gives off the same idea as option B in fewer words and it lets the reader to visualize it a little more in their own way. Which also goes into knowing your audiences. If you're writing fanfictions you're writing to a specific audience who knows your media! In which, you don't have to describe as much as you would for a story you've just made up. Readers know what Branch's bunker looks like, what Pop village looks like, who characters are and what they look like. You can describe them, always, but don't go full out and be like:

Branch is a grey toll who stood a little higher than me. His dark-grey hair stood up in and... etc.

Know your audience, only describe what is needed. Such as facial expressions, differing clothing or hair that a character has in your story than cannon, if someone is losing or gaining their colors, and honestly anything important. I'll say this again, a good way to kill a story is to get bogged down in the unimportant factors.

Backgrounds and scenes are important! Setting a tone and mood are important! Setting a place for your readers to visualize is important!

But they're not more important than your plot. Do not spend 1/4 of your story describing a village that people know. Do not spend 4+ sentences describing what background characters that are adding nothing to plot are doing. Do not spend your effort writing something the readers will forget by the end, spend your efforts on other things! Of course, there is no defendant rule to how everything should go and how everything should be. There is no oh, this should be x sentences or x paragraphs. Writing is an art, it's meant to be free styled, to the most part, and a lot of this is decided upon the writing and their style. As such, you can push the boundaries of things, you can describe some things more in detail and some not at all. The most powerful tool you have is honestly your imagination and that's all you need to start writing. But here is just a few things I believe personally kills stories and I try avoiding, if you want to reference them:

1) Describing what villager B is doing for a whole paragraph or more. 2) Handling too much and doing way too much. Let there be one major plot point over arching the story and not several that keep stacking upon each other. It will confuse the reader. 3) dragging out plot points. 4) Unnatural reactions or speech 5) Plot holes or unexplained plots later in the story.

And that's honestly just a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Personally, I've only been writing since 2018-2019, so I have a little experience but sure not a tone. Much like art and theatre, or anything else creative, writing takes times and practice and effort to make good. Listen to your gut more, let yourself just write. Soon you'll find some sort of balance between everything that'll make it work. Because trust me, my first stories were all over the place and those will forever remain locked in the wattpad vault. Also, much like art, don't be afraid to get inspired by other people's writing styles. Identify what you like about them, wording choices, transitions, flow, etc. and try using it with your style! It's a lot of experimenting, a lot of revising, and honestly (for me) a lot of turning off my mind and just writing.

For bigger stories, it's a lot more complex. It takes more effort to plan everything out before you can actually begin writing and that's honestly a whole separate post upon itself. Since oneshots are snippets and not full stories they don't follow the natural flow of stories, they don't have those extremes ups and downs, they're kind of always dissected straight from the middle of a story, a don't have a true ending or beginning. So with longer stories you need to spend time actually plotting it out, trying to figure out how it'll go and get a good plot going with some sub plots to make the story feel alive. That requires a lot of different little traits such as world building, character building, and understanding troupes, and growth, and plot. Longer stories are always going to be harder because it encompasses so much more and it's harder not to go off once you set a plot down for it. Because unlike oneshots they're a continuous story being told in different snippets called chapters and those chapters are different parts of a full meal. If you choose option A, which is like potato, and you throw in option B mid way, which is like brownies, they won't mash and just taste and read awful together. So you have to plan it much more than oneshots.

But honestly writing is supposed to be fun, even if it takes a lot of time and a lot of practicing to do so. So please do not stress yourself over it, things can be changes and things can and can't be helped. Just keep writing and find your flow, it'll come and you'll impress yourself will all the things you do.

Writing is an art, I will say this over and over. And like any art it takes practice, patience, referencing, and time to develop. It doesn't just grow off trees and while some people might have some natural talent they still need to practice and develop it like everyone else. It's okay to be burnt out, take a break. It's okay to not have the perfect story, it's practice. It's okay to not like a work, you're not always going to. It's okay to write something you're not going to publish, it's your decision. It's okay not to write everyday, you need breaks. It's okay to take writing at your own pace and time. It's okay to get through things fast or slow. It's okay to do whatever you need to do to write in a way that makes you happy, in a way that makes you want to pick up a pen or a keyboard or laptop and write what's in your head.

But it's never okay to give up. You can take breaks, pause from writing for however long you might need. But never give up.

[crappyyuki]

Bryan with lava eyes :DDD

It’s been a while since I fully colored smth :,)

Here’s the Sketch and the one with a background!

I attempted to make lava. I’m not sure if it went well lmao.

I also don’t know how to draw or render muscles but BUFF BRYAN SUPREMACY!

HE IS SLIGHTLY TONED BUT HE CAN FLATTEN A STONE FUCKING COUNTER THATS CANON FIGHT ME

Honestly, I’m not sure if I can write this AU. With confidence I mean. I already got like a 15k word outline going on and it’s still going and it’s been like that for the past 3 years. Yeah. Pretty crazy. But if I can’t write this then I might resort into posting a bulleted list on what I should’ve written in the betterment of those 3 years instead of making a long ass outline to get it out into the world.

I love this AU, you have no idea, but it is so hard to write. So bear with me. I’ll give a bit of insight into it.

• This is a canon divergence of the canon timeline where instead of Bryan taking the hit, it’s Molten taking the hit. (My guy is not having a great time. Both of them.)

• This AU is canon defiant to the actual lore in Bryan’s series. A lot actually. This is a bit more canon compliant to the Fnaf storyline. Focusing more on spirits and souls than portals and portal magic. Soul juice produced from murdered children. All that good stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I love the series but I wish it focused on the souls of the kids and their stories if only a little.

• Let’s say there are a lot of hidden secrets in the old pizzeria that Bryan would carry to his grave. Most of them is guilt. The other is shame borderlining to self loathing.

• “No one would ever believe you.” :)

• This AU’s pov is also on the animatronics side. Mostly Freddy, Helpy (the old one), and maybe probably Foxy (the Rockstar one) I miss them, okay?

• Pat is around too. Watching over the animatronics while getting deathly afraid of them for a definite period of time before making friends with them because wow, those robots aren’t actually gonna force them into a Freddy Fazbear suit. Why did they listen to a pre-recorded message anyway?

• Jon is the one that stumbles onto the secret. But its not complete. He wonders where he should find the other pieces.

• You know OG Freddy? How he was repaired? Yeah. That part wasn’t the only thing that brought him back to life.

• And the monitor Lefty stole from the pizzeria? Maybe Egg Baby? Wonder whats that for?

• The book that Bryan gave to Twisted Bonnie also changed. Still has the blueprints of the animatronics but of different animatronics.

• “Hmmmm, I wonder what I can do for Baby’s birthday? How can I make it her happiest day of her shortlived li—wait, can I even say that?????”

• Also, does anyone know what happened to Twisted Freddy? Did he just become the wind or what? We’ll see.

• Since Lefty didn’t die, let’s say Shadow Freddy had other places to be. And Twisted Wolf? Honestly forgot about that guy hahaha I’ll think of something.

• Oh! EB (Evil Bryan) is there too! Like actually.

• It’s quite funny to have two short humans going on offense while literal monsters go on support and defense lmao. What a bunch of losers.

• “See you on the flipside!”

• Hey. What’s up with Bryan’s eyes?

That’s all for now. Maybe I’ll post another one or work on a chapter? Who knows…

I can’t promise anything. I can only promise that the next will take a whileeeeeeee, a post or a chapter.

I still have not named this AU and marked it as INSERT TITLE HERE.

And to those that recognize that title, I am so sorry. I literally redid the first 5 chapters, finished 4, then dropped it off at chapter 7-8. Chapter 1-4 are finished but 5-8 is a land mine. I don’t know how to keep it going lmao. No really, it’s a struggle writing this dang thing and I want it out of my head too. I can’t promise any chapters or that I’m working on it because I’m so busy but I did not forget it if thats what you’re thinking. It’s just hard to write. Like really hard. That’s why I focused a bit on oneshots.

One things for sure though. It’s either chapter 5, 6, or 7 BUT—

Minigames. Plus Springtrap.

ITH!Bryan: Oh joy.

Feel free to ask questions about this AU! I’d be happy to answer! (Most of them anyway. Can’t reveal everything.)

[coolishfoolishness]

Anyway here's a silly little gay story I wrote. Figured I'd post it here. Feel free to give constructive criticism, but please don't be mean.

Love is a Battlefield

I died here. In this mall that I now inhabit. I was beaten to a bloody pulp and stuffed somewhere no one would find me. I guess it's what I deserve for being a degenerate. For carrying a disgusting disease of my own. Maybe I wouldn't have died if I just tried a little harder to be normal. But oh well.

Now I haunt this abandoned mall. Occasionally people will come around to check this place out. Mostly a bunch of jerks writing stuff like "_ was here" and drawing obscene things on my body. I scare most people away though. It's usually as easy as playing music over the speakers or turning on an escalator. For those particularly stubborn, I chase out. I'm sure there are more than a few ghost stories about me by now. Am I a ghost though? I don't know what I am. All I know is I'm supposed to be dead. I suppose this mall is supposed to be my own personal hell. They told me hell would be hot, that I would burn. But all I feel is cold. So very cold. Cold and alone.

I've seen more than my fair share of make out sessions. I don't know why anyone would go here to do that, but I suppose most would assume they have privacy here. I've also seen people go further, but I'd rather not go into detail about that. I don't blame people for doing it, and I'm not mad at them. I suppose I'm just jealous. I wish I could have that, but I'm unlovable. Especially now that I'm dead.

Oh great, another teenager coming in to torment me. Just one this time. A boy. He's carrying a duffel bag that I assume is full of spray cans. I should be able to scare him away easily. I turn on the music. The song "Love is a Battlefield" by Pat Benatar. It's not a very intimidating song, but that doesn't matter. People get scared of anything out of the ordinary in an abandoned mall. Especially since I've already built up a reputation for myself.

But he doesn't leave. He opens his mouth. "Is anyone there? Are you the ghost that haunts this place? Are you a friendly ghost?" I do not answer him. It's strange though. Instead of reacting with fear, he reacts with curiosity. But this isn't the only time I've had to deal with a ghost hunter. Most of them expect just some sounds or pictures, but I can do so much more than that. One time I chased some girl down and destroyed her camera. If people got proof of my existence, then they'd probably start being even more annoying. As he starts climbing the escalator, I turn it on. He stumbled a bit in surprise, but he still seems to be unafraid. "Well isn't that that convenient. Maybe you are friendly." He's so frustratingly optimistic.

Everytime I try to scare him away, he just gets more curious. I turn on an arcade, and all he does is play the games. I flicker the lights and he just laughs in excitement. I start to enjoy watching him. He dances and sings through the mall without a care. "Can I make a request?" He asks. "I recently went through a breakup. Do you have a song for that?" I decide to humor him and played the song "Heartbreaker", another one by Pat Benatar. He sings along to it, the emotions in his voice a mix of joy, anger, and sadness. His voice is beautiful, not because it is perfect, but because it is so very imperfect. Every voice crack, every misplaced breath, reminds me of a feeling that I haven't had in forever. It scares me.

The song eventually ended and he sighed. "Thanks. That really helped," he speaks softly, his smile bittersweet. Small tears trickle down his face, tempting me to wipe them off. " Now… " he starts, "Why don't I put ona little fashion show? Will you let me borrow some clothes if I promise to put them back?" He goes into one of the clothing stores, carefully picking out things to wear, and heads to the changing rooms. He's lucky that there are no security cameras in them. Not that I would purposely try to spy on him.

He wears a variety of different clothes, all of which look good on him. Maybe it's his fashion sense, or maybe he just looks that good. The last thing he puts on is this beautiful black dress. He spins around in it and giggles, just barely avoiding tripping over himself. He sits down and sighs. "I hope you enjoyed that as much as me!" He's so strange. No fear, no shame. He… intrigues me. If that's the right word.

Eventually he puts his duffel bag down and unzips it. Just as I expected, It's carrying cans of spray paint. This is the point that I'd usually chase him out, but at this point I'm just as curious of him as he is of me. Most people just tag my skin or draw a phallus with a sharpie, but occasionally there are some dedicated artists. And this boy just screams dedicated.

Eventually I notice that he's painting a person. Not just any person. He's painting me. It's unmistakably me. He even puts my name in the corner instead of a signature. He holds up this rectangular device that I've seen a few times before, and I assume he takes a picture of it. Is he making a memorial of me? Why would anyone want to do that? Why would you want to paint some random degenerate who died in the 80s? I know I shouldn't, but I need to know more. I need to know why. I block off any potential escape routes with my wires, and I start approaching him. He's oblivious at first, but eventually he notices me. I try to speak but nothing comes out. Nothing but an incomprehensible screech. He seems a little shocked, but he still doesn't run. Not that I would let him. Not anymore.

"Is that really you? I mean, I knew you were haunting this place, but I didn't think I'd get to see you," he says, his voice shaky. I nod my head. How much does he know? Does he realize how disgusting I am. If so, why? Why would he make this large mural of me? I don't deserve it! He gets close and grabs me by the shoulders. He seems almost surprised that he is able to touch me. I am as well. Why is he touching me? How is he touching me? Now that he's closer I start noticing all the little details that get lost on the cameras. The little freckles that dot his face. His wavy brown hair and hazel eyes. Honestly, he's pretty cute. Dangerously cute. He's just my type. If my heart could still beat, it would be racing. But I quickly shut that thought down. It's thoughts like those that put me in this situation. Besides, he would never be that way, right? Especially not for me. I'm nothing but a monster, both in life, and in death.

Even so, he starts speaking, "I need you to know that you didn't deserve what happened to you. You deserved love, and joy, and everything else in between. I need you to know things got better for people like us. It's not perfect, but we can now get married, and we're much less likely to be killed for who we are. It got better." What is he talking about? Us? Does that mean he is like me? He starts hugging me. He feels so warm. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you. You really deserve better." He pushes away. "Sorry for touching you so suddenly."

I once again try to speak, this time without straining. The music stops playing and instead my voice comes out. I guess I'm still learning stuff about myself. "Are… you… like… me? I… don't… under… stand. Why… so… kind?"

He replies "Yes, I am gay. I wouldn't say I have the best life, but things have gotten better for us. I just wish you could have experienced it."

I just can't handle it. He's so beautiful, and so interesting, and he's like me. I know it's a bad idea, but I really want to kiss him. I want to experience what all those couples that come here do. I just want to be happy.

"Can… I… kiss… you?" Even just a second after I ask the question I start to regret it. I just met him and I'm a monster.

"I- oh- uh," he stutters. I knew I shouldn't have asked. I move my wires out of the way so he can escape. "Wow, sorry, I just didn't expect that. I- sure, I can kiss you." Why?! Why is he like this? He's blushing! He's so cute! But is he just doing it because he feels bad?

"Do… you… pity… me?" I ask

"No. I just think that you deserve better." He goes up to me and puts his hand on my face. Our lips touch, and I feel something I've never felt before. I love him. I know I just met him. I know I don't even know his name. But I still love him. I don't know why. Maybe it's because he isn't afraid of me. Maybe it's because of his curiosity and optimism. Maybe it's because I enjoyed watching him dance to the music and play the arcade games. Maybe it's because he is the only one who has ever seemed to care about me in this mall. Maybe it's just because he's cute. But either way, for the first time in forever, I feel loved. For the first time in forever, I feel like I'm allowed to love and be loved. Years of being called disgusting, and yet now I feel beautiful. I wrap my arms around him. The music in the mall has finally looped back around to "Love is a Battlefield" and I start to truly listen to the lyrics and feel them in my heart. I feel as though they describe us at this moment.

We are young

Heartache to heartache

We stand

No promises, no demands

Love is a battlefield

We are strong

Noone can tell us we're wrong

Searching our hearts for so long

Both of us knowing

Love is a battlefield

[moonnue]

It's recently been brought to my attention that people that are speaking out for me are being harassed. I'll be answering that persons ask below the cut as I don't want to fill people's feeds with more drama, but I do think it's important to discuss. There is also very helpful info on how to report on Ao3 if you have not done it before!

In any case, I strongly encourage that you block, report, and move on if someone tries to pester you about this. Be careful out there!

I am so, so sorry this has been happening to you. I just wrote a simple fanfic and it is baffling that something like this can come out of it. It really ain't that deep. I also agree with you! I can't believe the other writer and I are the same age like please i'm begging you to leave this childish behavior behind. It is so silly. We left this behind in high school.

Report Link: https://archiveofourown.org/abuse_reports/new

Thanks so much for your words of support and you're help. It truly means a lot to me. Again, I am so sorry you have gotten caught up in all this. Wishing you well! ♥

@softpastelqueer

Text version of images below:

Hey, sorry to bother you again (I know you want to move on from this), but I received a bunch of unhinged asks/harassment myself (including threats) both for supporting you/being against an obvious mass bullying campaign against you and for joking that Titanic must’ve also stolen from them. The Protag drawing Astarion really was done before both of y’all, so I’m staunchly with you there

Obviously, it’s ridiculous to claim the protag of stories being an artist drawing a character is akin to copy written intellectual property. It’s a really REALLY old idea and it’s genuinely ridiculous to claim ownership over that. Even more ridiculous to consider we’re all older adults. Shouldn’t we all be busy stretching so our lower backs won’t hurt??? Like c’mon guys this is silly

Furthermore, what’s even more ridiculous is to encourage harassment of others. Again, we’re somehow all adults? If their claims of plagiarism were provable beyond the vague hand waving away of now owning the entire concept of writing about artists drawing people, then why did they and their crowd harass me instead of trying to convince me? I am a rando who didn’t know either of you and actually found YOU through one of THEIR first posts spamming the BG3 tag with encouragements to others to “teach you plagiarism is not okay” aka harassment.

I am both an artist AND professional editor for novels, manuscripts, and the like. I was trained to spot real plagiarism. Not a single bit of your structure could be flagged as plagiarism beyond the same premise.

Now that that’s been said. They’re still harassing you (and me now I suppose) and so I recommend you and others to report them on AO3. They’ve created an AO3 post further encouraging harassing you and encouraging falsely reporting your story for plagiarism.

If you’ve never had to report anybody before, here’s what mine looks like

[IMAGE]

My full report says “This person (WanderingIsobel) has been targeting and harassing the other writer (MoonNue) and also encouraging other people to harass them and report their story under the claim it’s plagiarism to use the same generic story premise. Half of the harassment is on tumblr while the other half of the harassment is on here, AO3. The other writer has explained many times that they have never read their story and to please leave them alone, but now they made an entire AO3 post dedicated to encouraging people to report and “comment” aka harass them over a weird fake accusation. It’s making it hostile both for the writer of Portrait Of A Vampire and for readers in general.”

Link for the AO3 Reporting

But Holy shit I am so sorry you’re getting caught up in fandom unwellness the rest of tumblr makes fun of. Whatever you need, I’m here to help, including even venting. I am sorry You’re a victim of a mass harassment/bullying campaign.

[notwantedonthemoon]

Noyes family designs: part four

It's the one! The only!

Mr. Ham 'Missed-Potential' Noyes.

I think he’s funny.

Please feel free to ask me about this guy so I can seethe about the character we should have gotten out of him (though I do like him as is; I'm glad we got a Disney princess/manic pixie dream girl/scientist character all bundled up into one. He's also the most autistic-coded character I've read since the days of *checks notes* every single L. M. Montgomery book).

He had an absolutely stellar introduction in my English class. The teacher said that he’s probably ace and I’ll raise one better; he can be ace AND aro.

I need to start writing analyses on these things.

Character design notes:

• In the top right corner I had to draw Mrs Noyes (and a younger version of her) as a point of reference. Although Ham’s personality is a pretty even mix between both his parents, I think he looks a lot like his mom; throughout the story, he kind of acts like a lowercase Mrs Noyes.

• I never pictured him with glasses but a bunch of my classmates did and I slowly absorbed that idea into my brain. I imagine that he doesn’t actually need glasses (which irritates everyone endlessly- “what do you mean you don’t need glasses? You read thirty hours a day”), he just thinks they look neat.

• The braid is inspired by Claudia from the Dragon Prince. They’re very different characters who probably wouldn’t get along in any way but something about these two strikes me as similar.

• One thing that always baffles me about his design is why he just randomly grows his hair out some time in the middle of the book and how that is… never elaborated on. I will never get an in-universe explanation about this very minor detail but it will haunt me forever. (I think it’s so that Emma can practice hairstyles on him).

• I do think that in a movie or TV show having a character grow their hair out is a pretty nifty way to remind the audience about the passage of time- which was actually the inspiration for the scars in his design (along with his general tendency to wander around in woods and stick his nose into anything that interests him). In a TV show adaptation of Not Wanted on the Voyage (god I wish), I want this guy to be the designated calendar character. You can tell which episode you’re on just by looking at a picture of him.

• NO inspiration from the musical designs for Ham OR Lucy. Musical Lucy looks unfortunately like Edward Cullen and although the decision to have Musical Ham channel the energy of a Disney Channel nerd who gets shoved into lockers is one I can respect, it is not one I can agree with. They should have made him channel the energy of, like, Princess Aurora instead.

• If I’m remembering correctly, those two share some resemblances, like a love for nature and a concerning willingness to marry a tall dashing stranger they met in the woods after knowing said tall dashing stranger for, like, two hours…

• There WILL be a return of those ridiculously coloured sleeves for other characters. Lucy has a whole trousseau chest of fancy silks and fabric. There is no way the Lower Deck squad didn’t cut some of them up for clothing repair purposes.

• Those colours are entirely intentional. By the way. If you’re drawing and struggling with picking colours to use for clothing, just search up various pride flags. Works like a charm.

[rainydawgradioblog]

Interview with Samba Jean-Baptiste

The other day I came across an article about AI bots mass-releasing auto-generated music on Spotify under different names. A concept as democratic as “unfettered access to music by way of streaming services” was bound to be corrupted by bad actors. Artists are consigned to grueling tour schedules in order to make a living because streaming pays them in Monopoly money. Pitchfork is gone and the writing is on the wall for Bandcamp, because curation is now being handled by algorithms. It’s important to keep in mind that any artist releasing music today has to navigate a culture in which there’s more out there than ever before, it's all at the tip of one’s  fingers, and everything except for the music itself is worse than it used to be. 

The topic of how the internet has shaped music came up frequently in my discussion with Samba Jean-Baptiste, an independent artist out of Brooklyn. I discovered his work after seeing Dean Blunt’s music video to “Felony” (his best song? I’m ready to make the argument), and the Algorithm decided I might like a video titled “talk / pleasure.” Behind a camera that might be a flip phone, somone offers Jean-Baptiste directions: “Wait, look off that way, and start the song. Then just start doing your shit.” The music plays and we hear Samba’s subdued voice over acoustic guitar strumming. He crosses a wide urban boulevard. All of it is easy and unforced. 

“Talk / Pleasure” was released on Cardinal, a project that’s difficult to categorize and beautiful and disarming. Jean-Baptiste chiefly uses acoustic guitar and his voice to create stripped-back art pop, as if the Young Marble Giants grew up listening to Stereolab instead of Lou Reed. The relationship between skilled yet raw guitar playing and more attuned peripheral production toes a line between an open mic performance and sound leaking from someone else’s headphones. There’s some really incredible interplay between organic and auto tuned vocals on “Windows.” The string and warped piano accompaniments on “A Wish Slanted” perfectly compliment Jean-Baptiste’s rhythmic strumming. It seems like he’s drawing from so much, because he’s had access to (and has seeked out) so much. The internet has given us windows into every corner of musical expression imaginable. If you’re an artist, how do you reckon with that, how does it find its way into your art? I didn’t want to put words in Jean-Baptiste’s mouth, so I reached out to see if he’d be interested in an interview for the Blawg. 

He was kind enough to agree back in early December; we spoke over the phone for about 40 minutes. I think he was playing Dave Bixby in the background. In addition to the internet’s impact on the music landscape, he touched on song-writing, looping, and Veeze. Hope you all enjoy it. Please, check out Cardinal on Spotify, Apple Music, Youtube, and Bandcamp (before it’s subscription based).

Can you tell me a little about yourself? 

Yeah, I’m 22, about to be 23, I live in Bedstuy, Brooklyn, I cook at a Japanese Breakfast restaurant that’s also in Brooklyn. That’s kinda what I do four days a week. I grew up in Massachusetts playing classical music, me and my sister, I played Cello, my sister played violin and we grew up playing in the Boston Symphony Orchestra. That’s where I gained a lot of interest in music, because when I wasn’t playing cello, everyone would be showing off like, what pop song [they] could play on the piano, and from there everything trailed into, you know, writing a little song about a crush or something when I was a kid. 

My family is from Haiti. That’s important to me. In middle school I used to just make beats so I was really into dubstep and a bunch of stuff on youtube. I was always big on youtube, listening to people make beats at home, and then soundcloud blew up, which gave so much access to random nooks and crannies to the country and world for that matter. Got into songwriting a little bit. Used to make a lot of different sounding stuff to now. Picked up guitar, somehow, and I guess that landed me to where I’m at now. 

Songs like “Better Now” from Cardinal feature a lot of looping. Do you find that to be a big part of your process? 

It’s funny because looping, from making beats in middle school, looping is such a big part of it. You make something, you loop it, you progress from there. But by the time I realized I could be playing actual instruments in my recordings, I still had that mentality. I’ll record something and think: “this part is great, I’m just gonna loop it.” And it doesn’t feel unethical. Cause for me, for a long time, looping other people’s music was like, “you’re going to hell, you’re not making music” but somehow my eyes have opened up and my ears have opened up to so many new ways of sound creation, rather than seeing it like “you have to create from the sound up like you’re fucking Beethoven.” You can hear something and make something out of that and that’s ok. It’s not yours, it's everyone’s. 

Looping is really interesting too because everytime you hear something or see something you can see something new about it. There’s albums I’ve listened to kajillions of times and it’s like I’m learning something new about it every listen. The same thing can happen with a simple loop, it’ll just be new information, newly perceived information each time. So yeah loops are super important to me. 

When you’re writing a song, do you have an idea of what you want the finished product to be, or does it evolve naturally over the course of the entire process?

Definitely the latter. That’s funny I was talking to my dad *today* that when I make songs, or work on an idea, I have to like make the whole song, just so that when I go back to these drafts, I can see the full blueprint. [...] It’s definitely a process. If I write a song in one sitting, I’ll kinda just… show a friend. That’s not the stuff I like releasing. 

How did Cardinal become more acoustic than your previous album, Pandora? 

It wasn’t so much a conscious decision to be like, I have to be different from the last record, but it was a conscious decision in my process. Because Pandora was made while I was still primarily recording through my laptop, and like, there’s guitar on there, but it’s all pitched up, and my voice isn’t in my natural cadence. But in the same way I realized I could use my instruments and play them in my recordings, I was like damn. That feels natural. I can also just sing in my natural low voice, I don’t have to be reaching for something that I’m not. So it sort of just trailed in that direction naturally. 

I was wondering if playing the cello made picking up guitar easier, or otherwise informs your guitar playing? You said you “stumbled on guitar,” which sounds like a bigger undertaking than you make it out to be. 

Yeah, picking up guitar was pretty simple for me because of that knowledge, but like, there’s six strings on a guitar [compared to cello’s four], so I’ve found new ways to approach an instrument, because there’s a learning curve there. A lot of my songs, if you listen to them, it’s all the same chords, because I only know so much, and sometimes I’m fucking lazy and I know certain chords and they make me feel good enough. 

Also it's funny because some songs are written on different guitars. “I Could Have Cried” was written on a guitar with five strings (the high E is gone) because my roommate didn’t finish stringing it. The other one I got in London, that one plays “Talk/Pleasure” and “A Wish Slanted” and it has four strings because two of them snapped. Each weird situation lends itself to a new creation, which is like a huge part of my process anyway. Error is so acceptable, if not sought out. 

The stream of consciousness of it? Less premeditated? 

Right. There’s a mix too though. I love when records have noise added after cause that’s real. You can only listen to so much perfect, cookie cutter stuff.

When you were making Cardinal, were there any major songs or artists that you took inspiration from? 

Nah I had no influences, I came up with this shit. I’m playing, of course, of course, there’s so many. I feel like a lot of people are finding my music through like Dean Blunt youtube wormhole, and he’s for sure one of my big influences, like all my influences are like 30+ year old black people doing their thing. But the main influence is music that sounds like wind, water, grass, and that all relates to guitar.

I wish I had a list of my influences, cause on this record there’s a lot you know? I had a lot of people in my life showing me new things, because I’m so closed minded often. And I like to try to surround myself with people that will show me something new. A lot of inspiration is what’s new to me. 

I think wind, water, grass sums it up great. Wrapping up, would you have any recommendations for me and the good people of Rainy Dawg Radio as a whole? Movies, music, books, etc?

Hell yeah. I just finished this book called Your Love is Not Good, by Johanna Hedver… Movies? I’m still learning about movies. Two or three things I know about her. I’m into Jean Luc Godard, that slice of life stuff where nothing happens, cause it’s just like looping music to me. Music? I’ll just give you what I’ve been into recently, cause I have huge influences but they’re probably everybody’s. I’ve been listening to this song called “Tea in Bed” by Blessed and Blushing. That shit’s incredible. I’ve been listening to this song called “Everybody Knows” by Glucose. I’ve been listening to a Serge Gainsbourg record, The History of Melody Nelson. I’ve been listening to Veeze, you know, Ganger. There’s so much shit. There’s so much out there. Michael White is this great jazz violinist, I’d definitely recommend him.  Forma Norte, that guy’s incredible.

Who’s that, Forma Norte? 

Yeah, you know what’s funny is I found him on my “related artists,” online, and sometimes I find stuff I really hate through that. But sometimes I think “damn this guy’s awesome, how’s he related to me?” 

It’s so interesting to hear an artist’s perspective of their “fans also like” on Spotify. 

That first one I said, Tea in Bed by Blessed and Blushing, is just blowing my mind recently. I’m like, “who is sitting down and making this shit?,” it’s so good. And that’s what’s crazy is there’s so much music now, it’s like, is there even a point in trying to make a career out of this? No. I don’t think so. Which I think is lending itself to the best music ever, cause people are like “there’s no fucking way I’m gonna make a career out of this, I might as well just make what I want, whatever I want.” 

You used to have to deal with the label, but now everything is just, “yeah go for it.”

It’s such a blessed time in that regard, but at the same time… let me chill on that. Let’s say, Marvin Gaye, “I Want You”? We’re not getting that right now. And that’s no hate to right now.  But it’s just like that was a whole different way of living, thinking, moving, breathing you know. It’s just a whole different way of recording. 

But we’re so blessed to be able to do exactly what we want without the idea of needing to make money off it. Obviously it would be nice. But it’s unlikely so people are just making cool shit. And I’m really thankful for that. 

You can find Samba Jean-Baptiste on Instagram here and YouTube here. Once again, listen to Cardinal any way you get your music.