#it's been a while since ive done a full piece like this so it was fun

[teddiecircus]

guys i think they burnt the soup

[starshine-selfships]

Hi reminder that I love to kiss bugs

[coldgoldlazarus]

Heyy so i've been enjoying a lot of the yuri things you post about a lot, are there any good shows that you recommend watching? Ive seen and enjoyed bocchi and witch from mercury a ton and i have a lot of time these next few days to burn :)

Oh, I'm glad to hear that!

Hmm, what are some good Yuri shows aside from Gwitch and Bocchi?

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Admittedly, this is hard to answer as thoroughly as I'd like, since I generally have a hard time starting new shows and keeping up with them, so there are a fair few that I haven't actually gotten around to watching yet that I've really wanted to. Still, I'll mention a few of those since they do come highly recommended and I've had my eye on for a while, and then get into the ones I actually have seen.

-Kase-San and Morning Glory: Haven't seen, but did read the manga it's based on a while back; as I recall it's a very simple but very sweet slice-of-life sort of thing about a girly girl, a tomboy, and their shared love of gardening. Rather than a full series, I think it was adapted as a longer OVA or two? So I don't know how much of the story it covers, but it's also the kind of thing where, outside of the developing relationship of the leads, there's not too much in the way of like, a hard-hitting narrative to adapt. It's just super cute.

-Lycoris Recoil: In contrast to the last one, LycoReco is a recent anime-only sort of thing, and much more plotty from my understanding. It's basically the next thing I plan to properly sit down with in the near future, but until then I'll admit I don't know a whole lot about it; the main vibe I've gotten is that it is like, this action-drama about secret agents(?) first, yuri romance second, but it still does go out of its way to make the romance unambiguous and compelling, rather than trying to hide it behind subtext like older shows would have done. So at least based on what I've heard, it sounds worth your while, just I guess tread with caution since it may also get into some darker territory?

-The Executioner And Her Way Of Life: Another recent one that I haven't gotten to yet, but have read some of the manga for and so at least have some idea of what to expect. It's similar to Lycoris Recoil in being an action show first, but still very very clearly gay, so yanno, factor that in on whether you want to see it or not.

The premise is a sort of parody-taken-seriously of standard isekai stuff, taking place in a fantasy world that's constantly suffering from people reincarnating there from earth, growing overpowered and selfish, and causing radical, harmful upheaval. In response, an elite assassin's guild was formed to hunt down and eliminate these isekai "heroes" before they can get too powerful. The protagonist is one of these assassins, and the plot (and romance) starts when she's sent to kill a recently-isekai'd girl... who's special power is that she's seemingly unkillable, and immediately develops a crush on the assassin. Very much a slow burn enemies-to-lovers sort of vibe, but what little I read seemed promising.

-Wandering Witch: Another one I don't know a whole lot about, just that it's come highly recommended by some people whose good taste I generally trust. As the name implies, it seems to be a fairly slice-of-life-ish piece about a pair of witches? But beyond that, I don't really know much, so prolly worth looking into more yourself.

-Otherside Picnic: As I understand it, it's basically like the movie Annihilation, but gay? A pair of girls traveling through this uncanny sectioned-off region where all sorts of creepy supernatural happenings are going down, and it gets very existential. I've admittedly kinda dragged my feet on this one, since I have a complicated and inconsistent relationship with horror stuff, but it does sound very intriguing. Though I will say, from my understanding the yuri is very clear in the LN and manga, while the anime downplays that stuff into subtext? So it's probably more worth reading than watching.

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With those out of the way, time to talk about the ones I do know! A couple of these I'll pair up because their vibes are similar, but I'll still try and discuss each with due depth.

-Urara Meirochou & Konohana Kitan: These two are cut from a pretty similar cloth, that I guess I'll just call "Historic supernatural cuteness"? Both are set in fantasy versions of olden japan, but the overall vibe is similar to modern-day Cute Girls Doing Cute Things shows. I considered leaving them off the list since they're also much more reliant on subtext than most of the others here, but I have too much of a soft spot for Urara Meirochou to be able to ignore it ^^; (I have half-unfinished fanfic for it, which given the scarcity of my writings these days has to count for something!)

Urara is about a group of girls seeking to become apprentice fortune-tellers in this mazelike city dedicated to the craft, though all coming at it from very different walks of life. It's pretty simple and episodic, but the main thing that made it for me was the dynamic between the main protagonist, a literally feral girl who's having difficulty adapting back to human life after being literally Raised By Wolves, and a prim and proper noble daughter who's completely befuddled but also enamored by her antics.

Konohana Kitan, meanwhile, I never got around to finishing just because Life Happened™ at the time, but it featured a bunch of Kitsune running a bathhouse; very Spirited Away in some ways, but a lot more relaxed in tone.

-Izetta, The Last Witch & Princess Principal: Another pair that came out around the same time, but that are tonally kind of the opposite of the last two. Both take place in kinda steampunky/dieselpunky parallel history versions of early 1900s europe, and feature spies and intrigue and action primarily, while, due to when they came out, the yuri elements legitimately straddle the line between subtext and just text.

Izetta is almost a precursor to Witch From Mercury in some ways? Just again, different settings. It takes place during a parallel of World War I and II, with the Germany analogue attacking a tiny border country as part of its overall war plans. The princess of that smaller country, though, winds up calling on help from (and falling in love with) the last witch in the world to help repel the invasion with magic. Izetta very much feels like a prototype of Suletta, and rides an anti-tank-rifle instead of a broom, which is awesome.

Princess Principal, meanwhile, is more focused on class divides and zeroes in on the spy theme more clearly. Basically, in an alternate version of London that's split down the middle Berlin-style, a group of teenage academy students who are actually plants by the opposing side, team up with a traitorous lower princess to sabotage the royal family... though one of the spies has a pre-existing history with her that makes everything even more complicated. It's a really interesting one, told in non-chronological order, that understands the less glamorous side of intelligence operations while still having a fair amount of dramatic action and twists, and alternates between feeling like a CGDCT show and an intense political thriller. And yanno, the gay. I also actually haven't finished this one because Life Happened™ and it's been a while since, but one of these days I want to rewatch and properly finish it. What I did see, was very very strong, though.

-Black Rock Shooter (2010 OVA & 2012 Series): This is another one I wasn't sure I should include, but eh, here we go. Basically, a sort of supernatural psychological slice of life? It alternates between a fairly straightforward school drama, and mysterious glimpses into this almost eldritch other world where monstrous humanoid entities are locked in endless, often rather brutal, combat. As things go on, the two seemingly disconnected stories wind up coming together in interesting ways. Being an older series, the yuri is very much subtexual, but still kind of a core element of the story anyway? It's difficult to explain. The OVA and the Series are basically different takes on the same premise; I favor the OVA as the more subtly-told version, but despite the series getting weirdly melodramatic in places, manages to expand on the concept in some cool ways, so I'd say both are worth watching if it sounds interesting.

(Sidenote, though: Don't confuse BRS 2012 with the more recent series, Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall. Dawn Fall is part of the same franchise, but other than some shared characters it's almost completely unrelated, with a wildly different core premise and tone. And while I did like a couple things it did, on the whole I just can't recommend it, especially in comparison to the original but also just kind of in general on its own merits. I'd steer clear of that one unless you're morbidly curious and able to stomache some frankly unnecessarily disturbing content.)

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-Citrus: Something of a dishonorable mention before we move on to the big ones. Citrus is one I kind of have a lot of mixed feelings on personally, but I still feel like it's worth consideration, at the very least for the historical significance. TLDR; a boisterous gyaru moves to a new school and immediately winds up clashing with the school's repressed killjoy Student Council President, only for it to turn out that thanks to their parents remarrying, the two are now stepsisters. Cue lots of weird sexual tension and a revolving door of side character rival love interests.

A lot of people list the psuedo-incest nature of the two leads' relationship to be the big point against it, but to be perfectly honest, that aspect of it doesn't really bother me; I just didn't care for it because of basically the rest of the writing. There's a lot of what's basically sexual harassment in the manga, that the anime further escalates in adaptation to be as 'steamy' and 'torrid' as possible, and between that and the aforementioned side characters who (almost, there is one big exception and she's another reason I wasn't a fan) all have a more compelling (and respectful) dynamic with one or both of the leads, it failed to really sell me on the central pairing. I hear it does develop in a better direction later on, but that's after I lost patience to keep reading, and the anime basically only covers right up to the point where their interactions stop feeling so... uncomfortable.

At the same time, though, I will admit that Citrus does have its merits. There are a lot of people who do love it, so I'm not really speaking for a crowd here, and while I strongly dislike the student council president stepsister, the gyaru protagonist is a genuinely fun cinnamon roll who did nothing wrong and made what I did read/watch enjoyable despite my complaints. And like I said, I have heard it gets better, if you can get further in the manga.

And if nothing else, we do honestly owe Citrus, because the manga did help make yuri more popular and well-known, and the anime marked the shift from subtext being the only way to imply a relationship between girls, to more recent series being able to show it in full and not downplay the romantic or even sexual elements of a lesbian relationship. So, I guess despite what it took to get there, we probably wouldn't have it nearly as good as we do now without Citrus, so on that merit it is probably worth checking out.

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And finally, there's my top three recommendations:

-Magirevo (or; The Magical Revolution Of The Reincarnated Princess And The Genius Young Lady): Another recent one, but that I actually was able to sit down and watch through entirely, huzzah! Genre-wise it's kind of a weird one, being technically an Isekai but only barely; the protagonist has vague and fuzzy memories of a past life on earth that do inform her decisions and drive to an extent, but she refreshingly still feels mostly a part of this world she was born and raised in. It also takes a lot of cues in terms of the setting and typical tropes from the traditionally (tragically) more het-oriented Otome/Villainess genre, so without as much familiarity with that, some of the metatextual twists to those formulas that I really enjoyed, may not land the same? But it's still pretty solid even aside from that.

The basic concept there is that the protagonist, a princess in a magically-strong royal family who herself lacks any magical capability, becomes something of a mad scientist in her efforts to find a way to use magic through other means, and abdictates succession to her younger brother. However, over time he begins acting more erratic, until a breaking point is hit when he publically disavows his betrothed fiance. And the princess, who's also a massive lesbian who's long held a crush on said fiance, takes advantage of this to swoop in and drag her into assisting with her experiments.

It's admittedly kind of an uneven series, veering wildly between slice-of-life hijinks and surprisingly in-depth amounts of intrigue, and so the overall tone is a bit messy. The big issue is that its commentary on the flaws of monarchism and royal politics winds up feeling a bit undercut/incomplete, by virtue of being an incomplete adaptation that the LNs and Manga continue past, but I'm still willing to forgive all that, because the romantic development is very strong. While I understand some of the other series above that I have yet to watch or complete also don't have to hide behind subtext like older shows did, this one feels like it really takes advantage of that freedom. Despite the main plot distracting from it at times, on the whole the girls' relationship feels wonderfully central and gets a really good payoff. If you're here for gay with a little extra something on top, this is my recommendation.

-Symphogear: This is a case where I simultaneously really recommend this, while not entirely being sure if it should be on the list. While most of the others I've listed are single-cour and thus pretty quick to blast through, (even if sometimes to their own detriment, more on that later) Symphogear has five seasons' worth of content, with possibly more on the way, (there was a recent announcement of something new coming in a few years, but whether it's a new season, a spinoff, or just some unduly hyped merch or something, is yet unclear.) so is more of an undertaking. It's also a bit more rough around the edges in some spots, so my recommendation does come with disclaimers.

Premise-wise, it's kind of a weird mashup of genres; Magical girls, super robot mecha anime, and idols being the big ones. In a near-future world that's regularly afflicted by incursions from deadly entities called Noise, there are a group of girls wielding Symphogears, music-powered magitech devices that allow them to transform and fight back. However, there's a whole lot more going on beneath the surface, as the mystery of where the Noise are coming from is tied to a web of conspiracy involving alchemists, monsters, enemy symphogear wielders, and ancient sumerian myth.

It's definitely an action show first and foremost, but part of what both makes it interesting (and somewhat difficult to explain conceisely) is the way it evolves over the course of its run. The original season just started out as like, one of the wave of edgy grimdark "being magical girl is suffering" Madoka-clones that came out after Madoka, (so yanno, if you watch it, go in prepared for it to go some dark places) but it fairly quickly found its own identity and direction in being deeply, unapologetically maximalist about everything it does. Maximum edgy darkness! Maximum awesome hype! (And resultingly, maximum weaponized mood whiplash!) Maximum music! Maximum conspiracy! Maximum violence! Maximum comedy! (For better or worse, maximum fanservice!) Maximum gay! Maximum gay drama!

So like, it's just... A Lot,™ for both good and bad, and best taken at a measured pace rather than binged all at once. Also, while it's technically just subtext in its yuri until the last season, as with everything else about the show, it's so blaringly, gleefully unsubtle about that stuff that it may as well be text anyway.

So yanno, I personally like it, I think it's a great show that more people should watch, but I'll also readily admit that while it probably has at least something for everyone, it also probably has something that might turn people away, with either the plentiful fanservice, or the more oppressive grimdarkness of most of the first season being the two biggest concerns. It uh, goes some places. But, all that being said, it's still a pretty great ride on the whole? So if you think you could deal with those aspects, I do think it's worth taking a look, and the payoff is very much worth it.

And finally...

-Bloom Into You: In terms of just pure yuri, this is one of my favorites, and a pretty popular one for good reason. It hits a really nice balance between the chillaxed gentleness of most slice-of-life stuff, and the angst and drama of some other series; I feel like the best word to describe its tone is thoughtful. It's very well-written, and very sweet while still giving more to chew on. (Also helped me realize I was demiromantic, so that's also a point in its favor.)

A girl entering high school has always dreamed of and idealized romance, but after actually getting confessed to and feeling nothing about it, winds up kinda reconsidering and uncertain of what she actually wants. She meets an upperclassman who seems completely disinterested in romance and tries to connect with her over that, only for the upperclassman to fall for her instead; while aknowledging it's unrequited, she regardless asks her to enter a sort of one-way semi-romantic, semi-platonic relationship. As it goes on, and more context comes to light, she starts to realize there's a lot more emotionally complicated stuff going on, that I'll let you find for yourself.

Very very good series, but with one major flaw, that being that the anime only covers the first half of the manga and cuts off before everything can really properly resolve. They did tweak things a bit so the last episode does serve as at least something of a conclusion, but it's still just not quite there. Unless they do a second season to cover the rest, (which at present seems unfortunately unlikely) my recommendation would honestly just be to read the manga on dynasty scans, or watch the show and then read the rest. It is at least a very faithful adaptation, so I don't think you'd be missing too much if you choose the latter route. But yeah, either way, if you only do one thing off this list, this one is what I'd suggest.

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I hope this helped! Went bit overboard here, whoops ^^;

[peachdues]

I'm writing here since i couldn't reblog, prolly because the post is massive 😭😭😭

Like, that completely tore me from the inside out, i'm dying inside, i don't even know what's happening to me, i'm crying, but hopful, and also scared, I DON'T KNOWWWW

One thing that has been nagging me.. the thing i'm most scared about.. (mostly) ...is Sanemi, like.. "sterile"..? Or is it something about him being a wolf, or the curse, making him unable to get reader pregnant??? HE GAVE HER BUCKETS OF CUM LIKE- WHY 😭😭

I absolutely hate Douma after this, i don't care that it's not cannon, i hate the bastard

But overall what struck me the most, was the beauty of Sanemi's and YN's love 😭

I wish to be able to have anything like this in the future (i won't) it's so pure, so.. like, full, just so amazing..

As well as your writing!! It's a piece of art, a wonder, and don't let any fucker tell you otherwise

THANK YOU SO MUCH, PEACHY 😭❤️❤️❤️❤️

Hello darling!

Hehehehe you all have to know by now I love causing pain and horniness (in the same fic!)

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF PART III BELOW:

As for your question — no, Sanemi isn’t sterile.

There’s a very simple reason Reader isn’t pregnant in part III — I didn’t want her to be. There’s two aspects of this.

1. If Reader had been pregnant in Part III she wouldn’t have survived the encounter with Douma — plain and simple. She never would have made it to him before the curse was triggered. Douma would have done to her exactly what he’d done to his other wives/Makomo. His only interest in her was if she was pregnant — once he realized she wasn’t, her only value to him was to use as bait for Sanemi.

2. Even if she had somehow avoided being immediately devoured by Douma — can y’all imagine Sanemi’s reaction to learning he mauled his pregnant mate?

As I’ve said, Sanemi is suffering GREATLY in part IV over what’s happened. Sanemi’s forced transformation is very much an allegory for S/A. He is forced out of control of himself and his body is then used to harm the person he loves most. So that’s bad enough — but I truly don’t think he would’ve been able to live with himself if he’d mauled Reader while pregnant, especially considering how badly they both want a child.

As for their love — I’m so glad it resonated with you and that it came across as well as it did! That love is certainly put to the test in Part IV, in many ways.

[beast-towers]

Final of Clashing Worlds.

From the last post and now we are on part two and final of my comic. Thank you all for the read!

Previous Part of Clashing Worlds

Warning: Some Blood and brighter colors will be shown, I do apologize about that.

Wish to continue? Alrighty then!

Hunter’s Report:

Time: 8:36 AM

Region: England

Area of Sighting: Alton Towers

As I explained before in the beginning of my last report of Uri’s sighting, Uri and her fellow Guardians felt an uneasy sensation in the air, and she has found one of the pieces. It was hard to believe that whatever this was, it has placed a Twisted “Blessing” onto Otsana Risa, Guardian Beast of The Smiler. Uri had done everything in her power to at least weaken Otsana and bring her to be purified… I’m afraid that was proven to be a difficult task.

As I and Alton discuss this situation, we’ve heard an explosion created by Uri. With no hesitation, I ran to the location, as a grandmother, I do worry for my grandchildren… but with this Darkness looming over the land, I didn’t want it to take another victim.

I thankfully reached my granddaughter in time before whatever was watching can make a move… I know it’s not Melanthios… the very demon I defeated so long ago. This is different, but not in the same threat level as him… well, it’s close enough unfortunately. Which it is concerning enough for Alton and the beasts. Whatever or whoever this was, he fears it still has enough power to do the very same to the other beasts… just like the poor Werewolf.

I have sent a band of hunters to track down Otsana’s blood trail and her whereabouts… This was my mistake. This darkness didn’t leave, and since it didn’t get their claws on my granddaughter’s soul, I’m afraid it grabbed them instead… UNFORGIVABLE. I and my family went out to search for them… nothing. Except claw marks and a scent of Otsana’s blood, and… unknown smell of someone and a horrible chemical smell. I’m not sure it was this dark energy or her…. My only prayer now is that the hunters are alive and fighting to escape…

Unfortunately, I will need further proof and an identification to launch a full hunt, capture, and rescue. I will be sending close Allies, my fellow Huntress, and my Grandson: Sycorax, Edric, Calypso, and Zyran to aid Alton with the beasts’ worries, while in the hopes to capture Otsana… if my and my dear friend’s Sight is correct and played right, perhaps one of them can help Otsana see through this polluted darkness, and return her to the light.

End of Report.

-Wolf Van Helsing, Lady of the Abyss Watchers.

—————————————————————

Thank you all so much for reading! This has been very interesting experience for me, and I hope I’ll get better at it in time ^^;

So! What really inspired me to make this? Once a fucking again, Darbi. Mostly Season 3 Ep. 42 Clensing (IV) or #117. (If wrong let me know so I can edit this) I HIGHLY recommend reading it! While it was on hiatus, I decided to read Season 3 and I forgot all about that scene of Dolla fighting Darbi, and it didn’t leave my mind until I finally caved in and created this! Was it fun? Yes. HOWEVER; my only mistake here is this: I should of planned it better. This all came into mind and that alone, so hopefully next time if I ever thought of this again, I’m grabbing my Note Book to write for ideas….

And lastly! And I’m still gonna thank you for this again! @twistedtowers for the incredible redesigning of Otsana! (And I’m sorry she didn’t get a W ;w; but the two got a tie… I know, still not a W ;-;) I wanted to experiment and have of the idea of “Otsana wants and has to prove she can Control the park, but there are those who would step up and forbid her from doing that.” A.K.A, Uri and perhaps now some future characters.

Okay, off to what was going on with the two having glowing lines! Welp, that’s not only a self regeneration, but also a way to charge up their attacks. Example: Otsana’s Flash attack. (Welp, looks like it’s been powered up now… thanks Regan.) with enough energy she can unleash it to an whole group, but pretty sure after this scuffle… she may want some training 😬 but she felt a bit proud for forcing Uri back into human form while stunning her.

As for Uri, why did her eyes changed? Welp, if pushed WAAAY in her limit, a deep Primal Instinct will be awakened. Her grandmother calls it: Primal Spirit. Basically it boosts up the power of the individual, and they are easily set off into a rage. But don’t be fooled, just because the person is mega angry, doesn’t mean they’re fully blinded, this will make them more focused and unleash their rage on the weak spot. Downside however, it will drain the person HEAVILY, causing them to be knocked out for awhile as seen from Uri.

Finally, Wolf Van Helsing herself. What or who is she? Well, for short. She is Uri’s Grandmother, and a Shiftwalker woman who survived a horrific war and carnage from a demon named, Melanthios, The Dark Flower who Blooms in One’s Heart. And that massive star like shape on her chest…. That’s a scar. Girl took in a deadly hit just to seal Melas away for 150 years. While dying, her allies and deceased old friend separated Melas’s life energy, and transferred it to her. Reborn as a being of Light, Creation, and Life. And to make things complicated for Melanthios, she transferred the same Energy to her children, and they passed it on to their children… like Uri. Explains why her transformation looks like a piece of an orange nebula. (Look man, I love space.)

Extras: Who are Sycorax, Edric, Zyran, and Calypso?? Two out of the four are my old ocs that I decided to bring back for fun! That being: Sycorax a battle scarred man and user of Alchemy Magic and a wolf side that might surprise Otsana, and Edric the adopted son of an Ice Queen (she belongs to a close bro of mine) and a man with a secret identity (Hint: he is NOT human.) he also uses Ice and Space magic as well for combat, but it’s the Black Ice that should be concerning IF pushed to his limits.

Zyran is Uri’s big brother (like 4 years older) and pretty sure after this incident… yeah home boi will unleash his thunder. As for Calypso, a fierce huntress well known in the Hunters World, but what role is she gonna play here? ;3

[kapioga]

Nothing a little pixie lights cant fix! Its been a while since ive done a full color piece like this so definitely had fun messing around with a few new techniques.

[make-your-own-evil]

Hi I'm new to ur blog and I was wondering if I could have btas dork squad (aka Scarecrow, Riddler, and mad Hatter) with a s/o who has a special pocket watch that allows them to travel to different dimensions at different time periods? And the funny part of that every time they come back home their wearing new clothes from said time period and holding a gift basket full of their dorks favorite items or things s/o thinks they would like? Fem or gender neutral ❤❤

❤ anon

this is such a cool ask??? i have never written anything like this before so i am excited to challenge myself, but im also nervous to see how it turns out! i think ill do a fem reader since ive done gn for the past few asks (im assuming you want headcanons btw)

note: feel free to reblog! just give credit when necessary :)

(ps i ADORE reading tags, comments, reblogs 🥰)

BTAS! Dork Squad x TimeTraveler!Fem!Reader

Mad Hatter:

he is your number one fan! he thinks you and your fancy, time-traveling pocket watch are truly the bees knees. you constantly keep him in awe

begs you to take him with you :( if youre only able to travel by yourself then he waits patiently for you to get back

travel to the mid to late 1800's England! in the times of lewis carroll, victorian tea parties, fancy attire 😍

you reappear in his hideout, not wearing the clothes you left in, but a beautiful blue day dress with silky fabrics! his face is beet-red and surely there would be smoke coming from under his hat if it were possible!

not only are you dressed head to toe as a noble lady for a tea party for two, but you also brought him gifts?

oh be still his beating heart! when you thought it would be impossible for him to smile any wider, he did! bring him old books, (technically) new clothes, trinkets, hats and new tea sets!

no matter which time period you travel to, he sits you down and asks you a million questions and begs you to tell him everything!

stares at you in awe and wonder while holding your gloved hands as he hangs onto your every word

looks like this the whole time :O

Scarecrow:

BLACK DEATH BLACK DEATH BLACK DEATH >:)

do you really want to tickle the spooky mans fancy? travel anywhere from 1347-1351 in Europe.

he is fascinated by your pocket watch and demands to know how it works

as a demonstration, you disappear from his lab and suddenly reappear later wearing a red stitched gown that looks more like a long tunic. a white cloth veil covers your hair

he has his clipboard in hand

if he wasnt fully convinced of your time traveling device, you decide to bring him some gifts!

PLAGUE DOCTOR TOOLS!

in your little medieval basket you have a mask, blades, gloves and even a jar of leeches!

proposes that you join forces! he doesnt know how you could help him exactly but your little pocket watch is pretty nifty

he asks you to go to more time periods and bring him back things for his "experiements"

YES theyre for his experiments and totally not for self indulgent purposes >:(

Riddler:

future babeyyy

do you want to truly impress him? bring him back some pieces of tech that he can tinker with!

he doesnt believe you at first when you try to tell him about the pocket watch

once you disappear and reappear with goodies, now hes invested!

you show up wearing a green and black body suit in fabrics he has never seen before!

you bring back a phone that uses a 7G network system, newspapers with major events, a laptop with a 2 petabytes of storage that is no thicker than a half inch, books and movies that havent even been released yet and more!

he asks you VERY technical questions that you probaly dont have the answers to

have you met your past/future self? how does your watch work?isnt this going to destroy the space-time continuum? what if you die while traveling?

like scarecrow, he is probably going to make you go off and scavenge for things he would find useful

i am 100% confident that this riddler could reverse engineer just about anything. with your powers combined, nothing stands in your way

[swearyshera]

You have no idea how hands-shaking, looking-down-off-a-cliff scared I was to scroll down when Catra began to say sorry and got cut off. I had to take almost a full minute to brace myself cuz I was so afraid Glimmer would do the thing so many other protags have done where they just accept the apology for the sake of expediency or compassion or their own regrets or to focus on moving forward. Or to excuse away the apologizers actions as not their own because of manipulation or emotion. I've been waiting since Day One for this hoping it wouldn't be like those, especially considered canon didnt even attempt it and that left my love for this series feeling like it was missing a piece.

I could never expected it go this hard. Glimmer's grief and guilt and cold rage feels so tangible, and the sheer strength it feels like it took to both acknowledge and honestly deliver those feelings to Catra with no sugarcoating while not full-on attacking her with them and driving a wedge into the only refuge either of them have from Prime breaks my heart. Acknowledging Catra feels sorry but telling her flat out no apology or atonement could heal this, so if she feels sorry thats her own damn problem. A perfect interstice of emotional fortitude and frailty. I could never have dreamt of a moment this great.

Glimmer was always my fave in canon but this catapulted her into the fucking celestial firmament. The catharsis I'm feeling right now makes me feel like I could jump the goddamned moon. This moment alone is my favorite exploration of grief and forgiveness ive seen in a fandom like this since ATLA's The Southern Raiders. I cant wait to see your spin on the rest of this arc if its even a fraction this good. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for this and for this project. Thank you.

This was such a hard scene to write. I'd had some ideas written down for this scene for quite a while, and we almost got a scene where they discussed what they would say to Adora instead, but I thought it would perhaps be more impactful to tackle the subject of Angella head on.

I'm not completely oblivious to the fact that many people wished Glimmer and Catra had approached the topic of what happened to Angella in canon. And again, I'd never say that this blog is a 'fix-it' for the stuff people didn't like, but sometimes there's stuff that I wish had been in the show - this was one of those things.

But knowing I wanted to put in a scene and actually writing it are two different things. I was so nervous when this one went out, because I worried that people would react negatively to it (but you didn't, thanks everyone!). You're right that having Glimmer go "Oh, sure, don't worry about it" would have felt hollow and really undercut the whole 'Angella is dead' thing. But equally, if Glimmer had said "Sorry isn't enough, I hate you and will never forgive you", it would have been hard to reconcile that level of sheer hatred with them working together later on.

I chose Glimmer's words quite carefully here. I wanted to show that her opting to take her mother's actions as one of heroic sacrifice rather than a desperate last-ditch attempt to save Etheria from Catra's mistake was for her own benefit, not Catra's. Glimmer makes that choice to discard Catra's part in it every day because that's the only way she can manage her grief (especially when face-to-face with Catra), not because she wants Catra to feel better. And that rejection of the apology was not so much a "Your apology means nothing" as it was "Don't try and complicate the way I'm dealing with this." Sorry means she has to reconcile that Catra feels guilt. Sorry upsets her grieving process. She doesn't want it.

I'm so excited for everyone to see the rest of this arc, particularly how things develop through Corridors. We'll soon be seeing Horde Prime step up his manipulation of Catra's depression, and more about how that is affecting her and driving her to desperation. But we also get those bittersweet flashbacks, the reminders that Adora has always been on her side - even when they've been on opposing sides of a war. And finally, the climax of the episode where Catra saves Glimmer, and (at least here) leaves Adora with some chilling words. I always feel like I become a better writer with every episode, and I am so proud of some of the stuff you're about to see.

[autisticblueteam]

Appears from the ether again, after months of only being present enough to fill my queue up, with some WIP snippets from the gen:LOCK re-write I mentioned before...

And also finally adressing these tags lmao, sorry @thesouppond I realise these are like 3 months old.

#FUCK IM JUST SEEING THIS NOW???#FUCK YEAH 2024 SEASON OF EVERYONE GETS TO REWRITE GENLOCK CAUSE FUCK S2#Ahem anyway hi genlock moot :)))#I love your writing btw! Ive read your existing GL fics theyre great!#at this point if someone can give me a GL fic i havent already met I will forever be indebted to you i am DYING for GL content

We're really out here trying our best to do better by GL than HBO did huh!! I've been loving Reloaded, it was so nice to see someone else pop up in the gL tag after it was comparatively dead for so long. I've been working on my re-write since just after s2 came out and it was lonely in there for a while there lmao.

So I'm glad you enjoyed the couple of fics I've already done! I'm re-using parts of one of them for the actual re-write since I'm going for the 'keep the basic bones of s2 but aim to fix the execution into something less shit/re-work the worst bits' and I didn't want to write that first nemesis fight over again from total scratch lmao...

I want to finish writing all of the re-write before I post it in full, but that does mean it's taking forever whoops.

I'm still not past the introduction of Sinclair as his portion is so involved and I keep getting distracted by other projects/hobbies, but I did finally get to a point where my take on Sinclair is actually fun to write! I'm keeping his boyfriend because I did at least like that Sinclair was made canonically queer and they're actually cute when I'm just doing my own thing.

So since I feel like posting some WIP bits, here's my favourite Chris/Sinclair stuff I've done so far.

“YEAH! Take that you fucked up tin can!” Sinclair winced. The shout was like an ice pick being driven into his skull, but it was also what finally drove him to lift his head. There ahead of him, wielding a large piece of debris in one hand, was a heavyset Asian man dressed in torn clothes and covered in grime. He reared back, and for a split second Sinclair thought that projectile was for him, until he heard an impact, and the last of the humming died. The man brushed off his hands, pride written on every feature, and in that moment he was the most beautiful thing Sinclair had ever seen. “Coast’s clear!” the stranger called behind him. There was movement, but Sinclair didn’t care to look, his attention caught by the man’s approach. “And we’ve got a live one.” Sinclair’s throat was so dry he broke down coughing twice, in the time it took the stranger to kneel in front of him. “I-I’m not Union. I-I know— with the uniform, and the—” Another violent burst of coughing cut him off. The stranger handed him a canteen and a crooked smile. “Yeah, no shit. You’ve got way too much emotion on your face to be even a defector,” he said, and if Sinclair wasn’t so busy chugging the offered water, he might have mustered a laugh. “That, plus, the lack of helmet, the collapsing, and the drone getting ready to turn you into a novelty cheese grater kinda gave it away.” “Christ, I could kiss you right now,” Sinclair blurted and then regretted in quick succession. Fuck. He’d been in near solitary too long, his filter had worn away to nothing and he was making a damn fool of himself in front of the first sane people he’d seen in weeks. Except the stranger just… laughed, good-naturedly. “Close, the name’s Chris, not Christ. And I’d say buy me dinner first, but it’s a bit hard out here.”

AND then a little later...

“What about the refugee railroads?” Chris lowered his beer bottle and wiped his mouth. “Too far.” “Vanguard safe crossings?” “Too far.” “The— fucking Canadian border?” Chris laughed, “Too far. Further than either of the other things. Jesus, dude. You sure you haven’t got a concussion?” “Mostly,” Sinclair said, rubbing his face with his intact hand. “I just— you’re going to die if you stay here. A drone only has to get lucky once.” “And if we go deeper in, we’ll only die faster,” Chris said with a simple shrug. “We already have to pack up and move every few weeks when the line moves. And every time, the Polity border gets a little bit further away. Believe me, man, I want nothing more than to get outta here, but it’s just not happening.” “What if I helped?” The offer fell out before he’d consciously decided to make it, but Sinclair stood by it. Even when Chris looked at him dubiously. “No offence, dude, but you’re just one guy. And two days ago you could barely stand.” “And now I’m fine,” Sinclair insisted. “I’m a soldier. I was decorated for valour after I got my squad out of a run-in with the Union that should’ve killed us all. I was the only one who could even still hold a gun. I swear, I could get you somewhere safe. Are you really telling me you’d rather keep sitting around waiting to die than take a risk?” Chris’s brow furrowed, and he didn’t answer immediately, taking another swig from his scratched up bottle of beer. Sinclair sighed. “Look. I need to get to a Vanguard base one way or another. I don’t want to leave you guys behind if I don’t have to. I owe you my life. And maybe dinner.” Chris almost choked on his drink. “Wow,” he laughed, clearing his throat, “you sure pick your moments, huh?” Sinclair shrugged. “Figure if you’re not actually into it I’ll just blame the concussion.” “That you don’t have.” “Exactly.” Chris rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “Smooth. Smooth operator. Alright, alright, fine, we’ll talk to the others in the morning. It might be a tougher sell when they’re not the ones getting dinner with a hot soldier out of it, but hey, guess we’ll see.” “Are you looking past the just-got-done-being-tortured chic, here, or is that part of the charm?” “Are you kidding? There’s a whole genre focused on how hot soldier guys look after they’ve been through hell.” “Not sure that’s the intended takeaway of action movies.” “Well,” Chris shrugged, starting to pick at a can of food, “it was definitely my takeaway.” Sinclair laughed. Honest-to-god laughed, in a way he was surprised he was even capable of after the last few weeks. The normality of the moment was like a balm on all the aching parts of him, mental and physical alike. For a moment he could almost forget that the reason he looked like shit was because he’d just escaped the worst experience of his life. For a moment it felt like the fight was over.

Now I just have to actually get through the remainder of my Sinclair set-up and then I'll be only one chapter away from finishing the first half of the fic... so close and yet so far lmao.

[raitnrong]

ive been so tempted to make my own geeta post ever since ive written down this one response on an analysis on her. i've actually come to make my own conclusions abt her character while making and it's making me go '???' at all the apparent hate on her.

genuinely i rly do just want to know what piece i've missed abt her dialogue that's gotten the ppl against her buzzing

i in fact do think that geeta is a great top champion! she conducts check-ins w the gyms, has gotten herself involved in the proceedings of the school (a great thing to have done as a top champion btw, recognizing it's important to be updated and engaged in paldea's new generation), and takes her role as the top champion very seriously! (so srs that she's caught onto nemona's need to be able to battle at her fullest when she'd had her exam)

she may have had her flaws like being meddlesome n a bit careless at times (like sending the player to larry w/o a head-up on his part|| a lot of ppl hate this, however this could be construed like she trusts larry to be able to handle such matters instead. depending on ur outlook)

but overall she looks like she does her job w grace. n everyone is flawed?? tho yes it's not an excuse when it comes to having responsibilities as big as hers, but even in a professional light she's not so egregious as to receive the amount distrust she has

a lot of ppl in game hold her in high esteem-- larry is snappy at her yes but why the hell is that suddenly made to define her character? "oh, larry has something going on w geeta n that is but a seed as to why she's fishy as hell!" like??

im p sure larry doesnt even hate her guts! like yes there's dislike there but is larry rly full of loathing so as to have to constantly 'go against the world' bc of his job n his boss? yes his dialogue abt normal types n ppl expecting flashy things were remarkable. but in the context of pokemon? as if id actually believe that!!

(normal types have their own strengths, they're not run-of-the-mill. they don't shine just because "they don't shine". normal pokemon are awesome for being normal pokemon period! it's a type like any other is. not to say his philosophy abt liking a pokemon is any less valid! gym leaders find their types due to many motivations)

anyway getting off topic hahah, larry could just be grumpy in general. so where does ppl get the idea that it makes geeta evil...

is it the design huh. look deep in urself and be honest ,':T

one point btw on how geeta is in fact clever and heartful (that shes not some power-crazed harpy and but is simply engaged in her work) is this point i made abt geeta's decisions with penny.

now if u recall, penny hacked the league in order to be able to reward the player for putting up w cassiopeia's operations

when she told clavell, he said it was out of his jurisdiction n that the decision was to rest on geeta.

and what did geeta do?

she CHOSE to be lenient w penny by instead having her work off her debt to the league by having her improve their cyber networks.

a hobby that penny already does and likes btw! she could have been further expelled or sent off like last time, but instead, geeta's choice was to allow penny the chance to face the consequences of her actions by having penny use her talents as she'd recognized it. geeta didn't see an opportunity for punishment but instead she chose growth.

for her, it'd come to light that they now had two problems: a child facing massive trouble for what is the equivalent of govt.theft and the league's shoddy security. and then she sought a solution that solves both in the most holistic and frickin' effective way possible! wow! it's insane!

she's not taking advantage of penny, it was her intervention of helping her >:T

im sure even penny appreciated her penalty bc she's mature enough to recognize what she's done wrong, does have knack for tech, and she knows she's helping paldea in return w her IT direction (and she's a good kid!)

--hc timee: now imagine nemona and penny bonding over their admiration for la primera as her helpers pls :))--

i would love to hear the points against her other than hcs tho! i may have missed something from the game bc rly i was more tuned to the trio's arcs (esp nemo's) rather than the adults' characters (except for clavell)

but srsly y would ppl hope that there's an agenda ruining scarvi's experience w paldea. tho yes leaders r in the risk of turning corrupt, the fact that there'a no direct text on pkmn is already a testament as geeta's quite clean now.

[branmuffins22]

of all the things to just not bring up again about the events of kings tide, im surprised to see that luz being very nearly petrified didnt make that cut. like, she was seconds or less from being irreversibly turned into a statue, while nobody was around to help, completely at the mercy of belos.

sure, we saw this once before with eda, at the end of season 1, but shes a full grown adult, with a lot more experience being transformed against her will (what with the curse and all), and she had at least a whole day to come to terms with her impending demise, not to mention the years shes known she had it coming.

not luz. shes a child, the closest experience she had to this body horror was when she bodyswapped with eda for an afternoon, and she had maybe a minute, tops, between when her petrification was started on a whim and when it wouldve been complete. she was just a kid trying to convince an old bastard to stop his religiously-motivated genocide.

and somehow, she kept a cool head, cool enough to find a way out, cool enough to talk her executioner into stopping, and cool enough to turn the situation around on him right afterwards, flawed though that plan ended up being.

luz seems to have become the kind of person to be remarkably calm and competent under life-threatening pressure, only to pass that dread into the future. we saw this near the end of season 1 when she managed to walk all the way from the emperors castle to the owl house before finally breaking down, again when she was run ragged at the blight expo before coming home and crashing, and another time when she broke down as soon as the action stopped after the trip into the emperors mind.

ever since the end of season 1, she hasnt done a lot of panicking under duress like she used to do (like running away during the duel at the covention, and running from grom, to name a few), but she almost always brings it up again eventually, from her pride over the piece of the emperors mask she chipped off in their first fight, to the constant angst about the revelations in hollow mind, she clearly processes the emotions from those scenarios eventually.

not so with her petrification.

i suppose i can chalk it up to another casualty of the cut, but its really a huge shame that all we get to worry about from the events of kings tide is "the child god is running loose on the boiling isles while were stuck on earth, unable to ensure the safety of our loved ones", and then theres the whole new/old thing of belos somehow still being around, and it just feels so disconnected from that plot.

their time on earth couldve been a deeply emotional unpacking of all the stuff theyve been going through while they try to make it back, mixed with whatever adventures can be had, repeated failures and lingering repression leading up to luz's attempted narrative suicide, but instead we got "look how sad this all is, but look at all the fun times weve had, but now look how much sadder luz still is than everyone else, despite all those fun times we just showed you, and wOAH WATCH OUT! BELOS!"

idunno, one of the biggest reasons ive gotten into fanfic in the last month has been to explore the emotional consequences of all that stuff. one of my favorite oft-overlooked traumas is that luz had to endure the encroaching effects of a rather horrific death while simultaneously lying her way out of it, succeeding by such a small margin that it may as well have been a fluke that she survived at all. lots of potential for angsty nightmares and such, but none of it explored.

[wilted-woman]

music time

ha. you fool. do you know what you’ve done.

comparing turnabout sisters’ ballad, turnabout sisters’ theme (maya’s theme) and with pearly (pearl’s theme) - this does get technical btw you have been warned:

These three tracks all build off the same basic melodic line, with variations in tempo, key, chord structure, and rhythm in order to evoke completely different feelings. I’m calling Maya’s theme (also sometimes called Turnabout Sisters’ Theme) the base melody, since it’s the one we hear first. Maya’s theme is interesting: even though it’s written in F minor, the composer is able to keep it feeling happy by centering the melodic line around Ab (the relative major), and having it at an up-tempo andante (a quick walking pace). Ending the line on a i6 rather than a i helps to soften the minor as well: by inverting the chord, we’re working with two major intervals (a third and a fourth) rather than a minor and then major third. (it feels more major because it’s made of major intervals - deceptive).

*i wrote the inversion wrong in m2, it should be vii6/4 not 6/5 i just don’t wanna rewrite it

This image of the first line shows where the main melody ends, and the fill comes in to keep the momentum going. I’ve also marked how the melody makes Ab feel like the tonal center, even though the tonic is actually F. That first point about the fill is important, because it’s one of the biggest differences between Maya’s theme and Ballad of Turnabout Sisters. 

Ballad of Turnabout Sisters has a much sadder, but just as sweet, tone to it. It’s slowed down to an adagio, and the key is lowered to A minor (with the melody still centered around the relative major - keeping that bittersweet feeling and the connection to Maya’s theme). 

When we look at the sheet music, a few more differences pop out immediately. For one, it’s a whole lot emptier. Instead of the full chords we had with Maya’s theme, this ballad has been stripped down to melody and bass line. We also don’t have those fills in between the melodic phrases to hurry the piece along, making it feel a lot more still. The lengthened pickup and the repeated note in measure 2 strengthen this effect, making you really wait for that resolution. And when you get it, we aren’t in major-interval-land like we were in Maya’s theme. That i chord is now in root position, and is missing its major third, so all we have is a minor interval, making the whole thing sound a lot sadder.

With Pearly probably has the most changes out of all three.

The biggest one by far is the time signature: we are now counting in three instead of two, making the whole thing sound more bouncy and fun. It’s also been taken faster (this sheet music didn’t have a specific marking but it feels like vivace - lively and brisk) and raised up, not to D minor, but to F major. Again, it’s a softer major (note the vii to IV in measure 2 instead of your usual V to I), but it’s major nonetheless, scrubbing basically all melancholy from the melody. The amount of space between the melody and bassline also makes it feel all the more brighter compared to even Maya’s theme, which is about a sixth lower. All-in-all, this is very nine-year-old.

The way this melody-and-variations connects Mia, Maya and Pearl, while also encapsulating a myriad of different moods is really clever, and honestly so much better than writing individual themes from scratch. It conveys a sense of family incredibly well: same, but different.

ALSO on a slightly different note i was inspired by this to write. all this

go check it out even if you’re not a theory buff it’s really cool trust me. it also gives you like. a more wholistic appreciation for all the soundtracks rather than this super-niche deep-dive i wrote

[fandomfluffandfuck]

hi!

im soooo happy you're unflagged now, slutty chris as your pfp was something i missed a lot when i opened tumblr haha 🫠

anywayy, i was wondering what tips you have for finishing WIPs? like, i have about 6 of them that are pretty long already but each time i open one i write about a paragraph and get unmotivated againn

i really wanna post this multichapter ive been working on since january (it's a dad's best friend trope, if you're wondering 👀) but im writing one last chapter and nothing will come to me :(

do you have any tips for getting motivated or just general things that help you stay focussed?

Hey!

Same! It felt like such a long time 😫 (I mean, it was almost three weeks, so it kinda was a long time, but you know what I'm getting at)

Your wip sounds super interesting. I'm sure they're all devine. Sending you all the ✨️motivation✨️

I don't know if I have tips as much as I can tell you what I do (or what I try to do, at least lol), but anyway, here goes--

I usually don't have more than one "actual" wip at one time, I obviously jot down ideas when they come to me, but I'm not writing multiple full-fledged fics at once. I'm writing a fic, and maybe I'm working on some writing for Tumblr at the same time. Other than that, I just don't. I'm VERY tempted at times, but I force myself to take it one at a time. Even when it might be painful, lol.

(And I'm aware that I'm very privileged to have a brain that works in such a way as to let me write like that.)

Plus, as weird as it sounds, I've found the more I write with a single wip at a time, the more moving onto the next idea I have becomes a reward in of itself.

As far as finishing what I'm working on currently, usually I start with an outline, literal jot dots, for what I want the fic to be. Obviously, it doesn't always follow what I first put down, but there's an outline at least. Then, I go back and fill in that outline where I know nothing is permanent. I literally write the full fic in jot dot form. It just might be missing bits and pieces. It's still in jot dots. After I finish through the whole outline--expanding the ideas into actual writing--I go back, and I go section by section, removing the jot dots while reading for things I might need to change, things I might want to add, etc. After I get through the whole thing that way, I re-read it as a normal piece of writing. Again, changing or adding or removing things or whatever as I go. Then, I usually run it through a program like Grammarly or some shit to catch stuff that I can't catch (thanks dyslexia). Finally, I copy and paste it into AO3, reading it one last time, in a different font.

My schedule for writing on the weekend (soon weekdays, too... almost hello summer 👀) is to write for an hour after I eat breakfast. I'm a morning person, I get up at 6:00 am, then I sit on the couch with my laptop and type for an hour. Usually like 7:00-8:00am. Then I'm done. I'll come back to it tomorrow. It's a routine that's been my routine for a couple of years now, so I don't even really think about it. I just do.

(Also, obviously, if I'm in the middle of a scene or something, I write down what I will need for later, but I have shit to do, so I have to stop.)

When I'm in the middle of writing and I get stuck, usually I scroll back up to what I've written earlier and do some rereading. Or I scroll down and freshen my memory of where I'm trying to take this thing. Then, I integrate back into what I'm trying to write, thinking about the feeling I want to create, what picture I want to paint, what the internal world of the character I am writing is like (what is their "voice"), etc. When words won't come, I think about things other than words--if that makes any sense, lol.

If that doesn't work, rereading, I might take a breather. I drink a lot of tea, so I might go make myself some tea, sometimes thinking about what I'm trying to write, sometimes not. Usually, I get a lot of ideas the second I set my laptop aside, lmao. Or it comes to me when I'm pacing, waiting for water to heat up. Usually, because I write for an hour, I feel pressure to write the whole time, but I don't have to. No one has to do anything. It's all good. Take a breath.

A breather.

I also always listen to music when I'm writing. Almost always music with words but not always the same genre; I'm not just listening to horny music or whatever when I'm writing, so if I'm stuck, I might swap to a new playlist. Maybe one that is intentionally matching for what I'm writing--a more sexual playlist for smut, a softer playlist for romance, an upsetting playlist for angst, etc. Or maybe one that clashes, that always shakes something loose in my brain.

(Listening to straight fucking screamo when writing an intimate, quiet, fragile scene is objectively hilarious, too, so I entertain myself.)

Usually, when I write in the morning, I don't have as much trouble with my dyslexia because I haven't exhausted myself reading and processing the bullshit that letters and numbers do all day, but if it's just a bad day for whatever reason... I might swap fonts and try to keep at it. Usually, I write in Verdana, but I might swap to Comic Sans or something for a while.

Or, if I'm stuck because of dyslexia or anything else, I might just stop for the day. As a perfectionist and workaholic and, just, someone who you could not pay to sit still and not do something, I'm trying to allow myself more times where I can just stop. A lot of the time, I push through, though. I tell myself 10 more minutes, then you're done. A tangible goal can be good.

What really motivates me is getting the fic out. Not even necessarily getting it out and publishing it to AO3 and seeing people's reactions to what I create, although that is undeniably an incredible thing to experience. I feel compelled to write. I like the process of writing. And because I've accidentally created this rule for myself where I have to finish one thing before the next, I have to get something out to start the next. Editing is the WORST, but I will do it to move on to the next. That's just my workaholic nature.

It'll probably kill me one day... it's not the best. As a consequence, I will readily admit I forget what I've written CONSTANTLY. I don't re-read what I write once it's finished. I move on to the next idea so fast that I forget what I did prior until other people bring it up. I'm propelled forward with very narrow vision. Again, it's not the best, and I should learn to stop and appreciate what I've done. It's hard, though.

Also, talking to people about your ideas is always a good way to go. I should do it more, too. I find myself being a very selfish creator. I create from this place of compulsion. I have to get it out. I don't know why, I just do. It's the way I am. And I create alone a lot. I'm an introvert and a highly independent person, I like to be alone, and I like to make things alone. So, it's easy to fall into the same pattern of being private and only showing off what I have when it's fully finished, complete with a sparkling varnish. But that doesn't have to be the way it is. Share bits and pieces, talk about what you're doing, let other people tell you you're doing it! You're doing a good job! They're excited to see the next update, no matter how small!

If you can't/don't want to share, though, a fun way to bounce ideas around is going, okay, I have to make a list of [whatever number, 20, 50, 100, etc.] ideas. They can be absolute fucking garbage, all of them, but I am going to list out as many as I possibly can. If none of them are good, great! They're no longer taking up space in my brain. They're on this list. If one or two are good, great! You can build on those or warp them to fit.

I hope some of that helped, lol. I just tried to explain the way my brain works, and it isn't pretty, lmao.

[mostspecialgirl]

Insiders (2023) - redrawn from 2019

(rambling under the cut)

thank you tumblr for compressing my image down to disgusting crusty poop pixels on the app

i love to do a new big reference piece for my babies every few years, and the time has finally come due… and WOW !!! LOOK AT THAT IMPROVEMENT !!! everyone looks Normal And Alive and Non Bugeyed !!! everyone is a little less pasty white (im talking about you, tanith) !!! i think they all show a lil bit of nice personality in their faces now too which is lovely for me. i love to see my children happy. now to write about each of them

angelo’s line art has the least effort into it here and i was GONNA redraw him but honestly if anyone is going to look like a scrunkly little bug IT IS GOING TO BE HIM !!!!!! It’s been a minute since i’ve drawn his body-saws and on a whim i made them red AND !!! IT WORKS !!! I’M A FAN !!! i think he’s due for a main-outfit change though. not sure. i struggled with finding him a natural-looking skin color too because i’ve slowly made him as a person less undead-corpse-like and i think i’ve found a good spot. for now.

i pulled the perfect angora out of my mind and honestly i am shocked at what i have created. she looks so sweet and kind and innocent here (as she should) that to any unfamiliar observers you’d be hard pressed to tell she’s a big lazy gross vulgar piece of shit rat of a fishwoman. and that is EXACTLY how it should be. i have lost the plot for too long, giving her more sharp edges and a hunched back and wild expressions, but the standard angora really should be deceptively pretty. because that’s my girl.

Mila looks great as always. What more can I say? She’s always perfect. I had fun giving her lips for the first time!

AMPH … MY ADISHESHA … (slamming my fist down) I’ve finally perfected him… isn’t he pretty? isn’t he so pretty? I chose to draw him in his naga/incarnated form instead of the shadow form this time because i wasn’t lazy. I decided to throw a big coat on him, originally intended to be more lab coat-y, but influenced by how fucking cold it is outside i allowed myself to give him a big fur collared one. because if you can’t tell i love giving characters though. i think it worked out well for AMPH here, and now I have to be putting him in all sorts of cowls and capes until the end of time.

TANITH !!!!!!!! GGGGYRRRRAAAAHHHHH!!!! LOOK AT MY GIRL !!!!!!! I’M FERAL OVER THIS!!!!!! LOOK AT MY IMPROVEMENT !!!!!!! it’s been a hot minute since i’ve colored her, but i changed her palette in my mind a while ago AND looking at it here ? existing ? i’ve done it again. My lovely little sword daughter … i know i JUST doodled her but christ something was in the water here because SHE LOOKS SO GOOD. this is the best ive drawn any of them. i gave her some nice clothes this time instead of her usual big t-shirt because i realized i only gave her that in the past because i didn’t know how to draw clothes.

speaking of “best ive ever drawn any of them” somnus … THIS IS HIM … i’ve gotten close to capturing him in all the times i’ve drawn him but i think i’ve finally pinned him down here. and of course, he’s hitting the same pose as his wife because they’re cute like that. i ripped his colors straight from the solo reference piece i made for him a while back which has held up quite wonderfully.

FINALLY !!! SETH IS HERE !!! HE HAS ARRIVED IN PROPER INSIDERS GROUP ART !!! he looks pretty good here. i think he could still look BETTER, but for the purpose of having a nice group reference piece he looks pretty great i think. I struggled pinning down some colors for his clothes and was pretty lazy with the Purple Under His Hair That Glows BUT WHO CARES !!!! LOOKS GOOD TO ME !!! LOOK AT MY HANDSOME SON !!! i also decided to stick his full name on here that i’ve kept vaulted up for the reason that i’ve never had to put it anywhere before. if you know why he has “-zoe adamiel” as his chosen full name, congrats, you’re a huge fucking nerd.

eventually, i’m probably going to tack daisy, kane, sampi and demiurge onto the right side of this piece, but that’s for another day down the line. thanks for reading!

[musicalfanfiction99]

Leo ~ Orchestra/Musician

Orchestra/Musician is the March Bingo Fanfiction Event choice for this story. The reader character is gender neutral but I may have made mistakes.

It was spring and Knights was getting ready for their Live. You were at Yumenosaki getting ready to leave when you got a call from Leo. "Hello y/n! Are you leaving school yet?" "Yes, I was just getting ready to leave, why do you ask?" "I wanted to know if you would like to come to our practice today! So how about it? Will you be there?" "Sure, I can come today. I don't have anything else I need to do at Yumenosaki so I can meet you there." "Okay see you there! Bye!" You knew that you needed to practice your instrument though so you were going to watch their practice for a little while and then find an empty practice room to play until they were done. Once you got to the practice center you found the Knights' practice room and entered. You were greeted by Arashi and Izumi when you walked in. "y/n it's nice to see you. It's been a while since you've gone to our practice." "Yes, it has been a while hasn't it. Where's Leo?" "He should be here soon." "Okay. I'll wait for him then." Right as you were finishing your sentence Leo comes bursts into the room with his hands full of papers and notebooks. "I'm here! I'm not late yet! Where's y/n?" "I'm over here." You were in the corner of the room setting down your things when he came into the room. "Why didn't you tell me that you were already here? I could've set up a chair or something for you." "It's fine and I'm only going to be here for a little bit and then I need to go do something." "Oh okay then." While he was talking he noticed you had a case among your items. "What's in the case?" "Oh, nothing important." "Okay, if you say so." After a while they were done with one song so then you were going to go practice. "Okay, I'm going to head out. Leo call me once your done." "Okay! Bye bye!" "Bye." You picked up your phone and instrument and before you left you needed to ask a question. "Where an empty practice room?" "Um, there should be one in the room next to us." "Okay, thanks." You went inside the next practice room and started tuning your instrument. Once you finished tuning your instrument you started playing. You thought that the room had nice sound and would be a good place to finish your music piece. What you didn't know was that Knights could clearly hear your playing and Leo especially was excited. "Is that y/n? So the case held a violin. It sounds so beautiful." Then they heard a loud scratch followed by a yell. "What was that? Is y/n alright?" Leo was about to go to you but then he heard you playing again. "Well y/n's playing again so I think it's fine." "Leo, why don't you go check on y/n?" "Oh alright but I need to finish this masterpiece first." Once Leo finished he went to your practice room. "y/n? Are you alright?" "Leo! What a surprise! Why are you in here I thought you were in practice." "Yeah, but then I heard you in here so I wanted to check up on you." "Well I'm fine so you can go back to practice." "Well, what are you doing? I heard a screech and then a yell so something must have happened." "Oh, that was just me in the process of writing some music. It's nothing important." "I wanna help you make music! Why didn't you come to me first?" "You're always busy with Knights so I didn't want you to do any extra work-" "You can always come to me! I'm a composer! But I didn't know that you composed music too- that's really cool!" "Ive made music for a while so I really get mad when my music doesn't sound how I want it to." "y/n you remind of Shu because your always so hard on yourself like him." "I'm not hard on myself I just know that I can make better music than this." "Well then let me help! I am still on break for about eight minutes so we can compose some music until then!" "Well if you really want to help me you can." "Okay! Let's go to everyone else and then we can make some music there." "Okay. Let's go make some music."

[princeanxious]

Hi! Sorry to bother, but you're really good at art and I've liked your style for quite some time now and I wanted to ask, how many years did it take you to draw as good as you do? Like side profiles, hair, outfits full body in general? I've been trying for years and I still can't draw. (Probably half due to the fact that my school wouldn't let me in art classes and we never actually learned art in elementary. Just cutting, pasting, and coloring.)

Ngl ive been drawing since early elementary school. Ive been drawing so long i could scarecely tell you what hobbies i had before i even learned to hold a pencil that didnt include doodling or creating of some kind.

I drew while in class bc it gave me a task to do to make listening to the subject easier, i drew at lunch and at home, i always make sure to have a sketchbook on me so any spare 15 minutes that i have while not at home and want to spend it drawing can be quelled doing so easily. There is scarcely a task ive done more frequently than drawing that doesnt involve basic hygiene requirements. I am drawing and creating and planning on drawing at all hours of the day every day, all the time.

I honestly just. Have the internet to thank for exposing me to fandoms as early as it did. I was very much into sonic the hedgehog and mlp as a kid so i drew alot of that. It was really only late middle school early highschool that I finally picked up drawing people with any real want or skill to do so. And it was only mid highschool(aka around when I joined the sanders sides fandom and my reasons to draw humans consistantly and often skyrocketed) that i started to really form a consistent skill at it??

Theres alot of tutorials online, i even put together my own 'how to draw things' yt playlist from videos i'd had to draw to while in my animation classes in highschool bc they absolutely helped me hone in on alot of my weaknesses.

I always start with whats gonna give me the most trouble. Is it the pose? Is it the hand position? How are the body proportions? What clothes do I plan on drawing? Am i coloring it? How many people do i plan to draw for a piece?

Practice practice practice. Learn how anatomy works, roughly anyway. Enough to understand how to keep things proportionate to eachother. Once you have that as a tool to work with and start from, then you can more easily branch out into whatever style you want to make/try. The 'how to draw' playlist i made covers alotta those bases for you, if your interested. But. Yeah?