#the only problem is the platform I'll publish this on

[lil-melody-moon]

Okay so I thought and thought and thought about writing a chapter by chapter "Tommy" fic and I gotta say I've decided to write it.

I wrote the base for the plot, it still seems solid to me, I wrote a "test" fragment to see if the third narration fits, if the setting is weird enough, if a certain bond is strong enough to make changes and I dare to say I probably worked so hard on it, that it is - I have this idea since November 2023 so a lot of time.

So, without further ado, what I wanna write is this: "Tommy" fic that focuses on an uncle x niece trope (so basically Uncle Ernie x Me fic - yes, that will be a self-insert), but in a way that there will be a bond between them. I have this whole idea of me being the unwanted daughter of Nora and Frank (giving Tommy a loving sister in the process) who finds the parental love in Uncle Ernie's arms, but the bond I'll create with him as a child will actually have a side effect that will resolve in Uncle Ernie falling in love with me at a very young age and with me falling in love with Uncle Ernie once I grow up enough to realize that perhaps I see him more than a parental figure.

Can't say much more, but this is what the whole idea is based off. I also want to see if there will be any interest in reading this kind of fic so that's why this post exists and that's why I've decided to share the "test" fragment I wrote. It generally shows what atmosphere this fic will have, how I see the situation unfolding. It might appear in the fic in a changed form. It's down below, under "read more" so if you're interest, go ahead and read it and I hope you enjoy it <3

Tagging the ones who were interested from the get go and the ones who were liking the posts where I've mentioned this fic - I read it as in that you're interested, don't feel forced to read what's in the "read more" section:

@jimmysdragonsuit13 @radioroger @ennals @burn-on-the-flame @fiammee @minty-playhouse @dzdndcnfsd @littlemissheavenonearth

The frustration was getting to him, his beloved alcohol not helping much anymore, the image of his niece burned into his mind without any way to erase it. She's looking at him with that sweet smile on her face, so happy to see him, calling him uncle in that innocent and full of adoration voice of hers that is driving him insane… The empty pint hit the hard table at the bar, Uncle Ernie muttering curses under his breath, while Frank was observing him cautiously.

"Ernie" Frank mumbled, more drunk than his friend, but that was normal. He could never outdrink him. "What's going on?"

"A woman is stuck in my mind." He didn't look at Frank, he didn't have to. "It's starting to piss me off…"

Frank's grin was as big as never before. "Did you, perhaps, fall in love, you old fool?" The idea of that was laughable to Frank, but what he heard next made him change his mind.

"I fucking did." The silence after that was heavy. Frank cleared his throat, not believing in what he was hearing.

"You're too drunk" he concluded, drinking the rest of his beer. "You've never treated a woman like she's deserving to be treated, I doubt you even know what love is. As far as I can tell, I would call it lust not love-"

"I couldn't even bring myself to touch her." Uncle Ernie spat out, hitting the table with his dirty fingers. Frank blinked in disbelief. "If it was lust, I would fuck her years ago. And now as it is…" A short, high laugh escaped his throat. He didn't finish the sentence, but he knew exactly what would happen if he had a chance. My tiny sweet wouldn't survive it, he thought, creepy smile appearing on his face at the thought of his niece crying and whimpering beneath him as his cock is buried deep inside her. Shivers run down his spine, not to mention that he got hard at the idea, a visible bump forming on his pants.

"That woman has to be a witch" Frank commented, shaking his head, to which Uncle Ernie laughed. He suddenly turned to Frank with insanity in his eyes.

"She's a beautiful angel!" he announced as if it was the most obvious thing on earth. "Curly, light green eyed, chubby beauty who you've handed to me since she was a little girl!"

Frank needed a while to connect dots, when he did, he suddenly felt sober again. "Are you…" Frank's voice ceased to exist when the person Uncle Ernie described appeared in his mind. "Are you talking about my Caroline?"

"She's not yours" Uncle Ernie corrected him. "She never was, you've never loved her." He pointed an accusatory finger at Frank. "She only calls you her dad because she has to, because she's your offspring."

Any father would get mad upon hearing this revelation, upon knowing that his own friend fell in love with his daughter, but not Frank. He actually smirked. "You are right about that. Caroline was always a bother to me."

Uncle Ernie laughed upon hearing it, he knew he was right. He was the one Caroline called dad when she was little and who she still treated like one. "She feels that, you know?"

"She told you?" Frank asked out of sheer curiosity. A plan was slowly forming in his mind.

Uncle Ernie nodded. "Plenty of times."

"How can you know it didn't change?" Frank put another question out. Uncle Ernie lifted an eyebrow. "Caroline's been avoiding you and here you are, thirsting for her like a dog."

"She called me two days ago" Uncle Ernie explained, calming down a little bit. Back at his home, he almost fell while hearing her voice on the other side. "She was crying, apologizing to me, asking if we could meet."

"Did you decline the offer?" Frank had to hold himself to not burst out laughing at the way Uncle Ernie glared at him, offended.

"I accepted. There was a reason why I was at your house yesterday" he explained, still regretting that nothing had happened. That one kiss wasn't enough.

"Then I'll have good news for you!" Frank exclaimed, taking Uncle Ernie aback. "You might have a chance to visit her and live with her for a few days." Upon seeing Uncle Ernie's confused expression, Frank started explaining: "I'm planning to go on holidays with Nora. I was about to leave Tommy with Caroline, she can take care of him well, but we can take him with us, just to leave her to you."

Uncle Ernie quickly caught up with Frank's way of thinking. "Are you giving her to me?"

Frank smiled widely. "If she's so eager to go to you then I can allow that."

I might finally get rid of her, Frank thought.

I might finally get her for myself, Uncle Ernie thought, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "When are you planning to go?" Was his next question.

"In a month" Frank answered.

"Enough to get close to her" Uncle Ernie mumbled, laughing to himself, already feeling excited. The only question left was if he was able to hold himself for another month.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

On September 22, I'm (virtually) presenting at the DIG Festival in Modena, Italy. On September 27, I'll be at Chevalier's Books in Los Angeles with Brian Merchant for a joint launch for my new book The Internet Con and his new book, Blood in the Machine.

It's been 21 years since Bill Willingham launched Fables, his 110-issue, wide-ranging, delightful and brilliantly crafted author-owned comic series that imagines that the folkloric figures of the world's fairytales are real people, who live in a secret society whose internal struggles and intersections with the mundane world are the source of endless drama.

Fables is a DC Comics title; DC is division of the massive entertainment conglomerate Warners, which is, in turn, part of the Warner/Discovery empire, a rapacious corporate behemoth whose screenwriters have been on strike for 137 days (and counting). DC is part of a comics duopoly; its rival, Marvel, is a division of the Disney/Fox juggernaut, whose writers are also on strike.

The DC that Willingham bargained with at the turn of the century isn't the DC that he bargains with now. Back then, DC was still subject to a modicum of discipline from competition; its corporate owner's shareholders had not yet acquired today's appetite for meteoric returns on investment of the sort that can only be achieved through wage-theft and price-gouging.

In the years since, DC – like so many other corporations – participated in an orgy of mergers as its sector devoured itself. The collapse of comics into a duopoly owned by studios from an oligopoly had profound implications for the entire sector, from comic shops to comic cons. Monopoly breeds monopoly, and the capture of the entire comics distribution system by a single company – Diamond – was attended by the capture of the entire digital comics market by a single company, Amazon, who enshittified its Comixology division, driving creators and publishers into Kindle Direct Publishing, a gig-work platform that replicates the company's notoriously exploitative labor practices for creative workers. Today, Comixology is a ghost-town, its former employees axed in a mass layoff earlier this year:

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-layoffs-comixology-1850007216

When giant corporations effect these mergers, they do so with a kind of procedural kabuki, insisting that they are dotting every i and crossing every t, creating a new legal entity whose fictional backstory is a perfect, airtight bubble, a canon with not a single continuity bug. This performance of seriousness is belied by the behind-the-scenes chaos that these corporate shifts entail – think of the way that the banks that bought and sold our mortgages in the run-up to the 2008 crisis eventually lost the deeds to our houses, and then just pretended they were legally entitled to collect money from us every month – and steal our houses if we refused to pay:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-58325420110720

Or think of the debt collection industry, which maintains a pretense of careful record-keeping as the basis for hounding and threatening people, but which is, in reality, a barely coherent trade in spreadsheets whose claims to our money are matters of faith:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/12/do-not-pay/#fair-debt-collection-practices-act

For usury, the chaos is a feature, not a bug. Their corporate strategists take the position that any ambiguity should be automatically resolved in their favor, with the burden of proof on accused debtors, not the debt collectors. The scumbags who lost your deed and stole your house say that it's up to you to prove that you own it. And since you've just been rendered homeless, you don't even have a house to secure a loan you might use to pay a lawyer to go to court.

It's not solely that the usurers want to cheat you – it's that they can make more money if they don't pay for meticulous record-keeping, and if that means that they sometimes cheat us, that's our problem, not theirs.

While this is very obvious in the usury sector, it's also true of other kinds of massive mergers that create unfathomnably vast conglomerates. The "curse of bigness" is real, but who gets cursed is a matter of power, and big companies have a lot more power.

The chaos, in other words, is a feature and not a bug. It provides cover for contract-violating conduct, up to and including wage-theft. Remember when Disney/Marvel stole money from beloved science fiction giant Alan Dean Foster, whose original Star Wars novelization was hugely influential on George Lucas, who changed the movie to match Foster's ideas?

Disney claimed that when it acquired Lucasfilm, it only acquired its assets, but not its liabilities. That meant that while it continued to hold Foster's license to publish his novel, they were not bound by an obligation to pay Foster for this license, since that liability was retained by the (now defunct) original company:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/30/disney-still-must-pay/#pay-the-writer

For Disney, this wage-theft (and many others like it, affecting writers with less fame and clout than Foster) was greatly assisted by the chaos of scale. The chimera of Lucas/Disney had no definitive responsible party who could be dragged into a discussion. The endless corporate shuffling that is normal in giant companies meant that anyone who might credibly called to account for the theft could be transfered or laid off overnight, with no obvious successor. The actual paperwork itself was hard for anyone to lay hands on, since the relevant records had been physically transported and re-stored subsequent to the merger. And, of course, the company itself was so big and powerful that it was hard for Foster and his agent to raise a credible threat.

I've experienced versions of this myself: every book contract I've ever signed stipulated that my ebooks could not be published with DRM. But one of my publishers – a boutique press that published my collection Overclocked – collapsed along with most of its competitors, the same week my book was published (its distributor, Publishers Group West, went bankrupt after its parent company, Advanced Marketing Services, imploded in a shower of fraud and criminality).

The publisher was merged with several others, and then several more, and then several more – until it ended up a division of the Big Five publisher Hachette, who repeatedly, "accidentally" pushed my book into retail channels with DRM. I don't think Hachette deliberately set out to screw me over, but the fact that Hachette is (by far) the most doctrinaire proponent of DRM meant that when the chaos of its agglomerated state resulted in my being cheated, it was a happy accident.

(The Hachette story has a happy ending; I took the book back from them and sold it to Blackstone Publishing, who brought out a new expanded edition to accompany a DRM-free audiobook and ebook):

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/overclocked-bvej.html

Willingham, too, has been affected by the curse of bigness. The DC he bargained with at the outset of Fables made a raft of binding promises to him: he would have approval over artists and covers and formats for new collections, and he would own the "IP" for the series, meaning the copyrights vested in the scripts, storylines, characters (he might also have retained rights to some trademarks).

But as DC grew, it made mistakes. Willingham's hard-fought, unique deal with the publisher was atypical. A giant publisher realizes its efficiencies through standardized processes. Willingham's books didn't fit into that standard process, and so, repeatedly, the publisher broke its promises to him.

At first, Willingham's contacts at the publisher were contrite when he caught them at this. In his press-release on the matter, Willingham calls them "honest men and women of integrity [who] interpreted the details of that agreement fairly and above-board":

https://billwillingham.substack.com/p/willingham-sends-fables-into-the

But as the company grew larger, these counterparties were replaced by corporate cogs who were ever-more-distant from his original, creator-friendly deal. What's more, DC's treatment of its other creators grew shabbier at each turn (a dear friend who has written for DC for decades is still getting the same page-rate as they got in the early 2000s), so Willingham's deal grew more exceptional as time went by. That meant that when Willingham got the "default" treatment, it was progressively farther from what his contract entitled him to.

The company repeatedly – and conveniently – forgot that Willingham had the final say over the destiny of his books. They illegally sublicensed a game adapted from his books, and then, when he objected, tried to make renegotiating his deal a condition of being properly compensated for this theft. Even after he won that fight, the company tried to cheat him and then cover it up by binding him to a nondisclosure agreement.

This was the culmination of a string of wage-thefts in which the company misreported his royalties and had to be dragged into paying him his due. When the company "practically dared" Willingham to sue ("knowing it would be a long and debilitating process") he snapped.

Rather than fight Warner, Willingham has embarked on what JWZ calls an act of "absolute table-flip badassery" – he has announced that Fables will hereafter be in the public domain, available for anyone to adapt commercially, in works that compete with whatever DC might be offering.

Now, this is huge, and it's also shrewd. It's the kind of thing that will bring lots of attention on Warner's fraudulent dealings with its creative workforce, at a moment where the company is losing a public relations battle to the workers picketing in front of its gates. It constitutes a poison pill that is eminently satisfying to contemplate. It's delicious.

But it's also muddy. Willingham has since clarified that his public domain dedication means that the public can't reproduce the existing comics. That's not surprising; while Willingham doesn't say so, it's vanishingly unlikely that he owns the copyrights to the artwork created by other artists (Willingham is also a talented illustrator, but collaborated with a who's-who of comics greats for Fables). He may or may not have control over trademarks, from the Fables wordmark to any trademark interests in the character designs. He certainly doesn't have control over the trademarked logos for Warner and DC that adorn the books.

When Willingham says he is releasing the "IP" to his comic, he is using the phrase in its commercial sense, not its legal sense. When business people speak of "owning IP," they mean that they believe they have the legal right to control the conduct of their competitors, critics and customers:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

The problem is that this doesn't correspond to the legal concept of IP, because IP isn't actually a legal concept. While there are plenty of "IP lawyers" and even "IP law firms," there is no "IP law." There are many laws that are lumped together under "IP," including the big three (trademark, copyright and patent), but also a bestiary of obscure cousins and subspecies – trade dress, trade secrecy, service marks, noncompetes, nondisclosues, anticirumvention rights, sui generis "neighboring rights" and so on.

The job of an "IP lawyer" is to pluck individual doctrines from this incoherent scrapheap of laws and regulations and weave them together into a spider's web of tripwires that customers and critics and competitors can't avoid, and which confer upon the lawyer's client the right to sue for anything that displeases them.

When Willingham says he's releasing Fables into the public domain, it's not clear what he's releasing – and what is his to release. In the colloquial, business sense of "IP," saying you're "releasing the IP" means something like, "Feel free to create adaptations from this." But these adaptations probably can't draw too closely on the artwork, or the logos. You can probably make novelizations of the comics. Maybe you can make new comics that use the same scripts but different art. You can probably make sequels to, or spinoffs of, the existing comics, provided you come up with your own character designs.

But it's murky. Very murky. Remember, this all started because Willingham didn't have the resources or patience to tangle with the rabid attack-lawyers Warners keeps kenneled on its Burbank lot. Warners can (and may) release those same lawyers on you, even if you are likely to prevail in court, betting that you – like Willingham – won't have the resources to defend yourself.

The strange reality of "IP" rights is that they can be secured without any affirmative step on your part. Copyrights are conjured into existence the instant that a new creative work is fixed in a tangible medium and endure until the creator's has been dead for 70 years. Common-law trademarks gradually come into definition like an image appearing on photo-paper in a chemical soup, growing in definition every time they are used, even if the mark's creator never files a form with the USPTO.

These IP tripwires proliferate in the shadows, wherever doodles are sketched on napkins, wherever kindergartners apply finger-paint to construction-paper. But for all that they are continuously springing into existence, and enduring for a century or more, they are absurdly hard to give away.

This was the key insight behind the Creative Commons project: that while the internet was full of people saying "no copyright" (or just assuming the things they posted were free for others to use), the law was a universe away from their commonsense assumptions. Creative Commons licenses were painstakingly crafted by an army of international IP lawyers who set out to turn the normal IP task on its head – to create a legal document that assured critics, customers and competitors that the licensor had no means to control their conduct.

20 years on, these licenses are pretty robust. The flaws in earlier versions have been discovered and repaired in subsequent revisions. They have been adapted to multiple countries' legal systems, allowing CC users to mix-and-match works from many territories – animating Polish sprites to tell a story by a Canadian, set to music from the UK.

Willingham could clarify his "public domain" dedication by applying a Creative Commons license to Fables, but which license? That's a thorny question. What Willingham really wants here is a sampling license – a license that allows licensees to take some of the elements of his work, combine them with other parts, and make something new.

But no CC license fits that description. Every CC license applies to whole works. If you want to license the bass-line from your song but not the melody, you have to release the bass-line separately and put a CC license on that. You can't just put a CC license on the song with an asterisked footnote that reads "just the bass, though."

CC had a sampling license: the "Sampling Plus 1.0" license. It was a mess. Licensees couldn't figure out what parts of works they were allowed to use, and licensors couldn't figure out how to coney that. It's been "retired."

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/sampling+/1.0/

So maybe Willingham should create his own bespoke license for Fables. That may be what he has to do, in fact. But boy is that a fraught business. Remember the army of top-notch lawyers who created the CC licenses? They missed a crucial bug in the first three versions of the license, and billions of works have been licensed under those earlier versions. This has enabled a mob of crooked copyleft trolls (like Pixsy) to prey on the unwary, raking in a fortune:

https://doctorow.medium.com/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator-5f6360713299

Making a bug-free license is hard. A failure on Willingham's part to correctly enumerate or convey the limitations of such a license – to list which parts of Fables DC might sue you for using – could result in downstream users having their hard work censored out of existence by legal threats. Indeed, that's the best case scenario – defects in a license could result in downstream users, their collaborators, investors, and distributors being sued for millions of dollars, costing them everything they have, up to and including their homes.

Which isn't to say that this is dead on arrival – far from it! Just that there is work to be done. I can't speak for Creative Commons (it's been more than 20 years since I was their EU Director), but I'm positive that there are copyfighting lawyers out there who'd love to work on a project like this.

I think Willingham is onto something here. After all, Fables is built on the public domain. As Willingham writes in his release: "The current laws are a mishmash of unethical backroom deals to keep trademarks and copyrights in the hands of large corporations, who can largely afford to buy the outcomes they want."

Willingham describes how his participation in the entertainment industry has made him more skeptical of IP, not less. He proposes capping copyright at 20 years, with a single, 10-year extension for works that are sold onto third parties. This would be pretty good industrial policy – almost no works are commercially viable after just 14 years:

https://rufuspollock.com/papers/optimal_copyright.pdf

But there are massive structural barriers to realizing such a policy, the biggest being that the US had tied its own hands by insisting that long copyright terms be required in the trade deals it imposed on other countries, thereby binding itself to these farcically long copyright terms.

But there is another policy lever American creators can and should yank on to partially resolve this: Termination. The 1976 Copyright Act established the right for any creator to "terminate" the "transfer" of any copyrighted work after 30 years, by filing papers with the Copyright Office. This process is unduly onerous, and the Authors Alliance (where I'm a volunteer advisor) has created a tool to simplify it:

https://www.authorsalliance.org/resources/rights-reversion-portal/

Termination is deliberately obscure, but it's incredibly powerful. The copyright scholar Rebecca Giblin has studied this extensively, helping to produce the most complete report on how termination has been used by creators of all types:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/04/avoidance-is-evasion/#reverted

Writers, musicians and other artists have used termination to unilaterally cancel the crummy deals they had crammed down their throats 30 years ago and either re-sell their works on better terms or make them available directly to the public. Every George Clinton song, every Sweet Valley High novel, and the early works of Steven King have all be terminated and returned to their creators.

Copyright termination should and could be improved. Giblin and I wrote a whole-ass book about this and related subjects, Chokepoint Capitalism, which not only details the scams that writers like Willingham are subject to, but also devotes fully half its length to presenting detailed, technical, shovel-ready proposals for making life better for creators:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

Willingham is doing something important here. Larger and larger entertainment firms offer shabbier and shabbier treatment to creative workers, as striking members of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA can attest. Over the past year, I've seen a sharp increase in the presence of absolutely unconscionable clauses in the contracts I'm offered by publishers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/27/reps-and-warranties/#i-agree

I'm six months into negotiating a contract for a 300 word piece I wrote for a magazine I started contributing to in 1992. At issue is that they insist that I assign film rights and patent rights from my work as a condition of publication. Needless to say, there are no patentable inventions nor film ideas in this article, but they refuse to vary the contract, to the obvious chagrin of the editor who commissioned me.

Why won't they grant a variance? Why, they are so large – the magazine is part of a global conglomerate – that it would be impractical for them to track exceptions to this completely fucking batshit clause. In other words: we can't strike this batshit clause because we decided that from now on, all out contracts will have batshit clauses.

The performance of administrative competence – and the tactical deployment of administrative chaos – among giant entertainment companies is grotesque, but every now and again, it backfires.

That's what's happening at Marvel right now. The estates of Marvel founder Stan Lee and its seminal creator Steve Ditko are suing Marvel to terminate the transfer of both creators' characters to Marvel. If they succeed, Marvel will lose most of its most profitable characters, including Iron Man:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/marvel-artists-estate-ask-pre-trial-wins-superhero-copyright-fight-2023-05-22/

They're following in the trail of the Jack Kirby estate, whom Marvel paid millions to rather than taking their chances with the Supreme Court.

Marvel was always an administrative mess, repeatedly going bankrupt. Its deals with its creators were indifferently papered over, and then Marvel lost a lot of the paperwork. I'd bet anything that many of the key documents Disney (Marvel's owner) needs to prevail over Lee and Ditko are either unlocatable or destroyed – or never existed in the first place.

A more muscular termination right – say, one that kicks in after 20 years, and is automatic – would turn circuses like Marvel-Lee/Ditko into real class struggles. Rather than having the heirs of creators reaping the benefit of termination, we could make termination into a system for getting creators themselves paid.

In the meantime, there's Willingham's "absolute table-flip badassery."

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/15/fairy-use-tales/#sampling-license

Image: Tom Mrazek (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An_Open_Field_%2827220830251%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

--

Penguin Random House (modified) https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/707161/fables-20th-anniversary-box-set-by-bill-willingham/

Fair use https://www.eff.org/issues/intellectual-property

[ave661]

👉Watermark Glossary👈

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Keegan P. Russ

If I didn't answer your question, there's a good chance you'll find the answer below👇

But please do not ask me for 3d models and do not send me requests.

-Do you have other platforms where you post your stuff? Yes I have! Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter and Patreon

-What software are you using to create them? Now Blender 3.5, but i started making them first in Source Filmmaker

-Can I use your renders as banners, pfp? Sure! I do not have a problem with that

-Can I use them in edits, fics etc? Yes, but please give me credits

-What do you think about reposting your work? Do not repost, especially on pinterest. If you like something, you can "reblog" here, "retweet" on Twitter and "repost" on Tiktok.

It's different if you want to use them in a creative form, such as: fanfics, edits, videos, references for drawings - I fully support everything where you give something from yourself! Just give me credits if you don't want to tag me.

But if someone only downloads my renders to post them on their account with 50 hashtags to get as many likes as possible - then no.

-Do you do commissions? Sorry but no. I don't want to treat it as a job, but as a hobby and something that allows me to relax and learn new things. Maybe one day! (i'll do announcement for sure).

-Do you sell your work somewhere? I don't sell my renders anywhere, so if you see them somewhere as posters, t-shirts, stickers etc., please know that they are stolen. I would be grateful for information on this matter so that I could report it.

-What if I want to support you? I have Ko-fi but also Patreon where I post my renders in 4K version. That's where I publish my works first and nsfw content wink wink

-How long does it take you to make renders? Many hours. I am self-taught, I did not graduate from any special school in this field, so I often devote a lot of time to learning, so please respect that. But to answer your question, it depends on the project - sometimes 4 hours, sometimes a week.

It's still fanart after all so sometimes I make mistakes.

[genericpuff]

Winter is Coming - Rekindled schedule adjustment and plans for next year!

So it's that time of year now when conventions, markets, and expos for next year are rolling out their submission periods. So far I've gotten accepted to attend the Atlantic Entertainment Expo again (both venues so two shows), MiraCon, and I'm gonna be attending not one, not two, but THREE tattoo expos ! Which is definitely a lot, but I'm excited, it's gonna be good publicity and good money :' ) I'm also gonna be applying to HalCon, Geekquinox, and Animaritimes again, I didn't get in on HalCon this year and didn't find out about Geekquinox until submissions were done (and I only got in on Animaritimes at the last minute when they were looking for people to fill in) but if I do get into any (or all) of those, I'll have to play the fun game of "make sure none of these events land on the same weekend" LMAO

All that's to say, it's gonna be busy next year! (and all of those are the ones I actually decided to apply to, there are ones I did this past year that I'm not planning on doing again because they just didn't turn out to be as good as I had hoped). Thankfully, none of this is starting up until spring, so I'm gonna enjoy the winter off and get to work on new stuff to sell. I'm really eager to get through the rest of [AFTERBIRTH], it's still got quite some time until it's done but my plan is to pitch Thread of Fate to publishers once [AFTERBIRTH] is finished - and if it's not able to get in with those publishers, then I'm gonna pursue other means in getting it published, either digitally or traditionally. Time Gate is a series I've been working on for well over a decade of my life, and it's not something I want to keep throwing to the wolves of free-to-read platforms like WT. As much as I love being able to offer it for free, I want it to be taken more seriously than being just another free to read comic and that starts with me and how I choose to distribute it.

Right now working on all these things is sort of limiting due to the fact that I'm stuck on my iPad, but I'm making it work as best I can and I'm hoping to have the new PC setup going by the end of the year running with a new tablet (currently shopping around between an XP-pen and Huion, I don't want to get a Kamvas 22 Plus again if it's gonna shit the bed in 2 years like this one did, apparently this is a common problem from what I've seen :/)

So yeah, with all that in mind, I'm planning on adjusting Rekindled's update schedule. While I did initially want to offer a poll for y'all to choose between "shorter updates once a week" and "full updates once every 2 weeks", frankly I'm erring more towards the "every two weeks" one because it'll give me more actual time and room to work on everything else. Not to mention (and I'm sure you've all noticed by now) that I have a very specific way that I structure many of these episodes so making them shorter would sort of ruin that rhythm. I don't want to be sacrificing the comic's quality, pacing, or narrative progression for a schedule adjustment.

This isn't going to be an immediate change, I'm thinking of doing this sometime in December so that y'all can have a decent amount of heads up before the switch. I know it's gonna be a little painful to go to a slower release schedule but ultimately I think it's the best way to go so that I can balance all of the projects I have going on without sacrificing quality. Rekindled may be a free to read non-profit project, but I still hold myself to high standards and I want to do my best to deliver on those standards !

Thank you all so much for your patience and support. It seriously blows me away to see all of the wonderful comments, asks, and support for what I do here every day. I'm gonna do my best as well to respond to asks in my inbox as they come in, but please just know I get a LOT of them on a regular basis, it's sort of a Hydra situation where I respond to 1 or 2 and then get 4 more LOL That said, rest assured that I do read and appreciate each and every one of them <3 That also includes essay posts about LO, with LO returning in November I'll surely have more stuff to say about it so I'm gonna try and keep up as best I can :' )

On a final note, we're coming up to the one year anniversary of when I started posting actual episodes of Rekindled!! I'm so excited for this, I can't believe it's been a year!! And I have so much awesome stuff planned for the story that we're gonna see throughout the next year, I can't wait! Thanks so much for being a part of this project with me, I couldn't have asked for a better audience <3

(P.S. everything I have lined up for next year is lining up with the dry period for FF XIV between Endwalker and Dawntrail so I won't have distractions until the summer LMAOO)

[bigfrozenfan-fanfics]

Chapter 74 - Yelana's surprise and Anna's special journey

Links: Chapter overview, Character list, Map, Glossar Rating: M over all Publishing cycle: around every 2-3 weeks

Remarks: all my chapters contain carefully selected music tracks (try to use headphones). It’s your own decision if you want to use them or not while reading. The purpose is to musically support the respective mood of the plot. If you can please use a browser for reading (not the Tumblr app) due to the text formatting and music.

The Norting was over and the Northuldra left the hall to return to the camp one by one. Ryder and Honeymaren were the last to leave and she glanced back at Elsa, but she was still standing by the stairs with her sister, Yelana and Alena, engaged in conversation. Honeymaren turned away sadly after a moment or two and slipped out through the door just as Elsa saw her.

          While Anna spoke enthusiastically of the meeting house, Elsa had become rather pensive. Unfortunately, there had been no more opportunity for her to speak to Honeymaren. Not to mention that if tears had flowed from both of them, it would have drawn unwelcome attention to them, especially to the young Northuldra. Uncomfortable questions might have arisen and that could well have had a negative effect on Honeymaren. But there had to be something Elsa could do to arrange a secret meeting with her. Suddenly an idea occurred to her.

          “I'll climb up to the top of the tower, Yelana, if I may. I need to think about something before we talk about your ideas,” she said.

          “Of course, Elsa, just go up and have a look around,” replied the woman addressed, and Elsa began to climb up cautiously, not really trusting the cantilevered stair structure.

          But nothing wobbled or swayed, everything was very sturdily built and she gained more confidence. Her steps quickened and just before she reached the platform she was almost running.

          Then she was under the pyramid-shaped roof, holding on to the thin balustrade and looking down to spot Honeymaren. She discovered her just before she would disappear among the bushes. She was the last one down there and no one else was in the clearing. Honeymaren turned around one last time and Elsa waved at her with her arms raised, hoping to be seen, because she didn't dare call down loudly because of the others down in the hall.

          Just as Honeymaren turned around, she saw Elsa standing at the top of the tower out of the corner of her eye. What was she doing there? Elsa was flailing her arms frantically. Honeymaren waved back a little uncertainly with a hand at her side until she suddenly realised that Elsa was trying to communicate something to her through gestures.

          First a finger pointed at herself, then she pointed at Honeymaren while her mouth moved, silently trying to tell her something. Apparently she feared that someone was listening when she called out. Then she pointed several times to the south, towards the camp, and finally hugged herself. Honeymaren had understood. Elsa wanted to meet her later at the camp to talk and … was the self-hug supposed to mean that …? She nodded overtly and repeated the finger gestures with a smile, only in reverse. And at the end she threw Elsa another kissing hand and waved happily.

          Elsa breathed a sigh of relief. Honeymaren had understood and agreed. She absolutely had to talk to her tonight and be with her before she left for her journey perhaps as early as tomorrow morning. Only the exact location in daylight could still be a problem.

          Behind her, she suddenly heard footsteps on the stairs. It was Anna, who now also stepped onto the narrow platform and tried to look around. But two people at once hardly had room up here.

          “Wow, great view from here … you can even see over the treetops … and how sturdy and yet filigree everything is built. That's some impressive construction for the Northuldra, don't you think, Elsa? Is that why you are so pensive? But well, I'm curious what Yelana will tell us about it and her ominous plan. I'm already curious.” Anna tried to make a little more room for herself, but to no avail. “It's a bit cramped up here for two, isn't it? Would you rather we went back down?”

          Elsa nodded. “You're right, it is indeed. It's probably only meant as a lookout, like on ships. There's only room for one there, too. You go ahead, there's no other way,” she giggled.

~~~

“You've already seen everything inside here, so let's go around the building and you could take a closer look at the construction,” Yelana said. “Afterwards I'll tell you about my idea, which might be a little crazy.”

          When they were all outside and followed Yelana on the tour, she first told them a bit more about the purpose of this house and what the side entrance was all about.

          “I noticed that too when I was looking at everything before the meeting. Why is it that you don't have any noaidi anymore, or was it that … Gyda?”

          “Well, sort of, but that was decades ago, before a magical mist trapped us, but she was cast out for certain reasons I won't go into. Before that we had someone without mention of a full council of elders. However, when the old King of Arendelle started a war with us, many of them died in the battle,” Yelana explained. “But now we have peace with Arendelle, thanks to Queen Anna and Elsa.”

          Alena nodded thoughtfully.

          “Times have changed and if what you said about Honeymaren is true, Alena, and the changes that will happen to her once she takes her position, then now that I think about it like this, I feel that perhaps my idea is not so far-fetched. I was now allowed to be a guest in Arendelle for a longer period of time and was even given a place in the royal council, as a mediator between the two peoples. What if the Norting were to take on a completely different role in the future? One in Arendelle, in a very similar building, only much bigger, combined with the modern architectural style of Arendelle and that of the Northuldra. It could be a meeting place, a focal point to our people and market place for our crafts and trade more generally.”

          “But that's quite a wonderful idea, Yelana!” said Anna enthusiastically. “In fact, I could think of quite a few other things that would bring our two cultures even closer together. I'm beginning to understand what you meant by 'new possibilities and opportunities for the future'.”

          “And you still have people who know about the unique architectural style?” asked Elsa. “Because this new building in Arendelle would have to look very similar, be just as special, and have just as much of an effect on the visitors there as it did on us today.”

          “There are only two left to whom the knowledge has been passed on orally, but they are too old to do anything themselves.”

          “Would our builders then, and there would not be many who would come to visit, be allowed to inspect the building here more closely in person and speak to your two elders here on site?” asked Anna.

          “True, Anna, the best way to ask such questions is to see the problem with your own eyes. You might as well make some first drafts and take lots of notes,” added Elsa

          “I don't think that should be a problem,” Yelana confirmed. “Ultimately, it's still my decision and I don't think Honeymaren would mind either. Well, it looks like I'll be needed in two places in the future.”

          “But that's fine, Yelana, and it would only be for a year,” Elsa said, “Your people love you and would miss you if you left them to live in Arendelle in the future. I saw that clearly in the hall today.”

          “Alena, I also noticed a certain thing you mentioned when you were in your trance,” Anna interjected. “The peoples in the far north, who, like the Northuldra, also call themselves the People of the Sun, actually speak different languages?”

          “There are, as far as I know, as many as eleven languages and sometimes it is really difficult to communicate,” replied the noaidi.

          “Oh, I can well imagine, especially because you have no writing of your own, as Yelana once told me. In Arendelle we can learn foreign languages from books and teachers who know languages. In Arendelle, too, we know different ones, from visitors and emigrants from distant kingdoms.”

          “Think of Sorenson, Anna,” Elsa interjected. “What if we set up a university in the new building, as he once casually called it. It could become not only a place of getting to know each other, but also of knowledge,” Elsa enthused. “And that would be the perfect place for him as a scientist, if we give him a leading role there. As you know, he was still thinking about staying in Arendelle.”

          “Good idea, sis. Besides, what if we don't set up the future royal council there, instead of holding it in the castle? Do you think that would be possible?” asked Anna.

          “Interesting thought. In principle, as queen, you'll just have to decide. As for that, I hope Kai is successful.”

          While the sisters were still discussing and exchanging thoughts, Yelana looked enthusiastically back and forth between the two of them, because she would never have thought that they were both so fired up about her idea. Alena, on the other hand, was lost in thought, trying to reconcile what she had seen in her trance on Honeymaren's journey with what had just been said.

~~~

Further south in Snoob …

“No, it's really no problem and we are delighted to help. Just take all the sacks with you, because our silos are full to the top due to the last three good harvests. So we have no shortage of grain,” the baker said to Kristoff and Karl, “and thanks to the windmills, grinding into flour is also much faster than it used to be when I was still learning the baker's trade.”

          “You have windmills too? Haven't seen any at all,” Kristoff commented.

          “They are up on the plateau where there is always enough wind. Did you know, Your Highness, that windmills were invented by Queen Iduna of Arendelle?” asked the baker and Kristoff nodded.

          “Of course, she was after all the mother of my … betrothed, Queen Anna.”

          “Sorry, that was a silly question of mine. It's just that I like to tell that story more often. We owe a lot to her invention.”

          “I can understand that, but tell me, so many bags and all the other food that was donated to us today, we can't even transport them all with our cart. Can you take them to the collection point for transport to the capital? Karl knows where that is.”

          “Of course, I'd be happy to. Is there anything else I can do to help?”

          “Thanks, but no thanks. We're done for the day with our tour and I'm sure Arendelles citizens will be very grateful for your generosity.”

          Kristoff and Karl said their goodbyes and left the bakery after Kai's brother had told the baker where the hall was from where transport was to be made in the morning. Karl had led his brother to the Baron's estate two hours ago and he had not yet returned.

          “Let's go and see how Kai is doing,” Kristoff suggested and Karl agreed.

          A little later they were standing in front of a stately mansion and asked the servant for admission when he opened the door.

          They only had to wait a short time in the richly decorated entrance hall, which radiated a rural charm and presented oil paintings as well as some trophies of the hunt on the walls. In the middle, a wide staircase led up to a gallery, from which two corridors branched off to the left and right. In the center hung a huge oil painting showing the baron and baroness. While he stood beside her in a dress uniform decorated with several medals, with his hand on her shoulder, she sat in a flared, bouffant dress in pastel red and had her straw-blond hair pinned up. They both looked at the onlooker with smiles.

          She looked relatively young to Kristoff, no older than her mid-thirties. Unfortunately, he had not had the opportunity to meet her last time and so he approached Karl about it.

          “She's not as young as she looks here, the painter has embellished it a bit,” he grinned. “I don't know her exact age, but be sure that she is not much younger than the baron himself,” Karl said quietly enough so that only Kristoff could hear.

          The servant returned and led them into the drawing room, where they saw Kai and the baron sitting engrossed in conversation. They both stood up as they entered and the baron immediately approached Kristoff to give him a warm welcome, grasping both his hands.

          “I am pleased to have you visit me here and welcome you to my humble estate, Your Highness. My wife sends her apologies and would certainly have liked to meet you too, but she is feeling unwell today and has had a bit of a lie down. Please join us,” said the baron with a welcoming gesture. “Welcome, Karl. How is Hanna?”

          “Very well, Your Excellency, thank you for asking.”

          Kai bowed slightly to Kristoff as he stepped closer and took a seat beside him in the wide armchair.

          When all were seated, the baron asked, “May I offer you something to drink, Your Highness? A glass of wine perhaps, or a glass of sherry?”

          “Thank you, Baron, not necessary, but perhaps a glass of water?”

          The baron instructed his servant to fetch what was requested from the kitchen and immediately began to address the conversation with Kai without further ado.

          “We have agreed that I will take care of our queen's request as early as tomorrow morning and I feel very honoured to be able to help Arendelle in this way. In fact, I already have my own eye on a candidate from our little town for a council seat and I'm sure he would be proud to be invited to the audience at the castle.”

          “That is excellent news, baron. Thank you for your help,” Kristoff replied.

          “Of course, it will take some time to reach the mayors of all Snoob's settlements and elect their candidates. It is a task with great responsibility, requires many conversations and tolerates no mistakes. But I am sure in a few weeks there will be enough candidates for the queen to choose from.” He paused for a moment and then added, “For the military issues, especially the navy, you might also want to visit the naval base to the south with this request, it's only about half a day's ride from here.”

          Kristoff had not yet had much experience in expressing himself appropriately to a baron in such important matters, but he knew from last time that he was very friendly and obliging. Moreover, he knew what was important to Anna and what had happened when she dismissed the old royal council. Therefore, he chose his words carefully.

          “Her Majesty will be very pleased, because it is essential for her to form a new council as soon as possible. Arendelle needs people who are one hundred per cent loyal to their ruler and who, together with her choices, will make smart and wise decisions for the entire kingdom.

          She will undoubtedly be very happy about this development, Baron. I will think about your suggestion of visiting the naval base, thank you very much for that advice.”

          “May I take this opportunity to ask how it actually came to the dissolution of the Royal Council, because that was it, wasn't it? Kai could not give me any information about that.” The baron, who was sitting directly opposite Kristoff, looked him straight in the eye and leaned forward slightly.

          Now Kristoff suddenly felt in a predouille, for this was a highly precarious question from the baron and actually he should have expected exactly that; he thought. He pondered feverishly and felt pinned down by the baron's penetrating gaze. As friendly and affable as the baron had seemed so far, with this one question and the way he asked it, he proved that he was not the baron of Snoob for nothing. Kristoff had been a little deceived, he now realised.

          He thought back to that day when he had witnessed the chaos in the council hall and how some council members literally attacked Anna verbally. Kristoff thought he could still hear the reverberations of the shouting and Anna's loud reaction to it. He still felt the shiver that ran down his spine when Anna had Monrad taken away for treason and announced her clear and at the same time irrevocable decision.

          “Well, as you can imagine, dear baron, I was present at that day's council meeting as crown prince. I will not go into the details here, but the queen could not help but make this decision. The capital was in direct danger and there had been cowardly and brutal attacks on the farmlands and elsewhere. Our citizens were in turmoil and the role of the council would have been to support their queen, stand fully behind her and help her make the urgent decisions that needed to be made. But unfortunately that was not the case and the queen had to crack down. She made, in my opinion, absolutely the right decision.”

          There was absolute silence in the room for a few moments and Kai had held his breath during Kristoff's words, looking at him hopefully. Such moments could be the test of a crown prince. But now Kai relaxed again and smiled inwardly. Kristoff had done his job well, justifying the queen's decision with confident and diplomatic words, and beyond that, even coming to her defence. “Bravo, Your Highness“; thought Kai.

          The baron had become thoughtful, lowering his gaze as he leaned back in his chair again, probably trying to imagine this situation right now.

          “Yes, you are right, Your Highness. In such a perilous situation, one has to rely on the wise advice of all who are entrusted with it. If the royal council fails to do its job, or even works against its queen, then its members have forfeited their council seats.” The baron finally nodded. “The queen has acted wisely and I understand now. Thank you, Your Highness for your honest words. The queen undoubtedly has a wise and faithful betrothed by her side in you, my congratulations. You are to be envied.”

~~~

In the north, the sun had hidden above the enchanted forest and seemed unwilling to show itself again. Thick grey clouds hung over the treetops and it seemed darker than it was then under the thick blanket of mist. The birds had retreated to their nests and the other forest animals were busy looking for and hoarding supplies for the long winter.

          When the sisters returned to camp with their escort, Elsa found that many Northuldra surrounded Honeymaren, asking questions about her journey and what to expect. Advice was given and help was offered. As the noadi had predicted, the first volunteers had stepped forward and offered to accompany her.

          Elsa saw no chance to talk to Honeymaren undisturbed, let alone exchange caresses before they parted. She sighed and Yelana did not miss her glances at the young Northuldra. She therefore took Elsa aside for a moment.

          “It's difficult for you, isn't it? I can see it.”

          Elsa looked at her and just nodded. Words were superfluous here. Yelana put an arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

          “Maybe you should think of something else and take a chance.”

          “What do you mean? What chance?”

          “I spoke to Alena yesterday and she told me all that happened at the fifth monolith and also about how you were able to see your mother again with her help. Think about it … Alena will leave tomorrow together with Honeymaren and today is the last opportunity for a whole year to ask her for something. Who knows if Alena will even come to visit us again, because she also told me that at her age such long journeys are increasingly difficult for her.”

          Elsa looked at her broodingly for a while and Yelana pushed her head a little closer with her eyes open questioningly and her eyebrows raised, as if to ask “Well? No idea what I might mean?” and then suddenly a light came on for Elsa.

          “Anna!” she groaned and Yelana nodded in satisfaction.

          Elsa hugged her and said, “Oh, Yelana, thank you so much! That is the most wonderful idea I have ever heard! I must find Alena right away and ask her if she can do it for us and then I must explain it to Anna somehow. She'll probably hardly believe it.”

~~~

“Are you sure I can do this, Elsa? I mean, you're the fifth spirit and have magical powers, but I'm just normal human,” Anna said when they were on their way to the monoliths.

          “Anna, you're not just 'normal' at all, think about what you've already achieved and that you never give up. You are the other side of the bridge and the nature spirits have confirmed you in that.” Elsa stopped and took her sister by the shoulders. Then she looked deep into her eyes.

          “Alena is preparing a potion that will make it easier for us to be in a trance with our minds and travel to the in-between world. Besides, we'll stand together on the great stone, the direct link to this world. Just think what a huge and unique opportunity this is for you … not only will you be able to see Mama again and even talk to her, but for the very first time you will be standing inside Ahtohallan without the slightest danger of freezing to death! You wanted to accompany me there back then and now you can, even without any effort. I promise you, you will be thrilled!

~~~

Honeymaren was surprised that Elsa didn't appear, perhaps giving her hand signals again, but then she saw Alena walking towards the monoliths with her drum in her hand and a bag over her shoulder. What was the noaidi up to? Go on another dream trip before they both left tomorrow? Honeymaren excused herself to the surrounding Northuldra and promised to be back soon.

          She strolled leisurely in the same direction as Alena at first, then ran after her as she crossed the edge of the forest.

          “Alena, wait. May I go with you?”

          “Certainly, Honeymaren, although I don't think you'll have much entertainment with me.”

          “You go into a trance again … about tomorrow's journey, aren't you? That's why you brought your drum.”

          Alena shook her head. “That's for an entirely different reason. Elsa wants to take her sister, the queen, on a spiritual journey to her mother, and they need me for that, because I'm only here for today.”

          Now Honeymaren was surprised, and that explained why she hadn't seen Elsa again, when it was she who had insisted on meeting her. So that's why this sudden change of heart, because of her sister; Honeymaren said to herself and paced broodingly and silently beside Alena.

          Shortly afterwards, they all met. The sisters wondered at first why Honeymaren had come along, but it soon cleared up when Alena explained.

          “It will take me a while to prepare the potion, you three can talk in the meantime,” she said, rummaging various utensils from her carry bag, including some small chopped wood, tinder and flint.

          “Can I have a word with you, Elsa? Alone?” asked Honeymaren, standing up.

          Elsa nodded and excused herself to Anna, who knew very well what this must be about for obvious reasons.

          “You go ahead … I'll watch Alena in the meantime.”

          The latter was building a small fire and was now waiting for enough embers to form.

          A few steps away, Honeymaren said to Elsa, “If we want to meet tonight, I know the perfect place for it, one that almost no one knows about and one that is not easily discovered.”

          “And where exactly?”

          “See that hill back there with the big ridge behind it?” Elsa looked and nodded. “Go to that hill after dark and keep to the right. Soon you will discover a hidden lake. You won't miss me, because I'm already waiting for you there on the shore and then I've also built a fire. Maybe I'll also catch a few trout that we can roast … we'll see.”

          “All right, Maren, sounds good and I'll come. But let's better go back now, Alena seems to be ready in a minute.”

          Alena just took a lot more out of her bag and Anna wondered.

          “Tell me, how deep is your bag, all that stuff you're getting out of it?” laughed Anna, watching Alena with interest as she poured her special herbal mixture into the guksi and crushed it with a small mortar before adding some water from a small leather bag and tipping it into the pot, which she then placed in the middle of the embers.

          “Well, everything you need for a trance like that. This is my prepared travel collection and doesn't take up that much space. Everything else will be added on the way,” Alena said, stirring the slightly simmering green brew with a reindeer bone.

          Anna felt quite different when she saw and, above all, smelled it.

          “And I'm supposed to drink that then? That's disgusting!”

          Alena laughed. “It's not as bad as it looks, believe me,” she said and Elsa confirmed it to Anna when she came and sat down next to her. Honeymaren remained standing next to her for now.

          “Alena, can you be with us later and can lead us to Ahtohallan? I'd love to show Anna,” Elsa said and Honeymaren's eyes immediately widened.

          “Wait a minute, you're going to Ahtohallan too? I want to come with you there! No Northuldra has ever been inside the glacier, not even close.”

          “I'm afraid that's not possible. I will only accompany you so far that you reach the in-between world. Everything else you must ask your mother's spirit. It is she who has the direct link to Ahtohallan … and no, Honeymaren, unfortunately the potion is not enough for that, nor my powers for three instead of two trance travellers. It is very exhausting for me, you must know.”

          Honeymaren nodded with a pout, “Too bad …”

          A few minutes later the potion was ready and she poured it back into the guksi to pass to Anna.

          “Blow a little on it, it's still very hot. After that you just have to close your eyes and put your hand on one of the big monoliths. I will …”

          At that moment Elsa interrupted the noaidi and told her a slight change of plan.

          “Alena, we will use the fifth stone and sit together in the middle. You can sing your joik from the top then.”

          “But I thought only the fifth spirit was allowed to step on this stone. You know what happened a few days ago.”

          “That's true, Alena, but Anna and I together form Ahtohallan's bridge, the interface between man and the magic of nature. The two of us are the only ones who can do that without danger. And as you know, the fifth stone is the direct path to Ahtohallan.”

          Elsa was right and nothing happened, not even a glow from the symbols on the other four monoliths. They both sat with their legs crossed on the star in the middle and Alena started her joik and drummed to it. Honeymaren stood next to the noaidi, who had also sat down at the edge of the large hole in the earth.

          Elsa slowly drank half of the bowl and passed it to Anna. She pinched her nose and gulped down the green concoction as fast as she could, after which she screwed up her face in disgust and threw the guksi carelessly aside.

          “Close your eyes and just let Alena's joik and rhythm carry you away. Concentrate on it completely and relax. You don't have to be afraid at all, Anna, I’ll be there with you the whole time and soon …”

~~~

Anna didn't notice at first how she slipped over into the trance, she only saw grey light behind her closed eyelids and thought it was the daylight she was still perceiving. She wondered if the whole ritual would work here, because after all it was Elsa with the special abilities and not her. At the beginning, Anna wasn't scared of what would happen, but then the grey turned into a bright silver that wafted and moved.

          Usually, Anna was not afraid of heights and had even climbed onto the castle’s roof once, but what happened next took her breath away since she couldn't believe what was happening. Anna was frightened to the core, rowing her arms in the hope of finding a foothold somewhere. But there was absolutely nothing she could grasp and instead thought she was falling into groundlessness. Anna had to gag. At least that's what she thought, because she quickly realised that her body was not reacting as she expected. She couldn't feel it at all.

          Moments later, she noticed that she was floating in place, above an infinite green grassy plain far, far below her, with a wide river winding through it. Nothing here apparently had substance or weight. So her body and her sensations had been pure imagination. She turned her head to the side. Elsa hovered right next to her and grinned at her.

          “Why are you grinning at me like that? You could have given me a heads up, couldn't you? That wasn't funny just now, Elsa!”

          “Sorry, sis, I forgot that because of my magic I'm better prepared for unexpected things and therefore easier to cope with. It should be clear to you that we are not here at all, Anna. Our spirit, our soul is the one who is traveling into this world, while our body is still sitting motionless on the stone. Here in this timeless world you only need to think and you are already in motion. But if you want just take my hand and I'll guide you.”

          Anna thought it in jest and in the next moment actually held her sister's hand.

          “Wow, this is actually so easy, but then how do you explain that we can talk and hear each other when we don't even have a body here?”

          Elsa tapped her temple, “Only in here, Anna. Our minds are connected, so to speak.”

          “I still don't understand how that works. How can that be?”

          “I haven't given it much thought until now and just accepted it, it's just the way it is. Go ahead and try it out, sis, so you can get a feel for it. Absolutely nothing can happen, because Alena is watching over us and guiding us to our destination. Oh and don't worry about time, because it passes many times slower here than in the real world.”

          “Oh no, I'd rather not. I'd just like to get to Mama as soon as possible to give her a hug and tell her all the things I couldn't.”

~~~

Just like last time, they floated down to the entrance of the glacier, only this time there was no magical bell of mist visible. Instead, Iduna was already waiting for them in an aura of light and Elsa wondered if Mother was actually watching their every move from here and thus, as she promised her then, watching over her daughters.

          When Anna recognised her figure, tears of joy immediately flowed down her face and Elsa was deeply moved by her spontaneous reaction. Her sister must have thought of a heartfelt embrace, because while Elsa slowly floated down, she was already in Iduna's arms, crying.

          “Mama … “

          Iduna also had tears in her eyes when she could finally hold her Anna in her arms.

          “My darling … oh how I wished that we would meet again one day, even if it is only this way. Let me look at you.” Iduna held her at a little distance and looked her up and down. “How grown up you have become and you look almost like I used to in my gakti. I'm so proud of you for being the Queen of Arendelle now, my darling. Elsa, come here to me too … I want to hug you both.”

          Iduna finally held her two daughters together in her arms, Anna sobbed into her shoulder and Elsa internalised every second of this reunion together.

          “I've already told your big sister that I'll always look after you both and I haven't let you out of my sight for a moment. What you have achieved together is just unbelievable. I am so proud of you both, especially that you have finally found each other again after all these years apart. Papa would be so happy about that.”

          “'Papa? Do you know where he is? Is he … okay? I mean, like you, Mama?” asked Anna, looking pleadingly into Iduna's blue eyes.

          “I'm afraid I don't know, little one,” she replied, stroking her cheek tenderly, while Elsa, still half in an embrace, sadly bowed her head.

          “I've wanted to ask you the same thing all along, Mama, but events never really allowed it,” she said, and Iduna looked at her sympathetically.

          “I know, my little snowflake, I've always felt that, but couldn't answer it myself. Perhaps Ahtohallan has only protected his own, since the beginning of time. You two are my direct descendants and therefore half Northuldra. But your papa, as much as I loved him …”

          For a few moments, each looked down at the ground in dismay, not saying a word, and loosened their embrace again.

          After a few moments, Elsa broke the silence.

          “I couldn't stand it when we found the shipwreck, Mama, and from the remnants of the water of the dark sea in the ship's planks I restored the memory of your very last moment with the help of my magic. I needed to know what had happened to you both and why you had sailed to Ahtohallan. We both wondered and saw that terrible moment, heard your last words, felt the love for each other and learned the true reason for your journey. To find out the truth about my magic … of Ahtohallan.”

          “I saw you begin it, Elsa, and also saw the ice sculpture of me and my Agnarr form. But I could not watch that moment to the end because the memory of our deaths was simply unbearable to me,” Iduna replied sadly. “But what you don't know is that just before the cold waves came over us, I saw a vision of the two of you in the sea, grown up and finally reunited. I called out to Gale, as I did when I rescued your father, thinking Ahtohallan had shown me, but alas I received no reply. I was still going to tell Agnarr and he hugged me, but then …”

          Anna began to cry again and Iduna took her in her arms comfortingly.

          “Can you tell us more about the time before, Mama? Did Papa know at some point that you were a Northuldra and saved him?” asked Anna, sniffling.

          “Oh yes, my child. I told him everything that day and we also talked about you two. I felt it was a great mistake to keep you apart for fear Elsa would not be in control of her emotions and magic. Agnarr and I agreed in the end that once we were back, everything would change. And do you know why, Anna?”

          “Why?” she asked softly.

          “Because we both had faith in you that you could hold up the world with your love. We wanted to tell you all about Elsa because you were beginning to grow up. Your Papa still had doubts because your sister could be overwhelmed by her feelings, even for joy, not just for her anxiety. But I told him that if anyone could help Elsa, it was you, Anna. Agnarr finally agreed with me and said there was hardly anything you couldn't do. Agnarr and I had every intention of telling you everything, Anna. We loved you so much … both of you, and we believed in you. And I still do! Come here, you two, and let me hug you again.”

          “Thank you, Mama, for everything and for always being there for us,” Anna said through tears and Elsa added, “and also for never giving up believing in me.”

~~~

They talked for a long time, shed tears and rejoiced together. Finally they could ask Iduna all the things that had been on their minds for a long time and got all the answers about why and what had happened in detail. Elsa and Anna poured out their hearts and when Iduna began to take Anna on a mental, fantastic journey into the past and also into the in-between world here, Elsa left the two of them to themselves and did not want to disturb.

          Elsa thought and was satisfied, more than ever before. At some point Anna returned from this journey and the moment had come to ask Iduna one last question.

          “'Mama, I would like to show Anna Ahtohallan and what I experienced there before I became the Fifth Spirit. Anna wanted to come with me then, but I thought it was far too dangerous. So I just sent her away with Olaf and I think she was pretty upset about it.”

          “You bet I was, even Olaf was. He of all people didn't know such feelings yet and couldn't believe you just put us in that ice boat any more than I could!”

          “I'm sorry, Anna. I just wanted you to be safe and I made the way back to the Northuldra camp out of ice.”

          “But then we ended up on the river by the earth giants and fell into a dark cave, all because of you, Elsa!”

          “But it wasn't planned that way, Anna. If you hadn't left the path, and you must have, then …”

          Iduna interrupted them both abruptly. “Please stop arguing!”

          Affected silence fell and they both realised that they were about to ruin a wonderful moment. They apologised ruefully.

          “Well … I don't know if that's possible, Elsa,” Iduna finally said. “But I know why you ask and also what your reason was for sending Anna away. You couldn't have known it at that moment, but your sister wouldn't have survived the cold there. So your hunch was right, and Anna, in the end Elsa's action was a good thing, because otherwise you wouldn't have been able to free the forest and the Northuldra with her help. Everything happened in the end exactly as it should.”

          Iduna did some soul-searching for a moment and then continued speaking. “'However, I am sorry that you had to think that your sister was dead, Anna, because she went too far. You remember that lullaby I was singing to you when you were little. I mean, so were you for a while, Elsa, and frozen. But Ahtohallan didn't allow it in the end because your sister, at the risk of her life, managed to right the wrongs of that time.”

          Iduna sighed, “All right, we could go in as far as the Hall of Memories, and provided Ahtohallan helps me, you could see your experiences there again, of both of you. As you know, Ahtohallan is a river of memories and nothing is forgotten there. But I won't take you deeper into it, even I am not allowed to, because all the memories slumber there until the beginning of time.”

          Elsa and Anna looked at each other questioningly and then nodded excitedly at Iduna.

          “Well, wait a moment …” Iduna closed her eyes and her aura weakened a little, even flickered a bit, but it only lasted a second or two, then she nodded. “We can go.”

~~~

It hadn't gotten much later when they both came out of the trance, though they felt like days had passed. Anna sat quietly, a rapt expression on her face, while Elsa looked at her, smiling.

          “There you are again,” Alena said from above. “Have you seen all you wanted and are you satisfied?”

          “Oh yes, Alena, more than that,” Elsa replied half aloud, “it was a magical experience and obviously very special for Anna.” She looked around, “Maren left already?”

          “Yes, a few minutes ago. She wanted to go back to the camp.”

          “Oh crap,” Anna said suddenly and the other two looked at her in surprise. She opened her eyes and looked at her sister. “We forgot to ask what happened to Kolgrimr …”

~~~

Far down, at the deepest point of the glacier, where not even the semblance of daylight penetrated the thick ice, two frozen figures stood close together. One could have mistaken them for two banished memories if one stood in front of them with a torch in this absolutely deadly cold, but it was Kolgrimr and Gyda who had fallen into oblivion here.

          However, what the onlooker wouldn't see was that both were still alive and kicking and trapped down there in eternal torment. Punished until the end of time and possibly also a morbid pastime for Ahtohallan to listen to their thoughts sometimes. But not only that, for Ahtohallan had made sure that both could hear each other's thoughts and berate each other eternally for their failures.

          Ahtohallan ensured that their minds stayed awake and experienced day after day all that caused them the most torment and did not eventually succumb to madness. Every single day began over and over again for both of them.

          Kolgrimr relived all the moments when he had failed, when he was always just about to reach his goal and still missed it. Each time he experienced the evil pranks of their invisible yet extremely effective ghost, who later turned out to be Honeymaren. And he was even more annoyed that he had been so stupid not to think of her brother Ryder, whom he could not sense and who had set the ball rolling by freeing his sister. If only he had killed him; he thought ruefully. At the end of the day, the same scenes repeated themselves over and over again, the fight at the fifth monolith, which he lost and where he was deceived by Elsa, whom he hated so abysmally, and she - in spite of all his efforts - finally achieved the liberation of Ahtohallan.

          He saw her standing before him as the fifth Spirit in her radiant robe, heard Anna's laughter again and again watched the errant throw of his battle staff with the sharp blade on it before the earth giants grabbed him and his mother at the end and carried them away. Kolgrimr felt abysmal anger and equally great regret for himself. He imagined how everyone laughed at him and how absolutely no one would remember him in the years that followed.

          Gyda, on the other hand, was plagued by a draugr that followed her wherever she went and lurked in the shadows. She lived through all her fears since the time when her husband left her, took her son away from her and she was cast out by the Northuldra.

          She saw her son lying drunk in the tent with his new ally who wanted to be king, along with all his men who lay snoring around him in the camp. She witnessed his multiple failures and the careless way in which he had failed to stop his prisoners from escaping, on the very ship this Thord had arrived on.

          She began to reproach her son and give endless advice on how he could have done better if only he had listened to her. And then he would angrily yell at her to shut her mouth and finally stop her annoying nagging. And all this repeated itself over and over again, day after day, and would go on for eternity.

          For this was Ahtohallan's punishment for the unspeakable atrocities committed against his charges, the Northuldra, and the innocent people of Arendelle. For the death of Iduna and the attempt to kill her daughter, his fifth spirit, and ultimately for the betrayal of Ahtohallan himself, for Kolgrimr had separated him and the nature spirits from the world and wanted to banish him forever in order to rule himself and thus bring disaster to all.

~~~

---

Remark: I hope you have enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a comment if you liked the story, I would be pleased to read your opinions, even criticisms. If you want to be tagged as soon I publish the next chapter please let me know, except you are already tagged :-)

Tagging: @true--north @annaofthenorthernlights @dronning-formynder05

[greenerteacups]

Dear GT,

I'm among the many admirers of Lionheart, and I can't stress enough how deeply, madly, and profoundly I love it. Your sharing of this masterpiece is something I'll always be thankful for.

I've mulled over this extensively, but would you mind terribly if quotes, phrases, scenes, and the like (the ones we often see of published books?) from Lionheart were shared on other platforms?

There are numerous passages and scenes I feel compelled to shed light on. Lionheart holds immense literary value for me, and I'm certain there are others who feel the same. I'm eager to exchange views on Lionheart with fellow enthusiasts.

Please don't hesitate to decline if you have reservations, as I too am wary of the potential negativity that often accompanies popularity. I trust your expertise, which is why I'm seeking your opinion.

I'd be mortified if my actions inadvertently caused any harm to you or anyone else.

Hello, friend!

Firstly, thanks for a really beautiful message. It's made my day.

With respect to sharing Lionheart — sure! From this message I'm not sure exactly what you have in mind, but here are a couple of thoughts:

Quotes/excerpts/short passages: yeah totally! Go for it! Talk about it with anyone you want to, anywhere you want to! It's really courteous of you to ask about this.

Please don't repost full chapters/the fic in its entirety (I have cleverly defended against this problem by writing a fic so bonkers fucking long that it would require Herculean efforts to do this, but it's still worth saying — if not for you then just to make sure it's in writing)

I don't have Instagram/Facebook/TikTok/etc., and I try not to engage too much with discussions of the fic outside of AO3 or my Tumblr inbox. Unlike those spaces, Reddit/Facebook/etc. are platforms for negative criticism about fic, and people deserve spaces to do that without the author breathing down their neck. Just as I can set etiquette for my inbox, readers have every right to share their opinions and enjoy the (valid!) fruits of critical discussion; I have neither the ability nor, frankly, the desire to stop them. I'm a big girl, and I take responsibility for my own Internet experience. The only way I even feel empowered to reject that kind of feedback in my inbox is because I pointedly leave space for readers to do it elsewhere.

All of this to say: if you want me to see something, please send it here or in the comments section! Otherwise, I probably won't.

[maddness-time-bby]

Lore Olympus is the CTRL+ALT+DEL of Webtoon

I was watching watching Hbomberguy's video on CTRL+ALT+DEL and he was talking about how the comic(which I'll be referring to CAD for now on as to save my sanity) reflected gaming culture as a whole, even if many people didn't like it, and how even the popular comics in the subgenre of "gaming webcomics" like Penny Arcade had much more in common with CAD than fans of Penny Arcade would like to admit.

This got me thinking about how Lore Olympus, in it's own sense, is the CAD of Webtoon. Both represent the worst of their respective comic mediums, as Lore Olympus showcases Webtoon at its symbolic worst. There's constant cliff hangers to get you to spend an increasing amount of coins on chapters that just get worse and worse. The art is rushed and in poor quality in order to meet the weekly deadline, and the writing has taken a nosedive off a cliff. Heck, Lore Olympus even shares some problems with CAD, as both stories have a tonal whiplash problem, oscillating wildly between silly and serious moments, and both having poorly written characters. Yet despite all that, the comic(s) has fans that refuse to look deeper into the comic and look at the story with a critical eye, some attacking those who do so.

Now obviously I'm sure there are worse webtoons on the platform, however they don't have the same popularity and reach as Lore Olympus. They most likely do not have published copies flying off shelves, a tv series in the works(supposedly), and official merchandise you can buy. In the same vein, CAD at one point had its own convention, animated series, and merchandise that you could buy with your hard earned money. To me, Lore Olympus as a whole symbolizes and reflects webtoon at its worst due not only to the reasons listed above, but also due to how the author herself reflects webtoon at its worst. Rachel Smythe actively deletes comments criticizing her work, pushes out poorly made products, and at this point avoids doing her own damn comic in order to do side projects like podcasts and new stories. At this point, Webtoon doesn't care about it's creators. It underpays and under markets the originals that they have that aren't Lore Olympus, and screwed over their canvas creators by replacing paying them(which already wasn't a lot for a huge amount of work) with with a tipping system that, based off how few readers will simply like and/or comment under a chapter they like, will likely amount to jack shit. Maybe Lore Olympus never made Webtoon look bad, maybe the platform was always shit, I don't fucking know.

Webtoon's quality has gone down the gutter, and as both a fan and writer of comics, it makes me upset! Webtoon allows creators to upload their story for free which, as someone who plans a long running story but doesn't have the money to keep a website running, is great! I love reading other people's stories! I love sharing my own stories! I just wish Webtoon would step up their game so that it wasn't such an embarrassment of a website. With the way things are going right now, I don't know how long Webtoon will last, and that's honestly a shame. If this seems familiar it's because I posted this on the r/unpopularloreolympus subreddit and I felt like also posting it on here lol

comments under cut

[poetrywise]

Life, sort of

I can't access Twitter lately, so I thought mb I should try to be more active here. Yes, I know I said it before, but my VPN hasn't been working for weeks and I kind of miss people. I miss life, in general. For the past nearly 2 years, life has been hell in my country: mass arrests, toxic propaganda, army drafts, idiotic laws, silencing the media and public opinion, to say nothing of the horror we have been inflicting on another country. I don't know about most people but I do feel ashamed and depressed, even though I am, have always been, and always will be staunchly anti-war. Seriously, how have people not learnt to solve their disagreements in a less insane way over the course of our history?

Today, yet another "great" news: LGBT is now considered an extremist organization. They've done all they could to torment queer people short of criminalizing queerness itself. They keep promoting so-called "traditional" values, debating whether women should be allowed access to higher education (I kid you not, this is us in the 21st century) and abortion, all the while wasting 40% of the budget on war; in the meantime, all their beloved "traditional" families live in poverty and find their social support cut. You can get 7, 15, 30 years in prison for changing price tags in a supermarket to anti-war statements, staging an anti-war play, digging into government corruption. Children are being force-fed "patriotic" claptrap at school. Bloggers get fined, arrested or forced to leave the country because they fear for their safety. Life here is a cruel joke.

I know that I personally have little reason to complain, since I haven't been arrested (yet), nor have any of my loved ones. But it doesn't mean I don't get panic attacks (I had them before, I've been seeing a therapist for 6 years, and this situation IS derailing my progress) or fear for the future. My personal future feels ruined too: I can't travel, I can't see my BFF who lives abroad, I can't get paid for my stories even if I do manage to publish them (I write in English and have had 4 stories published in America, but we can neither send, nor accept payment from abroad lately). All this feels so small compared to what other people go through, in both our countries, but it's big to ME. I can't look into the future with any kind of hope because I don't want to live in the country that makes its people and another nation suffer. (Don't get me started on actual things our politicians say, like: Well, if smb drops a nuke on us, it'll be fine, as long as it's not on the capital. [FYI, I live in the capital, but it doesn't mean turning the rest of the country into a nuclear wasteland is fine by me. WUT EVEN!])

Everyone hates my country. We deserve it. I hate my own inability to change that but I'm neither brave, nor smart enough to do anything. When it all started, I tried writing letters to politicians, but this ain't America, nb listens to the people here. The only reply I got was smth like: Well, the West is threatening us, we must defend ourselves, so STFU. Idk what bizarre illusionland these ppl live in. Last time I checked WE were threatening everybody. Including ourselves.

What's the point of this TL;DR? Idk. To speak out in some way, I guess. Like I said, my VPN isn't working, and I can't access Twitter, which is my usual platform for whining XD I'll try to post smth more positive some time. Among other platforms that don't work without VPN are: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Goodreads, AO3, various torrent sites, BBC sites, many kinds of Western media, and probably a hell of a load more I don't know about. I admire the reporters who are still publishing the truth. It's impossible to hide it from the people these days, but unfortunately, most people just watch TV, which spouts disgusting lies and propaganda.

Nostalgia is a fashionable thing lately, and here's my two cents: I loved the late 90s - early 2000s. Yes, we had problems then too. Like financial crises and local wars. But we had freedom of speech, independent news, we at least tried to respect human rights, we could travel, we had cultural exchanges, foreign tourists, and nb hated us more than any other country. I wasn't ashamed to admit where I was from. I never felt I'd be stuck in a totalitarian state because surely, surely we'd learned! We'd been through it and it wouldn't repeat again. But I guess "all of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again" is a very true saying. I'm so tired. I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I do feel very alone whenever I read the news. I'm lucky in the sense that my family at least shares my opinion, but on a grand scale? I don't know if any meaningful change can be achieved when we can't even form proper opposition: a few parties/organizations both here and abroad are usually at each other's throats instead of working together. So yeah, I'm tired, disappointed, depressed, and idk what else to say.

Wow, hope I don't get arrested for this XD

[anonofseasons]

The reason the rest of Seasons went up is that I figured I'd better just do it before I lost all drive to share ever again and didn't at least complete Seasons for the remaining readers. It's the only thing I've written (outside of fandom) that has gotten much attention. It was nice, and I really appreciate that anyone would read it. But outside of that, I cannot get more than the tiniest handful of people to care about what I write, and it has been that way for years. It's discouraging, I'll be honest. My already-low confidence keeps taking beatings. I used to be more active with fandoms and posting fics, but one fandom/ship soured the experience for me. (Long story short, a lot of that ship's writers were bullied out by much more prominent writers. One of those popular writers mocked content from my fics in vaguetweets every time I posted, and I couldn't keep calling it a coincidence after a while.) I'd hear "you only write manbabies" (yeah more than once) and "you write too much of this" or be told my characterization wasn't realistic. But mostly? It just goes ignored. So I think, "I have to work harder and be better so people will be interested in reading it."

I don't know how other people manage to get word out about their writing. AO3 is great for sharing what I don't plan to publish/what can't be published, but what about what I do want published? I want to be a career author. And I struggle bc I'm dealing with problems that have a hand in worsening each other: financial struggles, living with my shitty parents, and bad health/disabilities. I need something in my life to work out for once. The pressure is on to be successful at something, but I just keep getting older and physically worse. My friend is willing to take me in when they find a place, we hope that's this year, but I can't live off of them, and I can't just sometimes cook and clean when I have spoons to make up for that. I need an income. I want writing to work out. But it just dies on my social media, with very few interactions, if any at all. I had a ton of stuff I wanted to finish for Seasons this month and into October to share with everyone in my excitement. But I'm losing my will to share anything. I only feel foolish when I try. Everything I do only proves my critics right, so it's embarrassing. Why even bother to try? It's been fourteen years of trying to get anything I write seen. I don't plan to stop writing btw, it's the sharing that's so difficult. I've been told countless times to write for myself when I express my despair, and guess what? That's good advice I've been taking this entire time! Who else could I be trying to please at this point? I have no one to please lmao, it's just me doing stuff I wanna do! The reaction to the ending of Seasons has me hesitant to give up on sharing, bc clearly lots of people connected to it in different ways, and that's wonderful. It makes me think sharing isn't so bad! But I just don't know if - at my age and health - if I can keep trying. I have two books I want to self-publish soon, and they feel like they'll just end up like everything else I post over at @mcalhenwrites - 6 notes and 5 of them are my reblogs! (And it's the same across all social media platforms - or it's even worse.) I'm really thankful that sharing Seasons gave me a taste of what it was like to connect with people through my writing, though. I don't think any of the people who commented or sent me asks realize how much it really helped me through this year, but it did. I started to have a little hope that maybe it wasn't a skill issue on my part, at least? ;A; And here's the thing: I don't really hate my writing all that much. I just fear it's got things wrong with it that I can't recognize, and that's what's putting potential readers off. I do believe my hard work shows, but hard work =/= good enough. My style is getting closer to the skill level I dreamed of having. I'm proud of my characters. But what's missing? I know that being a creator of any kind - even professional - is extremely tough, especially right now. I know this is a struggle for a lot of authors, artists, etc. :'( I just... I want to write as a career so I can keep doing more of it. I rarely have the spoons to keep up with anything. Writing is flexible. I love doing it! I just want to explain how I feel and what I'm dealing with, and why I'm so desperate. If you read this, know that it really helps creators to have our work recommended, boosted, etc. Authors matter as much as artists. I've been trying to train myself for the nth time to not be online and talk about my writing in any capacity. It hasn't worked before - I'm always too stupid to commit to giving up - but at what point in 14 years of complete failure with a side of humiliation does one just learn to give up? And to give some further insight into my thinking process: when I uploaded the remaining chapters, I put Seasons in my private collection (which holds 87 of my works out-of-bounds to anyone but me) so I could upload all the chapters without risking annoying my subscribers. Since 11 chapters in one night is a bit much, eh? :') Ugh, idk why tumblr won't let me edit anything or post long stuff. So I'm cutting this short I guess!

[hypervoxel]

List of my in progress fic WIPs because if I share them, then I am more likely to finish them:

Damaged Nerve, the only one I've actually managed to publish anything for.

You know the B99 meme? "I've only had Arlo for a day and a half, but if anything happened to him, I would kill everyone in this room and then myself"? That's Vox with Vark, and I want to see what he does when something does happen to his beloved pet.

Title is from, "absence can be present, like a damaged nerve, like a dark bird," quote. It will eventually be about Vox and Val being unable to stay apart even as they cross so many lines with each other. Val hurts Vox's pet, and Vox still can't stay away from him for long. Vox kills Val and threatens to do it again, and Val still wants him. It's also about Vox being so deranged in ways that aren't just about his relationship with Val. He deserves to get so unhinged while tearing people apart with his bare claws that he starts thinking about how Alastor broadcasted his rampages and Vox could totally do that too (he's better than the Radio Demon and he doesn't miss that old geezer) 🥰 The people he's tearing apart in this case are Exorcists, because he was bound by a Deal to draw them away from the veterinarian stitching up his pet shark.

None of the angels actually permanently die, but Vox did make them look bad on live TV. So, unfortunately, now Vox is getting blamed for the doubling of Exterminations, on top of having to deal with Val and his relationship problems.

Working title: "this was supposed to be about Redemption. it isn't. It Isn't.". I'll probably give it a Bastille lyric, because I'm me.

A rival Overlord seizes the chance to knock The Vees down a peg, publicly. The triumVirate scrambles to maintain their joint reputation as Vox struggles to recover physically and emotionally.

Or: The Vees are given an opportunity for self reflection, realization, and possibly a chance at redemption... They do not take it.

I love a non-con and torture recovery and support fic. You have no idea how much a story about recovery from something horrible means to me. This is... Technically that. Twisted and villainized.

In Hell, power is safety. Overlords can't look weak, can't be beatable. Can't have their rape uploaded online across every platform with memes made about their smashed screen and broken body, screenshots and reuploads from the masses posted faster than their bots could delete it. You get what you deserve, the populace cheers, as Vox gets a taste of every depravity the Vees profit from.

Working title: road trip! road trip!!

What can I say? It's the Vees on a road trip! An exploration of their characters, their dynamics, and of the worldbuilding of Pride. There cannot be only one city.

Working title: "horrifically aphobic"

It's a Vox-centric story, it's always a Vox centric fic for me. Right now this is all just Vibes and Concepts but I am Thinking Constantly about Vox and internalized aphobia and ableism and transphobia. He has all the issues. He externalizes a lot of them too, things don't just stay internal when they are on someone's mind that much. It's part of the reason why Alastor is no longer his friend!

Angel!Vox AU

This will likely just be a one shot. Vox is not actually an angel, but he does have wings! Messy, misshapen things made of wire and shattered glass. He was a televangelist in life, and now the his sins weigh quite literally heavy on his shoulders. Heaven is a constant light above him, always visible in the sky, but his wings are cumbersome things that could never allow him to fly.

He doesn't even realize they are meant to be wings until he sees his reflection. He was always talented at looking good for a camera. If he preens his wings, organizes the mess of cables and glass shards, he can make them look pristine. Purposeful. He can make himself become the beautiful, technological angel he is meant to be. He can make everyone else see him as he should have been. Heaven is forever out of his reach, but no one else needs to know that. And angels here, well, demons are terrified of them. What is more powerful than an angel? Vox can work with that.

Working title: Vees 5+1

It's about Velvette joining the Vees <3 Five times Velvette interrupted VoxVal getting it on, + 1 time she joined them from the start.

Working title: evil AngelVoxVal

As though there's any way for that ship to not be evil, lol

Valentino wants his favorite lovers to join him together for a threesome. Valentino is an expert at getting what he wants.

[risu5waffles]

[LBP - LBsP 01/19/24] 292 - You're Gonna Carry That Weight

Well, heck. Hopefully this won't be the last fresh (to me) level the we look at on the show; but if it is, i guess we get to go out wiv a bang. Or at least a chewy philosophical problem.

The level's an interesting one, and i feel like it ought to be viewed from two different lenses.

On a pure nuts and bolts side, it's a decent platformer wiv an interesting, elevating conceit. You've got this checkpoint, it's on wheels and you can drag it. You can choose to leave it behind at any time, and gamble on your skills. The earlier you leave it, but more ground you're going to have to go back over if you die. The tension there, if you're being a showoff like me and trying to ace the level wivout carrying the checkpoint at all, really adds to the trickiness of the platforming sections. There were a few times where i wound up getting myself killed because i was playing too conservatively, because i was thinking of having to do everything all over again if i got myself killed. That was really cool.

The gameplay bits themselves were fun once it got challenging. The ice bit, the gears, and that last monkeybar/lights section i had a lot of fun wiv. The first half, tho' does wear a little bit. i think that adds into the risk calculation i mentioned above, but after going through the level a couple dozen times (yes, like, actually a couple dozen times), i did wish i could hurry along some. Now, that's not really an issue most players will have, but it was there.

The environment felt the weakest to me. There are some definite standout bits. Guts, in particular, is a great setpiece presentation-wise; but mostly it feels very standard "this is an LBP1 cave platformer." i did, however, deeply appreciate the ability to select music up front. Song 2 really is the better track for the level, but @soupum well knows the copyright issues that causes for YouTube videos. i don't know that he was thinking specifically of me when he put that choice in, but i was very glad to see it.

So, like, on the level-qua-level it's neat. Definitely something i enjoyed playing, and i could really dig the gimmick.

But then, it's not just playing at being a level; it's also working a message, and this is where things start to get a bit dicey for me. Not that i don't think the message isn't one worth conveying, or is something that can't be conveyed in this medium; but i'm still not sure the level conveys it well or clearly, and it certainly feels like the form is (while honest, at least if i've read it right) ultimately more cynical than perhaps necessary? i don't know. i've got a lot of feelings about it still, and i'm still not sure if i well conveyed the message i was getting at in the video. At the very least i can say this is the most noodling i've ever had to do about an LBP community level, and more noodling than i do over most actually-published-by-studios games i play; and you can't say that's not some form of success.

-------------------------------------------------------

i have so much b-roll of this level, it's honestly made a bit of a dent in my PS4's storage space, so i'm glad the video's finally live and i can cull it.

Still no word on the servers, or much anything aside from StevenI's announcement of his departure as community manager. i'm going to record the DLC levels to fill in space in the Archive, and i'll be looking at my flags level on the 26th, and Distress in Ocean on February 2nd since both of those are on my moon (Distress was a copyable level, and i don't know why i copied it, but i'm awful glad i did). But eventually we're going to hit a spot where the rubber meets the road, and there's just nothing left for me to Archive.

i can still do LBsP things, behind the scenes looks at sets and things like Create Mode goofing around, but if the servers don't come back relatively soon, i think the DLC will only last... i'm not sure. Not super long. i didn't get every pack, even tho' i did get a bunch. i'm feeling some kinds of ways about this, and none of them are very good.

[hootsimedes]

Aoaoao! i really want to do an Art Trade with you, but i feel so shy and scared, and shame!👉👈

Hello!! Don't be shy, I don't bite 👀

Well, I didn't expecting doing Art Trade, but why not?

Taking advantage of the question, I am going to put my conditions to do Art Trade:

My Conditions for Art Trade:

Send me a message on Tumblr to talk about the exchange.

Only TF2 drawings.

I'll not do NSFW or accept NSFW.

I can draw OC's (only TF2 ones)

You must be the one who sends me the drawing first, I'll not send my part until you have sent yours first. But I have no problem if you want to send it when I finish with my part.

Due to my limited time, it may take a while to make the drawing, so I'll let you know when I have it ready. If I take longer than I should, I will send a screenshot of the drawing to make you know that I am doing it.

Your drawing needs to have your own signature and/or your username from some platform.

The drawing that I'll do will have: lineart, color and shade (dialog if you want too). I recommend you do the same if you want, but don't waste your time doing something very complete, something like that is worth more than an art trade lol

Any questions you have you can ask without any problem! I will try to answer it as soon as possible.

After sending you the drawing I'll ask you if you want me to publish it or not on my account. If so, I'll mention your social network.

(I'll edit this if I have more conditions to put)

If you want to do Art Trade with me you must follow these conditions, I don't make exceptions.

Even if it seems strict, and this goes for all the artists who read this, even if you don't draw works of art, NEVER GIVE YOUR WORK SO EASILY TO OTHERS.

You took your time making this to practically gift it to someone else you don't know. Many artists were scammed by never receiving the other part of the trade. Don't be scared to say "no" when you suspect and put the necessary conditions to avoid it.

Who still wants to do art trade with me, is welcome to discuss it and formalize the exchange.

If you don't agree with these conditions, I hope you have a good day 😊

Oh sorry about this haha, thanks still for wanting to trade with me anyway! 🤗❤️

[the-missann]

So, this is to my followers and anyone else who fits the bill.

After reading a post about the chance of Google using google docs in their AI learning, I had a large urge overcome me and I really want to do something as a small ant.

As much as I don't like bugs, ants aren't very strong on their own, but we all know the damage they can do as a group.

So, I've decided to make a writing group and if you're interested keep reading. This also isn't just a writing group, it's a group for anything related to writing. So that can be an artists who draw character concepts.

Again, read more if this piques your curiosity...

The Unserious Writing Group

Writing is a serious craft that needs some fun brought back into it. I've been inspired by several people in the last few years and I want to try something to contribute to my favorite thing to do: writing. I've tried to join other groups and it simply doesn't work since my writing doesn't fit into a neat category, so I feel isolated from the group rather quickly, in order to avoid that feeling I'm making as many of the things I do a part of the group's core. I'll also be considering my anxiety into this knowing how tasking it is for me to interact with a group I'm being overwhelmed by.

Plans: I'm better at organizing than actual execution, so I'm making this list of things I want to expand on (06/15/23)

Monthly (or weekly) Prompts

Shameless sharing

Friendly Discussions

Writing Assistance

Review Swaps

Editing Help

Projects

Book Club

Check-ins

Venting about writing

I don't want this group to be just for writers or just for poets, I want to include everyone that I can because I write in almost every genre and include almost every interesting element I can. As long as it's related to writing in some way, you're more than welcome to join!

This includes:

Novelists

Short Story Writers

Poets

Artists

Fanfiction writers

Avid readers

Editors

Critiquers

Playwrights

Song writers

Publishers

Hobby writers

And more!

Every aspiring author or published author knows networking is important and with how little accessible support there is for writers, I want to try and create a space for writers to feel as everyone else does in their field. I can only speak for myself but my journey to publication has been nothing but dead ends and it's very discouraging. Nothing I've tried works and I can't find the exact source to the problem and therefore can't fix it—I don't know if I'm a bad writer or if it's just my cover that's bad.

I want writers to feel like they're heard and supported no matter if you're writing the next Star Wars or a story about pieces of paper thinking they were trees in a former life. I want writers to be acknowledged for giving the world their fandoms.

Despite my ambitions, I obviously have some concerns I feel will come up:

I get overwhelmed easily (and guess what I already am overwhelmed and no one has even joined yet 🤢) and I would need someone to assist me as a co-leader essentially. If anyone would be interested in that role, DM me.

If this moves to Discord or some other platform, I will have no idea how to set that up. For now, I was considering just having a large thread.

Unfortunately, until I can get moderators or any other form of help, I can't have the group open to minors. It would be 18+ only until then, I wanna allow people a safe space to discuss anything.

Activity is a big issue in most writing communities. It comes with it, but I want to have something going on whenever possible.

[fearofahumanplanet]

Jane Talks Publishing, and Some Other Things-

I've had quite a few people mention this to me and that's honestly the only reason I'm bringing this up- However!

I've had quite a few people (before today but especially today thanks to my supply seeking positivity ask game) ask about wanting to get my books when they're published!

Well, I've actually been thinking about this a lot lately, so let's talk about that for a moment

I have been spending a couple months trying to get Karma Killer queried to agents. It has not gone well thus far - lot of rejections. This is normal, but I'm also not 100% if I'm gonna nail anyone with it, or my other works (maybe Serpents, but that's nowhere near a publishable state). There's reasons for that - for one, I haven't been able to afford a professional editor to go over my work, that's all been done by me.

For another, I have no publishing history whatsoever - I haven't been published anywhere, haven't self-published anything, don't have a large online platform, etc. They say everyone likes an underdog, but I think that quote needs to be revised, bc I've learned agents don't. Thirdly, my work in general is not what a lot of agents want to see - the market is really aimed towards romances and fluff and literally every single agent that I've seen that wants horror says they want the next fucking "Mexican Gothic". I have never learned such hatred for a single book. My work is not like Mexican Gothic. I didn't like Mexican Gothic, actually, so it's REALLY not like Mexican Gothic. But the few agents that want horror all want Mexican Gothic.

(I'm sorry if that rant seemed to come out of nowhere, but seriously, it's a real problem right now, I'm not exaggerating-)

ANYWAY. So this is all a long-winded way of saying I'm trying?? But I'm not 100% positive I'll manage to get trad-published, and I absolutely cannot afford to self-publish - I cannot work, I am too disabled to do so, which is. Lovely.

HOWEVER!!!

ALL THIS POSITIVITY AND SUPPORT HAS MADE ME REALIZE THAT I MAY HAVE WAY MORE OF AN AUDIENCE THAN I THOUGHT. LIKE, SERIOUSLY. A LOT OF YOU CAME OUT OF THE WOODWORK THAT I DON'T REGULARLY TALK TO, EVEN, AND I WAS JUST. POSITIVELY DUMBFOUNDED!! REALLY.

So, yeah, I'm not going to make a habit of this (without being prompted), bc I hate feeling like I'm begging for attention or whatever. HOWEVER. If y'all want those books on your shelves and I am unable to get an agent, there is one thing you can do right now with no cost!

Just spread the word, tell people about my stuff maybe if you think they'd enjoy it?? By no means feel obligated, you're not marketing agents and you're people with your own lives, but yeah - if I get something of a "fanbase" (I cannot fathom it), I might be able to fundraise some money to self-publish in the event I can't find an agent - and then we can some print copies of my books :D

But, again, that's all up to you lovely folks. I just figured I might as well write about that whole process, bc hardly anybody does address the monolith that is publishing.

(If y'all do spread the word a bit though, actually let me know and I will get a cookie or something. A writing snippet I haven't shared publicly or something. This is, again, not me wanting to beg. I just don't have many options as an indie author and I figured I might as well talk about what I'm planning to do in the future to get these books out to you guys.)

Also, Karma Killer (finished) and Miasma (first draft) are available as PDFs - I can't put them publicly on Wattpad or anything, bc then agents will want them even less, but I can share them in private channels. So feel free to ask for those if you want, get an idea of what I'm trying to get published right now :)

Alright, that's all, I'll let you get back to your lives now :) Thanks for all the support, I have never felt this motivated and... empowered, I guess? in my life. Gotta be a better word for it than "empowered". But y'all are the best <3

General Taglist: @aohendo, @athenswrites, @impaledlotus, @bardic-tales, @carefulpyro, @marinesocks, @writingpotato07

[mdzs-kinkmeme]

why is it that you have to manually de-anon the fics submitted? it makes me nervous about submitting fills to the kinkmeme because i'm worried about delays / if it'll just end up not de-anoned at all for some reason. (i'm paranoid 😅) wouldn't it be easier to have fills off-anon by default and point people to one of the anonymous collections elsewhere on AO3 if they want to be anonymous?

I've definitely thought about doing it that way, but ultimately decided on having it be anon by default because

(a) that seemed more in the spirit of the original Livejournla-style kink memes, which were overwhelmingly anonymous-only

(b) a lot of people don't know how to use the Anonymous Collection and folks already struggle with the limited guidelines the kinkmeme has to begin with, so I didn't want to make something as important as "privacy of your deepest and darkest kinks" difficult for them.

I do sometimes wish I'd gone the other way, since the vast majority of people do go ahead and de-anon immediately - I think if I did another kink meme in a different fandom, I'd go with default public, but at this point I don't want to confuse people by switching horses mid stream.

If you're paranoid about me not de-anoning quickly (which is a fair thing to be concerned about at this point because as submissions slow down, I'm not checking every other hour anymore) then you can always send me an email ahead of time to make sure I'll be online to see the notification right away when you publish your story!

It's not uncommon for me to de-anon within, like, ten minutes of something being posted; most of the time it's a few hours max because that's the longest I typically manage without looking at my phone. The biggest problem is if you've submitted something as a draft, I will get a regular notification for that draft, and then I have to remember to go back and check to see if it got published for real on my own because I'll never get a second email.

Seriously though, if you have a concern of that sort, reach out to me on a messaging platform or via email ahead of time.

Or...you can even publish the story NOT in the collection to start with, then add it once you've received the first wave of reader reactions!

[lizard-dumbass]

Please help me webcomic creators of tumblr

so basically i really want to make a webcomic some day. i have several different stories that i wish to pursue, but i'll settle on just one to start with of course. my problem is that i know nothing about making webcomics. i don't really know what platform i should Publish it on, hell, i don't really even have much experience in making a comic at all.

the only popular webcomic platform i can think of is webtoon. is webtoon a good platform to publish my comic on? what are the pros and cons of using it? what are some important things i should know before publishing a webcomic?

any advice is highly appreciated. i'm mostly looking for help with the publishing stuff, but tips and advice on how to get the comic noticed and even just making the pages themselves are also highly appreciated