#there's so many flags I tried to incorporate as many as I could...

[diurnalcritters]

Day 302

I discovered the aro/ace flag :)

[leiawritesstories]

20 Questions for Writers!

Thanks for the tag @writtenonreceipts!! <3

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

21 and counting 👀

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

226,575

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Primarily for Throne of Glass, but I'm always open to writing for more fandoms :)

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Chef Rowan

Fly The Black Flag

Until Proven Guilty

Wild Proposal Stories

Quarter After One

5. Do you respond to comments?

Yes!! Comments are one of the best parts of being a writer/creator and it makes me happy to both receive and give them.

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

Probably Late-Night Dances, which involves MCD🫣🫣 or really any of the handful of fics I've written where a character doesn't make it.

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

Oooh maybe Fly The Black Flag? I kind of borrowed the ending from POTC but changed some things, and a little while later, I was able to write a sort of epilogue/outtake where Rowaelin have a child, and it was super fluffy and cute and heartwarming.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

No? I don't think so, this community is genuinely wonderful and so supportive :))

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

Yes I do, hehe. I've only ever written F/M explicit content

10. Do you write crossovers?

Well......sort of. I like to sneak in characters from the other SJM books if it's possible and if it works, and once upon a time I tried to write a crossover fic that has since been abandoned 😂. But if it's ever in the cards, I'd love to properly write one!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nope

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Also nope, but that would be so cool

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

Possibly 👀👀👀 @mariaofdoranelle

14. What is your all-time favorite ship?

Rowan x Aelin. They will never not be an OTP.

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

Probably The Only Option, which has a whole plan/outline and some notes for the plot but will probably never be anything more than what it is. This also happens to be the fic that sparked my main idea for an original novel, so it might never be more of a fanfic, idk.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I honestly don't know lol. I think I can write family dynamics/kids pretty well, but I grew up with a bunch of siblings so it's kind of easier for me to write sibling and family dynamics. I'm also the proud (?) owner of an inner angst monster that I call Frederick, and he's very very good at having ideas for making situations painful 🤭

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Definitely consistency. Even in oneshots, I'm prone to forgetting what I wrote earlier or if they're linked oneshots/in the same setting or world, I tend to forget or change details about the setting, which just bothers me SO much. And don't even get started on how horribly inconsistent I am in long fics 😭😭 like, I'm a hella planner, but somehow I'll be rereading old parts of a draft (hello, Until Proven Guilty) and realize that there are big glaring gaps from the earlier parts to the later parts and just cry over the plot holes.

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

Love it! If the language is significant to a certain character, particularly to their background/development, I love to see dialogue in another language. Wish I spoke better in the other languages that I sort of know (Spanish/tiny bit of Italian) so I could incorporate it into writing. I think it's also super super amazing how some writers can create original languages.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Bloody Jack Throne of Glass! Started writing and never stopped lol ;)

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

i had a whole lot of fun writing DILF Rowan, which came from a prompt. also really really enjoyed The Assassin and the Princess, which is a sort of alternate canon reimagining.

some tags if you want: @mariaofdoranelle @elentiyawhitethorn @tomtenadia @house-of-galathynius @rowanaelinn and anyone else who wants to!!!

[ephhemeralite]

writing pattern tag game!

post the first line of your last ten posted fics and see if there's a pattern! thanks for the tag, @ful-crum !!!!!

not quite sure how i got here, real glad i've got more than ten fics posted (if only barely), excited to see how it goes

"Aziraphale bustles back into his shop with all of the energy of a raccoon holding a goodie they never expected to stumble across." – no skin like the skin you woke up in (gomens canon divergence au)

"Ed has spent the vast majority of his life as a pirate. Get as old and experienced as he’s gotten – far older and more experienced than he ever expected, mind you – and you form some opinions, about salt and the sea and the way of things." – and i feel so proud when the reckoning arrives (this is two lines so it's cheating but whatever 💚. very dumb black sails/our flag means death crossover)

"The first time Dick notices himself call for Batgirl and the wrong sibling respond, he doesn't think much of it." – no difference between the past and the ground (dick grayson thinks he's going crazy until he realizes [REDACTED])

"Tommy thinks that finding himself stuck through the Blood God’s sword – stuck through – should come as more of a shock to him than it does." – this is mostly what happens in dallas (au of my dsmp hero/villain major character death series where the major character death doesn't happen but it's still not great! hence the wtnv if he had lived title)

"Wilbur drops onto the couch with a groan and some sort of weird, histrion-type flail." – a gaze blank and pitiless as the sun (dsmp hero/villain au, companion piece to the actual mcd, probably my best piece of posted writing)

"He isn't looking for trouble today, but he isn't surprised when the blade of a sword finds him regardless." – the truth is like a sickle (it'll cut you to the middle) (dsmp hero/villain au with the mcd)

"The flickering lights of the tavern seem soft, in the late hours of the night." – drunk in a field (on dandelion wine) (unfinished 5+1 from a folk witch!jaskier universe that i got super super attached to but eventually let go of because my life kept getting more insane and the concept more intricate)

"Peter had spent a lot of time trying to psychoanalyze Neal Caffrey before his capture." – acquainted with the saint of never getting it right (white collar/batfam crossover, dick grayson is neal caffrey, my most popular fic by a chunk)

"Geralt can already tell that Jaskier plans on dragging them both out tonight, probably with quilt, to force him into a night of 'stargazing and communing with nature like we used to!'" – it could feel like an end (to have to keep going) (immortal/modern times geraskier au fic i haven't read since i wrote and posted it in a day. i think it's contemplations on mortality, helplessness, and the climate crisis?)

"Briefly, he contemplates sitting up on the couch to give himself better lung capacity for his incoming tirade, but figures that he may as well put his vigilante training to good use, and continues to lay back." – more like me (less like you) (technically the second line of an emotional conversation between dick and jason, but the first line was dialogue and it is too early for me to mess with quotation marks like that)

so, full disclaimer that i don't post a ton (no skin was last updated in august of last year and more like me was posted in july of 2021) so a lot of this writing is kind of old, but! i did notice that i've tended to open in media res, but recently i have been incorporating more exposition. i've never tried to make my first lines great hooks — i'm honestly more concerned with giving myself a good jumping-off point than anything else. it also struck me how many fandoms i've written for that i no longer engage with, basically at all. maybe i've just been really focused lately, but i don't think a few of these fandoms would hold my attention anymore! ironically, i'm talking about the more recent fandoms like dsmp/gomens/ofmd and not the older stuff like the batfam or the witcher.

this was really fun, i loved looking back through my work like this!! thank you again ful-crum for tagging me :)! i'm gonna tag @doingthewritethings, @b10000p, and @alavenderleaf !!!!!!

[mayorofcattown]

It only took like two and a half years but I have finally fished decorating my animal crossing island. I don't really have a set theme or anything I just tried to incorporate as many game elements as I could while making it look pretty and 'town esque' I guess

Dream address is DA-2231-0594-0282 if you wanna go check it out!

Part of me kinda wants to do like a video walkthru of it (maybe with voice over?) to show it off, but idk if anyone still watches acnh videos lmao

Also I'd have to stitch it together from 30 sec clips thanks to the switch lite's recording limits... So let me know if that's something you'd actually watch lol

Also most of the custom designs ppl shared online (aside from a couple stall designs and One lifesaving flag design I made myself) if there's any specifically ppl are looking for I can probably find the source/design no.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

By JENNIFER PELTZ

September 11, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are looking back on the horror and legacy of 9/11, gathering Monday at memorials, firehouses, city halls and elsewhere to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

Commemorations stretch from the attack sites — at New York’s World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania — to Alaska and beyond.

President Joe Biden is due at a ceremony on a military base in Anchorage.

His visit, en route to Washington, D.C., from a trip to India and Vietnam, is a reminder that the impact of 9/11 was felt in every corner of the nation, however remote.

The hijacked plane attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives and reshaped American foreign policy and domestic fears.

"On that day, we were one country, one nation, one people, just like it should be. That was the feeling — that everyone came together and did what we could, where we were at, to try to help,” said Eddie Ferguson, the fire-rescue chief in Virginia’s Goochland County.

It’s more than 100 miles (160 kilometers) from the Pentagon and more than three times as far from New York.

But a sense of connection is enshrined in a local memorial incorporating steel from the World Trade Center’s destroyed twin towers.

The predominantly rural county of 25,000 people holds not just one but two anniversary commemorations: a morning service focused on first responders and an evening ceremony honoring all the victims.

Other communities across the country pay tribute with moments of silence, tolling bells, candlelight vigils and other activities.

In Columbus, Indiana, 911 dispatchers broadcast a remembrance message to police, fire and EMS radios throughout the 50,000-person city, which also holds a public memorial ceremony.

Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts raise and lower the flag at a commemoration in Fenton, Missouri, where a “Heroes Memorial” includes a piece of World Trade Center steel and a plaque honoring 9/11 victim Jessica Leigh Sachs.

Some of her relatives live in the St. Louis suburb of 4,000 residents.

“We’re just a little bitty community,” said Mayor Joe Maurath, "but it’s important for us to continue to remember these events. Not just 9/11, but all of the events that make us free.”

New Jersey’s Monmouth County, which was home to some 9/11 victims, made Sept. 11 a holiday this year for county employees so they could attend commemorations.

As another way of marking the anniversary, many Americans do volunteer work on what Congress has designated both Patriot Day and a National Day of Service and Remembrance.

At ground zero, Vice President Kamala Harris is due to join the ceremony on the National September 11 Memorial & Museum plaza.

The event will not feature remarks from political figures, instead giving the podium to victims’ relatives for an hourslong reading of the names of the dead.

James Giaccone signed up to read again this year in memory of his brother, Joseph Giaccone, 43. The family attends the ceremony every year to hear Joseph’s name.

“If their name is spoken out loud, they don’t disappear,” James Giaccone said in a recent interview.

The commemoration is crucial to him.

“I hope I never see the day when they minimize this,” he said. “It’s a day that changed history.”

Biden, a Democrat, will be the first president to commemorate Sept. 11 in Alaska, or anywhere in the western U.S.

He and his predecessors have gone to one or another of the attack sites in most years, though Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Barack Obama each marked the anniversary on the White House lawn at times.

Obama followed one of those observances by recognizing the military with a visit to Fort Meade in Maryland.

First lady Jill Biden is due to lay a wreath at the 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon.

In Pennsylvania, where one of the hijacked jets crashed after passengers tried to storm the cockpit, a remembrance and wreath-laying is scheduled at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Stoystown operated by the National Park Service.

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is expected to attend the ceremony.

The memorial site will offer a new educational video, virtual tour and other materials for teachers to use in classrooms.

Educators with a total of more than 10,000 students have registered for access to the free “National Day of Learning” program, which will be available through the fall, organizers say.

“We need to get the word out to the next generation,” said memorial spokesperson Katherine Hostetler, a National Park Service ranger.

[hacked-by-jake]

hey! don't you think jake might be a red flag? he is manipulating mc + didn't he confess his love to mc too soon? i mean, yeah, he was in danger, but still. didn't he and mc fall in love too quickly with each other?

when i first played duskwood, for some reason this reminded me of those creeps in discord who propose to you when you had only been texting for a week LMAO

(anyway, i still love jake, but i don't wear my pink glasses anymore)

Hey Ho, Anon. And first of all: Thank you a lot for asking! :D

A short preface, I took this as always very seriously and tried to talk absolutely nothing nice. I also related this a little bit to real life and I also incorporated some of my own experiences. I don’t want to attack or anything like that, but I haven’t romanticised things like jealousy here. Please don’t feel offended or blame yourself or anything.

And now: Welcome to "the destruction of Jake"

Okay, that’s a little too much. Let's just start. xD

Are you asking me if the manipulative government wanted hacker we know absolutely nothing about is a red flag??

I would say no. xD

He is not only a red flag, he is a red neon sign that says "DANGER" 😂

Okay, joke aside.

Yes, I definitely think that Jake is a red flag to some extent, but only to some extent. We have to, of course, think about the strange situation we are in.

First of all, on the subject of manipulation: Yes, Jake is very manipulative, in some cases it’s absolutely not cool. However, if we consider that he is trying to save his sister’s life then I can understand that to a certain point.

But it gets bad when Jake tries to use our feelings for him even though we are worried that something could happen to the others in the group. He keeps asking us if we want to keep going, but I’m sure if we say no, that we want to stop, then he wouldn’t accept it. I think it sounds like he wants to put us in a strange situation and always wants to make us say yes, even though we might not want to continue.

Confrontation is difficult for many people and in order to avoid unpleasant moments, the answer is often chosen in which you know that it is the answer that the person who asked the question wants to hear. Unfortunately, this is also a little manipulative.

I also like to mention that we, MC, also manipulated Jake quite often and used his feelings. Maybe not on issues like his, but we did.

And Jake’s hands are tied, and he can’t do as much to help Hannah as he would like. Because he is wanted, etc., it is simply not possible for him, so it is all the more important for him that MC stays. And I think as long as he doesn’t threaten us or really forces us to keep working on the case, it’s still okay and understandable.

Then there is this situation here, when it comes to checking Hannah’s phone in episode 9.

I even made a post about this part and said "this is probably one of the healthiest answers I’ve read" maybe the words are not quite right but the context is the same.

So yes, I think at the moment all this is still on a scale between Red flag and the guy is healthy.

I often have those moments in the game where I think "Oh, dangerous statement, red flag!!" I pay attention to this and have already posted a few times about it.

So, let’s get to the topic with 'this all goes too fast'

Yes, it goes, absolutely, at least in my eyes. But I think here we have to leave the game and talk about reality, because it is unfortunately just a game with 'only' 10 episodes. Playing Duskwood now takes several days. But it’s not a game that lasts a whole week or maybe even two or more until you reach the end. So we have to keep in mind that there is simply not enough time to build a complete and very slowly growing relationship.

So, back to the game or back into the game, haha.

I think what’s also a point is Jake’s situation and how long he’s been all alone and has no one. And suddenly MC comes into his life under these strange conditions. But we trust him immediately (a little naive of course) but we have no other choice. Although we always have the opportunity to say a few critical things about Jake, but we do not condemn him for his mysterious appearance and this thing with "my identity doesn’t matter". We work with him and we don’t ask questions, at least almost none, and if he doesn’t want to say anything, we accept that. In short, we treat him like a human being.

And I think this is also a big point that might make Jake build up feelings faster because we’re probably the only person in his life, and that after several years, who are also a little interested in him as a human being and not just for the hacker. So I can imagine that there is a certain dependency between MC and Jake. Because, as Jake says, we finally give him hope, and I don’t think he wants to lose that hope again. And I think that’s also a reason why it’s going very fast, because he might be clinging to that little spark of hope, MC. And this can of course trigger a kind of fascination that can lead to a quick building of romantic feelings.

Well, and if it goes so fast but MC feels the same, why deny? Then we can also tell the truth when he is ready to take the first step.

In addition, of course, comes the general terrible situation in which Jake and MC are.

The darkness that surrounds them, the fear, the danger, the uncertainty, it’s just a sad situation that is overwhelming. And I think they both cling to the spark of light they see, so to each other. The more-personal conversations or small jokes etc, which distract a moment from everything terrible and help the two also breathe a little. And since it happens to each other, I think that an emotional level is automatically built up because the brain remembers "This person distracts me a bit from the bad and helps me" and that demands the brain again and again. And so it happens.

Of course, what is also a huge red flag is his jealousy. And yes, that’s a red flag and in reality there’s nothing sweet about it. I don’t want to attack anyone or anything, but jealousy is not normal and shouldn’t be. I mean, Jake wants us to promise him that we’re not going to Duskwood. The main reason is probably the danger, but it comes right after the conversation about Phil.

And that’s very strange, I mean, it’s no secret that Jake is absolutely not a Phil fan. And yes, I’m also a little fan of Jake’s jealousy but also because my own self-esteem is not so stable and so, it feels special. I only accept this situation because it’s a game. If all this were reality, I’d tell the guy to find a therapist and then we can talk again. Sorry not sorry. xD To bring in a bit of my own experience, which I gathered from 5 years of toxic (from both sides, him and me myself) relationship: I know that jealousy can be sweet and it feels special or something, but in real life it should not be so. Jealousy shouldn’t be an issue. And if your partner may not be jealous, then that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you, but that he may just have a strong self-esteem, which is a really nice and good thing. Because very few people still have that today. I myself am unfortunately also insanely jealous what has to do with my mental health, but I know and have learned that as I am in a relationship, if I would want to have a relationship at all, then I would not enter into a relationship as I am at the moment because I could not guarantee a healthy relationship. So I let it be from the beginning (I’m trying to do at least a little moral work xD) He’s already starting to make us promise that we’re not going to Duskwood, and that’s critical, more than critical. That screams "Don't look back, run away!"

Although Jake later says that he has no problem with MC and Phil having contact, he just has to get used to it. But oh, that’s almost a bigger problem. Because sorry not sorry, you have to get used to it otherwise you see me waving goodbye my friend. We barely know each other, you have absolutely no right to tell me if I can have contact with Phil or not. And his "It doesn’t bother me" is almost again a bit manipulative because it clearly bothers him. Sure, he has to get used to it, ok, and hopefully he does, but this statement alone is very difficult. Actually it is already critical that he says it at all because he actually has no right to it. That counts for a game as well as for real life, please don’t think jealousy is normal.

Even if it can feel good, it also shows problems on both sides. I learned this painfully and have been very critical since then. Please don’t take my moral speech badly, as I said, I don’t want to attack anyone or anything, but it’s important to mention that, and not just romanticize it.

And I mean, of course, his jealousy is a little understandable. He knows how difficult a relationship with him would be and that it would not be a normal relationship. He knows that we would have a much more normal relationship with Phil. Phil, a bar owner in a small town. Jake is a government wanted hacker, somewhere in the world, always in different places. If we looked at everything superficially, Phil would be the smarter choice, but that’s not how it works at best. Jake’s jealousy has reasons I can understand, but he has to work on it.

So, let’s get to the last point: His really fast and unexpected "I love you" at the end.

Yes, it comes really very quickly, and absolutely unexpected, but I actually think that we have to pay attention to his situation here again. Jake probably wouldn’t have said it so quickly if it hadn’t been so uncertain if he’d ever see us again. Suddenly his pursuers were closer than ever. They were standing right above him while he was trapped in the mine where he was just to save his sister. He doesn’t know what will happen to him if the FBI catches him, if he ever sees daylight again or what they do to him. And I think at that moment he just didn’t want to leave his feelings unsaid. I think he just wanted to say that in case he never had the chance to do it again. And I think if the situation had been different, he wouldn’t have said it, it was the stress, the fear and the uncertainty. And the need to leave nothing unsaid.

And we also have to note that Jake’s social skills are not quite developed at the moment and he sometimes doesn’t know exactly how to behave. And we can also see how much he feels insecure because of it. I think Jake has little experience in relationships etc. and will have to learn a lot. So to speak, he is still a child who has to grow up to understand how it works. But I think Jake will make it with MC by his side and hopefully with Hannah and Lilly. And maybe even the group. :D

So I think, until now, everything is still based on a rather brittle ice surface. Everything is rather superficial and yet very strong. But it can quickly break. How it will be, and whether Jake really is such a red flag, will only be shown when the two can break out of the cycle of criminal cases and can only focus on their personal relationship with each other. If and if it really works will only then show. But I firmly believe that it works and that the behavior of Jake will change. Because in general I see my Jake as a very healthy Jake. In my head canon, Jake is a bigger feminist than I am, and I am. xD (Btw I already started writing a headcanon about it some time ago, Healthy Jake, I hope I will finish it soon) Because for me there is only one Jake who definitely takes healthy moves, otherwise I would not care about the character pretty quickly.

I see it like you, Anon, I love Jake, but I don’t wear pink glasses. :')

Ok, have a great day/evening/night! Take care of yourself and stay healthy!💚 Be careful with government wanted hackers. 😅

[gender-buddies]

Artist Commentary: Phase Two

Here's some artist commentary on Phase Two of Gender Buddies, put below the cut to make sure it doesn't take up too much space on people's dashboards.

Bigender: This one is a personal favorite between all the very simple designs I have. It's based on a crecropia moth, which looks like it has little crescent moons on its wings. It was chosen out of a bunch of different moth species I was looking at because the idea that bigender can be two or more genders fit the moon phase look. I particularly like the half moons on its back wings that look like a full moon when the wings come together, the same way the pink and blue stripes on the flag come together to make purple.

Butch: I knew immediately that this would be a crocodile or alligator of some sort, but it was almost covered in more foliage originally. I wanted the coverage to be a bunch of thick grass that would help it camouflage, but I decided to try and make it look more like native marsh plants. I also incorporated some monitor lizard parts into the design a bit. I'm pleased with the design and it was a decent introduction to the Earth type.

Femme: A counterpart to butch in an unexpected way, I went with another marshy sort of animal at first. This would have been a box turtle but I had trouble making the feet look good. Plus the little bio says that Femme likes to hitch a ride on Butch to ride across bodies of water, so I made it into an animal that couldn't swim. The turtle design was still pretty cool so I kept it and just made it into a sulcata tortoise. It went through a lot of changes as I tried to figure out spikes or hair or whatever. It almost had swamp grass on its head like a punk rock hairstyle and then Butch would have been more of a grunge inspired design - but that seemed too high-concept for a Basic-level Buddy, and I needed to keep Femme looking... well, femme. I like to think Femme looks a bit like an elder lesbian, especially with the "bags" under the eyes and the fact that sulcata tortoises live a very long time. Originally, it was a Light type with shining gemstones on the body, but I weirdly seem to have too many Light types planned.

Neurogender: I knew right away that I wanted to base this Buddy off of hyperactivity, which makes the Light element make sense here. The sketch on paper looks very much like Linoone from Pokemon and I liked the idea of a very fast ferret-like animal, but I wanted it to be a lot more distinct. The infinity symbol on the flag made a very good "mask" for an animal that was sort of a ferret-looking thing. The lightning bolts were added at the last minute to symbolize fast movement. The colors were SO HARD to figure out because the stripes in the flag are so different. I had to cheat and add the darker teal color to the arms and legs to make it look better - I've been known to add one or two extra colors to a design when it makes sense to do so.

Genderfae: One of many personal faves, this one turned out better than my original plan for the design (which has happened more than once and I like that.) I knew I wanted something almost alien and a bit ethereal, and I really enjoyed the idea of something flowy with streamer or tendrils coming off of it. A jellyfish was the obvious choice for an animal but with my tendency to break expectations left and right, I had to make it something that could just float around forests and flower fields.

Genderfaun: This one went through a lot of changes as I tried to figure out a design that was an earth animal, but not literally a goat or deer. Okay, well, I technically went with a deer in the end. That's what a moose is. But it felt like a non-avian forest animal people don't normally think about. The original idea would have been some sort of snake with mushrooms along its back that would help it camouflage on the forest floor, but it wouldn't have had as much detail as Genderfae, and level 3 Buddies need to be a bit more complex. I had a whole list of animals - a pangolin, a capybara, an armadillo. Somehow I ended up with a moose and changed the type to Ice so I could incorporate the blues from the flag. Usually deer designs make the antlers look like tree branches with leaves, so I decided my icy moose would get some hanging icicles. Also, I swear I didn't plan on this snowy forest animal to be released on Christmas Eve! I happened to finish the designs for Genderfae and Genderfaun before getting the other common Buddies done so it all lined up nicely. Pretty cool!

Xenogender: Hoo boy. I avoided this one for a while because I was frustrated that none of my ideas seemed very good for this Buddy. At first, it was going to be a floating planet with rings and a cutesy sort of alien face with this long alien tail. I didn't like it, so I scrapped it and left it alone. I thought about the design of the flag and how the one with the star symbol had that rainbow outline around it - I thought of animals that would have that sort of arching shape. Wings was the first thing I thought of, and I tried to design a flying fish using that concept. And then I realized that this is Xenogender, so it's weird to make it an earth animal. I went back to the alien idea and looked at the design of the iris flag. The flower looked like a sort of weird alien mouth or weird claws. I tried both out and the claws looked pretty neat. I decided at the very last minute to make the body itself look like a worm-on-a-string, and incorporated the colors from both flags.

Maverique: The orange and yellow of the flag made me think of orange tabby cats and I thought about all the cats I've met and rescued over the past few years. I think about my little fiery orange baby Gadget, who I rescued from outside along with his siblings, who fought an eye infection and got through it like a little trooper, and now he has one beautiful and curious golden eye that gets huge when he sees I'm about to refill the food bowl. He always looks like he's smiling and I think about how wonderful that is, that he's so happy and curious despite everything he had to deal with. I think about all the cats that I couldn't take in who are out there with their little personalities and their experiences with injuries and birth defects that I never knew the source of. There are cats that were so afraid of me only to become good friends once I visited them enough times with some food. They're all little fighters and this one represents them all. This design was challenging because of the limited number of colors I had to work with, but I managed to make it work by leaning into the Fire element.

Aegogender: I wanted this one to be a songbird when I first started doodling it and it slowly became some kind of quail. But I liked the song motif so much that I tried to incorporate music notes into its design. You can actually see a treble clef, a bass clef, quarter notes, and quarter rests hidden in its design - the last two being added after it was already colored. It also has piano keys incorporated into its wings. It's pretty simple otherwise and I sort of wish I did more with it.

Leptrois: This one was easy and fun to make because I love lightning-based creatures and I love working with strong highlights on glossy surfaces. I wanted this Buddy to be really small until I made it look super draconic, then it definitely needed to be huge and impressive. The leptrois flag is only black and white so what I decided to do was incorporate colors found in common leptrois identities - positrois, negatrois, centrois, nulltrois, and ambitrois specifically. I think the lightning is the best part because it fades from "negative" to "positive", from the electrodes on its nose to the one on its tail, and there's an in-between color in the middle to help it flow better. I experimented with the lightning casting a highlight on some parts of the body and I think it turned out pretty good. The tongue was added at the last minute because I'd forgotten to incorporate green into it, and a green reptile-like tongue seemed to fit. This one is another favorite of mine.

Paragender: Not much to say about its design other than penguins are very strange to draw. Since paragender means that some part of the gender prevents it from being 100%, I added that detail in the design - It's a bird, but the fact that it's a penguin prevents it from being able to fly, so it's not 100% avian. Being ground-bound earned it the Earth element and I thought it'd be fun to give it an additional element, since paragender sort of comes in two parts.

Panxenic: I didn't like this design as much mostly because of the struggle trying to get that folded wing look okay. I knew I wanted a mythical creature and I chose a gryphon for fun, and tried to figure out how to incorporate so many colors to represent a pan-xenogender experience. I imagined the gryphon as a nesting animal and its eggs could be colorful. I almost made them all different xenogender flag colors - aesthetigenders, coric genders, and others. It seemed a little too daunting so I stuck with colors from my panxenic flag. The gryphon itself has very few colors so the eggs could stand in for the rest. I wish I were better at dynamic poses though!

Phase Two is finished, of course! I feel better about this one than the last one because I can see myself getting better at details, at coloring, at shading, and I'm also getting the designs done a lot faster. This will be good for getting a phase done per month, which is my goal. It's basically a year-long project.

I hope everyone enjoyed them! Once I'm reaching the end of my list of identities, I will start taking requests and doing special-edition sets of them. - 💜

[alexcaldownapier]

Film Craft Disciplines - Prep, Shoot, Rushes (Weeks 7 - 11)

We have now shot our film, with Tom editing it together as we speak.

Let’s talk through each stage of the production. Strap in, I’ve gone a little extremely comprehensive with this one.

Prep

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dAfPAgJRxT5Ph5GGHAo8xrZzbSWr4QdCRv4lNWByz1g/edit?usp=sharing

The Cinematography Bible was one of the first bits of pre-production work I did for the film. I made it up, mainly so I could have a clear frame of reference and be able to show Sam examples of how I planned to achieve the visuals he wanted for the film. This worked pretty well and we talked about what wasn’t quite right and what was good to keep. Within this bible, I outlined some general rules (no hand-held, which lenses, etc), shot-sizes and framing ideas, colour palette and a lighting plan, the last of which I tried out and refined in a camera/lighting test.

https://vimeo.com/761599134

The camera/lighting tests helped a lot to get myself up to speed with the kit available and although I don’t really like the shots, they let me work out what was working and what needed worked on. I started off on the lense I thought I would be using the most - the 24 - and built up the lighting, starting with my key, the 1.2K Arri HMI, then filling out with the 450 Celeb Kinoflo and finally adding a Dedolight as a backlight. It was quite hard to get the exposure and focus right as I was alone for this so had to set the camera and then sit in. While a few of the shots were over-exposed or out of focus, they still gave me a frame of reference for the final shoot. I didn’t bring anything to diffuse the key light so it doesn’t really resemble my final approach. I did take time to experiment with a matte box that wasn’t designed for the SIGMA lenses but that was able to hold a 3x3 pro-mist filter, part of my plan for the look and in the end I liked it and it didn’t cause any issues.

At this point, we didn’t have a location or a script, so I was working off the time of day and tone we wanted for the film. I tried out different lenses and framings as well as testing our plans for the inserts. As we were relying heavily on medium to wide shots for our visual language, I was needing to light quite a large space in an interesting way. I wanted to use the Dedolight to create some depth through colour contrast between the cool morning light and the warm backlighting, motivated by a light in the background of the set. So, after this test, I was pretty sure of my approach:

Key: heavily diffused HMI pointing in through the window, mimicking early morning daylight (at this point I was hoping for a 2.5K and wasn’t clear on if we were using curtains, but more on this later)

Fill: 450 Celeb Kinoflo on a stand, portrait

Backlight: 150w Dedolight with straw gel, mimicking a practical light

Negative Fill: Black flags on close-ups

Camera: 800 ISO, 5600K, 180 Shutter, 1/4 Pro Mist Filter

The plan was to create a naturalistic lighting plan with colour and tonal contrast to add interest and add to the melodramatic tone. The key light would pick out the actors near it but leave the rest of the room reasonably dark so we focus on them, with the fill softening the lighting a bit more on their faces. We also wanted to prioritise performances so lighting the whole space meant we could get as many takes as possible with the actors by not needing to change lights every set-up. This also meant that our master shot would be reliably interesting throughout the whole scene.

This was my initial plan, but, as always, plans change...

I showed this to Sam and we talked through the plan and blocking, with minimal changes to the overall lighting and camera plan. Sam went off and drew a few frames for a storyboard which I incorporated into my shot list:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FD_4sl319Zr7BxVWpdAy2WUcTBlvURbqQC6456krnxc/edit?usp=sharing

This initial shot-list kept to our reserved shot sizes and deep-focus blocking, while covering the most important moments, but, again, more on this later. 

For location, I was helping out to find somewhere that would work for us, offering up my family’s home and asking a favour of someone who owns an airbnb in Galashiels. We went back and forth on which would be best to film in, with me initially arguing that my house would be hard to light with large windows and not enough lights as well as being slightly harder to access. Beth and Sam won me over on our recce to the house and I definitely think they were right. On our shoot, we had ample space for our reasonably large crew and the windows weren’t too much of an issue. 

Our recce helped a bunch. We were able to work out the blocking in the space, with Sam framing out shots on Cadrage. Beth was able to work out the logistics for organising the shoot and I was able to plan the lights in the space in relation to plugs, windows, etc. 

Our kit list:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XHN2FyamfyMbCd7jSspCY1K4UtA1OESOlL5qfpLRprg/edit?usp=sharing

We tried to book our kit early to ensure we got what we needed. I got it all written out and sent to Beth after my camera/lighting test. This is where my issues began with this project. The camera we were recommended to use and that I had practiced with, the Blackmagic URSA Mini, was unable to be booked during our shooting period due to being reserved for MA shoots. We were also unable to book out a compatible fluid head for our slider and sticks as well as the 2.5K HMI. We pivoted, booking out the Sony FS7 as a backup camera as well as asking Natalia Baczynski (the benevolent saviour) if we would be able to use her URSA and lense kit, she helped us out massively.

We had one more test the week of the shoot, which, didn’t highlight any real issues for me - I knew my set-up, got it up and running reasonably quickly, it looked good, the lecturers didn’t poke any holes in the motivation for the lighting or the overall look of the film. It went well! Not much to say really, just that I wish I’d been able to do this test with Natalia’s kit so I would’ve caught the issues we had on set before it was too late...

The Shoot/Rushes

We shot for two days at my house with the core crew staying over the night. I took the camera equipment down with me the night before, with everyone else travelling by train the Thursday morning. Tom drove down with the kit in his boot. Once he arrived, Ben (who was incredible as my camera/lighting assist) and I began setting up the lights, no issues yet. We also planned out how we were lighting the bedroom scene - all natural lighting! As it was an overcast day and the curtains are very thick in the bedroom, it gave us both enough exposure as well as a good fall-off that mimicked an early morning pretty well. We added a black flag for negative fill to add a little contrast and that was that. While Sam had a run-through and a chat with the actors, we got the camera ready in the living room and tried to set up the slider. This is where things started to go awry...

I assume that I had assumed that Natalia’s kit would be similar to the university URSA kit, but now I think about it, in all honesty I don’t think I considered what I would all need to achieve the look. There was a number of things that come with the URSA kit from the uni that I took for granted. Firstly, I didn’t have poles that would’ve allowed me to fit the matte box we’d brought, so the pro-mist filter was a no go, losing a little of the softness of our shots which did upset me a little as I feel it really helps take the digital edge off the URSA’s image. I was quite frustrated by this, but felt that, as Sam suggested, trying to hold the filter in front of the lense, or try some taping method, would have resulted in wasting valuable time on set. Then, still during the actor’s run-through, we realised the slider was also not going to work as the baseplate for the fluid head couldn’t screw into the bottom of the URSA, the university kit had a quick-release plate for this aspect. So, by the time we came to shoot our first shot, I’d lost two aspects of my visual approach through a lack of preparation and thoroughness. the slider was especially frustrating as Rowen and Kushal (a second year, and full-time legend, who helped out with our shoot) were rushing about the morning of our shoot to pick it up as it was only available to pick up the day of our shoot, which, it turned out, was a waste of time and would’ve given Rowen more time on set to work things out. I’m really quite disappointed with myself when it comes to the final preparation for this film. While it was quite rushed the week before the shoot, I should’ve made the time to work out exactly what was needed and if I had it and how it works. 

The first scene ran smoothly, we moved the furniture and got our two shots done pretty quickly and then started shooting our main scene. 

The master took some work. I realised I was unable to hide the dedolight and still light our actor with the motivation of the practical in the shot. I also couldn’t use the practical for actually lighting our actor because, the brighter it was, the more buzzing it created (sorry Rowen). I had to settle with using the dedolight from across the room, implying a light out of shot. While this was the shot I’d spent the most time planning, it ended up being one of my least favourite shots. Without the 2.5K HMI, I just didn’t have enough light. I needed a T stop of 5.6 to have focus deep enough to keep both our actors in shot. This meant I had to up the ISO from the native of 800 to 1250. I didn’t want to bump it up too much in case we began to get a noisy image, but with the final shot, it does look underexposed as well as incredibly grainy, so kind of a lose-lose. I remember being told that the URSA retained a pretty clear image up till 1600 ISO, something I checked with Ben, but then, when looking at the final shot, there’s a lot of noise throughout it. Again, something that would’ve been solved had I tested the camera at different ISO’s or tested the light levels with the lights we were able to get for the shoot, although the second thing would’ve been near impossible with our time scale. I prioritised the lighting on Aaron in the foreground and had to sacrifice Michael in the background a little bit. The example above is with a temp grade - I’m going to do more research on noise reduction and colour information within a BRAW image before it comes time to do a final grade. I was quite worried when I tested this shot in particular - I was very limited in the changes i could make to the colours as they would clip very quickly. 

One final issue with the master - haze. Sam had wanted haze throughout this scene, to add to the early-morning feel and to further soften the image. I bought canned haze, brought it to set. I didn’t test it as it is expensive and I thought we’d need both cans for the shoot days. But then, when it came to shooting, I forgot to use it. I was too caught up in a dwindling time-frame and the previously mentioned exposure and lighting issues. I realised only after our second set-up which meant that if I was to add it in then, we would have major incongruities between our footage. 

Overall, I felt the first day was a bit of a mess on my side. Aside from the issues I’ve detailed above, another problem was with the communication on set and retro-actively in the preparation. Sam, Beth and I hadn’t gone through the shot list together which meant that, although I thought my document was reasonably clear, we each had separate ideas of what each set-up entailed. I think I should have storyboarded the shots that Sam hadn’t drawn out so they were clearer and made sure I talked to both of them before we shot so Beth’s schedule was more accurate and Sam wasn’t confused when I was setting up a shot. We had a couple moments where I was setting up a shot and we were all confused about which number of shot it was and what was meant to be in the frame. This slowed us all down in terms of our roles which compounded on the whole day. Another thing I need to take some responsibility for with this first day was the sound issues. I had batteries charging in the kitchen and, with the house being open plan it was all through the recordings. On top of this, I should’ve checked with my parents before starting to film if we could turn off the ventilation system in the house, I told Rowen it wasn’t possible without checking. In being the liaison to the location, I should’ve taken time to prep it for shooting and the batteries was just stupid. We were all stopped trying to work out where the buzzing was coming from and I was scratching my head. Unintentional Judas. 

After a stressful first day we wound down with some dinner with my parents. My mum and dad took us down some interesting conversational avenues over a lasagne, taking time to interrogate each of the group members in turn. It was nice to unwind for a bit, we had a drink and listened to some music before Beth, Sam and I sat down to iron out the communication issues and get our shot-list and schedule totally sorted for the next day. I’m really glad of the people around me in this group. We were able to clearly identify our issues and sort them out together in a direct and respectful way, just lovely. So, when it came to the second day, we were far more prepared and on top of things.

We came out of the gate strong, getting everything set up hours before the actors arrived and getting the inserts we had planned. We ran through the all the set-ups in plenty of time and Rowen got his wildtracks at the end of the day with plenty of time. This second day the weather was quite different, the sun was brighter and the rigging outside was often coming undone due to the high wind. The shots are overall a lot brighter on the second day due to the spill of the light from the sun which does mean I didn’t have any exposure/noise issues but the different light levels may be a bit of a problem in the edit. I think I should be able to bring the brighter shots down in the grade, but we may have different levels of contrast throughout the shots. This second day was an absolute joy and we all left in a pretty good mood, taking the kit back to Tom’s flat and having slow chats over fast food. 

Once the footage was on the server, I spent a day converting all the footage from BRAW to .mov so Tom could get editing and had a look at the rushes. I’m not totally in love with a lot of the footage, finding a lot of it a little flat and muddled compositionally. I think this’ll change after the grade (the flatness) and I think this story doesn’t call for anything very stylised so maybe I’m reacting more to that? I am just not very happy and a bit disappointed with the footage, but maybe I have no reason to be? I guess I’ll find out in the crit. But yeah, the lighting hasn’t got enough contrast or depth which I think is my main issue with it. I wasn’t able to black out the rest of the windows properly as I didn’t have the enough or the right material so the sun was bouncing from the kitchen through to the living room. I was quite proud of myself for carrying out my tests and I do think I had a plan that was considered and appropriate for the scene, but I should’ve brought far more blackout. Everything I was adding I was quite happy with, I just didn’t control my location properly. 

I’ve learned a lot through the filming of this project (make sure of your equipment, make sure you’re on the same page as your director and producer, test with your kit in your location, bring kit that can fix any problem) and for some reason, despite not liking what I’ve shot, I still feel stupidly secure in my knowledge as a DoP? I’ve got no clue why this is. I don’t feel that shaken by the rushes, more just frustrated with myself. I think the frustration is that I know how I SHOULD have done things, I just didn’t do them that way. This is my first project as DoP so maybe lay off yourself, Alex? But then am I being delusional in my belief that I know what I’m doing and that I can shoot interesting images? I was recently on a 4th year shoot where I was the gaffer. I worked closely with the DoP to create the set-up, I felt like I was involved in creating that. I was efficient on set, getting everything set up with some quite complex rigging involved. This was a nice little pick-me-up to reset me a bit, and maybe this is another thing that makes me feel like I could be a good DoP some day. I think I’m going to keep pursuing this as my specialism (along with sound design), led by some weird, stupid, ingrained confidence (better thank my parents for that). There’s plenty of men who have made a career out of being inexplicably confident despite their lack of talent - maybe I can be like them! Nah, jk, I’m learning, I’ll keep learning and some day soon, I’ll shoot something I’m incredibly proud of. 

Things I am proud of:

The rigging was quite complex, needing to black out windows, protect lights from the rain, using multiple gels and diffusion.

Extensive coverage of the scene for Tom to use. I think I managed to get a lot of different angles of the action especially within the time frame. 

Set-ups were quick and efficient, especially on the second day when the shot-list was consolidated. 

The inserts are nice. I like.

The ideas behind the visuals are all very solid, I think. I knew what was needed and how it would all work, testing when I wasn’t sure. I think I know enough now that i can come up with an appropriate lighting plan for a scene reasonably easily (even if I’m not able to totally achieve it).

I think I was a positive presence throughout the project? As I wrote in my first post for the module, I have previously been combative, defensive and invasive on set - a bit disrespectful to my group mates. But, throughout the process of making this film, I think I was well behaved and I followed my rules well. 

I think that another of the reasons I’m frustrated with the rushes is because I don’t want to let my team down. I feel so much love for the crew on this team and can’t thank them and compliment them enough. 

Ben was great, making sure he got the best out of his script despite feeling out of touch with the source material and then working so hard on set to help both me and Beth out when we needed it and using his skills to great effect as an AC. 

Tom is only just getting into his main workload just now with the edit, but he has been great to have throughout, with driving cast, crew and the kit around and keeping an eye on continuity and script during the shoot. 

Rowen, despite getting frustrated with some sound issues, stayed calm. He overcame a lot of technical problems with skill and positivity, still being kind and funny to everyone around him. 

Sam was gracious and passionate, patient with our discussions and my differing opinions and encouraging and clear in his direction. 

Beth has ran an extremely professional, slick and inspiring production. I always felt supported by her, she was (again) so patient with everyone and the amount of moving parts she’s been able to handle throughout this project is astounding, I really don’t know how she does it. This was a project that felt tight - I’ve made a few projects at this point and none have come close to this level of professionalism on the production side of things, even surpassing the level of some grad films I’ve been on. 

We all worked through our issues and kept our communication incredibly open throughout the whole production, there was never any festering frustration or miss-placed words. While the film will be graded how it will be graded, I think if it was possible to be graded for on-set etiquette, I think this team would do very well. It was also nice to hear from our actors, who were quite experienced with screen acting, that we seemed very professional and organised.

While I’m frustrated with my overall performance, I still think this film will turn out pretty good. I’m going to take time to make sure the colour grade is interesting and cohesive. My next update won’t be until after the crit, so we’ll see how it goes! I’m excited to see how it turns out...

[mahleahmcmaster]

Friday 6th October: Weave - plain weave

Today, we got to work with weaving and learning the basics of it. Having never tried it before I was intrigued and ready to learn the ropes.

Firstly, we were shown all the different parts of the machine; what strings we can use and different ways of plain weaving.

For the beginning of my weave, I chose to do plain weave to get the hang of it before trying anything else. With the thought of relating the weave back to my narrative, I chose black and white thread to help enhance the existence of my two communities.

I attempted to create a wave pattern in my design. The waves act as a metaphor for expressing how I am constantly swaying from feeling as though I fit into one community more than the other.

I was pleased with the outcome of the first attempt, however, the process was seemingly endless and I wanted to ensure I could use some colour and various other techniques before the next session.

After thinking about what colours I could incorporate in this weave, I decided the colours of the Antigua and Barbuda flag would be ideal. I thought trying to recreate the flag was a bit far-fetched for me in my first session, thus, I would attempt this maybe at a later date.

I then finished this workshop by adding loose bits of material into my weave and I was extremely impressed at the effect of it. There are so many interesting patterns you could make in weaving and I'm excited to further delve into the specificities of my course and everything that comes with it.

[dramashii]

A 2022 Recap: A run through of all the dramas I’ve seen this year

2022 is finally coming to a close. Just like any year, there were some great dramas, while there were also others that should have never left the drawing room. 

I laughed, fell in love, got frustrated, and cried many times for the past 12 months. I had some epiphanies and learned some new things (e.g. the best way to solve your problems is to live in a coastal town). 

I consider 2022 a decent drama year for me. I have managed to finish 44 dramas which helped me reached my goal of completing 300 dramas before this year ends. 

I wished I could write longer reviews about each drama but I genuinely forgot about most of them by this time of writing. Anyways, here are the 44 dramas I watched and my short commentary on them. (Disclaimer: This list is subjective. These are only my opinions based on my experience while watching these shows.)

1. Melancholia (Kdrama, 2021)

You+Me=Love. This drama made math really interesting. However, I wished this wasn't romance at all.

2. The Red Sleeve (Kdrama, 2021)

The most heartbreaking part of this drama was knowing the lead characters at some point existed in history.

3. Our Beloved Summer (Kdrama, 2021)

Everything about this show was amazing: the aesthetics, music, and the chemistry between the leads.

4. Twenty-Five Twenty-One (Kdrama, 2022)

Iconic.

5. A Business Proposal (Kdrama, 2022)

Reminded me so much of old-school romcoms therefore, I was obsessed.

6. Reset (Cdrama, 2022)

Interesting and unique time travel/time loop drama.

7. The Bad Kids (Cdrama, 2020)

Watched this for the hype but I was kind of confused at the end.

8. Soundtrack #1 (Kdrama, 2022)

Friends to lovers supremacy.

9. Shining for One Thing (Cdrama, 2022)

Tries to answer the question: "If one thing had been different, would everything be different today?"

10. Dali and the Cocky Prince (Kdrama, 2021)

Solid romcom where both leads were rich.

11. Crazy Love (Kdrama, 2022)

Everything about this drama was crazy: the leads, the side characters, the plot but I didn't like this kind of crazy.

12. You Are My Heartbeat (Thai Drama, 2022)

Expected my heartbeat to go crazy watching this, but it really didn't.

13. The Oath of Love (Cdrama, 2022)

The key takeaway from this is that Xiao Zhan looks really good in modern clothes therefore he needs to do more modern dramas.

14. Sword Snow Stride (Cdrama, 2021)

Wuxia.

15 Who Rules the World (Cdrama, 2022)

Okay but the second half went downhill. Yang Yang needs to do more costume dramas.

16. Tomorrow (Kdrama, 2022)

Too simplistic approaches to mental health.

17. A River Runs Through It (Cdrama, 2021)

The one-sided love story went on for too long.

18. Love All Play (Kdrama, 2022)

Cute but it dragged.

19. Sh**ting Stars (Kdrama, 2022)

Interesting concept of having the story set in the entertainment industry but this was boring.

20. Woo Ri the Virgin (Kdrama, 2022)

I haven't watched a drama this bad for so long.

21. Bloody Heart (KDrama, 2022)

Bloody amazing cinematography but the story dragged because they kept replaying the same scene in different angles. Rooted for the villain.

22. Kiss Sixth Sense (KDrama, 2022)

They need to cast older actors and actresses in romcoms because the chemistry here was great. I didn't really like the ending though.

23. A Dream of Splendor (Cdrama, 2022)

One of my favorites from this year!

24. Dear M (KDrama, 2022)

Waited long to see this, was disappointed in the end.

25. Link: Eat, Love, Kill (KDrama, 2022)

Incorporated too much genre in one drama that the execution failed.

26. Love Like the Galaxy (Cdrama, 2022)

Red flags everywhere the biggest one being Li Bu Yi.

27, Love Between Fairy and Devil (Cdrama, 2022)

Xianxia drama of the year!

28. Big Mouth (Kdrama, 2022)

The second half wasn't as good as the first half. The ending was awful.

29. Today’s Webtoon (KDrama, 2022)

Should have been a 12 eps drama instead.

30. Animals (Jdrama, 2022)

Short but enjoyable.

31. Love in Contract (KDrama, 2022)

Got me out of a drama slump but this was a train wreck.

32. Lighter & Princess (Cdrama, 2022)

Objectively not the best, but I was obsessed over this during its whole run that I bought a Youku subscription.

33. New Life Begins (Cdrama, 2022)

Cute.

34. Bulgasal: Immortal Souls (KDrama, 2021)

Interesting concept but the writing just didn't make it work.

35. Snowdrop (Kdrama, 2021)

Decent.

36. Cheer Up (KDrama, 2022)

Went into this thinking it will be a cute youth drama but that weird mystery-thriller and love triangle ruined my watching experience.

37. May I Help You (KDrama, 2022)

1st half>2nd Half.

38. The Day of Becoming You (Cdrama, 2021)

Good body-swapping romance drama.

39. Summer Strike (Kdrama, 2022)

I was promised healing but the last 1/4 of the drama had a different tone from the rest.

40. Love In Time (Cdrama, 2022)

Interesting concept but mediocre.

41. She and Her Perfect Husband (Cdrama, 2022)

I wished they continued to show that mature relationship the leads had in the beginning until the end, but alas the last 10 eps happened and it just wasn't it.

42. Extraordinary Attorney Woo (KDrama, 2022)

An extraordinary drama about an extraordinary lawyer trying to find her place in the world. One of the best this year!

43. Rainless Love in a Godless Land (Taiwanese Drama, 2021)

The best thing about this drama is the title. Also, very unique and thought-provoking. 

44. Alchemy of Souls Season 1 (Kdrama, 2022)

Might be the most interesting Hong sisters' fantasy drama yet. 

[ameliora-j]

𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕔𝕣𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕕 // 𝕖𝕔 𝕩 𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕𝕖𝕣

𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪 → 𝕚𝕟 𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕔𝕙 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕖𝕟𝕕 𝕒 𝕥𝕠𝕩𝕚𝕔 𝕣𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕖𝕕𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕

𝕔𝕠𝕟𝕥𝕖𝕟𝕥 → 𝕒𝕟𝕘𝕤𝕥,, 𝕓𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜𝕦𝕡,, 𝕥𝕠𝕩𝕚𝕔!𝕖𝕕𝕨𝕒𝕣𝕕,, 𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝕠𝕗 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙,, 𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕪 + 𝕞𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕠𝕔𝕣𝕖 𝕨𝕣𝕚𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘,, 𝕚𝕥𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕔𝕤 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕗𝕝𝕒𝕤𝕙𝕓𝕒𝕔𝕜𝕤,, 𝕓𝕠𝕝𝕕 𝕚𝕤 𝕤𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕝𝕪𝕣𝕚𝕔𝕤

𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤 → 𝟙.𝟛𝕜

𝕒/𝕟 → 𝕚 𝕒𝕞 𝕤𝕠 𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕓𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕠𝕣𝕣𝕪 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕖𝕣𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕪 𝕤𝕦𝕔𝕜𝕤

life felt… different without him. it felt like nothing was real. like you were living a dream. or well… a nightmare would be a better word.

you knew it was real. you could hear and see and feel everything that gave away that fact. it just didn’t feel teal. you don’t know if it ever would. you miss him. more than you’d care to admit, but you knew he was toxic.

from all the times he left you alone. to fight for yourself when he was the one that put your life in danger. hell from all the times he put your life in danger you knew he was toxic. nobody had to tell you that. it’s a known fact that the cullen’s are a family full of walking red flags—that’s no secret.

and edward? well he’s the biggest, brightest, boldest red flag that there is. but he has this specific draw to him. you don’t know how he got you, but he did. he trapped you with his bright eyes and old school charm. maybe you should’ve seen it coming… maybe you didn’t want to.

part of you knew the second you saw him that this would happen… the other part didn’t care. it wasn’t anything particular that he said or did… just a feeling that came along with it. you’re scared that you’ll never feel that way again… but at the same time you don’t know if you should.

you knew that his world moved too fast and burned too bright for him to incorporate you into it. but you couldn’t help but think… how could the devil be pulling you towards someone who looks so much like an angel when he smiled at you?

and the worst part of it all wasn’t even losing him… it was losing yourself.

“edward i can’t keep doing this!” you exclaim. the two of you were locked in your third heated argument of the week—and it was barely tuesday. stood across from him in your kitchen, arms crossed defensively at your chest as you scream until you practically can’t anymore.

“then stop coming back!” he yelled back with just as much anger. his face was hard as he stared at you, and he held death itself behind his shiny gold irises.

“then stop pulling me back, edward! stop chasing me! stop fighting for me! i don’t want to do this anymore i’ve had enough!” you argued, exasperatedly running a hand through your hair.

“i’m fighting to keep you alive how do you not understand that?!” he exclaimed, befuddled by your obliviousness.

“you wouldn’t have to if you would just turn me!” you yelled.

“and do the exact same thing i’m trying to keep you away from?! you’re being so ridiculous i don’t understand how someone can actually be this oblivious!” he shouted.

“because you’re risking your eternity for me!” you argued.

“yeah well i wouldn’t have to if you wouldn’t have gotten involved with us in the first place!” he yelled.

“and i wouldn’t have gotten involved if you didn’t throw a falling fucking tree out of my way edward are you kidding me?!” you yelled, bewildered at how he could possibly be making this your fault.

“oh i’m sorry for saving your life?” he snarked sarcastically.

“i didn’t ask you to! you could have left me alone and we would never have been in this mess!” you scoffed, shaking your head in disbelief.

“do you realize that you could have died?” he questioned incredulously.

“do you realize that this is your fault?” you snarked.

“my fault?!” he scoffed.

“yes! every problem in my life would either be solved or never have occurred if i didn’t meet you!” you yelled.

“then leave!” he shouted.

“i’m trying! edward i’m trying. i’ve tried so many times in the past but you constantly insist that we just need time away from each other. that i can’t leave because i’m your ‘mate’ whatever the fuck that means,” you shook your head.

“the first time you left me was hell. the second time was worse. by the fourth time i was used to it and now edward i… i’m just so used to it that it’s honestly unbelievable,” you rested your elbows on the counter, rubbing at your temples that had become set aflame with a migraine.

“if you keep complaining i still don’t understand why you don’t just walk away…” he spoke, his tone now lowered as he leant against your counter, arms crossed over his chest.

“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!” you exclaimed. “i remember when you’d come to my room late in the night just to complain about your family. and how you miss your old life. and i’d assure you that no matter what in my eyes you’d never he a monster i didn’t even care what label you had. i spent hours edward… i mean all of my hours and advice just trying to fix you and all your daddy issues but you’ve left me so many times that now i don’t even miss you anymore,” you sighed softly as you sniffled.

“stop it…” he demanded, tears now welling in his eyes the same way they had in your’s.

“no edward you need to hear this. i want all the tears back that i cried over you. every single time that you left. all the hours spent giving advice on how to write your wrongs but all you did was prove me wrong!” you shouted.

“yn i’ve said it so many times and i’ll say it again untill my tongue falls off. i love you. i told you that the first day i met you,” he begged.

“well then you must’ve had your fingers crossed…” you shook your head, hugging yourself as you sniffled quietly.

that had been six months ago. now you were alone. it barely even hurts anymore. you meant what you said when you told him you don’t miss him anymore.

you knew he was still around. you could feel him lingering… watching you wherever you went. but you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him to stop. you were drawn to him. it was more than love. maybe he was right when he said you’re his mate. you don’t have much time to dwell on it because that’s the past.

“yn…” you heard his voice whisper as you were walking through the halls.

“go away edward!” you demanded.

“you won’t even look at me anymore! please talk to me i’m sorry,” he begged.

“that won’t work this time,” you shook your head, trying to stay strong, although all you wanted to do was break down in tears.

“you’re being harsh and you know it. this isn’t you, what happened? please yn…” he begged. “just talk to me.”

“what do you want me to say edward?” you scoffed.

“you’re my mate and you know it. i know you feel what i feel, i can sense that you feel what i feel i can hear that you feel what i feel. just stop giving me the cold shoulder please i’m begging you to just talk to me again,” you heard him sniffle, and your shoulders fell.

“what? do you want me to tell you i’m sorry?” you scoffed. “i could say i’m sorry but i’m not… you don’t deserve the one thing that you lost,” you told him. “we’re done edward. for good this time. please just leave me alone.” you tore your wrist from his grasp, pivoting on your heel and marching away from him with your head held high.

you scoffed at the cullen siblings as you walked past them. rosalie giving you a hard glare, alice throwing a sympathetic smile, jasper staring, almost trance like, and emmet forcing himself to look anywhere but at you. you were done with the family red flag. you’ve had enough.

“i still see you two together…” alice spoke softly as you passed.

“then change your vision,” you snarked, walking away with your head held high, uncaring of what she—or any of the other siblings—had more to say.

[follow my library blog and turn on notifications to be notified when i post a new fic!]

[duckprintspress]

Free Coloring Page!

Have you seen our awesome notecard image created by Miss Aceriee (Instagram | @aceriee-art on Tumblr | Twitter) for our current Kickstarter campaign, And Seek (Not) to Alter Me: Queer Fanworks Inspired by William Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing"?

Well, I doubt it's surprising to learn that we put a lot of thought into which flags to represent with each flower, and which flags to include. We wanted to make a bouquet as diverse as our queer communities, as inclusive as impossible, and to reflect the range of queer identities featured in the book and among our authors and artists. It was really great to research the different flags and decide which ones we wanted, and where. Do you recognize them all?

Yes? WAY TO GO!

No? Here's a quick key - listed in counter-clockwise order, starting at 9-o-clock:

Gerbera daisy - Pride flag (we opted for the Philadelphia flag - the brown and black are in the center, as a representation of how central BIPOC are to queer communities and history; we'd have used the Progress Pride flag but since we were already separately including the trans flag and intersex flag, we went with the Philadelphia flag instead)

Violet - genderqueer flag

Lily - asexual flag (these are also the colors of the demisexual flag)

Tulip - bisexual flag

Gladiola - has flowers for the lesbian flag (pink/orange - there are multiple lesbian flags, we use this one as it's generally considered the most inclusive), the gay men's flag (blue/green), the trans flag (white/blue/pink), and the aromantic and agender flags (both are green/black/grey)

(No longer only blue)bell - has flowers for the genderfluid flag (pink/blue/black/white), non-binary flag (yellow/purple/black/white), intersex flag (yellow with a circle), polyamory flag (red/blue/black), and pansexual flag (pink/yellow/blue)

We couldn't include every Pride flag - there are far too many for that! - but we tried to incorporate all the most commonly used and most widely recognized. We wanted as many members of this community to see themselves in this arrangement as possible - but in the end, we'll never be able to include everyone.

That's where you, yes YOU, come in!

Do you wish the flowers had been assigned flags differently? Is there a flag not represented that you wish was? Would you have handled the coloring of the image in an alternative manner? Do you love it exactly as it is but like to play with colors?

YOU ARE VALID AND WE SUPPORT YOU!

AND, we'd love to see your work! This is your moment - because we asked Miss Aceriee to make a coloring page version of our note card! All the line art, none of the colors, so you can let your imagination go wild!

So, here you go - a lovely blank version of our note card art:

Or, you can download a high resolution, *enormous* version, in a zip from our website - here.

If you choose to draw with our coloring page, we'd love to see - and share - your work! @ us on the social media platform of your choice - we're duckprintspress on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Pillowfort, Dreamwidth, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Archive of Our Own (...okay, you can't ping us there, but if you post there, give us the link and we can make a collection of works!) - and show us how YOU'D use this gorgeous bouquet of flowers to celebrate the rainbow variety of queer identities!

(Use a different social media platform and wish Duck Prints Press had a presence there so you could follow us and ping us in your creations there? Let us know, we'll see what we can do to add the platform of your preference!)

Have a wonderful, and very queer, weekend, everyone. And happy Trans Day of Visibility (...slightly belated, but we think trans folk deserve many many days of visibility, and we hate April Fool's day, so. Two day celebration!)!

[angelicsaggie]

Ujamaa 2021

Today is 29 December 2021 and the 4th day of Kwanzaa. I will continue to celebrate Kwanzaa similar to last year by exploring and producing art and intention. Our ancestors frequently used intention to celebrate, pray, and receive guidance because they understood that materials should not control our beings due to it lacking value in the spiritual realm. I will post per diem to summarize the principle of the day and ways to incorporate its energy into our atmosphere until 1 January 2022, the last day of Kwanzaa.

Things to remember:

Ujamaa- Extended family

Ujima- Collective work and responsibility

Kujichagulia- Self-determination

Kinara- Candle holder

Umoja- Unity

7 Nguzo saba- The 7 principles

Mazao- Crops

Bendera- Flag

—

Which candle is lit today?

I decorated my environment with symbols: mazao, kinara, and bendera to represent Kwanzaa. I do not have a physical candle holder nor candles, therefore I drew 7 candles to replace the idea of physical candles because the intention of the drawn candles are just as important as the physical ones. The second red candle located towards the far left of the kinara will be lit today to represent brotherhood and sisterhood. I want to eliminate the false narrative that black people were only known as being slaves because we were actually Kings and Queens. Many of us were rich, traded goods and art with different countries, and influenced the art world. One of the main reasons why our King and Queen representations are kept secret is due to haters and racism. Those individuals were and still are afraid of our power and elegance, so they have tried to separate our people and destroy our race but that has not happened because we are here to stay and flourish!

What does Ujamaa represent?

The previous nguzo saba was Ujima so we could properly focus our energies on mastering the mental, spiritual, and physical realms. If one of these realms are imbalanced then we would not be able to do anything in this world like being able to have our own thoughts, receiving symbols from our higher being(s), and having the ability to move our limbs. Last night, I had a dream that I attended a pep rally where I spoke to everyone who sat around me. The hosts of the event passed out containers filled with delicious food, however I noticed that I received a second plate which was unfair and against the rules. When I tried to give the second plate to the correct individual, the container fell on the floor which led to the juices inside of the container to appear everywhere, but despite this I cleaned the outer container and I gave the plate to the correct person. The meaning of that dream was to do the the right thing, to communicate with those who were around me, to be helpful, and to be aware of my surroundings. Today is the 4th day of Kwanzaa which also makes the meaning of the number 4 extremely important. This number represents our roots, community, and foundations. Ujamaa represents all of our Black and African people inside and outside of the home. This means that with our brothers and sisters we must make sure that we come together, support each other, maintain a healthy environment, be an act of service, heal, grow closer to our culture, and share our wealth with each other. If we do not help each other then a lot of our problems will be overlooked and our art would not be discovered. Remember that the materials in this world will not follow you to the mental nor the spiritual realms because it does not hold any value. Yesterday I separated myself from the community so I could work on self-care and because of that I have enough energy today to spread love and joy into the community.

—

More posts

Khem Medu Master List

[dickwheelie]

by popular demand on the discord server, a jonsasha fic! this incorporates a few different requests from the discord buds, but it boils down to: jon and sasha are on a "stakeout" for a statement and jon thinks it's purely for work but sasha is treating it like a date without him realizing.

this was my first time writing jonsasha and I gotta say it was super fun! I'll have to do more with these two in the future. please enjoy!

___________

"Anything yet?" Sasha asked.

Jon's leg had begun to fall asleep, and so he shifted his weight, leaning closer to the windshield. He squinted through the darkness at the doorway across the street, but it was as empty as before. "No, nothing," he said with a sigh.

Sasha shrugged. "Time to dig into the sandwiches, then." She reached into the backseat and retrieved the cooler she'd brought along for their overnight stakeout. It was two in the morning and they'd already gone through a packet of crisps and a candy bar each, as well as a handful of oranges, because Sasha thought they should try to be at least somewhat healthy. Now she pulled out two wrapped sandwiches, which looked like they'd come from Tesco's. She handed Jon the tuna one.

"So you can keep kosher," she said as she unwrapped her ham and cheese.

Jon looked at her in surprise. "Oh, er," he said, "thank you." Usually people forgot.

"Course." Sasha flashed him a smile. She'd been smiling a lot that night; Jon had no idea Sasha enjoyed stakeouts so much. He'd have to invite her to investigate statements more often in the future. He liked seeing her smile; she would scrunch up her nose slightly and it was very cute.

Almost as though she were reading his mind, Sasha said, "Thanks for inviting me out tonight, Jon. This has been fun." She craned her neck towards the passenger's side window. "Even if we're not having much luck. It's nice just to spend time together."

"O-Of course," Jon said. "Thank you for joining me. And for bringing the food." He paused. "And the car."

Sasha laughed. "Least I could do, really."

The truth was, Jon had asked her to join him mostly because Sasha was the best researcher he knew at the Institute, definitely better than himself. It didn't hurt that she was also a good friend, and one of the few people at work who seemed to like Jon. The only other one he could think of was Tim. But Sasha was . . . she was just different, somehow. She understood him, in a way very few people did. Now that he thought about it, not since Georgie had he so thoroughly clicked with someone. He was unaccountably relieved when she'd agreed to join him on what would have been a very lonely and very dull stakeout. Then again, Sasha had never shied away from a chance to do more thorough research.

The passenger's side window nearest to Jon was cracked open, and a sudden draft of night air blew in, making him shiver.

"Oh, are you cold?" Sasha said, and before Jon could answer, she removed the wool jacket she was wearing and placed it around his shoulders. Sasha was about the same height as him, perhaps an inch or two taller, but she was much broader-shouldered, and her jacket was large on him, encompassing him in its sudden warmth. He couldn't help but notice it smelled like her perfume. "Better?" Sasha asked.

Jon felt heat rise to his face, and drew the jacket a bit tighter around him. "Er, yes, much better." He definitely wasn't cold anymore, at least. He looked down at the jacket, running his finger along one of its many tiny enamel pins. He'd never tried to get close enough to look at them all. Now he could see, among others, a trans flag, a pan flag, an anarchist symbol, a pin with a drawing of the globe that said "Give Earth a Chance," and one that just said "int elligent;". He didn't understand that one but he supposed it meant something to somebody.

"I wonder how legal this is," Sasha was saying. "Staking out someone's flat like this. I mean, technically we're not breaking any laws, just sitting here in the car . . ."

Jon nodded. "Considering the kind of stuff I usually do, this is on the lower end of the legally dubious spectrum."

Sasha laughed. "How many carparks have you jumped the fence of again?"

"I believe the last count was six," Jon said, allowing himself a satisfied grin.

"Next time I expect you to invite me along to one of those 'research outings.' "

"Deal," said Jon, and they shook on it.

"Either way," Sasha said, settling back in her seat, "this has definitely been one of the more interesting dates I've been on."

Jon froze in his seat. Date? He had invited her out to help with investigating a statement, not for a date. His mind flashed back over the last three hours. Had he been on a date with Sasha this whole time, without realizing it? Had she not realized that this was a work thing? Oh god, what had he said to her when he'd asked? Had he made it sound like he was asking her out?

"Sasha," he said slowly, mind racing to figure out how best to break the news to her, "I . . . I'm so sorry, but I didn't--"

"Didn't know this was a date?" Sasha didn't seem angry. In fact, she was grinning at him. "I know. When you asked me to join you tonight, I said to myself, Sasha, this is the closest Jon is gonna get to asking you out. You better make it easy for him." She shrugged. "So, I made it a date. Assuming you're okay with that. If not, then it doesn't have to be one. Simple as that."

Jon stared at her, with her bright eyes and expectant smile. She really was very beautiful. He didn't ordinarily notice things like that, about anyone, but now that he was looking for it . . . And what an efficient way to go about things. It would be so much simpler if all dates could be arranged so easily. "Yes," he said, surprising himself at his own words. "That's . . . that's okay. A date is okay."

"You're sure?"

There was a spark of anticipation in his chest. "Yes."

Sasha's face lit up. "Brilliant." She leaned a little closer to him, resting an elbow up on the dashboard. "Is this alright?"

"Is what alright?"

"This." Sasha leaned across the gearshift and kissed him on the cheek.

Jon sat there for a moment, his heart racing. "I--um." He didn't have to give it much thought. "Yes." He leaned towards her. "Do it again?"

Sasha grinned, and pressed her lips to his. They were very soft. He could taste her chapstick, which was coconut flavored. It was wonderful. Her mouth shook under his for a second, as she tried to stifle a laugh. He pulled away, indignant, but Sasha was shaking her head. "I'm not laughing at you. It's just--you're so gentle. You don't have to be all careful with me." She pointed at herself. "It's Sash, remember?"

"I'm sorry," Jon said. "It's . . . been a while."

"Ah, same here. But I don't accept your apology."

Jon cracked a smile. "Can't get anything past you, James."

"No," Sasha said, faux-primly. "You can't." And then she kissed him again, and despite her insistence that he needn't be gentle, Jon melted anyway. Even with the both of them sitting down, Sasha's couple of inches on him were evident, and Jon gladly let her tower over him. He had always been a little self-conscious about his height, and having a partner that was taller than him was extremely welcome.

When they finally pulled apart, Jon said, "You're a genius."

Sasha looked puzzled. "I didn't know I was that good of a kisser."

"Oh, no, that's not--You're a really good kisser, yes, but I meant about the date thing."

"Ohh. That makes more sense. Yes, I am a genius. And a great kisser. Thank you for noticing," said Sasha, and Jon laughed.

The rest of the stakeout was, unfortunately, a bit of a wash. Neither of them spent much time watching the doorway, and they fell asleep on one another's shoulders around three in the morning. As a date, though, Jon would have to say it was a complete success.

[gender-buddies]

Artist Commentary Post

Let's talk about Phase One and where I got the inspiration for the very first set of Gender Buddies.

Agender - This one needed to be something not animal-like not for ambiguity, but a sense of unalignment. The original idea was just a rocky little critter who was an Earth type that could camouflage, and it was literally just a rock without the body segments. Then it slowly turned into having the ability camouflage in volcanic areas, but I wasn't sure how that green color would fit in with the design. I went with sulfur and changed the Buddy to a Fire type to better match its environment and balance out the many Earth types yet to be released. The body segments and random other details were added later because it looked a little too plain even for a Level 1 Buddy.

Nonbinary - This was originally a blobby slime creature that would stick to everything and then that idea became a slug that would leave nonbinary-colored slime everywhere - the slime color was changed to one color because it looked better. The sluggy body was meant to be sort of ambiguous, like a liquid but not quite. I wanted it to be flexible. Then as I was actually sketching it out digitally and looking at references to get the slug shape just right, I saw this cute little snail terrarium on Etsy where the plants were inside a clear shell. The liquid-filled clear shell was an obvious choice for design, especially if I were to keep the Water typing. It almost became a Plant type with plants inside the shell, but this set already had two Plant types scheduled for release. If I decide on a variant, like using a recolored nonbinary flag or making it nonbinaryflux or something, I may bring back that idea.

Ambigender - I knew right away that this Buddy would have two bodies merged together, but this slot in the phase was actually supposed to be for Maverique - it would have been a Fire type as well. But I'm having trouble finalizing the design for Maverique, so I replaced that with another Fire type. The color and pattern took some thinking because I wanted it to be seen as two separate critters rather than having a perfect blend between them to show the static nature of the ambigender identity. I made sure to have an obvious split between the two and make sure each half had its own color palette - one blue and one red. I have no idea why I came up with a salamander, but fiery salamanders are a pretty obvious go-to in art and design. The patterns are based on a tiger salamander and a spotted salamander, but the final design ended up looking more like a cartoony dinosaur.

Genderera - This one is based on my redesign of the genderera flag and is a counterpart to gendervir in its design and coloration. The difference is the big flower on the head and the lack of belly color, which is hard to see with its pose. It also has more spots. I really tried not to make it a warm-color replica of the gendervir design. Why I went with a froggy critter is beyond me. It just seemed to look really cute.

Gendervir - This was the first Buddy I ever designed, first on paper and then digitally when I was ready to start the project. I wanted it to have much more foliage on the body and even a leafy tail, which is where the Plant typing came from. Nonbinary was already a Water type, so I didn't end up changing this one's typing to fit the frog look. The tongue and feet webbing almost didn't make it into the final design, and the spots and belly color were a very last-minute addition. Gendervir is an important term for me so I wanted to make this critter before the others and really make the design something unique. The colors are based on my redesign of the gendervir flag.

Neutrois - This sounds bad but I didn't like this one! I knew I wanted it to look robot-like but I didn't know how I wanted the face or details to look. It originally had plain circular eyes and simple round ears, which made it look like a bear almost. Then I started trying to incorporate neutrois symbols into it - you'll notice it has eyes that look like one type of symbol and antennas on the head that look like another. The electrical nature of the critter just made sense, so it's always had the wire tail and magnet since I sketched it out on paper. The mouth looks almost ghoulish so if there's ever a chance to make something like... maybe neutroisfluid, I kind of want it to look like there's a ghost-like thing inside the body, which is hollow. It'd be fun to play around with.

Abinary - For some reason, I was so determined to make this a Light type and it took a while for me to figure out how to make it work. I almost went entirely ambiguous and made it look like some alien creature no one has ever seen before - basically a little fuzzy sprite. It didn't look interesting enough, so I kept adding buggy body parts to try and figure out something that looked cute. Eventually I landed on an aphid, which fits with the word "aphorian" (another word for abinary.) Aphids are known to make honeydew, so I gave it a big honeydew drop on its back. The antennae were going to be pointed forward with glowing balls on the ends, but then I leaned more into the aphid design and changed the antennae accordingly.

Cassgender - When imagining indifference, I simply thought about sleeping. This turned into the idea of sleeping with a teddy bear. I really wanted it to look comfy and cozy and really cutesy, which really works well with how soft the cassgender flag looks. Making it a Lunar type would have been too obvious (since bears are tied to the moon) and I'm lacking in Shadow types, so it made sense to make it a type that reflects the nighttime rather than the moon.

Magigender - Magigender manekineko! That's the lucky cat from Japanese culture that brings fortune and luck. I wanted so badly to make a lucky cat somewhere in this project and thought that the magi- in magigender reminded me of magic, so the manekineko was used here. I imagined it being a Metal type because of gold and silver, so that's the type I went with. Gold and metal works well with the magigender flag. I was determined to write the kanji on the belly myself instead of just finding an image, and I needed a shorter phrase so that I could write it properly. I went with "shine" (or "brilliance") to reflect (heh) the shining quality of metals. The fan in its hand spells "nya", the Japanese word for the sound a cat makes. The fan is one of the few times I added my own color, made to be orange instead of the Japan-flag-red because it fit the palette better. I almost combined the manekineko with the daruma doll, an item Japanese people use to make wishes by painting eyes on it, but I am going to reserve the daruma doll for another Buddy in the future.

Aesthetigender - For aesthetigender, I wanted to actually choose one aesthetic to represent but I didn't want it to be aesthetically pleasing if that makes sense? I really love pastels, and I like music, so I originally chose the city pop aesthetic as a basis (which may not sound familiar to some people, but it's the predecessor to the vaporwave aesthetic.) It needed to be something urban, so I went with both a rat and a pigeon, and I wanted to make it nocturnal. I really wanted the city pop aesthetic to be the main part of this design, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to make the star into that iconic vaporwave sun. The heart-shaped thingy on the pigeon beak was turned into a cool visor to make it kind of tech-ish. With it being another night-themed critter, I chose for it to be a Shadow type. I almost made it into a tanuki because I was watching Pom Poko when I was sketching it, but I'll save that for another critter design.

Outherine - I've always had a space critter design that is very rodent-like in its design and I wanted to find a spot for it, so I just went with it on a whim. It ties in gerbil and rat body parts with a whimsical space aesthetic on top. The starry eyes made me think of stargazing and I thought it was really cute, so I made it the Stellar type instead of the more obvious Cosmic type. That type comes in the next phase!

Omnigray - As with all Mythical Buddies, this one is a term I coined myself. When thinking of shades of gray, I thought of something kind of cold and stormy. This design was almost a Storm type but I feel that I have too many of those right now, and this was an easy way to introduce the Air type. I thought of mythical creatures that call on storms and landed on the peacock, which is how phoenixes are usually depicted. This one, however, needed to catch followers by surprise. Fire peacocks are just too obvious, so I went to the exact opposite. The idea of ice and storms made it easy to figure out that I wanted this critter to sit on a dark cloud. As a Mythical Buddy, it needed to look majestic and beautiful, so I really leaned into the flowy look of peacock feathers. It has a sort of Elizabethan style to its "dress", which you can see by the feathery collar.

That's all! I think this phase had plenty of healthy stumbling as I figured out how I wanted it to turn out. If I could, I would totally redesign a lot of these Buddies - maybe in the future if I turn this into a huge, long-running project that I dedicate more time to! I'm excited for the next batch of Buddies to be released and there are so many of them that I want to draw RIGHT NOW, but I really need to stay on track and do these in the proper order. Let me know what you thought!

- 💜

[theelfmaiden]

@diversetolkien's Diverse Tolkien week's Day 3: LGBTQIA+. I was excited for this one. I tried to work with as many of the letters as I could, I know I did miss some, but despair not - I'll include you in a separate post, so you may get a chance to shine! I also tried to incorporate pride flags in their jewelry, but guess what? See for yourself!

Russingon,

Tyelko and Carni,

Legolas and Gimli, agreeing on a date.

(Legolas: "I hope he won't decline..."; Gimli: "... but I have nothing to wear...")

Enjoy! ❤️