munasnook

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starting a new project is basically committing to one of two equally chaotic paths. you either:

a) spend weeks meticulously outlining every plot point, character arc, and worldbuilding detail, only to abandon it halfway through because the vibes took you somewhere else entirely, OR

b) you raw-dog the whole thing, trusting your brain to 'figure it out,' and end up with a draft that’s half literary brilliance and half 'what the hell did i mean by this note that just says "cows are symbolic."'

either way, you're writing by the seat of your pants, but one path comes with a fancy map you’ll never actually use.

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You can't cast a shadow without some light 🌙

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Minthara as a vampire 🩸

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Where the Heart Stays

A Modern Ranch AU, Sapphic Christmas Romance Oneshot

Pairing: Shadowheart x f!Tav

Word count: 18,438

Summary:

Eliza moves back to her hometown of Pine Hollow just before Christmas. Encouraged by her adoptive mother, Jaheira, to try something new, Eliza signs up for riding lessons at Hallowleaf Ranch. There, she gets reunited with her childhood friend, Jenevelle "Jen" Hallowleaf, and soon, something more than friendship begins to blossom between them. But Jen carries a deep hurt that has made her more guarded than Eliza remembers. Can Eliza win her over, or will it be another lonely Christmas for them both?

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Drew a pinup of Lae'zel cause she's cool

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Grief weighs more than sapphires

Shadowheart x Gender Neutral!Tav

Cross posted to AO3.

Warnings: Past character death, grief, angst, potential spoilers for BG3 Act 2

Summary:

“Sapphire necklaces are popular among Baldur's Gate's patriars as mourning garb - the heavy teardrop-shaped stones represent the weight of their loss.” - Silver necklace, Baldur’s Gate 3

When Tav dies a decade after the events of Act 3, Shadowheart must learn to cope with grief from beginning to end, with no Sharran memory loss to ease the transition into widowhood.

Selûne is crying, her tears dissolving in the ripples of the Chionthar.

It hurts to look at. Shadowheart knows that deep, dark stretch of water like the back of her hand. Every bend, every sloping bank has been seared into her memory from the hours she spent here with Tav.

Looking at it brings back that soft, beautiful laugh, but it’s wrong. It’s too loud, too… alive. The memory should be tender. Instead, it’s mocking — hand-crafted to drive the knife of loss deeper.

The Moonmaiden’s light is supposed to be a balm, but it feels like cruelty. It would be kinder to feel the dark veil of the new moon pressing against her eyes. At least then, there would be no reminders. No evidence of that terrible loss.

Maybe that would be the only mercy that Shar could ever extend.

The thought is like poison. Forgetting would be no kindness. It would be cruelty disguised as charity. Selûne’s light may reveal pain, but it also illuminates love. Tav’s death will not — cannot — become an instrument in Shar’s mission.

She knows how cold the water will be. It was always cold enough to pull the air from Tav’s lungs, but perhaps the cold is what Shadowheart needs. Her breath is too heavy. It sits, thick and cloying, at the bottom of her chest. It hangs in her throat and chokes her.

A sharp pain in her toe draws out a hiss. A fragment of shell has sliced through her skin. The pain is a welcome distraction, but one that only lasts a moment. It’s nothing compared to the grief that has burrowed into her chest.

The cold water of the Chionthar wraps around her ankle, seeping through the thin skin to gnaw at the bone beneath. Step by step, her body slips deeper into its icy embrace. It’s so cold that it burns, ripping the breath from Shadowheart’s lungs.

She’s tired. Love’s weight is too heavy to be carried alone. Yearning to be held by something other than her own bones, she slips deeper. The river bites at her chest, her collarbones, her throat. The pebbles curl away from her, leaving her adrift. Weightless, she floats.

The river stirs the silver links of her necklace. Once warmed by the heat of her breast, the sapphires begin to chill; the heat leeched from them and carried away downriver. They roll in the water’s gentle grasp, alleviating some of the pressure they place on her sternum.

But the feeling of a burden removed leaves Shadowheart aching. Having spent last the decade living in Baldur’s Gate, sapphires have become synonymous with mourning garb in her mind. After Tav’s death, she sought out the heaviest stones she could find. Their weight pales in comparison to that of her grief, but it’s better than nothing. They force her to breathe deeper, to feel something other than the whole in her heart.

She wonders how many sapphires it would take to match the weight shackling her soul. Would it matter? Her grief would remain, sharpening its claws on every organ in her chest.

Desperate for an anchor, her foot searches for the familiar slope of the river bed. She finds it. Smooth pebbles shift and squirm. It’s enough to raise her breastbone above the Chionthar’s surface. It’s enough for the now familiar weight to press into her skin.

It cannot match her grief, but perhaps Shadowheart doesn’t want it to. Gems cannot buy peace in the same way they cannot buy a love worth grieving.

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💖💖💖

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All of my Baldur's Gate 3 character portraits from last year and this year. I am trying very hard to make my fanart look more like my tattoo work, which I will definitely post more of here as well!

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The eight stages of writing :

- this is awesome

- this is slightly less awesome

- this is shit

- I’m shit

-oh god oh fuck what the hell am I doing

-wait this might not be that bad actually

- How the fuck is this working

-This is awesome

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For my portfolio I have an idea to create a web page totally dedicated to a world that I'm building. I'd really like this to eventually turn into a giant open-world game, but that's pretty far off from now.

I'm rewriting and expanding on this tiny idea I had 3 years ago for an assignment in my writing class and I'm getting really excited about this. I'll start by making it a light novel of sorts with lots of painted imagery that I'll include on this website.

I wonder how I'll find the time to work on this when school starts again...

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Worldbuilding go crazy

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quick sketch

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aftermath

(for the before, it's here)

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jiuzhaigou九寨沟, sichuan province in china