#Burn is still going strong

[7-planks-of-rosewood]

I heard someone saying Princess Blaze is going to survive the war. What idiotic thinking!! Queen Blister will defeat her sisters and the great Nightwing prophecy will be fulfilled.

When was the last time this dragon won a shred of land

When you side with the seawings (reclusive) and the nightwings (reclusive) I don't think you're getting much progress

[four-pointed-leaf]

i'm still alive btw i just have terminal oc artist-itis

[flowersdiceandlove]

The burial mounds, a place of mystery, the place of the dead, cannot be comprehended by humans. It is a place warped by time and resentful energy and the intentions of those who inhabit it and who knows what else. It is sentient and has a strong will of its own. It��s said that no one can leave the Burial Mounds, and that is true as much as it’s not. The burial mounds keeps what is theirs; protects what is theirs. No one can escape from the Burial Mounds bc more often than not, once you enter, the Burial Mounds see you as theirs. It does not take well to people hurting and taking what is theirs. (And, maybe this is why a certain demonic cultivator was able to survive and leave that place. Maybe he understood this will and resentment bc he too would do anything to protect those he loves. For him as well, once he considers someone family, they are family. And nothing will change that. No matter what happens, his family is his family, and those under his protection are fully under his protection. They can see a kindred spirit in each other, and so the Burial Mounds let him go, knowing that he will always carry part of the Burial Mounds with him. The souls in his sleeves and the resentful energy he welcomes into his body. The boon that the Burial Mounds grants him.)

It is for these reasons that WWX knows to bring the Wen remnants there. Not only does he know he can defend them if needed in that place teeming with resentment, he knows the Burial Mounds themselves will protect them. It protects its own, and the Burial Mounds knows these people that WWX brought are his, so they are its. It’s as simple as that. And, the Burial Mounds likes it. It likes having these people here, milling about and carving a life on it. It likes how they turns its soil from barren to fruitful. It likes how they are happy and content. It likes being their home and haven. It will do anything to protect them.

When the first siege comes, the Burial Mounds try to protect what is theirs. These people who have made a home on it. But, they are all grieving deeply, and it’s beautiful child, the first to even understand them and want to make peace with them instead of destroying them, is breaking apart. He is breaking apart with the weight of someone who could not protect that which is most precious to him. And he has been breaking with this weight for months now, every day chipping another piece of himself away, every day pulling further and further into himself, every day driving him just a little more insane. The Burial Mounds have no problem with madness. They will still embrace him fully and without question, but it pains them to see him like this. They are all breaking under the pressure of what the world outside its borders do. This is no longer their haven, but now their place of imminent doom. It is only a matter of time until the cultivators attack. The Burial Mounds fights back as it always does to protect those that are its. But, some of these living cultivators attacking are family of WWX and it cannot attack family. And, it knows that even should he wipe all these harmful intruders out, that will not stop more from coming, and more after that. The Burial Mounds would fight every wave they send, but that is not the issue. The issue is that its people are grieving and breaking. The issue is that it cannot do anything to fix that and every attack will break their spirits just that much more.

So instead, the Burial Mounds decide to change it. As the cultivators pour in, the Burial Mounds pulls its energy from defending and into charging its intention.  Some of its people get cut down, but that is fine, it will still work, they do not have to be alive. Just as WWX is about to destroy the Stygian Tiger Amulet (oh, and look at their brave boy, but don’t do that, my child, it will tear you apart) a large pulse of resentful energy ripples out over the battlefield, shaking the ground and seeping into all that is theirs. The air and ground starts to ripple, unstable and warping like swirls of marble, until none can stay standing in this odd happening, toppling over, nauseous from the swirling. Those that are theirs are sucked into the soil, deep into its power, and it embraces them into its depths.

Then—

They open their eyes.

WWX is seven, on the streets of Yiling, and turns his head to the Burial Mounds so close by, calling to him. Come home, my child, it whispers. Come to me; I will protect you.

Wen Ning is eight and Wen Qing 14. They also look in the direction of Yiling—of the Burial Mounds. They too hear the call. There are gasps rippling around their home, and people bursting through doors, embracing each other, crying in joy. Eyes flick around at everyone. They know. All those that were on the Burial Mounds, as well as Wen Qing and Wen Ning remember. They know what Wen Ruohan is planning. They also know what will happen to their real family.

They go to Yiling. Just a few at first. They lost many people in their branch before they were saved by WWX, and those people are more than hesitant to go to that cursed place. Those that remember can’t simply leave them to their fates again. So, some go, while some stay. They will convince the rest later. When they arrive at the base of the Burial Mounds, there is already a large collapse in the wall surrounding it looking to be made recently. The paths open up for them as they start their ascent. The path is just as they remember, the corpses and spirits howling, but leaving them be. They know they are already part of them. Granny Wen and Wen Qing are at the front of the group, leading the way. Wen Qing wishes her brother was there, but that was not something their parents would budge on. They barely let her go, and only because Granny was insisting as well and promised to look after her.

They reach the clearing where their homes were, and there they are. Their little shacks that barely stay standing. The patches of land they’d tilled and toiled over. And there, perched on a tree stump by the side of the road is a boy, even smaller than A-Ning, covered in dirt and grime that can’t all be from the Burial Mounds, spinning a black, bamboo dizi in his tiny hands. He watches them with shining eyes and a large smile they’d know anywhere breaks out on his face, then—

He laughs. The boy laughs loud and clear and bright as he topples off the stump in his joy. Many of them join in the laughter as well. Amazed and in disbelief. Wen Qing, granny, and a few others rush over to the little Wei Wuxian and pull him into a crushing embrace. The laughter soon turns to wracking sobs as they all cling to each other and let it all sink in. 

They are alive. They are together.

And, they will make sure it stays that way.

The Burial Mounds hum around them, welcoming them home.

[starakex]

Sonic Cosplay Build Log

Time for another cosplay Build Log! Last log was for the Wurmple partial, and while there were some other projects in between, they didn't really have enough crafting involved in my opinion to make for an interesting blog post.

This time around, I wanted to fulfill my childhood dream of being a Sonic character, but like. THE WHOLEASS WAY. So Sonic Fursuit it is! I hesitated between Shadow or Sonic, but I ended up going for Sonic so I could be silly with it.

Lots of fun things learned during this build, so let's buckle up and get through it!

PART 1 : The Head Base

First things first, I grabbed some reference photos online of the model I wanted to replicate (Modern Sonic, mid 2000s) and scaled them up to print so I could have an idea of how big I'd have to make the head for it to stay in proportion with my body. My goal was to stay generally mobile in this costume and only need help from a handler in big crowds, so I didn't want to build the body up like the current official Sonic Mascots do. Therefore, scaling was a little more done on vibes than accurate measurements.

Once I got the head scaling down, I started on the head base. Sonic characters have orbular heads, so I used Danny McFly's Foam Sphere Calculator to help make a sphere pattern to the size I needed and got to work assembling it. Unlike my last fursuit/mascot build, I splurged and got some Spray Adhesive this time around to cut down on hot glue drying times and it was a GAME CHANGER. Bonded foam within a minute, it stayed strong from edge to edge, and it didn't get in the way of carving foam like hot glue typically does. I personally used 3M's Super 77 Spray Adhesive as it's locally available for cheap. Outside of a few cases, this is the adhesive I used throughout the entire build.

With the sphere base assembled, I began building up the muzzle and carving out the eyehole. I built a test eye... eyes?... Let's call it an eyeplate... I built a test eyeplate out of 3mm thick Sintra (a brand of solid foam PVC board) that I shaped using a heat gun. (Wear a respirator folks! Heated PVC fumes are NASTY. Protective gear is COOL, lung cancer is CRINGE) It wouldn't be the final eyeplate, but having it around was indispensable as the plate itself shifted the foam around quite a bit when in position; a paper pattern wouldn't have cut it in terms of support and proportions would have probably shifted around. It was trimmed over time throughout the build and became the pattern for the final version of the eyeplate. I also added some aluminum wire to the inside of the "eyebrows" to help keep their shape close to the eyes and prevent them from flipping up during the crafting process.

After getting the facial features blocked out, I moved on to the quills! Modern Sonic's head has six quills of various sizes. I started by building out the top quill first, as it was the easiest starting point using the side profile as it was the least distorted one from the perspective. With that first spike glued together and pinned to the head, I made the two other "top row" quills using the same pattern I drew up for the middle top quill, leaving some extra material where they connect to the head so I could trim them down before pinning them down as well.

With the top quills done, I shortened the pattern significantly and used that to make the bottom quills, which were also trimmed to fit. For the bottom quills on either side of the head, I added a bit of foam to cap the holes closed and help them rest of my shoulders more comfortably.

Once Sonic's Sick Haircut was properly glued to the head, I finished carving his facial features by adding some much needed eyebrows. I also carved some ears, though they weren't attached as they would be covered in fabric separately before being added to the head. With everything in place, I finished sculpting the head, shaving down some of the rough patches where the quills connected to the head and building up some zones with extra foam.

I used some leftover lycra from a previous project and made a lining for the entire inside of the head. As the inside is still just a sphere, I simply reused the sphere pattern from the foam base and added some seam allowance to it. (Once again, I absolutely suck and forgot to take photos of this step.) With the base done, I moved on to furring... er, fleecing the head.

Part 1.5 : The Head Skin

In order to get that Smooth Hedgehog Look, I decided to use fleece for this suit. I had been properly prepared for it to be kind of a mess (Fleece does NOT forgive), but all in all, it went pretty smoothly. For the most part, the head was mostly hand-sewn using a mix of ladder stitches and blanket stitches, with upholstery thread to make sure it'd be as solid as possible. I didn't make pattern pieces; instead, every piece was done by draping the fabric over the head, pulling it taut and pinning it down, then cutting loosely where I could hide seams (usually under each quill). I spent a sizeable amount of time watching GOMAJEOSSI's videos for inspiration on how to go about it; they had invaluable advice which I took inspiration of for some parts of the build, particularly for the muzzle and ears. I started by putting spray adhesive on the forehead to secure the main piece that would wrap around the sides, then pulled and pinned, cutting and sewing whenever I reached the back of a quill and stitching them closed with a ladder stitch. Earlier while making the base, I left a 2cm edge on each side of the muzzle unglued; that way, I could slide the fabric of the head under the muzzle for a seamless look. (Thanks, GOMAJEOSSI!)

I then draped the tan fleece over the muzzle and repeated the process, making sure to have plenty of extra fabric to tuck inside the head past the edge of the eyeplates. With the adhesive, I also made sure to really push the fabric into the slit I carved for Sonic's puzzling side-smile (Another certified banger idea from GOMAJEOSSI). To finish things off, I switched to hot glue for more precision and tucked the muzzle fabric into the open space on either side. This gave the muzzle a very nice, defined shape, which stayed just as clean after a ladder stitch between the muzzle and head fabric for a solid, permanent bond.

With only the details left, I used the same "unglued edge" technique for the ears (where the edge" is the inner connection between the tan and blue piece, gathering all the loose edges at the bottom. Once everything was bonded securely, I glued them to the head using Contact Cement for a super-strong bond (RESPIRATOR FOLKS), let them cure for a few hours, then ladder-stitched the ears to the head for a clean look. Lastly, I re carved another nose, covered it in black lycra, then glued and attached it to the muzzle using the same technique as the ears. With everything assembled, I mixed up some fabric paint into a nice dark shade and painted it into the mouth to really help define the look.

SONIC GOT THROUGH ACT 1 (phew!). We'll be revisiting the eyes later on, so it was time to move on to something else while I was waiting on some materials.

PART 2 : The Shoes

Sonic's shoes were the scariest part of the costume going in, but honestly they turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. In any case, I need shoes as a base for these for a couple reasons (the most important one being, y'know, walking an entire day with no foot support on convention cement flooring is BAD). Time to sacrifice an old pair of shoes for the shoe-ception build. I needed a strong flexible base, so I took a sheet of High Density EVA Foam (Lumin's Workshop Hard-lite), covered the bottom of the shoes and the foam in contact cement, then stood up on it for half an hour.

Once the bond between the shoes and foam was solid, I took off the shoes and built the "body" of each shoe (The upper) out of upholstery foam, just like I did with the head. I traced the shape of the soles on the EVA foam as a guide and then glued the uppers to the EVA Foam base using the sole line as a guide. Once that was done, I trimmed the excess EVA foam down.

With the base of the shoes done, I got to work covering them in red fleece the same way I did the head, with the seam located on the back of the heels. I cut the excess off and glued them on the inside and bottom of the shoes.

Once the shoes were covered in fabric, I tackled the details. The white bands were made out of white tech neoprene; it's a stretch fabric with a soft 2mm foam core, which gives it a look that was perfect for the gloves; using it for the shoes to match all white fabrics together was a no-brainer. I cut some buckles out of the EVA Foam leftovers and covered them in yellow fleece, and did the same with the rim using grey fleece. I cut out the little divot on the back of the heels before applying the fleece. In both cases, I left the backside of the EVA Foam exposed to make it take adhesive better.

Just like with the soles, I glued all details on with contact cement; shoes are going to take an absolute beating, and the long cure time is a perfectly acceptable trade-off to make them as indestructible as possible. Even with the respirator, open windows and a fan pushing it all outside, I ended up just letting them cure in the backyard just to not be haunted by The Smell once I was done.

The next day (once everything stopped smelling like toxic garbage), I sewed up some tubes of white neoprene on the sewing machine and then stitched them up by hand to the shoes to create the socks. Lastly, I bought a slab of white shoe sole material, traced the bottom of each shoe, cut it to size and cemented them on the underside to make the shoes outdoors-ready and, hopefully, truly indestructible. And with that, the shoes were completed relatively quickly!

SONIC GOT THROUGH ACT 2! The most time-consuming parts of the build are now behind us. Things are picking up as we move on to the bodysuit!

Part 3 : The Body

So Sonic's body is pretty simple, as far as fursuits goes. In my case, I skipped body padding for comfort, so doing a Duct Tape Dummy would be overkill. Fleece isn't forgiving on complex shapes like a fursuit head, but it's pretty stretchy, which makes it more forgiving on straight lines like, say, arms and legs. I used NDLWrkshop's Jumper Pattern, printed and cut it matching my selected size, and got to work assembling the base following the instructions. I cut the front and back pieces out of blue fleece and the sleeves out of tan fleece. The only major change to the pattern I made was installing the zipper on the back of the suit instead of the front.

With the base done, I went back to the upholstery foam stash, grabbed the quills pattern, and made two back spikes. I also carved a tail out of foam, and covered everything in fabric using the same drape and hand-stitch method as before. I then ladder stitched them to the bodysuit's back, double-sewing it for good measure since I predicted I'd probably accidentally smush them pretty often whenever I try sitting down.

As you might have noticed, I also took a moment to tailor the arms and legs to fit closer to my body. It's not a completely tight fit, but there's only so far you can go for a fleece bodysuit without padding; if fleece picks up the details of a fursuit head base when it's not completely smooth... I didn't really want Sonic to accidentally end up with big naturals, so the slightly baggy "mascot" look was acceptable to me. After attaching the spikes, I hemmed the arms and legs and added two straps on the arms, one for each side. Their function is to keep the sleeves down into the gloves later while moving around, and it makes them much easier to put on. I then cut the stomach out of tan fleece, pinned it on the bodysuit, then slowly cut a hole in the bodysuit matching the stomach piece, carefully re-pinning the right sides of the suit and stomach together so I could machine sew them together for MAXMUM STRENGTH. I still ended up giving Sonic boobies by accident despite my best efforts but it's nothing a good compression top can't fix... Hopefully.

SONIC GOT THROUGH ACT 3! Did somebody mention gloves?

Part 4 : The Gloves

Sonic's gloves aren't super complicated compared to the rest of the build. They're the reason I picked Tech Neoprene for the white fabric. That way, I could make them slightly oversized and have them keep their shape without having to add stuffing and lining to them and make them look... Mickey-ish. Mickey hands make you need a handler and if I'm at a con I'm going to be grabbing my phone every 5 minutes.

You might have noticed a fucked up black glove in previous photos. The truth is, the very first thing I actually did for Sonic was make a mock-up of the gloves using some leftover black tech neoprene I had lying around, so I could immediately buy the white one alongside all the fleece if my plan worked out. I drafted up a couple patterns tracing my hand on paper and adjusting finger width. I ended up making three gloves before I got a good mock-up, then I assembled a test cuff to confirm all pattern pieces.

Since the mock-up guaranteed that my plan would work, I sewed up the real gloves last so I could focus on everything else, melt my brain troubleshooting issues, then have something easy to sew last. So when I got to the white gloves... It was a pretty uneventful step, really. Except for the sewing machine REFUSING TO SEW THIS FABRIC PROPERLY. After an hour of fighting every setting and trying everything I could think of, I realized Upholstery Thread and Tech Neoprene fucking hate each other. I just swapped back to regular thread and double sewed everything and just moved on with my life.

SONIC GOT THROUGH... ACT 4... God I hate how temperamental sewing machines can get. At least it didn't spit out needles this time (WEAR. PROTECTIVE. GEAR. If you sew bastard fabrics I beg you)

Part 5 : Inside the Head

So we've got a completed Sonic, albeit eyeless and innards...less. Well actually he's got innards (I'm innards), but he's missing some QOL features inside his head. Let's remedy that by finishing up the head first. First up: The eyeplate. When I had a final shape for the eyeplate post-head completion, I measured the size of the pupils on my mock-up, drew some eye designs on Clip Studio Paint, And sent the files out to OtterHalfCostumes to be printed on mesh. That way I could thoroughly wash the head in the future without worrying about the eyes getting damaged. I checked the sizing on my test eyeplate when I received the mesh and got some promising results!

With everything properly tested, I finally cut out my second eyeplate out of Sintra, this time using the digital eye design to accurately cut and sand the holes to the exact shape. Like last time, I heat formed the eyeplate to create the right curve, and once everything fit right, I hot glued the eyemesh onto the plate. Finally, I very carefully glued the Sintra eyeplate into the head using a bunch of E6000 glue. It has a CRAZY STRONG BOND, but the cure time it also super long. It's the part I was most worried about breaking however, and it was the best choice for this specific use for a couple other reasons. I ended up with a strong, practically invisible bond for a clean look!

Now that the outside was COMPLETED, I needed to furnish my battlestation. The inside of the head is massive and wobbly and the addition of the eyeplate makes it a sauna. This is NOT a head type with good ventilation. I got to making the padding first. I tried a few shapes of padding throughout the build to test things out, but I ended up settling on a donut shape that would stabilize it like a hardhat would. I cut my donut out of upholstery form, cut a hole in the middle and carved the top diagonally to rest into the head proper, then covered it in fabric. The side resting on my head is lycra, to wick away sweat, while the side resting on the inside of the head is fleece so that it has some grip to stay in position. This allows the padding to be adjusted, and removed for washing.

FINALLY, for the very last step in this journey, I installed the fan system. It's a three-fan system with an intake and outtake fan at the edge of the neck hole, and a little fan blowing on my forehead for comfort. I added some velcro so that every fan could be removed for washing, got the battery pack pocket sewn up in the top above where the padding would usually rest so it's out of the way, and snuck the wires into the empty space above my head where they'll be out of the way.

SONIC GOT THROUGH ACT 5! It's done the build is completed holy shit

Level End Jingle

I cannot overstate how proud I am of this cosplay. It's a culmination of a bunch of bullshit crafting methods, a bunch of new techniques, a couple materials I hadn't gotten to try before. The whole thing took almost a month to the day, and it feels surreal to finally wear a costume I'd been dreaming of ever since I learned what cosplay was like 15 years ago (There was another childhood dream cosplay I completed during the pandemic, from that one series with the little green elf guy that I don't wanna clog the search page for. And it was fulfilling to make! But seeing my regular human face on a character with a stylized human face feels like the definition of the Glamour Failure trope sob) But then I look at this costume and my brain gets tricked by the overall look and it feels just right. We'll see how comfortable it actually is and if anything falls apart on the con floor in a few months, but nothing can really dampen the simple joy of being Sonic the fucking Hedgehog.

[yujeong]

Happy VegasPete day everybody ❤️

I haven't prepared anything for today, but I have been thinking and talking a lot about Pete biting Vegas during sex, does that count?

(It may or may not lead to an infection, I'm still thinking about it)

Here's to us still being here, obsessing over these fools, for many years to come 😌

[linabirb]

you know you've hit rock bottom when by the end of the session your therapist hits the head in hands pose and goes "let's. l-let's just try to stay alive for now. n-no meds we'll just focus on finding the reasons to keep you here"

[crescentfool]

with the year coming to a close, i hope that anyone who's reflecting about how the year went remembers to be kind and fair to themselves with how you evaluate the year as a whole.

i think there are definitely times when life throws things that are... Not So Great at you. whether if it's some external circumstance that surprised you, or maybe your mentality wasn't at it's best. i wish for anyone who's encountered those kinds of challenges to be able to triumph over them and be able to say that they got through it.

heck, it might still be a work in progress even though you've kept chipping away at it, and that's ok! the results will show themselves eventually as you work through it! and i hope that we can all remember to be patient with ourselves as we go through these processes (learning, healing, etc.), because damn, it can be frustrating when you feel like you're "not there yet."

knowing that life can be rough at times, i think it's unfair to yourself (and others) to discount and downplay any progress you've made this year- whether if it's something that you did for the first time, or maybe you came to a new understanding and insight that you didn't have in the previous year.

it's not to say that you should undermine the validity of your experience with hardship, but to take the time to remind yourself what makes life worth living. to recall what moments were the most satisfying to you- and use it to strengthen your resolve for the next year and beyond. no amount of hardship will ever take away from the fact that you deserve to have hope that things will get better.

i hope that looking back on the year, you don't leave out the things you cherish. that you can remember the good that came this year. whether if the small victories are things like meeting someone new, trying something out for the first time, or making some strides in a long-term project/obligation...!

i wish everyone a happy new year! may it be prosperous, and that your life can move in a direction that's close to what you want out of life. you're all going to do great! remember to congratulate yourself for what you did well! despite everything, you're still here, and that's wonderful. never forget that!

[starbuck]

wow those were some really emotional scenes and great character development, but do you know what was better than all of that? when that guy said one word five seasons ago…

[navybrat817]

[supercantaloupe]

in other news this is like week 5 or 6 in a row of me making the same apple oatmeal for the week's breakfasts

[necromancy-savant]

This video made me instantly popular with the PhD students

[gammija]

ive been trying for 30 mins to write a post about why the Web's plan is still confusing, but I think I should face the truth and admit to myself that it's not that it makes no sense, it's just... so convoluted

[werewolfsmile]

I was tagged by @lindseymcdonaldseyelashes to put my music on shuffle and list the first 10 songs + tag 10 people.

The Hero - Nathan Wagner

Come Over (Acoustic Mixtape) - Sam Hunt

Red Earth Dirt - Greta Stanley

Power Over Me - Dermot Kennedy

Should Have Known Better - Jessie James Decker

Till There's Nothing Left - Cam

Howl - Florence + The Machine

Heavy Stone - Kyla La Grange

Right Here - Ashes Remain

The House Rules - Christian Kane

Tagging: @independent-fics @dinotoaster @vampiritea @undisclosed-serendipity @sagiow @combat-librarian + anyone else who wants to do this, just say I tagged you!

[cherry-bomb-ships]

IM SORRY. RANT INCOMING BUT

THAT'S THE QUOTE FROM RANGO WHEN RATTLESNAKE JAKE IS ACTIVELY KILLING BEANS AND IN CONTEXT IT'S NOT ROMANTIC IN THE SLIGHTEST.

AND THIS IS TAGGED SHIP????? 💀😂💀😂💀😂💀😂💀😂

[britneyshakespeare]

i finished the merry wives of windsor today btw. 4 shakespeare plays left to go

[exopelagic]

I need to go to bed I’m just gonna shout a lil