#HELP I actually published this!

[viking-writing]

The very first part of my Rammstein fic series is finally uploaded at Ao3!

(After almost 7 whole years of questioning and doubting myself as the annoying perfectionist that I am! I've now finally decided to publish this thing. Bit by bit, into the new year 2025!)

But please be gentle with me as I know the summary text and the "notes" might be a little "too long" for everyone to bother to read! (I was unmedicated when I wrote it and these long notes and summaries won't be added to every single chapter. I swear!)

<3

Mitternacht - A prologue to "Winterherz" (Formally known as "Liebeslied" but we'll see whatever this fic series will be called)) - Chapter 1 - gothicXviking - Rammstein [Archive of Our Own]

[turbo-tsundere]

Content warning for gore, blood, burns & body horror.

A king with no crown and a holy fool.

(The element of venom/poison, stabbing/puncture wounds and destruction of a whole body is present in both of their deaths. Kokichi's pristine white clothes also end up being shoved down the toilet, and the poison made it difficult for him to breathe, so there's plausible callback to Miu also. Karma at its finest?)

If I could be the devil, you could be the sinner.

(Don't mind them, they're just spilling their guts)

(...)

(Concepts for scenes from a Gonta-centric survival horror game I'll never make. But it was fun to daydream about - maybe one day I'll finish other sketches and doodles relating to it into a more presentable state. The Cat Lady OST was playing on constant repeat while I drew this - Lily of the Valley, Don't Follow the Light, String, Plainwalker, Early Winter, Storytelling, Susan's Blue Sheep (alone again) - those in particular are now stuck in my brain when I look at those drawings, and what I imagine the "game's" mood to be like, at least the opening segment.)

(I felt both heartbroken and like a monster when drawing this one... But I wanted to draw something that doesn't conveniently erase nor tuck his mangled, swollen face away from view. Sure... in game it looks goofy. But I think mockingly disfiguring him was the point in all of this, too. And given the venom, the Schmidt pain index, how it rates some wasp species, the fact that those robot wasps could be packed with anything necessary really... it had to be awful. Really, every stage of Gonta's execution was excruciating and enough to kill a person on its own, but due to his strength he likely suffered through them all. I remember begging in my head he was at least spared the flame, that he was already gone by this point... But it's foolish to pretend it definitely was the case.)

I wanted to post something new, but I was either busy, ill, or focused on something else, so another sketchdump with oldies and wips it is. This time strictly 2020-21 stuff, drawn during the first few months after finishing the game; mostly to process the post-game/Ch4 sorrows. All very emotionally raw, very edgy stuff that I felt, to be honest, too shy to show before.

Like with any wip I posted before, I do hope to finish some of them properly one day, even though I don't know when. But that's fine, I've signed up for a very long ride with the bug man. Taking it easy is the priority.

Speaking of long-term projects, maybe there's no need to, but I do want to talk about my Gonta fancomic, so here goes.

It's a bit long, so I will continue under the cut.

(Some panel teasers first! ...Gonta sanity fine.)

I took a few months long break from personal drawings - an *actual* break, not just sitting in front of a screen, tired, stewing in guilt that I'm tired, and that I can't magically muscle through burnout, or headache, or exhaustion.

My brain was stuck in a loop of berating myself for underperforming, not doing well enough, for taking so long on "mere" 27 pages, when in the past I could finish a 90-page webcomic chapter much faster. I wouldn't let myself rest, because I didn't do enough; but I couldn't do enough, because I didn't allow myself to rest. And it's been going on for months and months.

What a stupid, unconstructive thing to do to myself. I was only spiralling down, intimidating and overwhelming myself with work on the one thing I specifically wanted to keep doing out of joy, not ambition and pedantism. So I decided to just say "fuck it" and stop for a while. Like, actually stop, do something else and try to feel unapologetic about it.

So I briefly took up sewing, a creative activity I had no personal stake in, and then I started PVP-ing in DS3 (sorry if I happened to kick your butt in there. Rest assured my butt gets kicked just as much), which did wonders, too, as non-artistic pastime.

And, in the end, it seems it worked.

I finally feel this internal drive to draw again. Sadly, I can't spend all of my free time on the doujin (I might need to open commissions soon), so my pacing will still be glacial... But there was an internal change from "I have to, I have to, I must..." back to "I want to". And this is all that matters.

Still, that makes me think... while technically I don't have deadlines, the comic has taken so much longer than I thought it would - and it will take a while still. Thus, I wonder if I shouldn't change my approach re publishing it.

The initial idea was to post it all at once when it's fully finished, but I debate releasing it one page at a time instead, while it's still work in progress.

Thing is, I don't think it would be good for overall pacing. I don't want to sacrifice it, plus I can't guarantee regular uploads, esp since I don't exactly work on the pages in chronological order (While the first page is done, it was drawn after I finished a few in the middle & at the end; and there are still a few important pages/panels in first half I'm a bit too afraid of touching just yet, wanting to do them justice. This is how I work in general, jumping around rather than sticking to overly strict linear order.)

The compromise would be to post like 3-5 pages per post, making it so each upload covers a specific scene, however, same issue arises - I can't promise regular uploads. In the end it feels like a half-measure. But maybe it's a good idea, despite that impression?

There's a secret option, too - if this takes absurdly long, my plan was to just post the storyboard, after replacing some panels/pages with already finished drawings. The thing is readable as is, and long finished on that front anyway. My personal deadline for that was "right before my current lease ends", but, well… I plan on extending it anyway, and again... it's just a back-up option for when everything else fails. In the end, I just want to finish the comic, and present it how it's meant to be presented, however long it will take.

All those things considered, I'll stick to the original plan for now... and then we shall see. I simply wanted to share where things stand currently, and where they might go.

And that's it! If you've read this far, thank you. See you in the undetermined future.

[reasonsforhope]

Book Publishing Resources

Well, since a few people said they were interested and/or that posting about it on here occasionally was a decent idea, here we go!

I'm MC Calvi, a freelance editor specializing in self-help, psychology, spirituality, paganism, workbooks, and LGBTQ books.

You can find out more about me at my website, where I also offer free twenty-minute book/publishing consultations, in addition to regular editing services.

I am also now offering some pay-what-you-can resources on my website and on Gumroad. I'm committed to offering pay-what-you-can resources because the odds are already so stacked against marginalized authors, and publishing shouldn't be pay to win.

I have two new booklets I'm actually super happy with! They both draw on my eight years of experience in the publishing industry to give authors a leg up.

And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming as I hit "publish" on another good news post!

[peaches2217]

Guided Brooding

AO3 Link!

~~~

“Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro! Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro!”

The words ticked back and forth like a metronome in Mario’s head, changing in pace with each new song, but always relatively consistent in its rhythm. Inevitably a stray thought or a stumble would make him lose track, but then Luigi would call out the counts once more until he was (more or less) back in rhythm. That was probably his only saving grace, if he was being honest with himself.

Uno. Due. Tre. Quattro. Shoulders. Square. Spine. Straight. Don’t. Step on. Luigi’s. Feet. Uno. Due. Tre. Quattro.

“Okay! Ready for Phase Two?”

Luigi’s sudden interjection broke Mario’s concentration, and immediately he stumbled and trampled his younger twin’s foot (which made Incident #58, if he was keeping count correctly), yet Luigi didn’t flinch. He guided them both to a standstill, some conspiratorial twinkle in his eye.

“Phase Two?” Mario was almost afraid to ask. No, scratch that— he was afraid.

His brother immediately justified his fears. “Spin me.”

“What—”

“Spin spin!”

With that, Luigi lifted his left arm and Mario’s right, stooping to fit beneath their linked hands as he turned on the balls of his feet. Mario was forced to stand on his toes and thrust the entire right side of his body as high as possible just to keep from losing his grip, and even then, he barely succeeded. He was milliseconds from tipping too far left and faceplanting into the hardwood when it mercifully ended.

“With room to spare!” Luigi cheered on the other side. “See? You’ve got this down!”

Mario stared him down as he resettled on his feet. Luigi, in his defense, had the foresight to wear heels for this impromptu practice. But the tallest shoes he could keep his balance in still only put him at 5’8, a paltry number next to Peach’s 6’1 in her usual modest heels and 6’3 in her finest ballroom attire (read: the heels she would most likely wear during the real deal).

Mario, all 5’1 of him, did not in fact have this down.

The final notes of a mid-tempo song faded into needle chatter. Another record played all the way through. Another testament to his own failure.

As soon as Luigi let go, Mario found himself numbly shuffling towards their couch, pushed against the wall some hours earlier to give the brothers more room to practice. Not that this stopped them from colliding with the cushions or stubbing their toes against the wooden legs. The elder brother paid no mind to his twin rummaging through their music collection and casting suggestions in his direction. 

“...but since it’s kinda jazzy it might be harder to keep up with, but that could also give us a chance to practice, like, syncopation! And maybe that would…” But what did it matter? The next record would serve the same purpose as the first two: background music to accompany his downfall.

Mario plopped his backend onto the overstuffed cushions with the same grace he’d displayed dancing with his brother (which was to say, none). His legs were tired. His calves burned and his thighs tingled from overexertion. Since when did his restless legs get tired? He leaned over the back of the couch and stared up at the slats in the ceiling, as if they might crack open and bring forth some divine revelation that would make this whole mess make sense.

“...Mario? Hey, you okay, bro?”

Mario, burdened with two left feet and a heart that just had to yearn for the unattainable, was not in fact okay. 

He thought he’d known what to expect when he accepted his new role as Peach’s personal guard. She warned upfront that it would be dull and unexciting most of the time, standing through long-winded meetings and sitting through lectures about the inner workings of the Kingdom’s government. It all paled in comparison to the promise that he could spend more time at her side, and even better, the promise that he could serve her and protect her whenever she needed him.

He hadn’t really considered the social aspects of the role until that afternoon. He’d been just as excited for next week’s royal soiree as Peach was. Since he was required to hover nearby wherever his Princess went, he could easily swoop in and save her should any particularly chatty guests monopolize her time — they’d invented hand signs and covert exchanges and everything, which they practiced and perfected over tea cakes and laughter — but what had excited Peach most…

“I’ll finally get a dance out of you yet!” She’d dabbed at the corners of her mouth with a cloth napkin, her smile naïve yet mischievous. “It would be rude for my own guard to refuse any of my requests, after all.”

And she was right. Time after time she badgered him for a dance when he attended her parties as a mere guest. Time after time he informed her that dancing with him was a disastrous idea. It was a game, a playful ongoing back-and-forth, never a serious request , surely not. But now…

She was serious. Oh, stars, she was serious.

“I’m doomed,” Mario groaned at last.

Luigi groaned right back at him, mirroring his tone almost perfectly, and Mario might have been annoyed if he wasn’t also a bit impressed. The clack clack clack of high heels against hardwood tracked across the room, then the couch dipped beside him.

“C’mon,” Luigi said, nudging his shoulder against Mario’s. “Big feelings. Let’s talk ‘em out. You won’t feel better until you do.”

Mario huffed. Feelings. Feelings were supposed to be joyful and colorful and make life more vibrant. Feelings like this served no purpose other than to dampen that color. Life was too short to waste, too beautiful to squander, and sitting around wallowing in his own misery only squandered it further. 

Wallowing with a loved one gets it over with a lot faster, Luigi was always reminding him. And Luigi, who was never one to suffer in silence, was admittedly more of an expert on the topic than Mario was, so who was he to question that wisdom?

He sighed heavily. Might as well.

“I’m gonna screw it all up, Weegee.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’ll look like an idiot. Or worse, I’ll— I’ll make her look like an idiot!”

“You know she won’t let that happen.”

“But it’s not her job to keep me from messing up! I’m the one that’s— it’s my job to—”

“It’s not a job, it’s dancing. A couple mistakes here and there won’t bother her, you know that!”

“Well, no, but…”

Mario clenched his jaw.

He could almost see it, like an image in light projected on the panels above his head. Dancing with Peach. She would guide his steps with patience and grace. He would hold her slender hand safely in his own and hang on her every instruction, and every time he tripped or stepped on her foot, she would giggle, correct him, and lead him back into a steady rhythm.

A smile tugged at his lips. Learning to dance in the haven of her private garden, the rustle of leaves in lieu of music, away from prying eyes…

But it couldn’t happen like that. No, he couldn’t waste their first dance forcing her to teach him. She deserved better. She deserved a competent dancing partner. One who could match her expertise with confidence, who she could trust to fall into step with her right away… who wouldn’t falter even when the whole nation’s eyes were on them…

Mario sat back up just so he could hunch forward, resting his elbows on his knees, threading his fingers through his hair. “I can’t mess this up.” It came out far weaker than he’d hoped. He really was pathetic.

While he sulked, Luigi patted his back and hummed, the drawn-out sort of Hrmmmmm that told Mario his answer wasn’t good enough. “Why not?”

You know why! seemed the most obvious response. Not that he could actually say as much; Luigi would make him say it out loud anyway, and he preferred to avoid invoking that impossible desire by name whenever he could, so he scrambled for an answer with fewer sharp edges.

“Because she’s…” Beautiful. Graceful. Intelligent. Artistic. Astonishing. Literally perfect. Long overdue for an entire religion revolving around her. “She’s a princess,” he eventually settled on.

“And you’re her best friend, yeah?” Luigi’s hand stilled for a moment, then he switched to rubbing circles into his brother’s back. “Look, I-I know this is important to you. But if you’re not ready, you’re not ready! Just tell her! You know she won’t make you do anything you’re not comfortable with.”

Heat rushed through Mario’s body. He couldn’t even assemble an Absolutely Not before Luigi cut back in: “Compromises, remember? You can’t always let your pride win. I guarantee ya, promise her a dance next time, and she’ll be over the moon.”

Though he hated to entertain the thought, Mario knew he was right. He grumbled in displeasure as he mulled over the notion. Peach had never commanded him to dance. Though she’d presented it as an order of sorts, he did know she wouldn’t force him into it. It was merely a suggestion, one he was perfectly free to refuse.

…Just like his place as her guard, come to think of it.

“The motion for your appointment passed Parliament unanimously,” Peach told him that day, her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes unable to select a focal point. “But please understand that you’re under no obligation to accept! It’s… unfair, asking so much of you, given how much you’ve already done. Those are my thoughts, anyway.”

Mario never intended to refuse the offer, but initially, he was apprehensive. He was plenty strong, and he had rescued her from abduction once already, and he would do everything in his power to help her. But how much power did he actually possess? Was it enough to keep her safe? Was it enough to live up to whatever expectations were laid upon him, not just by Peach, but by her government? By its people? “Bodyguard to a Princess” wasn’t a program his vocational school had offered.

But one good look at said Princess overrode his doubts. Her fingers drumming against her knuckles, the small smile she kept forcing into something more neutral, her gaze shifting between her gloved hands and the surrounding shrubbery and, eventually, Mario’s face— growing up with an autistic twin taught Mario to be extra attentive to nonverbal cues. Peach’s offer was every bit as much for her sake as it was for his and for her Parliament’s.

In her words, she expressed reluctance, but in her body language, she gave her true thoughts away. And in her eyes, sparkling turquoise in the morning sunlight, he found his answer.

Her eyes had sparkled just as brilliantly today, discussing a prospective dance with her dearest friend and devoted guard. He wouldn’t be the one to extinguish her spark.

You can’t always let your pride win.

What a silly thing to say to Super Mario, Hero of the Mushroom Kingdom, Bodyguard to its Princess. Of course his pride would always triumph. That was kind of his schtick, wasn’t it?

“Okay, enough internal monologuing.” The weight on Mario’s back was lifted, and Luigi’s hand relocated to his head, tousling his curls playfully. “You gonna talk this through with me? Or am I gonna have to drag it outta ya?”

Another rush of heat overtook him, but this time, there was no indignation. This was the heat of renewed purpose. Lifting his face, the warm lights of their living room filled Mario’s vision once more, and suddenly the empty floor before him called to him with a pull he refused to ignore.

His muscles protested as he stood, but he paid them no mind. Every obstacle could be conquered with enough determination. He’d fail as many times as he needed to so he could succeed, just once, just for her.

“Hey— external!” Luigi cried after him. “External monologue! Don’t leave me in the dark, bro!”

Mario grinned as he closed the gap between himself and the record player. “You’re right,” he called over his shoulder. “I’m not gonna screw it up.”

The clack clack clack of block heels followed him once more. “And why’s that?”

“Because I haven’t let her down yet.” He pulled the first record his hands touched out of its case and set it into place. “And I’m not gonna start now!”

“And why’s that, huh?”

“Because…” A bright, jazzy instrumental filled the air, and Mario waved his hands with a flourish, grasping for words other than the ones Luigi was goading him to say. “Because I don’t know when to quit, I guess!”

“And why’s that? ”

“Stelle santo—”

He found Luigi waiting for him at the center of the room, his arms folded, his right hip jutting outward, his high-heeled left foot tapping in expectation. The smirk he fixed Mario with was far too devious for his liking.

“Well, if my beloved baby bro is any indication,” he shot back, mirroring Luigi’s folded-armed stance and meeting him where he stood, “then I guess being annoyingly hard-headed just runs in the family.”

Luigi’s smirk wavered. “Baby bro?”

Mario huffed, if only to keep his own mask from slipping. “I was already around when you were a baby. That counts.”

“You were a baby when I was a baby.”

“Well I still have twenty minutes on you, so at one point I was literally twenty times your age. Doesn’t get much more baby than that, yeah?”

Their competitive stares held strong a few seconds more, then they faltered, their make-believe tension powerless against the lively music. Both brothers clasped each other by the arms and chuckled, and just like that, Mario’s earlier angst was gone.

And these sorts of feelings he was all too happy to let himself feel.

“Thank you.” Mario pulled in closer to clasp Luigi’s shoulder. “For… being so stubborn.”

The corners of Luigi’s eyes crinkled as he mirrored the motion, clasping Mario’s opposite shoulder. “Guided brooding. That’s all it is.”

“And that’s all I need, I guess.” Mario soaked in the contentment a moment longer, then he let his arm fall to Luigi’s waist, releasing his opposite arm to take his hand. “C’mon. We’re losing moonlight.”

Luigi nodded firmly. “Way ahead of ya.”

Maybe Mario’s newfound drive didn’t grant him lighter feet or better coordination, but his heart felt so much lighter. He was able to laugh and joke with his brother when he made mistakes and celebrate each minor victory with sincerity. Nothing miraculous, maybe, but he could certainly work with it. And each time he fell out of sync, Luigi was right there to guide him back in.

“Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro! Uno! Due! Tre! Quattro! Uno! Due! Tre!”

[screamingcrows]

Snezhnaya's most controversial scientific publication

Tags/warnings: nsfw in the way a national geographic documentary is, absolute crack, segment incest, near noncon, non graphic violence mention, implied cannibalism

Note: I feel like an absolute mad lad. Please read the appendix as well guys.

Minors do not interact

"The Jester requested that I make public some of my research to dismiss concerns among the populace - a ridiculous demand."

"But, Doctor, we can't just.. Do we even have anything that wouldn't be dangerous?"

What was The Jester thinking? To make such a demand during an already busy period.

Dottore waved a dismissive hand, clearly having to restrain himself from letting further venom into his words, "We do not. Which is why you are relieved of your duties for the next week. Figure something out. I don't care about the contents, make it harmless and get it published."

You blinked at him, well aware that you must look like a fish struggling to breathe. With a tight jaw, you lowered your head in acceptance, already mourning all the extra hours you'd have to put in to catch up next week.

Well. If he doesn't care, why not make it interesting? As The Regrator said; sex sells.

Courtship and mating behaviours observed in Duplicare Dottorensis

Note that full taxonomic classification remains unclear as the class this species belongs to remains a heated topic for debate. The scientific community is in agreeance that the species belongs to one of the classes within the phylum 'chordata'.

Though asexual reproduction is speculated to occur most frequently - the exact process has yet to be observed, but bears some resemblance to that of some single celled organisms - fully matured individuals have been seen partaking in behaviour interpreted as courting.

As this species is rumored to exhibit an unrivalled level of variety in the strategies they employ to secure a mate, this study aimed to monitor a population and document every observed strategy. By doing so, the authors hope to quell the countless rumors currently circulating and causing unrest.

By employing a variety of techniques including, but not limited to; usage of subdetection units, combing through historical records, eye-witness accounts, and catching and marking select individuals, this document attempts to provide a detailed account of behavior associated with sexual reproduction.

Pacify with food

A younger segment, around the age at which The Doctor was still a student (~20), was watched closely for three days after exhibiting a strange shift in behavior. During feeding time, he would sneak off to the kitchens and, while staff was unaware, pocket scraps and spares of various foods. Strangely enough, he seemed to gravitate towards dishes that wouldn't require utensils, but instead take a bit of time to prepare and eat (various fruits that would have to first be peeled seemed to be a preference, although desserts also held his interest).

On the third day, he spent nearly two hours trying to wrap the bounty up neatly, cursing the entire time. Once satisfied with the - in our opinion rather crude - wrapping, he singled out Prime's partner going about their routine and approached carefully. Once he was within range and had their attention, he placed down the 'gift' and gave it a little kick before backing off. While they were opening it, he continued to hover around them, preferring to stay behind while continuously checking how far with unwrapping they were.

When he finally gained the courage to shorten the distance, the gift was fully unwrapped and inspected, yet they made no move to start eating. This seemed to cause the young individual a great amount of discomfort as he promptly turned and fled the room. (1)

Non-violent display of physical prowess

Another, slightly older (~25), segment exhibits drastically increased confidence compared to the younger version. By employing bribery and coercion, this version (believed to have been created to emulate the mindset of The Doctor shortly after attaining his title) recruited several other segments, all younger than himself, and spent about a week putting them through rigorous training.

This took place in a secluded room, often during the late evening or at night, and would go on for about two hours per session. We were lucky enough to have already installed a surveillance device in this room, meaning we had access to large amounts of video material (send an inquiry to The Doctor if you wish to gain access).

The segment of interest would instruct the younger ones to accompany him in an elaborate routine with his weapon, seemingly having them act as 'backing' to further highlight his superiority. The youngest of the group would be seated atop a table and simply observe, possibly standing in for the role of a prospective mate. (2)

Rough displays of physical prowess

As it quickly turned out, the above display is only utilised by a minority of the segments at that age. By far, the most frequently observed behaviour among segments of The Doctor's early days as a harbinger would be attempting to establish dominance.

While segments frequently engage in discussions and even loud arguments, these had a tendency to derail - sometimes to the point of violence - in the presence of Prime's partner.

During our period of monitoring, a total of 27 heated arguments took place in the presence of Prime's partner with all of them devolving to personal insults, 15 to minor acts of violence, and two of them escalating to the point of both segments being deactivated temporarily to undergo repairs. (3)

Occasionally, older segments were prone to display this behavior as well, but preferred to argue with Prime instead of fellow segments. This made for an interesting discovery, as younger segments would use these periods of distraction to attempt sneakily approaching Prime's partner. By keeping an eye on the argument taking place, the younger segments could time their attempted courtship and escape before neither Prime nor the older segment could discover what was happening. (4)

The impersonal approach

While only a single segment was observed to display this behaviour, it was still deemed essential to include due to the objective of this paper as well as the particular segment's relative importance.

The Omega segment, recognised as the most arrogant segment (and seeing himself as superior to the rest, the bastard) took a much more subdued approach to courting Prime's partner. During the daytime, Omega let himself into Prime's quarters - the author managed to sneak in behind him - and searched around for a brief moment.

Once he'd located a drawer of interest, Omega proceeded to rid himself of the lower half of his outfit, revealing (to the author's surprise) what appeared to be a fully functioning reproductive organ. Even more surprising were the subsequent actions, as Omega then detached this part, gave it a quick rinse, and placed it in the drawer.

Looking awfully satisfied with himself, the segment left Prime's quarters. The content of the drawer were confirmed to be a selection of toys. (5)

The unapologetic approach

Interestingly, segments older than Omega displayed the same levels of detachment from the copulation itself, but adopted a more direct approach to guarantee their succes.

This culminated in a confrontation when a segment assessed as middle-aged brought Prime's partner into the vivisection room. The segment in question had been observed tinkering with a vial of milky fluid and a device for automated injection, likely its own design.

Upon leading Prime's partner inside, the usually mild-tempered segment proceeded to forcefully restrain the other, strapping them down on the table. (At this point, the author was following events closely and alerted Prime).

The segment stripped Prime's partner and proceeded to carefully disinfect their abdomen while seemingly debating if a sedative was necessary. Upon picking up the delivery for injection and letting the sharp tip rest against their skin, the segment was interrupted by Prime breaking open the door.

Though no harm came to his partner, the segment received a rough scolding and was promptly sent to Liyue to check on a minor operation there. (6)

Minimal risk approach

The most baffling display was, by far, the strategy employed by some of the older segments. At first, their behaviour was written off as irrelevant to this study, but a chance discovery unveiled their cunning scheme.

During or after the fights between younger segments, described earlier, these segments would single out ones that looked interested in joining the fight but hadn't, or approach the loser afterwards. Under a false guise of kindness, they would then offer to teach the younger segment how to approach Prime's partner, claiming that they themselves "weren't interested, but sees no reason to not help".

This would in nearly all instances end in some form of sexual activity during which the older segment would discreetly tinker with the other segment's leyline connection. To figure out the purpose of this, one of the older segments were approached and questioned on the topic.

Apparently, the process finetunes the connection between the two segments, allowing for a period of time where they can - if they've discovered how to access it - feel on their own body what happens to the other. This usually lasts around a week, and the older segment will then sit back and simply wait. If the younger segment manages to engage in mating with Prime's partner, the older segment will be able to feel every part of the pleasure, while risking none of the repercussions of being discovered by Prime. (7)

Long term investment

Though initially outside the scope of this study, it was impossible to avoid observing Prime himself interacting with his partner. As such, it was decided that his behaviour would serve as an interesting reference, as he is the sum over time of the segments.

Prime is, perhaps unsurprisingly, much more relaxed about courting his partner, likely because he does not feel threatened by the segments. Still, it was noted that Prime would at times discard his work to enter his private workspace. Upon leaving, he would head straight for their shared quarters before returning to his scheduled work again.

When questioned, his partner immediately realised what I was referring to and invited me into their quarters (stating that they found it humorous to include Prime in this). Upon entry, they began showing off various gadgets, drawings, and trinkets, some of them elaborate and others of a simpler nature, stating that they could hardly mention any contraption that would make their life easier without Prime returning with it a few days later.

They also showed decorative pieces made by Prime as well as a few pieces of jewellery, explaining that his hands were always busy with something, and that often resulted in little gifts. Interestingly, the vast majority of these gifts wouldn't be announced by him, but simply placed where his partner would notice, and when questioned, he usually just shrugs. (8)

Conclusion

Though many different strategies for courting were observed, it still remains unclear if they are constrained to different ages. Setting up such experiments would be the next logical step.

If this is representative of how Prime courted at different stages of his life, then the author would love to know how on Teyvat he managed to land a partner???

Declaration of conflict of interest

The author of this paper is employed by The Doctor but ensures he had no influence on data collection, analysis, or writing. Furthermore, the author is aware of their bias regarding segment Omega (take the credit for my findings one more time, and I'll break that artificial dick of yours).

Appendix

(1) In many species of arachnids, the male risks being cannibalised when approaching a female to mate. For this reason, he brings a nupital gift, most often consisting of food in hopes of distracting the female while he mounts her. Some males will stuff their woven packages with not only food, but inedible scraps as well, to increase the size. There are examples (Latrodectus hasselti) where the male will willingly wriggle in front of the female to tempt her into eating him. This supposedly increases his paternity compared to males that don't sacrifice themselves. (2) The blue manakin (Chiroxiphia caudata) performs a courtship dance for the female. The male is backed by several younger males (they jump over each other on branches while moving sideways) and does various movements to display his health. The dance ends with the male swooping over to the female where he waits for her decision. The birds spend a good amount of time on practice, and will have a young male stand in for a female during these trial runs. It's incredibly fun to watch videos of. (3) Members of the Cervidae (deer) family have bucks going through ruts, during which they become increasingly aggressive. While fighting over females, the bucks will occasionally get their antlers stuck - either in its surroundings or tangled with another buck's antlers - in cases where the buck is unable to free themselves, they may starve. (4) Mirounga spp. (elephant seals) employ 'sneaky' behaviour during breeding seasons. An alpha male will establish a territory to protect and lure females in to establish a harem. Smaller beta males will often wander around along the edges of these territories and observe the alpha. A beta male might attempt to fight the alpha for the rights to the territory, and during this time, younger males might sneak past the two fighting to mate. The beta male will also sometimes wait for the alpha to be busy copulating and then try his luck in the other end of the territory. (5) Argonauta spp. (paper nautili, a genus of octupuses) has a funky way of mating. Males are around a tenth of the size of a female and only capable of mating once in their life. They approach the female, inserting a specialised arm (hectocotylus) into the female (the pallial cavity) and then proceeds to detach the arm from his own body. Fun facts; when the hectocotylus was originally observed in females, it was assumed to be a parasitic worm. Live males have yet to be observed in the wild. (6) Some beetles, such as the Hydrophilidae family (water scavenger beetles) will mount a female and pierce her abdomen with his reproductive organ. In this particular family of beetles, the female must consent and lower herself, but that is not the case for all beetles. (7) Drakaea glyptodon, along with many other orchids, have developed a distinct leaf known as the 'labellum' (commonly called the 'lip') to better attract pollinators. This labellum is specifically modified to resemble females of the orchid's selected pollinator (in this case a species of thynid wasp). Most orchids have few or just a single pollinator (there's a cool example of an orchid whose pollinator is extinct and we only know it from the shape of the labellum, the plant is Ophrys apifera has since developed self-pollination but retains the labellum). Once an insect has been lured to attempt mating with the labellum and thus lands on the orchid, some pollen will be slapped onto it and it then carries that pollen along to the next orchid that tricks it into landing. (8) Members of the family Ptilonorhynchidae (bowerbirds) construct elaborate structures to impress a female. These bowers will also be decorated using a plethora of items, all of them carefully selected based on colour preference of the individual species. Items typically include fruits, stones, shells, flowers, and feathers. Some species have also been observed to place these items in a way that essentially creates an optical illusion, making the male and his crafted bower appear larger and more impressive.

[bill-y]

Is the arcana fandom still alive? I'm practically quaking in my boots wanting to publish a story about my half baked oc 😔☝️

[canon-in-too-deep]

A Tutorial On Typesetting In Affinity (With Template)

This is an semi-abbreviated guide to typesetting in Affinity Publisher, using the template I posted here.

While this is not a comprehensive tutorial, I tried to be as detailed as possible, and hope this help folks with their typesetting journeys! Note: there are different ways to to do this, these are just the ways I've used personally. (And by 'used', I mean all the features and functions I've bashed my head against till something readable came out). Second Note: these steps do apply specifically to the template I posted. This is the template I use to save time when typesetting, as it already has all the Paragraph and Character Styles and text boxes and margins I've made in previous works. Warning: wall of text below the break!

Part 1

Importing your text into Affinity. First things first, this step all depends on where you are getting your text from. If you are typesetting something from Project Gutenburg or a similar site, copy and paste the text into Google Docs. If you are typesetting from AO3 or a similar site, download an html file of the text, then copy and paste that into Google Docs. Once in Google Docs, download the file as Rich Text Format (.rtf). Open the .rtf, and copy and paste that into the Affinity Template. Just stick it into any of the body pages on page 9 or up. It'll 'flow' automatically to fill the pages. Whew. Okay. Now, you can actually work on your text in the template.

Document size (optional). So the template I made is for half letter (letter folio). Letter is the size of the page I would be printing on, and folio is the imposition (which means if I was making it into a physical book, I would fold that page in half. Folio = the page is in halves. Quarto = page is in quarters. Octavo = page is in eighths etc.). You want your document size to be the size of one single page in your book. - Now, again, the template I have is all set up for a single page size equal to half letter. If you want to change the size, you can go to File -> Document Setup -> Dimensions. If you change the size, you will have to go in and change the text boxes and margins I have left in the template to fit your new dimensions.

How to Auto Flow your text. You will notice that the template only has 50 pages. Chances are, you can't see all your text. To get it to automatically appear, just hold down Shift and click the red triangle on the right of one of the text boxes with your body text in it. It should automatically generate the pages you need with your text. - If you need to manually get your text to flow from one text box to another, just click the little triangle on the right of the text box your text starts in, and then click the text box you want it to flow into. Bonus: To make a text box, click the image of the T in the white square on the left, and draw it on the page. This is the Frame Text Tool, or the text box maker, To add a picture, click the rectangle with an X through it. This is the Picture Frame Rectangle. Draw a frame, then go to File -> Place, and add your image.

Your text is in the template. Time to get it dressed. Okay, now you need to set up your Text Styles. Text Styles should be located on the right hand tool bar. Text Styles are essentially how you tell Affinity how you want the different parts of text to look like. You can change your fonts, spacing, justification, etc, by playing around in the settings of a Text Style (to do so, just click the three lines next to the text style's name, or create a new one by clicking one of the + symbols at the bottom of the Text Style tool bar. Now, there are two types of Text Styles: Paragraph Styles (have the backwards 'P' looking symbol) and Character Styles (have the underlined 'a' symbol). Think of these like jackets and shirts for your text to where. The Paragraph Styles go on over the Character Styles, but you can still see the Character Styles underneath. - First thing to do is go to Find and Replace. It should be next to the left hand tool bar. - Click the cog to the right of 'Find'. Then click 'Format'. This should bring up the screen below. - Click the box next to Italics so it turns into a check mark. Now hit Ok. This will now allow you to find all Italics in your text. - When you find the Italics, you can now Replace them. Hit the cog next to 'Replace with'. Click Character Style. Click Emphasis. -Find and Replace all.

This will save all your Italics while you work on the text. Note, do NOT select all your text and use a Character Style on it. It will override and remove your Italics. You can only have one Character Style and one Paragraph Style applied to specific text. Because of this, I don't really use any Body Character Styles, and make all my changes usually in Paragraph Styles. Part 2

Chapter Headings. Find and Replace is one your best friends in Affinity. After I have Italics saved, I do the Chapter Headings in the text next. I Find and Replace the Chapter Headings if I can, or manually select them. Then I apply the Chapter Character Style to them. Now, if I ever want to change them en mass, I can just Find them using that Character Style to apply a new Paragraph Style or whatever I want to them.

Body Text. Now is the time to finally use a Paragraph Style. I select my text, and apply the Paragraph Style labeled Body to it. While I have it selected, I can change my font type, size, and leading to whatever I want. If I change leading, I do have to go in and edit the Paragraph Styles to have the same leading across all of them. The template is setup for 11 pt font and 140% leading. - To change leading in a Paragraph Style, click the three lines to the right of the Style -> Edit 'Name' -> Spacing -> Leading. - If you change font size/leading, you will need to change the Baseline Grid. Baseline Grid is the underlying grid that your text will snap to (you can disable this in a Paragraph Style, but I like to use Baseline Grid to make sure the Body Text is all lined up the same). To change Baseline Grid, click the button in the top middle of Affinity that looks like an A with blue lines behind it. Then go to Grid Spacing. I usually set it to whatever is my body text leading equal to.

Back to Chapter Headings. At this point, I usually use Find and Replace again, and Find the Chapter Headings with their Character Style. I use Replace to apply the Paragraph Style 'Chapter Heading' to them.

Other Styles. Okay, so Chapter Headings are set. Body text are set. But there's still text that need different formats, like where there's a body divider/dinkus, or the start of a chapter where there's no indent. From here, I manually go through the text, and start setting the little things that weren't covered by the Body or Chapter Heading styles. I use Body No Indent Drop Cap (Paragraph Style) for the first paragraph of each chapter. I use Body Divider (Paragraph Style) wherever there's a section break. I use Body No Ident (Paragraph Style) wherever there's a new paragraph after a section break. And I use Body Special as needed, if there's unique bits of text in the work, like letters, or poems, or songs, to make them stand out more. - This part of typesetting is a lot of me just going through manually, while scrolling through and checking the original text I am typesetting to see if there's any places that need special attention or different paragraph styles. Lot of side by side scrolling and comparing how the original author/publisher had the fic looking, and making sure my typeset matches in a way that I like.

More on Body Dividers. You can check out my book of dinkuses for potential fonts for section breaks/dividers. Once I find the dinkus I like, I copy and paste it into my text, or use find and replace. Just make sure that the Body Divider Paragraph Style is applied to whatever you put. - Now, you may need to adjust the dinkus because it's not centered or spaced how you like. To do this, click the three lines to the right of Body Divider under the Text Styles tab on right hand side of your screen. This brings up the Text Style Editor Box (see the picture below). - To get the divider looking how I want, I go to Paragraph and then adjust the Leading, Space Before, and Space After until the Body Divider looks how I want. Sometimes you might want a section break with a lot of space, sometimes you might want it narrower. This is the place to do it.

Part 3

Next step: Working in Master Pages. Master Pages are great. You can apply them to your text to make your text look uniform. Whatever the Master Page is, the other pages must follow. -To apply a Master Page, right click the page you want on the left sidebar under Pages. Then click apply Apply Master. Then choose what Master to apply. The body text pages all have the Master Body text applied to them already, but you may need to change one because it's the start of a new Chapter. -If you want different margins in your text, this is where to do it. I have mine set up for .8 outer and inner margins, and slightly narrower on the top and bottom margins to account for leading. If you want to change this, just drag the text box to whatever size you want to fit your margins.

Headers/Footers. In the Master Page titled Master Body, you can change the placements and formats of the headers/footers. I usually just have these all centered, but you can put them and size them however you like here, and it will apply to all the main body pages of your text. - The template is setup so you can just fill in your title name and author name in the header locations of the Master Body pages. Click the text boxes and type in whatever you want. If you don't want to use these, you can delete them on the Master Pages, and they won't show up at all.

Master Chapter Heading. The Master Chapter Heading pages are not applied to the text. In the template, you will see that page 9 does not have the Master Body applied to it. This is because I like to play around with different text box sizes and chapter heading designs here, then copy and paste them into the Master Chapter Heading when I have one I like. Then, I can just apply the Master Chapter Heading to wherever there is the start of a new chapter.

Part 4

How to add a Table of Contents. Okay, once all the Chapter Headings are formatted and everything is on the page they should be on, you can put in a table of contents. To add a table of contents, put a text box down wherever you'd like your table of contents to be located. This is usually on page 7 of the template for me, but it may be different for you based on your text or how you do your front matter. - Click in that text box. Then, click Text (on top of your Affinity Screen, towards the left). Go to Table of Contents. Then Insert Table of Contents. - See the picture below. Your screen should look similar to this. - On the left, you can see we are in the Table of Contents tab now. Under Style Name, check the one that says Chapter Heading. Now, everything that had the Paragraph Style Chapter Heading will be in our Table of Contents. - Click the three lines to the right of where we checked Chapter Heading. You can then check Include Page Numbers here.

Part 5

Alright! Now we have pretty much everything done. Almost. There's just the front matter to do now. These parts are pretty much just pasting/typing in your information. The front matter in the template I made is set up for Project Gutenburg public domain stuff. When I typeset things from AO3, I put the stats here instead.

Front matter. What is it exactly. The front matter included in the template is as follows: bastard title page (just the name of the book), blank page, full title page (title and author; you can include publication/imprint info here as well), copyright page, book bound by page (this is not an official thing, just something I decided to add to my templates since mine as free to use), blank page, table of contents. Sometimes a text has a preface or dedication. You can add these pages to the front matter, and if you need more pages to add them, just right click on the left hand side under Pages wherever you would like the new pages to go, then click Add Pages. I use Master A for front matter pages. These are just plain, blank pages with nothing on them.

Title Pages. Title pages. You can pretty much do whatever you want here. I've posted links before to places you get free to use images/art, but you don't need to include any images/art at all. It's all totally optional, I just like to have a bit of fun on my title pages and put in little extra bits.

Anyway, hope this helps and I didn't ramble tooooo much (this started as a short post to just talk about how to import text). If you're looking for more detailed help, I do recommend joining the Renegade Binder discord. I learned how to use Affinity Publisher from someone's tutorial there. I can also try to make more posts in the future further explaining things.

[mysticfemme]

one day I'm going to write a story about a butch knight and a femme princess and it will be medieval and it will be romantic and it will be everything I wanted as a teenager

[dashamanych]

Hey i am glad yall remember that Will, Wood and the Tapeworms show! Thank you for sharing your memories 🥴📺📼 I remember more about it now....

Ill keep researching just in case ill find something more about this cartoon!

[stevethehairington]

really fucking sick and tired of people who really fucking love the eddie book jumping on people who don't like or are even remotely critical of it's posts and like crusading their opinions around from the top of their high horses and shoving it down our throats.

if you like the book, great! that's awesome! love that for you! i am genuinely glad that you were able to find good in it and enjoy it!!

but not everyone did, and not everyone is going to agree with you. so, instead of going on some grand crusade where you find every single post that includes anything even remotely negative or negative adjacent or even neutrally critical and spending ALL this time and effort trying to provide unwanted rebuttals to every single thing, maybe you should just stay in your lane and find people who DO like the book and chat about it with them.

because i can PROMISE YOU, none of us appreciate it when you come onto our posts and start accusing us of "hating on" the author or "being rude" about her and her work and RIDICULOUS shit like that.

being critical of something and pointing out it's flaws is NOT inherently hating on it. i, frankly, do not know where people got that notion, but it's not fucking true so can we fucking quit assuming it is? and, critiquing something is also NOT the same as saying this is shit and it sucks and the author is a piece of garbage. again, where the fuck that came from is beyond me. you can be critical of something and still enjoy it. as soooo many of you love to point out, it's not perfect, why should it be perfect? so D U H. of course that means criticism can and should arise???

also. hot take (by which i mean ice fucking cold because it's NOT a fucking hot take), but going around toting FALSE facts as part of your "defense" does not make you or your argument look good. you, like the author, should maybe do a basic fact check first. 🙃

tldr, if you like the book, that's genuinely great, but stay in your fucking lane and stop seeking out posts from people who didn't like it to start shit in the notes.

[nemaliwrites]

happened upon this article today, and damn if it didn't get me thinking

i've wondered a lot before about how the same story can be told through different mediums [which primarily can be seen through adaptations] but one thing i don't spend enough time thinking about is how the same story can be told through different word counts

i know people always are like 'a story is as long as it needs to be' but...is it?

i've technically run this experiment a few years ago, with Regrowth at exactly 100 words and Reduce, Reuse, Regrow at over 6000. honestly, it was kind of a fascinating experiment because....are they the same story? really? i guess at their core, you could argue that the plot is the exact same. tldr: giorno turns drug dealers into flowers. and that happens in both versions.

but there is no character in the drabble version, for the OCs and others. we don't get a sense of who giorno is in this story and why he's doing this - all we have to go off of is who he is in canon. we have no idea who tf marco [is that his name? i'm not rereading that to find out LOL] is - versus in the longer version we know about his connection to his family, his botanical garden, the plants he grows, etc. we know about his crush on Sofia. we know that mista saves him, which means giorno thinks he's someone worthy of being saved.

same thing for the police - they don't even get names in the drabble, compared to the names and personalities they're awarded in the longer version.

so...are they the same story?

i've been wondering [and by been wondering i mean i literally thought of this like an hour ago hehe] about how that can apply to other things as well, and this article is a terrific starting point. if you write your longfic as a oneshot, you have to pare down everything that 'doesn't matter' - which i'm using loosely, because as we've established, there are things important to a story that aren't just plot events. but you get such a clear distinction: what are the subplots vs the main plot? who are the side characters vs the main characters? if you have multiple antagonists, who is the one who drives the story primarily? without whom the story cannot exist any longer?

i wonder too if this, in a way, can kind of call back to the snowflake method - which i admittedly have never used but can see how it would be helpful. if you start small, let's say you write your story as a drabble. double it, and double it again. a few more times, and you have something short story length. then novella length. then novel length.

it could also be a way to literally build your story up piece by piece. okay, so you need a couple thousand more words. sure, you could just add a bunch of fluff or 'filler' - or, you could add in a subplot. you could add in a character that is integral to the story. and if you go the other way - from novel to drabble - and can't write a short story without that character, then you know how important they are.

in this way, you can kind of pare everything down to its barest bones, actually. character motivations, stakes, setting.....everything is tied together, which means changing one changes them all.

maybe at some point, you literally get to a point where you can't add anything else - and maybe that's where the story is as long as it needs to be. vice versa, too.

i will run this experiment a few more times and report back o7

[fatuismooches]

Hii it's me, the anon who wants to eat your writings as desserts!

I've been thinking about something, specifically about Fragile!Reader. (Sorry if the bad English is bad)

During Dottore and Nahida's meeting, I like to imagine Nahida take a look inside Dottore's mind when he erased his segment. At first, she expected to see the horror and the unsettling mind of a mad doctor, a mind with nothing but ambition and insanity. How surprised she was when she saw you occupying most of the doctor's mind. How surprised Nahida would be to see that Dottore is capable of loving someone, especially someone so fragile as you are.

She probably commented on something about you and your relationship with the doctor to which the doctor almost instantly tried to change the topic with a lingering threat.

After everything that she saw, I wonder if Nahida would remember and keep the story about the Mad Doctor and his fragile beloved as a fairy tale. In my opinion, she would. And if she does, I wonder how she'll portray Fragile!Reader.

Ok that's it, my thoughts about Fragile!reader. Also can I be Dessert Anon? ><

YES!! I LIVE FOR DOTTORE AND READER VS NAHIDA INTERACTIONS!!

Nahida doesn't think she will ever understand the mind of the Outcast, nor she will ever agree with the way he works or thinks. He has long succumbed to the mind of a pure scientist, disregarding the value of human life if it will allow him to progress in his research. So, when the young God looks into the Harbinger's mind, she expects to see nothing different from that. But, even the God of Wisdom can be proven wrong, is something Nahida has come to understand, for although the Doctor's mind is certainly mad, he is also mad for you. That is certainly something she did not expect. She didn't even know you were still alive. So he's managed to prolong your life as well? But judging from what she's seen, you're still quite ill. Hm... the Dendro God is a mixture of surprise and intrigued. The Doctor is one who isn't above abandoning his experiments when they get boring or seem fruitless. And your case certainly seems hopeless, with no progress to be seen but... he still seems to be completely obsessed with you. It's strange, and a part of her understands and doesn't understand at the same time. Nahida knows that love can truly change people. But is the Doctor really one that could be changed? She finds it a bit hard to believe, but the evidence is right in front of her.

Of course, her curiosity cannot be contained and she has to inquire about you, to which Dottore blatantly disregards. He's not going to speak about you to almost anyone, much less a God. ("I didn't think the God of Wisdom would be so nosy about my private affairs.")

I imagine obviously she doesn't particularly like or approve of you, but Nahida still can't help but feel pity for you, with your illness and all. But she would still like to have a conversation with you. She would want to discover how you managed to have the Outcast wrapped around your finger... she would want to know your story... that is if you're willing to speak with her.

[bonefall]

the clans use salt for healing and cooking if i remember correctly. im only saying this because would someone ever name their kid "saltkit"

Yes! Saltkit is a valid prefix in BB, but only after moving to the Lake.

Before then, they make a sort-of-salt out of burning dandelion root. They consider this material a kind of soot, fine ashes produced by burning something. The rough translation of this spice is "soot-salty-taste."

Salty (taste) = Byyle (Comes from blood-taste)

Soot (ashes produced by finely burning something) = Keybo (Used alone in artsy contexts, usually describes bistre, a pigment made from soot and water.)

Plant Salt (of coltsfoot or dandelion) = Keybyy

To specify if it comes from Dandelion or Coltsfoot, you'd say Keybyy Raerra or Keybyy Hakprru. There aren't two dedicated words for the difference; these are both considered "types of dandelions" by Clan cats.

Dandelion = Awpo Any flowering ground plant with fluffy yellow petals.

This is why they didn't previously have a word for salt itself! They would only ever encounter raw salt as an animal lick, which they'd call Byylebon. Salty-useful-rock. Because it was associated with humans, they wouldn't steal them or interact with them much.

Rraash is a Townmew loanword, a word they adopted for raw, powdered salt during their time trading with BloodClan. At the Lake, they now collect raw sea salt during "Salt Patrols," which are beach trips where a big collection of apprentices are brought to the ocean to learn how to collect and process salt.

So, depending on how the parents would like to name their child, those translations could be;

Byylemew = Saltykit The taste of salt. Could refer to the flavor of blood, the taste of the ocean, or the spice made from burned dandelion roots. Has a very food-y connotation, probably named by gourmands.

Keybyymew = Saltkit, Spicekit, Seasoningkit, Rubkit This is a very ThunderClan sort of name. They traditionally used a lot of keybyy in their recipes, as it's very important for a good marinade and making ham. Though, it wouldn't be too surprising to see it used in WindClan too.

Rraashmew = Saltkit, Brinekit Raw salt. Made from boiling ocean water during large expeditions to the sea called a "Salt Patrol." Used as a medicine AND as a spice, important in controlling parasite infestations, fighting infection, and preserving food. Could just be referring to an off-white colored pelt, food, or even strength in battle for its association with treating wounds.

[sysig]

Guess who :3c (Patreon)

[blackjackkent]

Slowly discovering the freeing power of the words "I know this is bad but I'll fix it in editing."