#I only use it if I can't do traditional art or if I'm bored

[eevia-derain]

Not best quality art.

This isn't the best quality art but i think I'm getting better at using the new sketch app, I just figured out how to zoom in and out lol.

[mokokone]

Hello!

Can you do a Kusuriuri x Kitsune! Fem! Reader. Where the reader loves to tease him and prank him.

Thank you <3 ❤️

Author's preface: Kitsunes are known for their mischievous nature and love of playing tricks on humans. These mythical creatures have the ability to shape-shift into different forms, often using their powers to deceive unsuspecting individuals. Despite their playful antics, kitsunes are also seen as wise and intelligent beings in Japanese folklore. Their cunning ways make them both feared and respected in traditional stories and legends.

Word Count: 1196

Trickster [Medicine Seller/Kusuriuri x FemKitsune!Resder]

Kusuriuri stood, pondering for a moment. His piercing cerulean gaze scanned the room, taking in every detail.

Something was amiss.

His Akumabarai (exorcism) sword was missing. He could have sworn he left it sitting on the coffee table.

Surely, the small blade couldn't have flown away. Every corner and crevice was scrutinized, but the sword was nowhere to be found. Kusuriuri's mind raced with questions—who could have taken it? And for what nefarious purpose?

"(Y/n)?" He suddenly called.

 After a moment, a young female poked her head through the shoji. Her hair was a beautiful color of (h/c), falling in loose waves around her shoulders. Her eyes, a vibrant shade of (e/c), sparkled with curiosity. However, the most unique thing about her appearance was that she had fox ears and a bushy fox tail.

Her fox ears twitched slightly as she looked at her master with a sense of curiosity.

"Yes, what is it, master?" You asked.

"Have you seen my sword?" Kusuriuri asked you as you stepped into the room, watching his eyes scan the space in search of the missing weapon.

"No... Why?" you inquired, feigning innocence as you tried to suppress a mischievous grin.

In truth, you knew exactly where it was. After all, you were the one who hid it, as well as a few other items of his.

Though you didn't really have a good reason for doing so, you were just bored and thought it'd be funny to see how long it would take him to notice.

As you watched him search, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for playing this prank on him.

"Hmm, I can’t find it.” He tossed the pillow he had been looking under back down on the sofa. "I'm also missing several of my ofuda as well as some incense from my medicine box." He adds.

“Really? How strange..." You say, hiding a smirk. "Well, I'm sure it'll turn up soon, master.” you tell him before turning on your geta to leave.

“Hopefully...” You hear him murmur, unaware that he had watched you leave.

“Where? Where is it?”

. . . . .

Later that evening, you heard your master sigh in frustration. There was no doubt he was starting to lose his patience.

You poke your head in the doorway again. “What is it now?” You wondered which item he was looking for now.

But, you knew.

Not long after you hid his sword, you also took and hidden his Shunga (Japanese erotic art) picture book.

“Now, I can't find my Shunga magazine,” he answered.

You couldn't help but grimace. “Why do you even look at such gross things?” you scoffed. "It's just a book filled with gross images of women having intercourse with gross men."

Kusuriuri snorts. “Ha, it's entertaining.”

'You ought to be glad I didn't burn it instead of hiding it, you pervert,' you inwardly thought to yourself before giving a smile.

“You've been misplacing a lot of your stuff lately, master," you teased. "I never thought you'd be so irresponsible with your things."

"I am not, my dear," he protested. "I am very responsible. I need my Akumabarai sword and ofuda to fight against malevolent mononoke. I would never be so careless as to lose such important items," He huffs.

"It’s like my stuff is just...disappearing. Almost as if someone has taken them." He adds.

You almost felt a shiver run down your spine when he catches your gaze and could only hope he didn't know. Nevertheless, you shook it off and opted to tease him some more.

"Aww, poor master," you fake-sympathize, a mischievous glint in your eye as you watch him sulk his shoulders. "Perhaps your things have had enough of you and just ran away," you snicker.

"Haha, very funny," he chides. "Look, if you're not going to help, then just go away."

You pout. "Rude!" You stuck your tongue out at him before leaving.

You failed to notice the angry red mark on Kusuriuri's head as blue eyes eyed you both skeptically and intently.

. . . . .

That night, you decided to keep the prank going. Once you made sure Kusuriuri was out of sight, you snuck into his room and opened his medicine box. This time you were going to take and hide one of his Kenshutsu (scales).

You hurried down the engawa to hide it in the garden under a rock. However, before you could, you yelped upon feeling a hand grab your tail.

“Where are you off to, (Y/n)?” Kusuriuri asked.

You sweated nervously, attempting to hide the kenshutsu inside your kimono before turning to face him.

“Um...n-nowhere, master,” You stammered.

Kusuriuri eyed you suspiciously. "Was that one of my kenshutsu?" He asked. "And were you about to hide it in the garden?"

“W-what? N-no way…” You lied, giving him an innocent look.

However, Kusuriuri saw through your lie. After all, he too knows how feels to be a sly fox.

"So, it was you all along," he said, his tone accusatory.

Welp, now you’re caught red-handed! You’re toast. It was nice while it lasted. You didn’t even try to plead your innocence; you just grinned warily at him with a nervous chuckle.

“You little minx,” He quickly pulled you forward, making you shriek as he then grabbed your sides.

“K-Kusuriuri, I mean, master, wait! No, please, I can explain!” You cry out.

Kusuriuri was merciless as he started tickling you, his fingers digging into your sides, making you squeal.

"This is what you get for hiding my stuff." He smiled menacingly.

You doubled over, trying desperately to get away from him. “Ahhhaaahaa, I'm sorry! P-please, have mercy! Hahahahaha~!”

“Tell me where you put everything and I'll let up," he demanded.

“Ack! I’m sorry!”

"Sorry doesn't tell me where you hid my things,” Kusuriuri said, now switching to tickling you under your arms.

With that, you completely lost it! It was painful as you squealed and tried to push him away. You're the one who got yourself into this mess, so you had no choice but to come clean.

“Fine! Your sword is in the kitchen cabinet, and your Shunga magazine is inside the hallow of the cherry blossom tree outside." You confessed, desperate for your torture to cease.

“And?” He prompted, tickling your tummy.

Your laughter was so loud and desperate now that tears were beginning to leak from your eyes. "A-and I promise not to take your stuff without permission. I-I..AHaha..was just bored.”

Kusuriuri's expression soften. He was pleased that you finally came clean as he finally stopped tickling you, much to your absolute relief. But he still opted to tease you.

“Good girl."

Jerk.

Your face was flushed from laughing in pain as you glared daggers at him.

"I'll forgive you this time, but no more pranks, ok?"

You stuck out your tongue at him. “You suck, master Kusuriuri.”

He merely shrugged his shoulders as he walked off to retrieve his stuff. “Not my fault. You deserved it,” he said, but then stopped and glanced back at you.

"Y'know, if you ever get bored again, feel free to come to me. I'm always up for some fun.♡" He smirks devilishly while winking at you.

It took you awhile, but you quickly caught on of what it is he's implying as your face flushed red.

[sigyn-foxyposts]

My personal thoughts on "Twilight of the gods season 1"

Before reading I just want to say that these are my opinions alone! By no means am I saying this show can't be your thing, it just wasn't mine when it came to certain parts! Also what I'll be covering can be a bit of a sensitive topic to some. Such as race and sexual topics, I'm here to defend not hate 💚

Art by my darling @sparrowmp4 💚

Pros:

Starting off with the best is the animation and art style! It's smooth and full of movement, absolutely breathtaking! It will truly keep you watching, just to enjoy it. Character design's are pretty good too, though some could've been done better and were in general a bit bland.

It felt boring In a way when you could've done more but I understand it would be hard on the animators. The scenery they chose fits the with the setting of the story they're trying to tell. In all honestly done very well, excellent!

I really appreciate the references to actual mythology and my culture! There wasn't much culture other than how things looked in certain villages but things such as the retellings of the stories we got from written and oral traditions, it made me very happy seeing them here!

I also heavily appreciate the inclusion of Loki's struggles amongst the gods, with himself struggling being "a scapegoat god" and the focus on him trying to save his children from their fate. As well as the portrail on how not even gods are perfect!

They clearly did their research on Loki's character and knew what the fans wanted! I just wish we got even more, but it was rushed and in conclusion a bit shallow. Still, the effort is there & i eat what I get!

I love the representation of minorities in the series. Such as people of color and their different or even mixed heritages! Same goes for different identities and sexualities. They weren't afraid to shy away from bisexuality and transgender representation, which was very common back then and throughout history!

I did enjoy certain characters like the Seid Kona, Egil, Leif and Loki's development throughout the story and how they were written! But again was all bit rushed..

Cons:

They missed out on showing us a lot more gods and how Ragnarok actually went down, even if most of us know by now..where was fumbulvinter for example? And I don't like when people take certain mythology media as fact, it's the biggest issue I have when it comes to modern media taking on mythology and folklore in general.

Do it right, if not then let it be!

While I love the representation we got of POC people, the way it's ONLY set in a norse setting bothers me. Yes, the story is centerd around the norse but like..we could have had more representation of other cultures too just saying! They were traveling so much, even a reference would've been nice.

No what we get instead, which yeah can work since the vanir are magic and nature based is plant people (I get the thought behind it!) They make the representation we want plant people. Where only two vanir members that look human.. are people of color. What was the point of all that seriously!

Where are the other people of color..?

Now don't get me wrong, Tyra makes sense in this case because we don't know where she came from and that leaves thing for interpretation, I absolutely love that! What's very icky was that Freyja who is presented as a black woman here, is Tiwaz's sister (Basically Freyr idk why his name is a rune now..) and called herself a slave when talking about how Odin married her for her magic... Yikes!

I didn't appreciate how Fafnir was slain either and the fact Sigird killed Baldr when Hodr could've been included so easily in the battle. I honestly think Freyr, Hodr, Hoenir and many more deserve justice, especially those who were completely forgotten like Idunn, Nanna, Forseti, Thrud ect.

Oh and dont get me started on Angrboda and Sigyn here, I'm just happy Boda even got an appearance in the first place, but that isn't enough to be honest! Like all she did was be the poor mother who couldn't protect her children, nothing more to her character even though she's from the ironwoods that we saw in this series.. where was she after those events?! Most likely dead, which would add up. Let's hope Sigyn gets a better appearance!

I don't mind original characters but..when it comes to the point in retellings, do it in a way that makes sense please!! Make the original characters for example meet Sigurd, Fafnir's slayer instead of killing him off! What would their interaction be like? While I understand the main plot and focus was on Sigird taking her revenge on Thor.

It felt a bit boring.. Like yeah, girlboss with a tragic backstory and she can't cry. It feels a bit Mary Sue of her, not only that but they're a bit over powered too!

Here comes another part I've been dreading..the "interesting" interpretation of Jormi and Thor's fate to kill each other at Ragnarok. It felt very forced and weird making them have a sexual relationship, like sure it's a creative twist I guess but..the way the prophecy claimed that Ragnarok would end the gods if Jörmungandr would spill Thor's seed. That's not at all the case and just disgusting!

What hurts me the most about this topic is Loki's attempts to take her place, but how the prophecy wasn't meant for him. Killing Thor was the only way to free their family, so even if it meant death, she did what had to be done. Worse, she was only a child when Thor physically beat her when she tried defending her family..i didn't need that!

This plot felt more like an excuse to add in more sex to a show with too many of those scenes already! Than giving the representation that matters, people forced to do these things just to help their family.

I'll admit Thor's portrayal was somewhat accurate, it just wasn't done the way I had expected it! (Take that as you will)

Yes he has flaws and the gods aren't perfect! Yes, he is a brute who murdered many jotuns and drinks lots of mead with an appetite. Yes, he has anger issues.. And yes he cheated on Sif. That doesn't mean he has to abuse his own kid or have his marriage with Sif go that low. What's worse is when you realize Sif knows he is activity cheating and letting herself be insulted by Thor. When she literally wants Thor dead, she admits she also needs him for the sake of her purpose.

Now, toxic relationships are real and this is a great example but keep in mind that in actual mythology he was willing to break every bone in Loki's body for him simplely cutting off her hair! And he has a tendency to be over protective of his family like in the story where Alvis purposes to Thrud, his daughter! His characterization is certainly something and I hope we get more because when he started crying over his issues and actions.

It screamed, toxic masculinity in my face.

I don't know what was happening behind the scenes but the relationships were developing a bit fast and while I don't mind starting a story on a relationship, the way things were going between Leif and Sigird didn't make me feel much for them in the end. Yeah it's not easy to be a perfectly functioning couple after you lost your whole family because you two were getting married. But when he comforts you, saying you're allowed to grieve and follows you on your revenge trip even though he didn't want to but did it for you!

Also I love my poly rep but making Thyra be a part of their already dysfunctional relationship was a bad move. Thanks for the fake hope you gave Leif actually living a better life with just her. It was so obvious she was into women from the start..why??

I had to sympathize with Leif even more when Sigrid physically hurt him, all because he opened up about what he felt and was done with her crap. Sadly that sympathy went away the moment he decided to waste everything on a woman that cared more about revenge then him.

Finally last point, I very much dislike how characters we were supposed to bond with get killed off so suddenly? Not only weren't they fully developed like Ulfr and Anvari but they had to die for what? Do they come back for the plot later on because I'd certainly hope so!

I don't know if they'll make up for all of these plot lines but since it landed on a cliff hanger, it's definitely coming back. Let's cross our fingers for season 2 to be better and clear things up!! Thank you for reading 💚🤞

[slutforstabbings]

the NO-SKIP albums: a tag game 🎶💖

rules: share the albums that you can listen to nonstop. those lightning in a bottle-albums that scratch ur brain just right. every single track, an absolute banger. u could not skip one if u tried. no notes. stunning, show-stopping, immaculate. ur no-skip albums. 🔎 bonus & optional (but imo, v fun) rules:1) add a track rec for us to listen to! AND2) share ur favorite line(s) from that track! 👀

Thank you so much for tagging me and inventing this game @ventiswampwater ! <3 I added two extra dimensions that I do not expect anybody else to do, but i tried to focus on my current favorite musical textures, and I only picked bands with less than 1.5 million monthly spotify listeners because you do not need me to tell you how good deftones is lol check below the cut for album info ~

and in the spirit of the boops, i'm tagging a lot more people than i usually do in these games, so feel free to ignore me if you don't want to participate lol @loureedpiss @hersweetrevenge @toxicanonymity @deathwestern @grandmawitch @bbwithaknife @sevvventhson @clemkruckinnie @hall0ween-twn @ghostwriterforghosts @barbie-cock @heartrot666 @ethanhoewke @deanmonlover

Apocalipstick (2017) | Cherry Glazerr indie rock, noise pop | for fans of Veruca Salt, Mitski track rec: Trash People art is love and love is sloppy / nothing is all pure / nothing is all dirty

Neck of the Woods (2012) | Silversun Pickups indie rock, shoegaze | for fans of Smashing Pumpkins, Interpol track rec: Dots and Dashes (enough already) see you in the room next door / your feet float above the floor / dress torn above you knees / like you've owned it for centuries

Glow On (2021) | Turnstile post-hardcore, alternative metal, dream pop | for fans of AFI, Title Fight track rec: Underwater Boi i just need to know i'm / working for the big prize / when i get to heaven will i know?

Comfort to Me (2021) | Amyl and the Sniffers garage punk, hardcore | for fans of Descendents, Adolescents, Distillers track rec: Maggot everything you touch turns to gold / i can't wait for you to touch me

GT Ultra (2017) | Guerilla Toss dance punk, progressive pop | for fans of Le Tigre, Oingo Boingo track rec: Skull Pop will there be a warning? / when the clock stops moving? / will you have just 60 seconds? / will you find it boring?

10,000 Gecs (2023) | 100 Gecs hyperpop, pop punk, nu metal | for fans of ??? they're too unique for this sorry track rec: 757 i got problems with my spending / all these horses in my engine / doing 80 in a 30 / but i'm never in a hurry

Mind Control (2013) | Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats traditional doom metal, heavy psych | for fans of Black Sabbath, heavy Beatles songs track rec: Poison Apple don't you worry baby, you're safe with me / i'm the poison apple in your tree

Soma (2013) | Windhand doom metal, stoner metal | for fans of the sensation of a weighted blanket, but sound track rec: Orchard i'm having trouble with the down time / can't pick myself up off the floor

[chronotsr]

No. 7 - S1, Tomb of Horrors (October 1978)

Author(s): Gary Gygax Artist(s): David C. Sutherland III (Cover), David Trampier Level range: 10-14 Theme: Meatgrinder Dungeoncrawl Major re-releases: So, so many. S1-4 Realms of Horror, Return to the Tomb of Horrors, Tomb of Horrors (2005), Tomb of Horrors (2010), S1-4 Dungeons of Dread, Dungeon #213, Tales from the Yawning Portal, Tomb of Annihilation (sort-of)

I said earlier that S1 is probably the only adventure more ported than G1, and I was right. You have so many options for S1. The original monochrome, the green cover, the compilation version, the silver anniversary version re-erlease-and-sequel, a 3.5e port, a 4e port, a DND Next port w/ 4e porting instructions, and then finally the 5e port in Tales from the Yawning Portal. The only people being left out here are the 2e people, and making 1e adventures go into 2e is as natural as breathing.

As the cover points out, this was originally run at Origins I, and there is so much community lore surrounding this module that I will spare you the rigamarole. If you know where I stand on the "meatgrinder vs fair challenge" argument, go read the Theme header again.

These illustrations are iconic. In basically every re-release they are kept as is, one of the few things that makes the 5e release stand out is not including the original 31 illustrations. And while the new art is OK, I, it can't hold a candle to the sheer charisma of the originals. And -- why no green devil head? That's the single most memorable thing from the scenario? We get one, actually, but it's on the map and I think it's an image from the archives because it looks an awful lot like an old cover of Dragon. If you do run this in 5e, you really owe it to your players to hunt down and use the original illustrations.

I am now morally obliged to tell you that, when I went through Tomb of Horrors (5e version, that's what I can find GMs for), I died to the Juggernaut. Which is actually extremely funny, because earlier when I was in Tomb of Annihilation I died the exact same way! So I guess Juggernauts are my personal arch nemesis. I personally didn't like my time there, but there is value in a module that everyone has played. I wouldn't've picked S1 for the task but I'm glad we have one at least. In general, this will be a a sparse entry in the series. The Tomb of Horrors is Tomb of Horrors. It is both extremely notable and also weirdly bland -- there's just not much to say about a lot of these trollish traps. They're highly specific and only really work in the moment, for very specific tables, at a very specific cultural moment. It's actually kind of boring to read in 2024? How much can one really say about a 20-colored mural with a variety of "it does nothing" effects?

Alright, enough stalling. The module starts with now-traditional Gary intro of "hey, your players are going to try and get extra information in [obvious way], defeat that." Today's edition is that Legend Lore is rendered useless by a combination of obscurity and….too much information? Ok… And then the also very Gary "If your players are dumb stupid idiots they will hate this module", which he also did in G1-3.

Eventually, your party finds this stupid looking thing, which is (I know this is repetitive) iconicly so-bad-its-good. And everything about this intro is trolling. So There are three routes into the tomb, two of which are trapped and fake. 2024 DND players would never think to try any of these things, but I do get the sense that in 1978 it would've occurred to most veteran players to try things like "poking the wall with sticks" and "extensive excavations". Anyone who tries to be clever and bypass shit by phasing into a parallel plane gets got by Demons, and I like the theory that Seth Skorkowsky aired a while ago that the Demons are the ones maintaining the Tomb so you should steal that.

You know what? Let's just go into keyed mode.

I do not respect this "only these express options work" mindset. It's very anti-ttrpg to have pre-programmed solutions Naturally, the second door cannot be removed by strength, only by one of 5 spells and thinking to wedge the door with iron in a specific day works. IDK bro I know the idea is Acererak is an asshole and has bewitched this complex to high hell but cmon, even the fake doors are borderline invulnerable?

There's a riddle-poem that hints at the solutions to the dungeon's puzzles. I actually really like this poem, and for all this module's sins I disagree with commenters who think the poem is too vague. At least when I was playing, it was just right.

That is the most off brand Ancient Egyptian tomb hallway I ever did see, and I do kind of love it. As for how confusing the wall-door-chest trap is, it's trollish but it makes sense to me. The chest is a red herring to distract you from the actual secret door, which is a literal door, and honestly that's a hint I consider fairly on the nose.

The misty arch sucks. The short version is that if you press the glowing stones in the right order, you progress, otherwise you get teleported to one of three random rooms. The solution is inscrutable to me (why that order? you could brute force it but that'd be suicide) and I really wish that the book spelled out what the puzzle logic was -- a lot of newer adventures will explain the operating logic in parentheticals next to the solution. If the answer is "you're supposed to brute force it", I have no respect for that mindset.

The devilhead is obviously iconic as hell and we love it. As many commenters have noted, the often-cited "our whole party climbed in and died" story is incompatible with a RAW or RAI interpretation -- your GM was just an asshole, your character died as soon as their head got annihilated and the party would see their body go limp suddenly. There is no way all 5 of you piled in without removing a body and discovering they're Very Dead.

The lever room also sucks. You could only guess the solution, and the act of testing will get you killed. And don't give me "well your hirelings" your hirelings are not going to test any traps after they see the 2rd guy get turned into meatpaste, and while ADND lacks the hard cap on people hireable that Basic had, you're still going to run out of guys who are willing to commit suicide in here in short order.

"Yet there are also depicted various religious symbols of goad alignment, and a faint aura of good can be magically detected. What a puzzle! Could the demi-lich actually have been of good alignment" This will fool no-one Gary. It's the Tomb of Horrors, not the Tomb of Hope. He clearly bewitched the chapel to appear as good, which literally anyone would think of. Heartbreaking: worst lich you know has access to revolutionary SRS magic.

It's at about this point where I realized how little there really is to comment on in this dungeon. It really is just a sequence of obtuse murder traps that are faintly hinted at. The things that are iconic about it (the devilhead, the acerack fakeout) are actually exceptions to the rule -- both of those are super clear traps that are designed to tease particularly foolish players. The majority of the dungeon is, tap random objects and get gassed by poison or dropped into spikes. In a lot of ways ToH feels like the bad timeline version of White Plume Mountain, which is trollish in a more memorable way? What I mean here is, when people complain that ToH is unfair they're burying the lede. A hard dungeon can be fun. An unfair dungeon can be fun! The issue is that Tomb of Horrors is boring. Every room being a puzzle tied to a deathtrap with almost no combat or negotiation is tedious.

Basically every tomb of horrors room has this setup:

You walk into a room with an illustration that looks cool, and there is some vague image, object, or feature in the room that is conspicuous

There is either no obvious exit (strongly implying a secret), or an extremely obvious exit that is currently impassable

You have to try fiddling with any object in the room that can be fiddled with, or grope around for an illusion

There is a roughly 25% chance there is a vague hint from 3 gameplay hours ago that will help you if you interpret it correctly, and a 75% chance that this is intended as attrition

You fuck around for a while, and maybe you work out the puzzle and maybe you don't. Almost certainly, someone takes 50% damage or has some vital asset removed or changed about them.

You eventually pass into the next room

Really the variety of traps in this dungeon is surprisingly narrow -- something like half of these traps are "activate these objects in a specific order or orientation". The other half are some variety of mist or gas or cloud or other fluid that kills you if you do not avoid or interact with it in the specific way. Occasionally when you're lucky, you simply turn a lever and get skewered -- what a treat!

The final encounter with Acereak, you will be unsurprised to learn, also sucks. If you touch his jeweled skull, he instantly steals your soul and ruins your body (no save, no appeal). If you guess one of the, again, explicit list of options to destroy the skull (which you have already established will instantly kill one ally per touch) which is of course very specific (essentially, holy attacks, the most powerful magical swords, and inexplicably gem-slinging), you can kill him in 50 hp. Weirdly, the soul gems that you get trapped into do offer some escape from death, but it's a terrible one -- IF you pass your save, IF they crush the gem, IF there is an eligible body for their soul to go into (yours was ruined), then you may come back to life in a very different form. Completing the Tomb gives you, of course, 100k exp. And in ADND that'ssss…. actually not very much. At level 10, 100k exp is not even a full level for most classes to get a level (thieves are the exception) and your actual treasure haul I think is going to be fairly meager -- I think the average character will get maybe one level of experience after distributing the loot. For going through one of the most dangerous dungeons ever.

I remain a bit of a ToH hater.

In blog news, we are looking at post 7.5 coming up, in which I will do another retrospective on the year's developments, and as a special treat we will be briefly discussing the first Dragon Magazine dungeon!

[marshallfan99]

Very old PAW Patrol coloring book pages I did

I did all these way back in 2014, with crayon, in my first PAW Patrol coloring book I ever got. I tried to make them all look as accurate to the show as possible, but some of the colors weren't possible to get with any of the crayons I had. The lighting makes Chase's lighter fur look way more yellow than it actually is, it's much more show accurate when not on camera. The coloring job isn't the best by any means because I've always been kinda bad at coloring, so you'll see there's parts that are out of the lines and there's also quite a bit of white still showing through in the colored parts because thoroughly covering every area with its respective color is just too hard for me, even now, which is why I don't color my traditional art, only the digital stuff.

And for comparison to my current coloring skills here's a Chase I did for a coloring game I made up when my brothers and I were bored and had nothing to do, it was fun but we only played it once unfortunately. This Chase is colored in with colored pencils since I don't use crayons anymore, they're too messy and smudge everywhere, especially since I'm left handed. Plus colored pencils have more variety in terms of colors, so that makes it easier to get all the colors I need for a picture.

This one is more in the lines because it's nice and big, but I still can't thoroughly color everything, so there's still a lot of white.

It's almost 3:30 AM, I need sleep. Till next time, Marshall out! ✌️

[yellowocaballero]

looked up an ORV summary just so i can read your latest fic but it helped me not at all and just made me more confused so i think i'm just going to have to rawdog this thing. or read a 551-chapter novel. maybe read the fic first and then read the novel. looking forwards to it!

DUDE YOU CAN'T. I'M SORRY BUT IT'LL MAKE NO SENSE.

I write two kinds of fic: fic that is meant to stand on its own, and fic that's meant to scaffold off the pre-existing material. I know there are people reading the stuff meant to stand on its own without knowing the source material, so I write those stories with that in mind. The scaffolding fic is usually an AU where I rewrite scenes or jump in the negative space between scenes. To keep people oriented, I often at least sketch the line between all of the scenes. I fucking hate rewriting canon scenes so I usually just create a new narrative thread and let the reader follow that.

The ORV fic is a scaffolding fic. I could have written something that stands on its own, but in this context that would have been the coward move (normally I view scaffolding as the easy way out. not this time. god.). The issue is that when you do scaffolding work, you're married to the pacing of the source material. This isn't a problem if the story's traditional and the pacing's good (No Name On The Bullet was very lightly scaffolded, just because Stampede's greater plot worked great). This is a big problem when the story is serialized. Fic that follows serialized works very closely has to work really, really hard not to be boring as hell. It's only possible to write a great one if a) the AU premise is divergent enough that you're not just rewriting every scene, and b) the fic is also fucking long, keeping pace with the source work itself.

ORV was serialized for a chapter a day for three years (maybe?). ORV is a million words. Its pacing is fucked. Even for a serialized work, it has terrible pacing. It's like being hit by a firehose. Not boring whatsoever, but serialized works have better pacing when they follow arc structures, and ORV's arcs are just too short.

For my writing, there's also just the fact that too much happens. Between one scene and the next are like 30,000 words that I don't explain. I rewrite scenes, which I hate doing but I did, but they're existing without an ounce of emotional context. This one might actually be inaccessible this time :( You're always welcome to give it a shot though.

[Also: this is all why an ORV fic took so long to write to a satisfactory level of quality and why I still have mixed feelings on it lol. The pacing was inherently fucked. I could have done what most other people do and write an epilogue fic or a non-scenario fic and it would have been much better but that wasn't the story I wanted to tell. Ending of Han Sooyoung is about a writer, a reader, and a protagonist. The story they are writing, reading, and living is ORV. You know?]

If you DO want context and to read the fic, I recommend the webtoon - which is very accessible and very good with very good art. I feel like that should orient alright. If you like the webtoon, check out the novel. Which is a million words, so here is the episodes guide I've been using as a reference.

[rosapexa]

I haven't been tagged in this, but i really wanted to do this, so here we are. And of course i'm doing it for Lexa and for the year 2083:

PERSONAL

Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty Medical: fit */ moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non-applicable * Class or Caste: upper ** / middle / working / unsure / other ** Education: qualified *** / unqualified / studying / other Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet / yes, but charges were dismissed

* She is very fit and takes good care of her body. But she is also Maelstrom and deals with the pain and problems which naturally come, when you go beyond your body's limits regarding Cyberware. ** While in Militech she definitely belonged to the upper class of NC. After that she's simply Maelstrom. *** During her Militech life she not only was tarined as an assassin, but it was equally important for her father, that she was academilcally educated as well as in things likes arts, dance and how to behave in society.

FAMILY

Children: had a child or children / has no children * / wants children Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings / sibling(s) is deceased ** Affiliation: orphaned / abandoned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent(s) ** / not applicable

* Lexa doesn't want nor can she have children, which is a choice she made. ** Almost all of her family is dead in 2083.

TRAITS + TENDENCIES

♦ extroverted / introverted / in-between ♦ disorganized / organized / in-between ♦ close-minded / open-minded / in-between ♦ calm / anxious / in-between / highly contextual ♦ disagreeable / agreeable / in-between ♦ cautious / reckless / in-between / highly contextual ♦ patient / impatient / in-between ♦ outspoken / reserved / in-between / highly contextual ♦ leader / follower / in-between ♦ empathetic */ vicious bastard */ in-between ♦ optimistic / pessimistic / in-between ♦ traditional / modern / in-between ♦ hard-working / lazy / in-between ♦ cultured / uncultured / in-between / unknown ♦ loyal / disloyal / in-between / unknown ♦ faithful / unfaithful / in-between / unknown

* There are basically more versions of Lexa. The Maelstrom Ghost, who is cruel, merciless, kills without hesitation and who also enjoys torturing people (physically and mentally) in a while. The good and caring friend to Dum Dum and in a surprisingly way to Royce too. And the absolute loving and soft cat mom to Salem and wife to Johnny, who enjoys just being "boring" at home with her love.

BELIEFS

Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious Philosophical: yes / no / sometimes

SEXUALITY & ROMANTIC INCLINATION

Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual Sex: sex-repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable * / naive and clueless * / romance suspicious * Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all Potential Romantic Partners: male **/ female / agender / other / none **/ all

* Before Johnny Lexa never was in a romantic relationship, so when they started dating, she basically had no clue how these things work in reality (and not only in bad movies). Also she was hesitant at first, but with time she absolutely started to love it. ** Lexa knows, should the day come and her and Johnny can't be together anymore (which can only be a death do us part scenario), she won't be in a realtionship with anyone ever again. She simply knows, she won't fall in love again.

ABILITIES

Combat Skills: excellent */ good / moderate / poor/ none Literacy Skills: excellent / good ** / moderate / poor / none Artistic Skills: excellent / good / moderate **/ poor / none Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

* Lexa knows how use any kind of weapons, but is especially deadly with her Mantis Blades. During her Militech years she was also trained with guns and used them frequently as well. But since joining Maelstrom she hasn't touched a gun anymore. ** Skills she got during her childhood in Militech as mentioned above.

HABITS

Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic / former borderline alcoholic turned sober Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / chain-smoker Recreational Drugs: tried some / never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently * / to excess Unhealthy Food: never / special occasions / rarely / sometimes / frequently / binge eater Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gamble

* Painkillers mostly because of her neck (got almost beheaded once) and the amount of her implants.

[nozunhinged]

Why do I feel like "what comes after love" is nothing more than kind of a side blow to Japanese communication culture? I get that they want to emphasize the cultural differences between the two protagonists but it feels so one-sided. He studies arts and literature, his father is a musician, he wasn't raised with "traditional family values", but you're meaning to tell me he draws the line at house invitations, wedding gifts and buying a cake?

Come on. That feels so cheap and poorly researched. Those are all such boring stereotype situations for high-context communication culture but honestly though if he really was that high-context of a person he wouldn't have dared to tell that customer to apologize to her ESPECIALLY because he's apparently so damn keen on making money with part time jobs. That's like borderline criminal.

And let's say he still does it, with the boss's reaction (which was cool as fuck) he would've known that 1. The wedding would be a chill and cool day and 2. That they wouldn't give a fuck about the congratulatory gift and probably gave it to her and said "say hi to jungo for us!"

And he wouldn't have fallen in love with her in the first place in the way how open and direct she is or he would have AT LEAST taken 5 seconds to explain to her when she's rude so - if we stay in character here - she doesn't dare to act rude again, let alone let her try on a fucking wedding dress just for funsies. But he can't get her another snack instead of the cake? Make it make sense!

This show is such a high value production but apparently they drew the line at character building. She feels far more fleshed out while he is nothing more than the big bad foreigner who didn't care to explain to her that taking up an offer to stay over can be rude.

Don't get me wrong I would've dumped his ass as well with all the shit he pulled and running past him without more than a wink of attention was glorious. But his character just doesn't make any sense to me. Tell me why he draws the line where he does. Tell me why he writes a whole ass book instead of telling her she loves her. Tell me why he lets her move in after like 2 days but gets mad when she wants to buy a cake. One line of "if he's pulling shit call me" from his dad and being from different countries is not enough to make me believe their story.

So far, it doesn't feel to me like he has some underlying issues we will learn about, it just feels like he's the asshole Japanese guy from the country with dumb communication rules they didn't care to explain to the poor lil Korean girl. It just really rubbed me the wrong way in ep 4.

Maybe I'm not inexperienced enough in inter-cultural romantic relationships but so far, his characterization doesn't make any sense to me. I get they want to make him the poor lil meow meow who comes to grovel at her feet begging for forgiveness but it just feels very inconsistent and kind of mean.

I really liked this show so far but it doesn't feel like they will make this inconsistency make sense somehow with only to eps left.

[khaleesiofalicante]

Filler chapter you say? Max Max Max The emotions he expresses, the emotions he suppresses, his thoughts, the rawness in his thoughts, they always make me cry. I think I feel my heart grow bigger every time I read a chapter like this. Also, I know you have said in the past that somewhere you relate to Rafael/Anjali more. Is it hard to write a character like David/ Max /Alec then knowing that maybe their flaws are something you would get annoyed by in real life? How do you write a character (who you might not tolerate in life) without making them a villain? Writers/Actors in my opinion tend to make characters that resembles some or different parts of them or who they want, at least when they start because I guess it's very hard to get perspective here. One needs to have a really strong sense of their own identity right? to know exactly who they are/what they like and not lose it along the way of their art? I just think from the way you write Max and Alec shows real maturity in your writing

This is SUCH a great question (the questions we ask reveal a lot about us, so I'm appreciating you a lot for this)

Writers, of course, use their art to express (and even promote) their values - or values that are important to them. Many do this. I do this. A lot. If you read my stories, you know I get preachy sometimes hehe.

But we cannot only pass on the values we appreciate to the main characters. Similarly, we cannot give values we disapprove of to the villain characters. It doesn't work that way. At all.

This is not a value per se. But some of you know I'm not a huge fan of Taylor Swift, but I have a character who is obsessed with her. Now I can easily make all my characters like the same kind of music I do. But that doesn't make sense. Then my characters will all be like me. That sounds boring. Very unrealistic too.

For example, let's say one of the characters is pro-life/anti-abortion. I don't have to give this trait to a villain character. It could easily be Alec (or any of the Lightwoods/shadowhunters in a modern au - especially if they are traditional/religious). It doesn't have to be Zara or someone else. The same goes with things like cheating or whatever.

Having a flaw (sure depends on what kind of flaw it is), doesn't make your (main) character a bad person. That's important to understand.

All characters have flaws. Character flaws are pivotal to a character's journey. Some of these flaws are going to be things that piss me off or things I don't agree with. But I can't help it. I can't take it personally. I should also be wary of trying to 'fix it'. Because not all flaws are always fixable.

I think it's really about understanding the difference between fiction and reality. While I will not tolerate some of these values/habits among people I know IRL, I can be flexible with fictional characters (whether they're my own characters or not). Think of all the villains we stan in some of these popular movies (Anakin, baby, I'm looking at you). It doesn't we condone these actions in real life, do we? Nope. It's just like that. It's about knowing how to differentiate and not take it personally.

And yes, I agree, a strong sense of identity definitely helps along the way.

Once again. Very nuanced question. Loved it.

[kirasigncomics]

There are so many talented artists here.

So many different and cool styles.

And I lately hated my own because only the rendering was consistent in mine(sort of) and even that can't be translated to traditional. (Now that I accepted my drawing pad is dead.) And I'm sitting here like wtf should I do now? I practice some more others' but like... don't wanna be a copycat and my style isn't appealing enough. GRRRR. Why is art style and appeal so complicated? I know subjective but damn it. I wanna create cool stuff. Not stuck in this limbo of better that lvl 1 but not looking good either. Just plain and boring, avarage. Getting some time used to... Not liked...

[voyeur-clairvoyant]

Hihi! Hope you are doing well! Was wondering how did you start learning tarot and if you have any tips for those who want to start? Also, I was wondering if only spiritual people can do tarot (as in those who with clair senses and are more intuitive/connected to their spirit guides?)

Just a regular degular person with no spiritual gifts lol so would it still be possible to do readings? Hope I'm making sense teehe. Thanks!

HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Well, I started learning Tarot like 3 (4?) years ago. I was bored, I had curiosity and just followed the white rabbit hashas.

"I was wondering if only spiritual people can do tarot"

Absolutely. ANYONE can learn and interpret Tarot. ANYONE. Being intuitive makes some steps easier (not all) but you don't need a "gift" or "witch heritage" to read. All you need is volition, curiosity for study... and probably a deck ahsahsa.

"if you have any tips for those who want to start?"

Mmmmmmm, I think the first step must be studying about "what is Tarot?" and along it the history of tarot decks and cartomancy. From the firsts decks to the modern ones.

(Here's an AMAZING WEBSITE)

There are many MANY FUCKING MANY myths and nonsense about the cards and the practice. BOY, OH BOY! And the best way to learn tarot without the hardous work of correcting all those mistakes is being critical from the begining.

For example: One popular myth is "Tarot was born in Egypt, and has the secret knowledge of God Thoth". The truth is that if we check, Tarot was actually born in Middle Age - Renaissance Italy. And it has common catholic and moral knowledge, instead of the mysterious and arcane egypth thing that many occulstists believed (I think Eliphas Levi was the one that started that myth).

Another very important reason to study the history is because tarot cards aren't a mystical object only bound to divine rules. It's a human creation and as all human creations, it's prone to errors and mistakes. The history of the cards is a chinese whispers one hashahs. With every new deck of cards that was printed, sometimes a line in the wrong place, a stain of the wrong color and confusing shapes mixed with some ignorance and self agendas have distorted what was originally depicted in the cards.

I have a post about this and the perfect example that Wheel of Fortune is (somewhere in my blog) hashas.

If you understand what the allegory in the card represents, you will never need a meanings list.

Some other tips:

Don't bite more than you can chew. Have patience, go slowl but focused.

In the name of shit don't put "beatiful art" above "usefulness" ahshas. An amazing deck that you can't read is one that you will never use.

All the "you need to clean your deck", "have a candle and water" or a "cloth of ____ color" and shit like that are all optional. You can read on your bed eating cheetos if you want.

Try to clear your mind before every reading. Relax your mind, you don't want noise inside (and outside) your head to interfere with your reading.

Look for a study group. Part of studying the history is to connect with all the people that were before you in the same path. The old traditions, the advices, the mistakes, their embarrassing secrets ahsahdah. All that good shit. I know some good groups in Facebook but if you can find a group in real life even fucking better.

THE INTUITION. This one goes along the last point and what you asked. The "intuition" is less helpful that people think, mostly because it's very dificult to master and incredibly easy to confuse with desires and prejudices. For example, if a middle class white woman has always a "bad feeling" about black men in the streets, you wouldn't call that "intuition", would you? It's helpful, but if you read what is IN THE CARDS with a clear mind and strong knowledge you will be fine.

Always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS ask yourself

why?

Why someone reads the way they do? Why this shit symbolizes this? Why this card is the way it is?

A FUCKING LOT is lost in tradition without brain. Repeating stuff over and over with no good reason. Always try to learn the why of shit.

And always have respect with whoever you read. Tarot cards are that: Cards. Nothing more than cardboard illustrations. The art of cartomancy is one that cannot be explain in rational ways (that's its wonder), so rational thinking and advice always goes first (the prime example, health readings). Never hold the messages to unbreakable rules. Neither the bad nor the good, neither for your clients nor for you.

I HOPE IT HELPS YOU!! <3 <3

[fierceawakening]

That person blocked me and will likely block earl too, but:

earlgraytay

3m ago

The other thing is, like...

Okay, look, I've played around with AI art some, and I've even made some attempts to use it in digital collage. I am also a (mediocre!) artist, mostly a cartoonist, and I draw a lot of anime-inspired stuff. I know what it's like to be told that your art style isn't "real art".

.......the process of using an AI to generate an image is completely different from the process of creating more conventional art, and the differences in that process make it completely uninteresting to me, as both an artist and an enjoyer of art.

A lot of what "speaks to me" about a piece of art is figuring out why the artist made the choices they made-on both the macro and micro level- and seeing how they used the techniques they had at their disposal.

AI art... doesn't really do it for me, unless it's part of a collage or assemblage, because neither of those things are really present. When you're working with a generative AI, you're just not making the same kinds of micro level choices about lighting, colour, scene composition, and so on- you're letting the computer make those choices for you. Similarly, there's no real analysis of technique to be done on an AI generated image. The closest thing to "technique" is, bluntly, pushing the "pull from gacha" button. There's nothing to talk about there.

....I am not even, like, Against AI Art Because It's Theft. it's just *boring* to me. Because a lot of the things that interest me most about art just aren't there.

===

I feel this way in general too. I know that a lot of prompters do get very elaborate: "a green unicorn with a yellow mane facing right reading a physics book with a steaming cup of tea on the desk in front of them. Their expression is gentle and kind." but... all of the ways to portray that, in making traditional art, whether or not you're drawing, are little choices that give the work a particular character and personality.

That said, my strongest objection (just saying I disagree with Earl, not trying to say he's Wrong Bad or something) is still consent. You can't throw a spitball on X without hitting an artist posting "Just found out I was on the hidden list of people used to train Midjourney, fuck that, I never gave permission."

If people did not give permission, using the tool is going against their LITERAL STATED WISHES. That's what's not cool, for me.

If everyone else was like "yeah sure train AI on my work, it's posted publicly, that means I accepted this risk even though I didn't know at the time it even existed" and only I personally was like "I hope my novels aren't in there," I'd figure I've just got weird preferences and adjust (though I think I'd still advocate for me and people like me to be able to petition for our work to be excluded/removed from the dataset, if this is possible.)

But it's not at ALL uncommon for people to feel they should have had a say and to get upset that they didn't. So I'm not going to use something they're angry about not having had a say in.

For me that's just the decent thing to do? Which is why that person's rage is so confusing to me. They obviously think it's morally acceptable where I don't, but they block instead of explaining why.

That's... I don't want to say that's a guilty conscience, I don't know, but it's sure weird. If consent doesn't matter here and it's weird scrupulosity that makes me think it does, surely that can be logically explained?

Like. My guy. I got a Master's in philosophy. "You are wrong about the base assumptions of how morality works, all the way down" was just Tuesday for about seven years of my life there. I can handle you explaining why you think I'm wrong to think consent matters here.

Or is that why Lmao is all you've got?

[gebder]

WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE ASH CHIOMA(he/she/they prns !) IN @original-character-championship !!! aka the Big Info Post

an average sillyguy protag, surrounded by characters who may have been better fitted to be main in the average media. Do you love this trope? So do I. Here's some random facts about Ash: he's a sociology student, they work at a flower shop, he dyes his hair to match the feathers it isn't natural, she unironically likes dad rock, their fav author is Asimov or whatever equivalent this universe has(I refuse to not have the laws of robotics) and her partners are a witch and a demon(that that witch accidentally summoned), and his flatmates are a person who can see ghosts and a borderline mad scientist(also several ghosts they aren't aware of who, sadly, don't pay rent.) Here's them with their partners:

(left to right: Ash, Juno(aforementioned witch), and Frost(aforementioned demon))

He has a silly little rivals to lovers with Frost where Frost cares way more than him, and a mutual pining with Juno after meeting him in college. VERY cute. Oh to be a parrot, a witch and a demon in gay nonbinary love...

Right! A parrot ! in my oc world, witch magic has become known and widespread, and many hospitals have witches in and use magic. Magic has become part of science. Did you know parrots breathe with two lungs and airsacs? While witches can't comfortably control only the lungs, their magic is connected to nature, and thus turning a person part animal is more easily and with less risk done. Ash was turned part parrot to help with a lung condition !

(They also have a robotic tail they sometimes wear to help with balance issues from the wings which is super swagful though hes embarrassed to wear it most the time)

If you're voting here, I'm guessing you love ocs. Here's what I have for you: oc-ception. following my inability to let go of my old world for Ash(she's been in my mind since I was 11, doodling when I had a pink, a blue and a yellow marker(so no, the pan flag thing was not intentional however it is welcome) on hand in a boring class, and I don't still want to think about the same stories), I've canonized it as his world for a story he's writing ! In my mind, the format for my oc world as a story would be as if you're in Ash's diary: watching back their memories and his impressions of things from their pov. There would be specials with his oc world, with characters growing to parallel people from his life more and more as she gets to know them and foreshadowing actual story events. Here are some doodles in Ash's style:

If Ash wins, it will be a huge diversity win !! a sephardi jew*(a jew written by a jew for jews), pan, polyam, and genderfluid. They're even a middle child with daddy issues

He's from a story about relations between people and about both the importance and the hurt knowledge can bring. AND she's writing a silly sci-fi story

Here's some more art:

*About the judaism: she's secular(so am I) but would be shown to hold traditions and celebrate holidays if this story came out as a cultural thing

[auspicious-voice]

A Post about the Future of AUSPICIOUS VOICE

Hi, I thought of making this post as I've been going to making changes to what I'd like to do with this project in the future.

If you're interested, read more under the cut. Nothing too bad and all, I promise. It'll be split into sections, and this might be the last time I'll address this for now.

Change in Vocalsynth-related Activities

As I've had a more sporadic schedule with uploading UTAU media, I've been developing more non-vsynth related interests that I find to be more enjoyable than just using plain old UTAU. It's been helping me branch out of UTAU quite a bit, really.

Covers

I've already stated in a previous post that I wouldn't be uploading covers every week and that I would upload whenever I can (on a sporadic basis), but now I've decided that starting next year (2024), I would like to make the effort to upload something once in a while - if I have the energy for it. At best I could be uploading something once a month, but I don't know. Making covers takes a lot of energy out of me nowadays and it is isn't really fun just working on them non-stop. The me from 5 years ago would've had more time and energy to pump out more covers, but I just can't really afford having that taking up so much of my time now.

Much like my recent uploads, if I were to upload a new cover next year, it will most likely be complete with art and a PV to go along with it. I've been practicing simple mograph using Alight Motion and After Effects in my free time, so maybe that'll be an advantage :)

Anniversary Uploads

The tradition of making video uploads celebrating my UTAUs' anniversaries will still be up and about, and I have plans for Maria and Mario's 9th and 10th anniversaries, especially the latter. The only anniversary I missed was in 2018, when it was 3 years since Maria and Mario were released to the public.

They might just be simple PVs at this point, but what I'd like to do is try to update Maria and Mario's fullbody artwork for their 9th anniversary, and maybe special designs for anniversary purposes. I've been meaning to make a retrospective post, but that'll come before their 10th anniversary.

And after their 10th anniversary, I will still upload anniversary covers because at that point that might the only UTAU-related thing I'll ever upload LOL.

Community Activity

When I was really active in the UTAU community, much of my community interaction was through Twitter. I don't use Twitter anymore for the sake of my wellbeing, and with that my interactions with the community significantly decreased over time. I only talk to a select number of people in the community at this point, mostly on Discord. Any inquiries about this project are to be sent to my e-mail, preferably over DMs.

Of course when it comes to YouTube and BiliBili uploads, I try to heart and reply to peoples' comments - while I am not able to reply to all comments, I appreciate them nonetheless. So my community activity is pretty much minimal at this point, and you'll probably just catch me working on animatics, OC projects, and other kinds of things that I enjoy doing apart from UTAU - if you're into that kind of thing that is.

UTAU as a Hobby

This one's a doozy, I guess.

Truth be told, I'm falling out of UTAU for the past couple of months. It's not that I find it boring - from making voicebanks to covers - it's just that I don't have the time and energy to use it anymore. In fact, it's more like a waste of my time when I could be working on other passion projects. When I first started out in 2014, I couldn't imagine myself falling out of the hobby anytime soon, but that's becoming even more of a reality.

Well, UTAU will end up being a smaller hobby of mine because my love for vocalsynths still goes strong - in terms of songs that is. I find myself finding new producers whose works I actually enjoy listening to instead of just hopping on cover and voicebank usage bandwagons because that's the Hot New Thing going around. I'll probably be that one person who just compiles a playlist of vocalsynth songs I like and then listen to them like there's no tomorrow. Maybe some cover inspiration will come out of that, or something.

As for new hobbies and interests that I've picked up... Keyboards is one small hobby that I'm interested in! I have my own custom keyboard that I modded but I'll have to lube the switches in the future. And new interests are mostly mecha/robot related, but to be fair the first media I ever consumed had to do SOMETHING with mecha, so it did...come full circle.

So with that being said, with old hobbies of mine becoming either irrelevant or something I'd like to indulge in (but not as much), the new interests and hobbies that I've picked up are something I'm more invested in. 2023 has been a pretty weird year in a good way, I guess.

Project Plans

No, I won't be shelving this project next year. It will still be alive and well, it's just that the activity on this project will be smaller than ever.

Voicebank Development and Status

I won't be quitting voicebank development just yet; Maria and Mario's DiffSinger voicebanks are currently in development for God knows how long, but I've been working on them at my own pace and my free time. I think it is safe to say that once I release these voicebanks, I'll be done with voicebank development once and for all, only working on small maintenance updates if I have to. Much like making covers, making voicebanks takes a lot of time and energy to devote to.

I want to make Maria and Mario's DiffSinger voicebanks sound good, and so far I'm about halfway done with recording Mario's dataset as of writing this post. Maria's dataset progress will start next year, hopefully. I'll try and figure out the whole multispeaker schtick but GOD Colab does hate me.

Maria and Mario will still be available for download, and I don't think I will discontinue them anytime soon. I would love to see them being used in all sorts of audiovisual work even when I'm not actively working on this project.

New Voicebanks...?

As Maria and Mario are the only UTAUs associated with this project, I don't have any plans adding new UTAUs. When I first started this project in 2014, it was all about Maria and Mario and how much I wanted to make lots of song covers with them - mostly the songs that I loved.

I did have plans for adding in new UTAUs for this project, but that won't be the case anymore. Devoting my time and energy to two UTAUs is already enough.

Site Updates

I won't be updating this site as much from this point, simple as that. I'm satisfied with the way this site looks, so no needless site revamping!!

The only times I will post here are when I upload a new cover, so no fan content promos and all, unfortunately.

Signing Off

So this will be my last post about the future of AUSPICIOUS VOICE. It'll be a smaller project compared to my other ones, and once I'm finished with Maria and Mario's DiffSinger voicebanks, they'll be the last voicebanks I'll ever release for them. Cover uploads will come by once in a while (or once a month if I feel like it), and this site will see very few updates. Also anniversary uploads are still a thing, and my interactions with the community are still at a minimum. And Maria and Mario are still available for download. :)

With that being said, UTAU's one hell of a ride, but I'm at that point where I'm devoting my time towards other things that are worth my time and energy. Out with UTAU (for like the most part), and in with OCs, animatics, and other bits of media I like doing best!

See you later,

- HIRA

[fishrpg]

Laying Out The Ground Rules

In a few days I'm planning on starting the Hexplore24 challenge. It's based on an idea by the Monsters and Mazes blog to replace the ritual of this year's Dungeon23. Basically you create a solo campaign that you play effectively in real time. One day of game time is one day in the real world.

Unfortunately, the challenge as written doesn't really jive with my workflow. That's because if I'm playing a solo game, I'll want to document EVERYTHING and that takes a lot of time and brain power that I can't necessarily spare with work and school obligations. Also I tend to prefer my hexes to be relatively densely populated with content so there aren't really truly empty hexes. I want to do something where I can legitimately spend only a few minutes doing each day without the extra pressure of longform solo journally. That means I'll need to tweak the specifics of the challenge a bit. This is just as much for me as it is for anyone following along, because I'll probably be periodically adjusting the rules and stuff to suit my schedule.

But as it stands today, here's what I'm thinking my Hexplore24 challenge will entail:

Create one or two hex's worth (or hex equivalent) of stuff each day. This might be a landmark, a questgiver, an encounter, a dungeon, or something else.

Every month, I'll change up the theme so I don't get bored. The theme for January rooted in the traditional D&D wilderness aesthetic.

The theme for the next month will generally be selected at random from a list, and there won't be any duplicates. Every fourth month, though, I'll allow myself the privilege of manually choosing a theme so I can keep my personal interest up in case I get several months of prompts that aren't terribly interesting to me.

Although I will be working on this project every day and will want to post every day, I'm only going to publicly commit to posting twice a week so that I won't feel like a failure if I miss a day. I'll probably post more than that, but I need to make space for those times when I can't churn out stuff like a machine.

I'm not going to be creating a character or party who interacts with the world in a sandbox adventure; this is to be more of a neutral observer or cartographer who merely documents the world as it is explored.

I'm also toying with the idea of including a few "freestyle days," which are days where I can go back to a previous day and flesh it out more. Like adding a map to a town, or a layout to a dungeon, or extra steps and treasure to quest. The exact scope of this section is still to be determined.

Oh, and here's the table I'll be using to choose my themes!

Hexplore24 Potential Themes

Generic Fantasy (City Exploration)

Western (Traditional)

Western (Weird) (August)

Sci-Fi (Planetary)

Sci-Fi (Space)

Cyberpunk (June)

Post-Apocalyptic

Folklore/Mythology (April)

Steampunk

Ancient Culture

Modern

Pirates (May)

Cartoon (September)

Pulp Martial Arts

Spooky/Horror

Superhero

Pulp Prehistoric (March)

Grimdark Fantasy

Redwall-Inspired (July)

Undersea (February)

Feel free to send me asks or suggestions of stuff you would like to see!