#also i need to get stuff made for the event i'm doing in august

[promises-of-paradise]

Marmont.

so uh. as a joke for my friends on discord, I wrote a short body horror story about Auguste de Marmont being extremely hairy. As it was successful, I wrote a few more. People wanted me to post it on Tumblr, so here it is.

Warnings: hairy horror, drugs, sexual implications, generally cursed stuff

Disclaimer: I am fully aware that Marmont was not a hairy yeti, I'm simply using hyperbole for a joke. I also know that the weird Marmont/Junot/Napoleon love triangle depicted in these stories is inaccurate, I just needed characters to witness Marmont's hairyness. This fic is being published with the consent of @auguste-marmonts-only-fan. No Marmonts were harmed in the making of this production. The characters and events depicted in this motion picture are entirely fictitious, any similarity to names or incidents is entirely coincidental.

Part 1:

It was a warm day in Paris, 1795, and Napoleon was out trying to seduce a milf. This meant that Junot and Marmont were left to themselves in the cramped apartment for several hours with little to do, and in the summer heat the two young men found themselves inflamed with passion. Junot sat in the bath, smoking some opium, when suddenly he was approached by Marmont. "Can I join you in there?" Junot wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Why? Can't you wait until l'm done?" "You said that last time, and the time before..." Marmont grumbled. "Junot, I haven't had a bath in months." "Ugh, fine," Junot groaned as he shuffled over to allow Marmonts large furry body to sink into the cool soapy water. Marmont sighed with relief and stretched out, and since it was shedding season, lots of little hairs detached themselves from him and floated up to the surface, along with all the dirt they had been carrying. Junot smoked more opium at an alarming rate, hoping that it would alleviate his growing discomfort. “Oh, how I wish I was bathing with Napoleon instead….” "Hmm?" Marmont grunted. "Napoleon..." junot sighed dreamily, "is gentle and soft and there's barely a hair on his body..." Marmont stared at Junot intensely, his eyes fiery under his thick black unibrow. "If I was napoleon... what would you do?" Unbeknownst to Marmont, Junot was so high that he genuinely began to believe that it was napoleon with him in the bath. "Oh Napoleon..." Junot pressed his lips to Marmonts unshaven cheek and flung his arms around marmonts hairy body. He trailed a hand along Marmonts furry chest... "Oh Napoleon, who did this to you?" Marmont grunted in response. Junot dipped his hand a little further downwards, only to find a coarse bush so large and thick that it resembled a rainforest and made any further action impossible. The water was becoming clogged with the hair Marmont was shedding. Suddenly realising his predicament, Junot got out of the bathtub and fled. At that moment, Napoleon returned to the apartment. "Junot, what's going on? Why are you naked?" "Napoleon..." Junot sobbed, "there's a bear in the bathtub..."

"Marmont..." Napoleon stared in horror at the bathtub. "Get. Out. Now!" "B-but Napoleon-" Marmont groaned, clutching the soap to his furry chest. "Get out of my bathtub now, or I'll kick you out of the apartment and never let you back in!" Filled with shame, Marmont climbed out of the bathtub and miserably trudged across the room, leaving a trail of hair and water behind him, and began to put fresh clothes on his shaggy body. "It's my shedding season..." he grumbled, but neither Napoleon nor Junot understood. Napoleon knelt by the hair-filled bathtub, grief-stricken. "Napoleon... I tried to stop him..." Junot, still naked, embraced his upset friend. Napoleon wiped a tear from his eye. "It will be alright. Marmont will pay for this... by cleaning it up." "But what about us? We can't keep living here while he's shedding, we'll suffocate on hair..." "Don't worry, Junot. We can go out in Paris tonight and find a milf who's willing to house us for a night or two." And so Napoleon and Junot left to find a wealthy widow, and Marmont was left to clean up his own hair.

Part 2:

At last the argument had been resolved, but with a condition: during the shedding season, certain restrictions were to be placed on Marmont. One of them was that he could not sleep in the bed, but on the floor. He accommodated for this by collecting the hair he shed and turning it into a makeshift mattress, which was only slightly more comfortable than the bare wooden floorboards. Junot snuggled closer to Napoleon under the clean, fresh sheets of their bed, and let out a little whimper. "Napoleone... I heard a rat!" "Are you sure?!" "Yes, something furry on the floor..." Another hairy sound reverberated through the room - "that was me" Marmont grunted as he rolled over in his nest of hair. Junot sighed with relief but remained cuddled up to napoleons bare chest. "Oh Napoleon you're so warm..." Junot gasped as he stroked his friend lovingly. "And you're cold... do you need me to warm you up?" Napoleon asked. After some time junot replied: "yes. I'm feeling particularly cold around my bussy-le-grand, if you catch my meaning-" "Ah, then I will have to make you better!" Napoleon smiled with delight. From the floor, Marmont grunted with alarm. He was too distressed to say anything coherent. He wanted to pull his hair blanket over his head, but the noise would disturb them... so Marmont lay there, wallowing in hair and misery.

Part 3:

Napoleon and Junot were going on a romantic walk in the botanical gardens, just as the sun had set and dusk descended. The plants cast long shadows across the ground, their leaves blue in the moonlight. Suddenly, they heard a rustling idea from the undergrowth. "What's that?!" Napoleon jumped in shock. "Shhh," Junot quickly placed a hand over his friends mouth, "we can't have anyone knowing we're here together!" Cautiously, the two young men made their way to the beautiful clearing among rose bushes where they usually met. Certain that they were alone, they embraced passionately. Yet somewhere in the dark shrubbery, two bloodshot eyes stared at them with intense curiosity. Coarse black hair rustled against the bushes... Napoleon and Junot both looked at where the noise was coming from, shivering from fear. "Who's there?!" A quiet grunting was heard. Junot immediately drew his pistol (which of course he carried around with him at all times) and yelled "Show yourself!" But his courage abandoned him when out from the shadows came a large, hairy creature. It was tall and slender, covered in thick dark fur so that it almost blended into the darkness. On its sneering face was a large protruding mass of fur that vaguely resembled an eyebrow. Its eyes stood out like fire. There was no mistaking it - this creature was Marmont. "I wanted to take a walk in the gardens," he grunted moodily, "freed from the constraints of clothing, so as to better enjoy the fresh night air." Napoleon and Junot both screamed and ran for their lives, tearing through the bushes and leaping over the wall of the gardens to escape. They sprinted all the way back to their apartment and burst in, panting for breath, only to see Marmonts discarded clothes on the floor.....

Part 4:

(Italian campaign, 1796) There had been a long, hard battle ending in a French victory, but not without losses. As soon as the army got back to their camp, Junot collapsed onto his narrow bed, exhausted. He promptly fell asleep, only to be woken up by a hairy hand brushing against his thigh... Junot thought that a dog had come into his tent, and hastily sat up. But before him was a presence even more unwelcome: Auguste de Marmont. "I was worried about you..." Marmont grunted, "I'm glad you're alright." "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm fine, I'm a good soldier," Junot retorted. Marmont stared at him bluntly. "Last battle you got injured six times." Junot was silent for a long time before saying, "Yes, I did." "Oh Andoche... my poor babygirl..." Marmont said in his deep coarse voice like a cat with a hairball in its throat, and gave his friend a kiss on the forehead. "I worry about you so much..." Junot was shocked by the sensation of Marmonts hairy face brushing against his, but not completely displeased. He too recognised how close to death he had been, and how short life was...... "Kiss me properly, Marmont-" Before either of them knew what was happening, Junot's soft lips and Marmonts dry cracked lips met. Their shirts fell to the floor.... Junot put a hand on the shaggy mass of fur that covered Marmonts chest, and thanked god it wasn't shedding season. The hairy man moaned like a broken tractor. "You should shave so that you look more like Napoleon, the pinnacle of make beauty," junot told him. "But if I shaved then I wouldn't have... this," Marmont took off his own trousers in one swift motion, revealing at last his giant bush (or shall we call it a rainforest). He grinned as he was immensely proud of the thick black mass of coarse straggly hairs that hid his loins. "No, you must shave!" Junot exclaimed in horror. "Never" At this, Junot ran out of the tent crying.

PLEASE ISTG THIS WHOLE THING IS A JOKE 😭

[madisonmccoy]

Teo Tomczuk tells us about the next season of Rykter!

https://730.no/forteller-om-neste-sesong-teo-tomczuk/%5C~%5D

SOMMERFJAS with Teo Tomczuk

By Tayiba Haji

3 July 2024 at 15:47

Teo Tomczuk sits down with SOMMERFJAS 😎 🎵 ☀️

-

(y’all this one needed a lot of cultural context to understand properly so you can see my personal explanations/rambling below in red lol)

“Fellesferien” has officially started (this is also known as general staff vacation in English, a practice where all employees at a workplace have time off at the same time, and in Nordic countries this typically takes place during warmer months like August). And while some people turn their sights towards the South (warmer/more southern countries in Europe), others are settling in well at their Norwegian cabins.

The next man out for our Summer column is Teo Tomczuk (born in 2006).

You may know him as Mathias from the NRK series “Rykter”, but in his spare time Teo is also very involved in music.

[730.no](http://730.no) had a chat with the Bergen native about his summer favorites. As well as what we can expect from the highly anticipated third season of “Rykter”.

Hi Teo! Do you have any exciting plans for the summer?

“I am going to play some concerts in Poland, and travel around Poland a bit. And I am going on vacation to Croatia with my best friend! It's a bit funny because all the “russegruppene” in all of Norway are going there exactly when we are going there." 

(Russegruppene, or Russ groups, describe groups of students in their final semester of high school that celebrate the tradition of Russefeiring, or russ for short. This happens over a period of several weeks leading up to summer, and it is basically a continuous party commonly linked to drunkenness & public disturbances. It's also a tradition for the students to wear special overalls for the event, usually red or blue. Many groups choose to rent or buy party buses to drive around during this time. This tradition is unique to Norway and is an interesting read for those unfamiliar with it!)

Lovely! What kind of style do you go for in the summer then?

“I wear a lot of black clothes even though it's summer.”

What does the perfect summer day look like for you?

“A cabin trip combined with a fishing trip! And making music in the evening.

What movie/series did you last watch? And what roll of the dice do you give it?

“I saw The Fall Guy in the movie theater, it was very well made. The entire production. Dice roll 6!” (The roll of the dice is a Norwegian rating system for media, with 1 being the worst and 6 being the best)

Speaking of cool productions: Has the third season of “Rykter” been recorded?

“The third and fourth seasons have actually been recorded!”

Wow, so cool! What can we expect from the new season?

“You can expect a lot of love, broken hearts. Many try lots of new things and find out who they are. Mostly they get to know themselves. There will be a lot of identity stuff!”

Do you have any tips on what someone could do on a rainy day?

“I live in Bergen, so I'm used to that. The fish bite more when it rains. And make music of course.”

Do you have a favorite restaurant that you just have to visit in the summer?

“Mammas Kjøkken!” (Mom’s Kitchen)

How are you at parties?

“I'm the one who tries to put on 70s rock, haha! I’m really not the biggest party type then.”

What can we expect from you on the music front?

“I try to find my own sound. I developed a new style of pop rock that I think people can vibe with. There will be more international music, a bit of everything.”

What is this summer's vorspiel (pre-game) anthem?

"Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin”

What is this summer's nachspiel (afterparty) anthem?

"The End - The Doors”

(Vorspiel and nachspiel are German words that are used in Scandinavian countries to mean pre and after party)

What song is best to dance to?

“Lonely Boy by The Black Keys.”

What is your darkest party memory?

“I broke a tooth once haha!”

Huh?

“Yeah, it was crazy. I was going to open a bottle. Fortunately, it went fine in the end.”

Luckily! Do you have any good tips for the day after a party?

“In Poland we have a soup that grandmas and moms have often made over the years. It's damn good the next day. And just drink lots of water before and after.”

What do you spend the most money on in the summer?

“Probably beer!”

Who would you most like to meet this summer, and why?

“The best thing would be to meet my role models.”

And who are they?

“Many of them have died, but of the ones who are alive: Alex Turner and Ozzy Osbourne.”

(ALEX TURNER MENTION !!!)

Have you ever had a summer fling? Or is there anyone who counts as one this year?

“Not this year, but I've had ones in the past. It's best during the summer, that’s really when it’s the nicest.”

Can you send us some random photos from your camera roll this summer?

Thank you so much and have a happy summer, Teo!

“Likewise!”

[ask-commander-arild]

OOC Post:

Hi, there! I'm @jnix-2006 and welcome to my ask blog, ask-commander-arild!! I made this blog for @pkmoth's @motherbound-askapalooza, and I plan on participating the entire month of August, but if it does well, I may continue it!! But, bear with me, because I don't use tumblr much, so this is all very new to me, haha. Before we start, I feel I should give a little bit of introduction to what exactly this is. So, firstly, what exactly is an Arild? Well, Arild is an OC I created for the game Mother 3 (Heavy spoilers btw)! He can be seen below!

Art done by @pinkalliums!!! Go check them out!!

Say hello to Arild Eskildsen! A young Norwegian lad of 15 years old who, through a series of unfortunate events, was once a pigmask. I know his design may look a little... 2015, but the design quite literally came to me in a dream, and I would've been stupid not to use it. Now, as much as I'd love to go into detail about his backstory, I wanna save most of it for the asks. I guess the most basic gist is that he was taken from our time, currently in the 2010's but may change later, from a very young age, and made to be a pigmask. Yippee, child soldier! He goes on to be promoted to captain. But after yet another unfortunate event, he ends up being chimera-ified and he gets promoted to commander, but not of the pigmasks... Of what, you ask? Well, we'll get there. For now, here's him as a captain!

Art also by @pinkalliums!! Seriously, go check them out! >:)

Few things to keep in mind for this blog:

1. I don't have many artistic abilities, unfortunately, so this will be a text only blog. Some friends have kindly made a few pieces for Arild, and I will show them off, but for the most part, there won't be much in the way of visuals. If you feel like making art of him, feel free! I would actually love to see it!!

2. Quite a lot of the stuff here is going to involve my own headcanons for the Mother series, especially post-game Mother 3. For example, in my headcanon, Claus survives and becomes the leader of the army, rebranding it in the name of peace, and that is why Arild is a commander. Basically, since everyone has unique headcanons for the series, you can just consider this an AU.

3. There will be mention of a couple real life places that will have Mother-ified names. With any mention of Norway, the name will changed to Fjordland, on account of its many... fjords. Canada is also an important place within the story, and that I have decided to call Mapleland. Creative, I know. I figured I would bring it up to avoid confusion

4. Feel free to ask whatever! Though, obviously, just make sure it's on topic, of course. Silly questions are easy to answer and will usually be answered quickest! Lore relevant questions are a little trickier and may take me just a bit longer to respond to, but I will be happy to get to them!! Also, RP is okay with me, if you want to!!

5. When it comes to asking questions, please don't be weird or anything. Like... being a former pigmask, Arild is a plus-sized character, so a comment about his weight would not be great. More importantly, absolutely NO NSFW. This character is a minor, and that stuff is not okay to ask. I don't think any of this will be an issue, but it's good to mention just in case

6. I do not speak Norwegian, so if I want to sprinkle it in a little bit, I have only on option. Google Translate. I know, I know... it's not the best, but I will try my best to avoid mistranslations or misuse of phrases. I wouldn't want to be the new version of that one post about the Norwegian Butter Crisis, haha.

If you're still here, thank you for reading until the end!! As said, I've never done something like this before, so this intro is probably super chaotic in comparison to other blogs, haha. I am really excited to get started here! I've always wanted to do an ask blog, and I really needed an excuse to flesh out my OC, so I'd say this is perfect! I'd like to give thanks to all the friends, and my bf, who helped me out on this!! Thank you to Moth for setting this event up! Thank you to Hal and a few others for the art! And also thank you so much to my friend Red who helped me create this character in the first place! He didn't tell me what his tumblr was, but he is @/Doc_Glowstick on Twitter!! Alright, I think I've rambled enough now. I'll probably go through this and change it later, but for now, let the blog begin!!!

[fuckyeahhiccannamonth]

HIIIII HICCANNA NATION, long time no post!!!

Sooooo long story short, a bitch overcommitted HARD last year, and had like 17 Hiccanna month posts that I completely ran out of steam to finish. And then because I felt so guilty I didn't finish THOSE, I also didn't reblog all the incredibly awesome posts the rest of y'all made, and I'm really sorry for not giving my people the love and appreciation they deserve!!! And then, of course, my life from like October through like March became an absolute shitstorm, and I got semi-threatened with eviction and then friend-dumped by one of the most important people in my life D: It was a whole Ordeal™️, and sadly, my brain was too fried to think about my favorite awkward blorbos 💔

BUT BY GOD, THE TIME HAS COME FOR ME TO GET MY LIFE TOGETHER AND PULL THROUGH FOR ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO HAVE MADE THIS FUNKY LITTLE EVENT COME TO LIFE!!! I WILL finish reblogging all of last year's Hiccanna Month posts before the end of this month if it kills me!!! And by god, I WILL have this event again, because it's what y'all deserve!!! I don't have the spoons to post much of my own stuff this year (except maybe some leftovers from last year lol), but I'm going to be more on top of my shit about hyping anyone and everyone who decides to participate :3 I'm so grateful for each and every one of you, and I can't tell you how happy it's made me that you all have made this event for my little rarepair OTP bigger and better than I ever imagined 💚🧡💚🧡

I am, however, following suit for some of the other RotBTFD ship months and cutting down from one prompt a day to two per week for 8 prompts total, with an overarching theme for each week. I honestly don't have the spoons to do a prompt every day this year, although for future Hiccanna months, that could change. The two-a-week format seems to work better for a lot of people anyways, since I've gotten feedback that 31 prompts in a row is, er…pretty overwhelming, to say the least ^^; So two prompts a week for this year, and we will see if people like this format better!

@gryffindorkxdraws a tag for you, as promised 🩵

AND NOW, the prompt list!!! Apologies for only giving you guys a couple weeks of prep time—I know it's usually more ^^; But y'all know I'm flexible about late submissions, and it's totally fine if you submit for Hiccanna month after July! And who knows??? If I'm feeling spicy, I might tack on a bonus week for the first week of August 👀👀👀

WEEK 1—MUSIC Special thanks to @lovestrucklyuniverse for suggesting a focus on music from Hiccup and Anna's movies—I'm enamored with that!!! Of course, these prompts are just suggestions, and if you'd rather make something inspired by a pop song, alternative rock jam, or Eurovision ballad that reminds you of Hiccanna, then have at it!

1. For the Dancing and the Dreaming—A re-imagining of our favorite Viking wedding song with Hiccup and Anna! They're certainly the sort of people who would do all manner of impressive feats and grand gestures to win each other over, but the joke is on them—they don't need to! Sometimes, pledging love and devotion is enough, and there's no need to slay monsters or gift troves upon troves of treasure to prove yourself worthy of someone.

2. More Than Just the Spare—One of my absolute favorite things about these two is how they rise above being overlooked and underappreciated and accomplish some truly spectacular things. This prompt is all about Hiccup and Anna showing that they can be more than anyone ever expected them to be—preferably together, while being madly in love!

WEEK 2—MOVIES AND TV Let's be real—we've all dreamed of seeing Hiccup and Anna interact (and adorably butcher flirting several times) on the big screen. Whether it's through an epic Disney-Dreamworks crossover (god, we all wish, right?!) or imagining Best Awkward Blorbos in your favorite TV show, this week is all about Hiccanna slaying in visual media!

1. Romcoms—Have you ever watched a romcom and gone "You know what would make this better? If it was about Hiccanna!"? Furthermore, have you ever watched a romcom and gone "Well shit, this is literally just about Hiccanna!"? Well, now's your time! Make something inspired by your favorite Hiccanna-coded romcom, or a romcom you desperately believe needs more Hiccanna energy in it! Or, hell, make up a brand-new cheesy romcom plot for these two and make us all swoon 💞

2. Dramas—We forget it sometimes, but not everything in these two dorks' lives is sunshine and rainbows. Hiccup lost a whole-ass leg! Anna almost froze to death! They both grew up lonely, friendless, and (relatively) isolated from their communities! For this prompt, take your favorite drama and Hiccanna-ify it—or aplify the Hiccanna you already see! It can be any subgenre you want—coming-of-age drama, period drama, weird avant-garde indie drama, you name it! Subject those guys to some Dramatics™️ and let us see :3

WEEK 3—LITERATURE AND TEXT PROMPTS This week is all about something so many of us long to have an excuse to do--write about the blorbos! Whether you're looking to try your hand at fic for the first time or you're coming back to add more much-needed Hiccanna into our ever-sparse internet ecosystem, these text prompts will hopefully get your fanfiction juices flowing. Pick your favorite(s) of the four for each day, and write away! If you want to try and do all of them then have at it, but don't stress yourself out!!! I wanna make sure this year's event is as chill and no-pressure as possible, since I know a lot of options can be overwhelming, especially for Anna and I's fellow ADHDers! And if you don't want to commit to writing anything, or writing just isn't your strong suit, that's okay too! Use this week to make something based on any literature that brings Hiccanna to mind, or any literary world you'd love to see our favorite awkward ship in. Happy creating! Also HUGE shout-out to @lilandraws for helping me narrow this down from 40 fucking prompts, because when I tried to just casually make a list of text prompts I liked, I got, um...a bit carried away ^^; Also for giving some absolutely hilarious commentary that singlehandedly got me through the workday, bless 💚💚💚 And thank you to @creativepromptsforwriting for the prompts themselves!

1. Pick your favorite(s)!!! a) “Two bros, chilling in a small bed…” b) “Someone just handed you a cat?” c) “Sorry I tried to kill you.” “It’s fine, but next time you should try harder.” d) “Takes one to know one.”

2. Pick your favorite(s)!!! a) He had prepared himself for all the different ways she could reject him. But what he hadn’t prepared for was for her to actually say yes. b) “Want to hear some random facts about geese?” c) “What are we?” “Human. At least I hope we still are.” d) “I can’t stop thinking about kissing you.” “And what are you going to do about that?”

WEEK 4—COMIC BOOKS And now, for the ultimate kick-ass combination of visuals and literature—the visual novel and comic book!!! Since Hiccup and Anna are, fundamentally, animated cartoons (as much as they are much more to all of us!), it seemed fitting to wrap up with this one :3 This week is all about comics, and what epic shenanigans and hijinks can come of Hiccanna-ifying them!

1. Sci-Fi/Fantasy AU—One of the things comic books and visual novels do best is exploring fantastical scenarios and limitless possibilities. The iconic superhero AU is probably the most well-known, but your options don't end there! Do you have a favorite comic about guys on spaceships exploring the galaxy and battling aliens? Or a comic about a party of DnD-style adventurers taking down an evil wizard? Throw some Hiccanna in it and let us see! The sky's the limit, and really, you don't even have to stop there! (Note: Using AUs for ANY of these prompts is real and valid and encouraged, so don't feel like this is the only place where you can use wacky AUs! This is just the one where they have a special focus/emphasis. But AU away whenever you like—Hiccup and Anna kinda require an AU to even be able to interact, so it sort of comes with the territory!)

2. Favorite Comic Book Adaptation AU—Many of us have been lucky enough to see a comic we like be adapted into something else, and can say with confidence that the adaptation kicks absolute ass,, whether it be a movie, TV show, novelization, video game, or whatever else! Like with the previous prompt, superhero comics might be the first thing to come to mind. Of course, I'd be delighted to see Hiccanna in the world of the Spiderverse, Invincible, or your favorite DC or Marvel movie, but keep in mind these aren't your only choices! Something like Scott Pilgrim vs. the World or Netflix's The Sandman would be a totally valid option as well! Have fun and go crazy :3

Aaaaaaand that's all for now! Tag those posts with hiccannamonth2024 or hiccannamonth24 so I can see them and reblog, and happy Hiccanna month-ing! Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with and shower all my love on it 💗💖❤️‍🔥 See you next month!!! We will go through all of July…and beyond >:3

As far as content goes, literally anything is welcome--edits, art, drabbles/fanfic, videos, interpretive dance you record yourself doing that has Hiccanna motifs, it is all fair game as long as it’s Hiccanna-related!

Your ever-determined Hiccanna month hoster person, Fuckyeahhiccannamonth 💚

[a-narcissists-warren]

haio still on a little anonvoid hiatus ^_^

i'mma just be posting screenshots of all the asks i got so i can clean my inbox and both have them like. go somewhere instead of losing them forever

post is long!!! so click keep reading if you wanna see all the silly stuff ^_^ starting from oldest to newest!

[5th July | </3 okay- like i'm never deleting this from my inbox ever]

[9th July | I'VE WANTED TO LIKE SIT DOWN AND ACTUALLY WRITE A COHERENT TIMELINE OF EVENTS FOR THIS ohuhghr maybe some day......]

[9th July | hhrggrhghrghrghjfdgfhjdbhgjrkhgkjrhgkrjhgkfdjuigj sorgy eye mod i love eye anon but i ain't drawin allat right now]

[10th July | OKAY THIS IS ACTUALLY SO WEIRD WITHOUT CONTEXT.... it was a whole thing from the discord server i don't even know how to begin to explain it. but it was all shits and giggles and i like to think my little self-insert keeps these asks under the bed to look at when feeling down ^_^]

[15th July | secret........ oOOoOoOo i actually don't know if i still wanna do this silly thing... gang should i make this the first magic anon when i get back?]

[18th July | oh shit ummmehhh urmmm also this is old their new anon sign off is a pineapple instead of a lemon because...proshitters be taking emoji combos for some reason. anyways you probably already made the design by now BUUUT.....]

[i wanna have some fun........oohh girrlss just wannna haaaveee fuuunn /lyr ............i still can't believe an anon gave birth canonically]

[20th July | i need to interact with badger more.. <3 warrior cats are literally real bro... vro.... vroanonvodi warrior cats au when]

[26th July | ouh pickly.......... save them. gang look over pickly while i go smoke a pack of cigarettes /silly /ref (i don't smoke) ]

[27th July | aw yeah we're going back to short sleeve tee and baggy pants!!!!!!!!]

[28th July | i think i forgot to reply... sorry aliem mod.........]

[28th July | BRO LITERALLY PREDICTED THE ICE ANON- but really </3 wanted to give him a blanket......ouh i'm sorry princess anon........]

[28th July | girl (gender neutral), i had no idea how to reply, i was not gonna draw myself holding onto a baby or whatever cat breed that is /silly..... so so cute art.........]

[28th July | i would've dropped it, screamed and ran away.... scary bugs]

[30th July | ,,very interesting ask i censored just in case i wanna actually reply to it when i'm back,,,,,, didn't reply at the time cuz it was getting close to august and i didn't feel like i should start something that would've probably taken me a week to complete]

[30th July | thisis part of the convo cupid and sleepy were having........ hgjhggfi]

[31st July | I GENUINELY FORGOT TO REPLY TO THIS ASK.]

[31st July | mermaid anon... no one could make me hate you mermaid anon.... i know a theater kid when i see one and i bow to you to continue the show one day..... sorgy for not replying you're so cool]

[31st July | dear GOD. (eye strain... image darkened.... giggles)]

[31st July | my mf doesn't know how to sew for SHIITT, ily cupid anon mwa mwa /p]

[31st July | licks da rock..........]

[31st July | i don't like bacon surprisingly! i don't like a lot of stuff, you'd be surprised]

[1st August | THIS ISN'T EVEN ANONVOID RELATED GANG??? STOP LOOKING AT MY OLD POSTS THEY'RE UGLY!!!]

[1st August | Dean, i can't believe you still ask]

[1st August | SATURN PIANO...... WAAHHH]

[1st August | SIGH.......................... anonvoid server inside joke]

[1st August | this is based off notepad's portal to earth!! if you guys wanna interact with that go to notepads blog since my self-insert is taking a nap]

[1st August | little do they know..........]

[1st August | they're together in this screenshot cuz i got nothing to say,,,, i'm tired]

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Pierre Novellie's 2022 stand-up show, Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things, has just appeared on YouTube for free, which is awesome. This show was what inspired his book of the same name, also recently released. Basically the events described at the end of this show inspired him to write a book, and now he's released the book and a video of the show at the same time.

I heard this show about a year and a half ago and enjoyed it, and then heard his 2023 show, Why Are You Laughing?, and thought that was amazing, a step above the decently high bar set by his previous stuff that I knew of (Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things and Quiet Ones, also on YouTube), which means I pretty much forgot about this previous one. But I watched this video this afternoon and was reminded that this show was also very entertaining. I think he was first introduced to me as an observational comedian for people who aren't into observational comedy, which is pretty accurate. A lot of his topics are well-trodden ground for stand-up (though not all his topics are), but he does them really well. I highly recommend this video if you want to hear a man observe how irritating it is when people do life wrong.

I had no idea he was releasing a film of this show, so it was a nice surprise when that appeared on YouTube this week. We've had a few announcements of upcoming ones recently, though. There's a release date for John Kearns' The Varnishing Days, his 2023 show and somehow his first filmed stand-up special (though he did release that one show on vinyl that was lovely). I think it's a parenthood show and those don't tend to be my thing, but I make exceptions for very very good ones, and this one is supposed to be very very good, so I'm looking forward to its release. August 31, apparently.

They've also just announced that on September 10, Ahir Shah's Ends is coming to Netflix. Fair warning to everyone who follows me on Tumblr, that is going to be a big one where I will not rest until I've made everyone I've ever met watch it. That show was absolutely brilliant.

I'm currently doing my Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024 comedy admin, and having a fantastic time, as I put together a spreadsheet with all the shows I've seen so far. Will of course add more as I get them in from NextUp and anywhere else. I'm formatting my spreadsheet the same way I formatted the spreadsheet I did for the 2023 Edinburgh Festival, with the date and comedian and venue and show title and rating out of 10, but actually out of 40 because I include half points and quarter points, so I can sort them by that and see my favourites. I ended up with 40 shows on my Edinburgh 2023 spreadsheet, and of all those, Pierre Novellie's Why Are You Laughing? came in second as the only 9.5, and Ahir Shah's was the only 9.75. I made those rankings shortly before the award winners were announced, and was reading people on message boards talking about what will likely win the best show award and they were debating about all these shows that I either hadn't heard or hadn't found all that impressive, and I kept wondering if I had somehow misunderstood all of comedy for the fact that my pick for the best show I'd heard wasn't even getting mentioned by the people speculating (same with my pick for second-best, I do think it was an oversight that Pierre Novellie didn't get nominated for those awards last year), but then they announced the awards and Ahir Shah won and I cheered like my favourite sports team had just won the championship. I knew it! I knew that I'd ranked them correctly! I was right and the awards confirmed it! Obviously if a show that I'd seen and thought was shit had won, I'd have said that awards are the bullshit idea that a few people's opinions of a subjective medium count for anything, and they shouldn't exist.

Anyway, I needed to do a brief detour in this post to say "just so everyone knows, I called something correctly once", because I really like being right and think people show know when it happens, but the main point there isn't that I was right, it's that Ahir Shah's Ends won Champion of Edinburgh last year and entirely deserved it, it was brilliant. It's rare that a show can make me laugh that hard, that consistently, and also make me cry by the end. Usually you get emotional shows that are pretty funny or very funny shows that focus entirely on that. Ahir Shah had it nailed across the board. I am so pleased that I will soon be able to force everyone I know to watch it. And good for him, getting as big a platform as Netflix. Those awards are supposed to translate into further career success, aren't they? Sam Campbell won it, and the next year, he got a Taskmaster spot. Ahir Shah won it and the next year he got a Netflix special (and a Bugle debut, very important), which is awesome, but it would be great if we could tack a Taskmaster spot onto that soon, as well.

And in even more stand-up special release date news, this week we finally got an email from John Robins' mailing list that lets us know Howl will be out on audio on September 6. He said in January that it would be out around March or April, but realistically, September was always more likely. I can't blame him. I respect that he's going to the DIY route on stand-up releasing, editing the thing himself and sticking it on Bandcamp. Doing that with this show, given its topic, has to be emotionally difficult to listen to it over and over, as well as taking time and normal editing efforts, so I'm just glad he's releasing it at all, as part of me had a feeling he'd back out of that. I'm looking forward to hearing this one a lot, obviously.

We also got an email this week from Grace Petrie's mailing list, and I was disappointed that it didn't contain updates about the second filming of Butch Ado About Nothing, which I'd thought was happening this summer and supposed to appear on NextUp (on the subject of stand-up shows that have made me cry - I swear it doesn't happen all that often, I think Grace Petrie and Ahir Shah are the only two who did it in 2023). Hopefully that's still happening. It did mention coming to Canada, though. Only Western Canada, but it mentioned the possibility of further dates, so I'll keep an eye on that, in case she moves more central. (Though any Tumblr people in Western Canada, and I know there's at least one of you - I cannot recommend enough going to see Grace Petrie live, I got to last year and it was amazing.)

All this has also reminded me that I read months ago that Marjolein Robertson was filming her 2023 show Marj. I got to see her follow-up, O, in Edinburgh last week, absolutely loved it, which inspired me to look up whether the video of Marj ever appeared anywhere, and it seems like it hasn't yet. There's another thing to watch.

Okay, I think those are the major updates in terms of new recorded stand-up hours that I'm looking out for right now. Everyone watch that Pierre Novellie video, it'll be a good time.

[aerodaltonimperial]

✨Fic Writing Review 2023✨

Tagged by @rosabellebelieve and oh girl. Ain't nobody ready for these stats LOL. Uh oh. Also, I've removed all collab fics for purposes of this, as it doesn't really seem fair since I only wrote, like, half of them lmao.

Words and Fics

268,626 words in 2023 (mother of god)

52 fics on AO3 (dear christ)

I'm not even counting Tumblr ficlets, oh god, don't make me

Top 5 Pairings

💚🖤Jack/Darby (24) (NUMBER ONE???? how tho)

🧡🖤Hook/Danhausen (23)

💚🧡Jack/Hook (5)

🔮🍑Julia/Anna (4)

🧡🎤Max Caster/Hook (3) & 🧡🍊Orange/Hook (3) (HAHAHAHAHA)

Top 5 by kudos

i found love where it wasn't supposed to be (right in front of me) [Hookhausen]

man of lesser words [Hookhausen]

don't need a cure for love [Orange/Hook]

baby please (would you read my eulogy) [JungleCorpse]

you're the realest thing i've never had to fake [Hookhausen]

Top 5 by hits

baby please (would you read my eulogy) [JungleCorpse]

i found love where it wasn't supposed to be (right in front of me) [Hookhausen]

now you know how i feel [Hookhausen]

Weekend in Fresno: or, a Hook choose your own dating adventure [Hook/everyone]

threat level: euclid [HH, JC, SP]

Fandom Events in 2023

I made it to a wrestling show! Since they never go near me and my life is what it is, I really can't manage more than one a year, and I've got to be lucky to get that to work, but this was a big deal and I'm so happy that I could make it happen!

ALSO I MADE UP A FUCKING PAIRING AND GOT IT TO THE #1 FOR BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED you know what this counts as an event LMAOOOOO i'm thinking no one should actually have this power

Upcoming Projects

If I ever stop bemoaning my perceived lack of skill, I've got 2/3 of a fic that Vamp prompted dialogue for, largely me writing something fluffy and saccharine because she was trying to write smut and we were both trying to write out of our wheelhouses lol

Writing reflection

Well! 2023 was quite a year, honestly. I was going to be like OH HOLY SHIT about my word count but when I took our collabs, it dropped so fast, so that's good, I guess (???). I'm still so happy I discovered wrestling, because it's been easily 12 years since I had this amount of creativity for a single fandom. And this year I really stretched out and started writing new stuff within the wrestling fandom! That's exciting (depending what you followed me for, I suppose LOL).

But more than anything else, this year I looked at what I wanted to write and said, FUCK IT, I'M WRITING IT. And I started dropping horror shit I fully expected that no one would read, because I didn't think people came to fandom for spooky stuff??? And lo and behold, y'all really showed up for those fics! I'm forever grateful you saw me writing absolutely batshit horror and were like yes, Katy, we will also read this creepfest. So much love.

I also tried to write more smut, which I am not particularly adept at, and also some darker themes. I do try to write lighthearted things, haha, but my own mental state has been not stellar, and I think that tends to come out in my fics. And I started writing femslash, which this fandom needs so much more of! So. All in all, a real banger year for me in fandom. I'm pretty proud of a LOT of the fics I wrote this year.

And, obviously, 2023 would not be complete with me mentioning that Vamp and I produced an epic shit ton of words together, and MORE IMPORTANTLY had an absolute blast in doing so. What a whirlwind writing together has been!!! I think we've really gotten to this point of just great flow, and I'm super proud of how we work so well like we do. We DO HAVE SOMETHING ELSE COMING but we've been "planning" it since August and haven't written it yet, so HAHAHA. Anyway. Expect that in 2025, or something. ;)

Rules: Feel free to show whatever stats you have. Only want to show Ao3 stats? Rock on. Want to include some quantitative info instead of stats? Please do this. Want to change how yours is presented? Absolutely do that. Would rather eat glass than do this? Please do eat glass, I’ve heard it’s good for your gums.

Tagging: @whysamwhy123 @meeplanguage @fille-lioncelle and anyone else who wants to take a stab at this!

[manonamora-if]

September Check-In

WoW another month has passed already... Is time getting faster or my sense of impending end is just getting stronger...

ANYWAY, existential dread aside... August kinda felt like a mix bad. I did do things, but many days I felt like I didn't do enough (prob that dread again - also injury yay). So let's get into it!

Long post ahead again:

Recap of last month's progress

Recap of last week's stuff

Other IF stuff done

Other IF events

Plan for September

- _ -

The plan for the past month was to:

play more IF: ✅, see reviews in @manonamora-if-reviews

whip out something for the Single Choice Jam: ✅ The Dinner*

fix the website: ✅, new and improved*

write for a WIP: 😐not for a WIP but Goncharov Escapes! was remastered (shelved!), and currently working on DOL-OS.

add to the SG guide: ❌, I have a list though

code TTATEH: ❌, MelS isn't done with the edits (long shot).

*still kind of a WIP

I did kind of predict I wouldn't be able to write much in new content...

- _ -

So what about this week:

DOL-OS has been the main think I've been working on this week. And quite a bit of effort has been dumped in there. Since last week progress update:

the translation has been fully completed, and added to the game files (not all is properly coded)

I added some keyboard QoL for the starting puzzle

the UI re-design 75% complete (like coded complete) <- this is taking so freaking long, but it's worth it

I corrected some bugs (padlock, links)

I've been thinking in more details how the added content would look like (text mainly) and how much writing would be needed (a few thousands, I'd wager).

Obviously, I am not done with the project, but I am getting closer. The current hurdle is the finishing the UI-redesign: I really want things to be pristine in terms of visual quality and that requires a lot of testing and detail change. I have a few minor block of passages left and the booting screen to fix, before I can focus on the final beat of the game (not much UI-wise, more regular coding).

This final part will take quite a bit of time as well, because it too requires a bunch of testing (and there's a few accessibility concerns I need to take care of...). I'm confident it won't be too difficult, just... tedious.

But I really want to do a good job with this remaster, adding all the stuff I couldn't the first time before of time constraint (fun fact: DOL-OS was completed in a month...) and coding capabilities (I learned a ton since). I know people really enjoyed it the first time around, but I know it can be even better. Like it should really have that first-place vibe it deserves :P

I am hoping to be done by next weekend, but depending on how polish I can make it, I might need an extra week on top of it. (This would track: 4-ish weeks to make the OG version, 4-ish weeks to remaster it...).

In the meantime, I might post a few screenshots of the redesign and show it in comparison to the current version.

Some of you have noticed the blog has kinda disappeared. It's not gone, just... password locked. The notifications have been run over a bit by bots, the inbox received a few impatient guests, and it's in need of a good cleaning anyway.

I still want to work on the project (I have so many plans), but since writing anything for it has seemed impossible for the past months, I needed a cleaner break from it.

This project is not over, or abandoned. I kind of see it as my magnum opus (because of the sheer size it should have at the end). But because of this, I've realised I need to plan and re-plan things around the project more carefully. And that includes the blog and its content (original or reblogged). I probably should have made a post, huh... but then again, I always to things on a whim :P

Until things have calmed down, it will stay locked. The game, however, is still available to play.

MelS has been doing his best with progress, but lots of IRL work ahead of him, so he's been pacing himself and write when he can. He's kind of sad our hope to wrap up the game by Halloween probably won't happen, but he's trying his best to finish it as soon as possible!

Slightly related: one ending of the game has been written :P (MelS got tired of writing variation, so to do something new he wrote a bit on the last chapter).

Over at @manonamora-if-reviews, I finished reviewing all Single Choice entries. It was loads of fun to see how people interpreted the restrictions. The Jam was even mentioned on Emily Short's blog (patron saint of IF)!

Also in the reviewing department, I'm taking a crack at the Goncharov jam. I had reviewed a few already, but I thought this might be a good time to tackle on the rest! I think I am about half with them. It's nice to get back into the Gonch meme, especially after the remaster

The upload time will be sporadic, like is was the past month.

After that, I think I'll play from French games...

- _ -

Some IF Stuff:

Today is the last day to submit your list of best IF to the TOP 50 list.

Have an IF ghost in your project drawer? Come share and submit it to the Bring Our Your Ghost Jam. Deadline is September 15th!

The IFComp intent deadline has passed, but if you plan on voting for the entries, you can still create an account!

Similarly, if you are planing on reviewing the IFComp entries, you can get your account settled on the IFDB (many peeps create one at the same time during the voting period, and the system sometimes flags it as spam, and hide ratings/reviews).

September is usually a pretty quiet time... unless you are submitting something to the IFComp... But also, I've been trying reeeeaaaaallllyyyyy hard not to look at the Jam tab on itch, so not to be tempted to do a new thing. I've already put out more games this year than last year (counting the tiny ones).

- _ -

The PLAN tm for September

It will essentially be very similar to August...

continue to play and review games (that front page spot is getting closer...). It gives me an opportunity for a break, and I get to think more about game design or writing, or where I could improve. And I get to give the authors some (hopefully) thoughtful words about their games.

finish the DOL-OS remaster. By mid-September, I think I could swing that. Then it will be another shelved game!

either continue a WIP or fix another semi-completed game. I might try to get La Petite Mort in proper shape and translated for the EctoComp? (I need to check if they accept translation, since it was submitted last year)

maybe try to add another block to the SugarCube Guide? I have a few ideas on what to include, but it is mainly a matter of sitting down and doing it. Though I have another template I've been toying with... maybe that might happen first.

That would be neat if I could manage that :P I need to fix the loading screens of Twine games too...

Taking the list of last month...

To-Do not require much of new stuff:

translate Escape Goncharov! into French. ✅

fix the bugs in EDOC + overall the French version to match

fix the bugs of TRNT + find a way to add the missing pieces (mayyyybe translate into French?)

fix the formatting of DOL-OS + translate into English ✅ (ongoing)

update LPM with the missing content + translate into English

The rest of the To-Do pile:

Finish The Rye in the Dark City (and maybe translate?)

Finish P-Rix - Space Trucker (and try to translate)

Finish Exquisite Cadaver (translation unlikely, current gameplay too complex to port for French)

Add a chapter to CRWL + fix the blog

Re-working TTTT to its originally planned state (lol, not likety)

Re-working SPS Iron Hammer (samesies)

Coding TTATEH (MelS dependent)

Emptying my inboxes

(I am pretty sure the focus for the rest of the year will be to finish the first list. With the addition maybe of a small jam entry or two.)

[ghost-in-the-hall]

Posting Update!!

TW: mentions of weight loss (positive) and body dysmorphia, past trauma non-specific just mentioned, personal junk rant under the cut, above is general information about the posting update

Hello hello! I have finally returned for an update! Things have been crazy for me recently, so I apologize for the delay in the new chapters, but they are still being worked on! I don't have a definite posting date for anything yet, but I'm shooting to have something out by next week! If you would like to hear a little bit more about what's been going on in my life that's below! Just under the cut so no one is caught off guard by the TW's above, it's also a little long because I'm a rambler lol, but overall a lot of exciting stuff is happening on my end!

I go to see Powerwolf in 3 days, which as some, if not most, of you probably know if you've been around here for a while, is my favorite band of all time. That, paired with the fact that this is the first big event I'll be going to since I started my hot girl glow up last year has been making me a little insane lol.

August 19th, 2023, I saw Ghost live, which absolutely changed my life. I remember vividly I had just recently found out I was the heaviest I had ever been in my life, and as someone who's constantly had to deal with body dysmorphia for as long as I can remember, it really made my self esteem take a huge hit. I had this whole plan to dress up and be all hot and sexy for the concert, which I did, but all I could focus on was how much weight I had put on, it was super frustrating and if I hadn't gotten VIP passes I honestly might have gone home because I was just not feeling it. But, we went, I made it all the way up to the barrier. I had an amazing time flirting with Phantom and Sodo (I'm sure they weren't flirting back but I like to let my delusional little brain believe lol) and throughout the night my heart felt so full, it was amazing. There was one point Papa came out singing He Is (my personal favorite) and, again probably delusional but whatever, there was one point where he walked over to my side of the stage, and I was reaching out for him and our eyes met, he reached his hand back out to me and something in my head clicked... This man preaches about acceptance, treating others with kindness, would Papa treat me the same way I treated myself? The answer was absolutely the fuck not. So, from that point forward, I made a conscious decision to treat myself better, I wanted to become so hauntingly beautiful that I would be able to catch Papa's attention if I ever make it back to the barrier for one of their shows lol. That really started to ramp up when PW announced their US tour.

I bought these tickets in February, I fully stopped in the middle of whatever I was doing at the gym to go camp out in the locker room for the pre sale at like 9 in the morning, got the tickets for the front floor because my friends and I are once again trying to make it to the barrier, and went of my fucking God, Falk. In my mind, I had an end goal now.

From that point forward The Hot Girl Glow Up truly began. I'm down 40 lbs, I've put on a shit load of muscle from going to the gym a few times a week, I've recently picked up yoga and I LOVE IT! But, it went so much farther than just the weight loss. I've been a lot kinder to myself, I have a lot of things that happened to me in the past I still need to heal from, and that scared, hurt younger version of me is still trying to find a soft place to land in my mind so she can rest. And a big part of my journey so far is really getting to the root of why I'm holding all of these bad feelings towards myself, which has been its own web that needs to be carefully unwound. Because getting healthy and losing weight is great, but I don't want to get there by bullying myself. The body heals through compassion and stillness, we cannot heal a body we hate. That's something I picked up in yoga the other night, think I'm gunna keep that in my pocket for a bit.

I know I don't owe anyone any explanation for why it takes me so long to get updates out, but I'm not posting updates not because I don't want to, that's the farthest thing from the truth. To put it simply, I give a shit about myself now. I can't spend all day sitting in front of my computer, staring a blank screen, waiting for the ideas to come while I shove nothing but fast food in my face and don't take care of myself physically, mentally, or emotionally, that's where I was at before all of this. So, I do apologize for the lack of updates, I promise just because I've slowed down doesn't mean I'm stopping any time soon lol.

Hopefully after PW I'll be back to a more consistent schedule. Between all of my classes, and the gym, and work, and trying to sew the last part of my concert outfit and make jewelry, and do practice makeup, and hair trials, and meeting up with my friends to plan their outfits and makeup and so we can go shopping for all of this, I've just been very busy lol. But, the update is still coming, we just gotta get there!

[theanomily]

Regarding the H.I.V.E. birthday bundle, specifically my less-than-satisfactory contribution to it:

(Under a cut because I estimate this to be about 1000 words).

The shortest way I can say this is "sorry."

In a longer form, I acquknowledge that Wing is a beloved, respected character of the H.I.V.E. series, becoming a favourite of many, and ranking highly in the minds of everyone else. If anyone deserved better treatment in this event, it was undoubtedly him, not to mention the real-life disappointed H.I.V.E. fandom.

I also acquknowledge that this was probably the largest communal event since the release of Bloodline three years ago and that the date on which it was announced was long enough ago to counter any explanation I could possibly give, especially since I, as a minor, have more time to commit to any one project than an adult burdened with full-time employment and more significant responsibilities than I. Yet I shall offer one regardless and leave the perception of my character at the mercy of your own individual judgements. It is as follows:

Some of you might remember me directing a post to an "anon" threatening me in January, which I have since deleted. This is actually not a recent or isolated issue- not even for my blog, although I doubt that anybody remembers her posting so-called "edgy" stuff on it back in like 2019. But if you do, fun fact: it was the same person. This person used to be my friend, then a "girlfriend" and is now something of an enemy. As well as threats, there has been blackmail and cases of physical violence committed against both me and my other friends. The reason I bring this up is because she followed me to the store I worked at sometime mid Feburary and provoked me there too. I was stupid, I shouted at her, and I was rightfully fired as a result. And the reason I mention this at all is because it has been hell finding a new job, eating up the time I had specifically set aside for this project.

Then, the entirety of March I more or less dedicated to finally reading bloodline (I read it twice more after my initial "live react" posts so I could actually get the juice out of it).

On the 23rd of March, my cat died, and to be brutally honest, I spent the entirety of April not doing anything that wasn't complete brainrot (hence the surge in my blog activity 💀).

May brought with it UCAS exams (UCAS points being what you need in the UK to get into university).

June brought the results, one of which was a C in physics, a grade that my school, family, and peers viewed as an unforgivable failure. As such, I had devices as well as other "distractions," including my books, taken away until the end of July so I could focus on resitting everything. Additionally, I was forced to go to school two hours early for extra lessons, given hour long detentions until the end of the academic year and had to have random meetings during my breaks to really rub in how stupid I am (no exaggerations are being made here; my head of year managed to drag calling me the r slur into a forty minute rant on one occassion).

Then, in August, my uncle got into a car accident and requested that myself and my parents fly over into Zimbabwe to help him. Fair enough, but in the time it had taken us to get over there, the man had gone off-grid (as he has a habit of doing) and we still have no clue of his whereabouts.

I promise I will make amends, and the only path I can see heading towards this objective is completing and redoing what you have seen for this project alongside a few other elements I had planned to incorporate into it. To be more specific, I will:

- Finish the birthday bundle.

I'm sure you've noticed that the "playlist" and "prompts for you" categories are missing from my offering. This will be rectified, and I will add these to the original birthday bundle post so it can be completed. I had elected to avoid those categories as I figured that having a few tasks done to a "rushed and painfully mediocre" standard would be better than having a small amount of awful content for each element of the bundle. The reasons why those two categories were chosen to be neglected were that a) no music I know at all aligns with Wing and b) I had not noted that the "prompts for you" was an existing section and only remembered when reading through the example Otto post, meaning I had not left myself enough time to sit with and revisit ideas to see if they really were any good. Additionally, that fanfic is nowhere near finished. I do plan to edit the published chapter and then continue it, and I shall try my best to stick to frequent, regular updates of a higher quality and quantity than I have presented you with thus far.

- Improve what I have given you

I plan to drastically improve my digital art for each "mini" picture that's in my work- you can see that there's a very, very good reason why I kept them all mini. When I'm done, they will be transformed into something that can at least be posted at their full size without risking the health of your eyes.

- Add to what I've given you

I know I've done very few headcanons, so I'll be sure to focus on Wing for future ones that I'll publish on my blog. In all likelihood, the next post of mine will be a much longer list of Wing headcanons. And even if it is not next, it will still hopefully be in the near future.

My initial plan for the "Wing art" was to make a rudimentary physical model of him. I can't promise it'll be of high quality since the last time I did this, I was four years younger, working with better materials, working without keeping it a secret, and crafting the fox emoji rather than an entire person. I also can't see how the colour green, which is what I was assigned, will fit in. But I'll do it anyway.

Something that I played with a bit while waiting for the prompts to be given out was character art. Currently, I have WIPs for Shelby and Laura and have posted a Ms Leon. I want to do something for every character, and Wing will most certainly be included in that, so I promise I'll take extra care to do him justice when I get around to him. Consider it to be like a non-picrew alternative to the cover image.

I also have a physical drawing in the works, though I confess this too shall probably take a while in the interest of refining skills before applying them so I don't waste the one piece of sketch paper I bought.

Once more, I am so extremely sorry for what I have done, and I will ensure that never again shall this height of inadequacy be reached and inflicted onto people who deserve so much better.

Thank you for reading

[fishdavidson]

2023 State of the Mackerel

Hello fine internet people! The blog portion of my main account has been dormant for quite some time, and I've been wanting to put something here to give the few people who are following me an update. I've also wanted to change a few things on here, so with the end of the year upon us, I wanted to put forward something to help provide some clarity about the blog's past, present, and future.

The Past: Noteworthy Life Events

Since my last official post on here on August of 2021, obviously at least a few notable things have happened in the intervening two years. Here is a quick rundown of the highlights, presented as fake headlines:

Fish Davidson gets over by a minivan and yells swear words

"Guess I'll go back to school," says local internet weirdo

Studies indicate minor promotion at work leads to corresponding minor improvements in life satisfaction

Combining a bunch of words, Fish Davidson writes a book

Yep, tabletop gaming is a thing and it's not going away

Fish Davidson learns to make two sounds at once

Okay, so now that I've hopefully piqued your interest, here's a little bit more detail about each of those items. In November of 2021, I was walking across the street at a crosswalk and was hit by a minivan. The driver wasn't going very fast, but it was enough to break three bones (including my tailbone) and put me on crutches for a while and I needed special orthopedic pillows for my butt for about 18 months. I'm mostly back to normal now, but it was a long road.

The next big thing was that I went back to grad school in an online program. I've been a student for about a year now, and I'm about halfway through the program. Whatever intermittent dreams I would have and wanted to write about have been shoved aside to make time for the seemingly endless papers of graduate work. It's stressful, but I'm glad to be back in school.

Part of the reason for going back to school is because I got a minor promotion at work. Predictably, it came with more responsibilities, but it also came with a little bit more money. I'm going back to school to learn more about things that are related to my job, but also to leverage it into another potential pay raise.

Now we get to the personal creative pursuits of the recent past. I wrote a novel called Power Frank about a superhero whose only power is that he can open any jar. And he has to leverage that power to both overcome family dysfunction and save his desert hometown from being destroyed by malevolent hogs. I'm starting the querying process for agents and hope to have it published eventually!

I also finished up my multi-year Dungeons and Dragons campaign, Shits and Giggles that ran from level 1 to level 20. Several smaller (much smaller) campaigns happened after that. Then Wizards of the Coast did some stupid stuff with their Open Gaming License, and now I've redirected the bulk of my gaming money to provide support for smaller independent creators and lesser known systems. I've really gotten into several OSR systems like Shadowdark, Basic Fantasy, and (if you count these as OSR) Cairn and Knave. Other non-fantasy systems that I'm currently really digging into are Orbital Blues and Mothership. Granted, I don't currently run those games for people yet, but I do like reading the books and seeing different approaches to solving certain mechanical problems. I've also been creating a bunch of random tables for things.

The last important creative pursuit is that of Tuvan throat singing. Tuva is a region in the geographic center of Asia that is known for a style of singing that allows the singer to produce multiple notes simultaneously. I've been fascinated by it for decades and tried off and on to learn it, but this summer I finally made progress and am finally learning how to do it. It takes a lot of practice and making weird sounds, much to the chagrin of my (very patient and supportive) wife.

The Present and Future: Lumped Together For Expediency

I want to write a dream journal and that's what this blog was primarily conceived for. Unfortunately, my dream output has been incredibly fickle and the other demands on my time (professional and academic) make it difficult to report or even remember dreams. Does that mean I'm closing up this blog? Nope! I'm still on tumblr almost every day. But if I'm not able to reliably post dreams on here, what should happen to this blog?

That's the question I've been wrestling with for the past few months. What should I do? Since fishdavidson is my primary blog and I can't easily swap over to a new primary blog to archive my content, I've decided to pivot a little bit. Even outside of tumblr, I use Fish Davidson as my basically my brand (obligatory shoutout to the 1-800 contacts commercial).

So it makes sense to keep using Fish Davidson for personal promotion and creative pursuits. I'm not going to be deleting or moving any of my old posts, but new posts will be relatively rare and limited to mostly things that I create.

However, tumblr lets me create a bajillion different sideblogs for my various interests. I've got several different blogs, all geared toward different interests. Future dream journal entries, if and when they happen, will be published to fishdreams instead of here. Other posts and reblogs will be spread across my various sideblogs. So without further ado, here are

My Various Sideblogs and What They're For

fishdreams - dream journal stuff

fishcrap - various reblogs and anything that I find interesting but outside of the scope of my various side blogs

fishability - for disability awareness stuff

fishrpg - this will be where I post a lot of tabletop RPG stuff. I'm planning on participating in Hexplore24, which is a tiny daily challenge for RPG creation that starts in January.

tuvafish - stuff about throat singing (and maybe even some of my practice sessions) will go here as I find stuff to post (currently empty)

brownstonarmy - probably won't be updated, but if you want to read a novel-length account of the entire Shits and Giggles campaign, here you go!

Thank you all for being such cool people on tumblr, have a great holiday season and new year, and I hope we stay friends on here.

-Fish

[felicitythekittycat]

When I got these messages out of nowhere, I immediately panicked. I had an idea of who sent the messages but I had no idea what they would actually do, and my mind went to the worst possibilities. At the time, I was terrified and acted irrationally. I completely snapped and reacted by making a post to try to appease them. I tried to explain every bad thing I had experienced in the last few years in terms of it being my fault, even if I was just an observer, or had been taken advantage of in one case. I stayed vague because I didn't know what this person wanted from me, and tried to keep it brief instead of going into all the details, and my habit of self-blame implied far worse things than what actually happened. Not that I'm saying I'm completely innocent. Far from it. But my irrational and panicked response caused more harm than good and I need to set the record straight.

the roleplay group that ended August 2021 I mentioned, I may have technically been the oldest but the age range when the group started was only 15-18. We were in the pandemic and trying to escape from reality. I fell into the same destructive attention-seeking patterns as before and I beat myself up for not being a "responsible adult" even though we're only 1-3 years apart. I was a shit friend again. I'm so sorry, Asriel.

And to clarify the biggest issue: In October 2021, I joined another RP community. I fell into the same selfish patterns again, having written a character who was very pitiable and self-loathing. I met someone and we became friends! We had started writing character lore and group events. He wanted to include hypnosis which seemed innocent enough, but it started to make me uncomfortable. I kept thinking I was reading too much into his odd requests but when his character tried to force mine to "say something submissive" I put my foot down IMMEDIATELY and it went no further. That was as far as it went, it was never explicit at any point, and I found out later he was getting off the hypnosis itself as a fetish. I felt violated. I STILL feel violated, and ashamed. I let myself get manipulated by a kid 5 years younger than me into roleplay that he got off to, but who the fuck would believe the adult in that scenario? That's the truth of what I vague-posted before, and the main reason I felt the need to explain myself once I calmed down from the initial panic of those anonymous threats. I have also now cut contact completely.

With regards to the sender of the anonymous message:

In 2019, I tried to introduce a friend to friends in a large community, but things went poorly to an explosive degree. Instead of defending her, I joined in making fun of her reaction and continued to the point of slander. If she did something I didn't like I’d complain to someone else about every little thing she did to upset me instead of saying it to her face so we could fix it. This spiraled out of control.

I had this conflicting thought process of not wanting to bother people with my problems and wanting validation from everyone, which meant I’d act vague about what was wrong and then get upset over these problems not being magically resolved. I was a very passive-aggressive, sometimes outright aggressive person. I was also loud and attention-seeking, too focused on what I was feeling to acknowledge how I hurt other people with my actions.

Looking back on these conversations, I don’t know what my mindset was at the time. I would fight her heavily over her agreeing to set boundaries for me. I would panic and just start screaming at the smallest sign of conflict. I complained to people over conversations that were ultimately civil, or at the very least snarky remarks that she had already apologized for. I’d get frustrated over the most stupid stuff.

As we started to talk more, a joke ship between our characters emerged. I loved the idea at the time and drew fanart because it made me feel special and validated. I would use this to get closer with her and get her attention, throwing fits if I didn't get it. At some point I talked to a friend about it and realized how "problematic" the ship was because of not only the age difference between my character and her version of Dust Sans, but also how abusive the yandere trope as a whole was. I flipped and became resentful, but instead of being straightforward I started slandering it. I used the phrase ‘pedo-ship’ to describe it due to the age difference between Dust and my character. I was referring to the ship, not the creator, but I should have been more careful with my words, especially given her past. I was careless and cruel with how I talked about her.

In March of 2020 things came to a head. We cut contact for our mutual well-being, as we kept hurting each other. I lashed out, yelling more and more about everything and escalating things further. This all stopped in August of 2020, in response to a potential lawsuit. I didn’t know what the lawsuit was about at the time, other than knowing it was related to the awful things I said about her. I just stopped talking about the situation then and there. We hadn't had contact since, until now. In that post, I stated I hadn’t changed and used the above incidents as example. Again, I made that post and those claims in a state of panic, reverting to the state I was in when I last talked to the sender. Nothing can actually fix what I did, and the trauma I inflicted won’t magically be resolved with an ‘I’m sorry’. However, the approach I took to this situation ultimately only made things worse, and it’s best if I’m more honest with my past actions beyond saying ‘it’s all my fault’ with no explanation.

Despite bumps in the road, I’ve gotten better at addressing interpersonal issues as they come up instead of bottling it up. I still think low of myself, but I’ve become better at recognizing those behaviors and my own faults. I’ve resolved not to take out my self-hatred and aggression onto my friends anymore, and I have come to better terms with my past actions, as shitty as they were. I still have a lot I need to work on with a professional therapist. I went to therapy for a little over a year, until it seemed like I was no longer benefitting from it. Then I stopped going. I’m not sure if it was me needing to grow more or if the therapist wasn't a good fit, but I am seeking seeking help again so I can improve myself and stop making the same mistakes.

I'm sticking to my inactivity. I'll come back eventually, but for now, it’s best if I stay off of social media and focus on myself. My 'confession' post reflected my feelings at the time but not an accurate depiction of what actually happened, and did more harm than good. I just wanted to correct that before I move on. Personal growth isn’t something I want to flaunt and say “see? I’m better now!” It’s something that needs to be shown and consistently worked on. And I will continue to do that.

[nancypullen]

Creeping Toward September

Shhhh. The last three days we've woken up to temperatures hovering between 58-60 and I don't want to scare it away. I know it's still August, summer is still spreading her fiery breath around, and we're a solid month away from really pleasant weather, but this sneak peek is wonderful. Our daytime highs still soar to the 80's, but I'll take that cool morning kiss and dream about fall. I haven't posted in a week! We had the sweet grandgirl for three days and had a ball. We returned her Monday afternoon and then I took Tuesday off. I didn't lift a finger. Since then I've been cranking out earrings like my life depends on it. I still need to make cards and if I have time, do some of my altered art watches. I'm working on earrings first because they require more time. First I condition and blend the clay and decide what sort of pattern or look I want, then I roll and cut, and into the oven they go. Once they're baked I do a little sanding to smooth the edges, then they get an acrylic glaze and go into my little UV machine. When they're all pretty and glossy, I drill holes and put them together with jump rings and posts. None of it is hard, but it is a bit time consuming. I am building an inventory though, and that's the goal. My plan for Artisans on the Choptank is to have one display of autumn and Halloween earrings, one display of the local high school colors, and one display of just really FUN earrings - all colors and designs. I've made several pairs in the high school colors, and right now I'm in the thick of the autumn batch.

I'm really digging the gray, gold, and white. I was actually just using up scraps when I made those, but I may make more.

I won't be charging much because I know how imperfect these are. I'm not using high end findings, I'm still a bit clumsy with the whole process, and I'm simply not a perfectionist. If anything has to be exact, I'm not your gal. But for a few bucks, surely the ladies of Caroline County would like some fun earrings. I guess I'll find out. I'm planning to post this sign at my booth.

I may also have a little sign with a "days until Christmas" countdown. It's closer than you think.

So, that's what's keeping me busy. I'm happiest when I'm creating, so it's been a good week. I can't wait to complete the earring plan and get started on the cards. I've roughed out a couple of ideas.

Come on over to my booth and buy a gift for the fancy gal in your life and a card to go with it. One stop shopping! I have the Square thing for my phone so I can swipe a card, I have appropriate displays for my wares, and I'll have this banner on the front of my table.

That's me! I think that since my first foray into the craft fair world is in September, I'll use an orange table cloth and maybe some mini pumpkins with that banner. Keep it simple, but noticeable.

I'm trying not to over invest because this may be a flop. Or I might decide that I hate sitting at a booth all day. That banner was $7, my time is free (seriously, what else am I going to do?), and my supplies are mostly inexpensive. Clay is cheap. I don't want this to become a money pit of a hobby. Hopefully I can sell enough to pay for my spot at the event. Booth space for the day is $50 and it's only four hours! I think that's steep. Maybe I'm naïve.

Aright, enough about that. You've probably fallen asleep while I yammered on about clay earrings. B-O-R-I-N-G. Sorry. Honestly, I can't share a zillion photos of the grandgirl (which is what I want to do) and there's not much else happening around here. The mister is still running far and wide doing his photo stuff. The last two evenings he was at Summerfest. That's Denton's BIG send-off to summer, celebrating harvest as well as sending the kids back to school. They don't start school until after Labor Day here (throwback to my childhood!). Anyway, at Summerfest there's a lot of good music, dancing, food, fireworks, a play area for kids with giant sides and bouncy houses, and so on. I probably should have gone, but I end up attending those sorts of things alone. That's no fun. I figured I'd stay home and use those hours to produce inventory (I was trying to avoid saying earrings again). Last year I tried to enjoy it, but I had horrible sciatica pain and I was still feeling puny from a double bout of covid. I did enjoy the music though!

Heyyyyy, speaking of pain...guess who is living practically pain-free these days? Ol' Grancy has found the perfect recipe for feeling whole again! First, movement. Walking for just 30 minutes every morning and being diligent about my stretches and some core work has made a huge difference. I'd like to get a treadmill and increase my waking time. I used to do 3.5 miles every morning and it set the tone for the rest of my day. That was before my ankle surgery. After the ankle surgery I tried so hard to maintain activity, water aerobics, Jazzercise,etc. I even had a routine before Jazzercise - ibuprofen one hour before class, after class I'd drive home with an ice wrap on my ankle and then elevate it. Stupid, huh? THEN WE MOVED. That move was when I hurt my back and the sciatica stuff started. If you want to know how much true sciatica issues hurt, brawny boxer Mike Tyson uses a wheel chair when his flairs up. So PT, stretches, and walking had reduced my pain by about half. I'm not bragging when I say that I endure pain well. That's just how I'm made. An ER nurse once called me "stoic". But that doesn't mean it's not exhausting. It takes a toll, it robs you of joy. It's no bueno. That's when someone I love and trust told me all about gummies. Let me start by saying I've never smoked pot in my life. I've never had a negative view of it, it just wasn't my thing. I've never been a drinker either, I don't care what anyone else drinks or smokes, it just wasn't for me. Do you, enjoy your life, none of my business. Maryland recently legalized marijuana, like so many other states, and people are becoming more educated about the plant, the products, and the benefits. What I knew could have fit in a teacup. I learned that medical marijuana is often used for chronic pain with great success and no side effects. I cringe at the thought of using prescription meds with a long list of possible and horrifying side effects. I was already living on a steady diet of Tylenol (not good) that only half worked. So when that dear person explained to me what she uses and how, I was intrigued. Fast forward to visiting a dispensary and telling the very helpful person at the counter, "I don't want to get high, but I'm old and I hurt." She said, "Gotcha." Because I am a lightweight with everything from alcohol to cold medicine, I tried one quarter of a gummie to start. One fourth of a CBD/THC gummie and I am a perfectly normal, not high, PAIN-FREE person! I am astounded. I knew that THC is used for people who are suffering with conditions from cancer to Lyme Disease, but I assumed that those patients were trading lucidity for relief. Maybe at higher doses they are, I don't know. Still, better than so many of the alternatives. So this plant, possibly put on Earth just for this purpose, criminalized and stigmatized (with the help of big pharma who wants your money), is the simplest solution of all. Of course, just like alcohol, there are people who abuse it. Alcohol, oxycontin, all sorts of legal things are abused. People are people. I'm just saying that 1/4 of a little gummie candy allows me to move through my day without pain and feel like myself again. No expensive, addictive drug with scary side effects - just a plant. Hallelujah. I may regret sharing that, because plenty of people will judge without researching. I'm okay with it. I know what I know. I'm not a drinker, a smoker, a pill taker, or a whiner. I'll just say that if your state has been smart enough to legalize it, and you have any sort of chronic pain, I'm happy to answer any of your questions about my experience. I'm still learning, but I can tell you that it's been a miracle for me. I'm dancing again! No foggy brain, just relief.

If anyone had told young me that old me would be chewing up pot candy, I'd have called you a damn liar. Old me is wiser, thank goodness. Alright, it's past time for me to get some chores done. I've already cleaned the bathrooms but I definitely need to water a few things outside. A couple of days ago I tidied up the gardens and hacked down about half of the spent sunflowers (because I'm pain free!). I stuck the heads into a staked planter so the yellow finches can keep enjoying them.

Once I finish outside I can get busy painting eyes on these ghosties and giving them some glitter.

Can you tell I don't use my good baking sheets for making earrings? Some eyes, some glitter, and some posts and they'll be ready to go! I'm not going to do very many cutesy earrings - just these ghosts and some pumpkins. I don't want to get too stuck on holidays, I'd rather do seasons. Anywho, wishing you a wonderful Sunday. I hope that yours is as busy or as quiet as you like. Do something that delights you, whether that's a lazy afternoon in a hammock with a book or a deep clean of your space. Take care of yourself, body and soul. It's important. Sending out loads of love. Stay safe, stay well. XOXO, Nancy

[catboyolli]

sunday morning rambling/vent about creativity and other stuff

i have been trying so hard to enter a creative mode again but it's just.... not working at all

i don't remember when was the last time i grabbed a pencil and made something on paper, and i have my drawing tablet in front of me but everytime i think about finally doing something it feels like a waste of time and the fact that i have been looking at art that's clearly out of my skill range doesn't help much

(the solution of course would be practice and study and practice and study but i feel like the results of said practice would be devastating and i don't know if i'm in the mental headspace to accept that the stuff i create is basically trash (i know it is but knowing and having concrete proof are two different things))

then there's the 10 year anniversary event in a few months and i really want to participate and i fucking know i should've started earlier but now not even the deadline is making me react to get up and do something because what's the point if it's going to be trash? what's the fucking point of doing something you love about someones you also love when all i will see are the thousands of mistakes? what's the point of creating and delivering something that's not good enough for my standards that i won't allow myself to lower? what's the point when a lot of people can create better stuff than mine?

and i go back to uni classes in mid august so that + my full time job + the amount of studying that is needed for this course will leave me with barely any time to live, so naturally i won't have time to sit and draw

btw i have been trying to craft a sort of fantasy au since mid 2021 and i settled on the final classes this month but now there's a bigger problem: the character sheets and the setting

the tabletop rpg i chose isn't an easy one, it has tons of ruling and and unnecesary long list of spells, so building the character sheets is driving me crazy but i don't want to change to an easier one because it doesn't have the flavor i need (if i can't have my blorbo olli finding answers in the stars then what's the purpose? 5e doesn't have what i need) but at the same time i find the setting of this ttrpg a bit weak (to which the easier answer would be just build upon it, but how much? do i have enough imagination to fill the cities with npcs for my blorbos to interact with? answer: no i fucking don't)

so who knows? if something so easy as picking the class took me 2 years, by 2034 i will probably have the designs ready and bc will be long disbanded by then so again, what's the fucking point of it?

i hate how perfectionism kills the best part of me

[glassedplanets]

template source!

jan | feb | mar | apr | may | jun | july | aug | sep | oct | nov | dec

this year i read a ton of art books, so i'll drop a big list + reflections under the cut:

i'll split these up into art books and instructional books, though there are a few that did a bit of both.

art books:

the art of heikala

the art of loish

beautiful scenes from a fantasy world

mysterious scenes from a parallel world

a sky longing for memories: the art of makoto shinkai

expedition sketchbook

windows to worlds: the art of devin elle kurtz

reverie: the art of sybilline meynet

the man who leapt through film

instructional books:

framed perspective vol. 1 & 2 by marcos mateu-mestre

master the art of speed painting

sketching from the imagination

sketching from the imagination: characters

sketching from the imagination: storytelling

beyond art fundamentals

figure drawing for artists

that's actually more than i thought, lmao. standouts for me were a sky longing for memories, windows to worlds, master the art of speed painting, and figure drawing for artists -- each of these offered some really valuable insight for me and helped me think about something in a different way. i got all these via library and at this point i'm worried that i've exhausted the catalogs of every library i have access to :/

i've only ever taken one art class in my life and it wasn't a really great experience, plus i'm not great at teaching myself things, so finally reaching for instructional books about art this year felt like a big leap and i'm glad that i took it. i also watched some of the drawclass VODs that are up on youtube and started looking for resources like studies and sketches from artists i like. idk, i guess it's kind of been about demystifying the process for me. there's a lot of stuff i've been doing the long way round for years and years or not doing at all because i didn't know that you were "allowed" to take a shortcut, or that it was even possible (eg. foliage brushes).

this year was pretty wobbly in terms of how happy i was with the art i made and how much of it i made, particularly bc Life Happened in august and just has not stopped, and i know that i felt really bad and unhappy with art for a big chunk of the year -- but now that i'm past that, i can see that i've improved a lot in a lot of the ways in which i've been wanting to improve. you know what's nuts? i only started actively drawing backgrounds for every piece last year. now i can't imagine not doing something for a background.

i think i also gnawed through a lot of... idk, shame? inadequacy? some yucky feeling i had about tagging my art for tumblr search. i think it's partially that we're all back on this hell site and i just don't care about showing my ass anymore. whatever. y'all either get to see my fucking anime Poasting or unfollow/mute/block/whatever, i don't really give a shit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the art goals i set for myself at the start of the year were to try making a short comic more than once, which i did! twice, actually, though i didn't post one of them. that's ok. i don't remember if this was a goal, but i submitted art to a digital zine this year too! i need to check if i can post it yet actually... lmao. and i joined a fandom event as an artist, which i'm really excited for. i haven't done a fandom event since 2013 and i've never done one as an artist.

my art goals for 2023 are to do thumbnails for most of the big pieces that i draw, and to draw people interacting physically with each other when i draw 2+ in one piece. that'll be tough since i honestly enjoy the subtlety of Two Guys Standing Next To Each Other but it's an area i want to improve in.

[morganpdf]

Ok 🖊 for Ellis (don’t think I’ve seen you chat about them much) and obligatory 🖊 for Fig bc you asked about my Fig first :3

not me immediately forgetting to answer this dsvfvds

BUT TY i don't talk about ellis much & i know part of it is because they don't have (or want) a partner so I tend to draw less of them (i'm foolish)!!! BUT in splat timeline ellis is agent 3 in an offshoot universe from the main one juice and i have (wherein flynn, rowan, and jo are 4, 3, and 8 respectively). they live with august (the agent 4 for that timeline) until she moves out to live with her gf, piper (agent 8).

the rest is under the cut bc ouhhhhghghhhgh oc chatter

BUT BASIC STUFF: in every universe, ellis uses they/them (maybe toying around w xe/xir but not sure on that yet) (honestly i think they'd be down for any pnouns that Aren't he/she) (don't even THINK about gendering them) and is aroace. they're also autistic in the "this conversation isn't interesting to me at all so I'm just going to leave" way.

in splat timeline! ellis is the youngest of the agents, despite being. the most longterm member of the splatoon. they're about a year or two younger than august (it used to be more than that but I think this works better), and they meet through the agency. ellis had been living alone in agency-based housing and was assigned august as a roommate and, hates her (lovingly). they have a very sibling relationship and ellis judges every girl august brings home (except for piper BUT to be fair. august didn't bring her home technically. and ellis knew her previously through the events of octo expansion).

SPEAKING of piper. in every timeline ellis LOVES piper. she can bake a mean pan of brownies and she's also autistic so she Gets them and its very (autism creatures shaking hands image). they just sit together quietly on their phones/laptops hashtag parallel play. when they find out august and piper are dating they're very PIPER YOU ARE MAKING A HORRIBLE MISTAKE (i am so happy for both of you) AUGUST IF YOU FUCK THIS UP I'LL KILL YOU. also when august moves out to live with piper they cry but no one sees ok. no one

NOT INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP STUFF:

ellis has to be doing something with their hands at all times. they have like 50 different fidget toys littered around the apartment, 30% of which are different color fidget cubes. they don't even like fidget cubes that much but they're all different colors/novelty gimmicks (ie baby yoda, a cat, etc) so it's ok. their favorite fidgets are rubbing smooth stuff and clicking so. clickable pens and smooth stones are their go-to fidgets

in splat timeline they use up a lot of that energy tinkering with their autobombs (they refer to them as their chickens, always in a deadpan) (with how technical they like to be when talking abt them, no one can tell if the chickens thing is a joke) (good luck figuring it out), but in every timeline they do a lot with textiles. their favorite is cross stitching but they also dabble in knitting. all the cross stitching they do is like. rude phrases made to look super live laugh love home sweet home because they think it's funny. they have a very floral "go away" hung on their walls in different scripts in like 3 places

oughhh this is just making me realize i need to draw ellis more...... they're the focus of my piece i did for hero shot zine tho so here's a sneak peak straight from that!!

AND THEN ONTO FIG..... fig (they/them) is @saltylenpai's OC technically so i'm a little rambly about them but they're dating my OC wren (he/him)!!! i have like NO recent art of either of them though so i need to. do that

but fig is super sweet, in love with the world and everything in it. in splatoon timeline, fig is a sanitized octoling in recovery and their love for all of the little things in life comes from relearning how to exist as a person. in human aus they're just. like that

fig's also like. our tallest oc. they have a huge tattoo spanning their chest and arms that's sea themed, uhhhhhhh, they love art and making art and thats how they meet wren actually!! they go to school together!!! wren is a printmaking major who dabbles in pottery and fig is like. i want to do Everything actually. so theres some overlap in classes. fig is also mega autistic (are you sensing a theme with our OCs) ESPECIALLY in the "i don't understand social cues" way and that whole flirting situation was a shitshow bc fig just dropped the "you make me feel a way [romantic but doesnt realise it]" and wren is just a fucking Mess over it bc he's so flustered and gay about it but he's not sure if *he's* reading the situation wrong . they get together thought shhh

fig's also a huge romantic and takes so many candids of wren and paints wren and like. wren is just their muse in a lot of ways its so fuckinf cute. ouhhhhhhh i just love fig a lot. i love fig theyre so cute and sweet and i love them so much i have so many feelings about fig i am not good at words about them theyre just (crying noises) and their relationship with wren is SO (louder crying noises)

here's a fun fact!! fig grew up birdwatching with their mom so when they come around to be like "hey mom this is my boyfriend wren" she's like yeah that tracks for you, always a birdwatcher!!