#also put octavo in there

[ersatz-introspective]

i've been making these every year since 2021 for fun i can't wait for the time ro make my 2024 one

these are in order from 2021, 2022, and 2023 lmao i got myself some disordered kins

[rincewizard]

it’s sorta ambiguous at least in tcom/tlf exactly how long rincewind was still at UU between getting possessed by the octavo and getting kicked out, and also pretty ambiguous the degree to which he was expelled BECAUSE he tried to read it vs because he couldn’t do magic with The Spell in his head (although it IS pretty clear that these two things both were reasons, and they seem pretty intertwined). HOWEVER while the memories of rincewind’s time at UU that we do get in text don’t have a timeline attached relative to The Possession^tm, i am delighted to report that it’s pretty strongly implied that he was struggling before that.

So, there’s a line in The Light Fantastic that goes kind of like “I just managed to go around with one of the Great Spells in my head for years and not go completely insane” and it makes me wonder if Rincewind was “made” to hold the Spell. He can see octarine and has all the other “attributes” that wizards have but he can’t do spells. Was that a sort of fail-safe to make sure he never accidentally says it? Like, the reason he can’t do spells is literally because he was chosen for that one job. Had it been any other wizard, they would have gone mad and/or would have tried using it. In that case, survivability was just a bonus. Or he was tailored for that too.

The only issue with that is that Fate wants him dead apparently? So that means that it probably wasn’t his original fate. Which means either the Octavo is strong enough to mess with a God’s plans, is in cahoots with The Lady or is aware of how Rincewind’s The Lady’s Champion and is capitalizing on it. Or some other fourth thing.

[linderosse]

Are you planning on redesigning Aurora now that you intend to fuse her and Echo?

Yes!!!

I’ve finished the redesign, and now all I’ve gotta do is complete the little minicomic that goes along with it. Expect those out sometime soon!

(Aurora’s game, AoL, is actually one of the two Zelda games I haven’t played yet— and now that I’ve finished EoW, I’m super excited to stream my first playthrough of AoL starting tomorrow— 10/16!)

I don’t think I’ve actually written out the full context anywhere, so I’m going to take this chance to lay everything out:

Echo (EoW Zelda) is being merged with Aurora (AoL Zelda) in the Wisdomverse, and Rhyme (Cadence of Hyrule Zelda) is now also canon, and is Echo’s second adventure. This gives Silent (EoW Link) another game as well by merging him with Rhythm (CoH Link).

Imo, Cadence of Hyrule is the perfect second adventure for Echo and Silent:

CoH has two-player mode, and both Link and Zelda are equally playable, which means Echo maintains her protagonist status and gets to fight alongside her Link for a whole adventure this time.

Their names, Echo and Silent, also kinda fit the musical theme of CoH.

CoH features the Gerudo as one of the main races, who aren’t in any of the other Downfall games except EoW. It also features the Deku Scrubs in the DLC, who aren’t properly a race in *any* games except for MM and EoW.

CoH’s main villain, Octavo, goes around putting people to sleep. Sounds a bit like what happened to Aurora… but I don’t think Octavo is the Wizard— Octavo is not that bad a guy.

Cadence herself, the third part of the protagonist trio in this game, fits well as their new friend.

CoH gives Echo and Silent time to get to know each other properly before they’re cruelly torn apart in the backstory of AoL, presumably (but not certainly!) forever.

(I have indeed 100%ed CoH, then went back and completed Octavo mode, then went back again and completed main mode deathless and 100%ed it again. CoH is a really fun game, guys.)

Anyways, this means:

Echo’s journey: Echoes of Wisdom —> Cadence of Hyrule —> (Great Decline: 800 year timeskip) —> Adventure of Link

Silent’s journey: Echoes of Wisdom —> Cadence of Hyrule

Hyrule’s journey: (Great Decline) —> The Legend of Zelda —> Adventure of Link

Dawn’s journey: (Great Decline) —> The Legend of Zelda

…This is getting rather complex, isn’t it. I should probably make another version of that timeline I made for the Links, but with all the updated info, and with the Zeldas instead. So many ideas, so little time!

Masterpost

[ashmouthbooks]

two fics by missmariie, Floorspace and Heifern’t you had enough of me. both are BBC Shetland, Jimmy/Duncan.

this is the second of the homemade bookcloths I made recently - I’m delighted that I’m now able to make bespoke bookcloths in any colour and pattern I desire! decided to put this to use for a matching set of fics.

the fabric is from Søstrene Grene, backed with tissue paper. the endpapers are double sided origami paper also from Søstrene Grene, 70gsm. the text is printed on Munken Pure Smooth Cream 90gsm.

these are both A7 octavos, but slightly different: one has a spine and the other has not, instead a tiny breakaway spine that rounds out from the textblock.

[apho-sappho]

I heard that you know things about Cadence of Hyrule. Please yap about it for me. I need to know the plot and everything for research. Thank u :]

Ah, I love my job

CADENCE OF HYRULE !!!!!!!! I LOVE this game

PLOT/GAMEPLAY (contains spoilers)

Edit: Why did I lowkey make a whole guide

So, it starts off with Cadence, who's from the Necrodancer games. It has a little cutscene, where we get to see that Octavo, the villain, put the king, Zelda, and Link to sleep.

Cadence falls out of the sky into a strange little clearing, where she meets Trill, a fairy who's very accepting of Cadence's situation. She goes into a building, where Trill explains that everyone has to move to the beat of the music. (When all enemies on the tile die, the music stops/gets quieter)

They find a weird little cloud room where Trill comments that her friends are inside portals. Now, this is where you get a choice, you can either wake up (and therefore play as) Link or Zelda. It doesn't change much if you pick one over the other.

I typically play as Zelda, and that's the route my Cadence of Hyrule Link (Lute) has. If you choose Zelda, she wakes up using the power of the Triforce. Cadence then leaves. Impa is in her room, and Impa explains that she can't fight while the beat is like that.

Zelda escapes Hyrule castle, but she has to fight a guard with her dagger. Hyrule Castle is always in the direct 4 middle tiles on the map.

(There's also a Deku Scrub in the Hyrule Castle hallway too? For some reason? Aggressive, not friendly)

(If you choose Link, he wake up at his house. His house is always on the second to bottom row, the one below it is always a beach I believe.)

Trill tells you that Octavo has sealed off the castle, and there's 4 champions scattered along the lands you have to defeat

It's very much an open world game. The tiles randomly generate, changing where everything is (unless you use a seed)

So, after this, you have a couple options.

Go to Kakariko Village, where Dampe tells you that someone was found at the edge of the village, asleep. They're currently in the house, and they're the other one you didn't choose, so in most of my playthroughs its Link. You can push a grave in the graveyard, where you get to a crypt. You fight through the crypt to get to the boss room, where the Shadow version of the asleep person is. When you defeat them, you get a Hibiscus potion, which wakes up the sleeping beauty.

Go to Lake Hylia. There, you find that there's a frozen island in the lake. Next to the island, on the land, there's a cave, and when you go in, you find that the Prince of the River Zora is asleep, and there's a bunch of ghosts. If you talk to them, most will have the dialogue "...", but one tells you that, quote, "The Prince belongs to us now. Don't worry, we'll keep him safe! Wwee hee hee!". If you bomb that ghost, a wraith will appear and all the other ghosts will disappear. When you kill the wraith, the Prince will wake up and thank you, giving you flippers, which let you swim to get to the Frozen Grotto, a dungeon. When you do the dungeon and find the boss key, you go to a room where Octavo appears, where Octavo tells you to chill or something, I can't remember what exactly he says. He gets an Oboe, filling it with magic thanks to the Golden Lute. Then, you fight the Wizzroboe, an absolutely ADORABLE boss who controls ice

3. Go to Gerudo Village. There, you find that a woman named Barriara, the leader of the village, is cursed to be asleep, and you play a jaunty little tune using these giant notes (Gerudo Valley btw) to wake her up, where she tells you that Octavo put her asleep. She asks you to stop the mischief in the ruins. If you go into the house she guards, you meet the young Prince Ganondorf, who speaks of a power in music. When you check out the ruins, you find that there's a woman who'll lower the bridge if you give her 3 gears, which you can find around. I have never done that and instead I get the goron necklace from the bomb merchant, which, in combination with the flippers, allows you to swim in lava (one of my fave things in the game). Here, you have to fight the Bass Guitarmos Knights and its backup dancers, which controls fire

4. Go to Death Mountain, where you find the Temple of Storms. But, before you can get there, you have to visit the Kakariko Windmill Hut, where you have to wake up the couple who works there, who gives you the 'down thrust', which allows you to step on the heads and kill the enemies below you. Then, you go to the Temple of Storms, where you find the Gleeokenspiel, my ult fave, who controls lightning

5. Go to the Lost Woods, where you have to pay attention to the colors of the monsters and go through certain paths, then defeat a lynel to get into the tube to the final dungeon, the Lost Swamp, where you defeat the Gohmaracas. I love this little guy so much.

Then, after you've defeated all 4, you defeat Octavo, who gets upset and brings everyone into the future, where he gets defeated trying to defeat Ganon, whom you then have to fight. Using the Triforce, Link and Zelda send Cadence back to her world. Also, Cadence is implied to hold the Triforce of Power

Then, there's the extra Octavo's Ode, where you get to see that the motivation for Octavo is like, really sad?? He knew that something bad was going to happen to Hyrule, and frankly thats obvious because Hyrule is in disrepair, its ruined, its frankly messed up, so he stole the strings of fate from the Fates, a bunch of old implied to be Sheikah women, to try to stop whatever disaster was going to get them. In Octavo's Ode, he wakes up with no memory of what happened, and tries to undo the damage he did. The taunts from the Fates imply that Octavo has like, full amnesia, doesn't remember who he is.

Some notes!!

There's a couple different weapon types, the dagger (Cadence and Zelda only), Short Sword (Link only), the Broadsword, the Spear, the Flail, the Greatshovel (Cadence only), the Long Sword (Link only), and the Rapier (Zelda only)

Each weapon has 5 upgrades, plus 1 special version. The upgrades are titanium (plus one damage), ruby (gives hearts the more you kill), emerald (poisons enemies), obsidian (adds to damage depending on how long you've gone without missing the beat/getting hit), and glass (plus one damage but breaks upon getting hit)

They can be upgraded by the Great Fairy, but it takes diamonds, something you get for defeating all monsters on a tile.

The special weapons are as follows:

Jeweled Dagger, "As dangerous as it is beautiful, this dagger surprises anyone who would stand in your way."

Kokiri Sword, "Said to be intended for a future hero, this weapon was meant to banish anything in Link's path."

Fragarach, "A sword of legend, Fragarach is said to have an unstoppable edge, capable of cutting through anything in its path."

Impa's Naginata, "Crafted for Impa, the great Sheikah warrior, this versatile weapon strikes fear in the hearts of many dark creatures throughout Hyrule."

Hylian Flail, "Brutal and effective, this weapon is used by only the boldest Hylian heroes."

Eli's Greatshovel, "A legendary warrior named Eli once owned this shovel. Perfect for an enterprising gravedigger."

Caladbolg (my beloved), "This sword is fabled to be the finest long sword in an ancient realm."

Royal Rapier, "Passed down by the royal family of Hyrule for generations, it grants heroic strength in times of need to those of noble lineage."

If you have any questions, please ask!!! I thrive on giving knowledge about Cadence of Hyrule

[mendedrum]

"Magic, so that's what it felt like. No wonder wizards didn't have much truck with sex." Rincewind knew what orgasms were of course, he had a few in his time, sometimes even in company. But nothing in his experience even approximated to that tight, hot moment when every nerve in his body streamed with blue-white fire and raw magic had blazed forth from his fingers. It filled you and lifted you and you surfed down the rising, curling wave of elemental force. No wonder wizards fought for power... and so on.

Terry Pratchett, The Light Fantastic (via Rincewind)

..........

Rincewind experiencing sensory and sensual overload because he used magic for the first time (thru the Octavo 8th spell's powers).

The other implications of these quote

Rincewind is the rare wizard with a sexual life (by himself or with others)

WIzards are so used to magic that sex don't give that much pleasure to them or confuses them (Outliers: Nanny Ogg and Bengo Macarona)

Puts into perspective on how senior wizards generally don't know what to do when they feel horny (looking at you, Senior Wrangler)

Witches got their shit together much better than their male counterparts (since the gals get married and can still do their jobs properly)

...also damn what an apt description of an orgasm this is lol.

[ohmightydevviepuu]

fanbinding: bar nights and christmas lights

there's a little christmas fic that is among the several that i adore, one i come back to every year. it's small and very lovely. this year, when i pulled it up for my annual reread on a quiet and moody saturday night, i also opened up my word processor and put together a typeset. i could see it almost immediately: a little gem of an ocatvo, with a cover like a snowstorm, and christmas lights.

(to be fair to the author, the scene in the fic is very specifically about replacing an old multi-color string of lights with new white ones. about making a home in a quiet place with warm, bright lights twinkling for the season.)

so here it is--my tiny octavo of @nowforruin Bar Nights and Christmas Lights, originally written in 2015. it is a paperback sewn board book, made from bristol board covered in homemade bookcloth with a cardstock spine for some sparkle.

[admiraltypress]

I've bound my first book!!

This is an octavo sized hardcover of Cicada Sings Amongst Bamboo by @shadaras!

I didn't want my Tiny Books Bang assignment to be my first attempt at binding, so I reached out to Shadaras and typeset this fic to be the same page size as that typeset. It really did help to have another fic to practice on before moving on to the Tiny Books Bang books, and I'm excited to have this fic as the start of my collection. It really fits the vibe of a lot of my taste in fic... I definitely plan to bind a lot more canon divergence and rarepairs in the future!

I will also be working on an author's copy of this bind, it is just put on hold until FFWAD is sent off! I'll be able to fix a few minor issues, particularly the size of the book boards (these ones are a little too wide for the textblock).

The bookcloth is homemade from a piece of fabric that's been in my stash for years (too small for a lot of things) and I found the endpapers recently! I was also able to sew head/endbands, which turned out better than I had expected. I originally wanted to add a ribbon bookmark, but I ended up deciding that the ribbon I had was too wide.

I'm also really happy with how the typeset turned out for this! I had to adjust the title page several times to fix issues with the margins, but it was worth it. I also found some great public domain images to reference the title on the title page and the beginning of the story (since this is a one shot!)

My favorite spread is pages 68 & 69! It shows off so much of my formatting, including the section dividers and the shaded background for letters (copied from the original fic on AO3). But what I really love is on page 69: "a gap full of ink drops and dried scratches!"

Altogether I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I'm excited to make another copy 💜

[kamy2425]

(Discworld Fanfic) The Meaning of Death: Chapter 11

*Living Biography Books~A School Field Trip To The University~Where IS That Cup Of Tea Death Mentioned?*

“So…um.”

SQUEAK!

Rincewind squinted at the creature, fairly certain he’d heard something vaguely intelligible beneath the squeaks. “I don’t think I’ve got any cheese on me, no.”

The hooded rodent stomped its skeletal foot with impatience.

SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

Failing to make useful conversation, the Death of Rats tilted its head and pointed at a door with its miniature scythe.

“Right,” said Rincewind, chuckling nervously. “As if I’m going to follow a suspicious creature into the hallways of Death—”

The Luggage, ever the opportunist, bolted after the rat.

The Death of Rats lunged through a crack into the large, ominous door, with the Luggage crashing into it, attempting to wedge its bulk through.

“Are you quite finished?” Rincewind asked, giving the Luggage just a few seconds before its legs gave up, splayed pathetically on the floor. It glared at its owner with something between wounded pride and spite.

“I reckon it’s one of those doors you have to pull,” Rincewind said dryly.

The Luggage tilted its lid.

“Oh, don’t believe me, do you?” Rincewind muttered, stepping forward and grasping the handle. “Watch and learn—”

He froze mid-sentence, eyes darting through the now open door. The Luggage leaned forward as well, crowding behind him. A library. Not just any library—a vast expanse of books spiraling into infinity. It almost rivaled the Unseen University’s.

Almost.

But something was off. These books were... too well-behaved. No chains, no growling. No rebellious incantations trying to leap off the page. Not one book rebelling against their readers. Rincewind ran a hand along their spines and sensed something—importance. And oddly enough, they were all named after people.

“Biographies.” Rincewind muttered under his breath, “These must be books written by-wait no that’s not right.” He ran up with such energy, putting his finger breeze through the pages as his mind wandered into a world of words. 

“They’re alive.” he said, wide-eyed, “Each one of them is a person, and this is their life! Written here! Everything! This is fascinating I-”

No. Don’t. He told himself. Get a grip. You’ve done this before. 

That little curious spark inside him did him no good. Last time he got curious with a book was when he was a teenager and got dared into reading the Octavo. Long story short, it caused one of the spells to enter his head and prevented him from casting any magic. Even if he went to the whole trouble of taking it out, his magic abilities never came back. 

Just look. He told himself, no touch.

Closing his eyes, he could hear the faint, endless scribbling. The lives of millions, buzzing around him, their stories in constant conversation. But what about the others? The ones not glowing with gold lettering?

Rincewind’s gaze fell to the bottom shelf. He barely hovered a finger near one of the duller books when it began to crumble into dust. He stepped back, hand over his mouth, bumping into the Luggage.

“Sorry.”

The Luggage, as usual, showed no inclination to understand or care, already wandering off in search of the Death of Rats.

Rincewind frowned, deep in thought. If these books capture every second of a person’s life, they must also record... their last.

A sudden chill ran down his human spine. With much speed, he skimmed the titles of every book that started with the letter T. Rincewind scratched his head and turned over to the F section. 

“Ah, of course.” Rincewind sighed as his arm rose to a particular book and turned over the more recent pages. 

It reads:

2:30 pm, Twoflower is enjoying a peaceful lunch in the park. A blue butterfly lands delicately on his finger. He regrets leaving his iconograph at home.

Rincewind smiled. He could see it clearly. The non-existent pen scribbled on:

2:35 pm, Two-Flower found a coin on the ground. What a lucky day, he thought as he picked up the coin. He tossed it at a nearby fountain, closed his eyes and began to pray.

‘I hope my letter will arrive safely to him’. He wished, ‘Too bad I didn’t get a picture of that butterfly. I shall draw him one!’

Rincewind closed the book as though it were on fire. "Right. The letters…”

He cringed, picturing the pile of unopened letters stuffed under his mattress. It’s not that he disliked the guy. Quite the opposite. Twoflower was probably the only human alive who liked him. Who didn’t see him as a failed wizard or a coward. And that’s why... the letters stayed unopened. And Rincewind won’t even dare to write him back. Yup, that makes total sense.

Trying to distract himself, Rincewind decided to search for his own biography. Oddly enough, his was encased in glass, a worn, red-leather tome.

Well, that’s…ominous.

He lifted the glass and opened the book, noting the red bookmarks scattered through the pages. Just to be thorough, he flipped to page one:

“WOMAN RAN AWAY. THEN RINCEWIND WAS BORN.”

Yup. Sounds about right. The book didn’t even bother with the details. Rincewind had very few early memories, though he did recall one when he was about eight years old. Yes, that was when he first visited the University.

He visited the University as a school trip, you see. Children were lining up to place their little curious hands on an orb that measured their magical potential. On his turn, little Rincewind put up his palm on the device, which of course, caused it to break instantaneously. Having to be chased down by the staff and the students that didn’t get a turn, Rincewind hid behind the curtains for the rest of the day. Since then, the University didn’t quite remember as to why they had one more student in their faculty. And Rincewind stayed there ever since. 

It is safe to say, they never let another school trip to that place. It was, of course, for the safety of the wizards. 

He never thought much about his past. He never thought of a life outside being a wizard in general. But those little red bookmarks? They piqued his interest. As his hand touched one, the seam of gold thread flew from the book, manifesting a door in the wall. "Rincewind" was inscribed above it. The door swung open, beckoning.

A gentle force nudged him forward, but a familiar voice echoed behind him.

CURIOUS? asked Death.

The door slammed shut. Rincewind spun around, defensive.

“Curious? Me? Haha, that’s pretty much the OPPOSITE of what I do. Curious. haha.”

Death hummed as its flaming eyes looked over the non existent door,

HAVE YOU ENJOYED YOUR STAY?

“Not exactly my cup of tea,” Rincewind muttered.

WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE?

Death handed Rincewind his much awaited drink.

“Erm, thanks.” Rincewind sipped.

Blast it. 

It was perfect. 

This tea really is to die for.

For the Fic!

[hc-svnt-dracones]

OK, so, I read a really sweet middle grade book a while ago (I've been reading everything this author puts out, she's a new fave of mine, her name is Kate Alice Marshall) that was called Extra Normal, and the main character was a 12-year-old girl whose parents were basically the married couple in the Conjuring, if they were less R-rated. And the mom has mega psychic/empathic abilities.

The main character, Charlie, has 3 adopted siblings: an 11-year-old werewolf brother who was a foster child, an 8-year-old brother who was rescued from a lab ala Eleven in Stranger Things, and a 6-year-old sister who is a ghost who died in a house fire in the 1930s. But SHE, our main character, is Utterly Normal. She has ZERO supernatural capability and feels that she, therefore, needs to prove her worth to the family and to the various spooky-stuff-agencies her parents work with, which she hopes to also work with someday. There IS a villain proper in the story, and the villain is still also how parentified this poor kid is.

Anyway, in the end she finds out that she's SO normal that supernatural things that mean her harm sort of bounce right off her, and if they try to hurt her (or specifically to the villain in this story: drain her essence/energy/magical potential) it can kill them, because she lacks even the base level amount of magic most people have. In this particular story, it also means that she also cannot be tricked by the glamor the villain is able to cast over every other normal person or supernatural entity in the neighborhood, and sees them for exactly what they are from the beginning (this does not mean that she is in for an easy time, though, or that she doesn't get tricked by characters she thought she could trust. Genuinely, it was a really good read!).

ANYWAY. I just saw a post of the quote from The Colo(u)r of Magic (I think?) where Pterry describes how there are 8 levels of Wizardry on the Disc, and Rincewind has never accomplished even level 1, and how professors at UU suspect he might be incapable of level 0, which is the level most people are born at*. And now I'm thinking about Rincewind being like Charlie from Extra Normal. SO unmagical that he's unknowingly resistant to magical dangers. That the magic leaps away from him like opposing ends of a magnet, or water off a duck's back, or one of those water snake toys where the whole idea is that it's impossible to hold onto solidly. The magical equivalent of knurd.

*which seems unfair, he DID do magic in Light Fantastic-- he unlocked the door in the tower even before reading the spells from the Octavo, and I'm VERY proud of him!

[hooksbooks]

The O in ABO is for Opera Ghost

Now that the author has received it, I can show off this bind! The Phantom of the Opera is a fandom I enjoy, but I don't check in on it very often. Recently I checked in and found that @kotaka-kun had written a bunch of ABO one-shots and drabbles where Erik is an omega and Christine is an alpha. Which, hello, didn't know I needed THAT in my life but YES PLEASE. Female alpha with male omega? Absolute favorite. Erik who is absolutely worshipful of Christine but still socially awkward? Love it. Possessive Christine going "See this weirdo? This is MY weirdo, no one gets to say bad things about him. No, not even you, Erik" like a boss? The most fabulous. So, anyway, I read all their stories and decided that I really needed a physical copy of these ASAP (and then read them all again for good measure).

In a completely unrelated event in the same week, I was introduced to the dwarsligger format of books, which has its text arranged parallel to the spine so that to read the book, the spine is held horizontal instead of vertical. Like a flip-phone, for us olds.

[ID: A dwarsligger book, held open. It has a top page and a bottom page rather than a left page and right page, as the spine is parallel to the lines of text. The whole thing is about the size of a hand. /End ID]

I thought this format of book would be PERFECT for these stories, as they gave me very "it's not like other people do it, but that doesn't mean it's wrong" vibes, which I feel this format of book reflects perfectly. New, different, maybe a little unnerving, but also a little intriguing at the same time.

I format my textblocks in MS Word, and it was tricky to arrange things into a "top" and "bottom" instead of the more regular verso and recto (left and right), but the WORST part was getting the page numbers to work correctly. Because the page numbers are only displayed on the bottom pages but Word has the top and the bottom as different pages, it wanted to put the page numbers as 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. I had to go digging real deep in the MS Word niche features to figure it out. I ended up finding the information I needed on a nearly-20-year-old blog that kept referring to Word 2007 as "new Word". Whenever you need really precise, niche information, it's always on a 20-year-old blog, they're the best source of knowledge. If anyone's curious, I ended up having to do some math in the page number field codes so the displayed page number was always half of the actual page number + 1 (using integer division). So 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. became 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Unfortunately the Table of Contents field codes are a black box and don't let you edit the internals, so I had to generate the table of contents (which displayed the actual page numbers instead of the displayed page numbers) and then edit all the numbers myself.

On the bright side, this format and size of book (it's an octavo, so one-eighth of a letter-size sheet of paper) is PERFECT for a drabble collection. A title, plus 100 words, plus a page number, exactly fits on one top-and-bottom spread.

I of course made myself a copy as well as an author copy. However, there were...issues.

[ID: A black and brown copy of the same book lying on a cutting mat, front covers up. They're both titled "The O in ABO stands for Opera Ghost" with the text arranged parallel to the spine, but the brown copy is noticeably narrower and the title barely fits on the cover. /End ID]

When I trimmed my copy, I measured wrong (or rather, measured right but in the wrong place) and trimmed the right side twice. Luckily I had left large enough margins that I didn't trim off any text. I'll just trim the left side by the same amount and I'll just have tiny margins on my copy, no problem, right? Wrong. I immediately proceeded to cut off all my kettle stitches on the left side.

[ID: A hand holding a dwarsligger book open with a thumb under the stitching in the middle of a signature, showing that the knots securing the stitching have been completely cut off on the left side. /End ID]

Luckily the stitching is secured at three other points and I glued the spine well, but it was still a face-palm moment.

Technical details:

Size: Letter-octavo dwarsligger

No headbands on this one (intended to, forgot until I glued the oxford hollow on, at which point it was too late)

Rounded but not backed

Chisel-trimmed

Things I especially liked about this bind:

The format! So weird, so delightful

Things I would improve next time:

Not cutting my stitching off, ideally.

Overall, I love the stories and like the bind. (I also read all the stories through again once I had the finished bind in my hands. Still loved them.) It works, it's functional, it would have been better if I hadn't trimmed my copy way too narrow, but live and learn and it still works so it's fine.

[hiyorisarugaki]

@despairforme continued.

HAH? Did she seriously think SHE had the biggest Zanpakuto? What a fucking joke. Nnoitra arched his brow, before his expression turned smug, big teeth peeking out. He was one of the only Arrancar who walked around with his Zanpakuto drawn at all times. He couldn't exactly put Santa Teresa away. Back when he'd been the Octavo, he'd been able to wear his Zanpakuto on his back, but after he became the Quinto, and Santa Teresa doubled in size? That was no longer possible. His only option was to always carry his weapon, dragging it along and creating a trade-mark trail behind him, be it in the sand or in the stone of Las Noches.

She'd requested to see his weapon, and so he'd show her. He was briefly tempted to whip his dick out, just for fun - it was a good opportunity for that, but in the end he was too proud of Santa Teresa to make a joke right now. He swung the giant ax-like weapon around, placing it in front of the TINY chick. Santa Teresa was ENORMOUS. Taller than even Nnoitra himself, and oh so heavy. When Nnoitra thrust it into the ground to make it stand on display, a cloud of dust was kicked up. He grinned.

❝ Yeah, it's pretty big. ❞ Bigger than hers, for sure - even though she DID have a big one.

-x-

Nnoitra’s smile should be eerie. All straight, even teeth. It looks more like a frown than a smile… and yet… it was so familiar. Hiyori could just about make it out as she stared at the former Espada. Former… current? Did it even matter? These rankings were given by Aizen and may be a sincere reflection of their power at that time… but things have changed.

She has also been frequenting Hueco Mundo as of late. Not for picnics, but to find different energy signatures, to collect data for Kisuke on attacks, cero patterns – there was so much to learn. So many things that were not open to them before. In a way, it seems Kisuke was delighted by the way Aizen had shook things up over there. Arrancar, Vaste Lord… so many things…

And… their weapons. Santa Teresa was big and beautiful. The way its metal curved and bent into conjoined twins. She covered her nose and mouth just in time, squinting through the cloud of dust it raised… and finally settles at her sandalled feet. It was much bigger than even she had anticipated. Bigger than Tiburon, bigger than most bankai. Judging by sight alone, it was coated in dense black metal, like osmium but part hollow. A soul fused through it… similar to an asauchi…

“Geez - yer not the type ‘ta tone shit down huh?” But she did look impressed. It was not just the unique shape, but it was the linked chains as well. He could use any part of his weapon. It didn’t really have a proper hilt and it didn't seem to bother him.

“Yer blade is good… gaps are big though. Ya gotta swing it across rather than through… ”she notes the large concave curve and grins. “Yer arms are so skinny but ya can move it around like its light."

She slides her own out of its sheathe, the little heart shaped tsuba looking ridiculous against the massive Santa Teresa.

"Let's see - Chop Cleanly, Kubikiri Orochi."

With the command, it was released. A Large, serrated knife twice as tall and about as wide as its petite owner.

Kubikiri Orochi was bigger than most Zanpakuto, but obviously did not match Santa Teresa.

"Why is yers so big..." she pouts.

[aaronburrdaily]

August 29, 1809

I did go to bed at 10, promising myself a rich sleep. Lay two hours vigil¹; that cursed one single dish of tea! Note: My bed had undergone a thorough ablution and there were no bugs or insects. Got up and attempted to light candle, but in vain; had flint and matches but only some shreds of punk which would not catch. Recollected a gun which I had had on my late journey; filled the pan with powder and was just going to flash it when it occurred that though I had not loaded it someone else might; tried and found in it a very heavy charge! What a fine alarm it would have made if I had fired! Then poured out some powder on a piece of paper, put the shreds of punk with it and after fifty essays succeeded in firing the powder; but it being dark, had put more powder than intended; my shirt caught fire, the papers on my table caught fire, burnt my fingers to a blister (the left hand, fortunately); it seemed like a general conflagration. Succeeded, however, in lighting my candle and passed the night till 5 this morning in smoking, reading, and writing this. "Essai sur le Caractere, les Moeurs et l'esprit des Femmes".² Par M. Thomas; second edition, Paris: 1772; small octavo, 215 pages. Well written; much historical information; many books, of which I had not heard, are quoted. He meant to be liberal and [a] friend to the sex, but like all I have read, has set out wrong; has not seen the source of the evil, though the evils are acknowledged, and of course has not found the remedy; this will remain for Gamp. "Tableau Litteraire de la France pendant le 18me. siecle." Sujet propose en 1806 par la Classe de la langue et de la litterature.³ Paris: 1807. Octavo; 91 pages; close printed; anon. This I presume to be a sort of prize piece. It is well written; his distinctions are pretty good but his eulogies extravagant. "Le Voyageur Fataliste"; comedie en trois actes en vers⁴; par Armand Charlemagne; Paris: 1806. I had foresworn French comedies and hate comedy in verse; this, though long, was not found tiresome. "Rapprochement des Arbres".⁵ Duodecimo, about 150 pages. Paris: 1807; par ———. Where have I laid that book? Will find it to-morrow and give you the author's name. It is a new discovery by which you give to any tree the sap and nourishment of another or of some branch of another, and by this means you may change and improve the colour, size, and flavour of any fruit. The results are curious and useful; pray try it. You see, Madame, I have not been idle; now allow me to attempt sleeping.

29. P.M. Slept very well till 10 when Mr. D. came in a la souedoise⁶ on some very urgent message, which I answered only by a round of curses. However, I was waked and got up. Took breakfast at \i. Feuilliéd⁷ (rummaged) in the library for two or three hours (there is an arrival of new books from Paris); then walked out with Gransbom to try the market for guineas; changed four at 8 rix dollars 36 sch. each. Waited an hour for Barth without success. Called at the post-office; no letters. No doubt my letters are stopped by the British government! 'Tis impossible that every human being can have forgotten me for four months. For my female friends I would swear, but what remedy. Me voici.⁸ Post I will go off to Hamburg or Memel. As soon as I can find Barth will hunt for passages to ——— everywhere and then determine. Called at the lodgings of Bar. Ulfspasre, for whom I had a letter from London and just now determined to deliver it; has left town. Home at 6. On the way called to see Captain Van Alen. Mjolk and brö. for middag and afton.⁹ Read an hour or two in "L'ltineraire de l'Allemagne"¹⁰; Paris: 1807. You see I am preparing! Read also a treatise (French) on the authority of parents, i.e. fathers, for women are not in question. Cannot now lay hand on it to give you the title, but will find it. The subject was proposed by the Institut National and this book gained the approbation and the prize. In my opinion no way flattering to the genius of the nation. There is, indeed, a good deal of historical fact, but much declamation and flourish.

1 This word, which has been used several times, is a Latin adjective meaning wakeful. 2 "Essay on the Character, the Morals (or Manners), and the Mind of the Women." 3 "Literary Picture of France During the Eighteenth Century." A Subject Proposed (proposé) by the Class in Language and Literature [of the French Academy]. 4 "The Fatalistic Traveler." A comedy in verse in three acts. 5 "The Bringing Together (Junction) of Trees." 6 For à la suédoise. After the Swedish fashion. 7 Another hybrid verb, and badly formed, from French feuilleter, to turn over the leaves of a book. 8 Here I am. 9 Swedish. Evening. 10 "Itinerary of Germany."

[4th-make-quail]

well, after another size change i'm almost done with my typeset! i'm gonna make it an octavo size now, which is very wee but it puts the page number at a respectable 86 pages! also had a bit of a colour scheme change to match the banner accents - i'm really fucking happy with how it's turning out! one more pass to check for widowed and orphaned lines, then i'm gonna attempt to print it next week i think :DDDD

cue lots of crying as i try every physical step for the first time, but hey! LEARNING!!!

[mobgabriel]

thinking about how all of echo's antagonists embody a piece of the triforce...

Null is an literal eldritch god with enought power to subjugate the golden godesses, its no wonder that he gets the triforce of power at the end

Octavo might not have been powerfull enought to stop the great decline on his own nor was he wise enought to deal with ganon's imminent threat in a good way but not only went ahead with his plan to take over hyrule but he also had the courage to fight both Echo and Silent(who are one of if not the strongest Zelda link duos) in a 2v1 in cadence of hyrule, and after that he tried to fight ganon(even tho he lost) not a wise decision but certainly a brave one

AoL's magician is the only one who actually managed to take down Echo but he didnt do so through sheer magical power(he got killed by echo counterspelling him lol) nor was he had the courage to fight her in a 1v1 but he was wise enought to put her brother against her and strike her when she was with her guard down

[wasntthataparty]

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

(This is about your evil Tavvy post by the way, in case your forgot where it’s from)

WOOHOO !!! EVIL TAVVY MENTION. okay okay im just going to get into a big fucking yap here. so. spoilers for CoH and Octavo's Ode I guess. putting in under the cut because one of CoH's 11 fans might not have finished the game yet or something !! anyway.

Like. Okay. he's genuinely so doomed by the narrative it's embarrassing. He's so stupid. He's trying so hard. Imagine thinking you've failed but then you find out that when you succeed, YOU'RE the monster. Genuinely awful.

So ! You've got two options here. Good Tavvy option, where he kind of accepts that it's BETTER to fail, and although he does struggle with that (Just give him one more chance! He's got this!) but he KNOWS what fate has in store for him so he decides he'd rather deal with the guilt of failure than become the necrodancer. He's not supposed to be a hero, anyway.

but ! consider. octavo's ode takes place BEFORE the events of CoH. Octavo is still trying to stop Ganon, but not REALLY. what he's trying to do is slow him down. He's strong enough to stop him, but he doesn't. He chooses to fail, and claims he wasn't strong enough - because he doesn't want anyone to know what happens if he succeeds. or whatever.

or or or !!! hashtag my evil tavvy. He chooses to fight Ganon and win anyways. Because he's so confident that it'd be easy to change fate, that he WILL change at the end. and he never does. And the fates know he never will. He sees the warning, he's told EXACTLY what will happen, and he doesn't change.

i just think its neat to explore all the different timelines he could've affected. because at least once he wins. but when you get to the end of CoH, he says he "couldn't defeat him alone". but ! we know that's not true. So, in my hours of gaming experience and many hours of Octavo analyzation, i genuinely believe he chose to fail. He chose to cause a bit of havoc across hyrule because somebody needed to get link's attention, and then once he was defeated, once he didn't defeat ganon, Link, Zelda, and Cadence would be there. And they wouldn't take over hyrule after ganon instead, and he knew that.

anyways. i think he's neat. and I think he's interesting. or whatever. but !!! i am always thinking about him. I think it's just interesting that he KNOWS he can't be trusted to be a hero, because there is something fundamentally wrong with him. i think that alone haunts him, because he doesn't know how to fix it. He can fight, and he can fight well, but he cannot fix himself. idk. my little evil boy who only knows how to destroy destroys himself ? who could've seen this coming.

I also think. i need to write more about how fucked up his relationship with Cadence could be. like as much as i think its fun for them to be silly and have fun i also need them to be fucked up and Weird about it. thats all.

I could talk about Octavo more but i feel like this is already a pretty lengthy post. i love octavo guys. can you tell.