#art with silly random fic for context

[lemissingmask]

[ID: Sketch of Redemption era Hardison and Eliot with Hardison driving the food truck and Eliot a little way behind him in front of the curtain to the back. Hardison is leaning over towards Eliot but looking to the road. Eliot had his left hand pressed to his left ribs, his thumb digging in on that side and his hair is wet and dishevelled. He has blood coming from his forehead, nose and lip. End ID]

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Art prompt fill for: Broken Ribs

Ficlet below the cut

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Their mark was exactly the kind of guy who really angered Eliot.

One of a depressingly high number of business owners who cut corners to save money, risked the health of his employees by not bothering to invest in proper protective equipment or safety measures. And, in doing so, had enough money to ensure that none of this ever came back to bite him.

He hired lawyers to dismantle any legal arguments, he blackmailed employees, he bribed officials. Basically all the things an bad bad guy could do to make sure he didn't suffer the consequences of his negligent actions.

After Eliot went undercover in one of the mark's warehouses and Hardison got access to the internal network, they found that most of the wealth that facilitated all of this came from betting massive amounts of money on cage fights between intentionally poorly matched fighters.

The mark found unsuspecting amateurs and pitted them against members of his own professional security, who would draw the fight out just long enough to make it convincing, earning themself a fraction of the pay out.

It was brutal, but it offered an impossibly perfect way to bankrupt the guy.

Their con had centred around positioning Eliot as an untrained fighter, and getting the mark to put him in a fight. Eliot would win, and the mark would lose a lot of money.

Even more money than usual thanks to some carefully applied legal pressure from Harry.

And, while Eliot was in the fight, Parker would break into the mark’s office and get all the documents needed to use as evidence for his breaches of safety standards, blackmail, and bribery.

Straightforward and the sort of thing they’d done in one variation or another hundreds of times before.

Except this time, someone had discovered that Eliot could fight. The crew didn’t know how, but by the time they’d found out, Eliot had already been deliberately hit by a car and left to die in the freezing downpour that had started earlier that day.

The hit and run had knocked Eliot out for no more than a few seconds, and by the time Hardison got to him in the food truck, he was on his feet, glaring at the approaching familiar vehicle, one arm around his torso.

Broken ribs.

Hardison had come to recognise the particular way Eliot held himself when his ribs were broken.

There was also blood tracking down one side of his face, from a cut on his forehead, which probably looked much worse than it was thanks to the rain. The split lip, bruises and bloody nose were so usual on Eliot that Hardison barely took note of them.

It was the ribs that worried him as the hitter joined him in the truck, growling at him to “Go!” when he didn’t immediately start driving, completely failing to comprehend the fact that the delay was caused by a very reasonable concern for his damn safety.

“You know you don’t hafta do this, man,” Hardison said even as he drove as fast as the truck would go towards the fight venue.

“We changing the plan?” Harry asked over the comms, the buzz of voices in the background. He was already in position at the fight.

“No, we’re not changin’ the plan,” Eliot shot back, grunting in pain as Hardison made a turn that forced the hitter to grab the dash for support.

“Didn’t you just get hit by a car?” Harry sounded concerned, which really was the only normal, reasonable reaction to someone being hit by a car.

Parker scoffed, but in the echo that told of the vent she was in, Hardison heard the concern she was either hiding or had yet to identify, “Eliot gets hit by cars all the time.”

Harry still didn't sound convinced, “Okay…so, you’re still fighting this guy? Because he looks pretty big.”

“Yeah, I’m still fightin’ ‘im.”

Hardison gave Eliot a sideways glance, taking note of the posture, the pain in his features.

Definitely more than one rib broken. Left side.

“Just try not to take any hits to the ribs, yeah?” Hardison returned his attention to the road, taking the penultimate junction in their route to the club, “‘Cus I’m telling you now, E. If you go getting a lung punctured and collapsed, I am not about to stick a tube into your chest. That’s nasty!”

“You watch too much TV,” Eliot muttered, nudging Hardison lightly with his nearest elbow.

That contact, albeit brief, said a hell of a lot more than any of the growled words Eliot had offered so far.

It was a reassurance. A promise that Eliot wasn’t being reckless. That he knew he could still win this fight and he could do it without getting himself killed.

“You don’t watch enough,” Hardison argued as the significance of the gesture sank in, and with it a salve to his anxiety.

“Yeah, well,” Eliot replied with an entirely false irritation, “Maybe if you get us to this fight on time, I’ll watch that damn vampire show you keep talkin’ about.”

Hardison threw him a sideways smile, “Promise?”

“What?”

“Promise to watch if we get there on time?” Hardison purposefully slowed the truck, prompting Eliot to growl and nudge him again.

“Fine! Now go!”

Hardison broke into a grin and sped the truck up again, already plotting how to orchestrate enforced recovery time for Eliot, aided by some very addictive classic television.

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[mysteriouslybluepirate]

Question for Creatives

If younger you were scrolling through AO3, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., and saw what you create, would you like it?

Please share to get a wider span of responses!

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 90

Alright. So you might be thinking, pondering, desperately contemplating to yourself a simple question.

“JEM. WHAT THE FUCK??? WHY????” And I hear you, I get it, it’s a lot to take in out of nowhere and that’s the point. Sit with me, peer into the biohazard that is in my brain as I explain to you why in the name of all that’s good I made a fucking Music Video.

So last time on the 100 Days of Junkan, for Day 80 I got very silly and animated a gif of Junko and Mikan kissing. And as I keep saying over and over again, every 10 pics I wanted to go BIGGER. And maybe this is just the brainrot causing all of my mental functions to degrade past the point of no return, but the only way up at this point was in fact a music video.

But surely I couldn’t. I mean, I only have that single gif as experience with animation! How the fuck could I try and put myself through a process that I have absolutely no experience making something as ambitious as a Music Video! I’ll have to do something else. But then.

I had a thought, a small thought, an evil little thought that wormed its way into my head and didn’t leave.

“Okay. But wouldn’t it be really funny if you sent a full Junkan music video to Val without any warning?” That was it. I was beaten, I couldn’t counter that. The sheer comedic shock value of keeping my wonderful oomfie, the one who has helped motivate me through this entire project, who has given amazing responses to all of these pics as I made them, completely in the dark over this, and then finally with no context, or warning, or even a hint, dropping a fucking music video on her lap and running away like I’m pranking someones god damn doorbell. It was too much, even moreso considering I could do the same with ya’ll! 

You! My varied followers, the silent and the vocal, or even better the random fucking people who have been staring in confusion as the Junko and Mikan tag got flooded with art of these two kissing out of nowhere for like three fucking months. I had an opportunity to send everyone into surprise and confusion because why the fuck did I make a god damn music video??? How??? It was too fucking funny to pass up!

This is easily the most fucking bizarre thing I’ve done for the entire event! Did any of you think this was the path this would go down?? Did any of ya’ll see that I made a gif and think “Surely this scrawny white bitch also made a Music Video.” I doubt it! But if you did, my undying respect goes to you!

So here we are. A Music Video. A fucking Music Video, one which I now have to talk about. It took a full fucking page just to get to the point where I actually talk about it and this took me THREE MONTHS TO MAKE, spanning from May 8th to August 1st! 

So here’s what I’m gonna do. First, I’m gonna talk about MAKING this fucking thing, and then when I finish that I’m going to switch over to talking about the actual contents of the music video. This is going to get really messy and will probably go into tangents, but ya’ll have hopefully coped with the knowledge that this is going to be a lot of words by the time you hit the end of this sentence. (Future Jem here! I think this was actually shorter than Day 60) So without further delay-

The Making of Snow Fairy, a Junkan Music Video. Yes. Really.

So the first step of this was obviously, The Music. What song would I use for this? Well initially the plan was to animate something using the song “Everything You’ve Ever Dreamed.” And if that name sounds familiar, yes, it is the song that Val’s fic was named after. Now the idea wasn’t to adapt her fanfic into a music video (or at least it wasn’t the idea for more than 5 minutes). I was simply going to use this song to make a music video depicting a romantic journey with these two. So why not this song?

IT’S LIKE 6 FUCKING MINUTES. Not to jump ahead of myself here but I can’t make it any clearer for ya’ll, that Gif from Day 80??? That was it. That was all I had going into this. I didn’t do any other practice, I didn’t make anything else like that gif. I made that gif, took like two weeks to make Days 81-89, and jumped into a music video. And yes, that’s fucking stupid, but you’ve all learned by this point that I don’t make sensible choices. I draw women kissing, scream, and feel endless euphoria- I got so off topic already, sorry.

Anyway that’s a 6 minute song and I had very little experience, even I knew that wasn’t gonna be viable without driving my head into the wall from stress. And while the idea of me dialing it back sounds unheard of given my track record, I did in fact scale back massively.

So I pondered, and eventually came to a quite frankly obvious answer.

(Sorry I could only find an AI Upscaled version with interpolation)

Snow Fairy, the first opening of Fairy Tail, AKA, my favorite piece of fiction. And Snow Fairy is my favorite anime opening of all time, if not just straight up my favorite song ever. The fact that it wasn’t my first thought is a shock. Though that still brought on some questions.

Firstly. What version? Because yes I actually had options. I could either use the original song in Japanese, or the english cover by LeeandLie. I was close to picking the original version by Funkfist, but there was two issues. One, because it was in another language that means I would have had to taken the time to put in subtitles and keep them properly timed, which would have just been one more thing on an already massive workload. The second reason is also why I went with LeeandLie’s version, I just like the translation for the lyrics a bit more. At least in terms of how well I think it works for a Junkan Music Video. So we had the cover of the song I was gonna use, next question.

Full Song? Or the intro edit? Because the version used in the anime is obviously much shorter, and not just that actually includes the very end of the song pasted to a much earlier part of it. So if I wanted to use the shorter version I would have needed to actively edited the song.

After much thought I chose to ask my friend (and now current girlfriend) Yves to edit the song to match the intro version of Funkfists cover and worked from there. Because even if I would have loved to use the full song, that’s around 3 minutes, which for essentially a beginner sounds like fucking torture.

So I had a song around 1 minute and 28 seconds to work with. Much easier- WRONG. WRONG IT WAS STILL PAINFUL. WHY DID I DO THIS- Anyway.

We had our song! Now we had to make the actual video!

Step 1, I actually made a Storyboard, this is the smartest thing I will do during this entire process.

As you can see from this lil joke doodle I made during the process, I didn’t even start the actual video before I had realized I had made a massive mistake, however I was of course going to persevere. The Storyboard took about, 2? 3 days? This is mostly because I had other work to prioritize, and I had to make sure I got this pretty solid. Here it is!

(The file name for this has the phrase "Why god Why" btw)

As you can see it’s very, very professional. 

You can also see there were a few things cut or changed, and even stuff that wasn’t there in the first place. That’s because even if I was going into this with more of a plan compared to other parts of this, I still really had no idea what I was getting into nor how to do it. The scene of all the girls doing their hair was cut because it just seemed like an awkward space filler to try and mimic the actual Snow Fairy Intro animation. In hindsight I do wish I kept it or found a replacement rather than just extending the following scene. And yeah that scene had to be super extended so I could actually time things properly.

As for the scene at the end, the various art pieces flashing in the background (which I will talk about later) were done because I realized without them I had way too much dead air in the scene. I then took advantage of it to show a montage of time passing in the scene itself, of the things that differed from the storyboard that’s the one I’m happiest with.

Storyboard has passed so now I have to talk about making the video itself, i feel like i’ve said some variation of that sentence like 5 times now.

So do you want a fun fact? THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE ANIMATED! This was supposed to be an Animatic, and even that might not be the right word. This was supposed to be basically a storyboard with hints of motion, say for the intro with Monokuma which I always planned to properly animate given his simplistic design. Everything else was supposed to be much simpler.

And then I kept. Accidentally. TRYING TO ANIMATE IT. I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU EVEN DO THAT BY ACCIDENT! And like sure, none of it really gets as meticulous as the Monokuma, but I still ended up learning way more about animating things properly during this project because I just couldn’t help myself. It was always “Well just one more frame to make it look right. One more frame. Okay just another- Oh no.” This is the depths of hell this ship has dragged me to, and even if I haven’t had a chance to fully make use of what I learned here because I’ve been busy, Junkan somehow made me into a fucking animatory at least to the degree of a hobbyist. IF YOU TOLD ME THAT A FEW YEARS AGO I’D THINK YOU WERE LYING! Because if you asked me before this year about my opinion on animating, I’d tell you something around the lines of-

“God I wish I could, but I just don’t have the patience for that y’know?” I GUESS THAT DOESN’T MATTER WHEN IT'S A NICHE SHIP?? Mind you this was still when I was under the impression I was going to get backlash for all this, I didn’t care but I certainly thought it would come to me. The hold these two have on my brain is downright COMICAL.

And I’m sorry if I sound like this is me complaining at all, because I’m really not, I just get more excitable and whacked out during these more high effort projects. This ship has brought me immense joy on its own, and making this project despite the exhaustive work it took to do so has been so fulfilling in part thanks to being able to see the joy my work has brought all of you. I wouldn’t trade this for anything.

But you gotta fucking admit, this isn’t fucking normal right?? None of this is normal! And I don’t mean that in a “We’re all weirdos for liking this” kind of way I mean that in a “What the fuck is going on with me specifically” kind of thing because what is ANY of this?? I re-learned how to write (loosely at least), learned how to actually paint in my program, have developed a deeper understanding of both myself and how to portray expressions, have just generally gotten better at drawing cause of this, memorized these fucking designs almost perfectly (almost, i know there’s some small details of Junko’s design i leave out and Mikan’s apron can be a challenge at times), learned how to animate, LEARNED HOW TO MAKE A MUSIC VIDEO ON ONE GIF OF EXPERIENCE, made angsty shipping art for the first time, and god fucking KNOWS what else that I’m forgetting. And that’s ignoring that by this point we’re edging so much closer to me being able to say “I’ve drawn Junkan 200 fucking times” any god damn day now. 

If this isn’t abnormal human being behaviour, it at the very least has to be really fuckin funny behaviour, right?? Am I just overthinking this?? 

Oh god, right, the main topic. Sorry about that it’s just been eating away at me the sheer absurdity of this project when I really step back and think about it.

Anyway making the vid, I did have a LOT of help from my girlfriend @sunmellows, who actually does have animation experience. She’s more versed in using sprites to animate, but a lot of the techniques could be carried over to what I was doing here. That segment of Mikan and Mukuro running along past a bunch of characters? She helped me so much to get the walk cycles perfect for that.

She also helped me make sure I could actually show this fucking video to people, because fun fact. I made this on an absolute piece of shit laptop! And at first it was relatively fine when I exported projects. But when I got to the point of being actually close to completion? Oh my god not only did it take hours, it just didn’t even work. It would basically KILL my laptops performance to the absolute limit until I would eventually have to force restart the thing. Which thank god didnt’ corrupt the fucking file. So when it came to the final export, I handed off the file to her and she graciously exported it out of clip studio, and then made some minor edits to the timing of the animation in a video editing program.

This is also why, much to my constant irritation, there are still a few animation errors in this because if I fixed them, I’d have to re-export the entire video. And sure, my current laptop is 10 times better and might not try to invent a new form of agony trying to manage it, but also i’m not waiting like 2 or 3 hours for that to happen. No matter how painful it makes rewatching this video. Cause i don’t actually like rewatching this one usually, I’m very proud of it but as I’ve said in the past I am a vicious perfectionist when it comes to my work, so its hard for me to ignore every issue and oddity in the video.

I was fucking losing it by the end of this, I was pulling late nighters for like a week while trying to work on the last few scenes and fix up whatever I could, which was hard because I lacked a convenient way to just watch the whole video in good quality and speed, since playing it in my art program resulted in constant stuttering and made it impossible to tell if it would really look like that, and again, trying to export it made my laptop hate me. But on August 1st I finished it, I had to stay up till 6 AM to do it but I did in fact, fucking do it. I passed it off to Yves, she exported it after some technical difficulties, and now we’re here. 

It was, wild, trying to keep this a secret. And i’m not just talking the 3 months I had to keep it quiet to Val (Though that was difficult but VERY worth it yes), but also keeping it secret up till this point. I don’t even know how many fucking months I’ve had to keep this quiet so none of you would find out about it, I’ve been anxiously waiting to see everyone's reactions to this fucking video, and at the time of writing we’re on like, Day 76. I still have so much more time I need to wait! I’m probably gonna be a nervous wreck the day this actually goes up!

Would I ever do this again? God I fucking hope not! (the answer is yeah someday)

I should actually talk about what’s IN the music video now, shouldn’t I? Will be mildly difficult because that’s probably gonna require a lot of rewatching, and as I already said looking at this music video does make my perfectionist brain scratch bad a bit.

Okay so Monokuma.

So originally the plan for this was for the vid to be a much closer 1-to-1 of the actual opening version of Snow Fairy, and while it did eventually evolve into more of its own thing (both functioning as its own slightly more unique intro for Junkan but also just becoming a more normal music video) the one thing that i always wanted for this was to recreate the first few seconds of the intro but with Monokuma. When this was meant to be significantly less like, animation-y, he was gonna be the only part I went fully into.

It was a real pain in the ass but this guy was basically my crash course on properly animating thanks in part to his simple design. He’s also brought much laughter to my girlfriend! On discord i have this part of the vid saved as a gif, and completely divorced from the context of the music vid it just looks like a silly as gif of Monokuma flying away. Like where the fuck are you going dude??

For the remainder of the first bit I wanted to include Hope’s Peak and Jabberwock island since they’re the most iconic locations in the series, granted, jabberwock feels very irrelevant in a non-despair AU but shhhh. The LOGO! I wish I had the actual thing in my files but I guess I just never thought to save it as it’s own thing. And I’m too scared to open the actual file for the music video to just copy paste it out of there because fun fact, the whole thing is ALL one file. Tip from the Ametuer here, don’t fucking do that.

I’m still really happy that I managed to find the actual font for the Fairy Tail logo to make this with, equally happy that I also managed to sneak in one more reference to Val’s work again! It is once again the tattoo design, because I just can’t help myself y’know?

After that we hit me actually doing this and for a brief moment you get to see it actually be about as slide-showy as I had initially planned on before I decided I was gonna learn how to do a proper run cycle and that took like two fucking days i think. Very proud of it though, Mikan and Mukuro’s little runs were very fun to animate and I like the stupid ass slide I made Mukuro do. I actually wanted to make a stupid animation of her rail grinding using those frames, clearly I didn’t. 

Oh also yeah this style was reused for the cover of the Day 60 Comic, partially because I wanted to retroactively sprinkle bits of this animatic into whatever prior posts I can, partially because i really could not think of an actual cover for that comic. 

So since I was trying desperately to make this seem like the opening to some kind of Junkan Series (and again that concept for the vid dies out real quick) I decided to just include as many other characters as possible during these running scenes. Not only because it would be very fun to draw some of them in this fucked up chibi style I started doing on the fly, but also because then I could insert like three whole ships that I like. We got the Ruruseiko, the Tokomaru, the Ikuzonobuki because hey someone had too.

Fun fact there was supposed to be a little pop up of Mukuro with heart eyes in the corner when Sayaka and Ibuki showed up, but I either scrapped cause I couldn’t make it look right with the limited frames I had, or I accidentally hid all of its layers and couldn’t find it. I can’t remember, this project turning out as well as it did is quite frankly a miracle.

The train scene I don’t really remember why I did like, full linework and shading for that while the rest of the fuckin vid is just sketches. I guess it was fully still animation so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Drawing the very silly little shots of them going by the train was a lot more fun though, I also used it to reference a few more pieces from the past!

The first shot of them with Angie was a reference to the Day 70 Piece, since I always kinda headcanoned (yeah headcanoning my own art, that makes sense) that it was Angie who made it. Then we got Day 82, which at the time of writing this hasn’t been posted! Flashback to whatever day that Karaoke pic with the Ikuzonobuki trio was on for the shot of Junko watching Mikan sing.

And then after that is the Flatwoods monster part, which is the really fun one because I have no idea if I’ll have drawn anything for that by the time this gets released. I really want to though because I love the Flatwoods Monster and I love Junkan, so why not combine them! Alas, I’m working on the December 24th comic as I write this so I might not have time to make that on time. 

Yasuke and Tsumugi! I’ve given my thoughts on them before of course, I think during Day 60? My brain at this point just felt very inclined to include them in this, Yasuke especially.  Even if just as a very small cameo I kinda just associate these two with Junkan? Admittedly it’s mostly because of Val’s fic, I won’t act like that isn’t just the blueprint for everything in the junkan portion of my brain. 

I also used this opportunity to once more make up for the fact that I had drawn so very little kabedon content in this whole project.

After that this probably becomes the cheesiest thing i’ve ever made. The scene of Mikan looking sad was another scene directly based off of the original opening this all based on. After the spin transition I put a little too much effort into was supposed to be a shot of Junko doing Mikan’s hair while Mukuro and Sayaka try to do the same with Ibuki. If I remember the timeline of events I realized I couldn’t make this scene last until the next scene on the storyboard without dragging it out, so I was gonna try adding other little vignettes of antics. However in a rare act of self care I decided to not make this any harder on myself and just scrapped it, skipped to the next storyboard, and extended it out to fit the time. Do I like this in the longrun?? Ehhhhhh, personally I think I shoulda just sucked it up and just added some smaller shots, but miraculously I have people who care about me and would probably prefer it if I didn’t destroy my body for a music video, so I probably made the right choice.

Those outfits look kinda familiar! Whether because I was struggling to think of a new outfit, or because I had just drawn a kabedon, I decided to reuse the outfits from Day 74! Junko’s was a pain in the ass to animate! Never again! Also I colored the Boba to match my pride headcanons for both of them, Mikan being bi and Junko being pan. One kiss and another god damn spin transition i put too much effort into making look good, and we’re at the last scene.

And there’s a mildly fun story for the art used in the background. Like I already said, they were added last minute because the scene would be dead air without them. However I could have done more little clips and vignettes and not fully drawn art pieces. So why did I do fully drawn art pieces?? I was starving, of course. 

You all know my rule that I’m not allowed to draw any Junkan before the current one on the project is finished, correct? Well guess who wasn’t able to draw any normal junkan for like 3 months because I had to focus on making a music video. I can reread a bunch of fics or stare at art forever but the desperate and violent urge to make more and add to the pile so my brain feels nice is insatiable, especially with the rate I was making these previously before the music video began production. 

Sooo, making some last minute assets seemed like a pretty good excuse to finally draw something fresh. And it was a fucking blessing on my brain at this point.

I tried to do a runthrough of their relationship up to this point, flashing back all the way until their first encounter. Was this a thinly veiled excuse to realistically include a halloween pic? Yes. But hey, that last shot was always planned so on some level I have to be justified in my actions. Let’s talk about these pieces one at a time.

First up, hey, that kinda looks familiar. That’s right, assuming the stars aligned and allowed me to gain the strength to draw the December 24th Comic all on time (I’m 17 pages in at the moment send past me your strength, time travel is real if I say it is), then you might notice that I just took the outfits for this winter-y art and featured them in the story! 

So I did in fact draw the Halloween art first and realized I could probably do something vaguely interesting with a timeline of events, so I realized it would probably be best to put the winter art BEFORE October, because I like to dream of a year where I can celebrate Halloween and not freeze to death. It just also happens that it kinda conveniently fits the current time! Since this is releasing in winter! A miracle.

This ones pretty simple obviously, I unfortunately have nothing impressive or interesting to say on the art itself, more just stuff surrounding it.

Now the Halloween Art. Well i also don’t have a lot to say there either but god dammit i’ll sure as hell try!~ 

Listen I wasn’t fully confident that I would have the project done in time for Halloween, and as I’ve probably said before (or at least implied), while I could certainly draw more art on my own time after the 100 days were ready, until this was a public thing and the world was made well aware of my obsession, I couldn’t post it. It is extremely good luck (and also burnout) that I was able to get this done in time to actually post during October, so I did get to draw Halloween Stuff! But when I was making this?? I saw an opportunity to say “fuck it” and draw something spooky with these two, my favorite holiday and (probably) my favorite ship?? Yes please!

As for designing their halloween outfits I sure did fucking wing it! Yeah no thought process, just spooky as fuck. 

Though something interesting about this art that my girlfriend pointed out is that the way I shaded and colored it matches up a lot with my older art. Since I’m not gonna drag through my old gallery to find good examples the best way I can sum it up is that my coloring style back in the day was a lot more candy colored. If that makes sense? More saturated colors I guess? Whenever I look at pieces like those and this I just think of a bowl of colorful candy. 

I miss drawing like that, I don’t know what changed. It’s hard to go back, but maybe i’ll try.

The next shot might seem familiar, but not to any of my other pics, but rather a fic! When writing my Vampire Junkan AU I decided that I wanted to do an Aquarium Date for one of the bigger chapters, because as we all know, Fish and Vampires go together like chocolate and peanut butter. When writing it I was thinking of when I wanted to do the big kiss scene, and this art came to mind! So while it’s not very 1 to 1, I tried my best to recreate it through words.

Why did I draw aquarium art in the first place? I wanted to draw a sunfish . . . I’m a very simpleminded woman in most cases y’know?

The next image was actually even more last minute than the other 3, cause even with those I didn’t have enough to cover the timeframe of the scene. Soooo, Junko giving Mikan a flower.

Maybe this was her confessing? Asking her out? I haven’t thought about it enough. 

And after so long we’re finally back to me just ripping straight from the original opening this is based off of, and in the original its a very sentimental memory for one of the main characters. So pretty early on alongside the Monokuma bit I knew I should have that specific last flashback be their first meeting. I think this is like, my 4th or 5th time depicting a first meeting between these two? It’s always fun to do, and the one in this music vid I think you can tell was decently inspired by Kayleen’s “Smile” Fic, albeit not a direct adaptation and with like, 2% more whimsy. 

And a proposal!! We all crack eventually and there was only so god damn long I could stop myself from depicting one, and what better place than an ill advised music video? Also the gleam of the ring just made for a really good transition out of this and I’m still shocked by how well I was able to make it look. 

And that’s it! I feel like I didn’t talk about this one as much as I thought I would?? Granted I think this is still one of the longer rambles I’ve gone on, but given the jump in scale I thought this��d be a bit more, excessive?? 

I already said earlier but for as, fucking agonizing as this was, I will probably, someday, try to do another animation like this. Hell I’m collaborating with my Girlfriend on a VS Project right now and I’m hoping to at least do small bits of actual animating on it. Which I think I can do??

As for music videos, welllll I do have two in mind, one is Vampire Junkan (though not in the way you think), and the other doesn’t specifically focus on Junkan but it sure will have a Billy Joel song. 

So what’s up next??

Well I’m just gonna say this now, Day 100 does not go higher in scale than this, I won’t say what it is but its like, normal. Day 99 should be fun though! As for 91 through 98? Well! We’ve got 8 days of Fanfics! I didn’t write anything don’t worry. I made 8 pictures based off of 8 fanfics, with only one repeat author! There’s reason for that though you’ll see. There’s some direct adaptations of scenes, covers for the story, and like, something more based off the vibe, it’s hard to describe. You’ll see.

Gonna try my best to sing the praises of the fics themselves though I worry that I won’t be able to adequately sing the praises of these stories to the same degree that I did on Day 60, so hopefully I can at least convince ya’ll to give them a read yourself!~ 

Here’s hopin ya’ll enjoy the results!

As always, Reblogs, Comments, and Little Notes in the Tags are appreciated!~ They always make my day!~

[prettyoddfever]

why are you so against ryden

I'm literally only pointing out why specific examples of "Ryden proof" don't work, or were misinterpreted by people who don't know much about the band. If me being pro-reality means that you consider me anti-Ryden then, uh… you might want to examine that more.

As long as we're on this topic, I'm going to expand on an older post here and go off on a tangent:

I actually loved the Ryden part of the fandom in the pre-split days! Ryden felt like a fandom-wide inside joke that united so many fans and sparked so much creativity (sometimes it reminded me of inventing bs symbolism in english & art classes lol). I didn’t read the slash, but it’s not like those kids stayed exclusively over in their communities… they were everywhere. A lot of my favorite accounts were massive Ryden fans & fic authors. but even the most die-hard shippers in 2006 & 2007 would scoff if new fans asked if they were ever being serious with their comments. It was all just entertaining wish fulfillment done to amuse themselves. They would act like it was a legit alternate reality and write long funny primers & posts like “look guys, they are in love. this is facts… here I go with my proof," but when it came down to whether or not they actually thought it was real… no, of course not. The fanfic authors were the first to laugh and say they weren’t hurting anyone because nobody actually believed Ryden was real and everyone was on the same page. They argued that every single band had a slash community and it just came with the fame. Some fans genuinely wanted Ryden to be real, while others thought it was entertaining how you could cherry-pick events & isolate them from any context to make Ryden look plausible. And both groups were taking matters into their own hands by trying to tie enough pictures & random dots together to make it look like a happy alternate reality that satisfied everyone. It was funny.

The majority of the pre-split fandom understood that Ryden wasn’t real, so people were on the same page when they shared their “proof.” It was like an inside joke. For example, I’ll argue that unicorns could be real because I know that the person I’m talking to is aware of reality. I can get as creative as I want and just have fun because we’re both on the same page… and the other person will be like “well yes of course they’re obviously real.” It looks like we agree. But that does not mean that we truly believe it lol... we're just bored & entertaining ourselves. Someone else who is unsure whether or not unicorns actually exist might read our convo and conclude that we are certain unicorns are real and have proof! But I never intended for my silly convo with my friend to be taken that seriously.

For me, Ryden was more about the fandom. It was just fun to see a picture or new moment and wait to see if anyone else spotted the same potential too. The slash accounts across different sites/forums would even make fun of themselves for how far they would go to make everything fit Ryden. At times it felt like an affectionate joke about the band and the fandom. 

I’d say the Ryden craze first took over with the huge surge of new fans during the summer 2006 tour (around the time Brendon & Ryan started fully going for the mic sharing each night). This was back when the band still read the forums and different fan sites and were trying to get a sense of what their fans were saying (such a bad idea lol). I was never totally clear on where the guys stood on Ryden in 2006 but it seemed like they were in on the joke… but it was so confusing at the same time. Like one minute they’d complain about the disgusting “pornfiction” in an interview and the next minute they’d be hamming it up for meet & greet pictures. Bden would practically hump Ryan’s leg during a show and then Ryan would suggestively run his hand up Bden’s thigh during a meet & greet exactly when he knew fans were watching… and then they’d both act like they didn’t get why fans ever came up with stories about them. I’m not saying their actions meant they were asking for something btw. I’m just saying that it’s equally true that the guys would claim they weren’t huge on Ryden and that they intentionally fueled the fire to get fans to laugh/scream at the right time. The band was super aware that the Ryden fans were a huge part of the fandom who drove a lot of the hype online… so it seemed like in late 2006 the guys were just trying to connect with a fanbase they were being quickly distanced from as they got more & more famous. Then in 2008 the guys intentionally added extra Ryden elements to their stage routine because they knew what a lot of fans still wanted to see.

So my conclusion was that it was all in good fun (except making suggestive comments to the band irl was horrible… people were even saying some seriously gross stuff to Zack about the boys and taking it waaaaay too far). During the lull of 2007, and even into 2008, there seemed to be a whole section of the fandom that was more invested in their fanfic communities than the irl band (they’d often come onto other boards & communities to ask for facts or details for their fanfics and watching the replies they got was like watching a really bad game of telephone haha so I’m guessing those plots diverged from reality pretty quickly). New fans were also being introduced to the band through fanfiction and seemed more intent on just spotting Ryden moments and learning the fanfic version of history rather than any real-life history. So by late 2008 there was definitely a small crowd who was taking Ryden more seriously and also understood less about the band. But I wasn't always sure if their tone was totally serious or not, because the joking posts had often been written in a serious tone too.

Side note on that: when I started this account in 2020 I hadn't thought about P!ATD much while I had been sick for years. I was just trying to throw myself back into the mindset of 2006 and rediscover a time when my world had been awesome & I was healthy. So when I saw all the sun/moon theories that had formed after I'd left the fandom I was like YES omg this is amazing. I lived for that kind of stuff. But then it was confusing how the same people who were currently posting all of the “ryden was real” stuff were the same ones who would quickly point out that another one of my Ryden posts wasn’t what really happened or that a photo manip that I considered fun was actually fake…  I mean, obviously??? I didn’t get why there was any difference between everything. It took me a few months to get a read on the current fandom and realize that things weren't being done in the same joking spirit. I started struggling to explain why I was posting Ryden-ish stuff if I didn’t necessarily believe what I was saying (and again I’m having a hard time explaining here because it never felt like the fandom was making up crap we didn’t stand behind back then! we were serious that we believed it was a darn good connection/theory or photoshop job haha). Ryden used to be like this shared alternate lens to view events through that felt like teamwork to create. We would intentionally pretend like years of full context didn't exist and create our own parallel narrative that could coexist with reality in our minds. But now it feels like people are sharing "Ryden proof" for real as though the piles of creative nonsense are an actual recap of historic events... and you need to pick some kind of "side" to believe? Idk, it's weird. I dropped any remaining nostalgia connected with Ryden content and ended up shifting the tone & focus of my account to organizing actual facts, media, and info about events I remember.

I don't think it's ok that moments in the band's history are often distorted or erased in order to pass off certain examples of “Ryden proof” as real now. It would be a shame for ridiculous Ryden stories to be prioritized as key info about the band while normal info about band members & events gets ignored now (ex: turning Northern Downpour into some kind of Ryden thing totally erases what Ryan wanted to do with the song). A lot of people have told me that they don’t care what actually happened because they prefer their ideas anyways. And that’s fine, as long as you’re aware that what you’re choosing doesn't track with reality. (Also, I always felt like knowing the real events or original photos from a manip gave me more appreciation for how creative people were… but I suppose that’s because Ryden was more about the fandom for me).

SIDE TANGENT: I drifted away from the fandom after summer 2009 when I got sick, so I don’t know specifically what happened over the next couple years to get so many fans who were impressively uninformed about the band yet super intense about Ryden at the same time... but I'm also not surprised I guess. Some knowledge about the band absolutely faded to the background in the last half of 2006 as the overwhelming amount of newer fans invented their own answers and were more interested in freaking out over cute guys than actually taking the time to learn about the band. The knowledge wasn't lost, it was just drowned out for a while in the midst of their enthusiastic chatter. It felt like a waste of time to correct them too because they were absolutely everywhere and they weren't really harming anyone by screaming things like Ryan took his mom as a date to the VMAs lol. Maybe there was a surge of younger fans by 2010-2011 who didn't have the context to know what they were looking at too, and were very enthusiastic about Ryden? I don't know. This is all purely speculation on my part.

I actually don't care whether anyone thinks Ryden was real or not... that's definitely not my focus and I'm not trying to convince anyone of a "side" either. You can conclude whatever you want. My focus in my posts is simply to provide context for some of the inaccurate stories & examples that are currently being passed around as though they're actual history. I don't expect anyone to care. But at least the info is still available for any younger fans who might be interested in the real-life band.

[lindseybots]

Welcome to The Wind’s Track AU!

A lot of people have been stopping by to check this AU out, so I thought now was a good time to make a pinned post for this.

What is this AU?

This is a Legend of Zelda AU in which Link, the Hero of Winds from Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass (nicknamed Wind in this AU), sticks around New Hyrule as a spirit after his life has reached its conclusion.

During his wanderings as a spirit one day, he went to check on his old pal Niko to find that Niko had taken in a baby named Link (nicknamed Spirit in this AU) whom he found washed ashore. This baby will eventually grow up to be the Hero of Spirits from Spirit Tracks. Wind is surprised at the matching name and almost identical appearance, but even more surprising than all of that is that this kid has the ability to see and hear him.

Basically, the ghost of the Hero of Winds helps raise the Hero of Spirits.

Don’t know where to start with exploring the AU? Try this, or try exploring some of the tags!

Important Links / Tags

Tags:

#The Wind’s Track AU

#The Wind’s Track

# WT AU

#WT Fanart

#WT Comic

#WT reference sheet

#Lindseybot answers

#WT Wind

#WT Spirit

(if you want to type these in manually, do it lowercased. Tumblr sometimes gets weird with the tags if you capitalize them.)

Links:

WT AU Collaborative Spotify Playlist (A Spotify playlist for the AU made with y’all’s help.)

Some WT AU Questions and Answers (under the break)

Q: Is this associated with Linked Universe?

A: No. While Linked Universe is a wonderful AU, the Wind’s Track is its own, separate AU. The events of Linked Universe DO NOT and NEVER WILL HAPPEN in the “canon” of this AU. If you would like to see a little more of my thoughts on that, please view this post.

Q: Can I post fanart, fanfics, etc. of this AU?

A: Absolutely! If you do, all I ask is that you credit me for the AU. (Also, please tag me so I can see it. 🤭) While on the subject, feel free to check out the tag #WT reference sheet if you’d like to see references of the characters within the context of the AU.

Q: Is there an official fic for this AU?

A: Unfortunately, no. I am not a confident writer. I have an Ao3 account (Lindseybot), but I never post fics on it. I, instead, use it to subscribe, leave kudos, leave comments, etc. I occasionally post little comics of the AU here on Tumblr, however.

Q: Will there be a full comic then?

A: As of now, I do not have any plans to do that. Not only is this AU still very early in development, but that would take a LONG time. With my current schedule being the way it is, it just wouldn't be feasible. Still, never say never. You never know what the future may hold. As of now, I plan to just occasionally post mini comics and art pieces that take place at any random point in the timeline of the AU.

Q: Can I use your art as an icon, banner, etc.

A: Sure!! I’m honored that you like my art enough to want to use it for that! Please just make sure to credit me!

Q: Can I send you asks? / Can I send you a lot of asks? / Can I send you suggestions?

A: PLEASE DO! Hearing from y'all makes me very happy. Anons are welcome too! If you decide to ask anonymously, I will give you an anon name. If you ask about a character’s shoes or something (as a silly example) I might dub you "Shoe Anon." Whether or not you use the name is up to you, but if you want to send another ask later and make it known to me that you are the same anon as from a previous ask you can be like: "Hey! It's Shoe Anon again! I have another question!"

Q: Why does Wind look young? Did he die young?

A: Nope! Don’t let his looks fool you. He may look no older than during the days of his adventures, but he actually lived a long, happy life. His adventures were the most impactful part of his life. As such, his appearance as a spirit is simply a reflection of that.

Q: What ships are in this AU?

A: ST Zelda x ST Link. If you want to see more of my thoughts on that, check out this post.

Q: What games will this AU cover content from?

A: This AU will contain spoilers for the following games:

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

Other games within the Legend of Zelda series are subject to be mentioned, but they are a lot less likely.

Q: The Spotify Playlist collaborator link isn’t working, but I want to be a collaborator. What do I do?

A: Not to worry! Spotify’s collaborator link always expires after seven days. We are forced to put up with that feature. Send me an ask about it. I’ll renew the link! :)

Q: I want to add a song to the playlist, but I don’t want anyone to know I was the one who added it. Is there still a way for me to add it?

A: That’s perfectly fine! Send me the song name and artist name through an anon ask. I’ll add it for you!

[gaybroons]

Talk Hockey To Me

( @ghostgeno's tag game)

The thing that got you hooked on hockey

Started reading “hey now, you're an all star (get your game on, go play)” by @buckyismybicycle while it was ongoing because even though I was 1) completely uninterested in hockey and 2) also uninterested in Stucky as a ship, this specific author’s works have always been phenomenal and with each new chapter email I started getting more and more intrigued until I eventually gave in and started reading it (literally so worth it everyone should read it). In the end notes of each chapter, HR (the author) would add some fun facts and extra context for the hockey related stuff (considering it’s a whole hockey AU) that made me go “huh that sounds fun” more than once but I was still not super into the hockey thing.

Until. 

I reached the chapter with a beautifully written match and I was like???? Is hockey like this irl?????????? This sounds so good?????????? Cue YouTube hacking into my brain and suggesting me hockey compilations which included the infamous Lick. I saw this random man just being a menace to everyone and decided he is now the love of my life.  (i usually omit the stucky fic part bc ppl have opinions about marvel that i do not want to hear lol. so if i told you abt this before without the full context i'm sorry!!)

Your first ever fandom friend

@hard4softthings !!!! Love is stored in the ao3 comment section uwu 

The jersey you would most like to own

I can’t pick one so I’m just gonna list in descending order: Marchand home jersey (with a C !!!!!!!!😤) ,  Pasternak (also home. Sorry it’s just nicer than the away version) , Quinn Hughes (the pride one because I’m obsessed with the design it’s so pretty) 

YOUR player (you only get ONE so choose wisely)

The rat king himself 🖤💛🖤💛🖤 can u tell I have a favorite 

A pairing that deserves more fic

Sid/Ovi ‼️ tuukks/pasta and Brady/Quinn too, there’s just so much potential for them. 

Your favourite on-ice moment

Picking is difficult so you’re just gonna get a bunch <3.

Bertuzzi stealing cousin’s stick and trying to break it

Marchy kidnapping The Child

pigeon

dancing with the stars

tuukks Exhibiting homicidal tendencies (rightfully so)

flower wanting to feel included

whole team under arrest

Brady Tkachuk: why is there a fucking animal loose on the ice he’s going to give me rabies

marchy waving to a booing crowd

marchy blowing kisses to a booing crowd

flower asserting his dominance tripping TWO first round picks

Quinn Hughes seeing a fight break out and says ✨no✨

Marner spinning like a ballerina

+ link someone else's art/fic/etc that you love & think everyone should check out

ART: 

this ADORABLE mcdrai art by @saviorified

MattMcDrai art by @adelphenium , obsessed with the blushing and the HAIR plz it’s so cute.  

Awfully pretty sid and geno art by @ceanspam

Captaincy transfer by @adelphenium I’m so weak for rat marchy, and ALSO bergy’s eyes <33333 i’m so <33333

the kiss of life by @stillfertile

FICS: 

The “All Caps” series by @makeit-takeit rewired my brain I’ve reread it countless times i think i can recite it by heart. 

“hard to be soft, tough to be tender” The Hanahaki fic by @hardforsoftthings I love love love the emotional progression AND denial in both of these fics (also, horny. Thank u) 

speaking of which, in less emotionally charged and more horny fics, the “spit cup” and “scratch that itch” non-traditional omegaverse doulogy by @ whitchbhitch (i do not know their tumblr)

+ link something you made & are proud of & want people to see

I’m honestly really proud of my flowertalbo fic, “Inevitably you will burn (as all living things do)” it’s really short (646 words) but I think I did a good job on it :>

Also, I find myself coming back to this one McDrai crack fic, “Oh Puck No!” idk what possessed me to write it but I had fun with it and i still find it silly and enjoyable lol

no pressure tags: @lindholmline @darkangel0410 @gilliebee @owchar1ie and anyone else who wanna do this!!!

[squirrelno2]

Last Line Challenge

Rules: in a new post, show the last line you wrote (or drew) and tag as many people as there are words (or as many as you feel like).

thanks for the tag, @mwolf0epsilon! finding the last thing I wrote was the hard part because it's been like a week and a couple days ago I went on a rereading spree trying to inspire myself, which means a lot of random fics said they'd been opened recently but had nothing new in them. anyway.

(the one I ended up with is about 3-5 layers of au - it's Shiny/Ven the kid who Dogma adopts in my fic series, but as an adult having time travelled to swtor, but also THIS isn't even my canon for that it's an au where she's kind of forced into becoming a Sith??? why don't you work on anything that people have context for and want to see completed, I ask myself every day) Preamble over here's some lines!

She sounded so much like Ven’s father it hurt. Ven thought about the things she’d done, long before the Sith got their hands on her, and turned her face away. It was a good thing Nalyan and Dorne had each other. They were both too good for her.

noooo idea who I know who's been doing stuff recently and also dear god if i took this game literally that's a lot of people but. @what-point-is-there hiii i know you've been doing art can I convince you to share a wip (no pressure i'm being silly) and for anyone else who wants to share a wip do it! I will vouch for you and say i personally tagged you. with like my mind or something i don't know.

[bitegore]

I've misplaced the original spec for the thing, but I think it was roughly "thoughtful, emotional prose written by people who haven't read anything but fanfiction..." So (accounting for the fact that a lot of your stuff on here is Art or brief comments on other people's posts or random personal reflections and that is the nature of the medium):

Thoughtful: yes, of course. Aside from Decepticon religion etc and Stunticon interactions (which are clearly properly thought through) there is all the stuff you write about charity and religion and people being people and making the world a kinder place in really practical ways. I'm also still using your stuff on confidence in a couple of contexts, and it helps people.

Emotional: clearly, but perhaps not in the slightly twee way the OP implies. You're passionate about things and you wear (some representation of; this is social media) your heart on your sleeve about the important stuff. You also present a lot of emotion about the silly stuff (violet mints and sleep patterns, to name but two).

Having read only fanfic: not seeing it (though maybe, I'm not sure what I'm presenting here is not doing fanfic a disservice). Quite apart from the fact that I'm pretty sure I've seen you talk about non-fanfic you've read, your fic and the way you talk about it draws on a much wider range of conventions and structures than most of the fanfic I've read. (Disclaimer - that may be selection bias on my part, as I've only really ever been into TF fandom, but there are certainly lots of brilliant writers therein and the thing that distinguishes you among them in my head is the range of structural approaches and angles.) It feels as if you're in dialogue with a very wide range of other authors.

...I actually forgot that non-fiction still counts as reading, if you'd believe that lmao. My whole "thing" (inasmuch as I really have a "thing") is parodying whatever I've read for my homework last. That tracks haha.

Thank you! This was a really thorough answer and very much food for thought :D

[sunstone-smiles]

For the color ask game

🩵TEAL💚

🩷MAUVE🩷

🩷BLUSH🩷

🩷FUCHSIA💜

💜LAVENDER💜

💛SAFFRON🧡

❤️CRIMSON❤️

💚CHARTREUSE💚

❤️BURGUNDY🤎

THIS IS SO MANY OH MY GOODNESS, but thank you!!!

(I’m also stealing part of the way you formatted your response to my ask, Lol)

Teal = We have a lot in common

Yessss! Especially the love for Fire Emblem 💕

Mauve = You are really talented

STOOOP! No you! I’m going to uno reverse card the statement right back at you. You know I love your fics, and I know this isn’t your art blog, but your art is amazing and so pretty to see (And I’m realizing as I type this that I haven’t followed your art blog??? Shame on me! I’m doing it right after I post this).

I’m combining these next ones together BECAUSE I’M INTERNALLY SOBBING FROM ALL THE COMPLEMENTS:

Blush = Seeing you on my dash makes my day a little better Fuchsia= Your blog content is gold. Lavender = You inspire me  Saffron = I love your ideas Burgundy = I get excited when I see posts from you

AAAAAAH! You are so sweet! I’m so glad my posts (even when some are silly or random ramblings) are something to look forward to! And on the context of “Lavender,” literally one of my goals / aspirations for writing in general is so inspire others so that makes me so happy 💕

Crimson = We should collaborate on something!

Yes!!! Absolutely!!! (I saw your response to my ask, so I’ll be sending a DM after this!)

Chartreuse = You’re my homie

Mine too! I love seeing your name come up in my notes on almost everything I post. Plus, I love your content too 💕 

---

Thank you for this! ❤️

Original ask game: Send a color

[mezzmerizd]

idk if it really needs context but i really like science-y / science and researched based fics,, aaaaaaaand well, i'd imagine Netherborn aren't really researched or even known in the Overworld (besides ofc the classics - piglin, blaze, ghasts etc etc). :3

Quick disclaimer that:

1. this is mostly rambles 2. these are my personal headcanons 3. this doesn't rlly follow the actual order hermits joined Hermitcraft - i just like being silly :3c Tango and Impulse are the only two of their kind who've settled in the Overworld as far as their connections reach. (There were tons of stories about so called "traitors" fleeing the nether to hopefully live a better life in the other dimension, but most of them get shoved under the rug to not encourage others following their footsteps. And, of course, after getting out none of them came back to tell the tale - they might be living their best lives or they might've gotten too close to a creeper and,,, well.) Hermitcraft is already a wild mix of misfits so Tango and Impulse fit in perfectly. Smth smth Xisuma is a lovely, welcoming guy for new, lost faces who simply need a home and some guidance. ANYWAY. THIS ISN'T ABOUT THAT. Them being netherborn caused some curiosity from everyone- especially those who didn't particularly like the hostile environment of the nether and therefore were a little skeptical of just what kind of people Xisuma allowed in. With some keeping their distance, others presented their friendly natures right away. :] I'd imagine especially all of science trio have at least been somewhat intrigued by those two at some point, even if they moved on with their other kinds of experiments and simply quieted their curiosity to their fellow hermits' benefit. Zedaph is the only one who still asks some more fundamentally curious questions about his husbands' biology, habits or home. He's also the closest to the two by far in comparison to Doc and Cub, so he has the privilege of gaining some more netherborn knowledge here and there :3c

ANYWAY AFTER TONS OF YAPPING ERM,, the actual art is more of an AU if yk, the info about netherborn - of two different species even!!! - just lingering around some random server got out to scientists who cared less about morals and more about results. smth smth i won't get too deep into it but fair to say a fic about it would have the mature tag at minimum :]c

Uh oh!! He seems a little mad- and a little chained up???

self-indulgent little AU (?) thing!! :33 not much rime or reason why i made this, besides maybe anatomy & expression practice??

[fernlessbastard]

Suppose it's high time I made one of those

Hello, I'm [insert some shortened version of "fernless bastard"], I use he/him

I have accidentally become an internet father figure for like half of the tntblr, but honesly, I'm perfectly fine with it (I'm ok with being called "dad", if you want to do so)

I'm just a ND artist here on Tumblr sharing my hyperfixation(s). Tnt duo currently owns my life, and it doesn't seem to be slowing down (2024 edit: yeah, still balls deep in this hell/lh), but I sometimes do some other stuff too (not a lot tho--). Can't keep a consistent schedule, don't worry if I disappear for longer periods of time, I'm just a little silly like that

If you wanna commission me:

Also, LINK TO TNTBLR COMMUNITY THAT I KINDA ACCIDENTALLY MADE!!!! You're more than invited to join :]

I also run @tntblr-community-official so follow it to have all the community updates in one place

Anyway, I also have Twitter, Instagram and AO3 so feel free to check them out

Asks are very welcome, and even encouraged, and although I might not answer immediately, I'll get to it eventually, pinky promise

btw as a bonus I made a post explaining the context for the iconic tntduo kissing image for the newer folk (some crucial tntduo fandom lore and context for what you might see in the earlier content of the two)

Tags:

#fernless bastard - my art

#ferns spicy art - my more raunchy pieces (some are tagged as mature content) - MINORS DNI.

#fern writing - some snippets of my writing, as well as links to my fics

(old tag) #losing face quackbur - my fic on ao3 - “Losing Face”, feel free to check it out!

#ferns faves - self explanatory

(old tag) #fern - more personal stuff, a general tag

#fernless rants & #fern rambles - both positive and negative rants and random thoughts

(old tag) #tw quackbur shipping - a joke tag i sometimes tag my quackbur posts with

#support art - I try to tag all drawings I reblog as this

#support writing  - I try to tag all pieces of writing / fic links I reblog as this

#support animation - I try to tag all animations/animatics I reblog as this

#support music - I try to tag all music I reblog as this

(Old tag) #thank youu - I tend to respond to reblogs that say something, so, idk, yeah

Some great people you should check out! 

(aka the tumblr users I’ve accidentally adopted + my bitch)

@octobre-ackedia my beloathed<3 unhinged ramblings

@eggicup she does art and writing!

@ace-of-tnt also does great writing!

@quacktities my beloved son with major brainrot /pos

@your-best-emo best boy *pat pat*

@pebblebrain-by-lovejoy my sweet boy who does art and writing!

@pupperish another chaotic child /affectionate

@tntduocore my baby who also has major brainrot

@tnt-my-duo another delightful, brainrotted person whom I adore

@lookineedsleep does art and I’m so proud

now, these two arent adopted, but

@brrxmbll my fren who does very pog art!! :DD

@peachtub my other fren who does very pog art!!! :DD

[daredevilexchange]

Want to be featured here? Head to this page and fill in the form!

See what this is about here, or if you’re using the app here.

What's your fannish ID? notmadderred on AO3 (and @not-madder-red on Tumblr). It comes from Madder Red, an amazing character from the Bedlam comic -- the name has stuck with me for a variety of reasons.

What types of fanworks do you create? For this fandom, I create fics. I've been doing more art recently, so maybe I'll branch outward in that direction for here, too. We'll see. But writing is what I really do, so... hey! It works, and fanfiction has been a great way to practice voice and pacing in narratives. Plus, I get to write the stories I've always wanted to read.

What are your favourite types of fanworks, when you're not creating? Art and fics -- I'm always so impressed by what other people can do. What do you like in particular about this fandom? To be honest, I don't know too much about the fandom here. But from what I see, everyone is super supportive! Plus, there's all the LGBT+ support which I love to see, especially since I wasn't expecting it when I first got into Marvel. People are just so wonderful and ugh. I love nice people, what can I say. I do tend to lean toward Fratt in fics (so... so many Fratt fics), but I also love fics with Dex (who became a hyperfixation after I read a fake headline that said he'd be canonically gay in the show ummmm) and the other Defenders (team bonding? those ships? hell's yeah). Basically, everything here is great.

Do you like participating in fan events? Yeah! It's fun to make stuff for other people especially, but it also keeps me invested in the fandom. I love these characters and the people here, so whenever I'm not too busy and in a good mental state, I like doing them!

What about your creating process? I can't write and listen to music at the same time, and it's devastating. I basically have to mute everything around me and hit the grind, no multitasking whatsoever. Usually I write fanfiction when I'm about to sleep, heh. Random prompts are also good (the vaguer the better, as I've found, which is... interesting). 

Do you interact a lot with other fans?  I love everyone! Sometimes I miss things, but I try to interact as much as possible and I'm always happy to try to participate in the fandom.

Is there any particular piece you'd like to showcase for this post? https://archiveofourown.org/works/17383106  My first Fratt fic! It basically showcases the majority experience for what people can expect when getting into my works. ;)

Do you have other fandoms you'd like to talk about? I'm super big into Red vs Blue. The fandom is similarly super supportive of LGBT+ and loves its creative fandom creators. I've always loved the humor of the show (though the first seasons can be oof), but it adheres so closely to the silliness and absurdity of Catch-22 that I couldn't help but fall in love. DD and RvB are the two most lasting hyperfixations I've found for myself, so perhaps that speaks to something as well.

Is there anything else you want to tell us about yourself? Feel free to ask or tell me anything, 'cause I'm game. 

Where can your fanworks be found? https://archiveofourown.org/users/notmadderred/pseuds/notmadderred Thank you, @not-madder-red !

banner by @context-is-for-kingpins !

[ID on a white background, four black triangles that look like spotlights from above. Each illuminates one of the Defenders silhouetted in white: Jessica, Luke, Danny, Matt. A hand on the left is holding a pen writing the words Content Creator Spotlight. There is a little Punisher skull on the pen. End ID]

[chromatic-lamina]

for the character ask, maybe one of ASL? whoever you decide on!

Okay, here goes for Ace Luffy.

favorite thing about them:

Hmm. His voice actor? He looks good in Wano. Definitely buffed up there and that kimono suits him a whole lot. I love his logic. Big Mom doesn’t recognise him in Udon because she’s got amnesia. Luffy thinks it’s because he’s disguised as a samurai. I think the same kind of joke was made at Dressrosa. His art skills and mimicry skills. 😊

Huge things that seem small, like not letting on to that man who was squashed from living in a box that there was no treasure at the top of the mountain, because basically he had sacrificed his life for an empty dream. Literally. Interesting. Given the basic theme of the manga.

least favorite thing about them:

I think my dislike mainly comes from fics rather than anything that consistently exists in canon. This is just my interpretation, but I don’t like that trampling boundaries often gets portrayed as love, and I don’t like the way many fics have him continually referring to people by name rather than using second person singular ‘you’, or other pronouns. In canon, I’m not sure how I feel when he pulls the ‘captain’ card either, but I think I just need to read more and understand context a bit more deeply on that one.

favorite line:

I can only think of the two he always says (Meat and the one about being the King of the Pirates ;-) ). Another person answered this ask and loved his exchange with Shirahoshi, and I thought the line they singled out was nice. Just let me quote it from them (I’m sure it was important to someone else too. I can see why). @minyaii

one piece chapter 615, when shirahoshi and luffy are only going on a walk; shirahoshi asks him, “is this what you call an adventure?”

and luffy laughs and responds, “yeah, if your heart is beating fast, then it’s an adventure!”

brOTP: Luffy and his crew. OTP:

I don’t really ship Luff. He’s pretty young in canon, so around his age is preferred by me if he’s with anyone. ZoLu makes the most sense.

I’ll add this from my Kid post: KidLu: I really like the idea of two egotistical bastards competing with each other until the finish line. When they’re roly-poly balls at Udon from eating too much kibi-dango, I love the absurdity.

And from my Usopp character thing...Lusopp is really sweet. I’ve read some good stuff.

I can see SanLu happening, and I’ve read some good LuNami, particularly if both characters are aged up a bit and it’s a modern day AU.

nOTP: I don’t like Law///Lu. I know a lot of folk do, and there are a heap of good stories out there, but it just doesn’t work for me. The age difference doesn’t work for me, and it’s more so just that Luffy’s really young, not so much the number of years. Other than that, even the crack ships can work. It depends on the writer’s skill.

I’m so-so on any ASL ships. If they meet as adults and not related, and not having grown up together as family I don’t mind it. But, y’know, it’s fanfiction, and there’s some well-written stuff out there, and good artwork.

random headcanon:

I don’t have any for Luffy, but I do love a feral Luffy and feral ASL AU, or even tying into canon. I like dark Luffy occasionally  in fanfics or art, but keep him happy in canon.

unpopular opinion: That Luffy’s selfish. But that’s a given and canon, right? And not all the time. He doesn’t have to be a saint.  The story wouldn’t go anywhere without Luffy rushing into any situation.

Oh, also, I don’t really like fight scenes that much, so even though I’m sure Luffy’s are awesome, I’m usually hoping for them to end a whole lot quicker than they usually do. But I do like the humour that’s woven into them.

song i associate with them:

I don’t have one for Luffy. I liked the song he sang while he raced off through Wano. That was a song, wasn’t it? Feral child and so some kind of slightly askew nursery rhyme or fairy tale would suit him. I was gonna say the darker ones, but I actually just think the silly and soft ones.

favorite picture of them:

I’ll link once I post.

But actually, he’s looking good in canon at the moment, and the colour spreads when he’s in his gangster gear or the trippy dj booth is pretty cool. Also just when he’s vibrantly alive.

Thanks for the ask. Law, Tashigi, Usopp, Zoro, Luffy and Kid are completed!  Marco and Chopper are lined up.

Ask away:

↓

character asks (one piece only)

[ofieugogyshz]

💌💌💌? :D

send me a 💌 and ill pick a random song off my ship playlist and tell you why i associate it with my ship

Unforgettable - Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole

GOD THIS ONE WAS ALMOST A CONTENDER FOR A FIC TITLE ON OUR LOVE IS HERE TO STAY (which is on its second oldies title; there was like, five contenders). 

I like this version specifically because, it’s a duet song that features the line “That someone so unforgettable / Thinks that I am unforgettable too.” You don’t really get it that well by itself, it loses that nuance I think, when it’s just one of them singing it. Also they have really great harmony and balance??? But them just singing that set of lines, together, really, REALLY emphasizes the togetherness and, just, idk, mirror-ness of the song? Just. The duet version is soooooo soo sososososo much better than the original. 

OKAY, LET’S TRY TO BREAK THE REST OF THIS ONE DOWN

Unforgettable, that's what you are Unforgettable, though near or far

since we’ve spent a lot of our time up until, like, early twenties kind of in a partially ldr, like.... we couldn’t forget the other! we were on each other’s minds a lot!! Esp before we, actually got together as a couple, I suppose.... But we always remembered each other. Even nowadays, if we’re still like, somewhere together, we’re always kind of, thinking of the other when there’s time for our minds to wander, maybe i guess. 

How the thought of you does things to me

ok look ignoring the idea that maybe out of context (or in context, I don’t know but the other songs these two sing don’t seem to be in any way explicit for their originating time period) this line probably is covert... uhhhh.... well anyways, like. hello i think of my husband and all of a sudden i am overcome with fluster. my lips do this thing where they like, curl up and suddenly my face is hot and i feel like, the adrenaline rush of needing to flee and hide but it also like, feels kinda good because, like, APPARENTLY that’s what liking someone feels like, I GUESS???? yeah. that’s a thing that a thought of him does to me. 

Never before has someone been more Unforgettable in every way

[...]

No, never before has someone been more Ooh unforgettable (unforgettable) In every way (in every way)

honestly I haven’t asked recently and I don’t remember the answer from whenever I probably did ask out of curiosity, but I’m sure that the feelings we get from thinking about the other, be it protection or a desire to just. be around the other and love them unconditionally and give them good things??? like, idk, but MAYBE we haven’t had that happen with a lot of other people in our lives. maybe there wasn’t a chance for someone else to step in, given how young we were, but. he’s always been there for me and I’ve never once forgotten that I like him? or that he was there? like.... he’s always been taking up some part of my mind, even when there’ve been dormant years due to lack of content. I’ve just. always found some way to love him.

That's why darling, it's incredible That someone so unforgettable Thinks that I am unforgettable too

HELLO?????!!!??!!??!?! I’ve always thought he was so amazing and awesome and cool and okay maybe it took awhile to think he was handsome i’ll admit i did not find his key art attractive in any way, but him in the anime...... uh, like... i’ve always thought him incredible and stuff!!! and he thinks the same of me too??? lil me who’s spend so much of their life thinking they’re boring and bland and LITERALLY BEING TAUGHT negative things about themselves that we won’t go into right here, like..... he thinks??? I’m unforgettable too??? ;a; he thinks I’m amazing??? That i’m incredible?? I dunno about cool but he’s always thought I’m adorable and a sweetheart and very kind and caring and it’s just like AAAAAAAAAAA babe where did you find these things because I think you just looked in the mirror. And maybe he doesn’t have the low self-esteem like I do, but it gets to him when he hears me go off about him, or I tell him all that, and it does fluster him deep down but he tries very well to hide it, more than I do. And like??? we both think the world of each other???? ISN’T THAT JUST INCREDIBLE?????????????? and maybe unforgettable doesn’t come to mind, but you could literally swap out any sentiment that we go off about when it comes to the other, and we literally think the same of the other, too. 

Chances Are - Johnny Mathis & Ray Conniff

okay look this is basically a flirt song lbr you look at the lyrics and that’s kinda flirty fdkmkfmd but you know what, it’s true and he should say it. i should say it. we should say it??? anyways you know what this can be our flirt song from when we were young kids i say kids even though we prob woulda been older teens/YA bc i work with that age group and Y’ALL ARE A BUNCHA KIDS

Chances are 'cause I wear a silly grin The moment you come into view

Chances are you think that I'm in love with you

me. that’s just me. i always got get so silly at the sight of him. Because I love him 

Just because my composure sort of slips The moment that your lips meet mine Chances are you think my heart's your Valentine

you know what, he gets this one. because as much suave and coolness he can play as he very easily lbr romances me, i’m sure even he gets a little happy, a little lovestruck, when we kiss. 

Chances are you believe the stars that fill the skies are in my eyes  Guess you feel you'll always be the one and only one for me  Well, chances are your chances are awfully good 

insert flirting/romancing each other scene here. that’s it that’s just it

okay spotify let’s shuffle and get something MORE MODERN, LIKE FROM MY ERA PLZ? no? okay fine well I saw this one while I was turning stuff on so I guess I’ll just have to do it myself.

We Are Magic - Lolirock 

this is just another me song and if i had it when i was a kid this would have instantly become another babby sarah classic. (it was only a few years ago that I watched Lolirock, shortly after s2 was on netflix I suppose? But I remember hearing about it back when it was still in greenlight) regardless, it is instantly a classic even though the french sounds better

You tell me I'm out of sight You give me butterflies I'm hanging on every word you say You always make my day

My heart is like a bass drum When I see you, I skip a beat The way I feel's so awesome 'Cause you keep smiling back at me

You tell me I'm really cute You got me hooked on you

hello yes?? who let you into my head? regardless if he’s complimented me or not, just. A Lance a day keeps the depression at bay. Okay maybe it’s a bit more complicated than that, but seeing him sure does make the day better! ♥ He, just... ugh. I love him so much and seeing him feel that way towards me, thinking of him. He’s so ready to compliment me, regardless if I need it but because he wants to, he feels a need to, because he loves me??? I am hook line and sinker his. I might not have always felt the same at the beginning, and maybe he might have had to fight me on unlearning saying negative things about myself, but... it’s so hard nowadays to think those thoughts because he’s so right, and it’s so rude to say that his words aren’t true. okay that’s a little off-track of where I shoulda went but it kind of goes in line with “hanging on every word” and “you got me hooked on you”, because, like, how can you not listen to the person you love tell you that you’re amazing and awesome? That you mean something and that you have value and worth?

of course i’m listening to everything he says, even if I don’t agree with it, because he’s just. there. listening. smiling at me, loving me, kissing me, giving me all of the love and support and self-confidence that I had lacked in my life. He’s.... just so supportive and ugh I love him.

[xxx-theartofsuicide-xxx]

do you think making a self insert is mary sueish

I stray away from the term Mary Sue if I can because I find it kinda sexist. Just a little. Personally, I just have zero interest in ever reading about someone else's character that has been made up for the sole purpose of shipping them with one of my favs. I just. Don't care. It's boring. Yawn. I don't want to hear their backstory or learn to love them. I want them dead in a ditch to further the plot along with some angst so we can get back to the characters I know and love.

Why would I want to read about BJ and some random ass fantasy bitch when I could read about BJ and his tragic little wife? I wouldn't. Not many would.

The difference between me and folks who think they can shame me(lol jokes on them, I'm shameless) into shipping something else(bigger lol bc that concept is so ridiculous I can't fathom it without smiling at its sheer silliness) is tolerance. I would never tell someone they're a bad person for making their weird, deeply uninteresting self-insert shipping art/fic. Never. It betrays everything I believe.

Edit: for further context on the salt in this post, beetlebabes shippers are often told that we should ship a self-insert OC with BJ instead of Lydia. As if any OC anyone could ever conceptualize could possibly come close to being as interesting as Lyds or encompassing the relationship they already have with each other in canon. The people who suggest this are controlling abusive assholes and the fuckery pisses me off. Hence, salt.

[perahn]

Also realistically you could do all of AE and I wouldn't cry about it

I am spending an evening doing this instead of writing baby Khem and it’s a fun change of pace.

SO LET’S DO… Katy

favorite thing about them

She has so much love to give. Just SO much, offered so freely.

(also I’m grateful she takes the rap for jumping us into so many situations that the more cautious members of the party would never touch)

least favorite thing about them

It’s a kirin not a unicorn!

(shush, Khem)

favorite line

Again, there are just so many. Any time @bettydice opens her mouth, genius nonsense comes out. Claiming to be allergic to water? The first time she called Harper her brother-dad? Explaining to Khem that all she needs to do to win an argument with Harper is to tell him to go shave?

brOTP

Apart from the party members (especially Harpy), Katy and Celeste is TOO CUTE

OTP

I don’t think she’s ever had eyes for anyone except Shay, and it’s pretty cute. But I refuse to call Kayazi an OTP until I have seen some fic from Betty and @dakoyone​, hop to it.

nOTP

It’s really funny to remember that when we began this (there’s still a reference to it in the first codex) we thought she was crushing on Harper, her asshole won’t-say-I’m-a-boyfriend.

Also Vigo was hitting on her pretty hard before she pimped Harper out to him.

random headcanon

She still sometimes misses Bob and feels a bit guilty about exorcising him, even knowing that she had to.

unpopular opinion

This is tough to come up with. hmmmmm… She should stay blonde, because when I draw the party, I get tired of all the black in her goth look and Shay’s monochrome look.

song i associate with them

I mean, Tangled is already the Harpiest movie ever (disregarding the romance) so it has to be When Will My Life Begin?

favorite picture of them

Thiiiiiiis

SHAY’S TURN

favorite thing about them

The contrast between the steadfast patience of her usual demeanor… and the way she runs headfirst into a fight, then jumps on top of the giant monsters to punch them to death.

least favorite thing about them

Her bag must stink to high heaven with all the trophies she’s taken, and our garden is probably completely overrun with screaming mushrooms by now. WHYYY

favorite line

I mean, it’s a cheap shout, but…. “You don’t have to be alone, Harper.” She meant it so well, and it landed so badly.

brOTP

Thay buddies ftw!

(also I think she should see Jeremy Bonk again)

OTP

I stand by what I said. No Kayazi shilling until I have actual fic, thank you.

nOTP

So @codenamecynic​ mentioned that the first time Shay called Khem ‘ahket’ in-game, she had no idea what it meant, and she started wondering if perhaps Shay had feelings for Khem, if they’d been a little closer on the road than we’d said previously. (for the record, it means ‘sister’, and I nope right on out of Khem/Shay)

also SHART

random headcanon

Katy has definitely cut her lip on Shay’s broken tusk while kissing at least once.

unpopular opinion

She hasn’t been cooking fantasy meth in her room all those days, but don’t ask me what she has actually brewed up.

(this one probably is unpopular… I don’t think she’s as attracted to Katy or as invested in the relationship as Katy is)

song i associate with them

I am kind of drawing a blank here, but Stand Up Be Strong, maybe?

favorite picture of them

lookit, abs

AND FINALLY KHEM

favorite thing about them

She’s a robot who was programmed to be a bitch and is slowly learning to love, and I’m so proud of how far she’s come. 

least favorite thing about them

Never again will I create a character who is supposed to be a Machiavellian genius that I have to play at 3am.

But to be a bit more fair, the paranoia. She’s her own worst enemy about 90% of the time.

favorite line

I am still pretty fond of ‘Know you are not disposable.” On one hand it’s a very dry assessment, but in context it seemed to be exactly what Harper needed to hear. Those moments are rare but they’re great.

brOTP

Thay buddies! (even if that’s a little more complicated than it used to be). To look outside the party, though, I also think Khem and Celeste are shaping up to a great teacher/student relationship.

OTP

So here’s the thing, previously alluded to when I did this for Harper: I don’t think Khem’s in a position to be in a relationship with anyone. I find it really difficult to imagine a time when she might be. But if ever she was, the person I come closest to seeing her with is Harper.

There’s just nobody else on the board at the moment who has her attention and respect in the same way, nobody else who she’s opened up to quite as much, nobody else she thinks about and worries over and takes up half of her journal as Harper. And, as I said, there is something there, which she will ferret out at some point. Don’t ask me yet what she might do about it.

I get the Khem/Jorran shipping, I really do. He’s adorable and he’s obviously head over heels for Khem, and she’s been pretty pleasant to him overall (plus Kherran portmanteaus so nicely, and every permutation of Khem and Harper’s names so far sounds dreadful) But she’s never going to take him seriously if he doesn’t take those clownshoes off, and it would take him a very long time - if indeed it’s possible - to win as much of her trust as Harper has.

nOTP

So many. So very many. Highlights include Khem/Gerald, Khem/Valas Daevin and Khem/Banelar Naga.

random headcanon

As recently mentioned to Cynic, her back tattoo is the source of her ‘Lucky’ feat (which is actually flavoured as extra divinatory insight), and represents a coautl. One of the reasons it’s on her back is that a winged-snake-Celestial was a slightly embarrassing choice of tattoo, but the magic encrypted in it was powerful enough that she said yes to her ally’s design and just asked her to put it somewhere hidden.

unpopular opinion

um hm hmmm she doesn’t need actual clothes, Katy, the hooded potato sack robes do just fine

song i associate with them

If non-lyrical counts, the Rachmaninov C Sharp Minor Prelude. Otherwise… Fallen, Dirt Poor Robins?

favorite picture of them

There has been some lovely art of her, and some silly things that I’ve done

but I think I have to share this Very Important Egg