#as usual if you like the art PLEASE go check out the artists and consider supporting them

[klysanderelias]

(part one here!)

Today's installment will be all about my absolute babygirl of the Beam Saber game, Briar Finlay. She's the character I've spent the most time thinking about, the one with the most characterization and planning, and the one that probably no one will actually interact with 😭

First we have a piece from @anaizzzen-ut, a stellar artist who did amazing work with this one.

Briar is the leader of the shipboard security forces, and the whole idea of her character is how much that job sucks when you have teams of mech pilots. She's a footsoldier with an EVA suit and a non-penetrative gun in space, where she's the last line of defense for the ship and also the line of defense most likely to die messy, painfully, and slowly. In a couple of these commissions, she's wearing a rebreather mask - in a boarding action long before the campaign starts, a fire started and her suit was breached by the fighting. Due to smoke inhalation, but more importantly the toxic chemicals released by sensitive electrical components and complicated sci-fi materials burning, she suffered extensive damage to her lungs. Luckily there's a certain amount of sufficiently-advanced-equals-magic medical technology, so she survived, but she still needs supplemental oxygen regularly and fights with a full life-support system in her armor to keep her from suffocating, having seizures, etc. I love the smoking aesthetic but in absolute reverse using medical oxygen.

Another gorgeous piece by @nanariemi - the colors in this one are just spectacular.

Briar is such a fun character to rotate in my head because there's so much strong characterization that comes so naturally out of her concept as a combat character who is completely helpless 90% of the time. She can't do anything to protect the ship from other ships, and there's basically nothing she can do about enemy mechs. And of course, there's the issue of survivability - a mech pilot can have their mech melt down around them or explode in a fiery cascade but still eject and make it back home without a single injury. I'm so compelled by having a ttrpg campaign where all the players are mech pilots, and they're having to deal with this angry, rude asshole who has an extremely valid point - they don't have the same skin in the game she does, but they're the vaunted heroes and she's in the trenches. And I think a lot of good mech fiction makes that distinction - making comparisons between the gods of the battlefield and the little people underfoot, but also challenging those roles. Mech pilots literally CAN'T do the job she does. All that armor and missile pods and whatnot aren't going to keep all the people on the bridge from being shot by a normal-sized guy with a gun.

And here's another piece by @dhurain, of Briar in a quiet moment,

I think ideally I'd like to have an arc for Briar where she grows to respect and care for the PCs, while they open up to her and show her respect as well. I think it would be such a good roleplaying experience and a great narrative to have the characters have to rely on each other and see each others' strengths when the first interaction would be something like her disdainfully calling them 'toy soldiers' or something in passing in the hallway. And I think Beam Saber has enough interplay between the in-robot and out-of-robot gameplay that you could have scenes where the pilots are out of their mechs and having to fight alongside her, or where she's providing some sort of ground support for one of their missions and suddenly the lethality of mech combat to everyone not in a mech comes to the forefront.

There's another commission of her I have in the works right now that I won't post the WIP for but trust me, I'll be blasting that thing around once it's done because it looks great so far.

Anyway I'm love her your honor, she's my babygirl and I'm trying to spread out the commissions so it's not just ten of her and one of everyone else. And I'm doing okay! I only have... four... so far...

Finally, another cute thank you sketch from @dhurain!

[mellosdrawings]

The Princes

Ten years later. When marrying a Prince turns a Queen and a Servant into actual Royalties.

Because Vil deserves a real crown and Jamil deserves to be treated better.

NOW I'M GONNA RANT ABOUT MY CHARA DESIGNS CHOICES AND ALL THE DISCOVERIES I MADE WHILE LOOKING FOR REFS! If you only care about art and funny doodles, you can scroll down for a handful of slices of life.

(Don't worry if you can't read my notes, I'm repeating myself better right under this)

Leona

-Lion: As you may know, one of my grievances with Leona is how his hair doesn't look like an actual mane despite being a lion. While I don't want to stray too far from the canon design with the usual drawings, that's the occasion for me to have some fun with a future version. Give that lion a beard and voluminous hair!

-Hair: First, get those bangs out of his face. Despite Leona being very confident, he still has bangs covering his scarred eye. I wanted him to finally own the aspects of him that may be scary to others (his UM, his scar, etc). I actually went with bangs framing his face similar to the ones he had during his Overblot. I wasn't sure whether to give him dreadlocks or curly hair, but I ended up choosing the free curls decorated with some atebas and braids so that Vil could have more fun styling them.

-Eye: Thanks @aria-faye for the idea, I decided to have his eye gradually lose its capacities with time. From a headcanon that, while the eye wasn't directly touched by whatever attack scarred him, the process of healing still had an impact on it and he gradually lost sight in his left eye years after years.

-Body: Not giving him a dad bod (yet, maybe in another ten years), but definitely giving him more voluminous yet casual muscles. Practical muscles with a healthy dose of fat and tissues. Also giving him two full sleeves of tattoos because I decided he should have much more than just his lion tattoo.

-Clothes: Went full Maasai dressing and Kenyan fabrics and beadworks. If you're not familiar with it, please go check it out, it's GORGEOUS!! Crown is beadwork too. He also has one Arabic styled foot jewellery.

Jamil

-Hair: My first order was to remove his double-faced hairstyle and also remove his bangs from his eye. Make him confident enough to show his whole face. Unlike Leona and Vil, he doesn't really want a crown though (he still feels weird about becoming royalty) so instead he uses a braid as crown. Also gave him a little goatee because I like facial hair and Jafar has a beard too.

-Body: He grew up! While he didn't quite catch up with Leona and Vil, he is now closer to their sizes than before, sitting at around 180cm. He kept his breakdancer/martial artist lean muscles but developed a bit of shoulders.

-Clothes: Went full Arabic dressing and fabrics (once more, go check the fabrics, they are pieces of arts). I gave him floral motifs instead of his usual fire/snake motifs (though he does have a snake earring and a fangs necklace) to symbolise his rebirth/blooming. Like Leona, he has one piece of jewellery that is beadwork.

Vil

-Hair: Here it was a bit tricky. Considering Vil's work, he likely changes hairstyles a lot, going from long to short for his roles instead of his wants. So I leaned into the little things he could add to his hair despite their constant changes, mostly jewelleries, beadworks and wool decorations he stole from his husbands. He also cares a bit less about them looking perfect and is allowing himself to be more natural. He doesn't have any facial hair (yet), keeping a youthful appearance for as long as he can. In another ten years though, he might start looking more and more like his father, beard included.

-Clothes: For Leona and Jamil's mental states, the three of them most likely started living in Sunset Savanna so they wouldn't freeze to death. Vil is well traveled so he can handle most temperatures without trouble, and he is used to dressing up in the local get ups. Here I decided to give him both African dress and Arabic fabric, and likewise both beadwork and golden jewellery. I gave him crown and heart motifs so he can keep being himself despite borrowing a lot from his husbands.

There, I'm done rambling. Here's some doodles, followed by some random headcanons.

-Vil does his husbands hair every morning and keeps giving them more and more intricate hairstyles. He developed a whole haircare and beard-care products set for them.

-When Vil is away for a movie, Jamil keeps his hair mostly down save for a few accessories.

-Jamil and Falena get along surprisingly well (to Leona's despair). Vil gets along very well with Falena's wife.

-Jamil acts as a Scalding Sands ambassador and still is the one to care for Kalim when he comes to visit, though this time he's doing it because he wants to and not because he has to.

-Vil got used to his new title immediately but Jamil struggles with it a lot. He still has a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he is no longer a servant.

-The servants at the palace love Jamil because he always makes their job easier.

-Leona finally decided to put his wits to good use and became Falena's advisor. He still fights a lot with Kifaji about the direction to take with the country, but he managed to make some of his ideas heard to help with the staggering inequalities in the country.

That's all for now!

[thegalleonsnest]

OK since I haven't seen too many people talk about this since twitter news usually strikes pretty fast over here whenever e'usk does anything ever, let me give ya'll the run down on two things that will go live on NOVEMBER 15TH and why people are mass migrating to Blue Sky once more; and provide resources to help protect your art and make the transition to Blue Sky easier if you so choose:

The Block function no longer blocks people as intended. It now basically acts as a glorified Mute button. Even when you block someone, they can still see your posts, but they can't engage in them. If your account is a Public one and not a Private one, people you blocked will see your posts.

They say because people can easily "share and hide harmful or private information about those they've blocked," they changed it this way for "greater transparency." When in reality, this is an extremely dangerous change, as the whole point of blocking is to cease interaction with people entirely for a plethora of reasons, i.e. stalking, harassment, spam, endangerment, or just plainly annoying and not wanting to see said tweets/accounts. or you know, for 18+ accounts who do not want minors interacting with them or their material at all (There is speculation saying these changes are specifically for Elon himself so he can do his own kind of stalking, and honestly, with the private likes change, it lowkey checks out in my opinion)

Also, this straight up goes against and may violate Apple and Google's app store policies and also is straight up illegal in Canada and probably other countries as well.

If this ACTUALLY goes through, twitter will only be available in select countries, probably exclusively in the US, which would collapse the site with the lost of users and stock, and probably be the last push it needs to kill the site. And if not, will be a very sad and exclusive platform made for specific kinds of people who line up with musk's line of thinking.

2. New policies regarding Grok AI and basically removing the option to opt out of Grok's information gathering to improve their software.

And anything you upload/post on the site is considered "fair game" with "royalty-free licenses" and they can do whatever they please with it. Primarily using any and all posts on twitter to train their Grok AI. A few months ago, there was a setting you can opt out of so they couldn't take anything you post to "improve" Grok, but I guess because so many people were opting out, they decided to make it mandatory as part of the policy change (This is mainly speculation from what I hear).

So this is considered the final straw for a LOT of people, especially artists who have been gripping on to twitter for as long as they can, but the AI nonsense is too much for people now, including myself. Lot's of people are moving to Blue Sky for good reason, and from personal experience, it is literally 10x better than twitter ever was, even before elon took over. There is no algorithm on there, and you can save "feeds" to your timeline to have a catered timelines to hop between if your looking for something specific like furry art or game dev stuff. It's taken them a bit to get off the ground and add much needed features, but it's genuinely so much better now

RESOURCES

Project Glaze & Cara

If you're an artist who's still on twitter or trying to ride it out for as long as you can for whatever reason you have, do yourself a favor and Glaze and/or Nightshade your work. Project Glaze is a free program designed to protect your art work from getting scrapped by AI machines. Glazing basically makes it harder to adapt and copy artwork that AI programs try to scan, while Nightshade basically "poisons" works to make AI libraries much more unstable and generate images completely off the mark. (These are layman's terms I'm using here, but follow the link to get more information)

The only problem with these programs is that they can be resource intensive for computers, and not every pc can run glaze. It's basically like rendering a frame/animation, you gotta let your pc sit there to get it glazed/nightshade, and depending on the intensity and power of your pc, this may take minutes to hours depending on how much you wanna protect your work.

HOWEVER, there are two alternatives, WebGlaze and Cara

WebGlaze is an in browser version of the program, so your pc doesn't have to do the heavy lifting. You do need to have an account with Glaze and be invited to use the program (I have not done so personally so I don't know much about the process.)

Cara is an artist focused site that doubles as both a portfolio site and a general social media platform. They've partnered with Glaze and have their own browser glazing called "Cara Glaze," and highly encourage users to post their work Glazed and are extremely anti-ai. You do get limited uses per day to glaze your work, so if you plan on doing a huge backlog uploading of your art, it may take awhile if your using just Cara Glaze.

Some twitter users have suggested glazing your art, cropping it, and overlaying it with a frame telling people to follow them elsewhere like on Bluesky. Here's a template someone provided if you wanna use this one or make your own.

Blue Sky Resources and Tips

So if your a twitter user and your about to realize the hellish task of refollowing a massive chunk of people you follow, have no fear, there's an extension called Sky Follower Bridge (Firefox & Chrome links). This is a very basic extension that makes it really easy to find people on Bluesky

It sorts them out by trying to find matching usernames, usernames in descriptions, or by screen name. It's not 100% perfect, there's a couple people I already follow on Blue Sky but the extension could not find them on twitter correctly, but I still found a huge chunk of people. Also if your worried that this extension is "iffy," they do have a github open with the source publicly available and the Blue Sky Team themselves have promoted the extension in their recent posts while welcoming new users to the platform.

FEEDS and LABELS

OK SO THE COOLEST PART ABOUT BLUESKY IS THE FEEDS SYSTEM. Basically if you've made a twitter list before, it's like that, but way more customizable and caters to specific types of posts/topics. Consolidating them into a timeline/feed that exclusively filled about those particular topics, or just people in general. There's thousands to pick and choose from!

Here's a couple of mine that I have saved and ready (down below). Some feeds I have saved so I can jump to seeing what my friends and mutuals are up to, and see their posts specifically so it doesn't get lost in reposts or other accounts, and also specialized feeds for browsing artists within the furry community.

The Furry Community feeds I have here were created by people who've built an algorithm to place any #furry or #furryart or other special tags like #Furrystreamer or #furrydev. They even have one for commissions, and yes you can say commissions on a post and not have it destroyed or shadow banned. You are safe.

If you want, and I highly recommend it to get visibility and check out a neat community, follow furryli.st to get added to their list and feeds. Once your on the list, even without a hashtag, you'll still pop up in their specialized feeds as just a member of the community there. There are plenty of other feeds out there besides this one, but I feel like a lot of people could use one like this. They even got ones for OC specific too I remember seeing somewhere.

And in terms of labels, they can be either ways to help label yourself with specific things or have user created accessibility settings to help better control your experience on Blue Sky.

And my personal favorite: Ai Imagery Labeler. Removes any AI stuff or hides it to the best of it's abilities, and it does a pretty good job, I have not seen anything AI related since subscribing to it.

Finally, HASHTAGS WORK & No need to censor yourself!

This is NOT like twitter or any other big named social media site AT ALL, so you don't have to work around words to get your stuff out there and be seen. There are literally feeds built around having commissions getting and art seen! Some people worry about bots and that has been a recent issue since a lot of people are migrating to Blue Sky, but it comes with any social media territory.

ALSO COOL PART,

you can search a hashtag on someone's profile and search exclusively on that profile as well! You can even put the hashtag in bio for easy access if you have a specialize tag like here on tumblr. OR EVEN BUILD YOUR OWN ART FEED FOR YOUR STUFF SPECIFICALLY!

So yeah, there's your quick run down about twitter's current burning building, how to protect your art, and what to do when you move to Blue Sky! Have fun!

[goldenshrikecomic]

FAQ

Please read these before sending asks! It's also good to check the tags listed on the pinned post to see if it's already answered. Where can I read GS? On Comicfury or DeviantArt. Two pages ahead on both Patreon and Ko-fi.

Who works on this comic? Only me, ratt/doeprince. You can call me either, I usually refer to myself as doeprince when it's more official, otherwise ratt or some secret third thing. I'm an amateur artist and I draw these comics for fun without much ambition to gain greatness. I want to make enough money to be able to keep working on more comics, and buy trinkets.

How can I support what you do? Why thank you for asking! All my income comes from making comics, so the support on either Patreon or Ko-fi is literally making my comic endeavours possible.

Do you have other projects? I work on some secondary comics. Jet and Harley and Honey are currently updating, Corpse is finished. You can find my other art on doe-prince.

How long will Golden Shrike be? I don't know how many pages. I hope it's less than 1000.

What programs do you use? SAI for lineart, CSP for coloring and bubbles, PS for text and backgrounds. Hoooow do you draw the antlers from different perspectives? I've made 3D models for each recurring antlered character.

Is GS going to have physical merch? Will it be printed? Consider this a no, but I won't say never.

Does GS have a map, official wiki or dub or something like that? No. There's a fan wiki out there full of inaccurate information so take everything in there with tons of grains of salt. There's no map. The dub on YT is separate from me, I've had no hand in it.

Can I make a fan character? Can they interact with yours? You can absolutely make a fan character! I just ask you not to make them interact with mine, at least not in any kind of heavy way. It's a slippery slope and I've seen people treat my characters very rudely to make them suit their needs.

Can I make fanart/writing? Yes! All sfw and well-meaning works are welcome. Just tag me so I can see them! Why are the borders black and sometimes white? White borders means it's a flashback.

Deer don't do that!!!!! Or birds!! Or plants! The moon shouldn't be that shape right now. Everything in GS is fictional for this very reason. I shall not be shackled by the chains of realism when there's entire new worlds in my fingertips. I aim to make things believeable in its context, not realistic. Are other animals sentient, can they talk? Sure they are and can, but not outside their own species. A frog can't hold a conversation with a deer, but a deer and antelope could possibly make it work. There's exceptions though.

How old are main characters? They're fawns right? No they are not, they'd all be in their early 20s if they were humans.

What does sire mean? It keeps popping up in different contexts. You can liken this term to 'father', as in your dad but also something like a priest. The priest isn't your dad but "father forgive me for I've sinned". So sire is a) respected stag, b) very formal way to address your father. Dame is the female counterpart. Why are the does so small compared to stags.... are you a freak... do you just hate women..... Listen when I started GS I had been dwelling in a place where monster deer characters had insane size differences and it became some kind of norm to me and of course it found its way into my comic. Now I just have to keep drawing those tiny women to keep up the consistency. I've created bigger ladies nowadays because I too think it's a little silly now.

Please please will this character ever get a mate? Will this pairing be canon? Will you please make this pairing canon? I won't spoil any pairings, I think it'd be the most boring thing to do to my own work! I'll only confirm the ones already established in the comic.

Is this a speck of ember? Is it snow? What is that floating thing, is it relevant to the plot? IT'S JUST MY DUST BRUSH LEAVE ME ALONE.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Results: Dolthruk

More physical description than usual on this one, some of which I worry makes the creature a bit obvious, but we'll see how that plays out.

If you're not sure what any of this is about, please refer to https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting.

To see the entry the artists are working from, click here:

To see the one we're doing for next week, and possibly contribute your own work, click here:

Art below the cut.

@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) started with a platypus, then added some other influences to make the described size work. I think it came out quite well -- that is a solid depiction of what a platypus relative might look like if it were huge and terrifying.

@cheapsweets (link to post here) has also given us something quite frightening -- I don't think I'd want to get near this one. Or see it in person. The inspirations for this design are pretty interesting -- I'd recommend checking them out in the linked post. And, if that distinctively-patterned hide looks familiar to you, that is addressed in the linked post as well. (Also thank you for providing alt text.)

@citrvsdrake (link to post here) also has a quite fearsome rendition, this one almost draconic -- in their post, they mention that they originally thought of some sort of river snake, but with armor and legs this becomes more of a dragon. I think it's a good dragon, too.

@pomrania (link to post here) also started with the idea of making a large, dangerous platypus, but went in a different direction, emphasizing scales and spikes. I like the serrated bill here; that's a nice touch.

@wendievergreen (link to post here) has instead drawn something adorable, noting that they decided to go in the opposite direction of what they suspected the animal was. I think it's delightful. For explanation of the inspirations for this design, and a close-up of the image, see the linked post. (Also, thank you for providing alt text -- and I think the banana thing is still funny too.)

@coolest-capybara (link to post here) brings the Beast Vibe back to "frightening" with this creation. Some fantastic work with the faces on both the Dolthruk and the fish, and of course I love the Stylized Plants... listen. Does anyone else think this looks like the cover of a really wild album? (Also, thank you for providing alt text.)

Anyway.

Aberdeen Bestiary says...

... no picture for you. It's not been cut out this time, they just didn't draw one. This section is more or less without illustrations, in fact. Maybe they considered it less important -- according to the bestiary's categorization system, this is a fish, actually. Sure, it has legs, but it lives in the water, what else do you want?

The Ashmole Bestiary, my backup illustration source, makes the same decision, but Bodley MS 764, my backup text source, does provide an illustration (and doesn't call it a fish).

Okay, so that's not a hugely realistic depiction, but it's probably not completely shocking to say that this is the crocodile.

I was surprised not to see any reference to tears in the Aberdeen entry -- the concept of "crocodile tears" is popular in the bestiaries.

The bit about color that I redacted from the entry claims that the crocodile's name comes from crocus due to its saffron-colored hide (not in evidence in the above image). I don't think this is true -- both English words can be traced back through Latin to Greek, and they certainly sound similar, but it seems crocus is probably a loanword into Greek from somewhere in the Semitic language family (hard to say which language specifically), and thus unrelated to crocodile despite their shared elements.

[allyheart707]

Hi there, I love your stuff, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to do an ask the artist

Where are you from?

What's your favorite color?

How long have you been creating art for?

What drives you to make art?

What is your favorite piece of artwork of yours?

What is your favorite fan artwork that was done for you?

What character of yours is your favorite?

If you could go to any fictional world which one would it be?

Do you consider what will please your audience or do you just do your own thing?

What made you want to start your AU?

Hi! Sorry it took so long to respond, but thank you so much for the questions!! :D

I live in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere in the US :D

My favorite color for the longest time was light blue, but recently I have been liking celadon green a lot too. I go back and forth between those two a lot.

I have been drawing all my life, but the time where I think I actually got really into art was when I created my first OC in 6th grade. His name was Super Odd Taco and he was a taco that had super powers :3

Other artists- especially story tellers (in any media format). Stories in games, comics, books, or movies have ALWAYS inspired me. I am amazed by the way someone can write something that brings me to tears, or makes me giggle and scream in excitement. I hope that one day my art/stories can do the same. :3

I am pretty proud of this artwork and this animation off the top of my head. Though if I thought harder I may be able to find ones that I am prouder of-

*insert all fan art made for me* No, no but seriously, I could not answer that for you. Every piece has something so special about it that I love. Though, I will give a shout out to @brightonstudios , @purple-the-turtle, @potatoeofwisdom, @chaosborb, and @truths33k3r4 for the sheer amount of wonderful art they have made for me that I constantly find myself looking back at. You should check all of these guys out, they are wonderful artists and awesome people.

Hmmm. In LS my favorite would have to be Mikey, I love him. Though Heishi and Donnie are a close second. (so sorry Raph D:) as for my OC's? I honestly could not tell you. Ray is the oc I have had the longest so I cherish her a lot, but Kiki and Nefil have a story that I love the most. I really hope to write theirs one day :3

Hmmm probably a more peaceful one. Maybe like... Hello Kitty or something.

While I am making the art? not often. But usually as I start to finish it, I start to realize I will be posting it and suddenly my brain is like "BUT WAIT! Nobody will like THIS!" And then I start panicking because I can't restart because I just finished it- and ujadhjgas anyways, that's why I love and appreciate @truths33k3r4 for reading through LS before I post any of it XD

I saw a lot of comics where the turtles were separated and taken in by a villain or side character and I thought FOR SURE there would be an AU where they were taken in by scientist, but I didn't see any! (I have found some now- so, not quite as original as I thought, but still fun! :D)

[milesandcorysupermacy]

can you do a fic we’re y/n is miles(doesn’t matter which one) little sister who can lowkey sing but denies it

HEEEEEY, POOKIE! So ik I took long to answer ur request but u inspired me to write again because I can actually relate to this 😭

---------------x-o-x-o--------------------------

"Mariposa"

1610!Miles x Younger-SISTER-Reader

Genre: Angst, Fluff

Warnings: Cursing, Reader is 13, Miles is 15, Me not knowing anthing about the music industry, Not spell checked bc im lazy, Reader recorded without her consent (it'll make sense, I promise 😭)

Songs that were used: 'In Your Hands' By Halle, and 'Hailey's Comet' By Billie Eilish

Summary: You've always thought you could sing well, but you never considered it was exceptionally well. When you're confronted with other people's opinions on your singing, you start to change your mind. Can you really sing?

Taglist:

@we-loveebony

@im-miss-simp

@ilovespiderverseee

@maxoloqy

@edgyficuselastica

@thehighlordishere

---------------------x-o-x-o---------------------

You walked into your kitchen, humming the soft melodies of the Billie Eilish song playing in your shared airpod with your older brother, Miles.

"Hey, you wanna order tacos? Your treat, by the way."

You turn to him, confused from this comment since he usually pays. You hate to admit anything nice about him, but one thing you can say is...he's a gentleman.

"Why am I paying?"

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe this will jog your memory."

Your over-dramatic sibling says as he points to a scar on his left cheek. You sheepishly chuckle as you scratch the back of your neck, embarrassed. The scar he's referring to is from two days ago when you threw scissors at him.

"Oh, right. In my defense, I thought your spidey senses would make you catch it."

Miles gasped.

"HOW?!?!!? I was holding sketches! If you thought I would drop my precious babies for some scissors...you clearly don't know me, mother's other child."

He said, not referring to you by name anymore. You rolled your eyes as you threatened him with the worst thing of all...no food.

"Well, if you're not even referring to me by name anymore, I guess you don't want any tacos!"

Miles immediately frowned, gasping from your threat.

"No! I love you my most beautiful, sweet, elegant sister! I still want the tacos! Make mine carne asada, please!"

You rolled your eyes at his willingness to switch up so easily. You sighed, opening your Uber Eats app to find the closest taco place.

"What a drag to love you like I do, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh"

You sang quietly along to the infectious melodies of Billie Eilish's 'Hailey's Comet'. Miles just stared at you, stunned. He's never heard you sing unless you were joking around, but right now he could've sworn you were a Grammy-nominated artist. He let this keep going on until the song ended, still staring at you while you absent-mindedly look into your phone. Not noticing him staring daggers into the side of your face.

"Ok, I placed the orde-"

"You sounded really good just now, why didn't you tell anyone you could sing like that?"

You stared at him bug-eyed, not knowing how to respond to all this sudden attention on you. Being the younger sister of Miles Morales, you just kinda got used to flying under his radar. I mean, he's a *almost* Straight A student, exceptionally good at art, a superhero, and he's in one of the most prestigious schools in Brooklyn. How could you even compete with that?

You're just a 13 year old girl who passes all her classes to keep her and her parents sane, and pretty much nothing after that. You acknowledged this hidden talent, but immediately compared yourself to other singers and realized that you would get crushed in that audition room. You weren't some Beyonce waiting to happen, you were just a girl. A girl who has absolutely no idea what she's doing.

"Why? What do you mean why, Miles? Have you heard all the other singers out there? Dude, I would get fucking crushed the moment I let out the first note. Not just that, but you're so obviously mom and dad's favorite. I mean, every time I come home with a B I feel like an idiot compared to you. You're just better than me, and everyone knows it. I fly under your radar, Miles. Every time that you, mom, or dad introduce me to somebody, you guys always say Miles' little sister. Face it, dude. I can't compare to you."

Miles felt his heart shatter hearing your words. As a big brother, his job was to protect you. How could he do that when he was causing the problem himself? He never looked down on you, he was proud to have you as a sister and he couldn't believe that you felt this way about yourself. What made it even worse was the fact that you started crying, he immediately sprung into action when he saw the tears falling. He engulfed you in a hug, feeling extremely guilty.

"I'm so sorry, Mariposa. I never even realized that the family was downplaying you like this, you're incredible and deserve to be seen as such."

You felt a smirk coming onto your lips from the nickname that he called you, referring to your Halloween costume from 10 years ago. Small moments like this made you realize that you had a brother who loved you, and would talk to you about anything. That's all that matters, right? You and him against the world...well, maybe just him. (Give the man credit, he's literally spiderman.)

"It's fine, I'm sorry to drop all of this on you. I feel like I kinda overreacted."

You awkwardly chuckled as Miles look at you like you were a woman gone mad.

"Why are you sorry? I'm glad you brung it up, now I can be more aware whenever I see it happen again. The fact that you feel like you're always under my radar is even more of a reason to get yourself out there! Who knows, I mean maybe Mami and Dad could hire you a manager. We're in New York, this IS industry city."

You thought about the idea for a second and honestly, it sounded great at first. Then you started to realize that you were 13, about to graduate 8th grade, and have no experience in vocal training. The once great idea started to sound like a complete fail.

"While I appreciate your excitement, Miles. I'm barely a high schooler, and have no experience. If I were to make it in the industry, it be pure luck!"

You waved him off as he was walking around you in a circle, spewing ideas. Starting to become annoyed with how invested he truly is in your life, a blessing and a curse.

"Well maybe if we go to the mall and-"

"What? No, that's so idiotic."

"Well, if you can open for an artist's tour-"

"How am I gonna do that with my middle class, Afro-Hispanic family in Brooklyn, New York?"

"Well, I got a few piggy bank-"

Miles was thankfully interrupted by a notification from your phone saying that the tacos were downstairs at the front desk.

"Thank fuck."

You whispered as the notification saved you from hearing any more of Miles' idiotic ideas.

"Miles, you mind going to get it?"

"Yea, just gimme a sec."

He says as he puts his shoes on, but that's really just a cover for his plan. He decided to play one of your favorite songs right now, 'In Your Hands'. He did this since he knew you wouldn't be able to resist singing it, especially since nobody else is around. While he's downstairs, he left his phone recording in the apartment so that he could catch your angelic voice and show it to his parents. Great plan....well, at least he hopes so.

~Timeskip~

While you and Miles play Wii Bowling on the living room TV, (you were beating his ass btw) your parents walk in. You both greet them and help with groceries, you then decide that you wanted to take a shower and exit the room. This gives Miles time to execute his plan!

(We're gonna pan over to Miles' scene bc I'm not. writing about you taking a boring ass shower.)

"Ok, we have like 40 mins until she's done with her nightly routine."

Miles says very suspiciously which causes his parents to feel concerned about him.

"Miles, buddy. You alright? I hope you're not sick or anything."

Jeff says as he cautiously touches Miles' forehead. His mother begins to chime in with the concern too.

"Yeah, you do look kinda pale."

Rio says, also touching the poor boy's face.

"He does, doesn't he? I'm glad I wasn't the only one noticing-"

"I'm not pale, I'm very pigmented!"

Miles whisper shouts. His parents back off with their hands up in a surrendering motion.

"Anyway, I wanted to show you guys a video of Y/N that I took. I know it sounds weird, but it's a video of her singing. It sounds really nice and I want her to have a talent of her own since everyone compares us."

His parents smile with approval and appreciation of how nice your brother was being towards you right now.

"Well, show us whatcha got!"

Rio says, enthusiastically. Miles opens his camera app and plays the video, immediately smiling at your perfect voice as you sing the melodic notes of the song.

"In your Hands, in your hands.

You can't let go or you'll lose your chance.

'Cause after me, you'll never fall in love again, la-la-la."

You melodically sung along to the song ans your parents stared at the phone with shock. They listened to the whole 3 minute video and smiled the whole way through, stunned by your almost perfect vocals.

"Wow...I can't believe that's my baby girl singing!"

Rio said, bewildered.

After some time, you finally walk out the bathroom with your pajamas and a towel on your head. Your family just stared at you with shock as you walked toward the kitchen for water.

"What? Am I not supposed to drink this water or something?"

"Girl, where'd you learn to sing like that?"

You furrowed your eyebrows at your dad, believing he's truly lost it this time.

"What are you talking about?"

Miles smiled cheekily at you as he played the video of your singing. You immediately grew embarrassed as you felt your face heat up and eyes widen.

"Miles, I'll kill you!"

You shouted as you charged towards your older brother who hid behind his mom.

"Baby, this is great! We signed you up for vocal lessons and even got you a meeting with a manager tomorrow, that's...if you say yes, of course."

Your mom trailed off.

"You better say yes, this stuff wasn't cheap!"

Jeff complained as your mom shot him a glare.

"Fine, I'll do it."

You said as you smiled from your families interest in you and your interests. You and your family conversed on some logistics and commitments that you will have to make for this newfound hobby. With that, there was just one more question to ask...

"So, what will your artist name be? We need a name to put on the email to the record label."

You looked up at your older brother and smiled before saying...

"Mariposa."

-------------------☆-☆-☆-☆-------------------

THIS IS ITTT 🤑🤑

The first post after my lil hiatus 🤧

Anyway, I hope yall liked it and thanks to the anon who sent this, ima answer the other request I got too!

💞💞

[fuckyeah-beringandwellsfics]

Hi! I'm not new to Myka and Helena, I remembered them from the 2010s and now watched the show just for them, but I am new to Myka and Helena fanfiction.

Do you know any more fics like this https://archiveofourown.org/works/957200?view_adult=true or vaguely like this?

Is there a big masterlist of good Myka and Helena fics? I've been reading through their tag on AO3, but there are 1600+ fics 😯 so it'll take me a while to read them. I'd like to read some good ones.

Hi and thank you for asking, anon! That fic is great, isn't it! (clickable version of the written-out link anon sent: Resigned to These Histories (We Exist) by journaliar/@snake-juice)

Anon, as far as I am aware, there is no *one* big masterlist.

Several people in this fandom have made their own rec lists over time, of course, from the very beginning. (The older they are, unfortunately, the higher the chance that some links might not work anymore, but you can still try them out!) I have a "fic rec" tag on my main blog (linked in case you want to know the source; that tag contains other fics too, not just Bering and Wells, but all of them femslash), and here are some Bering and Wells specific lists that I've found going through it:

styrofoamtokyo's list, from 2014

tracybering's list of Tracy Bering friendly fics and art, also from 2014

lonely-night's lists from 2017 and 2018

wibblywobblyida's list from 2021

There's also the Ballet AU, a collaboration with multiple fics and pieces of art, from several of this fandom's best authors and artists; highly recommended, masterpost here.

I'm sure there are more fic rec lists slumbering on people's blogs! So here's my call to anyone who sees this post: please link yours!

I myself am trying to assemble recs on an individual basis. Almost a year ago, I tried to make a list of what has been already recommended through this post, but now that is way out of date, of course.

Beyond these lists, the usual tips for AO3 and Tumblr apply (under a readmore for length):

when you found a fic you liked, click on the author's name and see what else they've written for the ship/fandom, see if you like those too

check if that author's bookmarks are public; those are fics that they liked, and maybe you'll like them too

and then with those fics, you can go to *those* authors' profiles and see what else *they* have written - and so on.

Don't forget to bookmark and/or download these fics so that you can find them again. You need to have a user profile yourself to bookmark fics (and that's not the only advantage; I highly recommend it - and remember, you can set your bookmarks to private if you want).

also, please please consider leaving kudos and comments on fics that you've liked - a lot of authors are still active in the fandom/for the ship, and kudos and comments always help us *stay* active, because they tell us that people still enjoy what we create. Even if the specific fic in question is from the early days of the fandom, kudos and comments are always welcome.

same goes for reblogs on Tumblr, be it the above lists, individual fic rec posts, or posts from the authors themselves with or about their stories.

some authors with a Tumblr blog also have a dedicated "my fics" tag or link on those blogs. Always worth clicking through from an individual Tumblr post to the author's blog, and seeing if something like that is on it - and if the author is still actively writing, consider giving them a follow (and reblogging their fic posts; I've heard from so many authors that their fic posts barely get any reblogs at all to spread the word)

I hope that all or at least some of these tips are helpful to you, Anon - there is a lot of great stuff out there, and you're right, it can be a bit daunting to figure out where to start. And hey, it's always okay to click back out of a fic you find you don't like. No harm no foul, even if the fic came recommended; everyone's taste is different! There is no "required reading" that you *have* to have done to be a fan. You already are, no matter how many fics you've read!

[lunarlianna]

Asteroid Urania

As a bonus, I'll post asteroid Urania as well since I noticed a lot of people wanted it. If you reblog this post please tag me in it. :)

Urania is the muse of astronomy, astrology and cosmology. She is usually prominent in the charts of great astrologers (making a conjunction with the luminaries or important points).

Urania in the 1st house: Could indicate that you get to know yourself better with the help of astrology and find a purpose in it. As well as having a curiosity and a passion for cosmos. A lot of astrologers tend to have this asteroid conjunct their asc. 

Urania in the 2nd house: It is a good indicator that the asteroid helps you connect universal love with personal experience. It’s also a good indicator that you may like to have a telescope or a map with your birth chart.

Urania in the 3th house: You may want to learn a lot about astrology or astrophysics, you may have a lot of books or take classes in this matter. Could indicate giving lectures about this subjects or having a talent in explaining them very easily. 

Urania in the 4th house: You may like decorating you house with celestial symbols, if conjunct the IC you may come from an astrologer’s lineage. You may tend to be a bit shyer when it comes to sharing the knowledge that you have and preferer to share it with your family.

Urania in the 5th house:  The main theme of your art creation could be the cosmos, planets and stars. You may like to paint the solar system and have always been attracted to this kind of idea. You can nurture the inner child through this kind of artistic endeavors and feel at peace.  

Urania in the 6th house: Your everyday life is influence by the cosmos, you like to analyze and investigate constellations. You may have a routine in going every week to the planetarium or check your daily transits. You may want to help others by using astrology or astronomy.

Urania in the 7th house: Your personal style could be interpreted as being out of this world. You may embody celestial aspects in your jewelries and clothes. You may also meet romantic or business partners that are into astrology or into the knowledge of cosmos. 

Urania in the 8th house:  You may have an obsession with black hole and dark matter, you may be interested in analyzing them and understand them. You could be interested in the dark side of astrology and be able to interpret the charts of people from a deeper psychological point of view.

Urania in the 9th house: You may be interested in astrocartography and the ancient ways people use astrology. You may want to teach this knowledge once you get older and share it to the world. The history of the cosmos may interest you a lot as well.

Urania in the 10th house:  You may choose a career that is related to astrology or astronomy, a lot of astrologers have this asteroid in the 10th house or conjunct their MC. You may also get a lot or recognition in this field of work.

Urania in the 11th house: You may feel alienated from the community also you may have an interested in other earthly forms of life. You may want to research asteroids rocks. You could be introduced into astrology by friends and be able to share this knowledge easily.

Urania in the 12th house: You may be attracted in listening high vibration music or meditation music. You may want to write some yourself. It could also symbolize the in a past life your work was related with the cosmos investigation like being an astronomer or astrologer (especially if you have NS in conjunction here).

COPYRIGHT ‼️

Do not copy my posts or you will be sued for copyright infringement. All it takes is copying me a few times and it is considered illegal due to the copyright claim written at the bottom of my posts

Do not rewrite/copy my observations and post them to your Tiktok, Tumblr, Instagram

[ask-commander-arild]

OOC Post:

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

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

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

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

Few things to keep in mind for this blog:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[pollyannawog]

⭐️Polly’s writing commissions ⭐️

Hi there! I decided I’d just go ahead and make a writing comms post because well. I need the money. So if you want something written, especially a fanfic, read below!

About me

I am a 23 year old artist/biologist with a decent amount of literary classes under my belt due to my liberal arts education. You can find samples of my work on my ao3, with my more recent works being the highest quality. I love writing fanfiction, especially of the series I’ve already written for, but what I make for free would naturally be less polished than what I would write on request!

Pricing

My base rate is $1 USD/100 words, with a minimum word count of 1000 ($10 USD). As of now my policy is to pay half of the estimated price up front (more on that later), with the remainder paid upon completion of the work.

Commission rules and guidelines

Things I WILL write:

Angst

Fluff

Ships

Horror

Gore (Including character death and torture)

Mildly suggestive themes

Original fiction

Fanfiction

Things I will NOT write:

Smut

Ships between adult/minor, incest, or anything that doesn’t pass the vibe check (can be discussed if unsure)

Fandoms I am uncomfortable with/simply don’t know enough about*

Anything that promotes hate, bigotry, or otherwise problematic stances on groups of real life people and places

*If you would like me to write for a fandom I am not in, I may be willing to for an additional ‘research fee’, dependent on the story concept and complexity/length of the media of origin. That being said, here is a list of fandoms I am almost certainly willing to write for, and the ones I will NOT write for, period:

Will write:

Pokemon

Digimon**

Kirby

Fire Emblem**

Viva Piñata

Sonic the Hedgehog

MOTHER

Splatoon

Dungeon Meshi

Hunter X Hunter

Fullmetal Alchemist**

JJBA**

The Legend of Zelda**

Kid Icarus

**May not be knowledgeable about specific canons

If a specific fandom isn’t here, still feel free to ask if I’m willing/interested so long as it isn’t on the “will not write” list! That being said…

Will NOT write:

H*rry P*tter

H*talia

Att*ck on T*tan

F*af

S*uth P*rk

V*vziep*p shows

Like before, there may be other fandoms I’m uncomfortable with writing for, and I will let you know up front.

Strengths

While I am willing to write just about anything not on my exclusions list, I am most comfortable and well-versed with stories featuring themes of self-discovery, identity conflict, manipulation and control, speculative biology, and interpersonal conflict. Therefore, I am more likely to accept a commission with these themes as I am more confident I can deliver a satisfying product.

Those reading this page may already enjoy some of the works I have written in the past, including ones that I have stated could hypothetically have sequels at some point in time. If you are interested in paying for said sequel to be made, I may be willing to consider a slight discount on pricing given that I already have ideas (and in some cases early unfinished drafts) for said stories. In other words, if you want me to write a sequel to something, you can guarantee I will through commissioning!

Art

I often incorporate artwork into my fanfics, and for additional payment I can add art to your commission as well. My base price for these pieces depends on number and complexity, so it would be worked out on a case-by-case basis. Additionally, if you have artwork you made/commissioned from others that you want featured in your writing commission, please let me see and it will usually not be a problem or cost extra!

Terms and conditions

I reserve the right to decline or cancel a commission for any reason. In cases of cancellation (exception below) or if I am unable to finish a commission due to unforeseen circumstances, you will receive whatever I have already written and refunded the remainder if under half of the originally agreed upon length. If unfinished work is greater than the original payment, you will not be charged extra.

You may request that I not post the finished work publicly, in which case it will only be given to you as a pdf or word doc. However, I may use snippets of the finished product for advertising purposes later, but never the full thing. If this is a concern for you, we can discuss more in detail. I also reserve the right to not post a completed work to my socials, in which case you may do so but only under the condition that you keep my involvement anonymous (I don’t foresee this being an issue, but it is better safe than sorry.) In the case that the work is published to ao3, I request no mention be made on site about the work being paid for/commissioned, as site policy has rules against this!

I often ask friends if they will beta my work, and as such if you are adamant that the commission remains strictly between us that may incur additional cost depending on complexity. This is not, however, a guarantee that anything I write will have a beta reader. Upon delivery of the final payment, you will receive my final draft and may put together a request of minor edits and changes to be made that must not exceed an additional ~2 hours worth of work.

If the final product is +/- 1k words from the original agreed-upon estimate, you will not be charged or refunded for the difference. Anything under or over this amount will be refunded to you in full or will be added to your final payment amount. I will communicate to the best of my ability as soon as possible if it seems that the story will be shorter or longer than originally anticipated (though it will likely trend towards longer) and we can decide how to proceed from there. In some cases, additional payment or the removal of desired plot points and themes may be necessary as I prefer not to deliver a sub-standard work.

Do not use any of my works for training ai language models. If I find out you have any involvement in creating ai tools using stolen or scraped artwork, that is grounds for immediate cancellation of your commission without delivery of the unfinished product and without refund. I do not take that kind of thing lightly.

By requesting a commission, you agree to be held to these terms. Thank you.

Timeline

The timeframe of delivery of the finished project ideally would be ~1 week for works 1-5k in length, 1-2 for 5-15k, 2-3 for 15-30k, and so on. These are estimations, however, and depending on other factors may be completed more or less quickly. Progress reports come in the form of chapter snippets and synopses, in which case after the completion of a chapter I will send you a few paragraphs and a summary of events. You may make requests and adjustments, with the knowledge that time spent revising increases the time before the piece can be completed.

Depending on the length and complexity of the commission, I may close down additional commissions until completion. Additionally, I may close commissions if time is limited. Chapter length and number is up to you, with the acknowledgement that longer chapters mean fewer updates. Chapters must also be a minimum of 1500 words, so commissions under 3000 words will be written as one shots.

Contact and payment

Please DM me here on tumblr to discuss any potential commissions, and payment will be made through PayPal. No writing will be done before initial payment is received, and full refunds will only be available in the first 24 hours after payment is made.

Thank you for reading! I hope to work with you soon!!

~Polly

[gatheringfiki]

Coming soon: Kink Bingo and H/C Bingo 2024!

Something kinky this way comes... (and it's probably limping).

Yes, very soon we will be back with our most daring events of the season: the Kink Bingo and the H/C (Hurt/Comfort) Bingo! With the Valentines Day just around the corner, it's time to charge up your toys, prep your bandages and generally brace yourselves for a delicious avalanche of guilt-free indulgence!

As usual, we will be running those 2 events in paraller, so you can take part in both, switch between the two, or take part in just one, and totally ignore the other. They are unrelated to each other.

Basics:

We have 2 Collections: Kink Bingo and H/C Bingo

In each of those, on the 17th of Feb, the prompts are going to be revealed, on a 7x7 card.

We are playing between 17th of February and 17th of March.

Your task is to create something for 7 consecutive fields (horizontally, vertically or diagonally) to achieve a bingo line. 

... Or not. We really have no way of checking who’s completing which line, so you can use it as a free-for-all, pick and choose prompt board, if you prefer. But it’s good to challenge yourself and attempt prompts you wouldn’t normally pick - you may be surprised to find you like it!

Both Collections are fully Anonymous and will remain that way forever. However, you may choose to ‘reveal’ yourself as the author and ‘claim’ your work, if you wish at the end of this event. You don’t have to. More about this below. 

Usual pairings apply: FiKi or any fictional pairing portrayed by Dean or Aidan.

Tag your warnings and kinks R E L I G I O U S L Y.

No kink-shaming or judgement, please. We are all grown-ups: don’t like, don’t read.

There are no word limits

Play as little or as much as you like; you can even attempt all 49 fields, if you wish.

This event is mostly aimed at Writers, but Artists can also take part. More about this below.

Gatheringfiki will be doing our best to post links to all new responses during this event here on Tumblr (for exposure and promotion), but your freshest stuff is always in the Collections.

Q&A section under the cut:

Q: But why run those two bingos together?

A: The common theme for these events is that they cover subjects that could be considered ‘guilty pleasures’ or ‘taboo’. We wanted to create a safe environment where these themes can be explored and shared. Plus, they will have identical rules, so it didn’t make sense to run another Bingo event, with a different theme, later in the year.

Q: Do I need to post each response in a separate work or can I have a single work with chapters?

A: We would suggest separate works, because it will make it easier for you to tag it appropriately, and for the readers to search for, or avoid.

Q: Can I create one thing (story or art) for multiple fields in a single bingo card?

A: You can, but we would encourage you not to. The aim of this event is to create as much new content as we can and that doesn’t help it. Having said that, we understand that sometimes brain just connects things and it wants a combo.

Q: Can I create one thing (story or art) that covers both a Kink and H/C scenario?

A: You can, but we would encourage you not to. See: above.

Q: Can I mix and match pairings, e.g. within a single line have 4 FiKi and 3 Britchell?

A: Yes.

Q: Can I create more than one response to a single prompt field, for example for different pairings?

A: Yes, just post them as separate works.

Q: Can I use a prompt that someone else has already used before me?

A: Absolutely.

Q: Can I somehow visualise which line I’m working on, or which prompts I managed to fill?

A: Sure. Feel free to copy the Bingo Card image and start marking off the ones you’ve done. You can then post your updated Bingo Card picture with each response.

Q: Can I comment on the works posted in the Collections?

A: Yes, please do! If you wish to comment anonymously though, you’ll need to log out of your account first and comment as Anon, or open the story in a private tab. The Collection won’t anonymise the commenter’s identity automatically.

Q: How does the ‘Anon’ thing work?

A: The author is displayed as ‘Anonymous’ to everyone, except you. Yes, this includes the mods - we don’t know either. If you wish to respond to your comments, it will automatically show as ‘Anonymous Creator’.

Q: When can I ‘claim’ my works and ‘de-anon’?

A: Please only do this after the event has ended, i.e. after the summary post has gone up. The guessing is part of the fun!

Q: How can I ‘claim’ my works and ‘de-anon’?

A: Simply message @linane-art with the works that are yours and you wish to 'reveal' now. As a mod, I have a way of removing the anon status, while keeping the work in the Collection. It will automatically become your own work, like anything else, and you will not lose any kudos or comments. You may then choose to make an accompanying Tumblr post, if you wish to promote it.

Q: Do I have to ‘de-anon’ at the end of the event?

A: No. You can leave your works as anonymous forever, if you wish.

Q: I am an Artist and I would also like to take part.

A: Great! Fantastic! We’re all dying here to see it! However, because we all have our distinctive art styles, we can’t think of any way to keep you anonymous. If this doesn’t bother you, just play like everyone else, using artwork inspired by the prompts for your responses.

Q: But how to post artwork as a part of event response?

A: Post your artwork on Tumblr or host it elsewhere (Tumblr doesn’t like sexytimes, so it might try to block you). That will give you a hyperlink to the picture itself. Then create a new AO3 work within Kink or H/C Collection, and add a picture (using hyperlink) into the body of the work. If in doubt, message @linane-art for help.

Any further questions? Please give us a shout!

Good luck!

~gatheringfiki

[roboyomo]

the pinned post

finally making one!!

anyway hai helloo people i am roboyomo :] usually go by yomo (or robo but that's a rare one). i use he/him and masculine terms despite being agender

more info about my blog below the cut :)

current interests are:

#projmoon - Mostly lobcorp and ruina!! Probably one of my biggest interests at the moment,, adam and the fascinating worldbuilding could be some of the main reasons why

#pokemon - Still fairly new to pokemon, but nonetheless i still enjoy the games :) (even though i can only watch gameplays since i don’t have a nintendo ds. cruelty to me)

#yuppie psycho - Yuppie Psycho has been here with me for a long while, but It mostly stayed like a vague memory from a few years ago. Still, I absolutely enjoy the game and everything about it!! domori and rei sintra my beloveds,,

#utaite - A REALLY BIG utaite fan. literally 99% of the songs i listen are just utaite originals or utaite covers of vocaloid songs. (and only just a bit of actual vocaloid songs)

#ocs - LISTEN this may not qualify for an interest to some people. but it does to me. i love hearing about the little critters other people have created from their mind. and i love talking about my beasts. Basically hand over your beasts. i need to hold them like a dove it is urgent and of upmost importance

#studio investigrave - i. Did Not post about these games yet but i have a lot of art ideas for these games i love all of the current 5 games released urhfuwhrhwh,,,, biggest favorite out of the 5 is elevator hitch!!!!

#reverse 1999 - i am still fairly new to the game but i have been playing for like 3 something weeks by now and i fucking adore medpoc I LOVE YOU MEDPOC R1999 THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU

I also have my own tags for this blog!!

#yomoposting : General posts and such. i use this to post mostly random stuff

#yomoart : my art tag!!! all of my sketches, drawings and illustrations are under this tag :]

#yomoasks : the tag for asks i receive! pretty straightforward

#yomo and his beloveds : i don’t use this tag as much,,, but generally i use this to tag posts that are centered around my most beloved/comfort characters!!

#yomo ocs?! : THE TAG FOR OC CRITTERS!!! Everything about them goes here - ranging from lore rambles to random joke stuff with them involved

and some character-specific tags!!

#adam the greatest : the tag for my most beloved adam lobcorp!! “all hail adam christ”, as i used to say. everyday i hold him like an injured bird because he is precious to me

#carmen the beloved : the tag for carmen projmoon :] i love carmie i hold her dear to my heart. which might be a bad idea considering what she does but i’m doing it anyway

#volo my bestfriend volo : the tag for volo from pokemon!!!! i adore him i love me some cool long-haired male characters with some very clear issues. and also with some religious motifs going on

#N the greatest : the tag for N (or Natural Harmonia Gropius) from pokemon!! i still need to get through the entirety of the story for pokemon bw and b2w2 but i love him nonetheless. cool green guy :]

i am also on Artfight!! My profile is here if you want to check it out :)

An index section for my oc master rantposts just to keep track of them:

Azrael and Kenix and their story

some additional stuff: i am an artist for as long as i can remember, i really really really like adam lobcorp, volo, carmen, cynthia, N and medpoc and i heavily obsess over characters that are just. long haired and have some sort of plan for the world and the humanity. <- and i do not mean “oh this is a good thing to do” NO they need call it a good deed but in reality it will absolutely ruin everything instead. plus i am also really obsessed with my own ocs and their lore so please please please ask about them i will happily ramble about my little critters. also please be careful with the things you say in my direction! i am. sensitive and i WILL be sad over what you have said about me.,,

my blog is welcome to everybody :] that is unless you are an asshole and/or a creep so please leave if you are anything like that. that being said, please do not make yaoi/yuri, fujoshi/fudanshi and himejoshi/himedanshi jokes on my blog! i am not comfortable with those terms exactly so please avoid using them in the comments or reblogs. thank you for your cooperation!!!

yea this post turned out to be a bit tooo long for my standards but who cares

[thehomebakery]

AI in the TTRPG Space

For anyone who is a regular on sites like DMs Guild or DriveThruRPG you'll have noticed how prevalent AI Art is on covers, usually on the front of writing also made up by AI etc.

You'll have seen how this sort of thing is happening at a rapid pace, clogging up the what's new sections, and in some cases actually in bestselling sections, or promoted by the site's social media.

It's incredibly frustrating.

I understand why it's happening in a sense, from a casual consumers' perspective this work is often very shiny from the outside, often promises a lot of content for your games.

It's also hard for human creators, artists, writers etc to compete. If we want to make something good that takes time, if we need to hire others that costs money.

As a result there might be less in it, the price might be higher because of upfront costs.

It certainly won't be coming out as quickly.

The trouble is I find, it's easy for folks to say no, I'm not going to support that. But you need to also then support human creators!

So please, don't just avoid buying AI content. Support human art as well!

(And if you want to do so for this human writer consider checking out DnD goodies here and here)

[asheinkrott]

Hello there! I'm Ashe.

I’m a transgender (FTM) writer, digital artist, streamer, and college student. I made this tumblr account back in 2020 (shoutout to those who remember me going by Ashe Winterwald), and since things have been crazy recently, I have decided to revive it. I’m basically starting fresh and I am also switching my streams from Twitch to YouTube for similar reasons. Hopefully I can find many more lovely inkblots. 🖤

Anyway, as I mentioned above, I write stories for LGBTQIA+ otakus, make digital art (usually of my avatar, friends, or OCs), review manga, and stream while I do most of those things. At this point in time, my main goals are to hone my skills as an artist and writer, meet and learn from other creatives, and develop an audience. I have managed to finish writing a novel titled The Rise of The Dragon Queen, but my focus has shifted and I have been interested in trying out drawing webcomics or manga-like graphic novels. We'll see what I end up doing eventually.

Currently you can find my stories over on Royal Road, Wattpad, and Honeyfeed. I upload my manga reviews to YouTube and I will soon start streaming there too. I have not settled on any webcomic platforms yet, but if you have one you’d like to suggest, please let me know!

If you would like to support me in my creative endeavors, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel, checking out my Ko-Fi page (where I may offer digital art and VRoid model commissions in the future), or supporting my manga addiction by buying me a book from my Throne wishlist. All of these are listed in my Carrd, along with all of my platforms that I use. Any amount of support is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, here are some tags to help you find my stuff (or to help me find yours):

(Art tags can be for any art featuring my avatar, including my own.)

Art tag- #Inkrott Art

NSFW art tag- #Inkrott After Dark

Livestreaming tag- #Inkrott Live

Story tags- #TRoTDQ (The Rise of The Dragon Queen)

More coming soon as I write/draw more things.

[steddiebang]

Rules and Expectations Updates

Hello, everyone! The enthusiasm for the Steddie Bigbang as we’ve gotten off the ground has been so great and we’ve been happy to answer questions and get a feel for what people are looking for in their bang experience. 

As we’ve gone through and answered questions, we’ve also been fine-tuning some of the bang requirements and there have been some changes to decisions we made early on. We wanted to make sure everything is clear for everyone before sign-ups open and so that there’s no misunderstandings. 

The Schedule, Rules and Expectations, and the FAQ have been updated to reflect these changes as well. In order to prevent confusion, we’ve updated or, as needed, deleted mod asks that gave contradictory information on these updates. 

Changes for the Bang in general

After much thought, we regret to say we’re going to change the bang from all-ages to 18+ only. We understand there are plenty of passionate and talented minors in fandom and we hope you still support and promote the bang, but for participants, we are going to commit to 18+. The discord server will still be all-ages, as there are specific NSFW channels available there and we are allowing non-bang participants to join as members.

We had a few questions about adding Pinch Hitters. We did not add this option at first, as pinch hitting is usually only effective for bangs with enough participants - however, considering the response has been strong so far, we’re going to add that option. Pinch hitting allows interested people to sign up to potentially step in if an author or artist has to drop out of the bang last minute. To keep things tidy, we will open pinch hitter sign-ups on February 1 as well, and they will remain open until posting claims. We have also added a section about requirements and expectations for pinch hitters and beta readers on the official bang document.

We have shortened the author sign-ups to end on March 1 instead of March 15.

We have adjusted the April check-in to be April 1 - 2 instead of April 8 - 9.

For each team check-in, we have widened the deadline to submit from just the weekend to Saturday-Wednesday, to allow enough time to submit necessary drafts and progress checks (see below for details). 

Changes for Authors

After much thought, we have decided to formally implement progress checks via draft submissions. We mentioned this as a potential alteration early on because requiring draft submissions throughout the bang ensures that authors are making steady progress and are more likely to finish their project. It’s also an immense help to artists, who are ensured immediate content to work with after claims and more assurance that their teammate will not have to drop out last minute. 

We have added the expectations regarding draft submissions to the requirements and the schedule: please make sure to review them. We will allow reasonable extensions for all draft submissions except the 50% draft for claims - you must be at or above 50% in order to submit for claims.

We have limited the amount of fics an author can write to one project instead of three.

Changes for Artists

We cannot require draft submissions for artists, as drafts for particular types of art would be next to impossible. 

However, we are going to ask for progress checks during team check-ins to ensure concrete progress to completion is happening and that artists will also be able to finish their project on time. We will be ask during check-in that you outline your estimated completion percentage and for specifics on what portions of your project are done and what is left to complete. We want to be clear that this is not to micromanage artists, but as a attempted equivalent to the drafts authors will be submitting, and a way to ensure everyone is progressing toward completion. 

We have added the expectations regarding progress checks and explanations to the requirements and the schedule: please make sure to review them. 

Please make sure to review the rules and expectations and schedule if you are planning to participate in the bang! We will always let you know if there are any other big changes or updates, but this will hopefully be the last one where there are such significant changes to bang rules and expectations. 

We will continue to answer questions through the askbox! Sign-ups for all positions will open February 1, 2023.