#danmei dungeon

[maalidoesart]

apparently my type of media is fantasy with a wide range of characters and some fucked up lil story line

[hua-liansimp]

Comment any ship and I'll draw it to the best of my abilities🙏

[deepfriedscallops]

About the Artist ✨

Commission Status: OPEN (check the link at the bottom of this post for more)

Down to make new artist mutuals?: YES

Ready to boogie and slay with OCs?: HELL YEAH

Sup. This has been long overdue for, like, three years of me mostly lurking on Tumblr, but here we are. I'm scallops, an artist and writer (...on hiatus) in his 20s, just existing. I am a former forever DM and only got around to playing more often in the past year, so this blog is OC galore. This is a SAFE SPACE for all OCs, so I'm BEGGING for OC content, just send in an ask or message me if you want to chat about your OC. Not at all because I want to eat others OCs like a ravenous eldritch creature who feeds on creativity, which I definitely am not. And I'm in dire need of fellow creative mutuals. All this to say if you're an artist, are an adult, and follow me, I'll follow back!

Fandoms, in rough descending order of how fixated I'm on it right now:

Danmei in general. Ask me about my xianxia/sci-fi homebrew world.

Dungeons & Dragons babyyy

Dragon Age...here we go again

Critical Role (still catching up on Bells Hells)

The Dragon Prince

Monster High

The Vampire Chronicles

Tower of Fantasy

Sailor Moon

MXTX (SVSSS especially)

Sha Po Lang

Word of Honor

Black Desert

Witcher

My growing army of OCs with accessible links:

Ravenson Yeh (D&D and Monster High)

Seraphis (D&D)

Akenzeronoth (D&D)

Akai Kuroya | Sailor Cygnus (Sailor Moon)

Xavien of Blazingsun (D&D)

Exar Dyrr | Jessenar (Critical Role)

Dugu Zhihe (Hearts of Wulin)

Azrael Vigilas (RWBY)

Eolin Istimaethoriel (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Ennora Trevelyan (Dragon Age: Inquisition)

Yang Xinxuan (Shui Liu Qing)

Li Chenghua | Sun Wukong (Shui Liu Qing)

Jiang Ziya | Qinguang-wang (Shui Liu Qing)

My AO3 Projects and More:

A War God From Another World (SVSSS) (temporary hiatus, I promise I'll be back)

Memories (ToF) (temporary hiatus)

Lethe (Black Desert) (abandoned)

水流清 Shui Liu Qing | Water Runs Clear (original xianxia/sci-fi novel series) (WIP)

Unnamed AU (Dragon Age: Inquisition & Veilguard)

Other Links

Art Gallery

Commissions

[nwflowerr]

[three--rings]

Immortal Life

Hey guys, here to recommend a video game. This one was recced to me by....someone on here. Sorry I can't remember who it was, but it's been a solid month or so and that post wasn't tagged (cause I was complaining about another game.)

Immortal Life is a Steam game in early access currently. It's a farming sim set in a cultivation sect. Yeah, that's right, it's Stardew Valley but Xianxia!

There's my little farm (all photos in this post are from my game).

The premise is that you are restoring a cultivation sect that was destroyed in a tragedy. So in addition to farming to provide food and to sell for $, you are gathering resources to rebuild the sect building by building.

As it goes on, you are trying to attract lecturers to improve your cultivation and "level up" your skills.

As you can see, the art is really pretty, and when combined with incredibly soothing traditional music, it's so freaking relaxing.

The setting is equally aesthetic, with a variety of shops and NPCs. All dialogue is in Chinese with well done English subtitles. I've only found a couple of typos so far in the game.

In addition to standard farming, fishing (more Animal Crossing style than SDV), and dungeon crawling, there's also crafting with wood and bamboo, and a pretty fun cooking minigame.

The dungeon crawling is fun, with cultivation based ranged and spell attacks rather than simple sword slashing.

So far it's pretty well-developed. I've been playing a LOT of early access games in the last year and this one is pretty polished and has a lot of content already. (I haven't run into any end of content yet after 15 hours.) It's a lot more complete than say Coral Island is so far, for example.

Anyway, I'm having an absolute blast with this game. I recommend it to any fans of this genre of game, but it's ESPECIALLY nice to experience being in danmei fandom and having a lot of familiarity with the setting and cultural touchstones.

It's a Chinese-made game, so it's made for an audience who understand what cultivation is. It's not explained or dumbed down for an English audience. I don't know if it would be really confusing for someone totally unfamiliar with the Xianxia genre, but the game is clear enough in walking you through the actual game tasks.

I haven't gotten far enough to really be able to speak to how the relationships develop or any romance options. So far, just getting tiny bits of approval is a little bit of a chore. But that's how it goes.

So I think it's very worth checking out. Full price is $19.99, I got it in the recent Steam sale for a little less.

[luguangs]

tag games! 💌

i'm so late and i'm 100% sure i missed several of these because tumblr only keeps notifications for the last ??? who knows how many months. so sorry for the delay! i promise i wasn't ignoring them i genuinely just forgot 😭

edit: i had this drafted since january 18 and i forgot to post it. again 💀 i'm leaving it exactly as it was as a capsule in time for myself though

~~

tagged by @orviposition @karura @misakarose @hansooyung @milaghoul - thank you for the tag mira, may, tay, roy, and mila! 💕💕 these were actually three separate tag games but since they were really similar i decided to combine them!

tag someone you want to know AND/OR some of your besties

favorite color: blue!

3 ships: yoohankim (orv), llojavi (tged), shiguang (sgdr)

first ship ever: merthur (? genuinely can't remember sorry my liege)

last song: IS - sue

currently listening to: dizzy bezerko album by unlike pluto (nothing but bangers it's insane)

last movie: children who chase lost voices (2011)

currently watching: sabikui bisco, a sign of affection, cherry magic, mr. villain's day off, solo leveling, 7th time loop, dungeon meshi

other stuff I watched this last year: my main obsessions were buddy daddies, trigun stampede, moriarty the patriot

shows I dropped this last year/didn't finish: i rarely drop shows but i had to pause to your eternity bc it was making me cry too hard lmaoo

currently reading: the greatest estate developer, sabikui bisco, lord of the mysteries, thriller trainee, and a bunch of manhwa/manhua

currently consuming: coffee (decaf bc caffeine is now poison to me)

currently craving: idk i think a cinnamon roll could fix me actually

currently working on: crocheting a snoopy-themed gift for my mom's bday!

current obsession: tged brainrot babeyyy

sweet/spicy/savory? savory!

relationship status: happily single amen

last thing I googled: ranjatai

~~

tagged by @aomitois thank you tem! 💞

Which feeling that has no name are you?

~~

tagged by @userfrieren thank you sm for tagging me jenna! 💖

alias/name: gaby

birthday: sep 3

zodiac: virgo

height: too tall

hobbies: reading novels, playing video games, making gifs

favourite colour: blue

favourite book: omniscient reader's viewpoint !!!!! it changed my life please read it i am on my knees

last song: 云与海 - 阿YueYue

last movie/show: the middle

recent read: i think the last thing i finished was mdzs (i say this when i haven't even managed to finish the extras lol)

inspiration: finding something that hits like orv is what keeps me going ngl

story behind url: idc if i have a kim dokja url i WILL beat the kdj kinnie allegations 💪

fun fact: i know at least the basics of 11 languages!

what’s the colour palette of your name?

(duplicated image for sizing) i actually love this! these are all colors that i would normally wear bc i'm a big fan of subdued shades with a slight touch of earth tones!

~~

tagged by @sugaaz and @hansooyung to do this picrew! thank you moon and roy 💕

~~

tagged by @koushuwu to do this picrew! tysm mica this was so cool! 💖

~~

tagged by @sawaisanna to post a wip - thank you malina! 💞

i don't have any edits in the works atm, but here's a wip from a fic i'll likely never post.

~~

top six reads of 2023

tagged by @tls123 - tysm francesca! 💖

global examination by 木苏里 *

devil venerable also wants to know by 青色羽翼

thriller trainee by 妄鸦 *

the book of disquiet by fernando pessoa

mist unlimited by 微风几许

camera lucida by roland barthes

(*) haven't finished these yet

first things first can i just point out how fucking funny it looks to list danmei and philosophical books together bc it's sending me 😭

i read relatively "few" books in 2023 but that's only because i spent the most time reading two monstrous books that unfortunately didn't make it to my top 6 :/ (iykyk)

it seems like 2023 was the year of narratives that break out of their confines, self-awareness, and deconstructing paradigms <3

~~

💫 preference 💫

tagged by @aomitois - tysm tem!

ancient or modern

bitter or sweet

chocolate or vanilla

coffee or tea

create or destroy

day or night

early bird or night owl

freckles or dimples

gold or silver

greek mythology or egyptian mythology

macarons or eclairs

hot or cold

thunder or lightning

typewritten or handwritten

secret garden or secret library

spicy or mild

dark magic or light magic

virtue or vice

ocean or desert

moon or stars

rough or smooth

mermaids or sirens

known or unknown

rain or snow

~~

tagging for any of these: (no pressure!) @icythot-bakubitch @ruanbaijie @feitanporter @itoshisae @dokjaism

@mudanonaito @himawaari @aroacehirano @mauxanhduong @apparently-artless

@72g @miyamiwu @focryst @justapieceintheirgames @smol-ackerman + anyone else who wants to join!

[talk-danmei-to-me]

Ranking my Summer of Danmei Results: Favourite Confession

My Answers:

1) Ranwan

They went on a magic carpet sword ride! I'm a millenial and I'm weak to that shit. Also, the lead up to it was insane with the brocade pouch and the laundry and the forcing themselves to stay awake game of chicken they were playing with the bed. For a couple that is so plagued with horny thoughts, their confession was so wholesome and pure. (Not going to lie, I stayed up till 2am reading vol 6 to get to their first night together at the inn which fully cemented Meatbun as my favourite danmei author)

2) Ximang 

Mo Xi literally went from repressing those feelings to going nuclear! Breaking into a torture dungeon and telling Gu Mang that he trusts him. Obsessed. Everyone's favourite princess literally risked turning himself into ashes without Gu Mang ever knowing. I mean technically, they should be at the bottom because they haven't officially confessed. But if you've read vol 4 I think it's safe to say Mo Xi has basically confessed his feelings to everyone bar Gu Mang. And I think that should count.

3) Hualian

Vol 6 of tgcf is my favourite and the cave of ten thousand gods is great. Tgcf at its peak in my opinion and the reason i became obsessed with cave scenes in danmei. It's understated, but a good payoff after all the pining, longing and thirsting. That Feng Xin and Mu Qing are trying to stage a kidnapping in the middle only adds to the fun.

4) Wangxian

Wangxian finds themselves at the bottom, not because I don't love them, I do. But their confession scene literally escalated into me becoming a Jin Guangyao fan. He stole their thunder. Also the whole thing is kind of unhinged. Reading it is sort of like a fever dream. Everything's going to shit, everyone's traumatised in some way, Wangxian are just heavy petting in the corner then run away together.

[moondal514]

Some fic reading numbers to wrap up 2024

In 2024, I’d say my fandom habits could be summarized into this: 1) ya girl had a danmei phase (though really, considering that my chief loves in media are historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, and queer love stories with the occasional dash of gothic horror, the better question is why didn't I have a danmei phase sooner lmao), 2) baby’s 1st shounen fandom, and 3) vampires. And of course I’m still haunting my usual AFTG corner, though not as much as years previous.

In 2024, I bookmarked on ao3 1468 new fics for 55 fandoms, though only about 1074 of those were public bookmarks (jfc you can really tell that I was reading a lot of fic to cope with the horrors). The fandom I read the most for was IWTV, managing to unseat MDZS as my most read-for fandom this year, accounting for about 178 of those new bookmarks.

Below is a multi-fandom list of 10 of my favorites of all the fics I read in 2024. I limited myself to only choosing fics that are complete and standalones cuz otherwise I prob wouldn’t be able to limit it to only 10. If there’s one takeaway I think I can take from this list, it’s that this year I was very into experimental formats (somehow every other fic on this list is experimental somehow lol)

In no particular order:

Fandom: Haikyuu!!

the body you become by binkslug

Because you are now a monster made from the rubble of what you wanted, know the taste of greed and wish the world wouldn’t tell you to run, you are worried. But I have loved you my whole life, before the idea of you. Before the world could speak riddles in your ear. I will love you until you ask me not to.

A huge emotional gut-punch chock full of older sister feels

Fandom: Dungeon Meshi

the end of desire by rubiginosa

The magician lords of the dungeon: a triptych.

Literally the entire time I read this I was just thinking a litany of “omg omg omg omg omg”

Fandom: The Locked Tomb

necro elysium (yuck!!) by flemeth/ @mercyisms

"ALARM [Challenging: Success] — Something is wrong. Missing.

YOU — Your body vies for your attention in sudden, competing aches. And! Everything!! Hurts!!!

INDIGNATION — Ugh! What idiot invented the shoulder! What mega-idiot invented shoulder pain!!"

Or: Mercymorn and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. A Disco Elysium AU.

Absolutely phenomenal and heartbreaking character study in a super cool format

Fandom: Interview with the Vampire

Sweet Mephistopheles by cyranonic/ @cyranonic

He would prefer to have Louis more accounted for. He would prefer to never worry about accounting for Louis ever again. Therein lies the kernel of conflict that has rubbed raw within him for all of his years—to cede control somehow without ever losing it.

--

Five snapshots of Louis and Armand's seventy-seven years together. Armand guards the gates of their paradise. Daniel nevertheless slithers through.

Prob my favorite Armand characterization I’ve read so far

24 items from the collection of A.M. (1974 to 1985) by volkswagonblues/ @volkswagonblues

Here, in this Parisian hospital room, Alice and Armand begin their last collaboration: Daniel’s life story. They’re putting it together; no, they’re taking it apart. Events take place, relative to other events. One damn thing after another. But that’s how all stories work.

In 1973, Daniel Molloy meets a stranger in Polynesian Mary’s.

In 1974, he meets Alice and they move to New York City together.

In 1985, he proposes to Alice, who says no. Who says yes. Who says—

-

24 items (more or less) from the A.M. collection, spanning 1974 to 1985 (more or less). Presented with their accompanying manuscript.

I don’t have enough words to describe how this fic blew me away

Fandom: All For the Game

i'd promise you anything for another shot at life by orionauriga/ @orionauriga

Let’s go back. Andrew would like that. All this time claiming regret is a foreign concept and here it hesitates on the tip of his tongue — this, the one time he would say such a thing: if I could go back and change it, I would. Maybe then his brother would still be here. — Just because Aaron died on the upstairs bathroom floor doesn’t mean he’s entirely gone. At least, not to Andrew.

My phone broke in spirit from the amount of internal tears this one had me shedding

it lives in the throat by timeloops/ @billdenbrough

Legally speaking, for a few hours, Aaron Minyard is dead in that car.

Luther Hemmick, the next-of-kin to one Tilda Minyard, 35, pronounced dead in a car accident, is contacted by the relevant authorities. He says, Tilda and Aaron had left our house in an emotional state. He says, Aaron was a good boy. He says, What a tragedy.

Yeah, Aaron thinks. Real fucking sob story.

—

Andrew dies in the car crash too. Aaron picks up the pieces.

I still haven’t recovered from this fic if I’m being honest

Fandom: Mo Dao Zu Shi

Monster Theory (Seven Theses) by mongrelmind

When Nie Huaisang is kissing him, Meng Yao wishes he would just cut off his head and be done with it. Keep it in a locked room, twist his eyelids open so his soul can never rest, gag his mouth with iron and spikes if he has to, but just end it either way. Or: Meng Yao comes back from the dead. Things get worse.

Had me screaming the whole time I read it

star-maps, like fireflies by northofallmusic/ @northofallmusic

There was a year when the star-maps went dark, and Wei Ying went dark with them.

This is a different year. Something different is about to happen.

Gorgeous gorgeous prose omg

Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen

Choke. by valleykey/ @valleykey

Slowly but surely, Suguru builds his boiling pot in the yawning mouth between ideal and reality.

/// an unconventional format Getō character study with some reader interactive elements. Diverges from canon after Shibuya.

Not even exaggerating a little bit when I call this one of the best things I’ve ever read in my life

-

As always, thank you to all you fanfiction writers out there for blessing us readers with your wonderful stories. Cheers to a new year of fanfiction reading!

[cloud0177]

me bc I know I got that shit on (I like vkei, Tyler the creator, dungeon meshi, alien stage, girls generation, chronoir, hinakoma, ace attorney, resident evil, overwatch, dreadout, danmei, and overall good music taste and movies)

[lovebyt3s]

HARPER’S WRITING BLOG!!

hi everybody, I started up a writing blog here to take requests for x reader stuff! Not new to writing, but new to tumblr so please have some patience i beg of thee

Rules and more

I won’t do incest, non-con, adult x minor, etc, i don’t care if others do it but it’s just not something i’d like to write or read

Pressuring me into writing something will never work and i will most likely ignore you lol

I will write male reader, female reader, gender neutral, wlw, mlm, etc. I write a lot of stuff just ask

Fandoms I write for

Delicious in the Dungeon

The Dragon Prince

Most Danmei

Fear and Hunger

Genshin Impact

Honkai Star Rail

Wuthering Waves

Obey Me

One Piece

Saiki K

and more.. I’ll update this list when needed

and i’ll make a master list when i feel like it

[teardew]

As far as im concerned your yan wushi is how he's supposed to be. The ageism sucks so bad in danmei as someone who is a shizun lover FFFFFFFFFF very random but have you read sha po lang? If you like bastardy mischievous kinda old men, you might enjoy gu yun. Canonically he's like late 20s in the book but as far as im concerned since it's not xianxia he'll get his salt and peppers in and then he'll look SO GOOD

thank u for supporting my vision ..... shelley told me not to believ the hype and i trust her also she likes it so thats all that matter 2 me .... also no ! iv heard abt it before but idk what its about ... u r so baiting me with the promise of old men but im still trying to chip my way thru the locked tomb series and dungeon meshi also my brain has getting fucked uprecently so idek if i can ever get thru those 2 😭 sorry

[domokunrainbowkinz]

off the top of my head I think my fave reads of this year would be:

turning (webnovel)

little mushroom (danmei)

concubine walkthrough (manhwa)

orv (webnovel)

on the other side, these were the reads that pissed me off the most (put under a readmore bc I got Thoughts that have already been expressed before BUT. I need to yap more)

painter of the night (manhwa): god. I wish I dnf'ed this but the hype was so high I held out hope. the art, atmosphere and general dreamy joseon vibes are 10/10 no notes but the STORY....the CHARACTERS...bruh if this had a decent story with well written characters. we could've had it all. THE PREMISE IS INTERESTING TOO...like idk maybe I'm being too mean and just projecting my personal likes on this but the story could've been so much more interesting if nakyum wasn't written Like That. idk man. I'm a hater.

how to refuse the route (manhwa): THIS ONE BROKE MY HEART. IT LITERALLY STARTED OFF SO STRONG AND I THOUGHT THE LATER CHAPTERS WERE BUILDING UP TO SOMETHING, BUT!!!!!!!! THEY RUSHED THE ENDING. the ending was like "ok lalalala he got over his issues he actually likes ilya they got married wahoo!!!" NO. U GOTTA EARN THAT SHIT. U CANT JUST SELL ME THIS HANDWAVEY SHIT AND EXPECT ME TO BUY IT. I thought there'd be at least another season fleshing out the consequences of ilya being able to see the system, Jerry realizing he needs to stop thinking about this as a game, also the thing about his mana leaking out??? sooooooo many loose threads...NONE tied up....I'm so bitter.

why ophelia couldn't leave (manhwa): SO many ppl were like "ooooh they're both red flags oooooh they're manipulating each other" gurl did we read the same manhwa....like in the beginning it was true and I was like "ohohohoho" rubbing my hands but then they got together. and it went POOF....I guess I was expecting it to be more toxic but it honestly lowkey got boring for me. also the ML wasn't even that manipulative he just has a 1 track mind that was honestly very bland to me. I was expecting spice...and I got...bread...

red limit (manhwa): I will FOREVER be bitter about this one. misunderstanding trope my beloathed...and it wasn't even done well. like it was the most hamfisted, clunky and awkward conflict that they stuck in near the end just for the sake of angst. like im sure there are a myriad of diff ways they could've done something like this. I'm so surprised it took such a big nosedive bc the rest of the manhwa was so beautifully written with maturity and care....wha happuh....did the writer pass it off to someone else to write the ending....if it weren't for the ending I would've easily recced this. But. here we are.

necromancer survival (manhwa): THIS ONE...MAY BE...A SPICY TAKE...and I tried so so hard to like it but it just did not click for me. I almost wish it didn't have romance bc imo it just was not well done at all. maybe I just read it too fast or something but the rship felt like it wen from 0 to 100 in a really short period of time, and a majority of the time it felt super unbalanced feelings-wise. i felt like the MC had super strong feelings for the ML but the ML like. didn't give a shit?? and the way the MC kept angsting over unrequited feelings got me like "ok that's enough. Stand Up". idk I was really mad that I didn't like it. not sure if I was mad at myself for having unreasonable expectations or mad at the story for being mid or mad at the community for hyping it up. everyone recs this as a good BL dungeon crawler but it just was not for me.

[penpen363]

Introduction

(Late)

Name (what u can call me): Penpen, Fae, Fern (I don’t mind wtv one u choose)

Pronouns: she/her (I’m female)

Mainly post abt: good omens, Ofmd, relatable stuff ig, collages, drawings

My ao3 acc

link to my coffee shop au fic

Link to Sweet goldenheart oneshot

Link to Valentine’s Day special

Part one

Part two

I don’t have ao3 sadly

I have Wattpad and my acc is @penpen_someone

Fandoms:

Good omens

Ofmd

Kny

Nimona

Tgcf

Arcane

Dungeon meshi

Mha (kinda)

Spy x family

Kakegurui

Death note

Tpn

Heartstopper (not rlly)

Wednesday (meh)

My fav ships:

Ineffable husbands

Gentlebeard

Ineffable bureaucracy

Goldenheart

Hualian

Obamitsu

Fengqing

Erasermic

Kokuzan

Inoaoi

Hakuyuki

Doukaza

Giyushino

Sanegiyuu

I’ll write mostly any ship from the fandoms I’m in but they can’t be cursed like incest or rape etc u prob know the boundaries

Genre: I absolutely ADORE fantasy and especially (mostly) when mixed with romance

I love some danmei like tgcf

I love watching horror movies and comedies and action movies

[corvarrow]

2024 Books/Games Wrap up and 2025 Art Goals

Aaand its time once again for the stuff lists! I honestly don't think I'm gonna add anything else to the Books Read or Games Played lists this year so I may as well post now. Overall: productive year! Last year's list is here for reference.

Things I’ve read since Jan 2024

Heaven Official's Blessing 1 by MXTX

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao

Death in the Dark Woods by Annelise Ryan

Long Exposure vol 2 (Graphic Novel)

Heaven Official's Blessing 2 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 3 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 4 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 5 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 6 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 7 by MXTX

Heaven Official's Blessing 8 by MXTX

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang

Haunted Hallways anthology (Outland Entertainment)

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Dead Detectives Society anthology (Monstrous Books)

Animus Mundi anthology (Outland Entertainment)

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #1 by MXTX

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #2 by MXTX

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #3 by MXTX

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #4 by MXTX

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation #5 by MXTX

To Root Somewhere Beautiful anthology (Outland Entertainment)

SCP Foundation: Red/Yellow/Black Journals (Parabooks) (These are basically a selection of about 100 SCP articles published into 3 books with a lot of nice illustrations)

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Dragons Rising by Alisha Klapheke

The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson

Delicious in Dungeon manga 1-14 by Ryoko Kui (full series)

Comments: Yeah...there was definitely a theme here. My favorite book this year was the entire TGCF/Heaven Official's Blessing series. The characters are all SO good, though Xie Lian is my favorite <333

Also this is the first time I've read any of Brandon Sanderson's stuff... overall I think they're pretty good! ALTHOUGH, I will say, I started with Yumi and the Nightmare Painter because I knew it was a standalone book and that was almost a mistake. For whatever reason he uses so many parentheses right off the bat - that's fine in a text post but in a novel I actually find that Quite Annoying so I almost gave up on it early. Glad I didn't though! Ended up liking it and was inspired to try some of his other books, which I enjoyed even more.

Currently Reading: Godkiller by Hannah Kaner. I don't think this is a very long book but I don't have the bandwidth required to finish it in the next couple days

2025 Book Goals: If you can believe it I have more danmei novels waiting in the wings lol. I am probably going to also read more Brandon Sanderson books but he has so many that I've just been checking them out at the library. I'm at the mercy of "whenever it comes in", and just read whatever in between.

—

2024 Video Games:

Super Mario Wonder

Baldur's Gate 3 (and it only took 171 hours)

Iron Lung

Logiart Grimoire

Monster Prom

POOLS

Atomic Heart

Dredge

Trombone Champ (can't believe this has an endgame state lmao)

Dave the Diver

Last Call BBS

Animal Well

Still Wakes the Deep

Crow Country

Nancy Drew and the White Wolf of Icicle Creek (played before a LONG time ago)

Raging Loop (DNF - Visual Novel - got about 7 hours in before deciding it wasn't for me)

Nancy Drew: Curse of Blackmoor Manor

Pseudoregalia

Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair

Escape Simulator

Strange Horticulture

Mouthwashing

Comments: This was an interesting year for me because I finally burned myself out on FF14, which left me open to start playing other games instead. I had gotten to the point where I was going for Triple Triad/Jellytoast mount so I was working on getting cards, and I actually got most of them. HOWEVER, I then got roadblocked by Eureka and Bozja. You have to do their storylines to unlock the NPCs for cards. Now, Eureka you CAN mostly do solo, its a miserable grindfest even if you do manage to get in a party, but you can still solo if no one is around, and the story quests don't require other players, so I got through Euraka. Bozja...no. No not really. The story quests have events that do require other players, and I found it really intimidating aaand my FC didn't want to help x_x So I finally just stopped and started playing BG3. I do want to play Dawntrail at some point but I just got so tired. (and yeah for the record I don't have any dedicated groups to play games with so I do mostly play solo games... FF14 is very solo friendly actually, if you're willing to sometimes put up with roulette queueing, just not some of the side content lol)

ANYWAY. Getting through a "large RPG" was one of my video game goals from last year so I accomplished that with BG3...then I started really getting through my backlog! Obviously I like a lot of different genres. If I had to pick a favorite I would say....🤔 Maybe Still Wakes the Deep storywise, but I'll pick Escape Simulator for gameplay because it's REALLY fun. Puzzle rooms are absolutely my jam. Mouthwashing was also very good, storywise. I am not going to label that one "fun" though. LOL.

Game that I wish I could like more...Animal Well. I didn't know this in advance but this is a very pixel hunt & ARG heavy game as well as being a metroidvania. I LOVE metroidvanias, on the other hand pixel hunts & ARGs are not for me at all. You cannot get to the "true" ending of this game without messing around with all that, and the regular end is like, nothing. Metroidvanias are usually pretty light on story as the format is challenging, but this may as well not have a story at all. So, that's irritating. On the other hand, the game is freaking gorgeous, and is one of the most eerie games I have played in a long time. Love the atmosphere, wasn't thrilled about the other stuff (to those that like it though, you would probably love this!)

Currently Playing: Undecided. Right now I'm thinking either Signalis or Sorry We're Closed. But I also have a lot of Nancy Drew games I picked up from a sale so maybe one of those first instead.

2025 Game Goals: I am tempted to say I'd like to do another "Large RPG" game since I still have several in my backlog, but honestly I would like to continue just knocking smaller games out of the general backlog as its been very satisfying.

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Other 2025 Goals/Art Goals

So this was an interesting year because I ended up doing a 365 landscape drawing challenge in my hobonichi journal...trying to keep up with this has been the ultimate test and has been really draining my brain since like June. However, I am almost done. My ability to doodle random landscape in pen has definitely improved. Am I doing another yearly challenge next year? ....No. Absolutely not lmao. Break now.

Anyway some general goals are:

Finish at least 1 sketchbook

Do/Post more finished pieces

These are copied from last year though I would like to note that I ended up doing all those refs this year instead. Which is fine! They were very badly needed and I'm really happy about them. However my brain has been so drained otherwise I didn't really do much regular finished pieces and now I feel out of practice. 🤔 Ideally I'd like to work on figuring out a coloring process that works for me since it has legitimately always been a problem. But, I think that's also going to be driven a bit by 'what kind of look am I going for', which I have an idea (I love really interesting lighting), so I think I have to explore how to get to That.

3. Finish designing a sona

I got partway through this this year and got sidetracked. It also occurred to me that I could make more than one 🤔 I really want to update my icon art (and like... make some banners) so I kind of need to finish this thought.

[duckprintspress]

Fandom Lexicon: D and E

Happy Saturday! It’s time for our next Fandom Lexicon post, our first with two letters – there aren’t that many E’s, so here we have it, D + E! All together, I expect the 28 categories for the Lexicon (26 letters, plus numbers and symbols, plus a post of “abbreviations used to refer to specific fandoms”) to be spread across 19 posts – but that includes the ones I’ve already posted.

You can check out all the parts of the lexicon posted so far here.

Spot a mistake? Know a term we missed? Let us know!

Lexicon Entries Beginning with D: (read more)

DA: Abbreviation for “different anon.” When anonymously commenting or sending an anonymous ask, DA or “different anon” will be used to differentiate that a person is not the same anonymous commenter as another anonymous commenter that has already spoken.

DA: Abbreviation for “DeviantArt,” sometimes written dA. A website where artists can host their artwork in galleries, interact with other artists, and participate in different types of challenges. Visit DeviantArt.

Danmei: Chinese media (literature and other types) featuring gay (specifically men) love. Read more about danmei.

Dashcon: A truly terrible Tumblr convention that was held in July of 2014. The feature most often referred to was a very small ball pit; instead of offering refunds for a panel that fell through, the organizers offered disappoint fans “an extra half-hour in the ball pit.” Read more about DashCon.

Dead Dove/Dead Dove: Do Not Eat: A fanwork tag used alongside other tags to indicate absolute truth in advertising; in other words: heed the tags, because they clearly articulate what is within. Most often used for works with darker themes. Name is derived from a scene in the sitcom Arrested Development in which a bag is labeled “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat” and when a character opens the bag, it contains… a dead dove. And he says he’s not sure why he expected anything else. Occasionally abbreviated as DD or DDDNE. Read more about the phrase “Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.”

Disaster Bi: A bisexual person who is deemed to be a “disaster” due to lack of personal awareness, inability to process feelings, struggles with self-acceptance, or well-intended but not well thought out acts of kindness, to name just a few possibilities. If the character is a mess and is also bisexual, they are a disaster bi.

Disc Horse: A facetious way to refer to discourse.

Discord: A chatting platform. Visit Discord.com.

Discourse: Ongoing/circular/repetitive discussion about an actual or perceived problem that some people feel strongly about, and others wish would simply stop. Discourse can either be within a fandom (“there’s discourse about (character name)”) or about more general meta-fandom issues (“time for the annual discourse about kink at Pride”). Read more about the term “discourse.” See also wank (pending).

DL;DR: Abbreviation for “don’t like, don’t read.” 1. A warning to potential readers to pay attention to the tags/synopsis and move along if they don’t like what they see. 2. A reminder to people getting up-in-arms about other people making content they don’t like – “if you don’t like it, you don’t have to read it.” Sometimes abbreviated without the colon. Read more about the term DL;DR.

DM: Abbreviation for “dungeon master.” In many roleplaying games such as Dungeons and Dragons, the DM is the person responsible for creating the overarching story and running the game in accordance with the chosen rule’s systems rules. Read more about DMs.

DM: Abbreviation for “direct message.” On many messaging platforms such as Discord, DMs are the in-platform way of contacting another person directly, without involving other people in a chat. Read more about DMs. See also PM (pending).

DNI: Abbreviation for “do not interact.” An acronym often used alongside a list of characteristics, interests, or other attributes that a social media user does not want to interact with the things they post. Often shared via a Carrd or pinned post. Read more about DNIs.

DNR: Abbreviation for “did not read” or “do not read.” 1. Used on reading sites like Goodreads to indicate that the person chose not to read the book in question and/or does not recommend that others should not, either. 2. A term aimed at a previous poster in a chain of comments/responses on the same, especially one who was long winded, to indicate that a subsequent reader has not read what came before. 3. When someone is opining on a book or article, DNR may be used to indicate that they haven’t read one or more of the works they are referencing.

DNW: Abbreviation for “do not want.” Something a person actively dislikes. Often used in fandom exchanges, where participants are expected to list their “do wants” and “do not wants” as part of guiding their exchange partner in what kind of work they’d most like to receive.

Donghua: Animation/cartoons from China. Read more about donghua.

DP: Abbreviation for many things; in fandom spaces it most often refers to “double penetration.” In pornographic works, DP refers to a person being penetrated in two ways. May refer to penetration in two holes, or double penetration in one, and also may refer to having two penetrating partners, or one penetrating partner using multiple appendages and/or toys.

Drabble: Traditionally a drabble is a piece of fiction that is exactly 100 words long. In more recent use it refers to fiction that is roughly one paragraph in length. Sometimes can now be used to refer to any micro-fic; anyone in fandom over a certain age will fight you if you use it that way, though. Read more about drabbles.

Dubcon : Shortened term for “dubious consent.” Used to refer to situations where it is uncertain whether a sex act is actually consensual. Can be as mild as “someone didn’t ask permission before kissing someone they’ve been dating for months” or as extreme as “well they kind of seem to want it so I went all the way…” Often modified with a word indicating the degree to which the consent is dubious, ranging from “mild dubcon” (like the kiss) through “extremely dubcon.”

DW: Abbreviation for Dreamwidth. A blogging platform build similarly to Livejournal. Visit Dreamwidth.

Lexicon Entries Beginning with E:

Edit: Aside from the obvious definition of “suggested changes made to a written work to improve it’s spelling, grammar, and readability,” referring to something as “an edit” has several meanings in fandom. 1. Used to indicate a post has been edited, and how. For example, “Edit: since I made the original post, I’ve learned…” 2. A video of compiled scenes from a visual media property, set to music of the creator’s choice. See also: AMV, fan edit (below, pending). 3. A video of compiled scenes from a visual media property, arranged to tell a different story than what was seen in the original.

Eeby Deeby: 1. Originally a reference to the sound Twiki the robot makes in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Often made into a sex joke. 2. Referenced in a meme with an elevator that says “Eeby Deeby” on the screen. 3. Hell or purgatory. Read more about the term “eeby deeby.”

ETA: Abbreviation for “edited to add.” On platforms where posts can be edited after posting, an ETA may be added and labeled as such if the original poster decides to change the post for any reason. As many platforms include both an original posting date and an “edited on” date, including an ETA is a courtesy way of helping people who see the post quickly understand how it may have been changed since it was posted. See also: edit.

Exchange: A fandom event in which the participants sign up and provide a few examples of things they like and things they don’t like (See DNW), and then are paired up with another participant to create something for that person. Ideally, every participant will get a gift from another participant, and no one will know who is making what for whom until the big reveal at the end when all works are shared out. Sometimes called a “gift exchange.” Read more about exchanges.

[lovelylotusf1]

Got tagged by two lovely people @borntogayz and @wisteria-wisteria!

star sign: Sagittarius! Born in December so I have to wait veeery long to celebrate stuff but then I can have two celebrations almost back to back with christmas coming up.

favorite holiday: German/Austrian carnival/Fasching! It's the time before the last 40 days before Easter holidays. There are several comedy shows to watch both live and on TV, everyone dresses up and it's generally a time to joke around!

last meal: made by my awesome grandma: spinach with potatoes, fried eggs and sausages.

current favorite musician: I like to listen to comedy music a lot and it's pretty much the only thing I listen to (that's not video game music). So I'd have to go with Tom Cardy.

last song listened to: "Wigglytuffs Guild" from the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Explorers of Sky soundtrack! It's my alarm :D

last movie watched: Frozen 2 lol. It played on TV before Christmas.

last tv show watched: Honestly don't know, I haven't really watched any shows recently. Either Good Omens season 2 when it came out or The Dragon Prince.

last book/fic finished:

Book: Scum Villain's Self Saving System Volume 4. I was deep into the danmei trenches before f1.

Fic: don't take too much (off of me) by the amazing @wisteria-wisteria! Highly recommend, it's short, funny and a perfect mix of angsty pining and fluff.

last book/fic abandoned:

Book: Probably a Warrior Cats book. Two years ago I had a sudden spike in interest in reliving this part of my childhood, bought a lot of the books I had missing and stopped reading in the middle of... season 3 I think?

Fic: "Entirely out of spite" by bgtea. I loved it but I fell out of the Genshin Impact fandom a while ago.

currently reading: Too many things open in my tabs to say exactly.

last thing researched for writing/art/hyperfixation: Lots of things for my planned Lestappen AU. You can probably guess what it is based on the google history:

Dutch sweets

Ontbijtkoek recipe

Daily schedule of a baker

When do shops open in monaco

Rent prices in Monaco

favorite online fandom memory: I've only been active in fandom since I started writing for f1! The amazing people I met through F1blr and got to chat with will be my most treasured fandom memory for sure!!

favorite old fandom you wish would drag you back in/have a resurgence: I'm content with being where I am right now.

favorite thing you enjoy that never had an active or big fandom, but you wish it did: The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series have a pretty active fandom but not a very big one (I think). It's my favourite game series of all time so I think it deserves a big fandom.

tempting project you don't have time for: Sooo many AU ideas. I have sunk my teeth into two, one interesting one and a rather niche one, which I will both finish someday, but the poor rest will probably end up abandoned :(

don't really know who has already done this, so feel free to ignore the tag!

I'm tagging @laura1633 @ravenrage27 and @charlclerc ! <3