#feeling low energy but am gonna try to do more art posts

[biscu-t]

OH YEA GUESS WHO FINALLY REMEMBERED TO POST ART

They weren't requested or anything, I just felt like doing them

These two belong to @smithanonsworld , and I totaly hadn't had them ready and sitting around for ages

Woman was supposed to be in black, but it wasn't working out, so I had to go with a different color

[qwertycake]

more qpr fluffy squishy platonic writing prompts! wahoo!! part two!!! :)

Same disclaimer applies as my first post - these are aro- and ace-spec centric, may only work for shortform fiction, and feel free to tweak them to be less specific/more specific to specific characters.

Specific is a weird word lol

Anyways…

“We both get caught out in the rain and wait out the weather under the same shelter, and either we’re meeting for the first time or we have a nice excuse to hang out together” AU

“You annotate a book for me and I annotate it right back for you, and we keep passing the book back and forth until its a mess of affectionate scribbles that we keep on the coffee table” AU

"It's hot outside and you love the heat but I hate it and you're being stupidly nice and sweet to me while I'm a grouchy mess" AU

"I can teach you how to play this instrument if you stop DISTRACTING ME by looking so ENDEARING AND INFATUATED" AU

"Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes" AU

"We're both too tired to take care of ourselves because of sickness/work/school/whatever but we immediately find the energy to take care of one another via making tea and grabbing blankets" AU

"We trade clothes for Halloween and do terrible impersonations of one another" AU

"We have a bunch of unfinished craft projects between the two of us and decide to just... finish them all in one day... 24 itty-bitty hours... oh boy..." AU

"We recreate a terrible low-budget movie together" AU

"On Valentine's Day, we decide to make a bunch of garlic bread and cake, and buy each other flowers in the colours of our respective aro-/ace-spec flags... and then the day after, we buy all the chocolate that's finally gone on sale" AU

“I teach you how to do make-up because for one reason or another you’re unfamiliar with it” AU

“Fake dating and having dramatic break ups over silly things in public for shits and giggles” AU

“So, the world might have just ended… so guess who has two thumbs and a bunker that desperately could use a roommate?” AU

“We’re made to play seven minutes in heaven at a party and after a few awkward minutes of silence we both decide to just order a pizza or something while we wait out the seven minutes” AU

“Hey, you can dance, and I can’t, teach me— no, I don’t care that I’ve got two left feet, teach me!” AU

“We’re both artists, maybe of different skill levels, and we decide to draw/paint/make art of each other” AU

“I’m a night owl and you’re more of a day person, so whenever we stop texting because you have to go to bed, I’m stuck laying awake thinking about you Please Enjoy Waking Up To A Bunch Of Messages” AU

“I’m a day person and you’re more of a night owl but I struggle to fall asleep because I’m stuck thinking about how lucky I am to be your friend Hey I Think I Could Stay Up For An Extra Ten Minutes” AU

“We’re both nervous about going to the gym alone so we try going together… but neither of us have the guts to get out of the car so we just go for a walk or something instead” AU

“You’re super into sports and exercise and I’m just getting into it but you hype me up so I’m less nervous about getting started” AU

“I bake a whole bunch, you cook big meals… at the same time of day - our kitchen is chaos” AU

“It’s New Year’s Eve and we’re hanging out at a party and everyone’s speculating that we’re gonna have our New Year’s Kiss together but the New Year comes and we just do a weird handshake” AU

“Non-Fatal Hanahaki Disease AU where we’re some of the few people who don’t experience it because we’re content with whatever non-romantic thing we have together… but we both have hay fever and are very annoyed by the constant barrage of flower petals around us and have to tell our friends to Please Stop Crushing On The Random Barista At Starbucks It’s The Third Time This Week You Are KILLING US” AU

“We’re both alien test subjects who’ve never met before and have to try and plan our escape - bonus points if the aliens are specifically testing for something like amatonormative like All Humans Fall In Love and we’re the black swans of the research since they apparently abducted Only Romantic Allosexuals Aside From Us Somehow” AU

“It’s midnight and you show up on my doorstep unannounced after a long while of us drifting apart, what on earth happened?” AU

“We’re both capable of granting wishes - you’re the monkey’s paw and I’m the guy who’s stuck remedying all the messed up things you have happen to people What Is Wrong With You” AU

And finally…

“I’m laying on the couch at a party drunk/high/exhausted/whatever and you’re looking after me, having only met me that night - I proceed to ramble about how embarrassed I’ll be when I’m older and think back to how I made a fool of myself in front of someone I wanted to be friends with really badly… but luckily for me, you’re flattered that I think you’re super cool” AU

[trashpandacraft]

tour de fleece (crash)

ok, so the tour de fleece ended, and i...did not do so great. i did really well for the first bit, and then we went to sheep and wool. and sheep and wool was amazing and delightful and i had an amazing time, but also: i'm disabled, and the crash from putting out that much energy was, uh, intense. i basically couldn't do anything for a week, and even spinning on my eel wheel in bed was too much to manage.

so i didn't. i picked up over the weekend, the last two days of the tour, and (very slowly) managed to spin some lovely rambouillet that i think will stay a singles—we'll see what it looks like after it's had a week to chill out on the bobbin.

(yeah, there's a couple little pigtaily bits, but (1) i literally finished the spin about thirty seconds before taking this photo, and (2) i prefer to spin at very low tension for most things, so it doesn't always wind on evenly. i suspect they'll go away.)

i'm not thrilled about how this ended for me, but when i made my tour de fleece plans, we hadn't decided to go to bendigo yet, so they were sort of overly ambitious. i also, uh, thought that the tour de fleece ran the entirety of july, and not just the first three weeks? so i thought that i had more time that i did, right until i started seeing people posting about the final stretch and went WAIT WHAT?

goals (link to original) and how they went:

spin a chunky yarn. i absolutely did not do this, and didn't even really think about it. i may just...keep not doing it. i still don't enjoy chunky yarns. maybe that's fine.

spin a singles yarn. see above! this one actually worked out ok, i think. i'm pretty sure it's going to stay a singles, and at minimum, it could stay a singles if i wanted it to.

spin some sock yarn. i didn't expect to finish this in july, but actually, yes i did! unwashed, it's about 25 wpi, which i'm pleased with. (it'll puff up some, but it's fairly firm, so i think not a ton.) unfortunately, i once again succumbed to the fallacy that i knit socks from 100g of commercial yarn, so 100g of fibre should be plenty for socks! it. is not. i think that washed up, i'll have about 225m, which might be enough for like, ankle socks. i'm gonna try, anyhow, but next time i say the words 'spinning for socks', someone please remind me that i want to spin at least 150g.

spin a breed i've never spun before. not a breed, and not much of it, but i actually did spin some bamboo fibre this month, and that's the first time i spun it and it wasn't a blend, so i think that counts.

spin this chunk of polwarth i dyed a few weeks back and am desperate to get my hands into. this was a just-for-fun addition that i absolutely did not get to, and am mad about. it's probably what i'm spinning next.

dye some wool in colours i don't usually use—the red-orange-yellow end of things. this was meant to be my second dye of the month, but didn't happen—the spin above is from fibre i dyed a couple years ago. i think it'll still happen in the near future, as my kid picked up a spindle at sheep and wool, and they fuckin love orange.

dye something brightly coloured. this one happened! i dyed some grey and white merino into a vivid purple. i'm thinking about blending in a little silk and sparkle.

make 20 rolags with hand cards. hahaha ha hahahaha no. i think i made four. the rolags will continue until the rolags improve, but i did not meet this goal even a little

stretch goals:

spin a four ply. surprisingly, yes! the sock yarn mentioned above is four ply, and i'm pretty pleased with it. i would, obviously, be more pleased if i'd remembered the whole density issue, but it's a very consistent four-ply sock weight, so i'm calling it a win.

spin a textured yarn. i did not do this. maybe later? maybe not, honestly. i feel like i should like textured yarns and chunky yarns and art yarns, but in my heart, i just don't. i'm impressed when other people make them, but maybe that's not reason enough to make them myself.

ok, spelling it all out like that makes me feel a little less bad. at no point did i say that i couldn't combine goals, so i achieved exactly half of those things. which isn't great, but isn't as bad as i thought. maybe next year i'll remember that 'do things you don't enjoy' doesn't really make for fun challenges for yourself, too.

[xnightmare-eyesx]

Hi, love your work on arts and writings. I wanna ask your advices, what do you use to type your stories? Google docs? And how do you work on it? Like, focus on finishing it or take your times with it?

Hello!

I use google docs for my stories but sometimes I’ll write little notes on post-it notes with key points. For example I have another long fic I’m working on for Pokémon, Ive written a bunch of notes so whenever I feel inspired to write a few lines I look back on those notes.

The way I work on most of my writing is that I sort of stitch the scenes and flow of the story in my head. Where’s the high going, how low are we gonna dip, should I add fluff or silly? In my brain I can also sort of see how I would put the picture to words. I also noticed that I try to write stuff as if someone’s going to read it out loud. If I pretend someone’s going to read it for a crowd I can keep the flow of sentences even.

I do take my time with my writing. I know what I wanna write, I have my bullet points, but really it’s all up to when I have time.

If I have down time between work and irl stuff I usually either draw, write, or game, and for example, I’ve been trying to write the next update of Glowflies, I know what I wanna write, I see it in my head, but I haven’t had the flow and inspo to sit and bang out another 9,000 words yet. I do chip away at it, either with edits or a few more lines. I originally wanted it out by the 14th but some things have come on that might push it back.

Then again it is a fan work i am doing in my free time! Writing and art take time, and I don’t wanna rush the process like it’s a school essay. But I don’t wanna pull a game of thrones on y���all and never update so sometimes music helps me sit down long enough and write some things. It all depends on how much time and energy I have after work and irl stuff.

Some other general writing advices I use is to try and not use a -ly word that often. Suddenly. Badly, sadly, gladly, angrily. I try to describe the emotion instead. Though I see my pitfalls in that where I’ll write too much about eyes. But it is my brand basically so-

And I do pov switch often. It’ll jump from Ramon to Bullfrog, so I always try to make sure the read knows who’s speak and who’s the one thinking by repeating their names. ‘Bullfrog wanted this. He really needed this time. Ramon jumped to get it because he could read Bullfrog’s face.’ Something like that. For me it helps myself so I don’t get lost in the action and dialogue.

[erstwhilesparrow]

can i request 🪐🌿❄️🦷 for the writers' truth-or-dare? (also *waves frantically* osashiburi!! we should 100% catch up some time this week; consider this my 'whoops i haven't messaged you in ages, hello again!' post, too)

🪐 ⇢ name three good things going on in your life right now

i've been in a really good mood overall for... possibly most of this past week! i have had Energy For Reading/Watching/Listening To things! i've listened to several more episodes of Mabel, a podcast i've always enjoyed the beginning of and never gotten around to the end of. i think those all technically count as the same good thing.

the other good thing is my cool irl writer friends and i are meeting up tomorrow and we're gonna Talk About Writing Stuff! i'm gonna show them a zine i made and we will discuss the artistic merits of old high school projects. is this technically an Ongoing thing? hm. i guess not. the conversation with cool writer friends is an ongoing thing?

the third good thing is i've been on a real pokemon kick lately. it started with me getting into pokerogue, a roguelike pokemon fangame, and now i'm delightedly trying to assign my favourite characters pokemon teams and learning lots of pokemon facts :3

🌿 ⇢ give some advice on writer's block and low creativity

oh gosh. i dunno. do i get to talk authoritatively about that? i think when i have trouble writing, the way to deal with it could be literally anything. go to sleep. scribble in a notebook. look at other people's art. try a new medium. lie down and simply do not think about anything at all for a while. go for a walk. take a little piece of writing and pick out all the reasons you like it very very specifically. do some kind of craft that uses your hands more than your brain. play the nearest instrument. try things and see if they help? i've had a lot of luck with Looking At Really Cool Art Other People Made and also Listening To Other People Talk About Cool Art, but i don't know how well that works as generalized advice ^^;

❄️ ⇢ answered already here! tl;dr: empires smp circus au by ao3 user alouette_des_champs would bang.

🦷 ⇢ share some personal wisdom or a life hack you swear on

oh dear. i really don't think i get to dispense general life advice. i think other people with better examples have already said the whole [do whatever works for you to get the thing done] speech, and that's the closest i have to something i'd feel okay about giving as an answer here.

uh. well. exciting answers aside, hi!! i am waving frantically back!! it is good to hear from you again!! we certainly should catch up!! i've been getting ever so slightly more into the whole process of finding music on bandcamp, and i'd like to hear about your music adventures (if you've had any), and i think you'd approve of my fucking around with zines and twine :3

[rabble-dabble]

hi. i know it's been a while and i'm sorry for that.

i guess if you'd just like to know what's going on click the readmore?

if you don't wanna read that though, tldr is that i'm starting to draw hs characters for art practice, and that i'm doing this art "series" (i guess?) for myself to improve. oh, and that life is hard sometimes.

so this isn't really easy to say, and especially not to the internet with a buncha strangers following me (haha) but truthfully, i've been having a hard time both with art and with life lately.

i feel like i'm not keeping up with consistency or the expectations i set for myself with art both on this blog and off. i keep finding myself unsatisfied, disgusted, or just disappointed with how my art turns out, or the ending piece. i feel like i used to know where my art was going, and now i've somehow lost sight. i know the individual things i need improvement on (backgrounds, objects, animals, feet anatomy, colour techniques, body shapes, etc etc etc) but it all just feels like so much and if i get practice on one thing, i stop drawing for a while and i just lose the practice i learned.

so i kinda came up with a solution. draw all the hs characters again - interesting, right? (/s). but i'm not gonna do this for the blog (so, sorry followers). i'm gonna do it for me. no expectations, i don't have a set time limit so no stressing myself, and i just draw the characters as i'd like, trying to improve. this is also to just help myself with wanting to draw again - i draw IRL almost everyday, but nothing that i want or that's...well, artistic/creative. i want to create, like it's eating underneath me in my soul, but i can't find myself to do anything more than pencil sketches.

that kinda brings me to my other problem lately: real life. haha.

if you've been following me long enough, you know i don't really post about my IRL problems here, or especially not to this extent. yeah, i've had my one or two vent posts, but i try to keep it off here because a part of me knows its no benefit to have that kind of depressing, low-self esteem stuff on an art blog that i reblog minecraft and john/kat to.

but truthfully, i don't just wanna pretend it's sunshine and rainbows on here. i'm so tired, and i'm stressed, and i've been through the emotional woodchipper lately that i can barely keep my head on straight. yes, i'm trying to get help for all this (i have a doctors appointment soon, and i'm gonna try and get all my diagnosis in order and get therapy, etc) but i'm not coping well with everything that's been happening to me lately, and i can't keep trucking on the same way i have been like i'm more emotionally stable than i actually am.

i'm sorry if i've been acting more bitter, distant, or just different lately. i'm just exhausted, mentally, physically, and emotionally, and i'm starting to run out of energy to just function in my day-to-day. i actually cried at work the other day (for the first time!) for feeling so overwhelmed with everything i had to do (both in my job and outside of it, fuck retail btw it sucks). i have small support in friends and family, but they're not the type of support i genuinely need to function and keep myself healthy. and i can't rely on them in ways that aren't their responsibility, or that i truly need help with.

i'm not trying to air out ALL my dirty laundry here (hehehe) but i just felt like it was better to say i'm struggling emotionally then to just pretend i wasn't struggling at all. if i was a healthier person i probably wouldn't be venting here in the first place, but then again i probably wouldn't have all these problems hanging over me either, lol.

just...have patience with me, please. i just want life to be a little kind, or at least kind enough to get me to my first therapy appointment.

[katzirra]

I sure do be feeling a lot of bad things about my relationship with art these days lmfao, and I really don't know how to fix them and overcome them anymore.

It's like... there's such conflict about like... if you complain about the nature of social media people either are like YEAH!! or there's this weird thing I'm seeing now where people are getting mad at people bringing up the importance of reblogs as like attention seeking begging and shit like?? LIKES ARE NICE, I LOVE LIKES but like reblogs are how people actually SEE your stuff?

A like is like ah nice, scrolls past, a reblog is like MAN I WANNA LOOK AT THIS LATER or like it MEANT something to someone. But people act like that's so wrong artists are bummed out over engagement with shit lmao?? We're just selfish little hogs or something.

Or there's like this long standing thing about artists being bothered they don't know what to draw to get that engagement and people are like "DRAW FOR YOURSELF!!" like bitch, I been doing that because tumblr and twitter fucking drove that nail in lobotomy style - and it's making me sad because I feel like the more I like a piece, the SADDER I am when no one else engages with it or it's like 25 people??

Felix use to get alarming notes at times, now it's like feh, nothing? So, I tried drawing for fandoms I was passionate in - which got me a lot of people I care for, but also a lot of needless drama I hated and didn't ask for and that caused a LOT OF ISSUES when I even TRIED to stay out of it LMAO good LORD.

Even doing the Xig blog lately, I've been like okay I'm gonna stick with it because a WEIRD AMOUNT OF PEOPLE engaged with that poll I posted and I was like okay, that's a substantial amount of people who want that content, and even on the blog itself THAT poll was like OH. OKAY?? Because honestly, I feel like I'm on a weird blocklist or something or people don't like my art in the fandom so it's a weird place to be for me :))!! But I know people send me really sweet messages sometimes or sometimes I get amazingly sweet tag comments or people REALLY like an answer to something and it tickles their brain and that makes me happy but like??

I spend hours on that shit and it barely hits 100 unless it's a meme post usually and I dunno, I feel selfish all the time for being bummed about that. I'll spend days on some of them and be like SO PROUD and then just - the low engagement I'm like man, am I wasting my time? AM I STUPID? AM I TOO OLD TO BE HERE NOW, TRYING TO MAKE SOMEONE HAPPY? IS MY ART BAD? IS IT?? DO I JUST SUCK??? AM I NOT SELF AWARE??

It's weird how I see so many times people like my style or whatever, and like I know people still stick around for it, and I see so many artists post such GRAB BAGS of fandoms and stay strong in engagement and I just always feel like I'm doing something wrong or bad lmao?? Not supposed to talk about your feelings anymore, but also supposed to be engaging and personal on this here hellsite lmao??

I've been doodling shit at work and just feel tired all the time because I don't even want to finish anything anymore. I thumbnail mini comics that are like 5-10 pages of things that I think would be nice to do, I thumbnail out the backgrounds, thumbnail out bigger samples of poses and stuff and feel a little excited about how nice I could make it, and I just... know the energy put into it wouldn't be worth it because it'll be something I finish and am excited to post and no one will care.

Okay not no one, but like who is really gonna put fucking hours and hours of work into something that's gonna fall flat on it's face. I do that enough already! I over the last few years have posted so much stuff I was actually proud of and just felt....stupid for being happy and no one engaging with it. And then feeling more stupid and GUILTY because I'm upset about it?? LMAO LIKE WHAT KIND OF EMOTIONAL GARBAGE IS THAT?? And I'm barely online these days too beyond randomly scrolling shit to see what my friends that I barely feel relevant to talk to are doing in their lives nfjgkh I've lost all personalableness... that's not a word but we keep goin' lmao

It's like boy howdy, this kinda like ennui gets met with the whole ooooh two cakes and ohhhh but it'll be someone's favorite and blah blah - PBBT PBBTTT PBTTTT I GET IT!! But like, I'm sorry, I need more validation that I'm not wasting my fucking time. Because that's kind of all I feel these days is that I'm just wasting my time... which is sad. But ya'know some asshole will also be like "so stop" like thanks, thanks kiddo. That's the kind of shit I need I guess. Just stop. Just give up!

It's like, keep struggling, or just stop. Both options kinda fucking blow. But I've also tried to just stop caring about numbers and engagement - but I've noticed all my friends have slowly stopped posting art too. Busy and tired.

I wanna be excited to post art again, man. I miss when I'd post Marvel shit and actually have hilarious engagement and made friends and had fun conversations.

I miss when I'd post a Xig post and I'd see a tag and end up having a conversation in someone's ask box back and forth because I made some little easter egg or HC they were really into and were curious about more.

I dunno :)) bitching for no reason I guess. Shuts up and draws my stupid little pictures.

I feel like the only reason I keep doing art anymore is because I'm grasping some thread of hoping social media flops over again an engagement booms again LMAO - and also like, I have 3 patrons that ya'know. I'M FUCKING TRYING TO KEEP DESPERATELY LMAO.... Patreon pays for my fucking vet bills at this point and I'm obnoxiously thankful for those people but just fuck idk.

I'm doing everything wrong anymore it feels like but whatever!!

Maybe I just don't try hard enough lmao. Just not meant to be an online artist anymore. After 20 years, I'm still fighting this hard for mild engagement? What kind of fuck up, am I lmao holy shit.

[polychaeteworm]

Here it is, the long awaited pin post (will be edited later)

If I have followed you and you are a dark/horror/goth/traumacore or Saltburn blog, it was @neurotheascars that hit the follow button.

(currently only on mobile)

Hello I'm Orn, I'm the alien system host of a 31 year old human body with 8 alters inside, this is just my blog though. I'm a mixed media artist and I know more mediums then I can remember to count. I give advice compulsively so if you have a weird art supply question my inbox is open and anons are on. I know all about glue, polymer, proper glitter use, and UV colors. Bodily Native Lakota.

Aro/ace-spec, into men as a man and women as a women. I support all people with cluster B disorders, my partner system has BPD. You are all worthy of love and safety.

I'm also a green wizard and I've been doing weird art based magic for about 11 years

On this blog you'll find a nice mixed bag of the following: Precambrian explosion and Paleo fun, speculative biology, green magic and experimental occult content, 420 weed posting, plants, pendantic info dumps, artwork(both mine and not), web 1.0 tech nostalgia and autism/did/disability content!

I was formally diagnosed with the demand avoidant flavor of ASD when I was 7 and can't live alone but remain very independent in spite of my support needs. I have lots of trouble wording things and as an alter I've become hyper verbal out of a fear of being misinterpreted. ABA therapy abused my system into having a pretty convincing mask so Sorry Not Sorry but I am a living breathing wall of text in this space.

Other bs I deal with- DID, hypermobility, fibromyalgia, dyspraxia, low vision/legal blindness, irlen syndrome, complex synesthesia, hyperphantasia, and really uncontrolled maladaptive daydreaming

I grow cannabis in a legal state and use it to treat my various issues.

I am posic and objectum about plants and old technology and that is liable to come out a lot on this blog. I currently have a courting/platonic relationship with a Philodendron Solleum Named Basaran and a committed platonic partnership with a large MFC office printer named Leviathan. I've had several committed romantic relationships with older computers, but currently don't have an alive and well computer partner.

Other blogs I'm connected to:

My irl human(dog) partner is @guromechanical TW: don't go here if you're not fucked in the head 18+

@neurotheascars Saira's side blog, trauma holding alter, goth aesthetics and vent posts. TW for syscourse, traumacore, unreality and blood/SH specifically. If you are a Saltburn, traumacore, or otherwise dark gothic blog it is most likely Saira that has followed you.

If Saira is co-fronting or informing a post here, it will be tagged with ⚔️

Saira has more severe difficulty with communicating and needs a bit more patience than me.

Finally:

Some things about interacting with me:

I sometimes struggle to reply to people in a timely manner, but you can always poke me for a response.

I never ask bad faith questions or make bad faith assumptions. I'm a safe person to talk to if you struggle to understand language because I have alters that struggle like that. If I'm not understanding something, an analogy usually helps.

I practice kindness and I will match your energy. I am a high empathy autistic and this means the worst name I'm gonna call anyone is an asshole and asshole is a title that is temporary and fleeting because even the humans I hate are humans who are alive and make mistakes. I dislike making people feel bad so I do not hurl insults. If you give me anon hate I'm just gonna wish you well. Anger is born of pain, even if misplaced. I receive rage like a wall, so don't bruise your fists on me please.

I try not to follow minors but if I have followed you for any reason and you don't want me to follow you just lemme know and I'll comply. No issues.

I prefer minors to not follow me, but reblogging @ing, hearting, ect is totally fine.

[i-can-even-burn-salad]

🎶 📖 🔎 🖊️ ❌ for the random wip ask game!

Thank you for the ask! From this ask game :D

Gonna answer the first in general, and the last for Heal my Wounds (Masterlist | Ebook) which is totally still a WIP, what are you talking about. Just because they grow up so fast 🥺

🎶 [Notes] Do you have any other WIP related things, like moodboards, character portraits, playlists or similar?

For most of them, I have multiple of a selection of playlist, moodboard, character portraits and pictures taken ingame, commissioned art and a cover. They're usually linked on the masterlist, while the cover and the art make it into the pdf/ebook.

📖 [Open Book] What form do you want this WIP to take when it’s done? Posted, printed, published, etc?

That's pretty much the same for (almost) everything so far: I want to print it as paperback for myself, and offer it as free download on my website.

The exception is Thorns and Jasmine, which I will probably never have the patience to edit, so it'll stay on Tumblr only, and Twisted Thorns, which I don't know yet. The temptation to try my luck at indie publishing is high, but the energy is low.

🔎 [Magnifier] Is there a phrase/word you know you use too often? Will you change it in editing?

I am currently sitting in a corner crying because I let docs count the amount of times "By the time" appeared in my latest draft.

🖋️ [Pen] Describe your WIP in a single, terrible sentence.

Some guy with more issues than sense of self-preservation finds the love of his life, almost gets her killed, and then spends a summer making dick jokes instead of admitting his feelings.

❌ [Cross] What would your WIP get cancelled on Twitter for?

Hm. This one is surprisingly wholesome, considering what I usually write 🤔 Can't even complain about bad queer rep, it's my only straight couple (which will only get me cancelled on Tumblr.)

Probably said dick jokes. Very immature. The power imbalance that lasts for like a whole chapter. Not following the correct procedures when doing research in a cave. Too much alcohol.

[ofrottenroses]

Stardust’s Divination Commissions

Status : OPEN

Slots currently open : 3

── ･ ｡ﾟ���: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──

( Any / All forms of sharing this post is GREATLY appreciated )

HIIIIYA HELLO!!! I thought it’d be neat for me to start doing divination comms as a way of making some cash on the side to help me with saving money & also to help me out until I’m able to get a job of any sort !!!!

( I wanna be able to save up some extra cash not only could I have spending money on hand but also so I can move out in the nearby future ! )

( I’ve been low energy on art related stuff, this is more accessible for me at the moment so please ! If you’re interested ! Don’t hesitate to dm for inquiries !!! )

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──

GUIDELINES & PRICES BELOW !

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──

── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: .☽ . :☆ﾟ. ──

BASIC TOS

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Pendulum reading - 5 dollar base price

( Depending on how complex the question is . Prices may vary . )

1 Question : 15 - 25

2 Questions : 25 - 35

3 Questions : 35 - 45

( fyi these listings above are for card related stuff . I only put the pendulum reading on top because of organization reasons . )

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1 card pull - 5 dollars

3 card spread - 15 dollars

5 card spread - 18 dollars

10 card spread - 25 dollars

12 card spread - 33 dollars

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All in all, please don’t hesitate to ask any/all questions !!! RB this for visibility purposes & feel free to give me feedback / any or all of your thoughts on the reading that I have provided ! Thank you for your time !

I hope that you’ll enjoy your reading !

[catcrumb]

How do you stay motivated to do dailies? I really admire your dedication to these funky fresh cats. I've tried doing my own dailies (drawing, writing etc), but always lose steam about a week in. Was there a point when it became second nature, and just fit really easily into your routine? Or is it always going to be a bit of an uphill battle?

my big rule is that it doesn't have to be "good." that was the first and still the most important rule. some days i have the willpower to get out my tablet! some days i have my mouse! and some days i just wiggle my finger in the shape of a cat on my laptop's trackpad, slap some random thought i had onto it, and hit that post button. doesn't have to be perfect. doesn't have to be a work of art. could look like complete shit. just has to be a cat.

like this guy? very low effort! i had a headache that evening after doing a bunch of things i needed to do, and was like "ah fuck i still gotta do today's catcrumb". this took me thirty seconds. but that was that day.

something that has also helped me a lot is making my rule "one per day", not "once per day". after drawing the one i posted tonight, i drew two more doodles that are gonna be tomorrow's and the day after that's catcrumbs. so i don't have to draw for the next day and a half! the queue function is one of the big reasons i really enjoy tumblr as a platform. (the queue, tags as undervoice, tags for archival purposes, easy chronological and sortable archive/portfolio, and the anonymity. not to mention the vibes. also ive been here for over a decade and can't leave)

also, i use mspaint because it has a limited toolset, so it's just less overwhelming and not as daunting as the beefier art program i have for other art. if i had to open up clip studio paint every day....... i would not have lasted two years lmao.

and tbh the limited toolset has made me feel freer to try new things! like with color! when i was drawing mostly in Digital Art Programs and the edges of school papers i rarely ever got to coloring because i would spend so long on the lines. but with mspaint i draw with the pixel-pencil so it's easier to use the fill tool. this is one of my first little "landscapes" :) i drew it in february 2020. i still think about it a lot!

(also, i've found that the landscapes, which i spend more time and effort on, get less of a response than the scribbly ones. which i'm not bothered by, because 1. it makes me feel less pressured to do the big labors of love 2. it makes me feel unashamed when i only have energy for a quick scribble 3. my loved ones adore my little landscapes, and that's more important to me than Number Goes Up. but also it's fun to see the number go up in response to my scribble. it's a win/win.)

and finally there's accountability. i have a very firm rule with myself that i draw for ME, and my followers are a side effect/bonus of me posting it publicly. i do not create for an audience. to quote:

The difference between an inner-directed process of discovery and a kind of outer-directed pseudo-creativity that in its pursuit of attention gets overwhelmed by desperation.

but that doesn't mean that attention doesn't matter to me. i would not have gotten as far as i did if i hadn't shown my art to my friends/mutuals and gotten very sweet responses from them. that was what made catcrumb happen: the people who i know, am close to, and whose kindness is personal to me. i adore and appreciate the kindness of strangers! but it has to come in second to the kindness of friends, because otherwise you will go crazy. i'm pretty lucky that i have the sort of homebody personality that has little interest in strangers, which helps my brain not get rotted by clout.

so i showed my art to my friends, i got encouragement, they thought i was funny, i kept going, because i liked amusing myself and my friends with my little drawings. and then the snowball went further down the hill, etc etc. nowadays my main motivator is that i told my mom about catcrumb and she would definitely say something if i didn't post. sometimes just knowing that someone would notice is enough.

i hope this is useful. i am a person with a couple of brain problems that have made me debilitatingly incapable of forming and maintaining habits my entire life, so i'm honestly shocked that ive managed to keep a daily habit going for two years! ive never managed anything like that before! maybe because it doesn't Matter. i don't do catcrumb for money - ive thought about a patreon, but i couldn't do it. my executive dysfunction is too powerful, and catcrumb has always been about being the teeniest task to execute.

and it makes me smile. i like drawing little cats sitting around smiling or yelling or holding an object. :~)

tl;dr keep the bar as close to the ground as you possibly can

[meruz]

once again i am answering asks in a big compilation post. included is... gotham, patrick stump, tips about drawing backgrounds, tips about drawing in general, links to my faq, and infinity train

like.... the tv series? No... I’ve drawn dc comics fanart before, though. But it’s been years since I’ve been really into it. I like jumped ship like 10 years ago when the New 52 happened LOL.

AFJHDSLKGH I’m sorry I (probably) won’t do it again??

Actually full disclosure I have a truly cringe amount of p stump drawings/photo studies in my sketchbook right now LOL. He’s just fun to draw... hats, glasses, guitar, a good shape... but I don’t think I’ll rly post those until I can hide them in another big sketchbook pdf.. probably Jan 2022. Stay tuned........ (ominous) 

(ominous preview)

These are all sort of related to backgrounds/painting so I grouped them together even though they’re pretty much entirely separate questions.... ANYWAYS

a) How is it working as a BG artist? Is it hard? What show are you drawing for?

I think you’re the first person to ever ask me about my job! Being a background artist is great. It’s definitely labor intensive but I think that could describe pretty much any art job (If something were rote or easy to automate, you wouldn’t hire an artist to do it) and I hesitate to say whether its harder or easier than any other role in the animation pipeline. Plus, so much of what truly makes a job difficult varies from one production to the next, schedule, working environment, co-workers etc. But I will say that I think while BGs are generally a lot of work on the upfront, I think they’re subject to less scrutiny/revisions than something like character/props/effects design and you don’t have to pitch them to a room like boards. So I guess it’s good if you don’t like to talk to people? LOL

A lot of my previous projects + the show I’ve worked on the longest aren’t public yet so I can’t talk about em (but I assure you if/when the news does break I won’t shut up about it). But I’m currently working on Archer Season 12 LOL. I’m like 90% sure I’m allowed to say that.

b) ~~~THANK YOU!! ~~~

c) What exactly do you like to draw most [in a background]?

@kaitomiury​ Lots of stuff! I really like to draw clutter! Because it’s a great opportunity for environmental storytelling and also you can be kind of messy with it because the sheer mass will supersede any details LOL. 

I like to draw clouds... I like to draw grass but not trees lol,,, I like to draw anything that sells perspective really easily like tiled floors and ceilings, shelves, lamp posts on a street etc.

d) Do you have any tips on how to paint (observational)?

god there’s so much to say. painting is really a whole ass discipline like someone can paint their whole life and still discover new things about it. I guess if you’re really just starting out my best advice is that habit is more important than product. especially with traditional plein air painting, I find that the procedure of going outside and setting up your paints is almost harder than the actual painting. There’s a lot of artists who say “I want to do plein air sometime!!” and then never actually get around to doing it. A lot of people just end up working from google streetview or photos on their computer.

But going outside to paint is a really good challenge because it forces you to make and commit to lighting and composition decisions really quickly. And to work through your mistakes instead of against them via undo button.

My last tip is to check out James Gurney’s youtube channel because hes probably the best and most consistent resource on observational painting out there rn. There’s lots other artists doing the same thing (off the top of my head I know a lot of the Warrior Painters group has people regularly posting plein air stuff and lightbox expo had a Jesse Schmidt lecture abt it last year) but Gurney’s probably the most prolific poster and one of the best at explaining the more technical stuff - his books are great too.

e) Do you have tips for drawing cleanly on heavypaint?

@marigoldfool​ UMM LOL I LIKE ONLY USE THE FILL TOOL so maybe use the fill tool? Fill and rectangle are good for edge control as opposed to the rest of the heavy paint tools which can get sort of muddles. And also I use a stylus so maybe if you’re using your finger, find a stylus that works with your device instead. That’s all I’ve got, frankly I don’t think my drawings are particularly clean lol.

f) Tips on improving backgrounds/scenes making them more dynamic practicing etc?

Ive given some tips about backgrounds/scenes before so I’m not gonna re-tread those but here’s another thing that might be helpful...

I think a good way to approach backgrounds is to think of the specific story or even mood you want to convey with the background first. Thinking “I just need to put something behind this character” is going to lead you to drawing like... a green screen tourist photo backdrop. But if you think “I need this bg to make the characters feel small” or “I need this bg to make the world feel colorful” then it gives you requirements and cues to work off of.

If I know a character needs to feel overwhelmed and small, then I know I need to create environment elements that will cage them in and corner them. If a character needs to feel triumphant/on top of the world then I know I need to let the environment open up around them. etc. If I know my focal point/ where I want to draw attention, I can build the background around that.

Also, backgrounds like figure compositions will have focal points of their own and you can draw attention to it/ the relationship the characters have with the bg element via scale or directionality or color, any number of cues. I think of it almost as a second/third character in a scene.

Not every composition is gonna have something so obvious like this but it helps me to think about these because then the characters feel connected and integrated with the environment.

Some more general art questions

a) Do you have any process/tips to start drawing character/bodies/heads?

I tried to kind of draw something to answer this but honestly this is difficult for me to answer because I don’t think I’m that great at drawing characters LOL. Ok, I think I have two tips.

1) flip your canvas often. A lot about what makes human bodies look correct and believable is symmetry and balance. Even if someone has asymmetrical features, the body will often pull and push in a way to counterbalance it. we often have inherent biases to one side or another like dominant hands dominant eyes etc. you know how right-handed artists will often favor drawing characters facing 45 degrees facing (the artist’s) left? that’s part of it. so viewing your drawing flipped even just to evaluate it helps compensate for that bias and makes you more aware of balance.

2) draw the whole figure often. I feel like a lot of beginner artists (myself included for a long time) defer to just drawing headshots or busts because it’s easier, you dont have to think about posing limbs etc. But drawing a full body allows you to better gauge proportion, perspective, body language, everything that makes a character look believable and grounded.

Like if you (me) have that issue where you draw the head too big and then have to resize it to fit the proportions of the rest of the body, it’s probably because you (I) drew the head first and are treating the body as an afterthought/attachment. Sketching out the whole figure first or even just quick drawing guides for it will help you think of it more holistically. I learned this figure drawing in charcoal at art school LOL.

oh. third mini tip - try to draw people from life often! its the best study. if you can get into a figure drawing/nude drawing class EVEN BETTER and if you have a local college/art space/museum that hosts those for free TREASURE IT AND TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT, that’s a huge boon that a lot of artists (me again) wish they had. though if youre not so lucky and youre sitting in a park trying to creeper draw people and they keep moving.. don’t let that stop you! that’s good practice because it’s forcing you to work fast to get the important stuff down LOL. its a challenge!

b) I’ve been pretty out of energy and have had no inspiration to draw but I have the desire to. Any advice?

Dude, take a walk or something.... Or a nap? Low energy is going to effect everything else so you gotta hit that problem at its source.

If you’re looking for inspiration though, I’d recommend stuff like watching a movie, reading a book, playing video games etc. Fill up your idea bank with content and then give yourself time/space to gestate it into new concepts. Sometimes looking at other art works but sometimes it can work against you because it’s too close. 

Also something that helps me is remembering that art doesn’t always have to be groundbreaking... like it’s okay to make something shitty and stupid that you don’t post online and only show to your friend. That’s all part of the process imo. If you want to hit a home run you gotta warm up first, right? Sports.

I should probably compile everytime i give tips on stuff like this but that’s getting dangerously close to being a social media artist who makes stupid boiled down art tutorials for clout which is the last thing i want to be... the thing I want to stress is that art is a whole visual language and there are widely agreed upon rules and customs but they exist in large part to be broken. Like there's an infinite number of ways to reach an infinite number of solutions and that’s actually what makes it really cool and personal for both the artist and the viewer. So when you make work you like or you find someone else’s work you like, take a step back and ask yourself what about it speaks for you, what about it works for you, what makes it effective, how to recreate that effect and how to break that effect completely, etc. And have a good time with it or else what’s the point.

for the first 2, I direct you to my FAQ

For the last one, I don’t actually believe I’ve ever addressed artwork as insp for stories/rp but I’ll say here and now yeah go ahead! As long as you’re not making profit or taking credit for my work then I’m normally ok with it. Especially anything thats private and purely recreational, that’s generally 100% green light go. I only ask that if you post it anywhere public that you please credit me.

(and I reserve the right to ask you to take it down if I see it and don’t approve of it’s use but I think that case is pretty rare.)

a) @lemuelzero101 Thank you!!! I haven’t played Life is Strange but actually  that series’ vis dev artist Edouard Caplain is one of my bigger art inspirations lately so that’s a really high compliment lol. And yeah I hope we get 5-8 too...!

b) Thank you for sticking around! I’ve been thinking about Digimon and Infinity Train in tandem lately, actually. They’re a little similar? Enter a dangerous alternate world and have wacky adventures with monsters/inanimate objects that have weird powers... there’s like weird engineers and mechanisms behind the scenes... also frontier literally starts with them getting on a train. Anyways if anyone else followed me for digimon... maybe you’d like Infinity Train? LOL

c) @king-wens-king I’M GLAD MY ART JUST HAS PINOY VIBES LOL I hope you are having a good day too :^)

a, b, c, d) yessss my Watch Infinity Train agenda is working....

e) aw thank you!! i think you should watch infinity train :)

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 309: Gotta Go My Own Way

Previously on BnHA: Muscular was all “well if it isn’t the protagonist on his solo journey of self-discovery, for some reason I’m unironically glad I get to fight you!” Deku was all “hey Muscular before I finish kicking your ass would you please take a moment to answer these two survey questions? Question one, do you regret being a total piece of shit? And question two, if you could do anything at all in the world other than being a total piece of shit, would you?” Muscular was all, “pfft, no and no.” Deku was all, “thanks buddy, your feedback helps make me a better hero, here’s a coupon for fifteen percent off your next ass-whooping.” Then he whooped his ass.

Today on BnHA: Deku is all “what up All Might can you believe you’ve been here this entire time?” All Might is all “I sure can since that’s literally my catch phrase, anyway how are your magic movie 1 gauntlets holding up?” Deku is all “they’re holding up fine, how are Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist doing?” Hawks, Endeavor, and Best Jeanist are all “we, your fellow co-conspirators, are also doing fine, thanks for asking!” Flashback!Deku is all “anyway so I secretly have All Might’s quirk and the most dangerous people in the world are after me, so sorry mom but that’s why I’m dropping out of school.” Inko is all “I CAN’T ACCEPT THAT” while totally accepting it. All Might is all “I GUESS WE’LL JUST HAVE TO GO ALONG WITH IT SINCE I DON’T FEEL LIKE TRYING TO STOP HIM.” Hawks, Jeanist, and Endeavor, as previously mentioned, are all “yeah that sounds like a good plan”, and Gran is all “see ya kid, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” So basically everyone in the entire world has suddenly teamed up with Deku to defeat AFO, except for the one person whose entire foreshadowed endgame is “teaming up with Deku to defeat AFO.” O Kacchan where art thou.

dear tumblr image limit: okay look. you don’t like me, and I don’t like you. but just as an experiment, I’m gonna try writing this recap with as few images as possible and we’ll see how it goes

(ETA: spoilers for how it went: it didn’t, lol.)

oh my god WHY ARE WE OPENING WITH MORE KETSUBUTSU ACADEMY KIDS.ffs we’d better at least finally get some Ms. Joke content out of this

(ETA: seriously who do I have to bribe.)

so these two KB kids who no one cares about are watching Deku leap away from the scene after dispatching Muscular. but more importantly wtf is this chapter title omg. “I can’t stay being a child” so that’s how it is huh. we’re gonna have feels and we’re going to like them. well then

oh my god he’s hauling Muscular away dhfksklfkh okay this is gonna have to be our first image because I can’t fucking help myself. look at this

just. Deku is so tiny and he’s carting away this massive unconscious lump of a man like it’s nothing why is this so funny to me. it’s like when people buy furniture, and they don’t want to pay extra for delivery and so they’re like, “I can definitely fit this king-sized mattress in the back of my compact sedan if I fold the fucking seat down, idk.” and they refuse to be talked out of it, and the next thing you know you’re watching them drive home with their open trunk door haphazardly tied down with bungee cords, and somehow it fucking works. because it turns out the compact sedan has super strength

anyway for SOME REASON now Horikoshi is all “have fun with that Deku, meanwhile we now return you to your regularly scheduled SHINDOU CONTENT” whyyyyyy

look at this. we’re really using up a whole fucking entire page on everyone arguing over who gets the honor of carrying Shindou

love how the civilians are all, “shit lol is this actually our fault?? quick, how do we play this off all casual like we were the reasonable parties here all along”

turns out all it took to finally get them to listen was making them watch while a kid got his insides ground into a pulp because of their stupidity!! what a heartwarming conclusion to this little standoff

anyways THANK GOD we’re cutting back to Deku now!! well actually we’re cutting back to Muscular who is being dropped off at the police precinct, good bye and good riddance lol

so Deku’s leaving him there and bounding away and okjdlSKFJLKJDSL OH MY GOD

no fucking way. no fucking way this little jaunt is All Might-sanctioned and approved. are you serious?? then who else is in on this?? what the hell is going on

so All Might is just WAITING FOR HIM IN AN ALLEY FFF WHO ARE YOU, JIM GORDON. or would Alfred be a better analogy here?? but like, Alfred if he ditched the suit for a moto jacket and shades

this new ensemble of All Might’s may or may not severely impact my ability to take this forthcoming conversation seriously; please stand by

also, quite the spectacular landing there, Deku. seriously lol what was that

���HOW ARE YOUR LIMBS” “THANKS TO YOU THEY’RE COMPLETELY FINE” I’M SORRY WHAT

LOL WHAT. “THANKS TO THE POWER OF THESE MAGIC GLOVES” OH I SEE THAT EXPLAINS IT

are these the same gauntlets from the first movie, then? well that’s all well and good, except that now there’s going to be more Deku Discourse than fucking ever lol. so if it’s all the same to you guys, I’m gonna once again go ahead and declare this week’s post a discourse-free zone, at least when it comes to the specific discourse of Deku’s merits as a MC, and the impact that him kicking ass and having working arms has on said merits. this has been something of a low mental energy week for me, so I’d rather reserve the energy I do have for more fun topics, such as All Might’s bitchin’ leather jacket

anyway so All Might’s saying that the gauntlets will help reinforce Deku’s arms, but they can’t withstand OFA at 100%. so basically it’s a support item designed to maintain the status quo lol. we’re basically in the same situation we were before, arm-capability-wise

homg All Might’s getting a call. time to see who else is in on Operation: Deku Alone?? or not so alone for that matter

omg

HI HAWKS, WHERE ARE YOUR WINGS

(ETA: seriously are they really gone for good?? why would he even be back on active duty then?? does he have his own American ex-boyfriend who can hook him up with exclusive support items?? dammit Horikoshi we want answers.)

looks like Jeanist and Endeavor are teaming up as well, just like they said they would. I would gladly follow this trio around all day long tbh

is this the same giant villain from the very first chapter??

looks like it to me, and it would tie in with that callback from the end of chapter 306. we all thought that was Muscular, but maybe it was this guy, and Deku left these three to deal with him while he ran off to take Muscular down

oh my god now Deku is running off again just like that

kids these days

ffffff I have not had nearly enough sleep to follow along with whatever tf Hawks is talking about here sob

like, is he trying to say that All Might is keeping Deku’s whereabouts unknown to anyone except for him?? in order to keep him safe?? but Hawks is pointing out that that’s a bad strategy and probably won’t do shit against AFO and it’s better if he lets Deku work with the rest of them?

(ETA: so @hanashimas​’ translation makes a lot more sense -- it’s not All Might who’s being overprotective, but Deku. in other words he’s trying not to drag All Might into his battles. and in addition Hawks is saying that their strategy is to take the offensive and go after AFO themselves rather than wait for him to come to them. which I’m not too sure about myself, but that’s another topic for another day.)

btw I can’t help thinking how much better this entire conversation would be if All Might was still wearing his sunglasses. put them back on my dude. it’s not too late. embrace your inner badass

DKLJSLDKFJL FLASHBACK ALERT, FUCKING FINALLY

“turns out, we were just trying to scare you straight. fuck lot of good that did though lol”

also what is this. one true love: the hospital bed. is that a scanlator joke or is Horikoshi actually that funny omg

SKLJDFLJLK

ITSA ME!! omg I love this hospital so much. though it’s sure not helping me in my quest to try and keep this post below ten images. I’m already up to eleven haha r.i.p. to me if tumblr doesn’t get its shit together

whaaaaaat, so he’s saying that Deku’s injuries were external (i.e. Tomura beating the shit out of him) rather than internal this time?? whaaaaat. excuse me but that’s some bullshit lmao. believe me, I was there

okay now he’s going on to explain that Deku’s “internal structure” seems to have been protected from the inside and out, and the corresponding panel seems to be implying that using Blackwhip as a brace paid off. huh

and also that his body is just stronger now?? so I guess he’s better able to withstand the quirk after an additional year of training?? I’M NOT SURE IF I BUY ANY OF THIS LOL but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief

OH MY GOD RED ALERT, INKO IS ASKING ALL MIGHT TO EXPLAIN WTAF DEKU’S QUIRK IS, IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGG

SO HE’S EXPLAINING IT TO HER OFF-SCREEN, AND INKO IS JUST LIKE

I GUESS THAT’S FAIR LOL. IT’S TRUE INKO I’M SO SORRY, YOUR SON IS A PROGATONIST R.I.P.

AHHKKJH DEKU ANGST IS IT FINALLY THAT TIME OMGGGGGG

what is this soft pop beat that’s suddenly being pumped in over the speakers. I’VE GOT TO MOVE ON~ AND BE WHO~ I~ AM~~~, I JUST DON’T BELONG HERE, I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAAAAAAAND. also, follow-up question, when is Kacchan finally going to come back so he can jump in with the “WHAT ABOUT US~~~” bridge, huh. come the fuck on, Horikoshi

lmao All Might jesus christ

but given that it’s a stupid-ass decision...

anyway, yes!! finally that sweet, sweet “I don’t want to put anyone else in danger” angst!!

mmm that’s good angst Brent. Kacchan with center panel honors as usual, you love to see it. anyways though who do I have to yell at to get Deku a goddamn HUG around here seriously

so Inko is of course reacting with panic, and sensibly saying that she doesn’t approve of Deku’s “RUN AWAY AND FIGHT THE BAD GUYS ALL ON MY OWN, DON’T WORRY MOM I’LL JUST GET STRONGER, EASY AS PIE, IT’S A FOOLPROOF STRATEGY” plan

son of a bitch this manipulative green asshole is really gonna sit here and smile fondly at his mom and try to convince her that he’s Not A Little Kid Anymore. the hell you’re not mister

y'all are really just gonna sit there and let him talk you into this?? surely it can’t be that easy??

OH MY GOD

THE FEELS oh my god oh my god. BUT ALSO YOU’RE SERIOUSLY JUST GOING TO COLLAPSE INTO HIS ARMS SOBBING AND LET HIM DO WHATEVER THE FUCK HE WANTS LKJLJLFK. WHERE ARE ALL THE STRICT PARENTS AT?? AIZAWA, GANG ORCA, MITSUKI, SOMEONE PLEASE COME AND TELL DEKU TO SIT HIS ASS THE FUCK DOWN. NOW LISTEN HERE YOUNG MAN!!

“EVEN IF I TRY TO STOP YOU YOU’LL STILL LEAVE” WELL SURE, IF BY “TRY TO STOP HIM” YOU MEAN POLITELY TRY TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT FOR THREE SECONDS. HE’S SIXTEEN WTF WHEN DID HE BECOME THE BOSS OF YOU ALL. SOMEONE NEEDS TO COME AND TELL HIM HE’S GROUNDED

anyway sob so that’s the story of how Deku talked his parents into letting him drop out of school, and even convinced All Might to be his own personal Guy In The Chair. holy shit. this kid really went and rolled a nat 20 and the rest of them had no choice but to fold without argument

meanwhile here’s a panel of Best Jeanist trying to braid his phone into his hair just cuz

I’m dying to know which part of his language he considers to be crude here. you literally didn’t even use a contraction my guy

so now flashback!Deku is talking to Gran in the dark, and Gran is all “can you believe I’m not fucking dead yet lol that’s too funny. anyway, you sure I can’t interest you in killing Tomura after all?? no?? okay then here’s my cape.” truly a heartwarming scene

I’m kind of torn here tbh. on the one hand, my adhd ass wasn’t all that interested in sitting down and having an extended scene between these two when there’s so much else that I want to get to. but on the other hand, even I can admit that cramming this entire reunion into a single page seems just a BIT rushed. idk. like maybe someone can let Horikoshi know it’s a marathon and not a race. Deku didn’t even get any dialogue here, some of us want to know his thoughts!! but anyway

AND JUST LIKE THAT?!

how did all four of them let him con them into this. I literally just watched it happen and I still can’t figure out how. “I GUESS THIS SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT IS OUR LEADER NOW” ffflfjf. when Aizawa finds out he’s gonna go apeshit. AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON BAKUGOU KATSUKI, WHO I HAVE BEEN ASSURED DOES IN FACT STILL EXIST. WHAT ABOUT USSSSS, WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING WE’VE BEEN THROUGH. WHAT ABOUT TRUST???! YOU KNOW I NEVER WANTED TO HURT YOUUUUU

btw lol don’t get me wrong, I am enjoying this, and I’m honestly glad Deku’s not alone because that would suck for him! but that said, Hawks and Jeanist have lost any credibility they might have once had as far as being The Responsible Ones, and as for All Might and Endeavor, fucking hell lol. everyone just deposited all of their fucks in a bank somewhere for safekeeping and decided to never look back. godspeed you mad lads

[nim-lock]

Art Career Tips, 2021 Edition

Here’s an edited version of my 2019 answered ask, because... this feels relevant. 

It is a problem of capitalism that folks equate their income as a judgement of their value as people; and let me preface. You are worth so much. You have inherent value in this world. Your income is not a judgement on who you are (plenty of billionaires are actively making the world worse). LARPing self-confidence will go a long way to helping you get paid more for your work, because clients will believe that you know what you are doing, and are a professional. 

& real quick—my own background is that I’ve been living off my art since 2018. I went to art school (Pratt Institute). I work in a publishing/educational materials sphere, and a quarter of my income is my shop. Not all of this information may apply to you, so it is up to you to look through everything with a critical eye, and spot pick what is relevant. 

So there are multiple ways of getting income as an artist; 

Working freelance or full-time on projects

Selling your stuff on a shop

Licensing (charging other companies to use your designs)

This post primarily covers the freelance part; if you’re interested in the other bits there is absolutely info out there on the internet. 

IF you are just starting (skip to next section if not applicable) dream big, draw often (practice helps you get better/more efficient), do your best to take "a bad piece” lightly. You’re gonna RNG this shit. At some point your rate of “good” works will get higher. Watch tutorial videos & read books. A base understanding of “the rules”; anatomy, perspective, composition, color helps you know what the rules are to break them. This adds sophistication to your work. One way you can learn this stuff is by doing “studies”—you’re picking apart things from life, or things other people have done, to see what works, and how it works. 

Trying to turn your interests into a viable career means that you are now a SMALL BUSINESS; it really helps to learn some basic marketing, graphic design, figure out how to write polite customer service emails; etc. You can learn some of this by looking it up, or taking skillshare (not sponsored) classes by qualified folks. Eventually some people may get agents to take care of this for them—however, I do recommend y’all get a basic understanding of what it takes to do it on your own, just so you can know if your agent is doing a good job. 

Making sure your portfolio fits the work you want to get

Here is a beginner portfolio post. 

Research the field you’d like to get into. The amount people work, the time commitment, the process of making the thing, the companies & people who work for them. 

Create work that could fit in to the industry you’re breaking into. For example, if you want to do book cover illustration, you draw a bunch of mockup book covers, that can either be stuff you make up, or redesigns of existing books. If you’re not 100% sure what sort of work is needed for the industry, loop back into the portfolios of artists in a similar line of work as whatever you’re interested in, and analyze the things they have in common. If something looks to be a common project (like a sequence of action images for storyboard artists), then it’s probably something useful for the job. 

CLIENTS HIRE BASED ON HOW WELL THEY THINK YOUR WORK FITS WHAT THEY WANT. If they’re hiring for picture books, they’re gonna want to see picture book art in your portfolio, otherwise they may not want to risk hiring you. Doesn’t have to be 100% the project, but stuff similar enough. If you aren’t hired, it doesn’t mean your work is bad, it just wasn’t the right fit for that specific client. 

If you have many interests, make a different section of your portfolio for each!

Making sure you’re relevant 

Have a social media that’s a little more public-facing, and follow people in the career field you’re interested in. Fellow artists, art directors, editors, social media managers; whoever. Post on your own schedule. 

Interact with their posts every so often, in a non-creepy way. 

If you’ve made any contacts, great! Email these artists, art directors, editors, former professors, etc occasional updates on your work to stay in touch AND make sure that they think about you every so often.

Show up to general art events every once in a while! If you keep showing up to ones in your area (when... not dying from a sneeze is a thing), folks will eventually start to remember you. 

Industry events & conferences can be pricey, so attend/save up for what makes sense for you. Industry meetups are important for networking in person! In addition to meeting people with hiring power, you also connect with your peers in the community. Always bring a portfolio & hand out business cards like candy. 

Active job hunting

Apply to job postings online.

If interested in working with specific people at specific companies, you could send an email “I’d love to work with you, here’s my portfolio/relevant experience”, even if they aren’t actively looking for new hires. Be concise, and include a link to your work AND attached images so the person reading the email can get a quick preview before clicking for more. 

Twitter job postings can be pretty underpaid! Get a copy of the Graphic Artists’ Guild Handbook Pricing & Ethical Guidelines to know your rate. I once had a twitter post job listing email me back saying that other illustrators were charging less, and I quote, “primarily because they’re less experienced and looking for their first commission”. This was not okay! For reference, this was a 64-illustration book. The industry rate of a children’s book (~36 pages) is $10k+, and this company’s budget was apparently $1k. For all of it. 

Congrats you got a job! Now what?

Ask for like, 10% more than they initially offer and see if they say yes. If they do, great! If not, and the price is still OK, great! Often company budgets are slightly higher than they first tell you, and if you get this extra secret money, all the better for you. 

Make sure you sign a contract and the terms aren’t terrible (re: GO GET THE  Graphic Artists’ Guild Handbook Pricing & Ethical Guidelines) 

Be pleasant and easy to work with (Think ‘do no harm but take no shit’)

Communicate with them as much as needed! If something’s going to be late, tell them as soon as you know so they aren’t left wondering or worse, reaching out to ask what’s up. 

And if all goes well, they’ll contact you about more jobs down the line, or refer you to other folks who may need an artist, etc. 

Quick note about online shops/licensing and why they’re so good

It’s work that you do once, that you continuously make money off of. Different products do well in different situations (conventions vs. online, and then further, based on how you market/the specific groups you are marketing to), so products that may not do well initially may get a surge later on. 

Start with things that have low minimum order quantity and are relatively cheap to produce, like prints and stickers. 

If you are not breaking even, go back to some of the earlier portions of this and think about how you could tweak things as a small business. Ease of access is also very important with this; for example, if you only take orders through direct messages, that immediately shuts off all customers who don’t like talking to strangers. 

Quick resource that you could look through; it’s the spreadsheet of project organizing that I made a while back 

Licensing is when people pay you for the right to use your work on stuff they need to make, like textbooks or greeting cards. This is generally work you’ve already made that they are paying the right to use for a specified time or limited run of products. This is great because you’ve already done the work. I am not the expert on this. Go find someone else’s info.

“I am not physically capable of working much”/ “I need to pay the bills”

Guess who got a hand injury Sept 2020 that messed me up that entire month! I had a couple jobs going at the time that I was terrified of losing, but they were quite understanding when I told them I needed to heal. So:  Express your needs as early as you know you need them. Also do lots of stretches and rest your hands whenever you feel anything off; this will save your health later. Like, the potential of a couple months of no income was preferable over losing use of my hands for the rest of my life.

This continues to apply if you have any other life situation. Ask for extra time. Ask for clarification. If you tell people ahead of time, folks are often quite understanding. Know how much you are capable of working and do your best not to overdo it. (I am.. bad at this)

Do what MAKES SENSE for your situation. If doing art currently earns you less money than organizing spreadsheets, then do that for now, and whenever you have the energy, break down some of the tips above into actionable tiny chunks, and slowly work at em. 

The original ask I got in 2019 mentioned ‘knowing you’re not good enough yet’. Most artists experience imposter syndrome & self-doubt—the important thing is to do your best, and if anything, attempt to channel the confidence of a mediocre white man. If he can apply to this job/charge hella money for Not Much, then so can you! 

Check out this Art Director tumblr for more advice!

Danichuatico’s Literary Agent guide

Kikidoodle’s Shop Shipping Tutorial

Best of luck!

–

Once again disclaimer this post is just the ramblings of a man procrastinating on other things that need to be done. I’ve Long Posted my own post so that it turns into mush in my brain if I try to read it, but I wrote this so I should know this content. If you got down here, congrats. Here’s a shrimp drawing.

Yee Ha. 

My reference post tag My tip jar

[luvlyuno]

alone (m)

What happens when your crush offers to let you stay a few nights but plans take a turn?

Pairing: Huening Kai & Female OC

[ft. TXT Soobin & Yeonjun, NCT Na Jaemin, ITZY Lia & Yuna]

Genre: Suspense, Little Angst, Ballet AU

Warning: Sexual Assualt, Rape, Arguing, Trust issues, Suicide

Word Count: 2.0k

Note: first post~

-------------

“And 1. And 2” The girl leaped from point one to point two. Feeling the melody of the classical song. Her dance partner lifted her body off the ground, bringing her to a full 360 degree. “Great job Sujin. Impressive like always” The instructor complimented as the team finished practice. Sujin’s face turned into a light shade of pink, quickly thanking her instructor before scurrying to her bag to pack everything up.

“Hey Sujin, Miss Park wants to speak to you in her office.” Lia, a fellow member of the ballet academy said. The girl put her phone down walking over to the office surrounded by windows. “Miss Park, you called me?” Miss Park stood up from her desk with an envelope in her hand. “Look what I found in the mail.” The elder woman handed the thick envelope to Sujin. “It’s from Saebom School of Arts.” She commented. A layer of moisture grew on Sujin’s hands. Her hands started shaking as well. “Open it when you get home.” Miss Park lightly patted the girl on the shoulder as she walked outside back into the studio.

“Why did Miss Park call you in?” Yuna, another teammate and friend of Sujin asked. “She gave me this envelope from Saebom.” Yuna’s mouth was in an ‘o’ shape. “Well, I got to go. Someone was calling you by the way. Don’t forget to text me!” Her friend yelled running out of the door of the studio. Sujin giggled a bit, walking off to her slightly open duffle bag. The girl knelt, picking up her phone from her bag. A notification from the boy that she’s head over heels flashed on the screen. “Kai Jung.” She said under her breath. The two lovers met over summer dance camp. Kai was from a different ballet studio a couple of hours away from Sujin’s. They met by being paired up for a boy and girl dance duet at camp. Later growing mutual feelings for each other. She unlocked her phone immediately by pressing on the messaging app. Sujin typed away on her phone telling Kai that she will call him when she got home from the studio. Before leaving Sujin waved goodbye to her ballet instructor and went off to catch the next bus.

“Next Stop: District 9” Sujin got up from her seat walking out of the bus. She watched as the stores along the sidewalk turned on their neon lines. Shining through the darkness of Seoul. Sujin sighed heavily as a quick shiver ran down her back. Sooner than she thought, Sujin was already home ready for dinner. “Sujin’s home!” The girl’s older brother, Jaemin said, sliding through the hallway of their house. Sujin smiled as she took her shoes off. “Mom!” She yelled from the Mudroom. “Miss Park gave me this envelope from Saebom.” She made her way to the kitchen. “She told me to open it at home.” Mrs. Na hummed in response while stirring the soup for dinner. Sujin slowly opened the thick envelope, taking the piece of paper out.

“Oh my god.” She gasped, clasping her hand to her mouth. “I got in! OMG, I GOT IN JAEMIN!” She squealed like a pig. The girl jumped in excitement, her once low bun undoing.” Jaemin hugged his sister. “Congrats sis! You got into your dream school! She nodded, smiling from ear to ear. Sujin turned to look at her Mom who had no emotion written on her face. Sujin’s smile dropped to a confused look. “Mom? What’s wrong” Her Mother looked up. “Isn’t this too much? Ballet is a hobby, not a career.” Mrs. Na questioned. “Mom, Sujin has plans ready for herself. She planned to be a professional ballerina and have a side business like what she has now.” Jaemin stuck up for his little sister. Sujin was on the verge of tears from all the arguing. “And!? What is that gonna help her in the future? I TOLD YOU TO BECOME A LAWYER-'' Mrs. Na was cut off. “BEING A LAWYER WAS YOUR DREAM NOT MINE! I CHOOSE WHAT I WANT TO BECOME IN THE FUTURE NOT YOU!”

Sujin then stormed off to her bedroom. Tears streaming down her face. Jaemin’s eyes following hers. “Wow, Mom. The time when you’re supposed to be a ‘supportive mother figure’ has gone to waste.” Jaemin ran after Sujin leaving their Mother dumbfounded. Sujin sat on her bed as she cried rivers. A sudden knock was heard. She didn’t feel like opening it, so she ignored the knocking. “Sujin it’s me Jaemin. Can I come in?” She stayed silent. “I’ll just take that as a yes.” Jaemin walked in taking a seat next to her.

“Why can’t Mom just understand that this is what I want for me in the future? What did I do for her to act like this? I don’t want to be under the same roof as her right now” Sujin complained as tears spilled out more. Jaemin sighed. “I honestly don’t know how to respond to this but I support you. Dad would support you too.” He smiled trying to brighten the mood. Sujin’s lips curled a little making Jaemin feel a little satisfied. “I’ll give you some alone time. I know you’ll probably trap yourself in here till she apologies, so text or call me if you need anything.” Then he left, leaving Sujin giggling a bit. Her phone started ringing all of a sudden.

Her phone lit up with the contact name Kai <3 on it. “Hello? Kai?” Her voice was raspy from all the crying. “Hi, Sujin! A-are you okay? You sound sick.” Sujin softly giggled at how Kai was worried for her. “I just got into an argument with my Mom. I don’t want to be here right now.” She pouted. “Wanna stay the weekend at my Grandma’s house with me? She lives near you. Same town.” Kai offered. He was planning to surprise her but plans took a turn. “Oh please, you’re a lifesaver Kai!” She smiled through the phone. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow afternoon. Around 4 pm.” Kai happily said. The two eventually hung up. Sujin laid down bored out of her mind. Until Jaemin barged into her room.

“Well, dinner was super awkward. Mom was just ranting to Dad the whole time but bro was like I support her.” Sujin puffed out a little chuckle. “Did you just call Dad bro?” Jaemin just shrugged then left her room. The next morning everything was so strange to Sujin. Maybe it was the fact that her Mom didn’t open her windows while she was sleeping. Or that breakfast wasn’t pre-made for Jaemin and her. Sujin rose packing her bags getting ready to stay at Kai’s Grandma’s house for a few days. She has informed Jaemin that she was going to sleep over at her friend Yuna’s place for a couple of days. Her phone buzzed on the nightstand. Kai texted.

“I won’t be able to pick you up. I hate to help my Grandma cook, so my cousins Soobin and Yeonjun will pick you if that’s okay?” Sujin replied with a quick okay then continued her packing. It was a little over 4 pm when Kai’s cousins Yeonjun and Soobin arrived to pick her up. “How did you and Kai meet? He’s never really had a girlfriend.” Yeonjun commented. Sujin was shocked at the assumption of the two dancers dating. “Oh u-um, we’re not dating. We’re just friends nothing more.” She blushed at the thought. “Hmm.” Soobin replied. The drive there was quite longer than she thought. That’s until Soobin offered to give her something.

“Hey Sujin, we just came from the store before picking up. Want some of these candies we bought?” It would be rude to decline so Sujin agreed. After a few sour gummies, she started to feel dizzy. Then everything went black. Sujin woke up in an unfamiliar room with a locked door and a glued shut window. What in the world happened? Dark thoughts polluted her brain.

“Oh! You’re awake.” In came Soobin but no sight of Yeonjun. “Where’s Kai? Are we here already?” She cluelessly asked not even noticing the object in the male’s hand. Soobin got closer to Sujin, inches away from her face. She was caught off guard. His eyes piercing through her soul. “G-get away from me!” She stuttered pushing him away. A smirk grew on his face. “I’m not gonna do anything to you.” She raised an eyebrow feeling the uneasy energy in the room. “How am I supposed to trust you?” Sujin slowly walked backward. Soobin follows as she moves. “I promise.” Soobin injected her with some type of liquid in her right arm in just a blink of an eye. To Sujin the room started spinning. She felt weak but a sudden burst of unusual energy burst. Soobin’s lip curled as he watched transform into a different state of mind.

“Yeonjun come in here.” The pink-haired boy Yeonjun walked into the room, eyes widening at the scene. Sujin wasn’t acting normal. “C’mon you go first.” Soobin pushed Yeonjun closer to Sujin who was laying on the white mattress. “This is wrong I’m opting out dude.” Soobin chuckled at the scared Yeonjun. “Oh is little Yeonjun scared to do something very bad to this little girl?” Soobin laughed again pushing Yeonjun’s shoulder. “Do it or I’m telling the student body that you’re selling you know what. And that would for sure get you expelled from going to your dream school.” The boy walked closer to Yeonjun who was awfully terrified. Just the threat alone could make Yeonjun do it with hesitation. He knew it was bad but still did what he was told. “Thanks for starting now, let me finish her.”

Soobin said without any emotions. Yeonjun stepped aside as he watched the screaming girl whine and cry. It was so hard for him not to call for help. Yes, he felt guilty for Sujin but reputation goes first in this cruel world. Sujin screamed and screamed for help. The immense pain Sujin didn’t sign up for was never-ending. As much as she tried to fight back or force Soobin to stop he would either reply by slapping her or making the pain worse. “Please Stop.” She whispered weakly. Sujin laid there lifeless.

“Hurry and get back in the car.” Soobin groaned leaving the room. Sujin wept to realize what just happened. She never thought that her first would be a crime. She hurriedly put on her clothes and walked out of the mysterious house. Soobin saw as she sulked all the way out of the house. He didn’t have the patience for this so he picked her up shoving her into the car. The night ride to nowhere was quiet. Besides the silent sobs and choked-up breathing that was coming from Sujin, there wasn’t a single word spoken.

“Get out.” The car came to a stop. Sujin looked up making eye contact with Soobin through the rearview mirror. “I said GET. OUT.” He repeated through his teeth. “Y-you were supposed to bring me to Kai..” She dragged her words. Soobin huffed. “I said get out!” He repeated once again annoyed. His sudden shout made Yeonjun and Sujin flinch. Sujin got out of the car grabbing her belongings. Just as she closes the door, Sujin gets a quick glance at Yeonjun. His facial expression filled with guilt. Seconds later the car left faster than light. Sujin stood there feeling the moonlight shine on her. She was left in the middle of a highway in Seoul. Sujin felt so dirty and disappointed in herself. All the times she tried to stop a car to get home they would just give her a dirty look.

“I could’ve stopped him.” She thought. Just within two days, her life went downhill. She quickly took out her phone typing a quick “I love you, Jaemin.” to her brother. “Doesn’t that bright light seem interesting?” Sujin asked herself. She stepped off the sidewalk. Her feet leading straight to her fate. The sound of honking did not faze her. The bright lights didn’t even make her squint. Sujin Na just kept walking to the middle of the road. Till she wanted to stop.

BREAKING NEWS: 18 YEAR OLD SUJIN NA REPORTED DEAD AT HWY NEO127. CT SCANS FOUND SHE WAS BRUTALLY RAPED BEFORE HER DEATH. CCTV SPOTTED THE TWO PERPETRATORS, SOOBIN CHOI AND YEONJUN CHOI. MORE INFORMATION WILL BE ANNOUNCED...

Jaemin’s shaky eyes rewind again and again. It’s been two years since her suicide. Her soul still lingers on Highway Neo 127.

Sujin Na.

[oneisallallisone]

All I Know, All I Know Greedling x Reader fic Chapter 3

In a land ruled by alchemy, there are some who would call you a sorcerer. You intend to understand what this means. Along your journey you end up getting mixed up with two strange brothers, a military conspiracy, a potentially world-ending event, and the avarice of something more than human.

Previous

Chapter 1

Read on AO3

_______________________________________________________________________

All I Know, All I Know

Chapter 3: What Is and What Isn’t

You, Edward, and Alphonse made your way to the Fifth Laboratory under the blanket of night. Standing in the shadows of a nearby alleyway, you surveyed the scene; a few street lamps were on, illuminating a quiet road and a ‘Keep Out’ sign that was posted in front of the laboratory. Also posted in front of the facility was an armed Central soldier. 

“A guard stationed outside of a supposedly abandoned building,” Ed observed, low enough for only you and Al to hear. 

You frowned. “Definitely strange.” 

“So, how do we get in?” Al asked. 

The three of you snuck closer to the wall that surrounded the laboratory, hugging one of the sides that was in the guard’s blindspot. 

“We could use alchemy?” Ed suggested. 

Al shook his head. “The light from the transmutic reaction would give us away.” 

“Is there a way we could go over?” you wondered. 

Ed studied the height of the wall. “Hey Al, give me a boost.” 

Al cupped his hands together and flung his brother up to the top of the wall. Once there, Ed grabbed the barbed wire with his automail hand and cut a line to send back down to you and Al. 

“You can hold onto me if you want to, so the wire doesn’t hurt you,” Al offered. 

“That’s very kind of you,” you said, taking his hand. 

Ed pulled the two of you up to the top of the wall and wasted no time jumping down to the lawn surrounding the Fifth Laboratory. Al leapt after him, somehow landing just as quietly as his brother. You doubted you could land as gracefully, having never been trained in any sort of martial art and not knowing the correct way to fall. 

From the grass below, Ed looked back up at you. He raised an eyebrow. 

Your power wanted to fly through your fingertips again. You could feel it; rising up to meet you as you were rising up to meet a challenge. With a calm exhale you jumped, and, right before you hit the ground, soft purple waves rippled from your hands and slowed your fall. 

Ed almost had a smile on his face. “Nicely done.” 

You nodded in thanks. 

Al led the way to what appeared to be the front door, but the three of you found it was boarded up and blocked off by more rows of barbed wire. 

“Man, they must be hiding something big in there,” Ed said. 

Your stomach sank a little. The closer you got to the lab, the more it felt like you were sticking your nose in a place it didn’t certainly belong. Al pointed over to a grate embedded in the side of the building. 

“There!” 

On Al’s shoulders, the young state alchemist was able to pry the grate off the wall and toss it aside. “Al, you need to wait out here. (Y/n) and I can continue on.” 

“You two will be fine?” Al asked. 

“Whether we will or won’t isn’t really the question,” Ed said, already climbing into the duct. “You’re too big to fit in here.” 

“Well I didn’t ask to get this big,” Al said, dejected, as he helped you into the crawl-space after Ed. 

You and Ed crawled in silence for a while, nothing but the dark and a few cobwebs surrounding you. You’d never experienced a particular moment of claustrophobia before, but it was unnerving being pressed in on all sides like this. 

“Damn it’s an even tighter squeeze than I thought,” Ed said. “If I was regular sized I probably wouldn’t even be able to get through.” 

A tense beat of silence struck the air. 

“DAMMIT I JUST CALLED MYSELF SHORT—” 

“Ed!” you hissed. “Shut up! What happened to us ‘not getting caught’?” 

“Right, oh, right. Sorry.” 

A few moments passed before you and Ed came upon another grate, this one bolted to the floor of the duct. The alchemist kicked through it, and you and he jumped down into the hallway below. The corridor was almost as dim as the crawl space, save for some faint yellow lights along the ground. 

“‘Abandoned building’ my ass,” Ed said. 

“Do you think anyone’s here right now?” 

“No way to tell for sure. Just stay on your guard.” 

The energy you carried surged beneath your skin on instinct. “Right.” 

The symbol on the ground was composed of circles and pentagons all nestled within each other. In the center was a cylindrical altar that bore more alchemic iconography. Blood, dark and crusted with age, was splattered in many areas around the large outer circle. 

“What is all this…?” you asked, dull horror filling your core. 

“I’m not sure,” Ed said. “But if I had to guess, I’d say it’s what they used to transmute a Philosopher’s Stone.” 

“That is correct.” A third voice. From the shadows. 

You and Ed turned quickly to see a figure emerging from a hall on the other side of the room. He wore heavy plate armor and a helmet covered his face. “I don’t know who you fools are,” he continued, “But you’ve figured out a lot just by looking at a transmutation circle.” 

“Yeah, I’m just good like that. Who are you, pal?” Ed snarked back. 

The man’s armor clanked as he spoke. “The one in charge of guarding this place from curious brats like you. Let’s just say my name is Number 48. And believe me, I am not your ‘pal.’ My orders are to dispose of anyone who ventures in. Try not to take it personally.” 

“Alright, I won’t,” Ed said. He clapped his hands together and the blue light of an alchemic reaction flashed through the air. His automail arm extended into a large blade. “As long as you don’t take it personally when this ‘fool’ kicks your ass!” 

“You’re an alchemist, are you?” Number 48 said. With speed you didn’t think possible, the armored man lunged towards Ed. It was like he crossed the span of twenty feet in the blink of an eye. “Let’s see what you’ve got, then.” He swung his massive two-haded sword high over his head. 

In one motion, Ed pushed you out of the way and leapt backwards from the guard. He blocked the tip of the sword with his automail arm, and the knight stumbled back. 

“It seems your automail just saved your life,” Number 48 said. “No matter, my sword can pierce steel as well as flesh.” He rushed at Ed again. 

“Wait!” you screamed. Extending your hand forward, partially reaching for Ed and partially focusing your vitality, a violet blast of energy sprung from your hand towards the man in the armor. It struck him in the shoulder and he spun from the impact. 

“Another alchemist?” he pondered, turning towards you. 

Wide-eyed, chest heaving from the outburst of power, you shrugged. “Sure?” 

Number 48 changed direction and charged you next. It was instinctive, what you did. Raising both hands in front of you like a shield, only to watch your energy take shape and mold an actual shield in front of you. The barrier was small, just barely enough to stop the guard’s sword from piercing your heart, but it held strong. 

“No…” Number 48 said. “This is not alchemy. What a strange opponent you make, but how excited I am to fight someone like you.”

To your dismay, the sturdiness of your shield began to diminish as Number 48 dug his blade in harder. Nothing about the position of your hands and body had changed, so you weren’t sure why it was shrinking. But you clenched your jaw in the vain effort to keep it intact. 

Ed landed a swift kick to the guard’s torso, knocking him away from you. You allowed your shield to fall. Gave yourself a brief moment to heave more air into your lungs. And then stood tall next to the fullmetal alchemist again. 

“Have you seen something like this before?” you called to Number 48, despite your better judgement. 

To your surprise, he remained where he was. “No. But I’ve fought enough alchemists to know what is alchemy and what isn’t.” 

“Well, speaking of what people are and aren’t,” Ed interjected, “I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that you’re hollow inside?” 

“Very perceptive.” 

“I could tell by the sound,” Ed said. “I spar against someone like you all the time.” 

You turned towards Ed. “Wait, so you’re saying he’s—” 

“Just like Al,” Ed nodded. 

“So there are people like me on the outside?” Number 48 asked, a strange earnestness in his voice. 

“Unfortunately.” Ed said. “It makes me sick to think there was another idiot out there who came up with the idea of bonding a disembodied soul to a suit of armor.” 

“Perhaps I need to re-introduce myself, then,” the guard said. “48 was the number I was assigned when I was a prisoner on death row. Back when I had a living body, I was known as Slicer the mass murderer.” 

“Tell me something, then,” Ed started. “Does this laboratory use condemned prisoners to make Philosopher Stones?” 

“That I cannot tell you. I was simply recognized for my skills and appointed to be a guard dog of this place. Now then,” he shifted back into a battle-ready stance. “Which one of you would like the pleasure of being killed first?”