#have it on the brain with my project going on

[dnpbeats]

2025 d&p predictions 🫶🏻

some of these are gonna be unhinged but like lbr who was expecting a tour to happen so quickly? who was expecting phil to randomly go blond?! so I had to have some things that feel like they’re out of left field

1. new d&p app or physical game

2. PHODCAST 🤞🏻

3. pet (my heart says cat but my brain says dog)

4. “our bed” comment

5. new corner of the phouse reveal

6. phil announces AP is going to be semi-inactive and it has one upload every other month (sad) because he is working on a solo proj (happy) > solo project is something sci-fi- and/or horror-related

7. completely out of the blue comment implying that d&p are gonna have kids one day and everyone is like hey what

8. new sponsorship and then the sponsor gets canceled for being a horrible business weeks after d&p post their video sponsored by them

9. tit is filmed and then not released for months bc they can’t find a platform for it à la WAD

10. IRL folds

11. super romantic vacation after the tour is over where they don’t announce it and are radio silent for two weeks and then randomly post a photo dump from it that includes a photo of dan kissing phil on the cheek or vice versa

12. dan goes viral on tiktok

13. dan and phil wedding invitations are leaked but it was actually an elaborate ruse set up by a phan who sent fake phwedding invites to a print shop

14. phil accidentally doxes his lurker account

15. someone finds an AITA post that they connect back to dan. the post is mysteriously deleted but dan never mentions it

16. dan gives up on the phullet by february and goes back to his regular hair

17. “our niece”

18. someone posts one of those tiktoks that’s like “love is everywhere if you look for it ❤️” that has a bunch of 2 second shots of random couples who don’t know they’re being filmed and one of them is d&p (OP has no idea who they are)

19. they try to wash the pheal and accidentally kill it (aka the stuffing gets fucked up in the washing machine). they try to replace it without anyone realizing but everyone notices

20. phil posts a reel trying some crazy dessert the size of his face that went viral online. months later dan is talking about it and implies that he and phil split the dessert. we talk about it for a month

21. dan makes a bunch of allusions to posting on daniel howell but it never actually happens

22. lessamazingphil comeback (aka phil posts a domestic video featuring dan)

23. one of them makes a passing comment about how there are talented authors in the phandom and it sparks a weeks-long debate about whether or not d&p read phanfic and if content creators have the right to enter into fan spaces

24. it is revealed they have a second house on IOM

25. they acknowledge that dab and evan are their proxies

26. they get a new editor

27. dan learns a new instrument (guitar perhaps)

28. pj and sophie talk about going to a wedding. everyone thinks it’s d&p’s and then someone figures out it wasn’t d&p’s wedding. but actually it turns out it WAS

29. another charity livestream (WAD cubes anyone? 💔) and one of the prizes is that phil will dye his hair a wild color. tyler oakley posts a thirst tweet about it

30. dan and phil randomly do a hosting gig for the BBC

31. they learn to cook solely because they get paranoid about getting a deliveroo driver that recognizes them

32. they voice characters in a video game and everyone is so excited only for it to be like big hero 6 where they have two lines each

[limethefirst]

hwellooooo i love your movie shadow fics!! Would it be alright if i made a request i finally got to see sonic movie three today as my christmas present and im brain rotted from it. Could we have a movie shadow x a reader who maybe prehaps shadow meet when he woke up at gun? Maybe prehaps he sees that the reader is being mistreated and hiut by gun after they have been looking after shadow in statis for awhile because they do see the good in him and tried to defend gim before he woke up to let him be left alone. Then when shadow sees it something snaps in him and he saves them. Bringing them with him to get revenge on gun, wanting for protect them for her act of kindness towards him seeing a glipse of maria in her.

Protector

pairings: Shadow the Hedgehog x reader (platonic)

warnings: mentions of being hurt/kinda bullied by everyone at work

summary: after waking up from statis Shadow asks you to come with him, wanting to protect you after you protected him

a/n: thank you for the love! This request kinda stumped me so sorry for taking a bit and if it isn’t the best, I was thinking of ways to incorporate the reader into the story but for it to also make sense

You were a worker at GUN, a lower level worker, at least that’s what your co-workers liked to joke about. A laughing stock, the work punchline. Basically deemed as unimportant and unnecessary but the reason for this wasn’t because you sucked at your job or you were a loser, no, it’s because your task was looked down upon.

When you were hired, the one thing you were told to do was watch over and take care of Project Shadow; you would clean the room he was stored in, kept the glass from getting cloudy and would just watch over him. A little protector, the others called you.

Today was no different from the day before, or the day before that or even the month before. It was routine. You quietly made your way to Shadows containment unit. The guards watched you enter, only sparing you a quick glance before going back to whatever they were talking about.

A small sigh escaped your lips as you made your way to the glass, checking for any cracks or signs for deterioration, “This sucks,” you quietly exclaimed.

Not because you hated looking after Shadow, no that was something you actually enjoyed, you’d some blabber about your day, finding comfort in the fact he couldn’t actually hear you; though sometimes you wish he could.

No, what sucked was the fact everyday at work was another day of being belittled and looked down upon. If it weren’t for the fact you’d grown somewhat attached to the little hedgehog, as well as a really good pay, you probably would’ve left this job by now. 

Slowly you continued to check the glass, making sure it was in perfect condition. As you did a sudden movement had caught your eye, it was fast and quick; like a flicker of light.

You weren’t able to quite catch what is was though because it was gone almost as fast as it was there, so you tried to leave it alone, going back to cleaning and checking the containment unit.

Suddenly the guards shouted your name, which was strange as they didn’t really talk to you much, thinking you were weird for protecting a hedgehog in Statis. You turned over for them and saw you motioning to move away from Shadow.

You only made a few advances towards them before a bunch of soldiers stormed the room, “What are you guys doing?!” You angrily questioned the masked men.

None of them responded, their gazes fixed on the hedgehog in front of you. The room became eerily still, the only thing you could hear was the faint beep of the machine wired to enhance and check Shadows heart beat.

It was a fast paced beep, it was getting worse and worse, you started to grow worried, trying to make your way to the machine so you could check it but one of the soldiers held you back. Not gently, quite forcefully, sparing no expense when it came to Project Shadow.

Then it stilled. The long beep indicating it was over, your eyes widened, a mix of shock and confusion over coming you. The soldier that was holding you back let you go, a sigh of relief escaped his lips.

Crack.

The glass was shattered. Shadow had finally woken up, and his demeanor only showed one thing. That he wanted revenge.

You were quickly pushed onto the cold floor, hitting your arm harshly, a small cut formed as blood was seeping from the wound. You let out a hiss of pain that didn’t seem to go unnoticed by the hedgehog.

He didn’t have a chance to react though as the men started to shoot at him, not caring that you were in the room. You tried to duck and ran into the corner hoping that no stray bullets, rubber or not, wouldn’t come your way.

Shadow made quick work of the soldiers, effortlessly taking them down without breaking a sweat. Then he made it to you, his gaze was sharp, but he didn’t attack you. He just watched you, his eyes looking at the cut you had on your arm, the blood dripping onto the floor. He looked back at the man who pushed you down.

His expression was unreadable. You both looked at each other, for some reason you weren’t scared, you should’ve been considering you just saw him take down over 8 armed men but if Shadow was going to hurt you he definitely would’ve already.

“Come.” He told you, turning his back to you as he punched the wall in front of him down and looked back at you before he continued to walk to the edge of the cliff.

Shadow wasn’t entirely sure why he told you to come with him. There wasn’t a set moment he knew you would accompany him, all he knew was that you weren’t like the other workers, who saw him as a threat and tried to take him down. You defended him, and for this kindness he would repay you. By becoming your protector, like you had been protecting him before.

[the-ave]

I really love the whole cast don’t get me wrong

But I really REALLY love these four in particular.

[inkzee]

💙❤️💛💚HEATHERS AU: LINE UP ONE 💚💛❤️💙

I am truly happy how the first sweet of deigns have turn out for this AU. And the story that I’m building about the characters in this AU is going to be a wild ride. The AU will have multiple side stories and is a collision on plot points form the original movie (1989), the first musical (2014), AND the new version of the musical (2019) (which are different in their own little way) along with my own little plot twist and side stories!

I really love this little mini project for this silly little show that scratches my brain in a little way!

There are more characters coming for this AU don’t work! But the characters of the this line up will be the main focus of the AU!

While I make progress on this AU, I would love for you’d to send me ask about questions or thoughts on the AU! I love questions and building lore for you guys to enjoy.

I hope is to turn this side project into something more like maybe a master post 💙

Again a thank you for the people whole have already took a likening to the AU, tbh your support really gave me a good amount of motivation.

But ah ye, more to come for this AU!

[wolfpants]

my year in fic: 2024!

Thank you so much for tagging me @sitp-recs! I loved putting this little roundup together. I struggled a bit this year, creatively - I think because I had such a massive output in 2023 (226k words 😱) I was going through burnout and also feeling like I couldn't quite live up to the longfics I had posted the previous year. But putting this together, and realising I've written 120k words, I'm actually really surprised - and happy! I've done a real mix of pairings, too.

I look forward to 2025 - I'm planning to take part in Kinkuary again, and I have a few other projects up my sleeve including my first Drarry (long) 8th year fic, a collab, and a follow-up fic to a Drarry I've already published. I'm determined to go into next year with a clear and positive head and continue to stick to writing (and sharing!) what I love!

Much love to you all - wishing you all a fabulous festive season! No pressure tagging @getawayfox @tackytigerfic @maesterchill @houndsinhades @the-invisibility-bloke @toomuchplor @citrusses @skeptiquewrites @hoko-onchi-writes and anyone else who wants to share their 2024 wrapped!

-

Drarry

🌟 All Is Calm, All Is Bright | E, 7k | Drarry

Tags: infidelity, Christmas markets, photographer Harry, angst and feels, pining

“Ernie and I are getting a divorce,” Draco says. A stone drops heavily in the pit of Harry’s stomach. He startles. Draco nods. He lifts his mug to his lips and sinks the contents. “Yes,” he says, his voice tight. 

🌺 Come In, the Water's Lovely | E, 4k | Drarry

Tags: established relationship smut, showering/bathing/swimming, tent sex

Harry laughs against Draco’s wet, soap-sweet skin and lets his hands fall to his waist. He steals another soft kiss. “Want me to help with that? Reviews say I’m not very clinical at all. I’m positively… extravagant.” Draco bends his head forward again and nips Harry’s lip, then soothes it with a slow swipe of his tongue. “A giver of deluxe wanks.”

🥂 How to Begin | E, 8k | Drarry

Tags: friends to lovers, drunk sex, second chances, mutual pining, they were roommates

“I think we owe it to ourselves to do it again properly,” Draco says smartly.

✈️ Long Haul | E, 9k | Drarry

Tags: mile high club, pining, flirting, mild d/s elements, competent draco

“So you’d risk plummeting us all to our deaths just to get filled? You slut,” Draco whispers.

😈 Raising Hell | E, 21k | Drarry

Tags: colleagues to lovers, case fic, occult, UST, exhibitionism, ritual sex

Malfoy pinched the bridge of his nose. “How do I put this delicately, Potter.” He shook his fringe from his face and sighed. “The initiation is sex. They want us to fuck. In front of all of them. It’s—what they do.”

-

Others

☕️ Come as You Are | E, 2k | Sirius/Ron

Tags: pwp, age gap (19/40), big dick Ron, blow jobs

Open up, he imagines Ron saying with that easy, casual dominance he exudes so beautifully, so he does, just in time for Ron’s mouth to meet his. 

🎶 In My Room | E, 21k | Dron

Tags: 8th year, angst and h/c, unhealthy coping mechanisms, no hea, first time

Draco rattles around in his brain for something to talk about, something beyond the immediate obvious—we are lying in bed together, we are spooning, you are shirtless, you are holding my hand, my chest feels like it’s on fire, my head is as light as air, do you feel it too? I will die if I get hard, I might die if you change your mind about me.

🚗 A Light That Never Goes Out | E, 6k | Sirry/Draco

Tags: Sirius returns, timey wimey, road trips, hotel room hookup, threesome

Sirius’s fingers twitch around his glass. The pleasure looming in the pit of his belly at seeing Harry so happy and turned on isn’t quite enough to stem the niggling sense of envy and outsiderness he feels. Harry and Draco’s careful pleasantries melt away into something more familiar, something they’re both clearly equally relieved to pick up after, apparently, a good few years of not being in one another’s orbit.

❅ Snowdrift | E, 9k | Dronarry

Tags: married dron, threesome, domesticity, drarry pining

“Is this what you wanted?” Ron asks, turning his attention back to Harry, daring to ask the question that’s been floating in the back of his mind since the moment Harry stepped through the front door; maybe since the moment Harry’s text landed in the group chat.

🚙 Spellbound & Acheron | E, 7k (total) | Dralbus

Tags: kidnapping, stockholm syndrome, watersports, virginity kink, power imbalance, age gap

Albus hears the click of a seatbelt. His nose fills with the smell of cloves and cedar—Mr Malfoy’s cologne, his shampoo, the scent that clings to his clothes and that Albus thinks about, persistently, because it is the scent that he has come to enjoy the most. 

[florawriting]

So this idea evolved in my brain, and now you have the plesure of seeing it:

A Shadow Movie (or tv show) concept! (based on the idea as mentioned above.)

The story starts with a reintroduction to Shadow, as we see him survive after the chaos energy explosion from the third movie and fall down to earth. Maybe some inner dialogue is heard to bring people back up to speed on what happened. The epilogue ends with him putting his limiter rings back on and "epic staring shot" of shadow looking at the aftermath of the battle (be it the broken moon or reminents of the explosion)

After that we get a little bit of a montage of Shadow readjusting to modern day. Staying out of sight, getting his bearings. But something keeps nagging him, like something is activly following him. It doesn't take long before the stalker gets known. A mysterious biker wearing a black suit with purple accents who is commanding a legion of robotnic's robots. The two have a high chase battle across a narrow setpiece (That be an european village with it's narrow paths or a dense forest). It is clear that the biker wants him dead, no non leathal force here.

As the battle starts rages on the identity of the biker is revealed to be Agent Stone, who is here to kill Shadow as revenge for the death of Ivo Robotnic. However the battle is interrupted by G.U.N. forcing Agent Stone to retreat. Shadow starts fighting the G.U.N agents but it is clear they have upped their game after the last time they faced Shadow. Shadow gets incapasitated (having been worn out by Agent Stone's battle) and is taken to a G.U.N facility.

In the G.U.N facility we meet Director Rockwell again (the woman agent from the movie). Who after some banter throws Shadow in prision to give G.U.N some time to find a fitting way to get rid of him once and for all. It is here where we meet Rouge, an intergalactic thief who came to earth to see if there was anything valueble on the "Clump of dirt." Rouge was captured by G.U.N who promised her that they would free her and pay her handsomly if she did some contracted work for them. But she never got anything from those promises.

The two of them create an escape plan together and try to find their way trough the facility. It is here where Shadow and Rouge learn the dirty secrets from G.U.N. and the reason why they came to put a stop on project Shadow. Horrified by this knowledge, Shadow takes on the mission to dismantle G.U.N forever. Rouge, partly horrified and partly impressed with Shadows ability, swears loyalty to the cause and escape with the knowledge on a harddrive Rouge has with her.

However, when they make it outside danger is not entirely over. Agent Stone was waiting outside for if G.U.N weren't able to finish the job. Shadow and Rouge work together to fight the robots and stop Agent Stone. However, Shadow never makes the final hit. Knowing what Agent Stone is going trough he takes the lesson Sonic taught him to heart and instead reveals the evidence against G.U.N. to Agent Stone. Understanding that G.U.N. is a real threat to this world (which Ivo left behind for him), knowing how big G.U.N.'s involvement was with building the weapon and getting rid of the evidence that Robotnic even existed. Agent Stone reluctantly agrees to work together and takes the two to his base of operation to hide away from G.U.N's forces.

In the base we see that Agent Stone has been given full control over the robots after Ivo's death and that he has been learning how to control them to the best of his ability. With the help of G.U.N.'s data and Robotnic's robots the three of them come up with a plan to take G.U.N down. However, Rouge questions if Stone is able to keep up leads him to take them to another room where we lay eyes on Project Omega, a mech build by Robotnic for Agent Stone that was ment to be Robotnic's last line of defense if it came to brute force.

Stone boards the Omega and the three of them take the battle to the top G.U.N facility in the woods. A big battle ensues with the loyalty, strength and speed of the hero's being tested. Eventually G.U.N. falls and after a debate Rouge leaks the information online. Now the wide world knows about the horrific acts G.U.N has done, but also about the existance of aliens (which was open, but not common knowledge).

In the end the three hero's split. Shadow wants to do some G.U.N cleanup, Rouge wants to do some things for her own now that she is free again and Agent Stone (who still harbors a dislike for Shadow) wants to go back in establishing Robotnic's legacy. However, it is pretty clear the three are open to the idea to work together if any world ending threats may show up again.

Que cool montage showing the three of them parting and end.

Post credit scene 1: Something something Black Doom "I will find you shadow" ect. (which will lead into a shadow 2)

Post credit scene 2: Director Rockwell is still alive, and clearly is done with all the aliens. In an final act of desperation she calls for the activation of something called "Project Neo" (which will lead in sonic 4 with the metal sonic's)

SPOILERS FOR SONIC 3 TURN BACK NOW IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED IT!

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I've seen a fair amount of idea's online of Agent Stone becoming the next villain after the events of Sonic 3, following in the footsteps of his "friend" Robotnic. While I really like the idea of Stone spiraling out of control, I think there could be a much more compelling senario.

You see, if Agent Stone wants revenge, there is absolutly no reason to go after team Sonic. Stone is (as we have seen in his introduction in movie 3) a rather capable and reasonable man. He understands it was not Sonic who indirectly killed robotnic, but Gerald and Shadow.

It is all but confirmed that Shadow is getting some piece of media (be it a movie or TV show), where he probably will have to grapple with what he wants out of life now that he is able to step out of Gerald's shadow. He would want anwsers of who he is, and thus has to infiltrate G.U.N. and maybe even learn some dirty secrets about them along the way.

Now here is where Agent Stone comes in. After realizing Shadow is alive, Agent Stone starts out as an antagonistic force trying to capture or outright kill him as revenge for the death of Robotnic. But as more information about G.U.N and Shadow comes to light, Agent Stone is forced to face the truth that Shadow was just as much a pawn in Gerald's plan as Ivo Robotnic. Thus the two band together to take G.U.N down.

This can even lead to a movie version of Team Dark from Sonic Heroes, if they are willing to introduce Rouge in some sort of way. Agent Stone could take design que's from E-123 Omega by piloting an old robotnic mech, as he is a lot more vulnerable then his alien teammates.

[the-100-days-of-junkan]

Day 90

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay so Monokuma.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what’s up next??

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

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

Here’s hopin ya’ll enjoy the results!

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

[the-knife-consumer]

Like yeah all the shit that happened to fiddleford was horrible but also it's a little funny.

Like oh boy I can't wait to hang out with my old college friend and help him with this project! And then you nearly get killed by a giant goblin that shows you your deepest fear and causes intense mental suffering and it also breaks your arm. And then you build a gun that causes brain damage in order to calm yourself down. You also use it on your friend without his knowledge so he'd get off your ass about it. Said friend seems to be getting guidance from somewhere but he always dances around the topic and never tells you directly where he got the inspiration from. You may or may not have also seen said friend behaving erratically and harming himself while smiling unnaturally wide. And then your friend finds a little egg that hatches a shape shifting monster that eventually breaks out of its cage, ties you up, and leaves you locked up to suffocate while it attempts to take your place. And then you go home for the holidays but forgot to get your wife and kid a gift so you go back to Oregon immediately, probably getting divorced now. The instant you get back your friend has been kidnapped by krampus for being a sourpuss. You see unspeakable horrors (a triangle having some dinnar) during the portal test and start a cult where you shoot people with your brain damage gun.

Comically horrible college reunion. Like wow buddy that's the worst anyone's ever done it.

[pralinesims]

Tomorrow I'll try to answer everyone who tagged me in stuff, sent asks, replies, etc, the recent days have been busy af, but RL seems to be finally calming down for a while and I think I'll have some time for online thingies soon? I really missed being active, and I am also so happy and thankful for you guys checking in on me and my health, can't express how much it means to me <3

I'll head to sleep now bc I've been awake for almost 2 days? At least I was able to finish one of my WIP projects today, tbh I didn't expect to actually finish something after those rough weeks. My eyebags are near raccoon level atm lmao so I really have to rest, but anyway. 2024 was such a shitty, shaky year. I can't believe it's ending soon, also cuz I swear almost no one I know had a good run this year. Lowkey feels weird to leave it behind? Anyway, I'll stop with my sleepy ramblings bc my brain is in a weird tired space rn and I could probably go on forever lol. GOOD NIGHT <3

[ssaluss]

I had to open my notes so now sh¡t got serious! First of all i want to apologize for my broken english, i can read it really well but when it comes to forming sentences my mind just slips off sometimes.

Second: i LOVE rambling and reading others rambling, make me feel part of something and i really like adding to others ideas and all, glad you liked it ^^

Im feeling better and i don't know how to add more but i really enjoy this concept so lets dive into it again!

The lab thing also makes more sense in a way that i don't see shadow being a deadbeat parent, not in the present, less so in the future with a more mature shadow and even if they trapped him or whatever, he would fight till his last breath if he knew there was someone depending on him. Knowing that its following the 2006 line ill still say that silver is a second attempt at recreating project Shadow, by GUN it adds the sour taste, by some illegal company it adds some mistery about how they got the information and why they want it, also adds to why they never went after him, maybe GUN discovered this stole data and whiped out the illegal lab just like they did in the ark or it just got destroyed with everything in the future.

Just cause i think its cool, for some reason when reading about the subspecies my brain went "Ah Yes, the concil" and i can't stop calling them that. Going by the logic here, it could also explain the more "eel-like" appearence in the drawing, there's no need to be bulkier, they're slender so it's easier to scape danger situations without making a fuss. The orca in the doom surf could come out of necessity, they're kinda agressive, as this subspecies being weaker, it could be a mean of protection, as, at least silver, is a target while doom surfing (i also wanna add that while shadow surfs, silver could dive, he doesn't needs to surf but dive is a good abilitie for him not only lore but gameplay wise cause it differenciates, it also creates the situation of him not being afraid to swin cause he knows he can do that, he simply thinks its linked to some power he still can't truly reach when he wants, just when he needs).

The control part actually adds to my first reblog of this when he can be an enemy cause of the control, it also can be used for some good angst in a way that he wouldn't know why he can't resist, and after all, he has a good heart so why is his head full of this bloodlust?

Socially its just funny to think about him staring at people subconsciently thinking his words made trough (he just weirded someone out, they called the Police once)

I think past shadow would want to keep his distance not only because he's weirded out, but depending on what shadow we're talking about, i assume he would be afraid of caring this deeply, specially cause he don't even know silver well, he doesn't want to grow attached and even not wanting to be friends or have anything with silver, he still cares and it scares him, he's still (living and) learning how to properly care about his friends, Rouge and Omega, and with them it was more natural, he is taking his time and all, with silver is all too confusing.

The sonic bit i imagine Shadow seeing a chance and taking it or maybe it was sonic making a joke that made it click, like a "how did you know he meant that? Do the "ultimate lifeform" (imagine the fingers quoting and he imitating shadow) have telepathy now or you're just hanging a lot with ames and got addicted to that card stuff or whatever?" If shadow took a chance i imagine him just brushing something off and going "the kid had a plan, he explained it"

"...He didn't explain sh-"

As silver is more related to shadow then just being B.A. and all, maybe the link is different, more personal, maybe in a normal situation with just other B.A. He would hear the call, simple and clean, but with silver he has the urge to act, he doesn't know yet but some part of him already sees silver as family and has a different bond.

It does not help Shadow that Silver is in fact younger and naturally people tend to give more attention to the younger people close in danger situations and they work well together, the chance is they would be paired up to fight anyway, but got separated while fighting.

I also don't know about B.A. biology but alongside my headcanon that they are produced, not conceived, hence the unique nature of the bond of the hedgehogs, i also headcanon that their blood is a darker Red, almost black even when fresh, so if silver got hurt shadow just got a nod to what he already felt...

The blood trail is dark as night but with a unmistakable Red tint to it.

Not that far, Silver just laying with a pained expression, but in his eyes its like he knew he would come, even so when he appeared the younger one looked surprised.

"S-shadow? How did you..."

"I heard it"

And now Silver is the one who got questions

If we keep this well have a full A fic just needing edition lol

People talking about what if Shadow was Silver’s dad y’know but NOT ONCE have I seen anyone say that if that’s true, then Silver has black arms blood

[vampirecatprince]

I have a finalized prompt idea for my Stobotnik AI AU and now just trying to think of an actual plot that uses the idea? I really wanna do more with it...

AU info and Sonic 3 spoilers below cut.

The whole concept is that while going through the Doctor's belongings after his death, to try to find a sense of direction, Stone discovers a years old, abandoned AI copy of Eggman that the doctor had been working on as a virtual assistant shortly before Stone was hired. What Stone doesn't know is that the AI is based off of actual scans of Eggman's brain from the era he was building it, effectively making a version of the Doctor that was locked in time about 2 to 3 years before Sonic 1. It also has pre-programmed restraining bolts effecting its behavior, to make it more agreeable and "assistant like". (Ivo is enough of a narcissist to try to make an assistant version of himself, but is also self aware enough to know he's make an AWFUL assistant without some... Tweaks. Is this kinda unethical considering it's a sentient AI copy of himself? Probably? Does he care? No! It's a version of him! If anyone would understand his motivations, it would be him after all.) The AI is called AIVOs, or "Artificially Intelligent Virtual Operating System", pronounced either "Eye-voss" or "Ivo", depending on user preference.

Stone activates the AI and rapidly becomes obsessed with it, refusing to move on from his grief now that he has a new version of the Doctor. (Also the grief of losing a loved one PLUS suddenly having a version of said VERY AGGRESSIVE loved one thats kinda... artificially forced to be subservient REALLY fucks with him and he likes that AIVOs can't really say no to him a lot more than he should. He's very aware he's not handling his grief in a healthy way and... doesn't care.) AIVOs eggs him on more and more, goading him into finishing the Doctor's old projects and encouraging his new ideas, all under the guise of getting revenge- prompting the creation of Metal Sonic and slowly transforming him into the next Eggman.

[d3ssie-r0se]

All Tim had to do was get out of here while Young Justice assumed he was with the Bats and the Bats assumed he was with YJ. Which would be easier if his mind could stay present, and if his heart would calm the hell down. It was just Ra's. Just the League of Assassins. Just an unknown location. Just Tim. No super speed, flight, acrobatic training, Lazarus enhancements, or general Batman-ness. Just the weakest Bat trying to not panic. Just the burn of rope on his ungloved fingers as he loosened the knots. Just a fear that any second, the door would open and this would get a million times worse.

----

introducing to tumblr my brain baby and introduction to writing longer form fic! my background is as a horror writer anyway, having some fun with some characters i love

[omaano]

SW Hades AU December Update

First things first some links and previous updates: May - June - July - August - September - October/November - everything else in this AU

This will be more of a summary of everything I've done for this AU in 2024 than an actual December month update. The reason for that is rather simple: I haven't gotten around to posting what I finished during my little holiday break. Creating those new posts would involve some background work, learning some very basic new things, and writing some dialogue, which just wouldn't compute right now.

All that said what you can be looking forward to through January for sure is a full Quinlan post, and a full Echo and Fives post - I've already made one of them with their character art, but skipped the whole background, pocket characters and dialogue part of the task; mostly because I was missing art for another character to create the whole scene that I'd envisioned.

I also did not forget about Leia winning the last poll. I really didn't, but I honestly have no idea how I want her to be depicted in this AU, and lately Satine, Sabine and Ezra have a bit of a hold on my brain, so all my creative thinking is channelled into figuring out what I want from Ezra here. I do have some sketchbook scribbles for Satine and Sabine both.

How about a poll, which I will totally respect this time!

And now for the summary: Characters who had been added this year include: Cody, Obi-wan from his desert era, Darth Maul, Omega and Batcher, Echo and Fives, Shaak Ti and my trio of baby clones, Quinlan (he's just a wip here though), and presentable WIPS for Doctor Aphra, Bo-Katan and her Nite Owls, Axe and Koska, and Kit Fisto.

Which means that in 2024 I've managed to add 8 completed individual character illustrations to this project! I'm quite pleased with that, considering how I'd only started up with renewed passion in May. I'd also finalized the charcter lineup and their little icons, which I can use as a visual aid below to keep track of my progress. The characters marked with blue have completed illustrations, and the ones marked with orange have some type of a WIP going for them.

For the whole of next year I hope to keep to the "one finished character a month" schedule, finish at least the two background images I'd planned for Obi-wan and the Nite Owls, and clean up all the keepsakes I'd sketched out. I'm a little unsure if this will be enough for me to claim around the same time next year that the AU is done, but that is the dream at least. I am missing 11 character arts completely (I know that it doesn't add up, but Moff Gideon doesn't get a cute little portrait, that's just how it is), and 4 WIPs (although Bo-Katan counts for 3). Although based on past progress I should be able to bang out Kit and Aphra in one weekend if my wrist doesn't get too angry with me :3

Taglist of anyone who wants to be pinged once a month for these updates <3 If you want to be added to the list send me a message, or just reply to this post (a 👀 would do, nothing fancy required ;))

@elwinged @yeehawgeek @velsayshi @lionsaint

If you want to be taken off the list just message me and I’ll take you off, no hard feelings :)

[vilevenom]

GUN tries to capture shadow after his plummet to earth in Sonic 3. He wipes the floor with them despite being very hurt. TEAM sonic is again called in, because GUN does not know that they are friends/allies now.

Welp! Really wish I could SPOILER tag an ask, but here we are.

Hi, Anon! The movie boys have taken over my brain, so I whipped this up in, like, an hour, lol It's not exactly what you asked for, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

Shadow gasped for breath as he ran through the field he'd found his inhibitor ring in, the sound of humans yelling and guns firing following him as he went. He should have expected this. Mind, he didn't think he'd survive the explosion, so when he'd woken up in a crater he hadn't been expecting much of anything, really. But he'd thought, or at least hoped, after crawling out of that hole, that the humans would give him some sort of break for saving their world. Hadn't Sonic and his friends relayed what happened? Or perhaps they had, and GUN just didn't care. That would make sense. Sonic had other humans to care for him, and make sure he didn't end up in a cryo-tube. Shadow didn't. As far as GUN was concerned, Shadow was certain that they just viewed him as an asset they needed to collect.

He rounded a tree and paused to gasp for air, his chaos reserves nearly depleted, and his body heavily wounded. He'd only managed to find one of his inhibitor rings, as well, so it was risky for him to even try and use what little energy he had left to defend himself. But, at the rate these persistent GUN soldiers were going, he really didn't have much of a choice.

"JUST LEAVE ME ALONE," Shadow screamed, dodging out from his hiding place while throwing a chaos spear at the closest group of soldiers. Not close enough to hit them, but close enough to hopefully startle them away enough to give him space to flee further. He'd tried using his air shoes twice already, but with his lowered levels of chaos, he couldn't get more than a few sparks to emit, so running naturally it was.

~

"It would seem we'll need to take a reluctant page out of Commander Walters' play book," Director Rockwell groused, watching her troops cower back from another blast of chaos energy.

"Sir?"

"Call in the blue hedgehog and his little friends. They managed to corral Project Shadow once. Hopefully they'll be able to do it again."

~

Shadow growled low as frustrated tears welled in his eyes, tucking and rolling behind a large boulder as bullets zipped overhead. He grunted as he fell against the cool stone, clutching at his arm, where a wayward bullet had managed to graze him. Blood oozed from the wound slowly, his chaos energy barely able to close the gash in a timely manner. He was getting tired, and as such his movements were getting sloppy. There seemed to be a never ending supply of soldiers, while he was rapidly fading.

If he didn't manage to get away soon, he would have no choice but to turn to his last resort. He knew now that it was the last thing Maria would have wanted for him, and he would never get to see the insufferable blue hedgehog who'd made him realize that again, but he couldn't go back to GUN. He couldn't bear the thought of being forced into another cryo-tube for who knew how long, to wallow in his memories and mistakes for years on end once more. He wanted to live. He wanted to experience all that Maria had taught him about, and see the world the way she did. He wanted to speak to Sonic again, and see just how much they truly were alike.

But with GUN closing in on him rapidly, he had a feeling that self destruction would be his only means of escape.

~

"Heya, Director lady! Fancy seeing you again," Sonic chirped, stepping through the ring that had appeared next to the GUN vehicles, stationed at the edge of a rather battle torn looking field and forest.

"Hedgehog," Rockwell sniffed, looking down her nose at Sonic as Tails and Knuckles stepped through the ring after their leader.

"What is it this time? Better not be another rouge experiment with a sad back story," Sonic wagged his finger at Rockwell, smirk curling his lips.

"Uh, Sonic?" Tails murmured, stepping up next to his brother, his laptop held aloft in his hand, tilting the screen so Sonic could see it, "I wouldn't make jokes about that just yet."

Rockwell looked startled as Sonic shot her a glare.

"Cover me, boys," he growled, before taking off across the field, shoving soldiers out of his way as he went.

"I believe you have made a grave miscalculation in calling us," Knuckles hummed, arms folded across his chest as Rockwell watched her men get bowled over by a blue blur.

~

"You can do this," Shadow whispered to himself, taking his inhibitor ring back off and setting it gently on the ground next to his hip. He clenched his fists, feeling the small surge of chaos energy he still had left in reserve pulse. "You've made peace with this already. You can do this." He squeezed his eyes shut as red energy sparked over his quills, breathing deep as he tried to pull everything he had left to the surface.

He paused when he noticed that the gun fire and yelling had stopped, and a sharp breeze made his quills dance.

"Well, well. Look who I found."

Shadow blinked his eyes open, his build-up of chaos energy receding as he stared up at wet emerald eyes and a lopsided smile on a peach muzzle.

"You're alive."

Shadow gasped as Sonic zipped to his side, engulfing him in a bone crushing hug, salty tears dripping onto his shoulder. He grunted as he was shoved away just as quickly, the blue hedgehog holding him by the shoulders.

"How did you even survive? That blast was MASSIVE," Sonic asked, shaking his head slightly.

"I…I don't know," Shadow admitted quietly, shrugging, "I woke up in a crater. Everything in between is blank."

Sonic simply stared at him for a long moment, a wistful look on his face, before he abruptly stood, offering his hand to Shadow. "Let's get you out of here, yeah?"

Shadow contemplated Sonic's hand briefly, before taking it and rising onto shaky legs, ensuring to scoop his inhibitor ring up off the ground as he went. "Please."

They strode out from behind the rock, Sonic half in front of Shadow as GUN soldiers were still groggily rising from where they'd been knocked into the dirt. One or two lifted their guns to take aim, but a short glare from Sonic, and a ripple of blue sparks across his quills quickly made them back down.

"Ah, hedgehog," Rockwell greeted as Sonic lead Shadow back to where Tails and Knuckles stood, waiting, "Good job. We'll take it from here."

"Take what, exactly?" Sonic cocked his head quizzically, still half blocking Shadow with his own body as he paused next to his brothers.

"Project Shadow is property of GUN. He is to be detained, questioned, and placed back into statis for the safety of everyone," Rockwell growled, taking a threatening step towards Sonic.

"Are you seriously trying to tell me that you actually think I'd just let you take Shadow, and lock him away again?" Sonic scoffed, his grin turning sharp, "After he saved all of us?

"He was the reason everyone was in danger in the first place," Rockwell shot back, crossing her arms.

"No. Eggman Junior and Eggman Senior were the reason everyone was in danger in the first place," Sonic countered, wagging his finger at the director again, "And let's not forget that GUN is the one who built the giant mega death-ray to begin with!"

"GUN were the ones who killed Maria," Shadow murmured quietly behind Sonic, having no shame in adding fuel to the fire.

"What?!" Sonic whipped his head around to shoot Shadow a wide eyed stare, before turning a hard glare back on Rockwell. "Didn't know the 'Guardian Units of Nations' were in the business of killing kids. Doesn't sound very guardian like to me."

"An…unfortunate casualty, caught in the cross fire," Rockwell sighed, waving a hand through the air.

"Caught in the cross fire?!" Shadow finally stepped forward from behind Sonic, though his hand remained firmly clasped within the others, "Those soldiers pointed guns at her, knowing full well she'd done nothing! Her only crime was being kind, and living in that hell hole you called a base!"

Rockwell threw her hands up in a placating manner, taking a step back as two soldiers stepped up behind her and aimed their guns at the dark hedgehog, the sound of blasters charging the only sound hanging in the air as Shadow flinched back.

"Hey, now," Sonic cooed, tugging Shadow back so the other stumbled behind him once more, waving his free hand at Rockwell, "Let's not get all trigger happy, here." His ear twitched, listening as Knuckles dug into his quills for the rings he knew were stored there. "Look. I know you think you guys own Shadow? But, like, possession is nine tenths of the law or whatever, right? And as far as I can tell, I have possession of him right now." Sonic held up their conjoined hands as Knuckles threw his ring, the portal opening to show the Wachowski's living room behind them. "So, like…you know where to find me, if you really want to go down that road? But, I really don't think you do."

Tails let out a chuckle, while Knuckles guffawed heartily at Sonic's bravado, both stepping through the portal afterwards without much fanfare.

"Catch you on the flip side," Sonic said with a mock salute, tugging Shadow along with him as they stepped through the portal.

[the-wip-project]

Planning for January and 2025

Hello, writerly friends!

It's the end of a year, we're looking at the the next year coming, and naturally this is a time of reflection and prediction. I'm actually not a big fan of new year's resolutions, but I want to keep up the monthly planning. 

Last month I planned nothing and I did nothing! Yay! Total win on my side! It's not quite true. I wrote 3.5k words, which is more than nothing but not much.

As we go into a new year, some planners and goal setters advice to take a look back and reflect on the year 2024 before going into 2025. I kind of hate that because I never achieve as much as I wanted. I wanted to have a book published in 2024, damnit! 

But maybe it's good to see what I actually did, before the yelling brain keeps calling me a failure. I wrote 115k words last year. That's not bad! My AO3 statistics are a bit difficult to read because I updated a few fics from like 2021 and 2022 and then that wordcount gets counted for 2024. But hey! I finished a fic! Updated others! I also published 20 ficlets over the year. Some are just over 500 words, others are longer and according to my writing file I wrote 24325 words for these ficlets (It may look like I'm oh so well organised with all these numbers and I want to make sure that you understand, I am not like that! I'm just lucky that these programs give me numbers). So, take that, yelling brain. Well done me. 

I had a paragraph here about fuck all that looking back, let's go forward. I mean, this last year did its very best to stay as a messy shitshow in our memory, at least if you're the kind of person who wishes for a just, peaceful, and sustainable world. But after writing that paragraph up there, I think you should also look back. Even if you didn't achieve everything you wanted to, look at the small victories too and celebrate them. It's good for you.

My look into the future: Finishing and publishing is my forever goal and that's what I'll keep doing, be it fanfic or original fiction. I have several half finished things going on and way too many ideas for more books. (Sticking to one genre? Wouldn't know her.)

As always, finding and scheduling the time to write is the crucial task and I'm still trying to figure out how to combine life, work, reading, gaming, TV watching, and writing into the day. How do people do this? Somehow sleeping has to factor into this too, right? I guess it's back to a daily hour of writing, either in the morning, or in the afternoon. A fixed point in the schedule.  

Here at the-wip-project, I already hinted at a new project for the beginning of the year. I'm calling it "Getting to know your story (through writing it)". I'll make a separate post for it.

What are your plans for the coming month?

Have a good start into the new year!

~barbex

[dollsahoy]

I have been getting better at having an idea first--usually in the form of seeing something someone else has made and thinking "Oh, that looks like it would be fun to do!" But I'm still going to make the materials that I already have work, and make an inspired approximation of the original project, never an exact duplicate (which would be downright rude to individual artists, but this applies even when it comes to things like published/shared instructions/patterns.) I have a lot of slapdash, low-detail sketches around, just to remind me of a fleeting idea here and there XD

Again, I have great admiration for people who do things like make exact duplicates of designer gowns! That's just...very much not how my brain goes. I'm just along for the creativity ride.

Getting an idea first and doing everything you can to make it is only one way to do art

I come from the angle of gathering materials first and then getting inspired by those materials (and the materials themselves are often acquired very randomly)

The randomness is an intrinsic part of my work, and I absolutely adore the act of figuring out what to do with what I have

I know this way doesn't appeal to everyone, and I'm not attempting to get people to start trying it if they haven't naturally already gravitated toward it

It's just a gentle reminder that there is no Single Creative Process

What works for you may be incomprehensible to someone else, and that's fine