#i like using google doc and making stuff like this and also i draw

[epicfishangel]

BBBBBBBBBB

[fingertipsmp3]

If anyone here keeps a reading/book journal what do you dooo. I feel like I’ve tried multiple options and none of them have really been perfect

[thatsveryvortex]

Writing Tools for Planning Your Story

I've tried tons of writing apps and sites, so you don't have to. Here's a list of free sites to plot out your novel, with my review and some images of how I use it.

Milanote

Milanote is like having a giant pinboard with folders. You can upload anything onto it [yes even your main doc] and then draw over it or connect things with lines and arrows

Milanote lets you add up to a hundred things for free, not including drawing. This is one of the downsides of the site as I've found myself reaching that limit recently.

For me, the best part is being able to draw over stuff, and the color swatches.

Milanote is a lot less structured than other sites I've used, and personally, I don't think their templates are worth using.

8/10 overall, Milanote is what I mainly use. Here are some pics of how I use it:

Miro

Miro is a flowchart website mainly used for corporate jobs, however, it can be a great plotting tool for that reason

Miro has a lot of great starter templates if you are looking for a more structured freeform experience. It also comes with a blank page as well.

Unfortunately, I'd argue that it's a bit of a hard tool for beginners to use without a template, I've learned copy-paste is my best friend with Miro the hard way.

It's much better than most platforms at making timelines though.

It has a limit of three boards which is a bit disappointing but overall, I think it's worth the try.

5/10 Miro is very middle of the road for me due to the limited ability to customize things and the free limit. Here are some pics:

[I wrote that part weeks ago, I am now fully using Miro and believe it's the best for making timelines and charts, I just wish it let me make more boards 8/10]

Hiveword

This might be someone's jam, I can't really say it's mine though.

First off, the unpaid version is really just a few boxes saying "Write a summary here." which makes it just not worth it in my opinion

There really isn't any way to customise things which is my favorite part of most of these softwares

I've barely used this, so maybe there's something I'm missing but

1/10, Just use Google Docs at this point, here's a couple pics

World Anvil

People like this software, it's mainly used for tabletop, which is just a different way of writing adventure, and I've seen it recommended by authors.

Unfortunately, I'm going to disagree with a lot of people and say it's hard to use and isn't even really good at plotting.

I may be biased on this one as every time I've tried to use it in the past I've struggled. However, it seems like another just write it in a document and create a folder.

I'd say it's closer to an organizing tool, but even then just use something else.

3/10, I have nothing to say about it but maybe you'll enjoy it, all here are two photos

Campfire

This is the one I think I've heard the most about, but have never actually tried.

right off the bat, I'm going to say this is 100% worth it, you'll see at the end with the photos but this is like if Miro and World Anvil had an organization baby.

It's extremely easy to understand, and it makes timelines, it's more for writing your whole book but idk about that yet.

7/10, its themes are really pretty but it limits how much you can do to 20 I believe. Here are the photos

That's all for now, honestly, I think you should use Miro if you are looking to plot things out, and Milanote if you want to collect and organize your thoughts for writing, as that's what I do. Obviously what I like won't be for everyone, but hopefully, this helped you see some options

[starsonablackboard]

sooo about lamb's clothes....

i knew for a while now that my lamb whould start wearing more than just a fleece after ascention and designing clothes is my absolute forever and ever favourite part of drawing so i finally can do it for my cotl au😩😩😩. references and what went into the design (including lore stuff) are under the cut as always

the aestetic choices

they stop wearing the collar and always leave their neck open so the scar and subsequently the evidence of their immortality is always visible

i changes the red-and-white of the default fleece to red-and-gold cause it looks more regal and important and more suitable for a new god

i keep their silhouette feminine cause personal preference ahah. their dresses are mostly very light and loose because anything firmer probably feels awful on wool

i didn't do it justice cause frankly it's time consuming but imagine a lot of intricate embroidery there (because, again, a new god, they have the right and the want to be show-off-y)

the lore stuff (the crown and the symbols mainly)

i could go on longer but in a nutshell – even while being a vessel lamb already started rewriting history a bit. their cult consists exclusively of victims of old faith or reformed believers, so "oh guys we're actually worshiping one of the bishops" shit wouldn't really fly. so the cult if for The God of Death (not bishop mind you) so when narinder theoretically is freed he gets a new start as a deity, plus any mention of him was already erased by his siblings (that's my way of explaining why there's literally no narinder imagery anywhere in the cult, and crown doesn't count like narinder imagery)

when freeing narinder doesn't go as planned lamb continues with "this is not like the old faith guys" even harder. they started wearing the crown not in it's crown form, all of the crown imagery slowly disappeared, etc. they don't go by title of a god even, they're "The Promised Liberator of the lands of The Old Faith" or like just liberator or saviour or wtv

HOWEVER they still borrow a shitton from the old faith, even in aesthetics. the headpiece they turn the crown into? based on bishops' cross-like headpieces, but more horn-shaped (the eye of the crown can be seen only by those meaningfully touched by divinity, so, ratau, desciples, old faith siblings). all of the symbols they use in embroidery? also old faith

they're doing the same thing old faith did to the old gods. "they call their faith old but they're just a bunch of heretics". lamb is a heretic to the old faith, they make it seem like they're different but it's just a new coat of paint

important!! the desiphered meaning of the symbols belongs to @itislils2004. they did an insane amount of work putting together cotl lore, i highly recommend going through the google doc in their pinned post, it's a wonderful read (and a wonderful watch, their art is amazing)

[justheblueberry]

handbinding of A Study in Scarlette by kittebasu

There are people who want to live forever, and then there is Shinichi, who just wants to live a little longer than this.

this bind has been in my head since i first read the fic like, three years ago. i dreamed up so many ideas for it, for so long, and now it's finally done! the typeset was actually done in early 2022, back when i was still using google docs, but it went through a few iterations because i was just. so. fiddly. with every aspect of this book. it needed to be perfect (as close to perfect as i, an amateur bookbinder out of my depth, can get) and it had to be absolutely over the top, to reflect the insane amount of love and care that the author put into the fic itself.

the first time i read this fic, i barely knew what detective conan was, much less all of the intricate plot details; i was just along for the ride, but by the end i was completely invested. i went back and watched through the anime as well as a few movies (it took me six months) and then read the fic again. and then a few more times. kaishin and the world of dcmk has utterly gripped me. it's 100% this fic's fault and i love it so, so, much.

i went through a few iterations of visual designs and i'm really happy with the little details i managed to squeeze in.

the entire color scheme is based around red, because 1) it's a murder mystery, 2) for scarlette shinamoto (and the title of the fic as well as the original holmes novel it references), and 3) the irony of "lady red" actually being red. the secret fourth reason is that i think red/gold is a super sexy color combo.

i sewed the textblock with red thread to reference holmes' "scarlet thread of murder".

another detail i love is the five yen coin bookmark, it was one of my first ideas and it turned out even better than i thought.

i wanted the endpapers to evoke a sense of the white marbled floor of the ballroom, with the glow-in-the-dark kaitou kid caricature being the luminol on the floor, and the little pops of red looks like blood that's been mixed in. i lucked out in that the other side of the endpaper was like a lavender-purpley color, i like to think of it as a little wink wink nudge to the color of the actual Lady Red.

the chapter pages got a few reworkings, but i'm happy with the illustrations i ended up doing for each of them. the chapter titles are one of my favorite things about the fic, each one has so much meaning packed into it and flows so beautifully, and i wanted to put as much care into making them pop as possible.

the cover was a linocut carving i designed and carved, which i then printed onto the bookcloth, and ironed on htv on top.

i also threw in a couple of my drawings of my favorite scenes.

this is getting way too long, so i'll end it here. i'll have a separate post detailing the process every step of the way, if anyone wants to take a closer look. this fic is kind of directly responsible for getting me into fanbinding, so it's safe to say it altered the course of my life. i now spend way too much time (and money) looking at book stuff.

kittebasu, if, somehow, you see this and would like an author copy, i would be honored to make one and ship it to you; i would be overjoyed to gift you with any art i have the ability to make, because the fics you wrote have irreversibly altered my brain chemistry, and being able to give back in any capacity would be a dream. (thank you.)

a few postscripts:

i am not selling any copies of this fic. partially because i believe in the gift economy of fandom as well as firmly keeping fanbinding a hobby that will stay unmonetized, but also because it took me months (years, if we are counting when i first finished the typeset) to finish this and i do not have the strength.

however, if you are also a fan of this fic and would like a copy, i honestly, fervently, encourage you to give fanbinding a try! renegade publishing and its discord server are an absolutely wonderful and free resource. i knew nothing about bookbinding and had zero materials when i first started, but i've learned so much thanks to the lovely people there. if you're still apprehensive about getting started, i'd be willing to share my typeset of this fic as well as answer any questions about the making of this book if you DM me.

[jue-jack]

edit: i got enough to pay for the things i need, but i'll keep commission post up and open! i'm going to finish the two commissions i got soon, any commission after these 2 will be started after art fight (which is the whole of july) , thanks for everyone's help!

simple character commissions!

pls read this entire post, if there's additional questions pls ask contact details are on the bottom of this post

what's a simple character you ask?

simple characters are only made up by a few shapes, I've put some examples up. (some of these characters are not mine i just drew them for art fight/commissions) other examples includes Kirby and most kirby characters, level 1 (baby) Digimon, some pokemon, tamagotchis, sanrio characters, or your own simple oc, or anything similar to these examples

i like to take simple characters and make them look nice i can draw them in two ways, with a pencil brush or a pixel brush (pixel brush example is the Kirby with cowboy hat)

price: 35$ usd

what can be in the picture: a simple character with a simple object if you desire it will be fully colored and shaded

want more than one character: each character is 35 usd I don't offer discounts on additional characters

i reserve the right to turn down a commission if it's too difficult. i also will do a refund if i find I'm having trouble drawing a character this shouldn't really happen if the Character isn't overly complicated

i draw in my own style i do not copy styles, I don't deal with people who nitpick how i draw! sorry if this sounds mean but you need to give me free range on poses and stuff or else i can't do it. pls be familiar with how i draw <333

I don't want to go off words with a character or make you a character pls have a clear ref with a full body i can use

these are not made with printing in mind, do so at your own risk , pls tell me if you want the character to have a transparent background before i start

time for art to be done: while I'm a fast artist as in i could finish it same day, but I'm going to give a limit of one month for me to finish the drawing, i put down everything in google docs so you won't be forgotten.

commissions are done in the order they are received there are no slots

how to contact me, DM me here if you want a commission or have any questions (do not send an ask) and if you'd like I can send you my discord if you feel more comfortable talking there once you DM me

my kofi is where you will pay for your commission

https://ko-fi.com/juenavei

i also take donations if you would rather do that

also if you can't do either of these things passing along this post would help me

[lucky-penne]

Took way longer than it should've 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

But anyway here she is!! My current blorbo Aina 💖

One of the fankid OCs I've made inspired by one of @hantengudelulu's stories because I couldn't be normal or mentally well and decided to give someone else's OC a child💃(for context Aina is Yuka and Hantengu's daughter)

I was planning on ranting about the art process or ramble about Aina here, but my head is very empty right now 💀 Guess I'll come back here to do all that later??

But here's some bonus older art of her that I made back in December 👀

Update: Ok time to rant and ramble lol. So firstly I originally had designed Aina wearing more western style shoes (Mary Janes or something similar), but changed it to the Zori + Tabi combo last minute for some reason (I honestly don't remember right now). Kind of wish I kept it to be the Mary Janes because those would have been far easier for me to draw 🙃 Also had ideas of adding some lighting from the fire, but I felt like it was a bit much with everything else going on even though it did look really nice.

Didn't initially plan on coloring parts of the lineart, but tried it out on a whim and it looked cool so went with it. Also wish I didn't do this since it ended up being really tedious trying to both color and shade it because my (potentially) ADHD ass brain doesn't line certain things on the layer where it should've been so some things would just stop being colored in/shaded and I would have to dig around all kinds of layers until I found where the tiny chunk of the line was 🙃🙃🙃🙃

Also don't know how to draw or color fire 💃

Struggled so much throughout this piece (especially the clothes omg 💀 couldn't find references at all for how the clothes would work at that angle and pose so I had to wing it) and I was being extra hard on myself because I was both going to post this publicly and that it's art of one of my OCs and I wanted to make a good impression.

But enough about art struggles™ I want to talk a tiny bit about my gorl now (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

So she's a half-demon because I'm ✨ original ✨ (I just find the concept to be interesting in the context of Demon Slayer. Always been a sucker for hybrids in most things)

She does have a BDA (fire manipulation/creation) due to her being a child of a Kizuki and an Upper Moon at that. I imagine it having a lot of similar traits to (if not straight up copying) firebending in ATLA with a few additions here and there. Decided on that being her BDA because it fits her name/theme of love. Love, devotion, and passion have often been associated with fire through metaphors and symbolism. Plus Yuka's penchant for using fire against the clones being expressed/referenced through her child is both neat and funny in a symbolic way.

And her birthday is on April 4th 🎉 Decided on that month and day because haha double death number (the superstition of the number 4 being unlucky due to one of the pronunciations of it 'Shi' (し) being a homonym for death (死)). I can imagine Hantengu freaking the hell out over it because he was shown to be paranoid over specific numbers and stuff in canon so this will definitely scare him and think that his poor daughter is cursed or will die young or something lol

I have so much more information, ideas, headcanons, and other random things my brain has created (I have a giant ass Google Doc dedicated to her lmao), but I feel like this has gone on for long enough lol

[quillpokebiology]

As an artist how do you make pokemon crossbreeds? since I am thinking about making some.

Thanks for asking! I'd love an excuse to talk about the process.

1. I find the pokemon I want to make a crossbreed of. I have a full Google docs list to keep track of names and ones I want to do and all of that, since a lot of the fun for me I'd coming up with names for them

2. 99% of the time, the art is traced. I used to draw earlier crossbreeds freely, but they were supposed to be quick design practice and I would end up spending too long on them, so I started tracing them

3. I love crossbreed art, and while I don't want to throw anyone under the bus, I always felt like a lot of the crossbreeds felt "too-fusion like." What I try my best to do is find small traits to fit in with the existing design, while not changing it too much. While I sometimes let go of that for the sake of fun (when I made the slurpuff and raochu crossbreed), I usually keep that ruleset. An example would be this Cadenza Lapras (primarina father)

Lapras already has spikes, so to make it look more like Primarina, I made them sharper, like the spikes on Primarina's tail. It also has a more pointed snout, like Primarina.

And this sprinting scorbunny too (yamper father). While a dog and rabbit aren't that similar, both yamper and scorbunny have the same yellow, pointed ears, eyes, and other similar features. So, I made the scorbunny's fluff connect like yamper, gave it the paw markings of yamper, turned its tail into that of yamper, and made it stick its tongue out like yamper.

I recommend keeping the color scheme similar, but that can be difficult when they have wildly different color schemes. What I try to do then to make up for it is add more traits of the father pokemon, so whole it looks similar at first glance, you can tell it's different. I did that with Clanging Noivern (jangmo-o father)

If the pokemon seems too different, they finding smaller traits to use. Right now, I'm making a Gastrodon with a Phantump father and they seemed hard, but I was able to find similar traits; such as the wisps in the designs and making their shell look like a tree a bit.

4. Other than that, process follows art stuff. Sketch over the official art to add differing traits, and then outline it in black. My outlines are messy since again, these are more breaks for my other art (I have an Instagram where I post some of my art btw, I don't post much art on my main tumblr), but outline whatever way you want

5. Do what you want! These are just the rules I follow that I made for myself! These are just supposed to be fun stuff and shouldn't be polices

6. Send me the crossbreeds. I want to see them

7. Hope these helped! I'm not the best at explaining my art process

[skelswritingcorner]

A Body So Stubborn (Mercenary! Reader fic Pt. 3)

Barely winning against making the TFP bots learn about the horrors of endometriosis, it's the 3rd part to my First Contact AU fic (though it barely feels like one anymore). I ended up splitting this into two parts because this is like 5 pages in the Google Doc.

Warnings/Tags: Injuries, blood, hospitals, mentions of unethical experiments, Megatron experiencing remorse for something he had no actual involvement in, mentions of dead parental figures, Prowl shows up I guess

Word Count: 2050

The third part is finally here! I was going to draw something for it, but I'm currently working on my 2.0 model (Vtubing stuff) so I pushed that off to the side.

“So,” the Cybertronian on the screen tilted his head, “you found a human in a solar system that, as far as our knowledge, has no humans on it?”

“Until now,” Ultra Magnus replied, “according to the files, she was brought to this place at eighteen months old, therefore her connection to her species is nonexistent. She appears to be the only human who’s lived here for any large period of time.”

“There are, however, a group of humans currently on the local planet right now. According to Skids, they’re here to help establish an interspecies alliance. Along with that,” Ultra Magnus showed his datapad; two similar human women on the screen were shown in separate images, “one of the humans of the group appears to have a strong physical resemblance to the one we found. Not only that, she claims that her sister was abducted at eighteen months old twenty years ago.”

“Interesting,” his blue optics flickered, “it’s too similar a connection to be a coincidence. Is Ailith on the Lost Light? I’d like to see her condition for myself.”

“First Aid brought her to the clinic her ship’s coordinates were originally at, Prowl. Once she’s back, I’ll contact you again.”

“Very well. Goodbye for now.” The video feed of the officer ended, and Ultra Magnus sighed. Did he expect to have a human on board the Lost Light? Not at all. However, this is an injured human, and as he was the one who realized that there was an injured organic on board, he felt the slightest feeling of responsibility over her despite never actually seeing her in person.

Ultra Magnus walked out of the communication room, seeing the Co-Captains talking amongst themselves. Once they noticed the officer, they turned to him.

“What did Prowl say?” Megatron asked.

“He’s not sure about how and why a human would be here prior to any intergalactic relations being established. He also wanted to see her for himself, but she’s at the clinic right now. That, and I don’t know how she’d feel around him of all ‘Bots.”

Rodimus laughed. “I’m sure she’ll be fine, as long as we tell her first. It’s not like Ailith can fight in her current state.”

“I doubt that, Captain.” Magnus rebutted, “She’s adapted quickly to her current situation. Too quickly, if you ask me. Along with that, the planet she lives on has weapons designed to defeat Cybertronians. I’m confident that she has at least one weapon in her arsenal that she can use to defeat us if she truly wants to.”

“I know about those weapons.” Megatron said, Rodimus slowly turning with a horrified look. “I remember sending a team to this planet some thirty years prior because of potential energon deposits. The people used the remains of one of the ‘Cons I sent to reverse engineer weapons and other equipment that gave them an advantage. In fact, this might be the cause of Ailith’s subspaces as well. They could’ve tried creating subspaces, and tried to implement them on organic creatures. Including those from Earth.”

“Are you implying that it might be your fault for what happened to Ailith?” Rodimus asked.

“Who else could be to blame?”

“Let’s not dwell on that for too long, Captains.” Ultra Magnus looked at the datapad, “You didn’t know about the experiments until now, correct? Then it’s likely she doesn’t know either. First Aid said that Ailith’s been cleared to return to the Lost Light for recovery, so when she comes back you can ask her.”

“Do we have instructions on what to do?” Megatron asked.

“According to First Aid, it’s best to keep her from doing anything too strenuous. This includes training and combat. Along with that, she can only walk short distances. Her stitches are to remain for fourteen cycles total. Two cycles have passed, so that makes it twelve. As long as she doesn’t strain herself too much, she’ll be alright.” Magnus informed them.

“But who should she be with while she’s recovering? She’s smaller than Tailgate, literally half his height!” Rodimus asked.

“First Aid’s been taking care of her all this time, correct? Why not make a temporary space in his habsuite for her so he can make sure she’s recovering without complications?” Megatron suggested.

“That makes sense. As he’s one of the medics, he can treat her quickly if she gets injured.” Ultra Magnus agreed. “According to Drift and Ratchet, he’s been non-stop worrying over Ailith. It should be reassuring to him if she’s nearby.”

“Hmm…” Rodimus frowned, “Fine. Tell First Aid, and ask Skids and Velocity to get some stuff for her before we get back, I doubt we have anything right now to make sure she can have a smooth recovery.”

“I already asked them, Rodimus. They should be gathering some items right now with the help of someone that might be Ailith’s twin sister.”

“Great! I’m going to talk to Ratchet now. We’ll talk again later.” Rodimus turned on his heel and left the other two mechs standing there.

✩✩✩

The cycle in the hospital came and went. And now, you need to return to the Lost Light for the rest of your recovery. You would’ve protested if it wasn’t Aunt Daule who said that. Instead, you just sighed.

“So, I'm going to spend twenty or more days with them as I recover?” you asked.

Aunt Daule nodded. You understood that the clinic was pretty busy, so if they could they would have anyone who can recover outside the clinic so they can have space for those whose conditions are more severe, they would.

“Welp,” you slapped your knees, “I guess I’ll be stuck with that lot for a while. I’m fine with that though, I need to learn more about them in case I need to defeat a Cybertronian.”

Daule chuckled. “You talk just like your guardian. I remember hearing her many exploits back when they tried to take over our planet and failed, mostly when she charged in without hesitation. She’d use her magnetic grappling hook and a blade, get close to an exposed cable and slice it open. I’m glad to see you’ve inherited her fighting spirit.”

Both faces went solemn. Such goes the usual conversations whenever anyone brings up your first guardian. “It’s been almost five years, hasn’t it? Thirty-five more days until the anniversary.”

“Do you plan on going to her memorial?” you asked.

“Of course. I am, after all, Salva’s sister. It wouldn’t make sense for me to not visit the grave of a family member once in a while.” Aunt Daule answered.

“But that’s in more than a month. For now,” Aunt Daule patted your head, “make sure to focus on recovering. No straining yourself, alright?”

You nodded, and with your aunt’s arms as support you walked to the waiting room. You made sure to hold onto the box Makayla gifted you.

First Aid was already there, along with Tailgate. You walked to them, albeit with a slight limp.

“What are you holding?” Tailgate asked.

“It’s something from her sister.” First Aid answered for you.

“Did you meet her?” he asked again.

“She only came to drop off an injured friend the cycle before First Aid brought Ailith here.” Aunt Daule replied, “We did genetic testing, and they’re almost completely identical. After the testing she gave me the box Ailith is holding right now.”

Tailgate seemed fascinated. Do cybertronians have siblings, or is that an unfamiliar concept to them?

“Regardless of that, here,” Daule gave First Aid a document, “these are the instructions that should help with assisting Ailith in her recovery. She has a copy too, stored in her subspace.”

You nodded at what Aunt Daule said.

“We’ll return in twelve cycles, Dr. Daule!” First Aid said, picking you up. At this point, you’re used to being held by him. Aunt Daule waved, and the three of you departed.

Entering the pod, First Aid set you in a place that was relatively stable for you to sit down. While he piloted the pod back, Tailgate looked over at you.

“What’s in that box? You’ve been holding onto it this whole time.” he asked.

“Stuff from my twin that she asked Aunt Daule to give me. There’s a few pictures, including one of my niece who I just found out exists.” you replied, “Other than that, there’s some clothes.”

Tailgate tilted his head. “A niece?”

“The daughter of a sibling. In my case, my niece is the daughter of my older sister, Chloe MacArthur. I’m not sure if Cybertronians know about the concept of siblings, though.”

“Ooooooh,” Tailgate nodded, “sometimes sparks split in two. That’s the closest we have to siblings. Those are almost identical though.”

So, they sometimes have twins. Identical twins, just like you and Makayla.

“When we get back, I’ll show you the pictures.” you promised.

The pod slowed to a stop, and the door opened. Ratchet and… a cyan Cybertronian? He had red eyes and accents. His helmet was black, with two horn-adjacent finials extending out from the sides.

“Fortress Maximus,” First Aid exclaimed, “I’m surprised that you’re here!” He picked you up as well, placing you on the Cybertronian equivalent of his right shoulder blade before walking up to the two larger mechs.

“You must be Ailith,” the cyan mech put a hand over his chest, “I’m Fortress Maximus. The others informed me of your condition. I’m surprised you even survived the injuries Ratchet informed me that you have.”

You shrugged, “Eh. I’ve been operated on without painkillers and fully conscious. A few slashes and bullets aren’t that bad.”

Oops, you overshared. Fortress Maximus AND Ratchet are looking at you in horror. First Aid tensed up.

“Out of all things you could’ve said… Wait, you were fully conscious? Wouldn’t that hurt?”

Fuck it. You did this to yourself, nothing to hide now. “No shit it hurt! I still have the memory of seeing my intestines on hooks while they put that thing inside me, and when they put the subspaces on my body. As they did for all the other experiments.”

“That’s horrible!” If Cybertronians could cry, Tailgate would be doing that right now. “I can’t believe that anyone would do that, especially to a child!”

“Anyway,” Ratchet spoke before anyone could say anything, “First Aid, the captains assigned her to your habsuite so her recovery can be monitored closely. Skids and Velocity acquired some items to make sure Ailith’s comfortable.”

First Aid nodded, “I’ll bring her to my habsuite, then.” And so, he walked past the two taller mechs.

He’s been holding you for a while now, should you say something? It’s probably better to say something.

“You know you don’t have to carry me everywhere, right?” you asked him.

First Aid’s vocalizer choked, “I- You’re just small, that’s all! Most of the ‘Bots might not realize you’re there since you’re so tiny! Also, you’re still recovering from your wounds. Dr. Daule said that you shouldn’t walk too much as the leg wound recovers, right?”

“Touche.” You felt his grip on your thigh tighten slightly, as if he’s doubling down on keeping you right where you were. It’s understandable though, organic species compared to hulking machines are so delicate, especially those with injuries or preexisting medical conditions.

The rest of the walk was done in silence, which was fine with you. Talking isn’t exactly your best skill, after all. After First Aid went to his habsuite, he placed you on the desk that didn’t have much on it, but that’s something that you didn’t really care about. There were a few soft blankets and a few pillows, likely things the two others Ratchet mentioned. What were their names again? Velocity and… Skids?

Why is that name familiar? You swear that you knew someone who was called Skids. Your caretaker mentioned a large mechanical being with that name who helped save you from that facility, transporting you both to Aunt Daule so you could get treated. You’re pretty sure you bled on him, is he mad about it?

Oh well, it can’t be helped. You’ll find out after you sleep. Cautiously crawling into the blanket pile, you wrapped one of them around you before laying down. “I’m going to bed, see you later.”

First Aid nodded, “Please rest well.”

[werebutch]

Making other stuff besides drawings/writing/pinterest boards for your ocs is very fun guys.. i think a lot of people are long term obsessed with their ocs like me and may have run out of ideas, so we need to make this common practice.. :>! some things ive done:

ZINES: ive made 3 collage zines about the same character including imagery and poetry from the perspective of 3 other characters, including his partner, best friend/situationship, and mother. it can also be informational, comics, etc, but i like poetry the best since my ocs are imagery/lore heavy, and i do cutout poetry which can feel like a puzzle.. its fun to go hunting through magazines and books. challenge urself to find words/images naturally and not print anything out. ITS FUN. i use "legal" type paper, which is slightly longer than A4, because we bought it on accident AND it makes the zine pages slightly, but noticeably, bigger, which is nice.

WEBSITES: i made a carrd to store in-depth character information that i can easily share with people. i also made toyhouse profiles. the customization is extremely fun, and a website seems more "official" than a regular google doc! with toyhouse, its been a while but i believe you can also set up character relationships and things like that.

PROFILES: spacehey.com is a myspace lookalike. i made a fitting email for one of my ocs and an account :D he uses it as a diary / place for rambling which is very fun to do in character, idc if its cringe. you can also customize the profile a lot to reflect the character, which is my fave part. You can do this with other social media of course, but i chose spacehey because of the customization and because my story is set in the late 2000s.

PHYSICAL OBJECTS: this costs money, but i also sometimes (very rarely because i like to reduce clutter..) collect things that reflect my ocs, or things that my ocs would own. i have a very special lamb plush and a black dog plush to remind me of my ocs, and sitting them together makes me feel so silly, but it is very cute.

PAPER STUFF: adding onto this, ive also seen people make paper dolls + paper belongings like wallets (think of a library card, Polaroids, receipts, their ID, etc..) .. VERY CUTE. you can also make paper dolls digitally of course. i havent done this but may in the future!

JOURNALS: i made a journal for my oc by writing in their POV. i made the mistake of getting a normal-sized one, i recommend getting a tiny journal so that you can actually fill it. an entire journal usually has way too much space to fill unless you're more insane than me. doesn't have to only be writing, you can include receipts / pictures / stickers / polaroids based on what your oc would put. obviously. AND, you can pick out a journal or make a journal cover that fits your oc's aesthetic. yay.

ALBUM COVERS: since my ocs are in a band, i created their album cover by collaging (you can also do it digitally, draw, photos, etc) which was SO fun. i cut it to size and put it in a CD case! the other album cover i made was digital, and i made the back with all the songs, fake publisher/record label, etc! eventually i plan to burn a cd with songs that sound similar to their band!

CDS: if your ocs dont make music, you can still burn CDs with either songs they would listen to, songs that they would sing to/sound like their voice, or songs that fit their character arc / personality. you can also make one that a character would make FOR another character, very cute.

SOUNDTRACK: make a soundtrack for your ocs' game/show/movie, and if you want, do it based on time period and location. genres are extremely fun to play with, and finding background tracks is surprisingly rewarding (i include a lot of NIN). ITS VERY FUN!!

BAG TOURS: similar to this post. i havent done this yet, but it seems like a really good way to develop your characters' personalities, day to day lives, and interests/needs :) ive even thought about collecting the real objects instead of just drawing or collaging bahahah. maybe one day !

CAST / VOICE CLAIMS: if an actor were to play your oc, who would it be? if someone was to voice act your oc, who would it be/what would it sound like? you can write this down or make clips of audio to show off ^__^ it takes a lot of digging sometimes and i love doing this for both my human ocs and my ponies.

MEMES: making memes of your ocs is smth i used to do constantly, it was very fun ! self explanatory mostly !

...TAGGING: this is very fun, but ive never heard anyone besides me do it BAHAH. i came up with tags for 2 of my ocs to write with paint markers. don't do this with expensive markers, they will get torn up depending on the surfaces you're writing on OBVIOUSLY. they can be as simple or complex as u want. come on. get into character. what is your character writing on that wall over there? .... i know this might be silly but its genuinely so fun and a way to integrate your ocs irl. BAHAHAHAH.

AND, most problematically, you can method act which i do not recommend doing for years on end because it has fundamentally changed me as a person. have fun ! that's all i can think of right now

[redhandedstag]

002 , CITRUS . . . orange character template to make your characters pop !! mobile and PC friendly, citrus offers 6 different sections and 5 pages in letter (8.5"x11") format.

last section is left blank in order to expand what's there -- feel free to add your own elements :) if you're using, please keep the credit linked in the first section, it helps out a lot. also, consider a like and/or reblog! it goes a long way to get stuff around. HOW TO USE , , to use the template, if you're on PC you'll want to select the 'file' button. from there, you'll find a button that says 'make a copy'. you'll be able to title your version, -- then you can fill it out :) !! if you want to use on mobile, open the doc in the docs app, press the '...' button, head over to share and export and select 'make a copy.' from there, you'll be good to go! , this doc utilizes quite a few tables but it shouldn't be too difficult to move them around to your liking :) , images can be replaced! you can just select the image, and then hit 'replace image'. , the doc is designed to support long backstories! make it as short or as long as it needs to be , in order to fit with the colour scheme, i suggest using an editing or drawing software with lighting settings to shift the schemes to your liking. of course, this is far from mandatory. , the gradient image in the background is a google drawing which you can edit if you're on PC. if you're on mobile, you won't be able to. if you don't want it there, then just delete it! . . . if you have any questions or issues that arise, please let me know! enjoy <3 ! also, my requests are totally open! just send me an ask :)

[sacred-coffin]

Rubbing my grubby little hands together. It's time to bipolar Terzo.

And, one thing for the record, I'm bipolar! So I know what I'm talking about and I'm projecting a little and that's valid

I tried to rewrite my bullet points from my google doc to sound... nicer and more professional, but it didn't feel right. So y'all are getting the raw unfiltered version from when I infodumped about this in a discord chat, hope you like it :)

ONE . He has big overarching aspirations, but also mad depressive episodes. These get in the way of him completing his goals and also make things fuzzy along the way.

He's got this big city, big social change, all of these huge goals and life paths he wants to follow. And there are times where he's really set and driven on working on it! Especially when people are egging him on, like when he was a cardinal. I imagine he had a lot of sustained manic or hypomanic episodes while he was a cardinal.

Being very dead set on a goal, possibly losing sleep over it, putting all of your time and effort on it...Also however you want to interpret the cream pies comment (sexual or food) it both lines up with something a manic person would do. SO.

I think once he's in the ministry again / papa his depressive episodes started getting harder & his manic episodes more. Erratic.

He had less people pushing & supporting him towards his goals / what he was really passionate about, so he was just . Really bitter and pulled away from people. You see a lot more of his irritable and generally temperamental side come out during this time bc like. When he has manic episodes he has so much energy to use up but nowhere for it to go! Sometimes being really angry with something can trigger a manic episode, and I think he might be prone to doing things really excessive/extreme all of a sudden to spite people. If that makes sense. Like the decision to ditch the papa robes, things like that.

Also iirc, when he was a cardinal he was really over indulgent. That is very common for manic episodes; it's very common to  develop substance abuse issues as well. I think he could be a borderline alcoholic, but he's pretty good at hiding it. Definitely better at hiding it than when he was younger, but the habit is worse when he's older

I kinda wanna talk about Terzo possibly being like, a pretty angry person. And this is definitely projection LMAO. He very much presents himself as a guy who probably doesn't have angry outbursts and such, but I think that. Well. If he's bipolar that is NOT true ok. When I thought about this the first time I was like "would he punch walls? No. His mom raised him better than that. But God does he want to break stuff"

I feel like part of his reclusiveness is to keep up this image he has to everyone-- you can't judge him or form an opinion of him in his off time if you don't see it. So you don't see him getting drunk, you don't see him being depressed, you don't see him getting mad, but god it is happening all the time

I just feel like, like, you could argue he has this sudden shift in personality at a certain point. Or maybe at multiple points. In regards to how he felt about his goals at least. Esp bc I resonate so hard with the thought that he didn't want to be the machine-man (from Metropolis, 1927), but he had to, and I feel like being bipolar explains that so so well. Facing adversity he'd get so pissed about it, but he would only let that stop him for a little bit. But he'd also wouldn't be able to make the kind of progress he did before (like drawing up blueprints or plans) because he doesn't have that same well of outside energy & support to tap into

God also. He is so delusional. He is so so so delusional.

I think being Papa ruined his mind .

No offense but like. His goals are impossible. He's chasing them so hard anyways. He's insane. Like. Like.

I don't know I can only compare this in my mind rn to my mom looking at me when I was like, 5 years old or something and telling me she was going to become an archeologist and move to Egypt. Like she was so so sure of herself that it was going to happen. Obviously it fuckin didn't,

Also also. I feel like he's not diagnosed bc I feel like it's more likely to be missed in men. Also I want to give him migraines even though it's less common in men but slightly more common with people who are bipolar and also bc it is GENUINE projection but I think the idea of Omega walking in and seeing Terzo hidden in a bundle of blankets with all the lights off like "is this a depression cocoon or a migraine cocoon" and Terzo just kinda shifts the blanket around and you see him wearing this funny as fuck eye mask. And Omega is like "migraine cocoon, got it" and just fucking leaves

Did he shave his head once and regret it? Yes. Did he get addicted to cocaine? Probably. Did he spend all of his money on model city pieces? At least twice.

I think in the end it's entirely possible he bought into everyone's ideas that maybe he is the one who should be worshiped

I feel like a lot of manic episodes & things can be so warped by the people you surround yourself with and like. Idk. Being the face of a devil worshiping cult can give a normal guy a God complex.

But a guy who's already prone to delusion and God complex??? Oh honey he's FUCKED.

[rouge-the-bat]

What a small 'net! I saw a reblog of your normalize post, & your avatar caught my eye. So I figured I'd peek at your blog in case you had more shiny stuff to see, & noticed you encourage folks tag you in Kurama & Hiei stuff. I pinned in the back of my head that, after checking out your stuff, I should ask if you want a link to skit translations from the Dance Mix CD—then saw YOU'RE the one who made the beautifully-organized Yu Yu Jukebox! That helped me figure out what CDs I wanted to buy! :D <3

yoo hell yeah!! im glad that helped you out!! its always nice to see the things i make can be useful :3 and nice that my kurama icon is catching the eye of fellow yyh fans hehe!

yu yu hakusho is a huuuge hyperfixation of mine, but my adhd has been making me struggle with focusing on doing the creative stuff i wanna do (like drawing and writing), so ive been instead doing a shit ton of other things revolving around yyh- like collecting the music and making the yu yu jukebox channel, ripping frames to post and organize them on my sideblog @reikai-records , and ive also been working on making a dialogue transcript for the dub (still unsure where to put it online when im done with that tho, atm i just have it on google docs, not too far on it)!

i cant remember if ive encountered translations for the skits of the dance mix cd though, id def love to see that!

[thesehandsfic]

hey i was wondering if you had a process for how you do reasearch for your fics? i don’t really do research and i have a hard time finishing any of my projects- does it help you stay motivated to finish?

hi! yes!! research is actually one of the most fun parts of a project for me & my methods/practices have changed a few times. i definitely think having a strong foundation for a work is essential, and it's important to me that my work is grounded in reality, even while i employ some aspects of non-reality that are afforded to us by fic. i work mainly in period pieces so my research processes are geared towards that specific type of work.

i usually start with the character research, who they are, what they would be, what they would experience in the area/period where they are placed. this can be anything from politics to religion to ideals to wardrobe to hobbies. after that i tend to familiarize myself with the media/culture of the era/location. culture & art are a big aspect of any world building, and it's a bit easier if the world you're building already exists/has existed. after getting a feel for the political climate, the books/movies/music that were popular, and how the characters would interact with them, there are usually niche topics i then look into for the sake of a specific project. like for example i once found a blogspot run by some guy where he indexed nothing but restaurants that were open in san francisco in the 70s. he included pictures, descriptions of menu items he ordered when he visited, the date it closed/who owned it/where it was located, etc. all of that stuff is out there. sometimes i will also do some research into sex and/or identity of the time, but this usually only applies to niche time periods or areas i'm not familiar with. i don't use anachronistic references, epigraphs, or anything else when i'm writing a clearcut period piece.

to keep everything organized i'll create a google doc called "research/outline for [fic name]" or something like that, and i'll make tabs. in the tabs, i save links like this:

& you'll see there in my other tabs i also save my plot breakdown, some quotes/literature by authors from the time period, or things i find relevant. it's easy to go back to all of this & find what you're looking for. i think this also helps you have something to look at as a visual aid. i spent hours just reading over the 16k+ research doc for tenebroso as i was writing it, and i really think being so firmly grounded in the heart & soul of the work is what helped me finish it up! there were a few times when i thought i wouldn't--i also used to really struggle with finishing a project, and this is what i've found works for me. some fics are less research heavy than others or simply just draw upon things i already know to be fact, which means the google doc is not always necessary. i think for go running the only thing i really researched was achilles tendon surgery & related recovery processes 'cus i lived in new york and already knew a lot about religion/gay sex/corporate teams/tech, etc.

i also am just kind of a history nerd and some of this is really just me adding enrichment to my enclosure. i'm not going to say there's any one correct way to do research or that it's necessary to do research in order to complete a project or anything like that... but it definitely helps me!

tl;dr: lots of hours on google, even if you think it's not "necessary" it might be fun to read/learn about it anyway, save what's relevant, remember to have fun !

[rockdwarftv]

So I've discovered Knave 1e

And It's everyone's problem now. Not so much fancy text this time but I've been going crazy making little systems for it. Like the first one, which was originally going to be in D&D 5e but I couldn't make it work there as easily. The system allows PCs to enchant any item with quality.

The effect any given spell gives is intentionally left out, as it should be up to the referee and the player as it what their enchantment does in the end. The next rule, again, was for 5e. But, translated well into Knave as I wanted the game to stay lethal but I wanted it to be a player decision. Sometimes a death would just be boring and that's dumb. So with this, you get to choose if you die or if you'd like to roll for it.

This would have had nice tables but google docs is ASS for arranging two tables next to each other.

Next is giving weapons a firm range. Knave had basic rules for this but I wanted to expand them to give players a little more wiggle room. The ranges use the base movement of all NPCs of 40 ft.

Knave also offers multiple ways to resolve attacks, while I prefer roling against a static value (ie Armor Defense), I wanted to offer players a way to actively defend against attacks. At a cost, however.

Rolling with your defense bonus gives you a chance to debuff the enemy, but puts you at higher risk of eating an attack. And even the rare chance of fumbling so badly the attack is made worse. Next was my crack at a monster, this is largely custom and based on the giant bloodworm statblock from AD&D. It's main purpose is to showcase how I want to handle conditions, this was made before Active Parry but it uses the same kind of idea.

Something Knave did not touch on at all, aside from stating a speed, was exploration. I wanted to steal from PF 2e for this so I made my own little simplified system.

This makes exploration feel a little more boardgame-y, and assumes there aren't going to be rolls for random encounters going on all the time. Ideally, unless the PCs are actively exploring new areas and not simply traveling between them, there should only ever be encounters which the referee has planned. Or, ones which match the movement of other groups on the map.

To tie into this, I've also worked out a Influence system, or a fame system.

PCs doing things should attract attention over time, they should have a real affect in the world they are in so that players understand their actions are actually doing something. It also could very easily tie into classic OSR ideas of building their own keep and managing hirelings. Doing that would draw the attention of local groups, for better or for worse!

Thank you for coming to my Knave ramblings. I like Knave a lot and I'm currently converting some modules into my own level 1 to 5ish game to run with these rules.

EDIT: (8/3/2024) I MADE MORE KNAVE STUFF

Made weapons a touch more interesting! Damage types now give bonuses, and the type of weapon is used to determine their bas damage and quality, not pictured because it's a big ass list lmao. Damage is also a flat value! If you deal damage you deal the maximum of a weapon's damage dice now, instead of rolling the dice.

Armor has been brought up to use the same mechanics as weapons, and adjusted slightly in how armor defense is calculated.

YEA PLAYER FOCUSED SPELLCASTING No more pre-made spell lists! Let the players make their own!

[duckieduccss]

NEW KAIJU OC?!?!

Well, yea technically. Basically i was interested in figuring out how id go with making my own kaiju. At first i wasnt sure where to go for designing one. So i chose to base it off another existing kaiju for inspiration. I kinda wanted to go for a dragon type kaiju (i like dragons) and the only thing i could think of was Ghidorah so i went with that (now that i think about it more, I could’ve maybe used Manda too prob but oh well, Ghidorah was still a good option). I added some different details to mine that make it unique to the og Ghidorah

My idea was that it could potentially be a relative to Ghidorah (being of the same species) but still far apart from one another to the point they arent all that aware of the other existing (theyre in for a shock when & if they do encounter each other lol). This version actually relies on cosmic energy derived from such sources like stars & generally anything that produce some form of energy within the vast universe (basing it off how Ghidorah themselves originally came from space & this variant being much more dependent on that factor). It stores that energy & relatively stays in a dormant stage for an extended period of time until when faced with the challenge to defend itself or fight off those it deems as a danger. Then it would release all that ginormous amount of space energy that manifests itself as a rapidly expanding glow of extremely bright light. Enough to cause extreme damage & bring down the opposition. It can gather energy by using special crystals it can grow (took that also as inspiration but from Space Godzilla) & become as some form of attracting & absorbing the energy. In a way, the energy is like its main source of food & energy to maintain itself (right after releasing a lot of it during its final attack of using that glow, it would be put in a highly vulnerable state if not recovered by regaining some energy back soon enough). For the most part, they mostly sleep (being lazy 24/7 just like me fr lmao) to keep all that energy but can be potentially dangerous if disturbed or provoked in some manner

(Here’s a better closer look at their faces. Realized the canvas’ too big to properly see each of them-)

The name of this kaiju you may be wondering???

It’s Ryudorah

(Yea i know im the most creative person out there. I combined another nickname i use for myself and just added the end part of Ghidorah’s name to make it clear it’s related to the other kaiju. I couldn’t think of anything else im sorry😭)

And also each head has its own individual name:

Do, Re & Mi

(Named after intervals in the musical scale (ex: Do, Re, Mi, Fa, So, La, Ti, Do)

Did i mention this kaiju can also technically sing too :)

I did have a lot of fun with coming up with the concept for them (tho it honestly took longer in designing them due to a busy schedule ive been put in as of late & finding the time to finish it) but im glad to finally be able to share this with you all. Hopefully I can share more about them soon (i have a whole google doc’s worth of lore lmao) & probably draw them again (tho maybe a lot more simplified by then). Didn’t wanna overwhelm ppl with the huge amount of info so I’ll prob slowly reveal more over time.

[Another thing too is that i still am new to the fandom (tho with more knowledge from getting to learn more from the source material) & most of this i gathered from already know stuff i knew. Tho im also open to feedback & maybe some ideas to add onto my own kaiju. So id very much appreciate it if there’s any suggestions from you guys ^^⭐️]

(I’ll only be taking constructive criticism btw. Anything hateful will obv be ignored)