#i'm on a little hiatus but i'm working in the background

[swanettesims]

a quiet alley...

this will be available for download next week <3...

[interact-if]

Our second edition of the Black History Month Author Spotlight series features beloved author, C.C. Hill (@when-life-gives-you-lemons-if)!

(CC is an absolute institution. What better way to celebrate Valentine’s than by doing a feature of the slice-of-life romance queen herself? CC is one the most inspiring, supportive IF writers out there, and it was a great honor to pick her brain! Read on for pandemic-setting feel good stories and Creole-based spells!)

Author: C.C. Hill

I'm from Haiti, born and raised. I love red wine, ice cream, and I'm obsessed with true crime podcasts.

Games: When Life Gives You Lemons (Slice-of-Life)

Synopsis: You play as an MC starting a new life in a small town called Lemon. It’s a story about self-discovery, love, and parenthood—a comfort story where the love interests want to sweep you off your feet.

Games: The Midnight Saga (Horror)

Synopsis: After finding yourself trapped in another dimension, you and your friends must fight for survival and defeat the monsters that lurk in the shadows. Make sure to grab a weapon as your quiet Halloween night turns into an out-of-this-world adventure!

Quote from the interview:

What mostly inspired Lemon in particular was the need for a feel-good story—a story where the character just needs a break. No magic, no monsters, just going through life and having the romance options fall in love with them no matter what. It was just the need for comfort, for feel-good moments, for romance, and a little bit of drama.

Read on for the full interview!

Tell me more about yourself! What are some things new readers or long-time readers might not know about you?

I'm from Haiti, born and raised. I love red wine, ice cream, and I'm obsessed with true crime podcasts.

Can you tell me a bit about what you’re working on right now and your journey into interactive fiction? What inspired the game/story you’re currently writing?

I'm working on so many things it should be illegal for my brain to operate this way. But mainly, When Life Gives You Lemons. My plan is to focus on the final part in March, do some beta testing, and submit it to Hosted Games in April for my birthday month.

I'm also under contract with Heart’s Choice, writing Spices of the Heart, with hopes of completing it this year. On top of that, I’m working on publishing my first visual novel, The Wedding. It’s close to completion, and I have the third quarter of 2025 planned for publication.

I only started writing interactive fiction in 2020. When the pandemic hit, I needed something to keep my brain occupied, and five years later, I’ve published three games and still have a ton of projects in progress.What mostly inspired Lemon in particular was the need for a feel-good story—a story where the character just needs a break. No magic, no monsters, just going through life and having the romance options fall in love with them no matter what. It was just the need for comfort, for feel-good moments, for romance, and a little bit of drama.

How has your identity, heritage/background, upbringing, or personal experiences influenced your storytelling or writing process? OR How does your work feature aspects of your identity / experience?

My first game, The Midnight Saga, was heavily inspired by my background and where I'm from. The story itself is based on an old Haitian folklore about not staying outside after midnight—if you do, the Keeper of Midnight will eat you. I took that idea and built the characters around it.

I even managed to include some spells written in Haitian Creole. It was a lot of fun to write, and even though Book 2 is currently on hiatus, this story has a special place in my heart because it was my first game. The characters are a representation of my people and the struggles they’ve gone through. I’m really happy that it was my debut story.

What are some of the most rewarding or challenging aspects of writing Interactive Fiction for you?

For me, it’s branching and being able to write an MC and other characters in a way that readers can truly connect with. Lately, I’ve been writing a lot of feel-good romance and slice-of-life stories, and I’m starting to feel like this is my comfort zone—and I want to stay here forever.

I never want to create a romance option that is inherently bad or purposely deceitful. My biggest challenge is writing characters who are flawed and complex—where readers can love them or hate them—but making sure they aren’t just villains for the sake of it. They’re simply existing in the world they were created in.

What does your writing process look like? Any rituals or habits? Any tips, tricks, philosophies or approaches that have worked very well for you?

My writing process is a mess. My brain gets pulled in so many directions. When I get an idea, I have to code it, shape it, and give it life—otherwise, it’s going to bug me forever. That’s why I end up with so many WIPs. I need to see them through, at least to a short demo, to see if they make sense.

My desk is also full of notes, and I basically write on anything—pieces of napkins, tissue boxes, whatever is nearby. One weird habit I have is that some of the best changes I’ve made to my games, those "spark" moments, happen when I’m in the shower. It’s weird and strange, but it works.

What’re you excited to tackle/implement/work on next? Or anything you’re looking forward to in the year ahead?

Keep writing romance and feel-good slice-of-life stories. Get When Life Gives You Lemons published this year. Focus on doing this full-time. Publish my visual novel.

Overall, just stay busy and be productive.

If you were to say one thing to your readers, other authors, and/or the interactive fiction community: what would it be?

To the readers—us authors don’t have all the answers. Sometimes, we start writing a story and end up forgetting certain plots or characters, which is easy to do when writing interactive fiction. So yes, we often write ourselves into a corner and just put a period there so the story can progress.

To the authors—write stories you love, something you would want to read. It makes it easier to keep going because if it’s a story you love, you’ll want to see how it ends, and that will push you to persevere.

This-or-that segment: (red = CC's pick)

Coffee or tea?

Early mornings or late nights?

Angsty or Cozy romances?  

Steady progress or frenzied binge-writing followed by periods of calm?

Introvert or extrovert?

Plotter or pantser?

[pink-onyx-au]

Thanks for everyone's patience while I'm hiatus-ing! I wanted to make people aware of this, too. Since translations are on the way, but of course, not every language may get added, so if you have a translation app and need some clarity in the mean time:

The Image Description of pages are going to be updated with English text and some minor, literary tonal words. That way, anyone can run the text through an app.

Episode 1 will be the one with all the translations to see how they track. The ones that get more traction will get a bit more attention just for the sake of time.

Portuguese is on the way, and Episode 12 will be getting its line art soon. It'll be a 27-page episode, estimated as of right now, with new characters and new backgrounds, so a bit of extra work. I appreciate everyone and all their work towards making this little story better! Thank you! 🧡💕❤️

[uncouth-the-fifth]

good morning, charlie - Leon Kennedy/Reader

read it on Ao3.

Pairing: Agent!Leon/Detective!Wife!Reader Tags: domestic fluff with the tiniest dustings of background angst, married life, hugging, kissing, and snuggling. Words: 3k (yes, I'm capable of keeping something this short) Notes: read this in a WWE announcer voice: THAT'S RIGHT! UNCOUTH HAS COME CRASHING BACK INTO THE RING AFTER YET ANOTHER MONTHS-LONG HIATUS. i'm magical, truly. here is the first Leon fic I promised last month! There's so much I want to say about this little drabble, but I'll save that for my curious ppl on Ao3. this is going to be a big 180 from my spn content, and I sincerely hope that's okay with the public 😭 for my RE people: enjoy domestic Leon bullshit!

At two in the morning, Washington D.C. is pouring everything it has into crafting the coziest atmosphere of all time. A pleasant window-tapping storm had rolled in right around when you resolved to stay up working. Some late-night radio host is making soft, fizzing chatter in the next room, and coupled with a stellar view of the city from fancy floor-to-ceiling windows, you have a prime opportunity to pass the fuck out.

Unfortunately, you have made some spectacular life choices that don’t mix well with a full night’s rest. Nope, no sleep for you. Despite all of fate’s attempts to stop you from being a cop, (including throwing a city-wide outbreak at you on your first day), you are still here, gripping your job with both hands. At two in the damn morning.

Since scrubbing your eyes hadn’t woken you up the first five times you tried it, you give it another shot as you pace the length of your living room rug—from the coffee table you’ve stacked with files, then back to the whiteboard pasted top-to-bottom with pictures of missing young women. The whiteboard had been Leon’s idea. After the fourth time you’d transformed a flattened cardboard box into a morbid case-board for work, he’d cajoled you into letting him buy one for the apartment.

But I won’t be able to stab the tacks into it, you’d pouted.

Oh, the agony, your husband had drawled. He was a master of delivering a good, dry look.

You’d propped your fists on your hips and tried your best to look serious. The red yarn connecting everything isn’t just a detective-movie thing, y’know! It’s actually really useful. And I need my tacks to stick the yarn in—

Leon had cut cleanly through your building sass with another look, this time one glimmering with humor. Then I’ll get you magnetic ones, detective. Don’t you use whiteboards at the precinct anyway?

You’d grumbled. Because, yes, you did use whiteboards at the station, and they did have the little tacks with the magnets on the bottom. But you’d refused to deal with Leon being all smug (he was unbearable pretty when he was right), and had teased back instead, Whatever, nerd. Why don’t you and the other two angels go call Charlie already?

The reference had gone clean over Leon’s head. Of course, he hated being left out of a joke, so he’d roped you over by your wrist and pinched an explanation out of you until you were squealing with giggles.

Summarizing Charlie’s Angels to Leon had been a lot like offering a paper rocketship to an aerospace engineer. But, hey, picturing him running around in skimpy outfits and escaping action movie explosions on a motorcycle is a whole lot more fun than… than the real deal.

You don’t want to think about what his missions are really like. Not that you’re even allowed to know in the first place. Being Leon’s wife permits you a government-issued phone with his handler’s number, and on antsy days you can push Ingrid for details if you want. But after so long you’ve learned it only hurts both of you—for her, in the inability to answer, and for you, in the excruciating pain of being unable to know. Where is he? That’s classified.

She can’t always tell you when he’s coming home, either. So much of your life is hinged on her check-ins, and even more is forced to live off a simple, He’s okay.

For the seventh time, you scrub at your tired eyes and suck in a deep breath. You’d gotten that fabled text from Hunnigan—he’s okay—earlier today, and like always you crawled through the rest of your shift roiling with anticipation, waiting for Leon to materialize back into your life.

You force your gaze back to the whiteboard, littered with notes and pictures hung up with magnetic tacks. The faces of five missing women bore back. The ten-ton weight of your caseload slams down in full, and again, you scold yourself for floating back into comforting memories of your husband. These girls have lost all comfort in the world since they were taken. Your Captain gave you the responsibility of finding them, and after all you’ve been through, after all the other cases you’ve closed, there can’t be any room for failure. Think.

Your legs ache from being on your feet all day, chasing leads, but dropping into Leon’s armchair for even an instant will just have you nodding off again. More pacing it is, then. This is your pattern for the next half-hour: pace, re-read witness statements, turn, sip your coffee, pace, cross-reference alibis. He’s okay. Two of the girls were taken from Queen’s Chapel, two from Takoma, one from Woodridge. He’s fine. The last victim breaks the profile. What’s different about her? Why take her? Think think think— You know what Leon would do. He was the kind of person you could put in front of a problem, and no matter what he would find a way to shoulder his way through. With physical force, sure, but mental force too. He would sit and just look at the puzzle, and sheer willpower would lead him to some kind of answer. But you’d been pushing and pushing for days now, pursuing every lead, pressing every witness, yet nothing will give. The whole thing feels like a punching bag you’re beating at over and over again, knuckles raw and bloody—

Keys rattle just outside the front door.

First the big deadbolt scrapes open, unlatching with a heavy thud, and that sound alone is enough to shock you awake. More than any coffee could. Then comes the doorknob. Leon hasn’t even turned his key before you’ve twisted the lock open, yanked the door out of your way, and sent it whipping into the jamb with his keyring still swinging from its slot. You give him one full blink to register that it’s you before you’re throwing yourself on him without a single lick of shame, legs and all.

Of course, Leon bears your weight with grace. He grunts out an oof! when you come in for landing, and the living, breathing sound drains into one gruff laugh. You’re scooped up under the thighs and teddy bear squeezed against him. He reeks of cheap motel soap and something faintly coppery—then mint, a whole world of plush, wet spearmint when he nudges your face up with his nose and lays a hello kiss on you. The taste of his gum and the scratch of his stubble on your chin make your skin feel like it’s fizzing, inside-burning-out, every inch of you stood on end by his static charge. Jesus, this guy. He feels like fucking magic, and you’re confident that the laws of physics don’t quite apply around him. Everything in the room, in the too-big apartment that’s painfully empty without him in it, tilts toward Leon.

You shove your face nose-first into his neck and clutch the back of his jacket in both fists. Swallowing hard, you manage, “Hey, angel.”

“Good morning, Charlie,” Leon says.

If you had any resolve for today left in you at all, the wash of his sizzling butter voice would squash the last of it. You’d been trying to be sweet, but your husband has to be funny about fucking everything, of course. Even after weeks spent apart. You love him so fucking much.

“Don’t tell me you found time to watch that stupid movie.” Your voice is muffled by his coat, and you’re grateful for an excuse to hide.

You’re moving. Leon carries you inside, his wedding band pressing into your leg and his other big, warm hand spooned around your back. “Boring plane ride. I wanted to get your jokes.”

Your front door is toed shut, and with all the efficient maneuvering of a proper agent, Leon gets the place locked up behind you. Somewhere in all the commotion he’d dropped his go-bag by the welcome mat, and you hear the dramatic thunk, thunk, of his fancy work loafers being kicked off beside it. Only then does he slip you onto your own feet again.

Your hands slide down his arms as you make contact with the floor. Somewhere in the back of your mind you’re aware that he’s damp from the rain, but that fact hangs in the little alternate universe he’s made in your front hall. Standing there and being able to look at him straight-on, Leon doesn’t feel real. It’s like your constant thoughts of him have manifested a ghost in his shape, mimicking the smiley rookie you remember.

He greets you with a quiet, beaten-down smile, and you understand immediately that the world has thrown its fair share of punches at him, too. You’ve both had a shit week. The Kennedy surname just brims with good luck, huh?

Your hands work on autopilot as you take him in, slipping under the fabric of his jacket and lingering over his thudding heart. His warm blue gaze swims over your face, and you can almost hear the clicking mechanisms in his head as he forces himself out of operative mode and into home mode by looking at you.

“It’s a really bad movie,” you say, choked up.

Leon’s jacket hits the floor with his shoes. There’s a swath of ugly, purpling bruises crawling up his bare arm, old enough to be greening at the edges, and your stomach churns when you see it.

He taps your chin up, pulling you away from the damage and back on him. His voice rolls over you like bourbon in a glass. “Absolutely. So-bad-it’s-good, even. We should watch it, make fun of it together. Like, why the hell does…”

Leon flawlessly falls into an analysis of the movie’s poorly-written espionage elements. The movie you made one offhand joke about several weeks ago, mind you. He’s pulling at straws, saying whatever the hell comes to mind to make you laugh, so exhausted he’s literally swaying on his feet. You can’t believe he’s trying to distract you with something so trivial, but this is your husband. One flash of that weary closed-mouth smile, one brush of those callused hands down your wrists, and your whole world resumes its orbit around him.

You laugh at the jokes he’s obviously crafted for your benefit, a weak chuckle your heart isn’t in. With his hands looped around your wrists, he guides your arms around his neck and welcomes you back into the toasty bubble of his touch. Leon’s even warmer from being tucked underneath his coat. Pure goodness and safety glows off him like a fucking nuclear reactor, and it dawns on you that you haven’t felt safe at all since he left. Anyone can be plucked off the streets here.

One more scratchy kiss and then he’s leading you deeper into your apartment. No one on Earth would believe that he’s a chatty guy, but he talks the whole way through. Too often he’s left to sit in his own mind on missions, and you’re treated to two week’s worth of his backlog in the next ten minutes. All the little things he wanted to say to you. The streams of smart-mouth commentary he was famous for at the academy are all inner monologue now, but you’re confident the Leon radio show still runs twenty four hours a day. He chatters so much in his head that it slips out of him like water sometimes—

“…that close to an explosion would disintegrate you, but fuck physics I guess—“ Leon interrupts his own flow of thought to squint at you. “Quit looking at me like that. It’s unfair how pretty you are when you’re tired. What was I—not like the laws of physics apply to that movie anyway, but…”

—and you’re stupidly charmed by it. He talks to comfort himself, and because the two of you are one unit, one person to him, he does the same for you.

With your hand tethered in his, he clicks off the radio in the kitchen. One of Leon’s side-stories replaces the random late-night station that’d been playing, floating over the din of the rain like bass over relaxing drums. He pours out the dregs of your coffee. He closes the files full of gruesome crime scene photos on your coffee table, and you watch, barely able to keep your head up, as he flips your whiteboard over to its blank side. You’ll get his second opinion on the case tomorrow.

Leon sweeps the place with you in tow, and once the security system’s armed and you’re almost sagging against him, the lights come off. Though you’ve had plenty of time to adjust to the Leon that returned home from training, you’ll never get used to the little alien ticks it’s given him. He navigates to your bedroom in complete blackness. He avoids the creaky floorboard just outside your door without seeing, deathly silent. The broad presence of him looms in the dark.

One wall of the bedroom is nothing but paneled glass, throwing a long square of dark blue moonlight over your rumpled comforter. While the view of the Potomac and Capital Hill is stellar from up here, you’ve always felt out of place among the things Leon’s generous salary has earned the two of you: a flat with a private elevator in the nice part of town, fresh-off-the-press sports cars, a getaway cabin up north. So much of it you end up enjoying by yourself. It only ever feels worth it when he’s here, smacking his elbow into the digital wall-panel that controls your A/C.

“—s’ supposed to be a touch screen,” he sidebars himself for the tenth time. Softer, Leon adds, “Brush your teeth. I’ll be right there.”

You rope your arms around his middle and press your face into the heart of his back, careful of the bruises he’s doing his best to hide. “Wanna wait for you.”

Leon doesn’t protest. There’s more little beeps as he screws with the temperature of your mattress or something, deciding, “We live in a damn spaceship. Are we too good for plain old-fashioned buttons now?”

Apparently you are, since old man Leon fails to figure out how to crank the heat up. You let him play with it for a little while longer (it’s not his fault he’s rarely home), and then intervene with a few quick taps when things get dire. The heater hums to life under the floor a beat later, and he turns in your grip to scoff, mystified by your vast and incredible knowledge.

“My smart girl,” he hums.

Just that is enough to chip off a piece of your strength. Had he said that to you over the phone, a million miles away in god-knows-where, your knees would buckle. He is the only one who talks to you like that—with so much simple, uncomplicated love. Too tired to put your thoughts into words, you flatten a hand over his heart and kiss the sun-freckled nape of his neck.

“Clingy,” Leon mutters. You’re pretty sure it’s supposed to sound dry and funny, another one of his jokes. But then he’s smoothing both of his palms down your arms in two long handsy swaths, and the gesture tells you everything about just how clingy he’s feeling, too.

His stories make getting ready for bed an even slower affair. You couldn’t mind if you wanted to. As you help him out of his starchy dress-shirt button by button, he surprises you with a rare explanation of where he’s been for the last weeks. The UK. Truly, your husband is the special secret agent to end all special secret agents: he talks around his job as if it was a bump he’d hit on the way home, entertaining you instead with his Leon-ified vision of London. Touristy as shit. Loud as shit. Smelled like shit.

“Just like DC,” he chuckles, and then a second time when your fluffy head pops through the collar of the sleep shirt he’s dressing you in.

It’s too much rough, cinnamon spice laughter for one woman to stand. You duck away to brush your teeth and groan into your palms like a schoolgirl over him, but sure enough, Leon trails you, fingers chasing the hem of your shirt (his shirt) in a sleepy daze. He always keeps you in view. Nervous, maybe, to have you out of his sight.

This tradition continues when the two of you crawl into bed. Your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and so has your body, able to sense him on the stupidly expensive mattress beside you. He thinks you can’t tell, but his gaze roves over you again and again—down your back when you flop face-first into the plush bedding, over the slope of your shoulder when you wiggle under the covers. Leon draws you into the glorious halo of his body heat with a gentle hand on your belly. If you could bottle this feeling, the whole world would be sick and stupid for him in hours. Minutes even.

You feel so safe that the word doesn’t even come to mind. Just vague, peaceful shapes of things you know, home, sleep, cologne, cozy. His work-rough palm with his body-warm wedding band slips under your tee to sweep over your ribs. Then comes Leon’s face, just on the right side of stubbly as he shoves it between your shoulder blades without a single lick of shame. The breath he takes of you is so heavy that his whole frame shudders with it, top to bottom.

You remember how you’d burrowed into his jacket the second he got home and think, You are me and I am you. We’re always on the same page.

With that, the stage is set. DC’s faraway glittering cityscape lights up all the raindrops on your window, and you watch them run as the two of you melt into one another. Leon’s warm breaths slow across your neck. Time for you to deliver your line.

You wet your lips and murmur into your pillow, “Do you want to talk about your mission?”

Legally, he can’t say yes. Government secrets, bureaucracy, yadda yadda. Leon isn’t always emotionally ready to crack open a coffin he’s just finished sealing, either, but while it is his job to close your case files for the night, you’re his wife. You’re the only person who can knock on that door. With how little choice he has left in his life, you try to give him options whenever you can. Regardless, you know the man you married—strong-willed on a mythical fucking level, and just as self-sacrificing. He’ll always try to spare you.

Sure enough, Leon says, “Tomorrow. Do you want to talk about your case?”

You shake your head at him, exhausted to the point of dizziness. “Tomorrow.”

A tender kiss is pressed to the nape of your neck, and the whole world goes silent for the perfect, husky whisper you’ve ached to hear. You feel his wry smile against your skin. “We’re always on the same page, baby.”

[guardian-angle22]

maybe you’ve already done this but I would love to know your top underrated tarlos moments

Thank you for asking! I did make a set once for my favorite background moment. That set is here. I do like that one!

As far as underrated, I think that can be tough with a fandom like ours with as much hiatus time on our hands as we've had... because I think we've hyped up about every possible tarlos moment we possibly can. 🤭

HOWEVER, I can't leave you empty handed here. So! here are some of my Top Slightly-Maybe-Underrated Tarlos Moments:

Carlos Being at Owen's Remission Cake Celebration. Something about the exchange between TK & Carlos at the beginning of this scene just always strikes me. Carlos says, "It's cool your mom came down here for this." and TK says, "It's cool you did. Thanks for being here, babe." and something in his face after that exchange just says to me that he's not used to having a boyfriend show up for things like this. So it feels like a subtle but big moment for them!!

TK & Carlos Shopping at the Farmer's Market. There's something very domestic and sweet about the two of them walking through the farmer's market together swinging their tote bags, buying flowers, sniffing random plants, checking out the local jam offerings.

TK & Carlos Cuddling on the Couch. Much has been said about the cuddling specifically in this scene, the equal opportunity big/little spoon situation. but also I just love the thought of them doing this regularly: cuddling up in front of the TV at the end of their shifts, decompressing, and telling each other about their day and their struggles. encouraging each other. and then also cuddles.

Holding Hands at Owen's Intervention. The tone they kind of took this scene in with the music and editing made it seem less serious, but I feel like the situation would've been very stressful for TK (especially as someone who had been on the other side of an intervention before like he said) and I love the silent support Carlos offers here and the way he tucks his fingers into TK's sleeve.

TK Sleeping on Carlos as He Works. This probably isn't underrated but. it's one of my All Time Favorite Moments and therefore it makes this list. Here is a set I made for it awhile ago that I still really enjoy. The way TK tries to get Carlos to stop working in the middle of the night and when he realizes that's not going to work, he says okay. I'm gonna sleep right here and be with you then. He said I'm not going to sleep alone ever again if you're here so MAKE ROOM, BABY!

Carlos Keeping His Eyes on TK. not sure how else to describe it tbh, but just the way Carlos zeroes in on TK taking the phone call at the end of 3.07... it's like he always has a feeler out for what TK is doing at all times, even when surrounded by their friends. I truly wish we got to see the aftermath of that phone call. the way Carlos would've taken care of TK in that moment.

Scritchy Scratches. that's it. send tweet.

Soft!Dom Carlos Backing TK Up. listennnn this scene might be talked about a lot. but never enough. the gentle dom carlos of it all truly eats at my brain constantly. the way he backs TK up, reigns in his spiraling and calms him down with just a couple words and grip of the neck. I cannot.

TK Offering Carlos Back Rubs. another instance of TK waking up because Carlos isn't next to him. recognizing that Carlos needs comfort and offering to rub his back, like he's probably been doing for multiple nights now. it's just another sweet look into the way they comfort and support each other that might not get fully shown but is still there.

The Wedding Leg Grip. this is my Most Favorite of all the gifs I've made for the touch series. idk what it is about this particular gesture, but the way Carlos grabs TK's leg will forever be famous to me and we should be talking about it every week.

[clangenrising]

Hey guys.

It is with great shame that I think I must announce that I can no longer maintain my posting schedule and RisingClan needs to go on a tiny hiatus.

For some background, I've been struggling with work and mental health for a couple months now which culminated in a breakdown a few weeks ago after which my boss insisted I take some time off work to recover. In that time, I've been trying to catch up with RisingClan’s schedule, which I am very behind on, but this week I learned that I need to start packing to move out as well. And to top it all off, I'm in danger of losing my benefits and need to get that sorted out.

Multiple people have told me that if I need to put RisingClan on hold, I can, that my audience will understand, but I've been loathe to because doing so would mean abandoning the "In Real Time" gimmick that I was so proud of and I didn't want to compromise my vision in that way. Unfortunately, though, I have come to the realization that I can either force myself to write and damage my mental health further, write at my own pace and release updates far later than I wanted to hoping that doing so doesn't make the story too different from what I had hoped, OR I can put things on pause until my life isn't falling apart and then start writing again, albiet not in the way I wish I could.

I have decided to do the latter. I'm going to take a break from producing RisingClan content for at least a couple weeks, maybe a month or two, while I move and get my shit together. I'm also going to put Featured Follower Posts on hold. However, during that time I will continue to answer asks since that takes very little effort and I'd love to highlight any fan art if people feel like making any. When I feel I'm able, I'll start writing again and maybe eventually I'll be able to catch up to the current month and resume business as usual. I'm not going to push myself though.

I know you'll all understand but I want to thank you anyway and say I hope that you'll stick with me through this posting gap. The events that are coming up are things I'm really excited for and I hope you'll all be there to see them!

To my lovely patrons, I would appreciate your continued support but I understand if you feel the need to cancel your subscriptions even temporarily. Luckily, I already finished Leafbare's season illustration so that will be posted on time, as usual.

Thank you all. I couldn't do this without your support and I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle soon.

♡ Rowan

[deoidesign]

Happy webcomics day!!!

I'm not home (on a trip right now with family), but I still want to talk a little bit about my process, so I did what I could to find some wip shots 🧡

Plus, I'd also like to update my extremely patient readers with a little taste of what's to come!!!

Step one, of course, is writing.

When I'm writing I have four documents open. A "dump" document, a "yes this!" Document, an outline document, and a drawing canvas!

In the dump document, I put ANYTHING. complete stream of consciousness. The 'yes this' document is where I put anything useful from the dump document, and the outline is, of course, the outline. The drawing canvas is for me to sketch out problems and ideas and get sort of a different angle on things, since I can't really visualize.

Once I have a book completely written, I start thumbnailing!

My thumbnails pretty much look like this. Text, sketchy poses, indications of expression and maybe environment...

I thumbnail the entire book at once. I don't let myself do any edits on it until it's done, but I take note of edits I'd like to make! Then, once the first draft is out, I edit.

I'll move entire scenes, delete whole episodes, bring in bits from the end to have proper foreshadowing... Etc! It's a long process that makes my arcs feel much more complete and something I can be really proud of.

I can only do this when I'm really ahead, though, so that's why I've been on a long hiatus!!! I was forced to work without my process for a few arcs, and the difference is so huge to me that I refuse to let myself do it again. It makes a loner hiatus, but work way more worth waiting for!

Next step is lineart!

Yes, I skip sketches! I go right into lines.

I save every head I've ever drawn, and that lets me copy paste in a basic head angle. Then I redo the face, fix up the hair, etc. so it fits my panel, and then I draw the rest of the body!

This seriously saves me so much time, but less so for the drawing (i still draw a ton of heads and I'm very fast) and more just for helping me skip sketching entirely!

Then I do character flats, which since all my lines are closed that goes pretty quickly (slowest part is Steve's hair, I refuse to use a brush cause every one I've made looks terrible!!!)

And then I draw the backgrounds!

Which, I keep layered, clean, and HUGE so I can use them throughout the arc.

I used to feel bad doing this, but then I realized... It's not like backgrounds "change" irl. So why make them change in my comics...? It saves me so much time, but it ALSO lets me put in more detail per background! I draw probably 3 very large backgrounds per episode like this, and then I draw maybe 5-10 unique backgrounds for single panels per episode as well. I save these too, but they're rarely re-used.

And then my panels are done!!!

So there's a bit of my process for you all!!!

Happy webcomics day 🧡🧡🧡

And here's my comic, if you haven't read it and want to see the end result of this process, or if you have read it and would enjoy a re-read with the extra knowledge:

Or, if you would prefer books I have those too!

Happy to elaborate on any step, as well!

I make comics extremely quickly and as my full time job, and my process allows me to easily manipulate my format as well. I'm happy to share any of my knowledge if you have questions!!!

[moonblastbitch]

Yellow card update

Hi ya'll! So I barely use tumblr nowadays, but considering some stuff going on I thought it would be good to do a quick little come back.

So hi! I'm Kit, I write the griddlehark fic Yellow Card with my friend Starr. It's a very silly fanfiction about age difference Harrow and Gideon having an affair and raising a child together. It's pretty well known in TLT fan spaces which I'm super grateful for! It's not an understatement to call this little fic my pride and joy. I've spent the last two years working on it as my little labor of love and it's kinda grown a cult of followers! Really, it's a fun excuse for me and my friend to work on something we care about together. But lately I haven't felt inclined to work on it and I want to talk about why.

Over the last several months I've had some health stuff going on that's resulted in needing two surgeries. Along with that, I moved into a new place and my gf and I are managing some new financial stress. Plus, you know, the general state of democracy in decay all around the world. It doesn't leave me a lot of time or energy to write silly smut fic. Everyone has been very supportive of me taking the time I need to recover and I'm really grateful.

But... this is where I have to address some not great stuff. Today my friend approached me with a fanfiction making fun of my writing. And several posts from someone making fun of the tropes I use in the writing. Now, I want to make this abundantly clear. Absolutely no one is required to like my writing style or fics. I don't write for praise or wealth, just for my own personal happiness. I think everyone is within their right to complain to their friends if they dislike something they read. What I really can't tolerate however is this intense hostility toward myself or my fellow writers. Nor do I appreciate having an entire fic written mocking me or my stylistic choices.

Back when I first joined the TLT fandom in 2020 it was teeny tiny. Now it's a lot less so. It's been so satisfying to see everyone grow and change over the years, and I think I've grown a lot as a writer. Sadly though, I've seen a lot of stupid bullshit. I've seen personal friends of mine targeted in harassment campaigns because they ship the wrong ship. I've been added to public bookmarks complaining about my writing, I've been subtweeted, I've been made fun of. And I think I'm done.

I write for my own pleasure. I write to bond with my friends. I am not writing for homophobic assholes who use my work to mock me, nor make me or my co-writer the target of harassment. So, as a result, Yellow Card and all my other TLT fics are on an immidate hiatus, with the exception of one upcoming commission for the TLT for Palestine charity.

I spent a long time tonight debating if I should even write this post. It seems like by writing this I'd be giving the people making fun of me more ammo. But honestly? I don't care. My feelings are hurt. I am upset. I shouldn't have to hide that because some bullies will take bits of this statement to use in their next bitchy text post.

I want to reiterate something important. I am open to critque on my work. Anyone who has an issue with my writing style is more than welcome to come into my comments and let me know if something isn't flowing right, if there are unfortunate implications of a line I may not have considered, if there is something they personally find a bit distasteful. Sadly, the people doing this skipped right to mockery and ridicule, and that is unacceptable.

What drew me to this fandom in the first place was Muir's openness to her background in fanworks. She clearly takes such pride knowing her book series has spawned into a wild, happy fandom writing crack silliness and serious character study alike. Because that is what fandom is for. Having fun in a big beautiful sandbox, creating art with friends. And I treasure that deeply, even as I am forced to walk away from a space I love.

TLDR: TLT fandom is full of dicks. And not the kind I write about.

Thank you to everyone whose offered me kindness and support over the years! I truly appreciate you all. If you wanna stay in contact, it's easiest to find me over on twitter @moonblastbitch or discord (same name)

[wa-royal-tea]

That one summer day ☀️

Notes under the cut:

Hi. It's been a while.

Sorry for disappearing just like that considering I've never pulled this before since I first began posting on this blog.

No, this is not a goodbye note. I'm just gonna give y'all a little life update on what's been going on with me hahaha

So uh, I'm alive and well. Life has been life-ing since I returned to my home country. I was severely burnt out from doing my Masters and a week after coming home, I started working and my sleeping schedule has been a fucking mess since then. As it turns out, remotely working for a foreign company where you have to follow their time zones would fuck with your sleep schedule. Who would've known? /s

I haven't had the time to open the game bcs of this and as a result, my story has been put on the back burner bcs y'know, irl stuff is my priority. And I'm also experiencing some burnout for basically everything. So I decided to take this break for my own sake and for the blog's sake. I'm hoping that when I come back, I could return with a story that everyone can enjoy.

Aside from not having time bcs of work and personal stuff, Love and Deepspace also had my full attention since September so...yeah. I blame Zayne for taking my attention away from the story lol

I'm not ending the story for this blog anytime soon, even if there's only like 10 ppl reading it. Ya girl is not a quiter. The story is still going, it's just on a...how should I say this? An indefinite hiatus? On a pause? And I've also like thought about putting it on a pause while working on it until the ending in the background so when the chapter is up, I'll just release them one by one. Still considering this tbh 🤷🏽‍♀️

I hope everyone is doing okay. I do miss posting here. But rn irl is my priority. I turned off my ask so I do not have to worry about leaving anyone's asks hanging.

I do want to thank the ppl who reached out to me via discord and asked me how I'm doing. I really appreciate that (❁´◡`❁)

I will log out of this blog again so if anyone wants to reach out to me, you can reach out to me on discord if we're moots there :)

To those who are still here, sorry for the break but I am thankful to still have you around. I will come back in the future but your girl needs this long break after almost 5 years of being here :')

So I hope you guys can be patient with me ಥ_ಥ

Take care and stay safe! (✿◡‿◡)

Love,

Nina

[hollow-lime-green]

my 2sorcs gushy post

2sorcs is done at last, and i feel like i've run a marathon (albeit very slowly). now that people have had a chance to read the final chapter, i want to be squishy about it for a minute. so without further ado, I yap under the cut.

it's no secret (because I can't shut the fuck up about it) that i have had a pretty rough past year of grad school. things have often not gone as planned. i'm not where i wanted or expected to be when i started this program. and yet, i think i am happier than i would have been had everything gone to plan. all of the delays and difficulty of my master's degree have forced me to sit down and actually learn how to cope with this shit instead of forcing my way through. apparently (this will shock you), i cope pretty well by writing fanfiction.

i'll be honest, when i started domains, the scope was 40k of PWP under a thin veneer of H/C and comedy. I still wanted to do a little character work, and I couldn't help but do a bit of jujutsu theorycrafting. but i very much expected it to be a one and done thing that i was writing as an easy way to get back into writing fic after a long hiatus.

while writing 2sorcs, i started doing a lot of work unpacking my own anxiety and depression, and it's been quite a journey. but it has been a much more pleasant journey than it might have been, because i can project it onto some gay boys and make them kiss. and (eventually) be happy (maybe).

many of my readers have said very kind things about my characterization in FIYM, and that makes me so happy. 2sorcs, and FIYM in general, is extremely unserious. but underneath the comedy, there's a lot of real sht. i wanted the characters and their ridiculous hangups to feel real, and i wanted their extremely illogical decisions to still make sense. because real people are like that. i'm like that, and so - as most authors do - i put a lot of myself into these characters while i write, and we can feel and grow together. (i can't say that i'm a gay special-grade jujutsu sorcerer in the 2010s, but i think we'd have a few things in common.)

FIYM is also my first time writing comedy! there's something fun about writing serious, artistic fanfic, but there is something freeing about putting the dumbest 2010s shit i can think of onto a page and seeing how much psychic damage i can inflict on my audience (and Nanami). i love that you guys are here for it. it really makes the whole writing process so much more fun.

your comments and your asks have gotten me through some of the roughest months of my life to date, and i am just so grateful to have such a rewarding hobby and community to retreat to when the real world gets dark and cold and shitty. i would not have been able to write this fic, or honestly my thesis, if i didn't have you all cheering me on in the background and reminding me that things i do make people happy. <3

so what's next?

well, 3sorcs, obviously! FIYM is far from over. i feel a liiiiittle guilty leaving you all on such a cliffhanger, but with any luck, you won't have to wait too long. i've had the outline for part 3 in the works for a long time now, although it's nice to sit and take some time to re-work it and make sure it fits the writer i am now, who has grown so much over the past two years. part 3 will be (primarily) from satoru's pov, and it may get more serious, but also more unhinged. i can't wait. i also have plans for a few more interlude pieces, including a longer multichapter focused on shokohime in this verse.

for now, though, i'll take a short break and take some time to read some of the lovely fic in this fandom and some of the books on my tbr to recharge creatively for the next and final leg of this race. and defend my masters if these motherfuckers will get off their asses and send me my test samples. i know that we might be looking at a dip in the jjk fandom, at least until new animation comes out. but i hope that by the time i am back, you guys will be here and ready for some more tomfoolery :)

if you have stuck around through my yapping, here is your reward: a 0-context snippet from part 3, 'fellas is it gay to be his one and only'.

[lola-theshowgrl]

"Star-Crossed Blades" - Writing Update #1 Month: January Stage: Plotting/World-Building Word Count: 0 Currently Listening To: Nothing Matters - The Last Dinner Party Beverage: Jasmine Tea Mood: Excited

-

Now then. Some of you will be able to tell immediately that Something Has Happened Here. Wasn't Lola supposed to be working on "All's Fair"? Isn't that the project she's been banging on about for the past six months... maybe longer??

Well yes, actually. As it happens, you're not wrong, and I hold up my hands to that, because that is indeed what I'd been planning to work on. Tomorrow my self-enforced writing hiatus is over with, and as seems to be so very On Brand for me, I woke up this morning with an idea! And that idea turned into a series of scenes, and that series of scenes involved two characters, who very quickly received names and backgrounds, and Situations, and, you guessed it, an ending. And well, there was suddenly a story. Then a playlist. Then a pinterest board. Then a title.

All this to say I spent this evening jotting down world building, character names, cultural beats, a map, names for gods and moons and cities, and even a pet fox called Tiberius.

And I know some of you have been hanging on for "All's Fair" and I will get there (because I love the story and the characters, so, so much!) but I haven't been this excited to write in months, so I have to just go for it! I'm really hyped to get writing tomorrow, I have the prologue played out in my head already, and the beginning of chapter one is chomping at the bit, and I can't wait for you guys to meet Silas and Nedra. I think you're going to enjoy this, I really do!

I think I'm going to enjoy this! It's such a fun little idea, and I know from past experience that it's love for the characters that carry me through the rough patches of writing a story. And folks, I love these two. They're so much fun, both so sweet and so ridiculous. We're in for an adventure, I can already tell!

Thanks for being here with me at the start. Let's see how quickly I can bash out this first draft!

~Lola 💛

[stackslip]

CAN YOU ELABORATE ON TLT BEING A HOMESTUCK FANFIC‽‽‽‽‽

i'm exaggerating a bit, but taz muir was a well known homestuck writer who wrote under the username urbanAnchorite. her fic the serendipity gospels is one of my fave fics ever, but was never finished and it's only by book 2 of tlt that i figured that the clear allusions to it in book 1 weren't just cute little nods but that she'd expanded on some of the ideas/concepts and worldbuilding of the serendipity gospels. to name a few:

the ninth house cult is heavily based on the juggalo church muir wrote/expanded upon in TSG, from face paint to the rituals and a lot of the accompanying prose

act 2 of TSG takes place mainly in a spaceship that serves as "cathedral" of the juggalo cult, and is described to be covered in bones that have been painted in many colors--which is close to the description of the mithraeum

act 2 also features the two main characters being much younger people mentored/manipulated into horrible acts by an old man who is thousands of years old and bickering with his other thousand year old friends/enemies, who seem to share knowledge and understanding that neither the two protagonists do but also deeply resent one another. hard to not read a parallel to john and the lyctors here!

to elaborate on this bc i just realized it: it is heavily implied in TSG that the dancestors (older people thousands of years old) went through a universe reset and built the empire in the image of their own trauma and anger, which would v much parallel what happens to john on earth and how he "reset" humanity

less of a homestuck thing and more of a taz muir thing: said old man is v much grooming the main female character and making her life miserable during the entirety of act 2

a lot of the story takes place in the background of the trolls' empire being a horrific imperialist force that the main characters were originally very excited to join and become a part of, with one of these characters in particular daydreaming about becoming ground troop for invasion while also holding a terrible secret that would have precluded him of doing so anyway. p neat parallel to gideon's own thing here

act 1 and act 2 of TSG are from two different pov characters, with a drastic shift in prose style and understanding of the situation/world when the pov shifts. which v much echoes how tlt has worked so far. part 3 was barely started before it went on hiatus, but it followed the same pattern.

speaking of, the prose of act 2 of TSG definitely feels very close to harrow the ninth's prose. you can just open the fic and check the first chapter of act 2 and how it's written, and you'll see what i mean. there are differences--the prose of TSG act 2 is more inflected with southern usamerican evangelical speak, i think? i'm not american so i can't quite 200% tell

there is an external armed resistance to the empire's violent imperialism and resistance that was supposed to be the focus in act 3 of TSG, which never happened. nona the ninth did, though, and it follows that structure.

there are also eldritch horrors that threaten the entire universe--homestuck's own horrorterrors--that are in the background of TSG and implied to be an important part of the future plot that we never saw. tlt has the ressurrection beasts

taz muir's worldbuilding around the blood castes in og homestuck that she elaborates on in TSG also somewhat parallels the way the houses function in tlt

iirc there's also worldbuilding around space travel in tlt (such as the obelisks? i think that's the name? and the use of necromancy to power them) that parallels taz muir's own take on how space travel works in the troll empire, using psionics and draining them dry in a similar way

i think the necro-cav relationship 'ideal' is based around how taz also interpreted moirallegiance in not just TSG but all her homestuck fics, down to how its legal implementation and the idealization of it vs its role in troll/houses imperialism and the reality of blurred lines in "expected" relationships. i'd love to hear taz's discourse on troll romance

i also think the necro-cav relationship parallels the other legal pairing explored in TSG--legislacerator and subjugglator.

there are probably more parallels i am missing--i need to reread TSG soon, as i haven't in a while. there are elements i'd say are more like, how taz herself elaborated on the bones of the worldbuilding of homestuck and then made it her own thing, which is rad as hell. other elements are more fun nods, such as gideon's aviator glasses being shamelessly stolen from dave homestuck, and a lot of gtn's prose feeling very homestuckey. it's def not like, just a little rewrite and boom, you get the locked tomb! imo it's more elements of plot and worldbuilding that were interesting enough to develop into something of its own and that taz made into something new, along with other elements of other stories (such as lolita and umineko) being woven into it. part of why i enjoy tlt so much is its "collage" aspect, taking elements taz thought interesting in other stories, or using these elements to purposefully evoke specific feelings/moods to construct or obsfucate certain ideas.

[avianyuh]

hey can i request one with Baekhyun, where he and the reader (she´s also famous) broke up, months ago, so she went on hiatus and after coming back, she gave a statement saying she was really sick so Baek finds out and reach to her.

thanks

HELLO, I haven't received an EXO request in a while! I'm so excited. This one is pretty long so I hope you enjoy it!

“I can’t do this anymore”, Baekhyun yelled as he slammed his fist down on the counter. You were separated by the kitchen island in his apartment. The two of you had been fighting for weeks over anything and everything. You knew it was stress. He had been booked and busy and so had you. Though you had an apartment of your own, the two of you spent the majority of your time at his place. So the past few weeks between your busy schedules consisting of studio sessions, photoshoots and variety show appearances, you would come home late, crawl into his bed regardless if he was home or not. 

For a little background, you had been together for three years. You met Baekhyun backstage at an award show. You had been in a successful group at the time and had just gone solo. You remembered being a nervous wreck that night as you were waiting backstage ro start your performance. He had been waiting with the rest of his members for their own performance, and had been subtly watching you from across the room. It sounded cliche but that was the truth. And although he knew of you, he had never spoken to you but he could tell you were nervous and needed some reassurance. So he stood up, put his hands in the pockets of his dress pants and started to slowly make his way over to you. The thing was, you had been so lost in your own thoughts that you hadn’t even noticed that he was now hovering over you as you sat on the edge of the bench in the waiting area. He took notice of how distracted you were so he cleared his throat in an effort to get your attention, which fortunately for him worked. You looked up, startled to see him standing over you. At first you thought he needed to get past you, so you scooted away and ushered with your arms for him to walk past you. Though all that did was make him laugh and motion no with his hands before he sat down next to you. 

“I can tell you’re nervous”, he said, his voice soothing, you felt yourself relax a bit as you stared into his eyes. “You have nothing to worry about, you have a beautiful voice and your songs are good. I can’t go anywhere without hearing them, people love you.” You shyly thanked him but shook your head no. 

“Thank you for trying to cheer me up but everyone who already went on has a better set than me, I think I’ll be the underwhelming performer of the night.” To that he looked at you with confusion. It was that kind of Are you serious? look.

“I mean, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re wrong. I know you’ll do great. And by the way, we all get nervous, it doesn't matter how many times you’ve performed, or if you’re in a group or alone, it’s always nerve-racking, but you’re here for a reason. That reason is because you can sing.”, Baekhyun said as he playfully nudged you before standing up. But before he went back to his group, he looked back at you and gave you a wink. Not going to lie, he made you blush. And he did reassure you because 15 minutes later you were on stage and you killed it. The next day all you saw on the news was praise. And later that night you exchanged phone numbers with Baekhyun and the rest was history. 

It was great for almost all of your relationship but since Baekhyun had been having problems with his company and was planning on leaving, things had become a little tense. For the first two years you had kept things private. But at the start of your third year together you both had come to the conclusion that you were sick of hiding and wanted to go public, so you did. It was rough the first few weeks and the headlines were brutal. You had never had much heat in your career, the only negative press you had ever received up until that point was your group’s disbandment. Especially since your solo career had done so well, some people claimed you sabotaged the group. It hurt, mainly because it wasn’t true, but you had survived it. And the same went for your relationship. Some people were mad, but you both survived it. But now you were getting nervous. It seemed like you and Baekhyun had been moving towards a breakup. But that was the last thing you wanted. But right now, you weren’t so sure you knew what Baekhyun wanted. 

Your voice quivered, “W-what do you mean you can’t do this anymore”, tears welled up in your eyes but you refused to let them fall, you had to show him that you were confident, confident that this phase of your relationship would pass. 

“Y/n, I can’t keep doing this. WE can’t keep doing this. The constant fighting. I come home, we talk and an hour later something sets one of us off.”, you knew he had a point. You looked at him from across the counter. He had dark circles under his eyes, which weren’t from you, but the stress from work, but the unstable homelife probably wasn’t helping, you had to admit. His hair was disheveled and he was wearing a baggy t-shirt. 

It was 12 in the morning and you should’ve been asleep but as the two of you had been laying in bed an hour ago, just as you were starting to drift off, Baekhyun told you as he held you in his arms, half asleep, that he had to go overseas for two months for a new project. You sat straight up from the shock of the news and your eyes that were fighting to say open a minute ago were now bugging out. 

“I’m sorry what”, you snapped. “You just came back from filming something in L.A? Now you’re leaving again. I think I’ve seen you maybe a handful of times this year. And I can’t remember the last time we went on a date.” His response? A sigh. You couldn’t believe it. He was acting like you were crazy and that just made you angrier. So now you’re here, standing across from him, an hour later. And though you hadn’t looked in a mirror, your own appearance mimicked his. You had eyebags to match his, your hair looked like a hairbrush hadn’t been through it in days even though you had just brushed it that morning, you were in your sweatpants and one of his shirts. You both looked stressed. You had your own problems too. Your album had been delayed another three months and your fans, though very loyal to you, not to mention protective, were starting to get impatient considering this was the second delay of your comeback. 

You felt like he didn’t care. And that he wasn’t the same man from three years ago that came up to you in the waiting area and reassured you despite the fact he didn’t have to. 

You took a sharp inhale, tears blurring your vision, you knew you were reaching your breaking point. Something had to change. “So…what do you want to do? Breakup? Take a break? Go to bed and talk about it in the morning?”, you were throwing out as many possibilities as you could, though you hated the first two options, you knew you had to consider them at this point. Baekhyun leaned against the counter behind him. He looked down at the floor for a long while before he looked back up at you. He said nothing, just pursed his lips. Because you knew him so well, you had gotten your answer. You swallowed hard and tried to stop the tears from falling. He came over to you, kissed your forehead and pulled you into his embrace. You breathed him in, melting in his arms. You knew this was the last time you’d have him all to yourself. To feel safe and secure. 

The next morning you packed your stuff up, he drove you to your apartment, came in and got his own things he had left at your place and got ready to leave. 

The two of you stood in the doorway, just looking at each other. Sadness evident on both of your faces. He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on your lips. You couldn’t bring yourself to hate him, even after the countless fights. You loved him too much. 

Turns out the three month delay had turned into a sixth month delay of your album. You and Baekhyun had decided to wait a month before announcing the split. The last time you contacted him was over text right after the breakup. You had asked if you should tell your company or not, to which he said he thought you should wait. You were sure why he wanted to hold off on a split announcement. And a small part of you hoped it was because any day now he’d be at your door, a hysterical mess and take back the breakup. But to your dismay that never happened. Between losing the life of your life to a bunch of petty fights and frustrations from your jobs, the stress of the album delays and rerecordings and scrapings of songs had amounted to you falling ill. All the stress you had been under had actually made you physically sick. So you laid low, didn;t really go out and just loathed in your self-pity. It wasn’t until a friend of yours had shown up at your apartment one day and talked some sense back into you. A month later you were officially back. You had your ‘mask’ on, pretending to be strong. Luckily you had recovered fully and you could at least prove to the world that you were healthy. Your long overdue album had reached the top of the charts, everything was going well and your schedule was booked up again. You had work back in your life to fill the void in your heart. But you knew that only one man could truly fill the empty space. And that was life for a few weeks. It wasn’t until you had gone on a talk show and had been asked about those few months you were on hiatus that you finally revealed you had been sick. That your body had been put under too much stress. The interviewer gasped as you nodded. Though you weren’t the biggest fan of oversharing, it did feel good to know that your fans were aware of why you had been gone for so long. All of the support rolled in online. Things were starting to look positive again. 

But everything changed the night the interview aired on TV. You heard a knock on your door. You had been sitting on your couch, scrolling through your phone. The time read 9:08. You were hesitant to even approach your door, but when you looked at the front door camera, you felt your heart race increase. There he was. Baekhyun. You immediately unlocked the door. It swung open and he looked down at you, eyes full of concern. 

“Baekhyun? What are you doing here”, you asked as you stepped aside to let him in. But he stood in the same spot outside of the door. 

“I had no idea you had gotten sick. Why didn’t you call me?”, he asked as he reached for your hands. You looked down for a second. 

“I thought we weren’t on speaking terms anymore”, you whispered. 

“I think the whole breakup thing was a bad idea. I miss you”, he said as his hand caressed your cheek. He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. You felt tears well up in your eyes, you had been holding it in, just how much you had missed him. He still had bags under his eyes. “Have you been sleeping well”, you asked, concern was laced into your question. 

“Is it obvious?”, he responded. You laughed as you brushed a strand of hair out of his eyes. 

“No more fights.” you stated. 

“No more fights”, he repeated. 

“I love you” you said simultaneously. 

[bluginkgo]

Quick announcement (before the diarrhea of information):

I'm gonna go on a semi-hiatus for a week or so. I'll still be around, just not posting any drawings. Need to replenish my energy and drawing reserves cause I'm dead >_<

Sleep behind scenes!

So... Ginkgo why the hell did this take you so long? Sorry, sorry 😅 Here's what happened. I got burned out after like 10 pages (specifically the manor backgrounds killed me, plus having the full gang in the story) and then got sick and was not feeling all that great. Working through the burn out, sick, AND college work on top was quite hard not gonna lie though, but I wanted to finish it ^^

Alright, now as for little unnecessary Easter eggs, I added as nods to the show and my other interests. ^_^

1. Undertale save point. Undertale had me sucked in for a good long while, and for some odd reason decided to re-emerge in a form of the star save. Made it purple for Uzi's effect over N. She made him more rebellious, so he started to question why is it his memories and dreams are strange/corrupted/missing instead of just going with the flow.

2. Ep3 nod. V and N have history, history that I wish we get to see. V was nicer, kinder, in my opinion, prior to the absolute solver going rampage. So it makes sense for them to have some sort of friendship at the VERY least. So I decides to give it a small spin to it too. A direct quote from ep3 ^_^

3. Ep 2 + 5 nod. I kinda pulled the moment when James dismissed N from ep2 together with events that follow after N leaves library in ep5. Chronologically, these events don't fit together, seeing as ep2 is when N first meets Cyn and ep5 is when she's already set up the massacre. But this is exactly what I was going for. N's memories are jumbled at best, so I took liberty in mixing, matching, and editing his memories just as the admin program would probably.

4. Absolute Solver symbols nod. My chats with @absolute-solver (sorry for annoying you with tag 😅) made me realize that the absolute solver ought to have more presence now. It's activated and running systems in the background for Uzi. Whiiiiich means that drawing absolute solver should start now. BUT, it's rudimentary at best. Symbols don't really make sense and are not completed for most of the time. Not until Uzi at least sees the error message in ep2, when she truly starts questioning what that weird symbol on her visor is. I headcanon that N does know or at least feel that the absolute solver symbol is familiar, hence the little comment.

5. Absolute Solver Nori. Why is there so many absolute solver Nori around? I'm certain she went back to normal, just like in pictures Khan showed us in ep4 post core collapse. But I connected the solvers together here. Uzi's absolute solver string is up and running, and because the solver is a hivemind, it'd connect the memories and warp them a little. So that's why Uzi's doodle of her and Nori at the end (and during memory recall) was so full of absolute solver. It's slowly taking root, whether she wants it to or not.

Personal touches/added/cut ideas:

N's tail wrapping around Uzi like a hug. Originally, Uzi was supposed to look more nervous, but not for the reasons you might think. I cut the nervous look to a more upset look so it wouldn't be confused for fear. Uzi's never scared of N (yes, I don't count ep2 either, that was a lot of events at once and very little time to process them). The nervous look was more of a "Why are you butting in?" type, you know? Being a loner makes you cautious, so when N prods at feelings, I figured Uzi would be a bit defensive.

Cyn is fully rendered and yet I glitched her so much I felt bad. So here's full absolute solver Cyn eldrich monster thingy. ^_^

I pulled a Hazbin hotel moment. Did you see it? Abracadabra GONE! All the scraps from first couple pages with NUzi chatting POOFED out of the existence. Did I get lazy and tired? Yes, that was the tell tale sign of burn out, when I stopped keeping track of background details and just kept the pod.

These progress shots show pretty well how the story boarding goes and how I change my mind too easily. 😅 storyboard is still as much of a mess as ever, sketch shows you I was gonna keep Uzi's hat, but decided against it in final product. I figured this. Nori gave Uzi the jacket whenever Uzi got a bigger body + hair. These are the same jacket and hair Uzi has in canon. Uzi's body is just upgraded again and her hair gets shorter in that regard. The jacket would be big on her, and cover her hands, but what's up with the fluff if I draw canon jacket more spiky? And where's the death battery drawing? I headcanon Uzi drew those on once she got into the angsty teenager stage. The jacket is more spiky from wear and tear.

Fun fact! You can sorta tell who's gonna show up in the comic by what memes I post prior. Here's some examples ^_^ Cyn showed up, and that was first practice with maid outfits and Cyn's eldrich form. Closely followed by manor gang, the second/final form of maid and butler outfits and prime practice for those scenes. This example is a bit spoiler for a meme I'm working on right now! I've never drawn Nori before, so I quickly sketched out the idea and continued on with the comic (otherwise, I'd lose my steam and procrastinate on it again). Memes are filler for you guys while I work on the actual projects (comics), and along the way, they give me practice and change in drawing style ^_^

Is it a coincidence that this comic is called Sleep with the release of a certain horror game? Actually, yeah pure coincidence 😅 I had this drafted allll the way back in November, and didn't take particular interest in poppy playtime until I saw lanky boi, which was actually during a stream I watched on release day of the chapter.

(I didn't know tumblr, or at least the phone app, had a tag limit of 30, BOY was I surprised @brookiedaaroacecookie that must have been THE tag city, sorry 😅)

Next comic is Loneliness 1 and 2

This one is split into 2 POVs from both Uzi and N side, thus its 2 separate comics. That one will be more NUzi centered, too, a slight angst and comfort spin to it. That will come... sometime. I have a few more projects I wanna finish up with prior to starting on these guys ^_^

Why are you still reading this? Omg, have a cookie 🍪 you made it. Have a nice day now ^_^

[fromtheasheslikeaphoenix]

Something I've been thinking about since the latest episode is how interesting and genius the writing of Windbreaker actually is. I'm not currently reading the manga, since every single project I've been wanting to pick up gets indefinite hiatus(ed) or dropped the moment I try but the writing based on the anime is like.. so clever.

*complicated complimenting of author/animation team below the cut*

Instead of us being provided with the background of our main guys, the good guys, we get a few hints for Ume and some bits and pieces for Haruka and nothing otherwise.

At the same time tho we get the introduction to the first bad guys. So clear cut bad guys & this random lil tournament fight thing where we're bound and meant to root exclusively for the good guys - that we don't even really know yet.

Instead of it being this grande failure or clear cut "Go Bofurin GO" hype fest, it's much more 8 dimensional tho because the writing is just that clever.

We enter the event, are shown our guy's determination & all and we are for them winning but then we get the other guy's backgrounds and while we still root for our guy's victory, we are simultaneously perfectly & seamlessly led to grow fond of the "other's".

And all the while we basically know jack shit about our Bofurin baby's yet we've seen their good impact so often and their good naturedness in such genuine ways in such short time that it somehow just makes sense that without them doing or saying anything really, without them really giving the opponents what we aren't given either, they'd have this life changing impact on them purely by saying some words, not faltering, basically they're scraping by and reforming the bad guys solely on vibes and aura and it just makes sense because that's how they got the audience as well.

And so now not only do we have this attachment based on little but genuine face value and instinct for Bofurin, but we're also attached to the opponent because we have their backgrounds now. And all the same the opponent has this same strange connection we have with Bofurin now with Bofurin as well.... And all the while we still know jack shit about Bofurin, so we are bound to come back for more to get that stereotypical connection with those boys one day and until then this cycle of subtle brainwashing will probably continue - if not, it definitely could have been a strategic writing style that would've worked.

All this is to say, either the writer of Windbreaker is just that genius or the animation team made one of the best storytelling rearrangement moves I've seen in roughly 300 shows in 7+ years of anime watching.

[brightoakgame]

Bright Oak Long-Range Planning Update!

Hello, dear friends!

First off, I apologize for the prolonged radio silence! I've been repeatedly sidelined by (thankfully minor) health issues since last fall, and it's made forward progress frustratingly staccato. With that being the case, posting more granular updates feels out of place, so I wanted to put together a more macro view of where Bright Oak currently stands in development. ✨

I'll start with the important stuff: Bright Oak is not on hiatus, and a full release is still on the near-ish horizon--but exactly when is a more nebulous matter. This is a passion project I've invested blood, sweat, years, and tears into, and no one wants it finished and out in the world more than I do.

As for where the game as a whole stands: it is now almost completely rough-coded (I'd say 85-90%?), with only a handful of backgrounds remaining to sketch, paint, and implement. There are some other little details that remain to be ironed out, but overall, the remaining work largely hinges on coding in expressions, backgrounds, sound design, and music.

With so much of the heavy-lifting already done (all very much thanks to my wonderful team of commissioned artists!), the delay I anticipate hinges on myself: the lion's share of the remaining work is the sort of detailed scene sculpting I revel in, but which requires time and focus. Unfortunately, both those resources are in short supply due to some shifts in my life (quite apart from health issues, I'm also preparing for a major move!). Rushing through to reach a self-imposed finish line has never felt like a viable option, either from a practical standpoint or a personal one. The notion of placing Bright Oak on hiatus also holds little appeal for me, though I did give it long consideration. For now, it feels like the best way of proceeding is to continue on when I can, as I can, and accept that the pace of progress is going to be irregular for a time.

While slow and unsteady might not win me any races, I do look forward to seeing you all when Bright Oak does reach the finish line sometime within the next year. ❤️ Thank you all so very, very much for your kindness, support, and patience through this process, and I look forward to sharing the rest of the story when I can!