#its still a work in progress so only the top sketch rn

[blue-scr33n]

INCOMING

Sketch dump

[meruz]

Aforementioned long ask post please excuse me while i try to figure out tumblr's new text editor. I’ll get into the art meme questions first and then the rest at the end.

Ok first of all thank you all for sending in questions! Giving me an excuse to talk hehe. I’ll address these in number order. Here’s a link to the ask meme for reference but also I’ll restate the question for ease of reading.

1. When did you get into art?

Super cliche answer but I don’t remember a time where I WASN’T the weird art kid! I started keeping a dedicated sketchbook when I was about 12? But here’s a page from my kindergarten journal about what I want to be when I grow up.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for? 

LOL this is a weird question. Not sure why so many people want to know. Anyways I definitely had a dA. more than one dA account. I used to browse oekakis when I was a kid but I think I was only signed up to some small ones that internet friends owned. What else...? Mangabullet,Tegakie, Paintberri, iscribble back when that was a thing, instagram if that COUNTs, I used to post art on livejournal and dreamwidth too. Patreon, I guess. Gumroad, inprnt, bigcartel, storenvy all for selling stuff.

In terms of resources.. I have a schoolism account that I’m sharing with friends. Used to take classes on coursera for free. I signed up to textures.com for work recently haha. I can’t remember if I ever had an account on posemaniacs. Did they have accounts...? I definitely used to visit all the time.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand.

Alright here’s me actually logging into my old deviantart account. These are from September 2008 So I was 13 years old. I don’t have a deviantart account from before then because 13 was the required age for having an account and I didn’t want to lie about my age because I wanted people to be impressed by how young yet clearly incredible at art I was LOL.

4. What defines your artistic style?

You guys are probably more equipped to answer this than me but uh... I wanna say... Focus on colors. And... a slightly heavy hand? Like confident... not always well-considered mark making HAH...

Also I think I have a pretty healthy mix of american comics/manga influences. I feel like people who are into american comics always think my art is too manga and people who are into anime/manga always think my art is too american. And I’m taking that as a good sign.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?

I like to think I switch it up a bunch! I mean, these are pretty different, right?

I think I’ve mentioned this before but one thing I really took away from art school is that, for an illustrator at least, art style shouldn’t be consistent. Your greatest weapon is changing the aspects of your style based on the task, the emotions and message you want to illustrate etc. So depending on the project I’m working on, the fandom I’m drawing for, whether I want something to be funny or serious or dramatic, I’ll change things about my style all the time.

One thing I don’t rly post on here is really tight polished work and that’s because I do that for my day job haha. If you’re not paying me... I’m probably not gonna color in the lines.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?

I have a whole ass diploma LOL. Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. from the Rhode Island School of Design. And I had a great college experience tbh. Besides the student loans. If any of you guys are thinking about art school feel free to e-mail or message me questions or concerns, I’ll be happy to help. Be as honest as I can be.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.

heres the wandavision kids. Uhh what else do I have...I feel like I’m rummaging for loose change here...

assorted valentines prep doodles

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?

Well, obviously this is gonna change all the time and generally it’s gonna be my most recent piece LOL. So yeah, why the hell not. I’ll say it’s this one. I have a pretty short memory which I count as a blessing for an artist. I don’t dwell that long on older work and it keeps me moving forward.

10. What do you like most about your art?

I like that it’s something that only I would make! I had this thought fairly recently and I wrote it down in my sketchbook, it’s pretty cheesy and rambling but it felt revolutionary at the time:

So yeah. I like my art best when it’s the most me and for me. And I like it least when it feels like I’m just making something for social media or for other people’s expectations or whatever.

14. What do you like drawing the most?

Kids in baggy clothing are like my go-to LOL idk if that’s obvious. but also I like being challenged so lately I’ve really loved drawing multi-character compositions, environments, weird angles, etc.

oh i LOVE drawing the underside of shoes lol. And bandages. People that are kinda beat up.. I think it comes from getting a bunch of cuts all the time. I’m always patching myself up and I want to patch characters up too.

15. What do you like drawing the least?

mmm I try to find something to like in every drawing but lets see... I don’t like doing commissions of people’s dogs. Just because it’s normally like... a family friend and my mom volunteered me without my consent and I don’t even really know what they’re expecting me to draw and I don’t even get to meet the dog. Also I’m not that great at dog anatomy. Trying to learn though.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?

This could have a million answers! Uhhh to GIT GOOD??? But also to express myself... and also to make money... I mean it depends on what the drawing IS. I draw fanart mostly to connect to people in the fandom so if you ever see me drawing fanart please take it as like an open invitation to talk to me about the character haha. 

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)

Good!!! I have a lot of self-confidence primarily born out of ignorance and a short attention span. If I don’t think too hard about how many other artists are mindblowingly unfathombly good... its easy to think I’m good too! LOL

In all seriousness though, I think the opinion a person has of their art is like a crazy balancing act, right? Like you have to think you suck enough to want to get better but also you have to think you’re good enough to not want to give up. I think we’re all walking that line, I know I am! But also I’m a glass half-full type of person so. Most of the time I feel good about it.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”

This is a good question because I’ve been trying and failing to put together one of those “influence map” memes for like a full month now. What’s giving me a hard time is I feel like none of these are actually really obvious “““influences”““ in my art? Like it’s hard to see a lot of them in the work I make...? But idk maybe you guys’ll see what I can’t.

And these are just a couple! God there’s so many more. I could talk about other artists for ages, from all different genres of art. Daumier, Rockwell like every illustrator out there, Dana Gibson, Alex Toth, Hiroshi Yoshida, a lot of the Brandywine School. Lots of current working artists too, Karl Kerschl, frikkin Masashi Kishimoto lol, Jake Wyatt, Richie Pope, Edouard Caplain, Matt Cook, Sachin Teng, - lots of big internet artists, Sophie Li, Freddy Carrasco, Milliofish, Angela Sung... like all my friends from art school too. I could just keep going but I’ll stop for now lol.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)

I mean if that’s how we’re defining shameful?? sure LOL. It’s not sprite comics but I used to do pokemon sprite recolors all the time. And I used to trace manga panels and color them... Granted this was all when I was like under 12 yrs old so it’s not even embarrassing. Can you really call it shameful when a 7 year old wets the bed or whatever? Not really. In fact some of these are cool as fuck. Look

25. Draw a picture!

Man I’m so tired now but here.

I used to get a lot of compliments for drawing people smiling lol but I don’t think I’ve drawn a lot of smiling lately.. here’s proof I’ve still got it.

OK MEME DONE. onto the rest.

I read this ask first thing when i opened my computer in the morning and it made me really emotional.. I’m so glad my sketches could help you!!

I think a lot of artists on social media talk about the struggle of making art but imo not enough people talk about the joy! Like I know it’s corny but. I really meant what I said at the beginning of that sketchbook about re-contextualizing art around process and progress > product and perfection. I think its super important..! The strength of messy, unfinished, and energetic art! For the feeling of it, for the love it!

That's crazy!!! I hope you like 'em. The whole line of x-books is really good rn imo.

Hi! I totally have the answer for digital stuff on my faq lol. But in terms of drawing on paper.. it varies! I tend to use sketchbooking and any on-paper doodling I do as a way to loosen up/warm-up or experiment. But right now my go-to aresenal is:

from top > bottom

- kuretake no.55 doublesided brush pen

- tombow fudenosuke

- muji 0.38 ballpoint

- medium size poscas

- grey tombow double brush pens

- good ol bic mechanical pencil

not EXACTly sure which inking you referring to from my sketchbook but if I had to take a guess it'd probably be the kuretake no55. That's been my main inker, lately. Great for sketching with the thin end too.

You can print out and eat my art if you like. Just please don't mass produce or re-sell. <3

Thanks! I've come to accept that my art is always gonna be sort of gestural and painty naturally. It's getting it to tighten up enough to be legible that's hard lol...

uh yeah lol I agree actually. I think yolei is great.

I assume these asks are related? LOL

1) Yeah totally true. I love David.

2) I don’t take requests, sorry! But if you want to commission me to draw Legion i would be MORE than happy to. Just e-mail me at isellhotdogs@gmail.com.

<33333333333333333333333333

[hatake-kakashi]

💡+ tattoo artist au (bonus points if their love interest is getting their first tattoo and is nervous 👀)

- person a works at a nearby coffee shop and passes the tattoo parlor frequently. their friend had gotten a few pieces done by person b there and are quite good friends. because of this, they’ve met.

- person b frequents the shop a works at and always greets a if they see them/strikes up light conversation if they cross paths(so during checkout/ordering/etc) so naturally a starts pining over them

- a maybe then starts to stop by b’s workplace and bring their order. b appreciates it because seeing a always seems to make them smile (even after more stressful/time consuming pieces) 

- one day after a long overnight shift person a, who is usually the more chipper one is kind of dead inside, so when person b walks in right before they clock out they almost cry in frustration. b notices this and waits until a is off to order -- orders two drinks. “i didn’t know what you liked so i got you my usual” (bonus if b is the more awkward one of the two)(double bonus points if a hates b’s usual but drinks it anyway because they’re thankful for it). so b walks with a out of the shop as a complains about their awful night and how they want to sleep but can’t (because #sleep schedule tings!) and b invites them to their parlor- mainly because they don’t want a very tired a behind the wheel of a car but also because they like spending time with them

- a goes along with it, knowing they need to stay awake anyway. besides it would be nice to see the shop when it’s being opened. (bonus points if b doesn’t have any pre-existing appointments that day so it’s mostly book work + walk-in’s). b lets a relax on one of the tattoo tables while they work at their desk. until a sits up and mentions wanting a tattoo

- a has always loved tattoos and has wanted one for some time but was always scared of the commitment, up until recently (say they’d just did something important that moved them forward in life. ex: bought a house, graduated, moved. they figured that if they can do that, then they surely can do this. they just needed the lack of sleep to be the push to bring it up)

- this causes b to raise their brows because a doesn’t really look like the tattoo type, but they listen to a babble on about one regardless. it’s kind of cute, really, how a talks about how good b’s work is and how it makes them want one even more. b appreciates it as well, but they think it’s the sleep talking. regardless, they listen to a talk about their tattoo idea in full, mentally taking note to sketch something out when they had free time (just in case a was being serious)(a is)

- (bonus points if the tattoo idea is something personal/significant to person a!!!!)

- person b gets a few walk-in customers that day and lets a take a nap in the back room while they take care of them. a appreciates it and when they resurface again it’s almost closing time (the tattoo table a had napped on wasn’t the most comfortable thing, so they barely got more than two hours tops of rest. but it was nice just to close their eyes)

- a walks out of the backroom just as b turns off the open sign -- still sleepy, but less. eventually b ends up asking a if they’d like to get something to eat with them (bonus points if b is blushy and awkward when asking) and a of course agrees but is also practically starving(they’d only survived the whole day on coffee and the crackers b keeps in their desk for snacks)

- they go to the buffet that’s a few blocks away, it isn’t quite dark yet so they walk there. mainly to stretch their legs and allow a to perk up a little more. it’s nothing more than a cute and sweet dinner -- it’s not clarified as a date (even though they both secretly wish it was) so they walk back to where a’s car was parked and b wishes them a safe drive home 

- a cannot wait to go home and sleep but they also are so glad that they worked that awful overnight shift -- thanks to b. b, on the other hand, doesn’t leave the parlor for a few more hours. wanting to get more paperwork done and also start a sketch of the tattoo a had mentioned wanting

- they hang out a little more often, usually after similar shifts. 

- a brings up wanting a tattoo again, this time not possibly high off of sleep deprivation. it was mentioned at that same buffet-- a place they’d started visiting frequently after that one night. and b admits to and talks about how they had a few sketches of a’s vision -- to which a is all starry-eyed over. and then they talk about tattoos, and b’s tattoos, and professions in general. it’s nice

- a becomes rather in tune with b’s schedule and after one fateful shift(customer service sucks man), a decides to say f it and enters b’s parlor dramatically saying they want the tattoo now (which is fine because it was one of b’s free days. so it works out)

- b is hesitant about it at first, not wanting a to act out of any one emotion to sway them into committing to a tattoo, but a had talked about wanting one for a while so b allows it. b mentions the different types of drawings they did as a side project of a’s tattoo idea and a just tells them to surprise them with it (a had seen the sketches when they were being outlined so they know they like all the designs. trust b’s mind to do whatever they want with it because somehow they’d gotten to know each other well over the months they’d spent hanging out and getting to know each other)

- but as soon as a is sitting in the chair their nerves act up because holy shit they’re going to get a tattoo. and b can just feel how a tenses up in realization as they prepare the ink. 

- a babbles on about wondering if the tattoo needles hurt, how much they hurt, etc. meanwhile b rolls up their sleeves to reveal a bunch of tattoos(tattoos a had always wanted to see but never wanted to ask about.) b talks about the feeling honestly, soothes a’s worries slightly. 

- i like the idea of a getting a shoulder tattoo(like. the ones on the back. so like the area of skin where the back of the deltoid muscles/trapezius muscles are??) just so that the a can’t look at the tattoo or its progress until completion. 

- a curses at the initial feel of the needles but it isn’t as bad as they’d anticipated.they talk a lot while it goes on, mostly because of the nerves. it’s okay though, b is used to it with other customers. makes the time pass faster

- it only takes a few hours for the lining and shading. it’s not an overly massive piece or anything. and when they’re done, b shows it to a in the mirror hoping that they like it (because well if they didn’t what would they do lol)

- a adores it--- a lot. is so moved by the piece that they kiss b without a second thought. as a thank you, maybe.  b is both taken aback and relieved as they kiss them back. 

- the kiss is meaningful -- backed by months of pining (on both ends it seems) and it’s just...nice. b is still a little surprised when a pulls away, blushing. 

- it’s not as awkward as you’d think but it’s still pretty awkward. they share a long look with the other until b breaks the tension by telling a to sit down so they can tape up the fresh ink and explain tattoo care. blushing all the while as a just kinda...gawks at them like ‘i just kissed you and youre really talking to me about tattoo care rn?’

- b continues talking even after they’re done explaining everything, mentions how though it is new to have a customer kiss them they’ll let it slide on one condition and a just kinda. stares as b awkwardly asks them out on a date in the weirdest way possible

- a kisses b again, afterward. mostly to shut them up.

- “you still have to pay me though...” b mumbles against a’s lips -- a cracks up laughing 

[machudson]

@bup-oh​ said:

Hey, sorry if this is a little weird, a random person in your askbox, but with talk about tammy and her shortcomings as a writer, I wanted to interject. While I DO believe tammy isn't a fantastic writer, imo her main issues are; she seems to favor quantity over quality, and has bad time management. She works on multiple comics, and strictly commits to her once a week updates. She posting pages before the comic is fully complete(?), shes on a time constraint to get pages drawn, and (1/3)

most likely be forced to rush to get them out the door at some point. On top of this, she has to keep in mind that we only see one page a week, and I feel like it effects the pacing. IMO, tammy doesn't necessarily lack skill with character development and proper character interaction, she just doesn't give herself time to do it. Throughout CCT and ESPECIALLY OE, it feels like some of the pages are missing panels and are spaced too far apart (2/3)

You can see in some of the pages she wants to do more, but doesn't have the room to do it. Pair all this with the fact shes so excited with starting BUP (which I don't blame her) and even more time is taken away from her. Tbh I feel like if she got better at time management, and when shes down to one comic for continuous updates, she could greatly improve and put more thought into her writing, by. giving. herself, ROOM. (3/3)

ok so im gonna try and sum up your points just for my own ease of understanding this: 1. you agree that she’s not great re: time and 

actually wow im so bad at reading comprehension rn. thot you were trying to start discourse not just add your own point of view LOL im so good at this

personally i feel like she is good at time management, she’s just... idk... i wanna say she’s just focusing on bup way more than cct. because she was able to keep up four comics at a time (rd, ice climbers, cct, and the private nsfw cct comic i think), but she finished rd a while ago and ice climbers is almost finished on the patreon side. she basically has half as many comics going as she used to. (and a bit off topic but now that i think about it, i don’t think her writing re:character development declined from where I felt it was at while reading first match two years ago, it���s just becoming more relevant and visible now.) so it’s not rushed because she just doesn’t Have time, but she’s probably managing it poorly

ok so i came back to this after i wrote the above bit at 11 pm last night and wrote like three paragraphs and then tumblr crashed on me and deleted them so uhhh im gonna. rewrite all that. remember kids, when writing long tumblr posts, write them in the drafts page and save often. or just write them in word or gdocs or something just make sure you wont let tumbly fuck u over

so. personally I believe she’s not really having a time management issue. she has fewer running comics than she used to - she’s finished RD, ice climbers is nearly done on patreon, and the nsfw comic she once had going has been long over - and even when doing four comic updates a week she still managed to be successful. ice climbers is fully sketched and just three pages away from finishing on patreon. cct is 8 pages ahead on patreon and tammy sometimes leaves responses like ‘oh just wait till next page’ so I think it’s safe to say she has a couple pages sketched in advance. she’s been doing comics for at least a decade, i think she’s pretty experienced in that area by now.

i agree she’s rushed, but not in regards to bad time management. she’s got a good work schedule for herself, but with her focus shifted to bottled up, she’s rushing herself in terms of comic progress. she clearly wants to start bup as soon as possible, and that means finishing her other comics as soon as possible. and to nobody’s surprise, rushed comics are lower quality! she plans to start bup before the end of the year. there’s expected to be ten or so more  patreon pages in cct, or about 19/20 publicly, and there’s twelve more thursdays this year. and ice climbers is gonna stretch into the new year too, ending on jan 8th i think. (so unless she decides to give another slot to one of those two she’s probably gonna give the former RD update day to bup if she wants to start it publicly this year.)

though I do think she has an issue with writing. she’s said before that for cct, she never writes down her plot lines in advance. she just keeps them in her head until she sketches the pages. and i feel like this really screws with pacing and also just the writing in general. idk if you’ve seen it but a while ago there was a post floating around of pixar’s writing tips - one of which was “putting it on paper lets you start fixing it”. which I feel really applies to tammy. if she wrote down her plans before sketching them, i feel like she could work them out at a better pace and with better quality. she also tends to think of a lot of stories and plotlines she wants to get to, but ends up with way too much on her plate and never manages to get around to covering most of them. also the one page a week schedule definitely affects pacing too. i feel like since we have to wait a week to see each page, it’s kinda common for them to end on cliffhangers to keep readers hooked (like yesterday’s public page)

also related, she doesn’t…. stay true to her word. i had another example for this but its mostly regarding future comic stuff thats currently patreon only rip. but you know for tetrox’s story. she’s recently been talking about how tetrox was the octarian soldier who attacked whinter back in HoI. and i think at one point she had a more in depth story planned for tetrox (and probably also arnick) regarding that, but since she wants to get onto bup soon she made the decision to skip it over and just move onto final match, and how her original plan was to have tetrox be an infiltrating soldier who planned to take the zapfish again. and she’s been saying that since she isn’t going to do that tetrox arc, that she might change tetrox’s backstory to be more like octo expansion’s story - watched the match against Octavio, decided to run away to the surface to join inkling society. And personally I feel like it’s … really telling of tammy’s character (as in, how she is as a writer) that she decided to just change her backstory because she knew she wouldn’t get to writing the comic.

a while ago on patreon she answered an ask of mine with the sentence “My stories and especially my mind changes all the time. So, holding me to things I say months back isn’t really the best idea.” and that’s really…. bothersome to me because while I love stories that develop and bloom as they move along, like cct (and also ovw’s lore), it’s incredibly disappointing when you practically memorize the lore and then the writer decides to retcon major details. and it shows how she hasn’t been planning well enough to keep what she’s already said in the past as canon. going back to the third paragraph, she might not have this issue if she wrote down her stories before sketching them, But Alas. :(

tldr: i believe she doesn’t have an issue with short-term workloads, but instead has trouble with long-term planning and writing her story.

[ask-de-writer]

Daring Do and the Adventure of the X'ibian Vase : MLP Fan Fiction : Part 11 of 21

This link leads to the whole tale

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to MLP Fan Fiction

Daring Do

and the Adventure of the X'ibian Vase!

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

And

Carmen Pondiego

Cover Art by

Doctor Dimension

52630 words

© 2015 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Writing begun 08/26/15

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions, provided that such things are done without charge.  I will allow those who do commission art works to charge for their images.  

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fictions is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

Jeremy bowed to them all the bow of an inferior seeking a favor of one of importance.  “I do not wish to delay the expedition for Doctor Do’s sake.  Is there no way to remedy my errors?”

Sang He thought that over and conferred with her herd.  “We will carry you, but only if you study what Daring Do assigns.  At each stop, you will be questioned by her about your progress.  For each question that you answer wrongly you must walk for an hour.  We know that Doctor Do would not have you along if you were stupid.  We hope that this will assist your learning.”

One of the dromedaries knelt for Jeremy.  Before she would get up, she demanded with distaste, “Doctor Do, I do not carry this insect willingly.  Please assign him his lesson to study.”

Daring Do nodded and showed Jeremy pages of The Darkling’s Tomb and several pages of expedition materials as well.  “Master these, Jeremy, or walk.  They are perfectly serious.”

The expedition set out at the kilometer devouring pace that only a dromedary can maintain in the desert.  The Dunn See and its fertile valley fell behind.  Ridges of bare stone and small, scrubby brush rose ahead.  They were entering the highlands of X'ibia.  Soree was having a wonderful time sketching and writing.

Jeremy stole occasional glances at the rugged land that these sure footed dromedaries were passing so swiftly.  He shuddered at the thought of trying to keep up with them and returned to his studies with renewed vigor.

Shortly after noon, the whole herd swung away from the line that they had been following.  Coming to an overhanging cliff edge, the herd settled down, kneeling and easing down to the ground.

Daring Do and Soree dismounted, first stretching cramped legs and then setting up a small charcoal fired stove.  They quickly had water heating for tea and rice.

The dromedary mare that was carrying Jeremy said, with the slightest bob of her head, “Please dismount, Insect.  I do not carry you because it is my wish.  The less that we are together the better.”

With ill grace, Jeremy dismounted.  He saw that Sang He was cheerfully familiarizing herself with her new rifle.  Daring Do was conferring with her over the ammunition.  “We included the molds for the bullets.  Henea San should have no difficulty in preparing the charges.  The explosive is simply melted and poured into the bullets.  It hardens to a safe waterproof form quickly.

“As soon as it does, it is ready to shoot.”

“These are excellent for us, Daring Do, my friend.  Our artisans will have no trouble at all making more of these, if you will give us permission.”

Daring Do frowned, “There should be an assignment of rights document with them.  Let me see.” She dug through the manuals and found a paper.  “Yes.  Here it is. We only need to sign it together and get an official chop on it for it to be done.”

Soree cheerfully announced, “Noon Rice and tea!”

Saying, “Eat when you can! Who knows when you will see food again!”  Sang He gently pushed Daring Do to the stove.  Jeremy was about to reach for a rice ball when he was stopped.

“Your studies, Jeremy.  Tell me of the X'ibian weapons display.”

Jeremy began to mumble.  

“Speak clearly or be counted wrong.”

Jeremy explained the various things that a visitor could say to a host by what was done with the weapon after a non threatening, “I come in peace,” display.

Daring Do nodded.  “You will be checked on this again.  This is life and death information.  You may have a rice ball and tea.”

He sullenly took his rice ball and commented sourly, “Why can’t we have decent civilized bread?”

Soree looked up from nibbling on hers to say, “For the same reason that we don’t have bread on journeys in Saddle Arabia.  It either spoils or goes stale hard in only a day or so.  The rice, being a grain, will keep indefinitely. It is easily fixed when wanted to provide both nourishment and hydration.  I would think that you already figured that out.”

“I do know it!  It was a rhetorical question!”

Daring Do nodded, “It was also an insult. Including the words decent and civilized was utterly uncalled for.  It was saying that these friends of mine are somehow uncivilized simply because they are nomads.”

Jeremy glared down at the ground at his hooves as if the clay and stones were somehow at fault.  He finished his rice ball in sullen silence.

~~ ~~ ~~

Robber was feeling aggravated. The other two were doing nothing to help.  They were sitting in comfort in the cabs of the trucks.  HE was stuck with trying to negotiate their passage around yet ANOTHER canal.  

While their trucks were being pulled from the river at the last one, it had dawned slowly on him that trucks were not suitable for long distance travel in the Empire. Careful talk with some of the salvage crew leaders, imitating their customs of bowing and the like, had proved it.

“No, indeed, Sir.  There are no through roads to X'ibia.  This road that you are following will take you as far up the Dunn  See as Can Chow.  It is at the X'ibian Frontier.

“I believe that you will have eight more canals and nine railroad lines to cross before you get there.”

He was as politely as possible waiting his turn to speak to this lock supervisor.  While he was waiting, he was taking the advice of the beggar to watch and think deeply about bribes.

He bowed deeply to the Lock Keeper and said, “Sir, this honorable but unworthy one seeks your assistance.  We are an authorized party in search of Antiquities.  We were led astray as to the best transportation means and that has caused us and the good Shun Yu much trouble.

“Seeking to avoid any more such problems, I put the whole of our trust in your knowledge and skills to get us past this canal.”

He discreetly offered twelve golden cash.

The Lock Keeper took his money and returned the bow of one highly placed as he replied, “I have heard already of these matters.  That you do admit fault is to your credit.

“Wishing to prevent any further disaster, we shall move your trucks by the barge as soon as we may.  The grain transport Gula Nu is being unloaded and that work must go first.  As soon as it is done, my crew will see to the safe passage of your trucks.”

Robber, remembering to bow again, said, “I shall await your workers at the barge road junction.  I hope that it will not be too much longer.”

He was told, “An hour, perhaps an hour and a half.  Please wait as you have said.”  The Lock Keeper turned to the next pony and resumed his business.

Tyranny and Overthrow did not greet his news well.  Tyranny demanded, “Why did you not seek immediate passage?”

Robber said dryly, “Because I could see out the window into the canal lock.”

“So?”

They have two more grain barges sitting in the lock waiting their turn to be unloaded.  We could have been put last, especially after Overthrow’s bungle at the last lock.

“As it stands, the Lock Keeper wants us gone as swiftly as possible.  For them, this is it.”

Overthrow, disliking the reminder that the river disaster was his fault, snapped, “We can take the trucks down to the loading area, at least!”

Imperturbably, Robber said, “Only if you want to have them order us back here.  We are wanted HERE to be visible from the office windows.  The Lock Keeper does not trust us.”

They all settled back and began to play cards to pass the time.  A knock at the cab door got their attention.  An elderly pony led them down to the loading area and saw to the loading of their first truck onto the barge.

Overthrow kept his mouth shut. It took time, but all five trucks passed the end of the canal safely. The barge was removed back to the downstream dock.

The truck engines were just beginning to roar to life again when there was the scream of a steam whistle.  Up at the top of the embankment a huge 4-8-4 locomotive was pulling a string of rail cars slowly across the exit road.  It stopped with three cars blocking the road.  There was the loud clatter of the huge couplings being freed from the engine.

The dark blue engineer with his orange mane waived cheerfully at them as he proceeded up the siding, switched to the mainline and backed his engine up to pull more cars up from the warehouse.

Tyranny cursed and drove his truck right up to the rail crossing.  Robber put a hoof across Overthrow and said, “DON’T follow him.  That puts us all onto a steep slope.  After being in the river like they were, I  don’t trust the brakes to hold.”

The big locomotive pulled the new cars up past the siding switch.  The switch threw and the cars were backed to the siding to latch onto the cars already parked there.

Robber and Overthrow watched in horror as the coupling failed to catch and the cars buckled outward, off the track!  One derailed car broke loose of the wreck entirely and burst down on top of Tyranny’s vehicle!  The smashed and tangled wreckage tumbled down almost to the river.

Robber and Overthrow raced to the wreckage and found that the truck’s cab was only slightly damaged.  They had to smash out an amazingly still intact windshield to get to Tryanny.  At first he was dazed but quickly regained his senses.  He was able to release his safety harness and, with help, crawl out of the mangled remains of the truck.

They were attempting to see if any of the truck’s load could be saved when, with a groan of tortured metal, the whole mass, truck and rail car together, slid, caught on something for a moment and splashed into the river.  Only part of the rail car showed above water.

Robber simply pointed to the submerged truck and observed, “If we had followed you, that would be all of us drowning right now.”

It was only moments before the ponies of the lock work crew were on the scene.  Almost immediately after, the Lock Keeper himself showed up to inspect the disaster in person.

To Robber’s surprise, he was obviously enraged but was being seriously courteous to them.  He bowed to Robber as an equal and asked, “We most urgently wish to know all that you can tell us of this happening.  I must say that in this, you are not at fault and my report shall say so clearly.”

Robber, too shaken to remember his bowing, told the Lock Keeper all that he could remember.

“You are forgiven your lapse of bowing, Mister Robber.  Did you see this engine driver?  We want most urgently to lay hooves on him.  He appears to have vanished.”

Bowing, now that he was reminded, Robber said, “The distance was too great for any clear view but he had a dark blue coat and orange mane that I did see.”

The Lock Keeper glanced up sharply and inquired, “The same as the barge tender that you reported to Shun Yu?”

“Now that you mention it, yes. Is it a common pattern here?”

“No, it is not.  It is not only rare, we count it as connected to all manner of bad luck.” The Lock Keeper gestured up at the train wreck and out to the barely visible wreckage in river.  “Can you guess why?”

(to be continued)

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[shaddy-bee]

I KNOW ITS BEEN LIKE 300 YEARS BUT-

5 things you’ll find in my bag

Right now theres uhh Notebooks, both school and 1 art. Drink mix ins, with such great flavors as sour apple jolly rancher and crush pineapple (tm) Two packs of cards, one of which steam punk themed and the other your regular ol bicycle. A calculator. Its a shitty old one but its for tests, i have google and shit for anything i need myself.

5 things you’ll find in my bedroom

A roommate. Idk if he is gay or what but he isnt straight, name’s will. Chill dude. Sleepin rn, what a fella MY SICK ASS COMPUTER IM MISSING OUT ON BECAUSE MY ROOMMATE IS ASLEEP AAAAAAAAAAAAAA I WANNA PLAY ROCKET LEAGUE WITHOUT LAGGING TO HELL also programming my mods. Need to upload that shit. Shit what number we on, 3? Okay cool. A bed. Wow really a bed in your bedrooM? yeah its pretty fuckin spectacular i know. I dont have posters n shit so like i gotta be creative you feel. A microfridge. Now i know what youre thinking, “ah a small fridge whats the big deal?” but no you dont understand, its a microwave fucking bolted onto the top of a fridge. They gave zero fucks attaching these two together and apparently the name is the same way, WHY NOT A FRIDGEWAVE EVEN LIKE MICROFRIDGE JUST SOUNDS LIKE A SMALL FRI- Last but not least, im tempted to just say my wallet here tbh, cuz its old but like, youd EXPECT that now would you? Something boring and mundane for me to fill out the word count with making everything super exciting so nah man, fuck it. Theres air in my bedroom. Fight me.

5 things I’ve always wanted to do in my life

Make a videogame. Like okay, a lot of stuff on this list is jokes and stuff, and I know im going into too much detail and my followers will probably murder me in cold blood for this shit, but im serious about this one like - i have some ideas, but i never have the motivation alone to like work whole-heartedly and finish one but like, at some point in the future id love to sit down and just go at it and make a game. Doesnt matter if its popular or big or small just i wanna make something that i love ya feel? I wanna like, go to newark, delaware. I know, its delaware and all, no one lives there, but ive met a bunch of cool people there and i was promised a donut run sometime, so lookin forward to that. Yknow that post awhile back that was like “i dont wanna be rich and like buy shit, i just wanna have enough money to throw at kickstarters whenever i want without having to strain on my food and rent costs” thats me. 100% Like i wanna have just enough money to be able to donate to cool people and watch them do cool shit - it wont always work out but thats fine, I just love shit. I wanna be able to donate like the high prize and fly out to meet these game studios for coffee and shit and just talk with em and see their passion and ideas. I love it. Im not actually really sure besides those. Like idk. I think itd be cool to enter a game tournament with my brother and win, but i doubt thatll happen and its not super like on my desires just itd be cool cuz we named ourselves Sora and Shiro after NGNL and to see that like, have us win would be great. Yeah. Ill make my fifth to think of a fifth one.

5 things on my to do list

FLOPPY DICKS i mean disks. Floppy disks. I do binding of isaac ab+ modding shit, and im currently working (its mostly done for what i want it to do) which adds a new consumable called floppy disks, effects are based on viruses, bugs, and just computer based shit. Like BSOD for instance, which makes the screen literately bluescreen. Or atleast look like it. Cant wait to watch people play with it. I gotta work on the programming class project too but honestly i dont waannnaaa. Like its cool as shit. Recreate a card game using c++ code. But man, i just love Apocrypha and Floppies so much more. Eat today???? Please. Dining hall opens in 3 hours. Its goddamn 4 am. I want my food. Dunno if ill get it - if ill stay awake till then. But i want it. Probably draw some stuff? Like i posted one drawing already (check it out if u wanna ;) kay?) but like theres wacom tablets here i can just kinda use whenever???? its great. I love being able to just draw stuff on em. Even if i suck at drawing, even if it took 10 hours to make the one i posted here, still love. Probably play more rocket league. Sleep first, soon as i get that food im CRASHIN BOI IM OUTTIE HA but uhh, rocket league has a halloween thing rn and i like playing it. Was playing earlier today and i matchd with a dude in 2v2 that had the same car, skin, AND colors set up as mine. Totaly random. We kicked some major ass together. I kept thinking of the same hat comic the entire time. (also my card was superior because it had furry ears on it ;))

5 things that make me happy

Getting an idea for a thing and working at said thing until like boom it went from this abstract idea to now it has a physical form and it works! And its fun and its great and i can share it with other people and they can have fun too!!!! that feeling is wonderful.  Obviously friends man. Just doing shit with people can be so great sometimes - like not all the time sure but like man. Its nice to talk to people and share experiences and just smile and tell bad jokes and have them groan but like it anyway like thats the shit. Going out at 2 am and walking to a nearby run down schoolyard and swinging on the swingsets and watching shooting stars burn up. Thats the good shit. Getting tents and setting em up in your friends back yard when your friend from far away comes up for a few days, and playing ridiculous games in a group like kick the can or fuckin zombie screaming your lungs out in the dark to freak em out, or just talkin around a fire about fuckin life man. The people make life great. Shits worth living for. I realize that last answer covered a LOT of shit but like, im just gonna add here videogames. Would be amiss if i didnt mention that, considering the rocket league rant above lmao. Yeah i better not make this category any longer.

5 things I’m (currently) into

Isaac modding, probably will be for awhile. Its good shit. As a suggestion from one of the people I work with (we also fuck around its a good time) i have started watching space dandy. Its a slow progress through lol like an episode or two a day but god man like its pretty ridiculous and the main character is pretty much everything i was expecting from seeing him everywhere. Rocket league again. It comes and goes with various different games to tide me over, give me a break from working. Bout 2 months ago or so said relaxing time was dominated by anime - i suddenly went on like a massive streak of watching shit. By that i mean, i watched all of hunter x hunter in like 2 weeks, among other shows prior to it. But yeah. Fuck man HXH I LOVED THE KING WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. I have too many emotions about that. I wrote a rant to the Groupchat (tm) about the fucking battle and how everything is in slow motion but it fucking like makes it like foreshadowed and have so much of an impact and still so much fucking happens even while everything runs at super slow mo just GOD KLASFJBHUGHASFIUHIPJASK anyway. Yeah. Music, as always im listening to like constantly. Wireless headphones are a wonder for this, but uhh....i cant say im especially into any specific thing rn right? Like a bit ago i was super into joywave and then that faded out and now im just listening to whatever random shit, yknow? But I am into music in general. Its good. Art! A lot of times i dont do shit like for drawing right, like especially not in like pencil in notebooks but like, i sorta started doing a lot more art stuff? Like i had a period awhile back last year where i stopped using pencils and used only pens and i just loved the aesthetic of the ink like how it looked (funny how im doing the opposite of the fucking inktober though, huh?) but yeah im back into using pencils to draw shit occasionally. Im still terrible at drawing people (which is what i see mostly everyone drawing on tumblr lmao RIP) but its fun to sketch stuff out and just let my thoughts run and bounce to some music and shit right? Also the tablets. Especially with the tablets.

5 things people may not know about me (at least on tumblr)

I basically constantly wear sweatshirts, and they all have like earbuds where the strings go. All the earbud shits are broken pretty much, like occasionally they work (the one i have rn does) but like, i dont ever really use them? i have wireless headphones for my phone and a headset (because i need the mic for my computer) for said computer so like, idk. But yeah. I rarely take em off when im not home, and sometimes even when i am i just kinda keep em anyway? (also just now i realized i talked in the section for room shit about all the stuff in my current dorm, my room at home has all KINDS of wierd fucking shit in it. Really missed an opportunity there.) Like many people i like to stay hydrated and shit, but drinking water all the time seemed like a chore more than anything so i got like drink mix ins and shit, mio’s or whatever offbrand version you can find at your local SUPERSTORE CONGLOMERATE. I drink em like all the time pretty much so atleast im health in one way :P. Also gummy vitamins. I dont excercise but you can only ask for so much. Idk, its hard to think of things for this section because tumblr knows so little about me yknow? Like i never make my own posts or shit like its SUPER rare so im pretty much just tryna find random facts but that might not be interesting? Like i have a bad habbit of like talking way too loud when im excited about something right? Not quite yelling but like getting there and like idk. See? Thats not super interesting but it is something no one online would be able to really know ya feel? Idk. I mean physically im kinda fat as you do, but im also like wierdly strong? Like for someone who never works out i sure do have arm strength if nothing else lmao. My endurance is shit tho. Honestly? I can only blame it on osu and groceries. Osu is just a game i like where you mash buttons to the beat of weaboo shit tier music. The groceries is just because like, well, my policy is Least Trips Possible which means carrying in 13 bags at a time if need be it, fuck it milk too? And a watermellon? Bring it. 

Who am I tagging? Idk man. Just for shits and stuff tho i do wanna tag @theoriginalyami just to see what all’s changed in teh long time since i actually went to fill it out :P Dont feel like you have to add as much as me tho omg @milkchocolateowl because honestly? love you. Think about you a lot, just like glad im mutuals with that ray of sunshine. Good. @fantaledfish <3 (this is the friend i mentioned earlier, runs a QUALITY blog i guarantee it, better than mine for sure) @dragonfucker-supreme always top in my notes, a silent bond, like two guards assigned to watch back to back in the early dawn. Birds gather round. I can only tag so many people (i set myself a limit of 5 because...idk why i just mentally it felt right) so for my last trick gotta go with @ask-oncies-jizz like cmon man name changes for the win, also has quality icons and quality shitposts tbh, supreme top meme. Have fun yall.