#she was just for a design challenge and was very self indulgent

[lizzybeanbutt]

some oldie ocs

[zombie-bait]

We're being self-indulgent again, folks! Here's a Shadowheart 'fit inspired by Slovak Kroj. This is actually completely unrelated to the Miku art challenge going around rn lol I drew Karlach in traditional Slavic clothes months ago (also posted on here) and I'm hoping to get through all the companions at some point 'cuz I think it'd be a fun challenge for myself. I'll put some detail shots/info under the keep reading for anyone interested.

Her flower crown has night orchids in it hehe. Also I only just realized she doesn't have a lot of freckles in the real game but I added them to the last Shart fanart I did so fuck it, we're committing. (also I had to learn how to actually render a braid for this rip)

The center of her sash is designed after her headband in the game. I went for a star + plant motif for the designs to connect back to Selune/Shar. Also, in my first playthrough I got kinda annoyed with her so I only dressed her in swampy colours, gave her the wood woad shield and called her 'Swampheart' so she's a green plant girlie to me forever and always.

Here are a few of my references. I tried to play around with the visuals a bit. White, red and blue tend to be the classic colours for Kroj but I've seen some very beautiful black and green ones out there. I also think the darker colours just fit her vibe better. When working on designs like this I tend to take some elements directly from references and others I use as inspiration to come up with my own designs so I'm not just copying outfits 100%. At some point I might try drawing her in a more traditional looking Kroj but for now I had fun being a bit silly and artsy with the designs :))

[evevoli]

original story concept: flight feathers (working title)

aka me shoving my new OCs in everyone's faces for a few minutes. low and behold, my gang of losers:

from left to right: Phoenix, Selene, Helios, and Killian

so a wayward beam of divine insanity lightning struck me about four months ago in the form of the first genuinely coherent original story idea i've had in... basically forever and i am finally crawling out of my mad ornithologist lab to talk about it, if only so i have something to point to when i start tagging random innocuous text posts with the names of characters no one's ever heard of. this project is perhaps the most self-indulgent Autism Fueled venture i have ever gone on and it is so fun actually

the basic gist of the story is that local Teenage Bird Hater Selene accidentally gets isekai'd to a Greco-Roman/baroque-inspired city on a floating archipelago hidden in the clouds, inhabited by bird-worshipping winged people. there she befriends a strange one-winged fortune teller named Phoenix, who takes her in while she looks for a way back down to earth.

as a certified Bird Disliker(tm) for reasons she will absolutely not disclose, the idea of being trapped in this city with its strange bird-entrenched culture has got to be Selene's personal hell. but she's already made a few good friends and is learning a lot, so hey... if you ignore the castle surrounded by doves looming off in the distance, and the general poor sentiment surrounding corvids, maybe it's not such a bad place to be after all.

...until it turns out the King himself might have it out for her, much to the dismay of his son and loyal knight, Prince Helios and Captain Killian.

there is. A Lot more to it than that lol—and at least like 8 more characters i haven't gotten to drawing yet—but there's your elevator pitch. to explain the world a bit more, everyone has bird wings to fly with, their own Bird Familiars(tm), and rides around on pegasi and different species of griffin. the world consists of little islands connected by bridges, with the city developed vertically, and sort of resembles a fusion between the Aether mod in Minecraft and Zephyr Heights in MLP G5.

and now the most important thing, the Closeups

some notes:

Selene is transfem :), Helios is transmasc only because i tried giving him curled ram horns and got so frustrated trying to draw them i just gave up and gave him the ewe ones instead

Selene is a Wolf Kid and really vibes with the lyrics to Angel of Darkness on a personal level

Helios's wings are weak and undersized so he can't take off or fly for very long on his own

i like to consider Helios my personal challenge to design the most unapologetically cringe and archetypal character ever. i am going to make a character that is so sad little loser prince. kicks him

Phoenix is a childhood nickname, Killian is just a shortened form of Achilles. Phoenix absolutely hates his birth name. Killian is ambivalent towards his

Phoenix lost his left wing in an accident that changed the trajectory of his life forever teehee :3c

the little blue jay is named Celeste, the crow is Peanut, and the tawny owl is Athena :)

and that is all i shall reveal in this post >:) this idea has been rotting my brain from the inside out for months now so don't hesitate to shoot me an ask if you're wondering about anything :]

[ehlnofay]

a series of outfit concepts for Pax... I find clothing to be such an interesting part of character design and wanted to explore that more for her. especially since he's one of my more fashion-conscious characters. miscellaneous notes and extra doodles under the cut

the first four of these designs are worn in cyrodiil; the last two are from the shivering isles. I haven't done much brainstorming for cyrod fashion so that was something fun to explore - especially with the challenge of keeping to a similar-ish silhouette and with pax's tastes in mind. most inspiration was taken from byzantine fashion, with some influences from roman and celtic garb as well. there was also a fair bit of simply making shit up. (I also had quite a bit of fun fucking with the saturation and colour values a bit in editing: here's the initial image, minus the increased saturation and also with the finger tattoos on the wrong hand because I got left and right mixed up at first. oops.)

of all my characters, pax is one of the pickiest about how they dress; they don't like fashion at the expense of comfort but they don't like comfort at the expense of fashion, either. he likes bright colours and good quality fabric (ends up stealing and altering a lot of his clothes.) she tends not to wear things with very overt nibenese influences due to her own associations with that style of clothing + nibenese garb tends to have a lot of flowy extra fabric, which she doesn't like. I had a lot of fun trying to explore different ideas, colour palettes, and statement pieces while keeping to roughly similar-ish shapes; for each one I also included slightly different versions of Pax's endless repertoire of jewellery and ways to do their hair.

notes on specific designs: the third one incorporates more of how I picture nibenese fashion, the first one is a reimagining of an outfit i drew them in ages ago, and the second references a piece I wrote and haven't yet published, in which the blades get martin a lot of nice warm clothes, including a long blue tunic (seeing as cloud ruler temple is cold as shit and all he has is a ruined liturgical vestment and some cheap clothes pax stole him during their journey) and pax unceremoniously commandeers most of it. the last two outfits are mostly just self-indulgent - in the state he's in by the time they get to the shivering isles, pax isn't too fussed about appearances, but I wanted to explore what they would wear if they did give a shit. I tried to roughly keep similar elements to the rest of the outfits, with enough tweaks to make it clear that they are very much Of Another Place. I used red as a major tone and colour in both because pax fucking hates it :) (it's the colour of the deadlands, and the mythic dawn robes, and the amulet of kings.)

there were a few more specific things I would have liked to design - in particular a travelling outfit and some concepts for the really fancy garb they take on once they murder their way into a duchy - but those, as well as a breakdown of their armour, are things I would want to give more attention to detail to. so I will do all that separately sometime. however I did do an extra doodle, not included above, of their sleepwear; because it's extremely simple, and because I've never drawn her with her hair down and I really, really wanted to. (even if it's unrealistic; pax mostly sleeps with their hair still up in some finicky arrangement sewn tight enough in place to last for a week.)

[summertimemusician]

Linktober (Shadow) Day 10

(Puppet) Zelda

Summer Stop Showcasing Your Love for Twilight Princess and Sleep Deprivedly Writing when Exam Season is Right Around the Corner Challenge (Impossible) /j

Look, we don't talk enough about the Zelda's (or as I affectionately call them, Valkyries) and certainly not about Dusk, whom I am still so bitter that they gave her such a good design but never did anything with it, hence this is my attempt to fix that by giving her the spotlight and some love and give homage to the original Puppet Zelda, Dusk walked so Flora could run it (or well, TP Ganon did so TOTK Ganon could), hence I smashed these two prompts together lol, might make it a two parter after the others are done, but for now as always it's left to interpretation.

As always anything can be read as romantic or platonic or in and out of an LU concept, though the names are used for convenience and to give a rough idea of which kind of scenario we're working with here. Though it's less one of the boys and reader and more one of the ladies and reader this time, if that's not your cup of tea then kindly scroll by, again, this is just something very self indulgent before I pass out and work on the rest lol.

Anyway, good reading!

You slowly but surely came to adore festivals in Hyrule.

No matter the era, it filled you with so much joy whenever your group would come to a new Hyrule during the Hylian holidays, from the Picori Festival in Four's Era, to the Harvest Festival in Legend's, the Pioneering Celebration's in Wind's or the Spring and Summer Equinoxes in Time's and Warrior's, it usually meant your heroes would get the chance to unwind and relax, to eat good food with little worry for a portal (as they strangely didn't appear directly during festival days), you could see the Chain's family and friend's and have such a good time eating or dancing or learning the tradition's from your boy's. Such a stroke of luck came the next time you landed on Twilight's Era, as well as an invitation letter from Dusk to come to Castle Town and celebrate.

(Also translated as 'The nobles are probably hounding her about having 'The One Who Purged the Twilight' make at least one appearance in the castle and she couldn't stall them anymore' by Twilight, with tone tinged by exasperation and aggravation both, albeit much less than the poison of the sharp bitterness of Legend towards the nobility, Wild's tense silence that could mean a memory, or even Warrior's passive aggressiviness when it came to formal events.)

It would be the first time you'd truly meet a Zelda since joining the Chain, and Dusk was likely the most curious case, being crowned queen soon after the Twilight invasion was over and done with and only show during times of war and the only one to have an almost fully cordial relationship with Twilight until the coronation (even Time was closer with Lullaby according to Malon, likely due to knowing her future self). Neither you nor Twilight could say you knew much about her compared to the other's and their respective princesses (or queen's in Warrior's case), so it was a surprise to be invited at all though none of you could say you minded, the plaza of Castle Town was brilliantly decorated in the late autumn sun,  with the decorations glowing orange, yellow and blue witth lanterns and banners all around Castle Town, with decorated shops many stalls rented out for food, games and people, from young children laughing as they played to couples stealing kisses to family and friend's reuniting, it was no surprise you and your boys also got lost in the excitment after having set off from Ordon's own festival, decked out in fall colors and the green many of them favored and paint made to mimic Ordona's markings , you and Twilight getting swept away in the dance at the center with one of the many traveling troupes of musicians, you couldn't help your bright grin to match his as you occasionaly had to dodge running children in between the spinning dancers, clapping along to the song, just a few dances before you had to head on to the castle and finally meet Zelda wouldn't hurt, right?

"Pardon me," Came the soft, musical tone of your new partner, spiriting you away from Twilight with a small smile as he excused himself to find WIld and hopefully some refreshments.

At least that was what you thought, before almost having your heart jump out of your throat by Queen Zelda Vespera Hyrule herself entering the ring of dancers, taking you as a partner.

"Your-"

She spun you around with a hum, you almost struggled to keep up in your shock thought thankfully she held you steady, dark, ash inked hair held steady in a braided crown, looseing around her shoulders and eyes vibrant with vaguely masked cerulean amusement as she shook her head, the lanterns casting burning gold upon her irises, "No need for that. I'd rather my presence not be announced. I thought I'd meet you and Link halfway, away from the court." Another twirl, and she sighs, understandingly, as regal as ever, her gloved palm upon yours warm as you are sure your face is, "He's expressed dislike for the castle in the past and I cannot blame him for such, it's only fair I find him first then, after all he's done for us."

You are briefly separated, as you digest the information and reeling from the surprise, it makes sense. None of the Link's were overly fond of Hyrule Castle and Twilight was no exception, with the nobles who minimally contributed to anything yet demanded reward or for their schemes to be enabled and the complacent knights, easily swayed by the honeyed words of vipers and who were useless in the face of true danger even during the invasion, none of your boys - even Warriors who learned how to swim or drown in that mess - felt comfortable there. You can't imagine it wasn't similar for Dusk, even growing up among them.

... She did seem very lonely, even back then.

You dance back into her arms, nodding easily as you take her in, with her hair braided in white ribbons and cream, ruffled poet's shirt and lightly heeled riding boots, she really did look just like any other young woman out for a night of festival fun, albeit breathtakingly beautiful just the same, "Alright then, would Zelda be fine then?"

Her smile was radiant, as bright as the lanterns in the plaza in contrast to her shaded lips, voice soft like the whisper of a breeze through autumn leaves, "It's perfect, I'm so glad to finally be able to meet you personally." She twirls you, and you laugh as it transitions into an unexpected dip, the disguised queen giggling in turn and it's soft and fluttering, "Link's letters don't do you full justice, the flesh is much more captivating than the imagination."

"Says the Queen of Hyrule," You snipe back, hoping to all being's holy in this land and the realms beyond that you are not flushing crimson enough to outshine the lanterns, you briefly catch a glimpse of Twilight, standing somewhere just beyond the dancers and sipping on an apple cider, you lock eyes and you briefly tilt your chin to Zelda, 'So. This is the Queen of Hyrule. HELP?!'

He briefly looks you over, seemingly studying the situation, then gives you a wolfish smirk at whatever he saw, 'Have fun.' He mouths, taking a long swig.

'Traitor.' You hiss in your thoughts because turns out you are NOT well equipped to handle Hylian Royalty suddenly sweeping you off your feet (literally) without ample preparation and your only hope of composing yourself clearly wasn't going to help, so you smile and continue on, "I'm hardly that much, but thank you, y- Zelda."

"Nonsense," She primly answers, before you switch partners once more, to the left, then back to Dusk, and back again, she tilts her head, humming contemplatively, "Would you mind showing me around the festival? I'm sure Link won't mind if I steal you for a couple moments."

You chuckle, "I hardly know Castle Town all that well myself, I doubt I'd be a good guide." And that's true, you've only seen it distantly, during Twilight's adventure, it could hardly compare to the real thing.

She smiles, somethibg soft and beautiful and sharp with amusement, eyes glinting like clouded aquamarine, rhodedendron eargerness and hydrangea beautiful, "Then I suppose we'll just explore it together then, shall we go?"

"We shall." You answer back, after all, it's not everyday you can say you went to a festival with a Zelda.

She links her arm with yours, grip tight and warm.

(Later, although not much later, Twilight will meet Dusk at Telma's.

She had not even seen you on the way, though she had been looking forward to your meeting.)

[mollymauktealeef]

Self Rec Tag Game

tagged by the wonderful @hello-eeveev!!

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made.

1.something you absolutely adore

a winter's crest detour [mature, caleb/essek]

the idea for this fic actually went through two different fandoms before coming to light in critical role. i'd signed up for a christmas hallmark movie prompt thing and sadly didn't get my pick, so i left cause i got unreasonably attached to this one idea and so it came with me as i moved into another fandom where about 10k got written before the muse abandoned me until shadowgast ate my life and here we are. its probably the most self indulgent fic i've ever written, purely created for moi and i love it, bonus other people seemed to like it too! woo!

2. something that was challenging to create

the edge of the blade [teen, caleb/essek]

a full YEAR in the making, this is my biggest, longest, most EVERYTHING fic. i love it, i had so much fun writing it but boy was it hard work. the time, the energy that went into this. i really challenged myself to dig deep for essek's emotions and insecurities and i'm really proud of how it turned out. i definitely improved as a writer because of the challenges this fic liked to throw at me

3. something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably)

long may they reign chapter 3 [gen, caleb/essek]

not gonna lie this is one of my comfort fics that i re-read of my things that always makes me feel better. i love the dynamic of being so comfortable and in love that the simplest acts of affection become automatic and the realisation of those acts can lead to a deeper sense and understanding of that love. i'm a sucker for the old married couple troupe.

4. something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

keep me warm [explicit, caleb/essek]

listen i am not a smut writer, it is not one of my strengths, it's very difficult for me and even the smallest scene requires days/weeks/months of writing cause i just struggle with it so damn much, (maybe she's (gnc) born with it, maybe its maybelline the aroace of it all). the idea for this fic just grabbed me by the throat and wouldn't let go so i put word to document and it actually came out alright, i was pleasantly surprised that i actually managed to put what was in my head into the fic in a very good way so very proud of myself for it

5. something you want other people to see

act i. the interloper [gen, caleb/essek]

ok ok ok i know i haven't finished parts 2 and 3 yet, YET! but i love how this series is shaping up even though it has grown beyond the teeny tiny wee fun little three part fluff ball it was meant to be into something so big and with feelings, think fluff ball the size of one of those stupidly big plastic tourist attractions they've got out in america. i love looking into old courting practices and seeing what would fit and connect with the culture of the drow and just being able to explore different aspects of their relationship and the important moments to them as well. part three especially has me a little teary cause its gonna be so gosh darn sweet so yeah, stay tuned i am writing it, its just bigger than originally designed lol

tag you're it: @aithilin, @mollymawkwrites, @ruvigapo, @mardyart, @glossolali mwah! show off your goods and wares darlings!!

[we-love-morioh-cho]

I am........a little heated about how Jolyne's mother was treated in the story today esp in contrast to a certain ex husband of hers 🙃, so I decided to post some of my personal ideas and headcanons for her! This is partially based on what little we have of her, but is also very fanfic-y, self-indulgent and may be unkind to Jotaro lol

I have 3 main ideas for her name which I am very indecisive on -

Irene - based on Irene Rapona and alt. Jolyne's name. This would mean that Jolyne's parents put their names together to name her which is cringe but does happen. In the ending, alt. Jolyne now lives free from the Joestar curse (I think?) and so, symbolically, loses the 'Jo-' prefix and just inherits her mother's name whom she's always been closer with anyway.

Dolly - because of Dolly Parton who obvs wrote and sang 'Jolene'. A musical reference and also just a very cute name imo.

Hanna - named after Hanna Thorn, the model who Araki based her design and the pendant photo off of. While Irene and Dolly are based on her relation to Jolyne, this is the only name I could think of more based on herself. I'm not the biggest fan of a female character being named based solely on her connection to someone else BUT we have nothing to work with for this woman and, between the two characters she's connected to, I would much rather her name tie into Jolyne's. I haven't chosen a specific name yet though, I like all 3 ideas atm.

Based on the above reference to a model, I like to think Jolyne's mother is a model or at least works with fashion in some way. While it is a non-canon AU, the 'Jolyne, Fly High with GUCCI' one-shot written by Araki gives us some crumbs to work with. I haven't read it yet, but apparently Jolyne's mother has passed in this story and left Gucci clothing behind for her daughter. She's even customized them to fit Jolyne and, through wearing these clothes, Jolyne feels like she's connected to her mother again 🥺 So yeah, I head canon that she's maybe a fashion designer who models her own clothes.

We're told she's a 'crybaby' and is unwell with stress over Jolyne's situation, so I see her as having some type of anxiety disorder. I think that Jotaro's neglect and Jolyne's delinquency has puts a lot of stress on her along with her career. She's been left in a really difficult situation and it takes its toll on her. Sadly, I could totally see her as one of those women who had to give up on her career dreams due to the pressures of single parenthood, so maybe she's no longer a designer or model. This would add to Jolyne's anger at Jotaro - not just for his neglect of her but also the toll it's taken on her mother. Her not being present during Stone Ocean could be due to health issues to parallel Jotaro's condition and the Gucci one-shot. I think she's generally a quiet and graceful woman and hasn't always been able to stand up for herself much; creative and brilliant but also unsure of herself esp when she was younger.

I'm not gonna dwell on this point too long because it makes me angry, but I don't think her marriage to Jotaro was ever that good. They were both quiet and got along decently, but I don't see much emotional warmth or openness there. Tbh, I question why Jotaro decided to marry and have a child if he was just gonna neglect them due to 'dangers', but who fucking knows lol. Anyway, I think their marriage was distant and sad and Jotaro did not open up with a baby like Jolyne's mother hoped he would. Instead, he left her to do all the hard work, showing a real disregard for her and Jolyne 😒 You'd think he'd be more empathetic to single mothers with absent husbands and wouldn't want to put his own child through that but apparently not! 🙃 I think, before his neglect of Jolyne, she rarely challenged Jotaro and instead accepted whatever he wanted. But when his distance started to include Jolyne, an innocent child who needed him, she had had enough and started demanding better. I think him failing to show up while Jolyne was dying in a hospital was the final straw. She was the one who filed for divorce, and when she demanded custody he didn't contest it.

Moving on - she of course deeply loves her JoJo even with all the hardships and doesn't want her daughter to repeat her parents' mistakes. She's a very accepting mother, encouraging Jolyne to express herself and stand up for herself. She's relieved that Jolyne hasn't inherited her quiet and anxious personality, treasuring how bold and open she can be and always working hard to encourage that. She was always accepting of Jolyne’s emotions, letting her vent and making sure she didn’t repress her feelings. To keep up with her unruly and wild daughter, she became more confident and assertive over time. She had to be a strong woman to raise someone like Jolyne and she found her daughter inspiring during some of her lowest moments. And while she never got the chance to know this, Jolyne was inspired by her in turn.

Even with her anxiety, career and general stress - she does as much as she can to give Jolyne a great childhood. She's happy to dye Jolyne's hair and style it however her daughter wishes. While she's not use to the style in her own fashion, Jolyne's mother does her best to make cute little punk outfits that Jolyne adores and proudly shows off to everyone. She brought Jolyne to a shoot one time, curious if her daughter would be interested, but the girl only got up to trouble and pointed out how uncomfortable and uptight it all seemed. On the drive home, Jolyne expected her mother to be furious or upset but instead she just burst out laughing at her daughter's bold antics and comments. It was clear Jolyne was NOT gonna turn out like her mother and that brought the woman a lot of joy and relief.

Sorry to say, but I think she's a Disney adult 😞 While they don't get to visit too often, I think the duo absolutely go to Disney World when possible and I think Jolyne's mother styled Jolyne's buns to look like Mickey Mouse ears. She is a fanatic for the old princess movies, their dresses inspired her to get into fashion and she watched those films with her own mother so she repeats that tradition with Jolyne. She knows Jolyne doesn't really give a fuck about those old movies and that does make her a bit sad, but it means a lot that Jolyne at least tries to sit still and pay attention as best as a child can. Watching those movies and going to Disney World brings out a new side to her in Jolyne's eyes; her mother seems so giddy, is fine with the large crowds and becomes so emotional over the romances. While Jolyne doesn't understand why her mother likes these movies and does get embarrassed by her obsession sometimes, she usually agrees to go meet the princess actors so that her mother has an excuse to see them as well (plus the park is still a lot of fun and exciting). And yes, her mother does see the actual princesses when Bohemian Rhapsody happens and she cries lol

Jolyne has a phase where she becomes deeply interested in marine life, largely inspired by Jotaro's career and interests. Jotaro took her to an aquarium once or twice and got her a book - she then became obsessed. Part of this enthusiasm was that she wanted to impress Jotaro and connect with him, wanted to find a way to make him stay this time. So Jolyne immersed herself in marine biology and tried very hard to show off her knowledge, desperate for her dad's approval. But he still left and, not wanting Jolyne's genuine interest and enthusiasm to be soured, her mother took time off work to take the girl to an aquarium herself, asking questions so her daughter could tell her at least. Jolyne barely spoke the entire time, and the next day her mother found the marine life book in the trash.

The two are obviously very close, but an absent parent can still be disastrous for a child. That's why Jolyne's delinquency hurts her so much - she really wanted to be enough for Jolyne to stop her going down a bad path, but believes she isn't. She endlessly tries to get through to Jolyne but just doesn't know what to do. Eventually, the lectures and emotional turmoil makes Jolyne a bit distant, especially compared to when she was younger and almost seemed afraid to be away from her mother. She still loves her mother and their relationship isn't bad necessarily, but it is strained and her mother fears one day Jolyne will shut her out like Jotaro. Jolyne's mother holds onto far too much guilt over their family situation and her anxiety is affected terribly. She always did the absolute best that she could and was a fantastic mother even if she didn't always know what Jolyne needed and I will die on that hill.

I hate to even think about her experience during Made in Heaven. Surely, she would've known her ex and daughter were at the center of it - while Jotaro hid a lot from her, I think in that moment she just knew. I'm sure she tried for hours to contact either of them, the phone lines jammed and the roads a dangerous mess. How would anyone have felt during that whole event, let alone a mother worrying for her child? My headcanon is this - despite her condition, anxiety and the sheer risk of going outside, she set out on foot to find Jolyne. She had no direction or idea of where to go but she had to try. She knew the world was ending but she needed to find her daughter no matter what. And sadly, I think she died searching, hoping her JoJo would somehow be OK.

In the new universe, Jolyne's mother is still separated from Jotaro, but I think it ended on much better terms. Irene only mentions visiting her father on the trip, so I assume her mother lives elsewhere. She met another partner and her life is generally freer from hardship and stress. With a partner and Jotaro's help in raising Irene, I like to think she achieved her dreams that she had to give up on in the OG universe. Maybe it's sappy, but I really want to believe that life is just nicer to her in the new universe and that her and her daughter remain as close as ever ❤️

[vixannya]

November DWC Day 1 - Party

This is based on Vixannya's gallery opening/party held last Friday! You can find more info about the event ---> HERE

The theme was fitting the moment all of the portraits started coming together: An overdose, a failed robbery, an unfaithful husband, vengeance. The ‘seven deadly sins’ was such a classic topic, yet one Annya had never fully touched on before in a gallery theme. Perhaps it was because not many of these would be considered an honorable death, which made her wonder if any of her subjects would attempt to change their path and veer away from their current fate. Having an embarrassing death was almost worse than actually knowing you were going to die.

This evening wasn’t just about the art, but also how the attendees interpreted the theme into their fashion choices. Photographers and interviewers littered the red carpet, wanting to know who was wearing whom, with all the prominent designers always being put on full display. 

How appropriate it would be for her, the artist of death, to portray herself as Death itself. Her long, black gown was both regal yet menacing, but it was her crown and makeup that truly made the look. It was a statement that many of her more colorful critics had already claimed - that she openly embraced tonight; that she was ultimately the one who caused these deaths. If only that were the truth, but Vixannya knew that would be a power she would heavily abuse for her own gain. She only painted what she saw in her visions, it wasn’t her fault if they did not heed the very obvious warning now hanging on her gallery walls.

There was a level of discomfort, as there always was, throughout the gallery itself. These paintings were meant to be overly graphic and something of a warning to everyone. Indulgence in pride, gluttony, sloth, greed, wrath, envy, and lust should be kept in moderation, and never overdone. The sins themselves could and should be enjoyed, but self-restraint was key. Yet every painting was easily sold by the night’s end, the taboo nature of these were too good to pass up for those who could afford them.

The afterparty itself was an absolute spectacle, and the largest she had ever hosted in her career. Instead of her typical four sections, there were a grand total of seven; one to represent each sin. A little something for just about every taste, which would hopefully be kept in moderation lest someone end up like one of the muses in her portraits. She spent much of the evening moving equally about all seven, but in the end after she had finished her rounds and greeted and made small talk with all her guests, she found herself in the VIP booth of Envy, quietly celebrating with some of her closer friends until the sun came up.

She opted to wear something more revealing and easier to move about in, the party was less about fashion and more about gratification. While photographs from the red carpet of the gallery would plaster the covers and pages of newspaper and magazines, not a single photo would come out of the party. Any type of device that could take videos or photographs would have to be left at the door. There were always a few that managed to sneak something in, but the security team did their job well and were quite unforgiving about it. This was meant to be a safe space for anyone and everyone, including the rich and the famous, to do exactly as they pleased without judgement nor worry. 

After all, what happens at the afterparty stays at the afterparty, or you may end up suddenly missing.

@daily-writing-challenge

[gromlyn]

been working on my asoiaf au lately but i refuse to write so here's some thoughts

my au presents a very self-indulgent concept: what if the targaryens had self-preservation instinct and actually tried to be better? admittedly, this is just so I can justify designing/naming a fuckton of dragons + their riders lol

(and also so I can play with the more whimsical fantasy aspects of the twoiaf, escapism and wish fulfillment baybe)

this presents me a fun narrative challenge: how do I justify targaryens that don't suck as much?

my au takes place in a timeline where maegor dies during a conflict while he's in exile, so the throne passes to aegon the uncrowned, and then to his daughter, aerea. aera sucessfully claims balerion and basically revolutionizes dragonriding + turns the 7 kingdoms into an empire by schlorping up the stepstones and the free cities

the throne passing to aerea and her being a #girlboss allowed me to depower jaehaerys' misogyny and give his daughters dragons + allow them to choose their spouses (I opted to keep most of jaehaerys and alysanne's children, I just really like all of them and wanted to give their daughters some agency). their children establish new valyrian dragonriding houses

aerea firmly establishes that the throne passes to the oldest heir regardless of sex, which fundamantally changes the political landscape of westeros by 300 ac

aerea rules for like 50 years and after her reign things are chill until her 3 grandchildren get really into poisoning each other

there's another couple good kings, and then there's one of the viseryses. he's lovingly known as "the whore king". he fathers a bunch of bastards that he legitimizes who create another wave of additional valyrian dragonriding houses

within a couple generations, there's a FUCKTON of dragons and dragonriders. at this point a civil war in inevitable,

so there's a dragonrider civil war. it happens mostly because the current queen (aerea III) continued her father's shitty political choices + got a streak of targaryen madness. she's eventually removed from the throne and dies with her dragon. at least one of the bastard houses gets wiped out completely. the throne then passes to aerea's younger half brother, who led an opposing faction with his sons. his two eldest sons unfortunately die in the fighting, so his heir is his thirdborn son, eleaor.

elaeor is the king for my au's 'current day', which is roughly 300 ac (that way I can use the red comet in my narrative)

because he had to watch his two older brothers die in an awful civil war, he takes a more peaceful approach to things and loves his family. as a result house targaryen is pretty functional for once! (at least elaeor's immediate family is...)

because dragons are still around and there's still a solid amount of them (like 35ish, so more than house targaryen ever had in canon), they've slightly changed over the centuries they've been in westeros. they've gotten smaller + slightly more docile. they aren't friendly persay, but they're not as aggressive towards humans as the canon targaryen dragons (I need to note that I got this idea from watching my chickens run around and thinking about how they're living avian dinosaurs)

that's all I have the energy to write for now lol. like I said, very self-indulgent. at some point I'll talk more about the characters I've been focusing on, but I wanted to flesh out the version of westeros I'm putting them in first

[midwinterrmemento]

An Uncanny Resemblance

➢ pairing: Silvio Ricci x MC/Emma [Ikemen Prince]

➢ prompt: Forced to wear an ugly Christmas sweater

➢ word count: 1,950

⚠️ content warnings: minor language and slightly suggestive content towards the end, otherwise it’s just tooth-rotting fluff

This is my first time writing for the Cybird games, but I read the list of prompts for @xxsycamore and @voltage-vixen​’s ‘Tis the Season for Love challenge and it gave me Ideas™ so I hope you don’t mind me joining in! It's super self-indulgent since I'm currently experiencing Silvio brainrot, but thank you both for giving me an excuse to try writing for IkePri and to embarrass him the way he deserves. Happy holidays :)

Silvio took a long look at the sweater laid out in front of him, feeling his nose involuntarily crinkle up in disdain.

Christmas was as lavish a celebration as any other in Benitoite, so every year the prince was used to receiving gifts of the highest—and most expensive—quality from nobles and foreign merchants looking to gain favor with the royal family. He had admired some gifts before, sure, but he couldn’t remember ever being so astonished by one. Nothing had ever left him as speechless as this… nauseatingly colorful heap of wool.

The very thought sent another wave of frustration through him.

Damn it, why should this be the thing that finally gets to him? And what sentimental value could that woman possibly find in it?

He could still see the look on Emma’s face when she came up to him in his study, the way her eyes were sparkling with anticipation as she presented him with the sweater. She’d admitted herself that it was ugly, but according to her, that was supposed to be the charm of it. Apparently it was a tradition in her country to cozy up during the holidays with an ugly festive sweater. So much for Rhodolite being the land of refinery, he’d thought dryly, but held his tongue.

Or, at least, he meant to hold his tongue, but then she said something about how it reminded her of him and he just couldn’t withhold his indignation at that. The moment he snapped at her, however, he regretted it immediately, watching her face fall.

But why would she be so hurt that he was insulted, anyway? She wasn’t expecting him to be flattered, was she?

He knew perfectly well that Emma saw the world differently than he did, and on some level he’d already accepted that he might never understand her completely, but that didn’t mean he would give up trying. It made him deeply uncomfortable to watch her and that damn dog giggling together over the sweater without being able to understand what they were going on about (that damn dog, who was all too quick to agree that oh yes, it looks just like him, though whether he was trying more to appease Emma or insult Silvio was anyone’s guess). As he scrutinized the sweater now, he searched for anything they could possibly see that he couldn’t.

Roughly knitted into the center was a little humanlike blob in a red suit, sitting on something green. It appeared to be Santa in his sleigh, which was being pulled by what was definitely not a reindeer, although he couldn’t quite tell what it was supposed to be. A dog, maybe? It had four legs, at least… and it was white with black spots... and if that part there was meant to be its face, then it looked somehow smug and self-satisfied, with a lopsided half-smirk.

It didn’t look like him at all. Emma was just crazy, and the design made no sense, and it was a sorry excuse for proper craftsmanship. He’d have to go find whatever merchant she bought it from and get her money back.

But still... he couldn’t stand knowing that he’d made her upset.

Emma looked so dejected when he refused to take the sweater from her, pushing it away when she held it out to him. He’d insisted that she take the sweater and the damn dog and leave him alone, because he was busy and he had no time to waste on something so childish. If only he’d known that this was actually important to her, maybe he would’ve been more careful about what he said. The truth is, he wasn’t offended, he was just confused and embarrassed to be given such a gift in front of the dog. He never actually meant to hurt her feelings. 

In fact, he had no idea how much he did hurt her feelings until the dog came knocking on his door later, shoving the sweater back into his arms and angrily demanding that he go apologize to his mistress.

Apologizing was never Silvio’s style. But, well… maybe there was something else he could do to make it up to her.

He gingerly picked up the sweater, holding it at arm’s length like he expected to catch a disease from it. To his dismay, as he stood there with it awkwardly, he could feel his cheeks starting to burn in that telltale way. He had to ask himself again, why was this such a big deal? He was someone who had survived the roughest journeys at sea imaginable. He’d been everywhere and seen everything, and his presence alone was enough to command a room, no matter where he was. If he could do all that, then he could at least put on a stupid sweater.

Before he could change his mind, Silvio cussed under his breath and tossed his shirt to the side. Yanking the sweater over his head, he tried to ignore his discomfort at its scratchiness as he pulled it down to cover his body. He smoothed down his hair, which had been ruffled up in the process, and adjusted the sweater a little bit, finding it itchy and roomy and—oh, well, actually... it was warm enough, at least. He tugged at the sleeves, rubbing the fabric through his fingers to test the quality.

Well... it wasn’t terrible. That much he could admit.

But when he turned towards his mirror, any semblance of appreciation he might’ve felt vanished immediately at the sight of his reflection—himself swimming in a frumpy, oversized sweater, the long sleeves dangling down past his hands. His hair was frizzy, standing up in all directions from the static. His face was still red, and the more he looked, the more it deepened until it seemed to match the exact shade of the sweater itself.

If he didn’t know better, he’d even say that the doglike creature in the middle was looking at him with that smug smirk.

Hell no. Screw this.

Silvio tore his eyes away from his reflection and began fumbling around, clumsily trying to pull his arms out of the sleeves so he could get this thing off him already. Emma would just have to get over it on her own, because no way was he going to let her see him like this.

But then, at the worst possible moment—

“Silvio?” A knock on the door. “Are you here?”

—karma struck, and the prince was frozen in the middle of trying to remove the sweater when the door opened and Emma poked her head inside the room.

“I just wanted to...”

Whatever she was about to say, she trailed off abruptly when she caught sight of him, her eyes widening. For a second, they only stared at each other in shocked silence. Silvio was the first to snap out of it.

“You’re supposed to wait for an answer before you come in, woman.” His voice came out too flustered for his liking. Suddenly remembering how red his face was, he spun around to turn his back to her, muttering a stream of profanities as he continued to wrestle with the sweater. “Damn it... Are you just gonna stand there or what? Close the door!”

He heard the door shut quickly, and for a second he was relieved that she was merciful enough to make sure no one else saw this. But then she began to do the only thing that could make this even more humiliating.

“Hey—don’t laugh at me!”

She was obviously trying to hold in her string of giggles, but somehow that made it even worse. Giving up trying to rip off the sweater, he turned back to face her with an exasperated sigh, the empty sleeves swinging around in the process.

“I’m serious!”

But oh, the sight of Emma smiling sweetly, eyes glimmering with delight as she tried to cover her laughter with her hand. Seeing her like that, he could almost forget about his embarrassment for a moment. But then she was crossing the room over to him, and his guard was back up again.

“Sorry,” she managed, though she didn’t sound sorry at all as she continued to giggle. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing. And you didn’t see anything, either, got it?”

“Well, I did see something.”

“You—hey—”

“I saw my fiancé trying to make me smile, right?” Once she was close enough, she leaned up and pressed a kiss to his bright red cheek, and Silvio was stunned into silence by the adoring look on her face when she pulled back. “Or were you just trying on the sweater because you love it that much?”

He glared at her, but she only smiled back at him softly, understanding his silence as enough of an answer. “Silvio... thank you.”

“...You’re a weird woman. This kind of thing impresses you, seriously?”

“You did it anyway.”

“Yeah, I did. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to wear this thing in front of anyone else, you hear me?” Silvio pointed his finger at her for emphasis, forgetting that his arms were still inside the sweater, so the action was hardly noticeable. “And you better not tell that damn dog, either.”

Emma smiled, shaking her head. “All right. But Rio will probably come looking for me soon, so you should hurry and take it off if you don’t want him to see.”

“Then help me out already, will you? This thing’s like a wool prison.”

Emma reached up and helped him tug the collar of the sweater over his head, the rest of it quickly following suit with her guidance. She didn’t realize until too late that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath and flushed when she suddenly found herself face-to-face with a shirtless Silvio, who tossed the sweater onto the bed with a sigh. The moment he glanced back at her, saw her expression, and realized what was happening, though—

“Hm. Not laughing anymore, huh?”

The smirk that graced his features was undeniably gorgeous, and Emma had to admit that she was glad to see his confidence restored, as endearing as it was when he was flustered. She didn’t even have time to be amazed at how quickly their roles had flipped before Silvio’s hand was around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

When his lips landed on hers, their kiss was full of its usual heat, but this time there was something else, too—gratitude. On Emma’s part, because Silvio had swallowed his pride to take part in a tradition from her homeland and cheer her up. And on Silvio’s part, because Emma was the only woman in the world who could catch him looking so foolish and love him even more because of it. Besides, she was the only woman in the world he would risk looking so foolish for, anyway.

“Ah, wait, Silvio—” Emma broke the kiss not without reluctance, her face now as red as his as she looked away embarrassedly. “Really, Rio will be here any second. You need to get dressed.”

“Fine. Hand me that shirt over there.” Silvio’s smirk only stretched across his face, pleased that he was able to get such a reaction out of her so easily. “We’ll continue this later.”

He chuckled at the way her blush deepened at that last remark. As Emma scrambled to grab the shirt, trying to hide her flustered face from him, he turned slightly to cast one more glance at the sweater lying in a heap on his bed, still oblivious to any resemblance he shared with it but inexplicably satisfied when his eyes landed on that little knit dog.

That’s right. Who’s smirking at who now, fido?

[whentherewerebicycles]

today is my first full non-workday alone in over three weeks and I give myself full permission to savor it without any guilt or sense of obligation to anyone. here are some things I’d like to do:

read the last 40 pages of ninth house

get a decent ways into nona the ninth so I don’t interrupt my novel-reading rhythm. I might take my hammock somewhere to read later tbd as I find that putting my phone out of reach and having dedicated hammock time is a good way to jumpstart the next book

last night I started messing around with an old WIP that I meant to finish for a fest last summer but didn’t, which I still think has some interesting stuff in it (not to mention about 20k of existing draft material to work with). I can’t tell if I’m intrigued enough by it to start the revision process but I do notice that every time I open the draft doc I end up adding to it, so idk. I also have this other purely self-indulgent fantasy AU that has just been a fun world to play in for the last couple weeks when I needed a distraction, so I might tinker around with that a bit more too. so maybe I’ll sit out on the deck at some point with my laptop and play play play for a bit

I want to cook something, probably while on the phone with liz… she sent me a cookbook recently that I liked a lot and I want to try a few of the small plates recipes from it either today or tomorrow

on a related note I want to sit down and do some journaling about the next steps in my learning to cook journey. I’m at the point where I feel confident in my ability to execute easy to moderately complex recipes well & with consistent results—ie if I make the same dish multiple times it’ll taste reasonably good the first time, better the second time when I incorporate the modifications I came up with, and pretty consistently good every time I make it after that. I also feel like once I read a recipe all the way through I don’t need to consult it very often during the cooking process because I’m less focused on what’s on the page and am instead tasting and testing and monitoring what’s happening with the food & adjusting accordingly. but I would really like to become the kind of cook who can look at the ingredients at hand & prepare a meal without a recipe or with only the loose outlines of a recipe based on my understanding of how things fit together and what the components of a good meal are. and I think in order to level up in that way I will really have to sit down and start designing some structured learning challenges for myself, and I’ll also need to build in lots of metacognitive writing along the way to make sure I’m consolidating what I’m learning and applying it to future situations. anyway this is the kind of self-teaching/learning design work I love and I am excited to spend some time thinking about it this weekend.

nice long walk with the dogs… maybe on the off leash trail in the “weekend woods” aka the nearby trail system I for some reason only visit on weekends even though it’s like a 3 min drive from my house lol. Pip will love that

that’s it today is just a day of rest and play!!

[hrokkall]

How about Kaycee for the ask game?

KAYCEE I love her let’s go

Favorite thing about them: I love how blatant it is that Kaycee just says “wouldn’t it be cool if—“ before everything she does. In the base game, all of Leshy’s cards (barring the rare cards) are based upon Canadian wildlife you’d realistically find around the BC area… not Kaycee’s additions. She adds a Central American mud turtle, a European lammergeier, and not one, but TWO extinct animals (the wild bull and dire wolf), not to mention the challenges themselves. She’s very clearly just shoving some of her favorite things into the game to say “look! I think you’ll like this too” and it’s so fun to me.

Least favorite thing about them: I love Kaycee. She’s wonderful. But holy shit does some of the lore in KMod fuck everything up. Inscryption was developed in the 90s but KMod seems to imply it was developed in the 2000s where she would’ve met Luke? Not to MENTION the partial retcon of the Scrybes fighting each other for control for years (granted that can be chalked up to an oversight on Kaycee’s part wherein Leshy’s takeover was just the first takeover she noticed, but still).

Favorite line: Kaycee being pissed that Leshy beheaded her self-insert will never not be funny.

brOTP: This is such an “I’m sure everyone is going to answer with this” type of answer, but Kaycee and Leshy’s friendship means so much to me. Inscryption really said “here is a person who has dedicated his entire purpose to the existence of someone doomed to never see his work and here is another person who sees why he was doomed to never be seen by human eyes and she indulges anyway out of love for what he has created and out of love for their shared company” and then just subtly put it in the background of the narrative. Leshy just wanted to play his game and Kaycee wholeheartedly wanted to play with him, listening to his suggestions and using her own skills to add things she thought he’d like (in addition to the challenges that were just for her let’s be real). The game really stresses that Leshy—despite, by design, not really caring for anything outside of the game—saw her not just as the challenger he’d hoped for but, above all else, a friend and that means so much.

Having said that, I do dunk on Kaycee a little bit for not destroying a malevolent supernatural force trapped inside a floppy disk because her best friend was also on it but then again I think that would’ve been even worse if she destroyed it and then died anyway. Inscryption isn’t a game where anyone wins but that definitely would’ve been even more of a loss for everyone involved.

OTP: As per usual in this category I don’t really ship Kaycee with anyone.

nOTP: I’m not a fan of Kaycee and Leshy in a romantic sense. Them being friends just means a lot more to me.

Random headcanon: I mentioned with Luke that proximity to the old_data (filtered via Inscryption) sort of messes with the human body after a while and that’s… much more true for Kaycee than it is for Luke. Normally the old_data is a corrupting force that would want to turn whatever’s closest to it into a suitable host should it have to jump ship, but Leshy’s takeover of the game sort of interrupts that process and instead causes any changes to reflect his version of the game instead. It gets to a point where she actually has to wear her glasses to work otherwise she’s certain her coworkers will notice that her eyes have begun to shine in the dark like those of a wild animal.

(Worth noting there’s Zero canon basis for any of this; normally I try to keep my headcanons pretty grounded in canon but I hate the ARG as a whole and also how it explains it instead of keeping it as something undefinable so I’m doing whatever I want with the concept of the OLD_DATA. It’s the haunted cartridge equivalent of an eldritch horror to me. The Scrybes are all sending out fishing lines and hacking off pieces of it to use for their own means, not because it’s corrupted them but because they feel they have to. It is still alive. Hope this helps.)

Unpopular opinion: This isn’t an unpopular opinion in the slightest, I’m just pretty sure I’m the only person who gives Kaycee glasses. Probably because she pretty visibly doesn’t have them in her portrait, but she just seems like she’d be someone who needs glasses and Never Wears Them—she’s nearsighted and she’s a programmer, she doesn’t need to see far away (read: yes she does).

Song I associate with them: I have a lot of Kaycee songs (I have playlists for a lot of these characters admittedly but I’m just bad at picking songs to share from them) but my go-tos are Flight of the Crows by Jhariah (just general energy idk), The Most Peculiar Day of Your Life by The Hoosiers (works for any of the protagonists but I feel it aligns especially well with some of Kaycee’s entries), and Frozen Pines by Lord Huron. As a bonus, I associate Betrayed by Bones by Hellogoodbye with her, but I don’t really have an explanation for that one.

Favorite picture of them: There’s technically only one picture of Kaycee in-game (and I don’t even know if it’s canonically confirmed to be Kaycee… then again, who else could it possibly be). But I’m counting her Deathcard in this too. The head it uses is also called “the wildling” which is so fun

[prince876]

An Exhaustive Guide on How To Take a Mental Health Day Off

Everyone deals with varying levels of stress. It can get challenging to function and manage everything if you have a lot on your plate. Research shows that mental health can significantly impact academic life.

Burnout can leave one feeling exhausted, irritable, empty, and unable to cope with daily life demands. It may lead to one experiencing a variety of mental and physical health symptoms as well. If one doesn’t address burnout and fatigue, it can make it very difficult for individuals to perform well in their daily lives and lead to declining productivity. Naturally, we all ask for leave for sick days for physical health, but the practice of taking leave for addressing our mental health is more of a grey area.

Have you taken a day off for your mental health?

Sometimes taking a mental health day — a day off that’s geared towards stress relief, self-work, and burnout prevention — is the best thing you can do for yourself and gain that lost energy back. One day might not solve serious underlying problems that lead to burnout, yet it can provide a much-needed break to rest and come back with greater energy levels and a less-stressed perspective.

Here are some tips that can help you take a mental health day and make the most out of your day off:

Deciding What You Need the Most

If one is fatigued, the body will be screaming that it needs to rest and sleep. It could be because of deadlines, or one just feels that he/she can’t face another day of hard work. It not only requires a day off but also requires some fun. However, if you’re feeling confused, you may not be as aware of your needs.

Take a minute and introspect: Would it benefit if you take some time off? Would a day off with friends recharge you? Do you need to spend some quality time with yourself alone? Or do you need a day of doing nothing?

How To Spend Your Mental Health Day

Just like you’d treat any sick day, indulge in the things that would make you feel better. It is a day for yourself. Don’t confuse it with a ‘running errands day.’ Design a mental health day for self-care so that you feel refreshed. Just make sure whatever is being done makes you feel more at ease and relaxed.

You can take time out and binge watch some Netflix series or movies, or indulge in your favourite hobby like drawing, painting, cooking, baking, reading a good book, or go out with friends for a coffee or dinner, spend time with family, go for a walk. You can also spend time decluttering, organizing and cleaning if that is therapeutic for you!

The key is to spend valuable time doing an activity that you find relaxing and rejuvenating.

Decide whether you need to make some fundamental changes

Sometimes, self-care is realising that you need to make changes to your lifestyle. Take the day off to restructure and sort things out. You won’t be able to eliminate all the ongoing stressors in a day. Still, you might be capable enough to make a significant change in various domains, which would create an enduring impact in the long term.

You can start to eliminate stress by:

Figuring out what is wrong by reflecting and analysing

Creating a list of things that drain energy and how changes can be brought into that sphere of life

Formulating to-do lists and planning in advance

Reflecting on all your strengths and coping mechanisms that you already have or need to develop

Things to Avoid on Your Mental Health Day

Spending your day in self-care does not mean spending time in loneliness. It is a day to help you refresh and recharge. Even if you want to stay home and sleep all day, make sure that it is for the right reasons and you are not just doing it to avoid people.

Things one should avoid:

Indulging in smoking or drinking

Overeating or binge eating junk and unhealthy foods

Ruminating or crying

Spend all day on the phone, reading posts on social media or memes

Being socially distan

It is essential to fill your Mental Health day with activities that boost your physical and mental wellness.

Reflect on the Day

Once you’ve spent the day on yourself, set aside some time to reflect on the day’s events, make it a habit to practice the GLAD technique.

GLAD is a gratitude exercise that will improve the mood and help you with an added dose of positivity. It strengthens one’s ability to be grateful for what life has in store for you. It is:

Gratitude

Learning

Achievement or accomplishment

Delight

It puts you in a better emotional place right before bed and prepares you for the next hectic day.

Don’t expect to be able to decide about all of this in a single go. If you want to make a radical change in your life, use the mental day off as a chance to do long-term planning, evaluation, and get ready to work on those changes for long-term impact. It may feel awkward at first to do things like spending a day with your loved ones or doing your hobby that you’d otherwise spend working. But these activities can go a long way toward helping you feel better, relaxed, and revived.

A mental health day can be beneficial on occasion, but in the current times, we must also strive to make mental health a priority every day. Gaining a detailed report into the areas you need to work on is a fundamental step on the journey of mental wellness. You can avail yourself of the option of self-management tools or book a session with a therapist for more support without compromising on your confidentiality.

Seo keywords: Stress, Rejuvenating, Mental health day off, Rest day, Burnout, Self-care, Grateful, Restructure, mental well being, mental wellness, gratitude, Me time, quality of life, preventing illness

[seithr]

favorite top 5 of your ocs

Asking this of me who has no less than 10 aus of the same 3 characters is going to kill me... I can't put the same purple eyepatch bastard here five times or the invisible powers that be will come after me. Hard limit of two of the same guy (AND ONLY ONE GUY ALLOWED TO DOUBLE UP) only!! Here we go I finally put some names to the characters I mention in my tags:

(MORE UNDER CUT)

NERO listen years ago I did a silly challenge to throw together a bunch of design notes you like into a single guy and out came bigtits mchimbo over here. I don't know what more to explain besides I made him for myself in a very self indulgent way. Flames and passions god who's just here for a good time and make sure everyone else does too. Specifically I really like his tiny gay little earrings. And his velvety fuzzy body. And his wings good for hiding/setting around his waist like a skirt that hang right over his ass. I like a lot of him. He's like a stressball to me. Sorry ok next guy

NADINE DUVAL otherwise known as why I had to put a au caveat answering this. Yes I love Zinadia, my main girl's, FFXIV iteration—the evil 200 year old viera and her posession/longing subplot—but I am... really attached to FE3H still and still REALLY jive with Nadine's place in the world, and the reinterpretation of the main "noble dad died, get exiled, come back for revenge about it years later" she gets. She's more heroic here!

The devastation of that loss and event gets cranked down since FE3H's plot takes prescendence and character narrative importance—so... It's fun exploring how she turns out in a time where she gets socialized properly, has friends, people to fall back on, to fight for and who look for her not as a symbol to prop up but a friend who had connections and good dreams for the world...

She touches my heart in a really specific way. Fire Emblem Three Houses as a world sucks YES i am sure and know, but it has chances for her to turn things around that most other verses she doesn't get. I love you handsome noble woman

WYRM my big bastard. My "true dragon" among a sea of dragonpeople/elkiir.... Fafnir, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, the devil hiding in the truth, warnings-ignored manifest, will to survive at any cost incarnate. Wyrm is a suit of armour mangled and bloodied and brought to life, fueled by eating magic-drenched flesh, eventually burning up its previous owner inside it too—their bones fused to its organic-metal like a living casket. As that person wanted, they will not die without their revenge. Wyrm will take as long as there is something to take.

The biological anomaly of its "life"—not continuation of its previous one, but still not truly "alive" now either—is an insult itself. You can't pierce him with a lance—a stab doesn't kill metal. You can't take them apart either—they're not made with vital organs and blood, as much as the flames of burning it sustains movement and thought. Weapons of those who fail to kill her are embedded in their body, and where this endlessly-growing beast has outgrown its once human-sized form—leg growth shooting through boots and fresh skin and muscle filling in—those remaining claws and hands and limbs still work, endlessly trying to grow, to "live" as commanded.

Wyrm is far and away one of my favourite creatures. Fucked up dragon eating people alive, and its hunters slowly start to recognize what corpse exactly has sustained it.

CAIA SINNORHA it is known I adore this knight woman. It stings to try and be the best of anyone. And to come so very close to your greatest dreams, only to be thrown back down to the start because the person you love most—who you wonder if you still love—has done the worst thing possible. The eldest daughter, the eldest child, the symbol of the military-nobility's promise to continue serving and fighting, as symbols of a new era.

A shining hero who gets told by those who inspired her that they don't believe in that idea anymore, and she ought to give up rather than keep continuing on that hope she'll make it. Her bird-of-prey motifs in her gold eyes, featherlike wrist decor and her tail's scales, her double-kneed legs... I'm so so fond of her design, the way she carries herself in it... Strange half-dragon people and the minute ways they're different and work around it, like her leg braces and how being neither fully once species or the other impacts her idea of lineage and legacy. She is sooo compressed by the system and trapped in it and needs it to work because she thrived under it once and cannot bear the idea it will never be good as that again. Ms Sinnorha my proper knight crumpling under the weight and expectation of what it means to be what you imagine you need to be... wah

ZINADIA AEDELRIC it is known I am helplessly dedicated to Zinadia. She's the beating heart of this machine and all my ocs. Greasy kicked dog demeanor, kicking and clawing your way back no matter what. She always gets up, no matter how it hurts. Twenty long years it takes for her to have the battle against her traitor king of a brother—twenty years of this hound knight chasing down her dragon. Uuruurgh. Exiled and scapegoated, and taking up that mantle anyway—if she's accused of being a Kingslayer, then her noble brother will see what one really looks like. I'm fighting to not say in every sentence "She is so cool to me."

Electric wolf knight with ambiguous dragonblood in her, hunting down monstrous dragonhounds and biding her time until she gets her hands on her real prize, the man who stole away her life in seat of luxury, safety, love... Everything she's done will be worth it in the end, if her love is awaiting her still, and all it takes is to prove that she deserves to live, and always has, all this time, to the man who condemned her to death.

Zinadia and the story in Thunder—which IS Zinadia—means the world to me. Aaa. Wolfy scarred woman...

[totallycloves]

CLOVER EWING is based on CLOVER from TOTALLY SPIES. she is a 26 year old human, pop culture columnist, and uses she/her pronouns. she has no powers. clover is written by ALEX.

At first glance, Clover is your typical valley girl, obsessed with appearances and speaking with plenty of smatterings of "like" and "totally" - but she's also an incredibly talented spy, willing to get her impeccably manicured hands dirty for the good of the world… Or to fight anyone who dares to cross her friends. Sure, she's materialistic, with a fashion obsession some roll their eyes at, but she's fiercely loyal, and she (with only some reluctance) would toss out her entire wardrobe to ensure the safety of those she cares about.

She's incredibly competitive, at times going to ridiculous lengths to prove herself as better than whoever she opposes or anyone who dares to underestimate her - and she can be incredibly petty when it comes to her rivals, fixating herself on nothing but defeating them until she's "won". Clover often projects a level of confidence some would find bordering arrogance, and while she does think fairly highly of herself on good days, admittedly, it also serves as an efficient mask to plague self doubt stirring within - which contributes to a constant urge to prove herself, even when it's doubtfully worth it.

Still, she uses the fact that she's often underestimated to her advantage, squeezing information from those easily convinced with shallow flirting who don't see her as a threat, gaining gossip by whatever means necessary... Which are mostly legal. At times, Clover can toe the line of morality in her pursuit for "necessary" knowledge , but it's all for the greater good, right?

HEADCANONS:

Clover is a serial dater, often instantly "falling" for for people she passes by - but after spending a few minutes alone in their company and unveiling their flaws (or, her idea of flaws), her romantic interest becomes soured. She has incredibly high standards - ones that she can barely match herself, but she tries anyway. 

Canon, but the fact that she can identify different water brands by taste alone is so funny to me. She’s a Fiji girlie, obvi!

Nearly her entire wardrobe is red and pink, supplemented with a few black and white basics. Speaking of wardrobe, hers is massive, with a normal sized closet devoted just to handbags, and another to shoes. She regularly cycles out her wardrobe, not daring to walk out in anything out of season… But, of course, she donates her old clothing to the less fashionable in need, or, as she would say, "stylistically challenged". 

She has a cat named Vivienne! Viv also has her own wardrobe, of course!

Clover is intelligent but very easily distracted if not passionate about the subject - in school, she did fine enough… As in, the bare minimum of passing because she couldn’t be bothered to work harder than necessary in subjects she didn’t care for. She cheated a bit in math - but was smart enough to get away with it. Of course, in her fashion design class, she was number one!

She's a secret nerd - she’ll act like video games, anime, and all that is totally uncool (even if she's gotten a lot more c, but she’ll indulge in her geek hobbies when she thinks no one is watching. 

Clover is big into yoga and pilates, and she maintains a rigid workout routine even in Evermore... Because as much as she's "settled in", some part of her is always waiting for her next mission, and she refuses to stay idle or unprepared.

She’s bisexual! She certainly was boy obsessed growing up, but as she grew older, she realized she liked girls, too - but was just a little more intimidated by them. I mean, girls are so pretty.

[collymore]

Kate Middleton - absolutely self-evidently, a woman of no real depth!

By Stanley Collymore

Omid Scobie is quite spot on in his forthright exposition of Kate Middleton, who like he honestly says, actually distinctly does nothing truly essentially of worth and characteristically therefore on her undeniably customary form this state of hers is distinctively set to carry on. Quite honestly has anyone really and seriously ever significantly obviously heard Kate Middleton, literally speak at length, about anything discernibly effectively remotely important? And if you're simply honest with yourself you'll know that she hasn't. In reality she and William are evidently rather self- evidently distinctively workshy.

And consummately so naturally totally irrelevant to everyone who isn't effectively risibly brainwashed, rather gullible, ludicrously actually sycophantically brownnosing, evidently very intellectually challenged and unquestionably likewise uselessly racist Karen and likeminded Gammon morons. Crucially undeniably, William Kate, really comprising two ingrained prats; evidently self-indulgently living off those undoubtedly live taxpayers' money as well as the untold millions annually and blissfully attained from all those dead persons who without any written wills or basically known kin beneficiaries thus automatically have every aspect of their personal wealth and actual property, fittingly and characteristically, undoubtedly distinctively and indisputably, also unquestionably firmly handed over to the British monarch and equally their heir under the Bona Vacantia feudal system; quite unchangedly still going very strong in Britain in this the 21st Century. And simply patently obvious in the shameful though benefitting process of all this are two unquestionably very bone idle, clearly sociopathically privileged assholes: William and Kate Windsor, literally producing piss all significantly to anything!

(C) Stanley V. Collymore 26 November 2023.

Author's Remarks: How can anyone even remotely logical in their thinking obtusely imagine that it's either sensible or realistic for an unelected, strictly birthrigt designated family to automatically and exclusively quite discernibly, essentially acquire the entire wealth and properties of citizens of the United Kingdom who've distinctly ostensibly died without having made a will, and rather additionally to that it's likewise presumed that these deceased persons have no known heirs or family members worthy of acquiring the quite aforesaid assets, which then distinctly and quite automatically actually go to the British monarch personally and as well their heir, totally tax free and  also for these recipients to do whatever they care to with these attributed wealth and properties quite obviously without any requisite explanations to anyone; and, additionally, doing so most arrogantly as if it's all quite properly their own by divine promulgation and acquisition. And, most incredibly on top of all this, for what is unquestionably and actually distinctly an undeniably feudal system - literally the Bona Vacantia one - to be so well received and fully accepted by so-called and principally white Britons clearly living in a 21st Century allegedly modern country.

Charles, William, Camilla, Kate and very undoubtedly so the rest of the Windsor parasites don't do any real work and as such what you see them engaged in is absolutely nothing more that cynically contrived propaganda to actually keep the Windsor gravy train consistently in perpetual motion and their privileged, self-entitled affluence ongoing, clearly at the expense both financially and also disdainfully of you utterly brainwashed, gullible, and undoubtedly intellectually challenged, discernibly sycophantic morons. For quite honestly they truly do precisely rather honestly know just how stupid you really are!

And to those of you who keep assinely claiming that the Windsors presence alone does brings in all this supposedly tourist revenue; that's utter bullshit! As France and Italy respectively have no so-called royal family and yet their tourism revenue is magnitudes greater than that of the UK; which categorically debunks the fawning and sycophantic brownnosing nonsense by royalist junkies that we really need the Windsor family because of all the money that their presence alone generates for Britain and England especially.

In reality, people, and I'm referring quite specifically to tourists as these are the people always cited in these distinctly bogus claims, don't visit the UK to hob nob with or gawk at members of the British Windsor family, who they either rarely or never see while they're in our country, but principally and often rather exclusively visit Britain to see its many monuments, museums and places of historical interest.  

And how about this as a clear example of the brainwashed stupidity that quite liberally pervades lowlife Britons. It's a direct quote from a comment that I very recently came across in one of our rightwing rags: "I want my King to have his shoelaces ironed otherwise he'll be the same as the rest of us, and what would be the point of that."