#thank you for the ask wbwbw!

[walkman-cat]

hello question about skyfish! do they taste better when fried or breaded? jkjk i just wanna know more about the story :>

hihi!

oh man your joking question makes me wanna eat fish wwww! they'd probably taste banging both ways (i love fish)

it also made me think more about the distinctions between skyfish and regular normal fish, because the skyfish world does have regular normal so there should be some ways to tell the difference. currently i'm thinking that skyfish flesh tastes a lot sweeter? but it's something i'll work on in future for sure!

as for some info about the story (while keeping with the skyfish consumption theme): the hitter (who's STILL unnamed, it's a problem) was ostracised by many of his peers and their families during his early teens because he was spotted catching a skyfish to eat (he grew up in the undernarrows, where eating skyfish is pratically a taboo no matter how desperate one is).

in the hitter's personal opinion, if skyfish are the reincarnated dead and they're reincarnated back into humans after they fish-die, eating skyfish just hastens the speed at which the reincarnation cycle occurs, which isn't a bad thing (right?). food is food and he's down to eat pretty much anything as long as he doesn't go hungry.

anyways after the ostracisation and his father's death (whole other kettle of fish to go into www) he dropped out of school and moved away to work in the nightmarket, which is where he met and befriended spades (and the rest is history!)

[albatris]

how did you come up with the idea for the garble wbwbw :o?

thank u for the ask!! :D

this is a very boring answer, but I have no memory of it whatsoever ^^;

I think I was daydreaming to a song? I don't recall which one...... and then I was just like..... what if vampires but hivemind?? :O

it is not a very interesting answer HAHAHA I wish I had a better story to tell

[wigglys-dikrats]

7 12 and 16 for the hatchetfield ask game wbwbw

hello parent how are youuuuuuu ???

hello my son!!!! i am doing just damn dandy :D

7 a song you didn’t like at first that grew on you: dirty girl! i’m ace so it was weird and uncomfy at first but now i think it’s hilarious and has good story telling elements to it!!

12 favourite headcanon: poly nerdy prudes and you can pry it out of my cold dead hands !!!! they are in love

16 talk about whatever you want: aaaaa uhhhh anyone who sees this go watch nightmare time and nightmare time 2 !!! i see way too many people confused and asking questions about characters and lore that have been addressed/answered in nightmare time !!! go watch it !!! not only will your questions be answered and expanded upon, we will get a season three if enough people show interest !! yes the format is weird and sure it might take some getting used to, but i always listen to nmt like a podcast and i absorb it just as well :) we want nightmare time 3 !!!!!

thank you my son for the ask wbwbwbw

[walkman-cat]

Happy STS! Please tell me more about the thieves and their life outside of heists :)?

hihi happy sts(unday)!

these thieves are part of my heist/slice of life story, skyfish! (pictured below, with their roles in the heist team). some of them have names but 2/5 do not yet :')

the grifter (named Nobody) and the hacker (unnamed) live together (they moved in when Nobody was in university)! most of their routine involves an old sing-and-dance of the hacker being a nuisance (playfully) and Nobody acting like he's annoyed and bickering with them :D.

outside of heists, the hacker spends their time hacking for funsies, playing video games, or programming. they don't really leave the house that often unless Nobody's joining them.

Nobody spends their tiem outside of heists mostly working on keeping up the multiple masks/identities they have, and coming up with new ones. they also work as a maths tutor on occasion, but the bulk of their time is making up new characters to play.

sometimes Nobody and the hacker will go out and do cons of their own just for funsies! they've been working together since the beginning and have lots of manoeuvres and joint-disguises they do!

similarly, the fixer (Spencer Spades, but no-one calls her by her first name) and the hitter (unnamed and it's vexing me) have worked/lived together for six years by the start of the story. outside of heists they're temp workers who do odd jobs around the city (which is part of why everyone in the city at least knows someone who knows Spades).

when not working, Spades is either found tinkering with her old skyskiff (still on the fence about that tbh but she's got the greasy mechanic vibes) or gambling.

the hitter, when not following Spades around, usually helps out families in the undernarrows/helps out at the Night Market in the narrows. he likes cooking and loves stargazing, but he doesn't often get to do the latter. he also spends time just training/working out, but since some of the jobs he and Spades take on are stealing-things related, he also gets practice then.

the thief (Snake Eyes) is the newest addition to the heist crew, and probably has the biggest life outside heists. he loves games and, as such, his time for the past four years has mostly been spent at gambling parlours and arcades, to the point where it's recognised by many of the regulars of most of the Narrows' gambling dens. it enjoys card games, loves dice games, and is willing to play anything as long as it'll have a good time (Spades- who gambles for the thrill- has often interacted with Snake Eyes in the past). outside of playing games, Snake Eyes ususally haunts the Night Market and picks pockets (it's how they've gotten by for so long, though he sometimes help out with one or two stalls).

he's also always wanted to be a magician, so he'll practice tricks and sleight of hand if he's idle, but most of his time is spent either gambling or stealing on his own. after he joins the heist crew he starts spending more time with them and it's funky wbwbw!

literally all of them spend their free time either working on things that'll help them in heists or stealing things. only Spades and the hitter really know how to interact with people normally (Nobody doesn't count because her normal is lying about being normal). they're very silly and i like thinking about how they become closer and sillier over time wbwbw!

[walkman-cat]

happy sts!

yap about skyfish this is a threat 🔫

- @vsnotresponding

hihi thankyou for letting me skyfish wbwb!

skyfish is a story currently in the Very Early stages (came up with it last month)! i'm thinking that it's gonna be part-heist-of-the-week, part-slice-of-life wbwbw.

i might ramble a bit about the worldbuilding wbwb!

skyfish's setting is a planet where birds do not exist, replaced instead by swarms and shoals of fish (of varying sizes and types) who live in the air (hence the name!). most of the planet is taken up by sprawling cities built from the ground-up, which has resulted in a layered effect.

basically, there are two main layers to any city, with their distinct cultures/ways of life: the upper city and the undercity (which can be split into the narrows and the under-narrows, but this depends on who you ask).

the undernarrows is the lowest layer, with winding alleys, narrow (which is where the name 'narrows' comes from) streets, and cramped buildings. because the rest of the city is built on top of it, little natural light reaches the narrows, so it's mostly lit up with lanterns and lights. (the vibe is kind of like the slums in stray, because i love the deisgn and locations of it wbwbw). the undernarrows has a reputation for being seedy/disreputable.

the distinction between the undernarrows and the narrows is very slim (although many people from the undercity would disagree)– as the narrows is just the higher layers of the undercity, it still has the narrow streets and stacked buildings, though there's more space both in the streets and the buildings. the narrows sit in the shadow of the upper city and get little view of the sky itself, but there's less of a distinct day-night cycle there than in the undernarrows, as the narrows are lit day-round by an array of neon signs and lamps.

it's easy to travel between the levels of the undercity, and many people in the undernarrows may work in the night market of the narrows. community is a big part of the culture of the undercity, and the main currency not the official credit system of the Inter-Astral Alliance that the planet is a part of.

the undercity also mostly shares the same customs and beliefs, the most notable being that the skyfish are the dead, and that being a skyfish is an in-between stage between death and rebirth. blue and green-tiled buildings can be found throughout the undercity where one can pay respects to one's ancestors and dead relatives (they're the places of worship basically wbwb). eating the skyfish is so frowned upon it's almost taboo (though more desperate families can and do eat skyfish) and oftentimes those who are known to eat skyfish are ostracised.

meanwhile, the upper city (the highest level) is completely open to the sky. it's the richest part of the city, with most important officials and people with space-based occupations living there, as well as large concert halls, the more prestigious universities/schools, &c. there's a lot more space up at the top, with wider places to walk and space for skyships to move. it's also the base of operations the planet's trade and the Inter-Astral Postal System, so it also houses many people who do not come from the planet.

in the upper city, the dead become stars, and if you pay the dead respects/give them regular offerings, the stars will shine favourably upon you. skyfish are considered to be just fish, and are a large part of diet (which is a source of contention with the undercity).

it is, however, more difficult to get from the undercity to the upper city (it is, it should be noted, easier to descend than ascend)– there are cable cars and staircases that rise up, but they can be time-consuming and/or strenuous methods of travel. the upper city and undercity also have separate dialects (though everyone is taught the standard language of the IAA), which can cause issues/confusion.

most of this worldbuilding still needs finetuning/is up in the open as i continue to work on the story, but i like it, and it's fun to think about how where the main character's come from in the cities affects how they think/interact with other people.

(i'm also so sorry for the metric ton of words wbwbw! i hope it makes sense and if not i'm sorry wbwbw)

[walkman-cat]

3. How did your oc discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or did they always know?

7. Is there something that could cause your oc to question their identity? What?

14. Do you have ocs on the aro or ace spectrum?

:3

:D thank you for the ask!! (I’m gonna answer these for the jackstory, because a big portion of the story is about the characters discovering their identities and also because it’s on the brain wbwbw)

3. How did your oc discover themself? Did something cause them to question, or did they always know?

Markos didn’t find out about aromanticism and the word aromantic until well into his friendship with Jack Conan, but once he did it put a lot of things into perspective.

When he was younger, whenever someone asked him if he liked someone or if he had a crush, he’d usually name his friend Circe (she was very vocal about how she liked women from a young age, so she was a safe option as there was no chance of Markos’ “crush” being mutual), for example. Or when Leslie (his other closest friend) confessed to him he didn't like her back and was repulsed of the idea of being romantically involved with her, even though he’d tried very hard to like her romantically.

Markos has a lot of internalised arophobia he has to deal with (he was super guilty about the Leslie situation, which paired with his depression and low self esteem really did a number on his friendship and his mental health)(he thought there was something fundamentally Wrong with him for a while), but eventually he feels comfortable in his aromanticism :D!

7. Is there something that could cause your oc to question their identity? What?

For Jack Conan, it was their friendship and feelings towards Markos that caused them to question their identity the most.

They always had trouble discerning their emotions, and couldn’t determine if their feelings towards him after they’d gotten close were romantic, platonic, or something in between. (There were a Lot of sleepless nights where they debated their own aromanticism and were overthinking everything).

They eventually get sick of the spiralling, label the feelings as alterous and themself as oriented aroace, and call it a day. (And they do become qpps with Markos aswell!!)

14. Do you have ocs on the aro or ace spectrum?

So many wbwbw!! I usually unintentionally end up writing characters as aspec lol. Here are some lists for 3/4 of my stories wbwbwb!

the undiscovered country (aka the jackstory):

Jack Conan Ong (oriented aroace)

Markos Elefterakis (aromantic)

Arsinoë Elefterakis (aspec, but she finds out waaay after the jackstory ends because during the jackstory she’s 7-11 years old and Does Not Care)

eidolon vetch:

Orpheus Alabaster (demiromantic ace)

Cecil Meyers (ace)

Kit Allister (aroallo)

Matchsticks Kelly (aro)

the blinkstory:

Blink (aroallo)

Arthur Scrimshaw (aro)

Eurydice Scrimshaw (aroace)

[walkman-cat]

if youre still doing the ask game, then 1, 8 and 25! - @pigeonwit

hiya pidge! :DD (to answer when you asked in response to my asking you on an ask yesterday as to how i am: i am very eepy but it is finally the winter break so i can finally rest and not think about exams for a wee bit!)

1. Show your most recent wip

alas! i have no recent wips becuase i tend to complete drawings in one sitting to the detriment of my hydration (among other things) (adhd amirite). however, i do have some sketches of some of my eidolon vetch characters which i plan to eventually make art for/draw properly. so, in lieu of a wip, here are cecil (the bust) and orph (the lad who looks like he hasnt slept in years) wbwbw:

i think i've finally settled on hair i like for orpheus :D which is epic (love my blow-dried cat of a detective)

8. What do you like most about your own work?

i've been really liking my lineart recently wbwb! i like how it looks kinda comic or graphic novel-y and that i like it as much as i like the finished pieces. also the brush i use when drawing digitally has SUCH a pleasant texture it makes linework a real treat wbwbw

25. Based on your recent reference searches, what would the FBI assume about you?

probably that i do Not know how to hold cats (i have searched up so many poses of people holding cats or having cats climbing them lol). also that i have a completely normal interest (lying) in star trek costumes (i've been making notes on the costume design for the uniforms becuase i am entirely normal about it :])

so, not really anything incriminating as of my most recent reference searches wbwb

thanks for the ask pidge! i appreciate your presence in my life and friendship very very much you're soso nice and it makes me feel buzzy (positive) :D i also cannot wait for another year of it !!