#that might actually be part of why i was so drawn to queen tho

[hairscare]

IF you dropped a long ass text post with all of your biology, sociology and political headcanons about the underworld in creepypasta au land,, I would read it like a bedtime story every night

I LOVE LORE❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

alright you dont gotta tell me twice

geography

so basically the underrealm (ik this name comes from some creepypasta comic but idk off the top of my head which) is basically like hell and looks like the nether from minecraft in that its like one huge cave system type deal with various major caverns being provinces. theres no plants so the residents are carnivorous + also eat rocks and gems since theyre edible to them. the caverns tend to be layered with rock formation shelves that people live on, and the cavern is warmer the higher up you are. there isnt any sort of sun since its all cave but there are plenty of creatires and rocks that glow plus theyve got things like electricity to light up the caverns

sociology/political

so obv zalgo is the emperor of the underrealm and he has his own providence thats just his labyrinthine palace (its lonely at the top!) but each providence has its own chancellor thats in charge of it like a president and each chancellor is one of zalgos kids! since hes kind of a chaotic anomaly he just kind of pops out a baby every so often (he tries very hard to be a good dad) and when they get old enough they basically just get an extremely high role in the govt. the chancellor positions are in high demand, so theres a lot of duels to the death between siblings to try and steal each others positions.

theres also a few high chancellors (my oc austeros was one of these, i might put them back in this story ngl) who are the most influential under zalgo himself (theyre all also zalgos nepo babies) and they work directly under him to run everything. i remember there being high chancellors of war, magic, law, commerce and "communications" (this one is just propaganda and austeros runs it very cruelly). anyways they work with zalgo and run basically everything from the shadows

almost all of the chancellors have harems + a harem queen thats like the main partner politically, and these are usually made up people from high standing underrealm families

under the chancellors theres a very strong class system that correlates with how high up the caverns ppl live, so the higher up you are, the more influence you have, and the healthier you are since the heat is necessary for zalgoids. lower down areas are usually very impoverished and consist of small huts and markets, whereas higher up areas are more metropolitan, and finally the tops are very wealthy with tons of estates (of course the chancellors are at the very top with ginormous estates)

a very common way for people to exert their influence is via violence and killing, though certain people are particularly cruel or frequent in this (again, looking at you austeros)

biology

theres a few different species that live in the underrealm, but the main one i have developed are zalgoids, which is kinda what zalgo is (hes special tho)

ill use austeros for a ref since theyre the only one ive drawn semi recently

basically they have a carapace that protects their actual bodies, which are in a type of gaslike state in the shell (this is why they need heat so they can maintain the pressure inside their shell) but when they molt/their shell breaks, they solidify into physical creatures that all look different! heres my old austeros design without a shell (old asf so it looks shitty and needs to be updated but oh well)

zalgoids have regular molting seasons where they often isolate, and while they are more prone in their molted state, they are also larger and more powerful

there are other species (ill show an old concept drawing below) but they arent nearly as developed. theres not really any sort of prejudice or hate between species, they coexist very well in all parts of the hierarchy (except chancellors which are all zalgoids). also none of the species need to sleep so everything is always running 24/7

but yeah! thats basically everything i can think of! i imagine the creepypasta mansion has a portal somewhere (my old hc was a well but id probably change that now) to get to the underrealm since its like a pocket dimension but they def visit sometimes :) oh also i hc that smile dog is half underrealm creature hence why hes like That

[kitkat-the-muffin]

This took a while but it’s finally done!

I’m quite proud of how this turned out. Took me all week to design and draw the character, and took me all day to photoshop this Strife template (I don’t believe in downloading fonts)

Anyway, this is my Usersona for Cloutchase! Think of it as my new online presence (at least until I recolor it for future use)

I’ve put the full drawing, as well as further elaboration on the process, below the cut, and I recommend checking that out too!

I did trace the og template a bit, but that’s cause I suck at drawing poses. The arms are entirely my own design though, so I’m kind of proud of that. The colors were color-picked from previous usersonas so I had a palette to work with

I struggled a lot with the outfit design, and that was mostly due to the limited colors at my disposal. I think it turned out alright, though, even if it didn’t all go according to my initial sketch. For example, I wanted a small ponytail but ended up with two long pigtails. They’re absolutely fabulous though, so I’m very happy with the end result. You can’t make something grand without scratching a few drafts first, after all. I plan to maybe use this design in the future for other things after I think of a new color scheme. My placeholder colors were magenta, purple, and teal!

I actually based the design off of several references from characters I like, or more specifically characters I want to cosplay some day. Those characters were Uzura from Princess Tutu, Sophia from Persona 5 Strikers, Strelitzia from Kingdom Hearts Union X, and Saki from Romantic Killer. All four of these characters also happen to be previous profile pictures of mine from Discord, so I guess that’s why I felt drawn to their designs when creating this new online persona, or “usersona” lol

I named her Muffy (she/her) cause that’s the nickname I’m trying to push for on Tumblr, especially after being called “Kitkat” or “Kat” for about 6 years now. It’s time for a change I suppose. The “McQueen” part is in relation to my blog title as a self proclaimed “shipping queen” but also I wanted to make a Cars joke. The Strife Specibus was a last minute decision, though. I was gonna go with yoyokind but then realized I ALWAYS use yoyokind as my default weapon and I don’t even know how to use yo-yos irl. So instead I decided to give my little chaos child the most dangerous weapon in America that isn’t a gun: pepper spray.

“Peprsprykind” is an actual modus from canon too, I saw it on the wiki hahah. Muffy only has one can but it’s full of GLITTER so she can ruin people’s lives and make them sparkle all at once! However, she does have some restraint of course, it’s only for when she’s feeling evil of vengeful heheheheh. I had a whole conversation with a friend about how choosing pepper spray seemed kind of boring to me at first, but maybe I can do something unique with it. Maybe use it on Amino and watch them swallow it like the ungodly demon they are, who knows?

Anyway, might post the progress video later if I feel like it. For now ima relax tho since this is my first actual drawing in a while that I’m actually proud of, and I’m tired from dedicating a week to it

I hope the @cloutchase team enjoys Muffy’s presence as much as I do

[mdverse]

rating the glee kids based on how easy it was to animate them

finn: 9/10

-1 bc i kept underestimating how long his part was and had to go back and add more frames at least once

all of the frames were pretty similar and tbh that was simultaneously a blessing and a curse

britt: 10/10

im a britt apologist, she can do no wrong to me, so she's the only one whose bopping around did not cost her any points

honestly the best person to get me started experimenting with smear frames here! i love her

-1 bc these aren't my best britt drawings (sorry babe)

+1 bc she somehow managed to look cute in her transitions from finn and to puck. i didn't think that was possible. who else is doing it like her <3

puck: 2/10

did not need to be moving that much. sir pls stop why were u whipping ur head around like that

also the mostly bald head keeps tripping me up but that's just a general puck thing

mike: 7/10

pretty quick, pretty easy! no complaints there he is vv cute and it's nice to draw him more

rachel: 1/10

i was feeling pretty neutral about her for a while but i'm back to hating her just bc of this

i can draw her from one angle only so everything else was a nightmare and i learned to draw her out of sheer spite

she was singing the "it's tough for you to get by" part so a. i had to sync her mouth to the words and b. it felt like a personal attack 😔 yes it was tough rachel thank u for rubbing it in

every time i thought i was done with her i had to go back and add more frames and i was seething about it

mercedes: 5/10

still not used to drawing her so genuinely who knows if the resemblance is there or not

very short segment for her tho so i suppose it could've been much worse? but i don't love what i did

sam: 8/10

so little screentime (literally 4 frames rip samuel)! quick and easy, i have to appreciate that

the hair transition from mercedes to sam was so fun actually

kurt: 9/10

literally the same :D expression the entire time! adorable <3

rory: 5/10

i have never drawn this man in my life and i may never do it again (not an insult)

santana: 9.5/10

the "go girl give us nothing" lack of movement in her shoulders is everything to me

thank u for making my life easier and looking flawless the entire time ily queen

-0.5 but only bc i got really sad the entire time i was drawing her and tbh that's not her fault in the slightest

also shoutout to her for getting The Best frame in this entire animation??

quinn: 4/10

listen usually i like drawing quinn but this was a struggle

miss ma'am did not need to be tipping her head up and down like that :(

honestly i did my best but ive definitely drawn much better quinns than these

artie: 3/10

by this point i was ready to commit murder this lil fucker would not stop moving and i wanted to cry

why. what was the point of all that. he was doing the most like his part wasn't already The Longest by a lot

every time i thought i might be getting close to the end i realised i was wrong. genuinely so emotionally devastating u don't understand

he earned himself points back tho bc i drew so many good arties and im proud of that. growth babey <3

[jays-supersonic-dynamo]

BLEASE elaborate on lloyd's team!!! (and. huh. fairy-types are the usual counter to dragon-types, nowadays, since ice-types tend to keel over from a flamethrower. why is sora a fairy-type specialist when her mo seems to be protecting dragons at all costs?)

DUDE i’d love to elaborate on lloyd’s team!! its probably the team where i have the most thought on each individual choice LMAO so its the most interesting

- Gallade is Lloyd’s starter, and i think they’re the combo i’ve consistently drawn the most together, lmao. Ralts is a small pokemon with a green bowl cut, so i like the image of itty bitty baby lloyd running around with his ralts and causing trouble, and the two growing up and maturing with each other. also gallade is a sword pokemon, and lloyd is a sword guy. also also gallade just feels like a transmasc pokemon to me . yeah.

- Haxorus is Lloyd’s second pokemon! admittedly haxorus is here because unova is my first and favorite gen. this is a common reason why i choose pokemon actually. but haxorus is also a green dragon pokemon! and it’s shiny form is black… which is a color associated with lloyd’s dad….. my thought is that in between s2 and s3 Garmadon gives Lloyd an egg from his haxorus, and it hatches into an axew that lloyd makes part of his team

- Togekiss is the third! i have a fic outline (that will likely never get written anytime soon, or at all) about this baby, but basically. after s5, Lloyd would have trouble taking care of himself, because of s5. so he’s gifted an egg that hatches into a togepi, and he relearns how to take care of himself for this togepi! i also like the idea of togepi refusing to evolve for a long time — she only evolves into a togetic during s9, and a togekiss sometime after s10. stubborn queen <3

- Sceptile is number four! Lloyd catches him as a grovyle between s7 and s8, and he evolves a season later. ok girl. sceptile is here because he’s green and reptile like, and also because his mega evolution has a secondary dragon type! (and is also the coolest mega of the hoenn starters, who said that? anyway) also. maybe also the blade aesthetic? sceptile can know leaf blade right?

- Whimsicott is number five! all of the ninja have a surprise pokemon added to their team for s11, and whimsicott is that surprise pokemon! i have the weakest reason for why whimsicott is here, he’s green and i like him! (and “energy” or “life” might could probably be argued as reasons for giving lloyd another grass type?) tho i like the suggestion that whimsicott’s here because he looks like a pillow mint, haha

and admittedly, a lot of my teams are chosen for pretty surface-level reasons — initially i just had one pokemon for sora, just like arin’s one pokemon, and it was Sylveon. because sylveon matches her colors really strongly, and is a catlike pokemon heavily associated with the colors of the trans flag — it just felt like they fit! dedenne i added last minute because i wanted to pull in something from her being a mechanic and to match sylveon’s typing, so it felt really good!

ur not the first person to point this out, you’re right!! i think some dragon pokemon on her team would make sense too — my thoughts for candidates would be altaria, the goomy line, or dratini/dragonair. i feel like she’d go for more cutesy pokemon, but idk, thats usually the pokes i go for too

[illfoandillfie]

Don’t Talk To Me About Love

Day number 4 of the Platonically themed event! This is another idea thats sort of been bouncing around my head since I posted Platonically. In the months since then I’ve started and stopped this blurb about 60 times - at one point I intended it as a sequel but then ended up absorbing part of the plot into PNDDAOF. But here we are. It is somewhat complete and I’m much happier with it now then I was before. 

Yet again, this blurb is inspired by a song - Don’t Talk To Me About Love by Altered Images (less the lyrics and more just the title but it’s a bop so like check it out anyway lmao) 

Words: 2,150

Warnings: It’s about the Communication. There’s talk of an argument but nothing specific and honestly this is mostly just about the two of them Dealing with something out of the ordinary. 

Every morning with Ben follows the same pattern. No matter who wakes first, no matter how long it takes you to get out of bed, Ben will greet you with a kiss on the cheek. It’s a litmus test of your disposition and a lesson hard learnt. Most days you’ll lean into him, wrap your arms around him, press your lips to his, snuggle back into his embrace, and he knows that it means you’ll be okay with the actions that convince others you’re boyfriend and girlfriend. But every so often it’s different. Those days, what he has come to call your no romo days, his cheek kiss will be returned but you’ll pull back before he can sweep you into something deeper, a sign that you don’t have the patience or energy or whatever it usually takes, to deal with romance. Those days are few and far between, mostly occurring months apart, seemingly at random. But because of that it took quite some time before you got the hang of dealing with them as partners. On your own it had been easier to avoid romantic expressions, but with Ben it was harder to manage.  

The first time it happened after you’d started the QPR, you tried to push through, tried to ignore the tension you felt as he unexpectedly kissed you, his hands pulling you into him. There was a sudden urge to run away, your blood running cold, and Ben must have sensed that something was off. He was always observant where you were concerned. When he asked if something was wrong you pretended there wasn’t but he kept badgering you until you told him what was up. Unfortunately you sort of bit his head off, frustrated by the constant questions. You immediately regretted your tone and choice of words but the damage was done, Ben’s expression one of hurt and confusion. Before you could try to explain better he’d left the room. He gave you space for the rest of the day, barely crossing your path at all, but it was too much space, an overcorrection. And that made you mad more than anything else. After all you’d warned him that this happened sometimes, that you had days where you were repulsed by the thought of anything romantic, completely turned off by actions that could be read as such. How dare he be hurt by it, as if you were an inconvenience he had to endure. He was the one who suggested you do the QPR thing in the first place, why did he suddenly think it only included the times you were acting closest to a regular girlfriend. At that point you hadn’t yet moved into his house so you left and slept in your own bed that night, sick with worry that you’d ruined everything with Ben, that you’d wake up in the morning to find not only your QPR broken but that your best friend wouldn’t want anything more to do with you at all. You felt stupid to have thought that a QPR could work, that you could ever fit anywhere. Clearly you were meant to be alone.  

But the next morning brought rational thought and rational conversation as well as a higher tolerance for romance. Ben called to make sure you were okay, confessing to a fairly sleepless night spent worrying if you'd got home safe and feeling bad about how you’d left. But you could hear his smile when you invited him over to talk about it, could practically see it in your mind’s eye. And then you saw it for real, a proper grin, when you’d opened the door and dove into his arms, burying your face in his shirt. He’d squeezed you tight, relieved that things between you were still good. It took a serious conversation to sort out what had gone wrong. You tried to better explain what it was you felt - the queasy feeling at the idea of being involved in any sort of romantic act and the discomfort when confronted with romantic imagery or depictions of romance and romantic couples – reassuring Ben that it wasn’t anything he’d done, and he apologised for giving you the cold shoulder, admitting his distance had been because he wasn’t sure how to act around you. Talking it out helped and when you were done, both feeling like you better understood what would help the situation, you curled up in bed together to catch up on the sleep you’d missed.  

The next time, nearly six months later, you’d been better prepared and, though it was still a little rocky, it had gone smoother. Ben didn’t try to avoid you, so you didn’t feel as abandoned as you had the last time, but you made sure to maintain some distance from him, knowing his feelings were different to yours and not wanting to put him in any awkward situations. There were moments when neither of you knew what to do or say, moments when it felt like you were both treading on eggshells to try and avoid a repeat of the last time. But when you asked to take a break from the TV series you were halfway through because the romance plotline didn’t hold the same enjoyment it usually did, he seemed to understand and agreed to what you needed. The time after that had been barely a month later, far sooner than you were expecting. You supposed that your relationship with Ben was having an impact. After all it had been a while since you’d last been in a romantic relationship and though what you and Ben had wasn’t that, it did cross some of the same lines. Surely it was natural that your mind would try to balance things out by making you feel unequipped to deal with romantic subplots and sentimental love songs more often than before. Or at least that’s how to tried to explain it to Ben when he made a huffy comment about the increasing frequency of your romance repulsed days. If it hadn’t been for an interrupting phone call from his mum, you might have fallen into another fight. Instead, you spent the time he was on the phone thinking about why things felt so hard, trying to come up with possible solutions. You went over some activities in your head, comparing how you usually felt about them and what you felt when you were romance repulsed. Cheek kisses still felt okay because they were generally a way you showed affection to everyone you knew, but being kissed on the lips seemed to cross a line, no matter how it was done. Cuddling too could be okay depending on the context but you’d probably prefer not to just to be safe. Sex on the other hand was a big question mark You’d never tried having sex on a no romo day before, but you assumed if emphasis was put on the physical pleasure it could work, though maybe positions that didn’t force eye contact would be more enjoyable. But perhaps that was better left to be explored when you were both more comfortable with the situation. Even dinners out together and datey things like that could be doable if you didn’t have to deal with candlelight and intimate seating.  

As soon as Ben was finished on the phone you tried to explain your thought process to him.   “The way I think about it is like...regularly I have a mental picture of what actions I feel are platonic and what actions cross into romance. Sometimes those lines aren’t super clear like with kissing, but I know which it is when I see it or experience it.” “Right, like how you don’t mind spooning in bed and getting really close but on the couch you prefer to rest your head on my lap or whatever.” “Yes, exactly. It might all be considered variations on cuddling but to me there's a big difference in how they feel. Well a no romo day is like if you took all of those distinct lines and moved them over a little. The lines are still there but the image is distorted and not quite what I’m used to seeing.” “Okay,” he stretched the word out thoughtfully, “so...it’s not that everything feels romantic it’s just that your tolerance levels have changed?” “Yeah, I think so. It’s not easy for me to understand either. Especially since sometimes things change more than others. But yeah, that’s pretty much it. But my big question is what do you need? I don’t want this to become a big problem or cause fights every time it happens so, what’s going to help make it feel more normal for you?” Ben thought for a moment, “Physical contact. I don’t mean that in a sexual way either, just physical contact. I mean you know how touchy I can be. It grounds me. Even just a hug or, y’know, rubbing my back as you walk past me, things like that. A high five even. If we’re out with the others it’s not so bad cause they all know what I’m like too and none of them will mind if I lean on their shoulder or sit on their lap or whatever. But when it’s just us...I need that physical contact to feel settled and I guess it’s been harder to feel okay about it when you flinch away from me. Makes me feel wrong just because I want to be close to you.” You were a little stunned by the honest and carefully considered way he responded to your question, and felt a little bad about trying to force space between you, “I knew you liked that sort of thing but I guess I didn’t realise how important it is for you.” Ben shrugged, “Normally it’s something I don’t even think about. But with you lately it’s like I just haven’t known what to do.”He paused, biting the corner of his thumb nail as he thought, “I don’t think the way I love you is entirely platonic anymore. I mean it hasn’t been entirely platonic for a while now but those feelings aren’t going away. And I’m not saying that to make you feel bad or anything, it’s just how it is, and I think it’s part of why I’ve been so weird or whatever about this whole romance repulsion thing.” “Yeah it must be kinda hard to understand what I mean,” “I’m trying to understand it and I’m trying to be respectful. But you gotta give me a little more. And you have to be more understanding of where I’m coming from too.”

After that, you both made adjustments to accommodate the other and talked through what solutions worked and what didn’t. Ben spent some time consulting google for ideas and found you a playlist of songs that had aromantic vibes or at least could be reinterpreted so the romantic meaning was more relatable for you. And you made more of an effort to keep up a physical closeness with him – sitting shoulder to shoulder as you watched TV and shared a bag of microwave popcorn, rubbing your hand over his back as you stepped behind him in the kitchen, surprising him by placing a cold hand to his face or stomach when he wasn’t expecting it – even on regular days when you didn’t hate the way it felt to be held by him. You figured that emphasising those sorts of small physical gestures would help both of you in the long run. Every so often something would arise that needed a little extra discussion but you both took them in your stride and did your best to be accommodating and patient.  

And by the next time a no romo day occurred, things were as close to perfect as you could hope for. You wriggled out from under Ben’s arm when you woke, better able to recognise the sick feeling  creeping up on you. Stepping out of bed you switched Ben’s oversized sweatshirt for one of your own and tiptoed down to the kitchen putting your anti-romantic playlist on softly as you made coffee and toast. When Ben eventually surfaced he pressed his lips to your cheek but he already felt you wouldn’t want anything more than that, putting together the pieces and proved right as you gave a small shake of your head. He gave your waist a brief squeeze in acknowledgement before turning toward the fridge to begin his own morning routine. And just like that you knew things would be okay. You couldn’t say you knew what he felt or that you entirely understood it but, yet again, Ben had shown that his love for you was less about Love and more about you. And you hoped he could see that you cared for him just as strongly, even if you felt it differently.

[weaselle]

I like knowing the nature of a place.

I’m getting ready to move after a stint back in my childhood home, and I’m realizing that for me a big part of feeling at home is knowing the Nature of the place.

Here, I have a deep knowledge of the surrounding nature. I know the water, as the house water is all supplied from a well. I know the clayish soil, having pulled tree stumps out of it, grown gardens in it, dug trenches and set foundations in it, sat in it making little mud castles as a child. I’ve tasted it even.

I know the fat little squirrel that knows us also. I know the 3 mocking bird pairs who’s territories converge near here. Or did until recently, when a pair of california scrub jays moved in after a several year hiatus (we lost the willow tree and it became less desirable jay real estate) and now the mocking bird territories are in a state of disarray. I’m excited to see the scrub jays, those clever little corvid bastards, because it means we might actually get to eat some cherries this season. The mocking birds sort of tend to fight more over nesting sites, but the jays will see the cherries coming in and declare all three trees a no-fly zone for other birds -- and boy do they enforce it. Which means instead of every bird in the area eating some of our cherries before we can get any, we get what the two jays can’t eat, which usually works out to about half the crop.

I know the fire ants that patrol areas with water, harvesting the other insects that are drawn to it, the drowned bees, any injured insects, and so forth. I know where the yellow jackets tend to nest, and which plants the bumble bees prefer -- we keep a hedge of those flowers specifically for them because while honey bees are still numerous here (helped no doubt by the six bee boxes in the yard of the house across the field) the fat fuzzy bumble bees used to be a lot more numerous here than they are now. I know where the lizards hang out and what kind of spiders I’m likely to see, and if I wanted to find some salamander burrows on this block I know what to look for. And I know the local possum posse stopped using the north side fence as an autumn path once the walnut tree died, and now in fall they use the south side fence where the guava trees offer them a foraging opportunity. 

I know the raccoon clan. Well, I know of the raccoon clan. After years of jostling for territory with each other, we and the raccoons worked out some boundaries which, like, five or six generations later are just now starting to be contested.

We did things like get geese to protect our ducks from the raccoons and we stopped having outside cats with their outside food, so we turned into a less reward / more risk territory for them and tradition became sticking to the far edges of the yard. But now the waterfowl have been gone for years there’s no more dog and we’ve been dumping the parrot’s half eaten mix of nuts and seeds out there so that what he doesn’t like doesn’t go to waste. I don’t think my mother has caught on to how much that has been slowly changing the local biosphere.

It used to be her mother’s bird, and she has a lot of emotions about Joker (who still occasionally laughs grandma’s laugh or coughs her cough) which results in her offering him quite a banquet to pick from. So his leftovers are a significant resource she’s pouring into this little biome.

I think the raccoons are becoming interested (tracks right up to the edge of the house, three feet from where the bird seed sits). The pairs of birds more or less doubled, and it may be a big part of why the jays are back. The squirrel solved the problem of getting into the elevated dish recently, instead of just picking from what the birds scatter. Which is definitely why he’s so fat and glossy and I predict he’ll have to start fighting harder for this territory soon. The seed dish draws little birds in, but the hawks that would hunt at it like a watering hole have stayed away so far. Except for one newly adult hawk that studied the situation for a couple weeks from the old pine but couldn’t figure out how to exploit it when we responded by moving the bird seed pedestal to under the low hanging branches of a small tree. She finally got sick of the squirrel screaming at her to get out of his pine tree and left. Which is good news for the squirrel because silencing that delicious little alarm probably would have been step one for any intelligent hawk deciding to make this her hunting spot. Honestly imo tho this particular ecological niche would probably benefit from a hawk’s attention. 

We live under a hill, and I know which side of the hill the coyotes stick to, and which side the mountain lion prefers. And I can conjecture a few other mountain lion territories, centering on the smattering of hills off that direction, because it’s been generations of cougars up there and we spot a cub with whoever is currently Queen of This Hill every few years. Sadly, most of them don’t survive, based on both the statistics and the fact that while we catch glimpses of mom and small cubs semi-regularly, we’ve never once seen any in the close to one year old range, when they would be nearly adult sized but still accompanying their mother. Which doesn’t mean there have been none, but does imply that they are rare. And of course there are the years she’ll be spotted with two cubs for a while, but then only with one cub for a while after that.

They coyotes don’t come down unless times are tough or maybe if they are very bored and want to tease the dogs, but every now and then one does wander a couple blocks down our little street that dead-ends halfway up the hill, and slinks across the tree line that separates our front yard from the small field across our driveway. Years ago they used to come along more regularly, but there’s more people these days and the jackrabbits have pretty much disappeared, so now they mostly just come down the other side where the cow pasture is if the cows aren’t going up the hill soon enough for them during calving season. Pretty sure Queen Cougar goes over there whenever she feels like it and tries her luck at a calf now and then too.

I know the deer that come down and wander the neighborhood. They used to swing through our back yard until I engineered the fence between us and our neighbor to discourage them. The neighbors and my parents didn’t want the deer in their gardens but no matter how high they put the wire the deer were trying to go over it and damaging the top of the fencing which meant there was a chance they were injuring themselves. None of us want that. When it got brought to my attention one visit, I went and looked at it and solved it right away. Wood was too expensive, so they were just topping the existing fence with like 6 feet of wire grid. But the deer are coming through dusk/dawn and midnight, and they already have eyes that aren’t built for detail, and this is wire the thickness of a fat toothpick... so I went out to the bamboo patch and got some bamboo as thick as the butt of a pool stick and wove a line of it along the top of the wire. Light weight enough to not bend the wire, and something to smell, big enough to see. End of problem. One mamma deer has figured out how to get through from the other side, and she keeps a fawn in our neighbors yard almost every year.

Anyway, I just automatically tend to learn this sort of thing when I move into  a place, but I haven’t stayed anywhere long enough to get this level of knowledge about anywhere else, and being back here is making me realize how important it is to me. Observing and understanding my surrounding natural setting is, well, natural, and I won’t feel like my new place is home until I start to learn the biome there.

[lovelylunarwriting]

Yangyang Prince!AU

Yangyang’s known around the kingdom as less of a prince and more of “the king and queen’s child”

He’s just not the princely type??? He 10/10 looks like a prince and -33/10 acts like one

While some royalty just have that "aura” about them,,,, Yangyang does not

But that’s not a bad thing! He’s incredibly approachable as a person

Not a soul would dare to address him as anything but “Prince”, though, for fear of him overhearing and being like “excuse me what the fuck did you call me”

While the country itself adores the prince and his natural personality, the king and queen take issue with his “lack of royal precedent” and hold him to a ridiculously high standard.

He doesn’t seem to let this dampen his spirit, though. Whenever local newspapers ask him about it, he always says “I’m firstborn and in line to the throne. There’s not much they can do about it regardless if I keep filling the courtyard fountains with soap so that they bubble. Who doesn’t like bubbles?”

Deep down though it takes more of a toll on him. In his eyes, it’s like his parents are saying he isn’t good enough to be king one day.

The reality is that they’re just worried that being in charge of the nation will stress him out like it has them, and they want to prepare him the best they can.

To prepare him for his eventual role, they send Yangyang into the nearby villages to meet with traders from other nations who want to open up shop in the many marketplaces.

Yangyang’s nation is known for their vast and varying markets because they’ll let just about anyone open a business as long as a member of the royal family approves it.

They go about doing this in two ways:

One, they can request an audience with the king and queen and they’ll write up a contract. The king is pretty much there for show, the queen is really the one who’s built this trade empire.

Or, two, if the person is in a rush they can schedule to meet with Prince Yangyang in town and plead their case to him. If he thinks it’s an extenuating circumstance, they essentially get a “Prince Fast-Pass” and receive an immediate audience with the king and queen. 

For example, he had one woman who was a refugee from a war-torn nation across the continent and she came to their country to open up a shop to provide for her and her four kids. Yangyang was like “that sucks, I’m sorry. Do you wanna talk to my mom about it?” and personally escorted her to the palace.

You have been in this market for a  h o t minute though. You got your audience with the king and queen when you were like,,,, twelve?? And you’ve been selling your family’s farms produce ever since.

One of your parents would’ve gone to the audience but there was a Very Serious Ladybug Problem going on with the tomatoes so they sent you instead (the queen was surprised but you presented a fair argument for the business,,,, she had no reason to say no)

So you set up your market every week, Monday through Friday. The weekends are for helping around at home (and sleeping off the work week, of course)

This season’s harvest hasn’t been nearly as plentiful as the previous. It’s not that there’s a shortage necessarily, just that the last season’s harvest was abnormally abundant. 

Which of course means you’ll have to sell pretty much all of it to get a similar profit to last year while keeping the same standard prices (raising the prices wouldn’t be fair to your loyal customers)

“Guess there goes my Saturdays, then…”, you mumble to yourself, deciding to open up the extra day in order to sell every single tomato, carrot, and head of lettuce even if it kills you.

The first Saturday of the season comes and goes with no trouble, and so does the next.

But the third week. That’s when you notice him.

The pickpocket in the bright yellow shoes.

He weaves his way through the crowd with elegance and ease, reaching out here and there, plucking items from stalls, pockets, and displays,  slowly putting them in his pockets.

You find yourself entranced, staring at him slip through stall after stall.

That is until he steps up to yours.

He glances up, making eye contact with you, and flinches.

Apparently your glare was most apparent than you’d intended.

You don’t say anything though and neither does he. He just smirks at you and makes his way to the next stall.

Your eyes follow him and you see him swipe a pair of earrings off the man’s table to your left.

You might’ve said something but:

1.) That particular jeweler is a creep to the women in town so he deserves to be robbed in your opinion, and 

2.) If you snitch on some thief, that only makes you a target to whoever the thief is associated with. You don’t know if he’s got some thuggish friends and you’re not looking for a fight.

That is unless he decides to try and steal from you. Then he better be as good as fighting as he is pickpocketing.

After this initial encounter, you honestly forget about him.

That is until a few months later, when you spot a flash of bright yellow in the massive crowd on another Saturday morning rush.

You fumble to make change for the person buying three dozen heads of lettuce, trying to find his distinctly soft face in the sea of people.

At first you think you’ve lost him, until the lady buying out all your lettuce moves one of her bags and you see him snatch an apple from the barrel in front of your table.

Blinding hot rage sparks its way down your neck and shoulders, and without even thinking you shove the change into the woman’s hands and slide over the table.

The crook looks behind him just in time for you to grab him by the collar and drag him into the nearest alley.

The shock in his eyes is clear and although he tries to fight back, he can’t break your hold.

You shove him up against the brick wall of the alley and ask him one very important question.

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

He kind of just makes a weird gurgling sound though because your knuckles are pressing into his trachea.

You loosen your grip a little and look at him expectantly.

“I’m the Prince-”, he starts, but you cut him off because listen you might not be rich but you’re not stupid.

“Bullshit. And you can keep that apple, but you better hope I never catch you stealing from me again”, you say, throwing him by the front of his shirt even further into the alley and storming back to your booth.

Once you gather your bearings, you think about the encounter.

You can’t pinpoint what it is that pisses you off so much about this guy in particular. There’s always been thieves in the market, it’s practically part of the system at this point.

But there’s always been one thing about the thieves that made you understand in a way, why they steal.

They almost always steal food and it’s because they need it. For themselves and probably their families. And you can’t find it in yourself to fault them for that.

But this bright-shoed bandit? He looks like he’s never missed a meal in his life. He’s got full cheeks, tan skin, toned muscles, and is missing that look of sheer desperation that’s in the eyes of all the thieves you’ve encountered thus far.

The only thing in this boy’s eyes is arrogance. And something else you can’t quite identify yet.

Sunday passes and you try to relax, but remembering that encounter just irks you.

Mom: “Y/N,,,, what are you doing”

You: “I’M GONNA GO PLOW THE FIELDS”

Mom: “Why would you do that by hand?? We have an ox for that??”

You: “Because I’m pissED oFF okaY”

It’s not until Monday that you hear the townspeople gossip like crazy about something that happened at the Sunday Market.

Even the vendors are talking about it instead of the usual small talk with customers.

“Did you hear? The prince rode into the marketplace on horseback yesterday”

“Hear? I was there! He made such a big scene!”

“Apparently he was looking for someone but he didn’t even know their name”

“Typical Prince Yangyang- he’s always up to something crazy. He’s such a lovely sight though~”

This goes on for hours and towards the end of the day you swear if you hear one more thing about “PriNcE YaNgyaNg anD hiS goRgEous faCe” or “PrinCe YanGyaNg aNd hiS sTeaMy mUScleS”, you might actually just close up shop and leave early.

At first it was interesting, but everyone’s repeating the same thing for h o u r s

Except for the man you’re currently selling tomatoes to.

“Yeah it wasn’t hard tah miss him with those bright ass shoes ah his”

Your whole body jolts and you drop the change the man just set in your hand.

Apologizing, you scramble to pick it all up and drop the coins on the table.

“What do you mean ‘bright ass shoes��, sir?”, you ask, your demeanor becoming physically tense.

“You know the kid loves collecting those new kinds ah shoes, right? ‘Sneakers’ or whaddeva ya call em? They’re all the rage in the next kingdom ovah, he musta gotten em imported from there-”, the man drones on and on, whilst you continue to panic.

“Sir please, what color were they?”

“Oh they were yellow like you wouldn’t believe! Brighter than the sun itself, and- hey! Where are you going?”

You hand the man his bag of tomatoes, grab what little produce is left and close down shop. If the prince comes back again today he could have you thrown in jail for treason for the way you spoke to him.

Everything's in the horse-drawn cart and you’re pretty much ready to go until you remember you left the change on the table.

Cursing to yourself, you abandon the cart for a brief moment and rush back to grab the money, but right as you reach for it, someone grabs your wrist.

Without thinking, you twist their arm around and pin them face first into the table.

Some of the coins fall off from the sudden impact and as your eyes follow them down…. you notice the man’s yellow shoes.

You quickly release him,,,, this thief,,,, the prince

As he slowly turns around, you contemplate whether you should request execution by hanging or guillotine….

But when he sees that it’s you, he just starts laughing.

Not like a maniacal “aha I’ve got you noW peasaNT” kind of laugh like you’d expect though. A genuine laugh from this boy.

From this p r i n c e

All instincts are telling you to bolt and just move to a different marketplace but,,,, you wanna know what this guy’s deal is.

Curiosity getting the better of you, you talk to him.

“Your Royal Highness”, you say in a sarcastic tone.

“Ah, so you believe me now? What’s changed?”, he asks and his voice sounds like honey. For some reason you’d expected him to be harsher.

“Your prance around town yesterday has been all anyone’s talking about today, Prince of Thieves”, you explain with disinterest dripping from your mouth.

“Prince of Thieves? I am prince of this nation, I’ll have you know”, he says and there’s that look in his eyes again that you can’t quite pin down.

“Then act like it”, you say with a certain degree of malice, and storm off to your horse and cart, leaving the money behind. It’s not worth it to grab it.

His eyes widen and he just stands there for a moment before chasing after you.

“Just- wait a minute!”, he shouts, running up behind you and putting a hand on your shoulder.

You grab his wrist, pulling him forward onto your back, and then flip him over onto the ground.

Once he’s down, you pin him down with your hands on his wrists and a knee on either side of his hips.

“I don’t care that you’re the prince. Your title means nothing to me. I care that you’re a thief. You steal from people who actually need money to live, and why? For the thrill of it? Grow up. If you want people to call you Prince then you better start acting like one”, you lay into him, letting all your frustration with him out at once.

You expect him to get angry with you. Maybe even yell. But he just looks,,,, sad. A little defeated, if anything.

“That’s not why I came here”

“You’re right, let me get off you so you can go pickpocket my customers”, you say, standing up and brushing the dirt off your pant legs.

“No, I came here looking for you. That’s why I came here yesterday, too”, he says, getting up and stepping between you and your horse. “Please, I need your help”

You take a deep breath in and out.

“My help with what exactly?”

“You fight like no one I’ve ever seen before. I need you to teach me”, he explains.

“Isn’t that what you have the knights for?”, you ask.

“They go easy on me. They’re worried if they hurt me while practicing, they’ll be fired by my mom”

“I don’t see why they’re concerned about hitting you in the face. It’s practically all I can think about right now”, you say nonchalantly.

“Wow okay- I could’ve gone without knowing that. But what do you say? Will you teach me? You’ve already showed me like three moves, just,,,, not on purpose I guess”

And for some reason,,,,, maybe because you’re lowkey worried he’ll actually have you hanged,,,,, you say yes.

You tell him it’ll have to be on Sundays and that he’ll have to come down to the family farm because “there’s no way in hell I’ll fight you that close to the queen’s wrath”

When you meet with him that Sunday though, he’s actually,,, quite charming??? And very polite to your parents, who were extremely surprised to see the prince on their front step (you might’ve forgotten to tell them about it)

This begins a routine of Prince Yangyang dragging you out of bed at dawn to spar with him in the barn out back behind your house.

The first few times he’d leave in the afternoon saying he “didn’t want to take up too much of your time”

But every time he leaves,,,, you find yourself missing his company.

Listen, he was an ass at first and he’s still an ass but it’s growing on you.

So one day, you ask him if he’d want to stay for dinner. And to your own shock, he immediately agrees.

He banters back and forth with you, makes jokes with your dad, and flatters your mom.

He’s got all of you around his finger and he’s not even trying to. He’s just being himself.

Now every Sunday he still wakes you up at dawn, much to your dismay, but he stays the whole day instead.

You spend the day together sparring, trying to knock each other into the pond, having lighthearted conversations, and getting the produce ready to go to market the next day.

To you, he stopped feeling like a prince a while ago honestly he never felt like a prince to start with but still

He’s your friend Yangyang that you throw into hay bales while teaching him self defense

One of those nights, the two of you are laying on the roof of the barn looking at the stars, when he says that he’d better head back to the castle.

“Can I ask you a question first?”, you ask, sitting up to face him.

“You technically just did”

“Oh shut up, you know what I mean”

“Hit me with it”, he says, closing his eyes and tilting his head back towards the speckled sky.

“Why do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Why do you steal from the marketplace?”, you finally ask, after silently wondering for months at this point.

“I don’t anymore”, he answers somewhat defensively, opening his eyes to look at you.

“Okay, then why did you?”

“...”

“...you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want….”, you say somewhat resigned.

Over the past month or so, things between the two of you has felt,,,, different.

You’ve been closer than ever, and talk to each other like you’ve known each other for years.

You’d be lying if you said you weren’t falling for him.

But it feels like he’s got a barrier built up between him and the world.

Everything fiber of your being aches to shatter it. For him to feel like he can trust you, even if he can’t trust anyone else.To be special to him the way he’s special to you.

“I needed to do something to break out”, he says after some silence.

“Break out of what?”, you ask, trying to be gentle.

“Out of the box my parents are desperately trying to cram me into. I know they want what’s best for me and the country but,,,, it’s just so much pressure. I needed to do something else- anything else, even if it was stupid”

You scoot over to him and he sits up. Wrapping your arms around his neck, you pull yourself closer to him.

At first he just sits there, stunned, but then tightly returns the embrace and buries his face in the crook of your neck.

The two of you stay like that for who knows how long, with him getting everything off his chest and you quietly listening and running your fingers through his hair.

From that night onward, the two of you are practically inseparable. 

Neither of you have said that you’re an item,,, and for a while you were like “am I making this shit up or does he like me”.

But one day, he’s sitting behind your booth in the marketplace (like he usually is. You’d think as a prince he’d have more to do,,,), eating all of your apples, when he taps you on the shoulder.

“I’m in the middle of a sale”, you snap, and turn back around to the customer.

When you finish, you turn around and he hands you an apple that is just,,, seeping with juice.

“Yangyang,,, w h y”

“Flip it over!”

So you do, and he’s carved “for my beautiful s/o~” into the side of the apple.

You can’t help but smile at his literally sweet gesture.

But you also can’t help but make direct eye contact with him and bite straight into the carved part of the apple.

The look of horror on his face made your day.

He’s got a habit of making your day everyday, though.

[commajade]

So this might be random lol but the only sageuks I've ever watched have been because I've seen you blog about them (Mr. Queen and bossam, both lovely) just curious if I have any other recs or favorites? Usually when i watch any historical shows, I love ones with a lot of plot and tend to go more for drama than comedy or romance, (which is why I was surprised I liked Mr queen and bossam lol) but I'm open to any!!

🥺🥺🥺

yes both lovely!!!

i don't watch a lot of sageuk actually!!! i haven't finished a lot of the ones i liked lol.

politics heavy more serious classics i enjoyed but can't rly comment on:

-dongyi

-jewel in the palace

-moon embracing the sun

-queen seondeok

-jumong

others i've either watched part of and enjoyed or heard good things about and wanted to check out:

-i watched half of rookie historian goo haeryung and enjoyed it! the historical facts of women historians was rly interesting

-i love mr. sunshine which is historical and like. semi sageuk tho beware pro-US propaganda

-kingdom is historical and pioneered the zombie sageuk

-i heard hwarang is not good but i was intrigued and also love minho and park seojoon.

-i wanted to watch sungkyunkwang scandal because it's just minyoung in drag

-moonlight drawn by clouds also crossdressing premise

-100 days my prince but all ik is that it's cute and kyungsoo is in it

[clevercatchphrase]

2020 Year Review~

2020. Pretty unique year, don’t you think? It’s the first year since 2002 to have only two different digits in it. After 2022, this won’t happen again until 2111. Yep. Absolutely nothing more interesting than that.

Anyway! It’s time I reflect on my 2020, look back on my yearly goals and rant about things that happened to me this year. I made a post like this last year, where I went over my 2019 goals and talked about what I accomplished and what I didn’t, and it’s only fitting I do the same again this year. Read more under the cut for a random stream of consciousness ramble!

So, first things first, let’s look at my 2019 goals;

Finish paying off that last student loan

Put more stuff on my redbubble

Illustrate my own fan fics

Sew at least one stuffed animal

Make an enamel pin

Read one new book a month

Write one page a day/Complete at least one new fan fic

Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make

Finish fully scripting Ghost Switch

Boost my patreon

 Paying Off My Last Student Loan: Going down the list, I am proud to say that I FINALLY paid off all my student loans! (and not a moment too soon. The last payment I made was literally days before the first quarantine rolled out). It took me roughly 4 years on my part-time paycheck to pay off all my loans, and once I finished, I had no money to my name (literally; I had less than 1k as emergency money in case of car troubles or health issues). Heck, I’m STILL living at home as a save up for a place of my own. Finally paying off all my student loans DID activate my secret 2020 new year’s resolution, which was to adopt a cat! I did this too, literally a week later! She is the best thing that’s happened to me this entire year and I love her so much and she is the snuggliest cuddle bug I’ve ever met. I’m so happy she’s in my life now~

Put More Stuff On My Redbubble: ah ha ha ha… I thought I did this, but then I went and checked, and it turns out-! I did not. I made art I intended to go on my redbubble, but haven’t put there yet. They are all drawings of some OCs from a game I want to make, but because I haven’t progressed on making the game this year, I never got around to putting more stuff related to it on my redbubble. At the time of writing, there are 7 days left in December, so I guess I could go and put it up on my redbubble right now, but without context on where the characters are from, there wouldn’t be much point, now would there?

 Illustrate My Own Fan Fics: Another goal that I was so stoked to actually do… and then just didn’t. Gee, I wonder why I couldn’t find the energy or motivation to do it this year? Truly a conundrum. (Hey, you know what? If Ghost Switch counts as a fan fiction in a visual form, then I am doing GREAT on this goal. 2.5 years in, 1 of ~4 arcs done, and still going steady~)

 Sew At Least One Stuffed Animal: Okay, I have a valid excuse for not doing this one. I even knew which stuffed animal I wanted to make, and had the pattern drawn out and everything, but I had no money for materials because I had just paid off my student loans. And then, by the time I did have enough money again, quarantine was in full effect and I couldn’t go out to the fabric store. I’m still trying my best to stay out of public places even if the rules are laxer now, because I don’t want to catch the plague even if everyone in my goddamn city thinks and acts like the problem is over already. Even if they’re all wearing masks, even if they’re staying 6 feet apart, I still don’t want to risk it. I will stay inside until health experts give the all clear, and when that day comes, then I will buy some fleece and make a plush.

 Make An Enamel Pin: I ACTUALLY DID THIS ONE. TWICE! Halfway through quarantine, I was feeling anxious and depressed about my job and how they were planning to have me work with the public despite climbing infection rates and positive covid cases. I didn’t quit then, but in a desperate move to try and become self-sufficient, I went to madebycooper and made two enamel pins based on some butterfly dragons I drew last year. They’re on my etsy store now! I even went out of my way to open a P.O. box just to start a small business! I haven’t sold a single pin yet, and I’m actually really nervous to sell my first because I don’t trust the efficiency of the postal system thanks to the actions of the GOP that really screwed them over this year! (If you would like to see my enamel pins, click here!)

 Read One Book A Month: I did this! With dragon books I bought a couple years back! In fact, I read FOURTEEN dragon books, and still have more books for next year to read! The 14 books I read this year were:

 The Hive Queen

The Poison Jungle

Wings Of Fire Legends: Dragonslayer

Dealing With Dragons

Searching For Dragons

Calling on Dragons

Talking to Dragons

The Bronze Dragon Codex

The Brass Dragon Codex

The Black Dragon Codex

The Red Dragon Codex

The Silver Dragon Codex

Dragon Strike, and

Hatching Magic

 To be honest, I had read The Red Dragon Codex years ago when it first came out, but completely forgotten what it was about. I remembered liking it, and I knew the reading level was on the lower side, but the whole dragon codex series was pretty good! So far, the Silver dragon codex was my favorite, and black dragon codex was probably the worst! Hatching Magic was also really slow and bad and had plot points that went nowhere, but the book was written in the 80s, so I don’t know what I expected. The Dealing with Dragons series was very charming and great for the most part, save for one line in the last book that really rubbed me the wrong way, and all the Wings of Fire Books go above and beyond in this third arc. The second legends book could be a little tighter, though (sky and wren are the best duo and I want a book solely about them, but I honest to god do not care about leaf and ivy’s stories.)

 Write one Page of any story every day/ complete at least one fic: I… did this? Okay, I kinda cheated near the end of the year. I was keeping up the one page a day thing for the first four months, but then the world went to shit and my schedule and habits got disrupted and I fell off my good track record. I completed 7 out of roughly 12 one-shots I had planned for this year (my goal WAS supposed to be one short a month, but… you know how it happens) I kept trying to catch up on this goal all year, but the days kept piling up…. Until November hit. I managed to write over 250 pages for Nanowrimo, and I consider this goal a win. 365 pages of fiction in total, which averages out to about one a day~. SHUT UP IT COUNTS.

 Learn Python or C# for the game I want to make: Another goal I didn’t have the mental energy to commit to this year. Truly a mystery to where all our willpower went in 2020.

 Fully Finish Scripting Ghost Switch: still haven’t done this one yet! The Snowdin arc is completely planned, but I just haven’t gotten around to getting the other areas. I’m not worried, though. I know all the major plot points I gotta hit, it’s just weaving them together in a way that flows nice is the final task. I’m not too worried though. I don’t expect to finish the Snowdin arc for another year and a half, at the bare minimum.

 And my last goal of 2020, Boost My Patreon. I did this at the beginning of the year, but then very intentionally stopped about a third of the way through. It didn’t sit right with me to tell you guys to donate to me when suddenly EVERYONE was financially strained from layoffs or being furloughed. I told my patrons the same, and if you ever need to stop donating to me to take care of yourself first, then by all means, please do. I would feel much better knowing you’re using your money to see yourself fed and housed instead of given to me (where it is pretty much only used to buy gas for my car, honestly)

 Welp! That was all my goals for 2020! I achieved 4 out of 10 goals plus 1 secret goal! Pretty much the same ratio as last year, but now this time I can blame all my failures on the pandemic! I don’t feel so bad about myself anymore~

 ON TO 2021!

 I have 11 goals for the new year, again some rolled over from this list, and some from even older years. They are, in no particular order;

 Read 12 new books (roughly 1 book a month)

Finish the first draft of 2019’s Nanowrimo project and rewrite it

Script TDV

Finish Scripting Ghost Switch

Build A Comic Buffer

Sew 1 Stuffed Animal

Finish 1 Song Comic

Make another Enamel Pin

Finish 2 short original comics (this one counts as 2 goals)

Finish the 5 remaining one-shot fics

 Now to go into depth on each one, more for my own sake, really. I want to know exactly what I have planned for each goal this year, and sometimes just looking at a short list doesn’t capture all the smaller details.

 1)Read 12 new books. Same as last year! I The only difference is I might not be able to make it all dragon-related books. (I try my hardest not to buy from amazon anymore, but half-price-books doesn’t always have the obscure stuff I’m looking for)

 2)Finish 2019’s nanowrimo project. If you read my 2019 year reflection, you’ll notice I said I wanted to do some original writing. And I did! The story I wrote for nanowrimo back then was a story I’ve been toying with since 2017, but it was only last year I finally got pen to paper. Now, you may find it odd that the keyword says “finish”. You may think, “but isn’t that what you’re supposed to do for nanowrimo?” and to that I say, WRONG! I wrote 50k words for nanowrimo, but the draft was only about halfway complete. I was kinda discouraged about what I had written last year, because I didn’t like how it was coming out, but I did manage to get it half done. Now it’s time for me to bite the bullet and just finish the thing so I can finally revise it and make it into something I DO like. (It’s still gonna be hella long, tho. That’s what I get for trying to write an epic fantasy, I guess.)

 3)Script TDV. TDV is the abbreviation of the game I want to make. I… still need to do so much for this project OTL… In addition to getting the story solidified, I still need to draw art and game assets, and learn how to code for it, both of which are no small task. I keep having some sort of new year’s goal related to this on my list, and every year I just don’t hit this one. Will 2021 be different?

 4)Finish Scripting Ghost Switch. (Or at the very least, get the waterfall arc completely written out). I have a plan to break this down into simpler steps, by focusing on just one arc for a month or two. Every major arc has 2 to 3 parts, broken up by flashbacks, and if I can just finish one section a month, then I should have the entire thing scripted by the end of the year. It’s not a difficult pace, but seeing if I stick with it will be the real challenge, as it is will all my goals it seems.

 5)Build a Comic Buffer: I’m actually working on this one right now! Since I paid off my last loan and got a new job this year, my current Patreon goals are kind of out of date. They had all been centered around me paying off that last loan, and working towards full-time employment, but those are both completed now! So instead, I would love to get to a place where my patrons could read pages at least a week ahead, and to do that, I need to build a buffer. And since I’m working 5 full days a week now, I can’t afford to fall behind. But you can’t fall behind if you constantly stay ahead! I would like to have… a 10 to 12 page buffer. That’s roughly 3 months’ worth of pages to always have on hand in case I get swamped with work, or something. Right now I currently have a buffer of 3, which will cover me for half a January, which is better than not having anything at all, but still not the best. (ultimately, I would love to have a buffer so big, I could queue them up for the whole year. Wouldn’t that be something?)

 6) Sew one stuffed animal: same as last year. ASSUMING the plague gets under control in 2021, I don’t expect to get to this goal until the summer at the earliest.

 7)Finish 1 song comic: I have 7 song comics planned. One is a gift, one possibly for wandersong, one is a collab that’s currently in the works, but I’m waiting on a friend to do their part before I can continue mine, 2 are UT related, and 2 (well, technically 3, but one is the collab) are KH related. It’s one of the UT ones that will probably get finished, if I’m being honest. It’s completely story boarded, and now I just need to ink and color it. I would like to get it done for UT’s 6th birthday, since I made a song comic on the fly for the anniversary this year, and it was fun, and I’d like to do it again! So, look forward to that next september~

 8) Make another enamel pin: I have a dolphin design I’d like to make because dolphins are cute, if not little murder machines. (need to save up some expendable income first, tho. THESE THINGS AIN’T CHEAP TO MAKE.)

 9 and 10) start and finish 2 original short comics: I’ve got some comic ideas I want to do, but I need to get them written out first. I don’t think either would be too long. Each maybe a couple “episode’s” length, if envisioned on a website like webtoons or tapas. They’d both be heavy in allegory, but not overly drawn out (hopefully)

 11)And lastly, Finish the 5 remaining one-shots I had planned for this year but never got around to. I’m going to try to write one every other month. Pure self-indulgent shipping fluff. If I finish these 5, then maybe I’ll ask other people for more prompts and ideas, which I’ve never done before. We’ll see how it goes~

 Also, Like last year, I’d like to look at everything that’s happened to me this year, though to be honest, I’m not sure how much I remember/how accurate it’ll be. God, I don’t even remember what January was like. Who was I back then? Who were we all back then? I guess I’ll start my yearly retrospective in march because, heh, god we ALL know what started happening in march.

 Firstly, I paid off my last student loan! Then a week later on March 18th, I drove half an hour out of my city to adopt a cat and I love her and it was the best day of this year for me. Spring break is just beginning this weekend, but the attendance at the zoo is shockingly low this year. Apparently, a lot of people watch the news, and they’re all taking precautions about social distancing. I wasn’t too disappointed. Fewer people at the zoo, the easier my job is for me. I was looking forward to getting some free overtime on spring break, since I’m broke after paying off that loan, and I’m a cat parent now and have a furry child to feed. Monday rolls around. My manager calls me and tells me that the zoo is going into lockdown until further notice. I worry for the birds I take care of, but understand it’s for everyone’s safety.

 For two months I sleep in and watch way too much YouTube. I join a couple writing discords. I have nightmares about my birds escaping their enclosure and I dreamed one of the security guards I really like at the zoo gets covid and has to go to the ER. I woke up really upset.

 I started and finished BBS for the first time. I also replayed and finished KH2 final mix for the first time. It had been about 5 years since I last played KH2 before my PS2 died, and it was like coming home~ I also finished tearaway, and played and beat Ryme for a second time (which I can’t remember if I did that last year, but it was a fun experience regardless)

 Mid-June, and I’m allowed to start going back to work, be it on reduced hours. The zoo is still closed to the public, but I’m loving it! I get to work with full-time keepers and do full-time keeper things. It’s so much fun not having to deal with the public. August starts to creep up and there’s a rumor that the zoo will be opening to the public again, which I’m not stoked about. I don’t want to go back to standing in one exhibit all day, talking to guests who don’t listen to the rules or to me. 2 of my younger coworkers (who had both only been there a couple of months) get chosen for full-time positions, while I get passed up which really pisses me off. My other 2 coworkers quit when they think we might be reopening because they cannot risk catching the virus due to at-risk family. I am now the last keeper in the interactive bird exhibit.

 I keep working, the zoo slowly opens, but with me as the only interpreter in our interactive bird exhibit, we can’t open because I can’t run the entire exhibit by myself. So my exhibit stays closed. September comes and goes, and then October starts. Now there is more serious talk of opening my exhibit before the end of the year because the zoo expects to bring in larger crowds for the Christmas lights event in November/December. I ask if I get hazard pay or health insurance since I’m doing full-time hours until they hire more staff. They say no.

 I immediately start searching for a new job feeling incredibly indignant/hurt/slighted/insulted/used/abused/ALL the negative feelings at my job. I had been there for 4 years, but never got a chance to work full time, while the two newest hires who had only been there 2 months both got moved up. I can’t help but feel they were holding one mistake I made two years ago against me and never wanted to give me a chance. (that, or they knew I was reliable when it came to showing up for work in such a volatile position that sees a lot of new faces, and they didn’t want to bother going through the process of hiring someone new) I don’t want to risk my life working around guests who don’t wash their hands and don’t properly distance. I don’t want to gamble with my health when they won’t offer me health insurance because I’m part time.

 Mid October, I get an interview for a full time job and get hired on the spot. I peace out at the zoo 2 weeks later, literally 3 days before they planned to open my exhibit to the public. It was a close call for me to escape before they opened to the public (and pettiness was only partially the reason I dipped out so close to opening). Sorry new hires who are now in charge of the bird feeding exhibit. I taught you the best I could in the short time I had. If the managers are struggling with what to do with one less person, I can’t say I feel bad. I can only hope they delayed opening/closed you down again for your own safety. You are not lightbulbs. I really hope the higher ups stop considering you as replaceable as one. Will I go back to the zoo to visit? Probably. But not for a year at least.

 I started my new job the very next day after I quit the zoo, and have been there ever since, (which isn’t that long yet, tbh. Christmas day was my 2 month anniversary). It’s full time, but it’s also a small business, and everyone’s hours this year have been on the short side due to the plague. I understand, though. They don’t want us to work if they can’t afford to pay us. Everyone is nice enough, though some people smoke and it’s hard to avoid them with how frequently we have to go in and out, and I really don’t want to get lung cancer, sorry not sorry, please and thank you. Also, with such a small team, gossip is certainly harder to go undetected, so it’s a relief knowing people don’t talk behind one another’s backs.

 I participated and beat my 4th nanowrimo in a row, I made TWO apple crisps on thanksgiving, and made baklava on Christmas and both of these recipes were my first time making them, and they both came out adequately! I voted the first day of early voting, and I did an art trade/collab with two of my friends for my birthday! (normally we would have done monthly “art days” where we get together and do art projects for fun because we’re adults and we can spend our time together however we want, but the plague said otherwise this year) We drew pokemon and it was fun! (hopefully I can show you all the results soon. At the time of writing, I’m still waiting for the last two colored parts to get back to me)

 I reached 100 pages on my undertale comic, and finish the first arc out of…! (im not sure. It’s either going to be 4 or 5, I haven’t decided yet)

 Over all, I managed to stay healthy as far as I know. I wasn’t as productive as I wanted to be this year, but then again, who was? (don’t answer that. I don’t need that kind of comparison in my life right now)

 Will 2021be any better? Honestly? I don’t think so. Not right away, at least. Just because a new year is about to start does not mean the slate is completely wiped clean. The change of the calendar year doesn’t magically make all our current problems disappear. Covid will still be here and cases will still climb when January starts. Small business will still be strained when the month rolls over, police will still go on murdering innocent civilians and getting away scot free, amazon and disney will still be monopolizing all consumer goods and media, and I can’t help but feel like there’s an impending shit show about to go down on inauguration day. I do hope things will get better, though. It’ll be arduous and unpleasant, but I do hope things will improve, because sometimes hoping is all you can do.

 Good night.

[that-bajan-kid]

Boku No Hero Academia Chapter 267 SPOILERS

(Horikoshi I SWEAR TO GOD)

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Bow before your Queen, peasants. Ignoring her badass looking arm for a sec, is that right leg a prosthetic? It isn't drawn the same as the left one. It looks more robotic too. Horikoshi would be the type of guy to have her loose her leg too, huh?

Why is Tokoyami remembering this now of all times? Is this another death flag for Hawks? After what happened last chapter most definitely yes.

Fataxi lol. He's embraced his true calling. And he's got all the kids now! Now that Mudman and Chargebolt had a taste of blood they want more. I'm glad the kids are heading back to the rear tho.

Fat explains to the kids what Midnight said to them before the raid started, that they only needed the kids for a little bit and then it's off to the rear with them, and they meant that shit. Now it's the adults turn to wreak havoc on the villains and as Fat says this we can see Dabi's fire exploding out of the top floor of the mansion. This catches Tokoyami's attention and he looks back just in time to see not really see him but the line of fire that follows him as he flies at moc 2 around the mansion Hawks fly out and away from it. Tokoyami better not do what I think he's gonna do.

In case you were, for whatever reason, in denial about Twice dying.

Holy shit Hawks' wings are practically non existent at this point. Like, all that's left is the outline of their bones and that's it. He looks terrible and is still very much on fire. Dabi's fire is getting hotter. Is that because he's pissed?

Dabi congratulates Hawks on his heroic deed of committing a murder and stomp down on Hawks so he won't go anywhere not like he can, he got no wings.

There he is! I was starting to get worried since Horikoshi hasn't shown us anything gory for a while.

Anyway. Dabi's got this unhinged looking grin on his face and Hawks is like "Yo what the fuck? I just killed your friend and you don't look to broken up about it." Dabi responds by saying his tear ducts are burnt so he's physically incapable of crying and that Twice was the key to achieving what he wanted so of course he's sad, heartbroken even. What a great friend you had Twice.

Hawks says he researched everyone in the league and the only people who came up empty was one crusty boi and one burnt boi.

We get a flashback from Hawks to when the commission first brought him in and they tell him he's part of a special program to make super powerful heroes and that training is gonna be incredibly difficult. They ask if he can handle it and Hawks says yeah not like he has much choice.

OH MY GOD HE WANTED TO SHINE LIKE ENDEAVOUR CAUSE HE SAVED HIM. Ya did a little more than beat up bad guys but that's not what we're talking about here. Is it finally gonna happen? Are we FINALLY gonna have a Dabi reveal???

HORIKOSHI YOU BITCH! I fucking knew he was gonna pull some shit like this! God fucking damnit! You know, I'm more upset with myself for hoping. Shit. If that speech bubble isn't blacked out in the viz translations I'll be very happy.

Judging by Hawks' reaction the Dabi's true identity is super shocking. HMMMMM I WONDER WHO IT COULD BE TO HAVE GARNERED SUCH A REACTION FROM OUR RESIDENT BURNT CHICKEN HMMMMM.

I don't really understand what Dabi is saying here. I think it might be how it's worded.

Dabi goes on to say Hawks shouldn't have focused on the league, that one man's philosophy can change the world and that he is the "ultimate manifestation of Stain's will".

Dabi says goodbye to Hawks and that doesn't give a shit about Hawks' life and death and we see the start of his fire on Hawks' face only to immediately cut to Giganto. He's staring at the radio in his hands, probably waiting on Shigaraki to wake the fuck up and give him something to do. I swear if Hawks ends up dying too I-

We cut again back to Jakku where Her royal Highness, Queen of ignoring personal health and the long term effects it has on your body, Miruko who is not having a fun time with the Noumu.

The Noumu are adapting to her moves and, as a result, are causing them to be ineffective. Despite this, Miruko said fuck it and is now charging towards where Ujiko and Shiggy are.

The Noumu are not pleased with this latest development and the one with the weird spine hat thing attacks her, successfully injuring one of her ears and grazing her side. Another Noumu manages to rip off a fist full of her hair too. Horikoshi is entering dangerous waters now.

Miruko is thinking "If I'm dying today I'm taking Shigaraki and the doctor with me" while bleeding like she has an unlimited amount of it in her body. I would very much like it if Miruko didn't die too. We can't have two potential character deaths in one chapter. I refuse it.

Miruko is in the room with Ujiko and Shigaraki and it looks like she might actually win.

NOPE NEVER MIND! Horikoshi's just killing off everyone this arc, huh? No one is safe from him.

At least the Noumu went for the legs this time (;_;).

OMG Ujiko's face is, once again, hilarious. He completely shattered his goggles with his tears.

(Edit: just realised that you can see Enji's flames behind the Noumu)

Back to the mansion. You alright there Dabi? Was the idea of killing Hawks to much for you?

OH SHIT! TSUKUYOMI TO THE RESCUE!

Oh shit. WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE FATGUM YOU HAD ONE JOB. How did that conversation go? "Fat Gum Hawks is in danger and as his protege I must fulfil my shonan manga destiny and save him" "Aight fam just don't die, yeah? Aizawa would kill me" ?????? How could you let this happen. Dark Shadow is weak to light and what does fire make a lot of? OH YEAH LIGHT! Dabi's gonna roast him alive without a second thought. Or crush his spirit with the news of what Hawks did. Shit.

AND HERE COMES MOTHERFUCKING ENDEAVOUR. TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH. FUCK. I feel like breaking that glass tank is the last thing she should do but go off girl.

This chapter was emotionally exhausting. Like shit Horikoshi give me a break. I knew he was gonna pull some bullshit cop out with the Dabi reveal. I'm gonna do some investigating with that panel just in case Hori tries to hide something. This man really is like a succubus. Or I guess he would be an incubus.

I think Shiggy is gonna wake up because Miruko broke the tank. Giganto is gonna start throwing punches. TOKOYAMI BETTER HAS STAY ALIVE. And yeah. That's it.

Until next time.

[atamascolily]

lily watches fma:b, eps. 58-61

I hate suspense, so I went ahead and read the plot summary for the next few episodes, so I could relax a bit. Unfortunately, there's a lot of plot decisions that elicit a major "WTF?" from me, so we'll see if they work better in context.

so they're using the Gates as transportation portals now?? This is new, isn't it?? or does it only work with people who have already opened gates?? I'm so confused!!

okay, so ling doesn't know how to use alchemy to heal people? but he can sense homunculi because chi? or is this just something everyone in Xing can do? I'M SO CONFUSED.

[he has a stone but neither he nor Greed know how to use it to heal others, I guess?? why not, though?]

Bucaneer calls Olivier a "queen," which is right on!

Greedling is the best thing about this adaptation, full stop

*sings* "It must be nice, must be nice, to have a homunculus on your side..."

that one random woman looks so much like Danta from FMA03 that I just had to shake myself to make sure I wasn't imagining it

Elicia HAS ECLIPSE GLASSES AND IT'S THE CUTEST THING

I don't understand why Hoheneheim counts as a sacrifice - yes, he was present for the opening in Xerxes, but he did not attempt human transmutation himself (even though the portal was centered around him without his knowledge) I feel like intent matters?? iirc, he wasn't consumed and broken down the way Ed and Al were???

He's also now fused with Father in a weird blob that reminds me of Topaz trapping humans in Steven Universe.

I don't know why Hawkeye hasn't managed to shoot the evil doctor in all this close-quarters fighting. And why isn't Roy using flames? We had a demo earlier with the zombies that he can work around his allies without burning them, so... ???

Mustang is ordered to perform human transmutation so the bad guys can have a fifth person to complete their circle (somehow, alchemy always works in fives?) He refuses, but then they say they'll shoot Hawkeye if he doesn't so he caves.

this "gotta get a complete set" seems really sloppy for Team Bad, because the eclipse is like, any minute now. Seems like they're cutting it really close. You think they could have found/persuaded/forced someone into doing it, given how long they've had to work at this. So I'm just like "???" about this.

(the doctor dude also lampshades this, lol)

also, I'm so confused why the doctor claims Roy can bring anyone he wants back - maybe this was FMA03 I'm thinking of, but it seems like you would need some sort of specific connection to a particularl person in order to bring them back that you couldn't just whip out at a moment's notice??

is there any other way to open the gateway besides human transmutation?? And why doesn't the doctor count, since they've made plenty of philosopher's stones (which involve human transmutation, and is why Hohenheim is a sacrifice in the first place)??

okay, hawkeye isn't dead yet, but he's supposed to transmute her anyway? How does that differ from healing? I'M SO CONFUSED.

anyway, pride shows up and eats the annoying doctor and also makes a transmutation circle with his shadows while Bradley pins Mustang to the floor. o...kay. andthen it just...happens?without roy's consent?

WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK DUDES

okay, andnow the eclipse is starting, irl they'd have a maximum of 8 minutes at totality to Do The Thing, but who the fuck knows what's happening here since all the characters are UNDERGROUND (how do they even KNOW)

fuck, they're basically raping mustang here since his consent does not matter because pride ate the doctor and the doctor has the knowledge (but that should make him and/or pride the sacrifice, not ROY).

like what the actual fuck

so the doctor gets transmuted, even though he was the one with the relevant knowledge?? I don't get it.

and mustang is automatically transported to be with the other sacrifices - why? how?? how does this even work? is that other circlethey wereusing still active? was it part of pride's set-up for this circle to be dual-purpose?HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?

and apparently, it's just one floor below so all they have to do is break the floor??

Roy is blind... but does not physically lose his eyes, which makes NO SENSE, given that Al, Ed and Izumi lost actual physical pieces of themselves.THE FUCK.

ed's like, "this is super fucked up shit, and you don't get to moralize about human nature and hubris if you guys forced him to do this"

pride is basically acting like a kid who had all the time in the world for an assignment and then rushed to complete it at the last possible moment

scar fights bradley, yes FINALLY SOMEBODY KILL THAT DUDE

al's emaciated body is just so heartbreaking, and al's like "no! I can't suddenly move to this incredibly emaciated version of myself before the final battle!" which is actually really smart of him

of course, al's body waits until AFTER his soul leaves to monologue about how al might have just destroyed the entire world. GEE THANKS YOU ASSHOLE.

broussh shows up at the radio station and maria ross is like :????:

Father says the sacrifices are "all in his belly" and we cut to the chimeras on the outside looking at a massive blob - so Father is ALSO a gate???

(ngl: it would make TOTAL SENSE if Father was originally one of the creatures we see when the gate opens, who got pulled into our world by Hohenheim's master... especially since he used Hohenheim's blood? DID HIS MASTER PERFORM HUMAN TRANSMUTATION? WOULDN'T IT BE AWESOME IF WE ACTUALLY GOT SOME ANSWERS??)

(okay, this is my working headcanon now)

May's like "I'M GONNA TAKE 'EM" and I'm like "aww, heck yeah girl!"

it's really appropriate that Scar--Formerly Consumed by Anger--is fighting Wrath, who ordered the Amestrian equivalent of Order 66 on Ishval.

scar put a reconstruction circle on his other arm, how Symbolic

FATHER MAKES A GUN OUT OF HIS OWN BODY WITH EYES AND TEETH

no seriously, what the fuck did I just witness

Al apologizes to Hohenheim in case he hits him when he attacks father, bless that boy

Izumi makes A GIANT FUCKING CROSSBOW, did I mention I love her?

the personal gates of all of the sacrifices open - so they have giant eyes in their stomachs, wtf

father wants to open.. the planet's gate??

(this ties in with the alkahestry and chi, but... what?)

okay, the country-wide transmutation circle activates and everyone dies

Pinako (who knows Hohenheim is involved with this shit): Hohenheim, I'm gonna slug you. AND DAMN WELL YOU SHOULD MA'AM.

then the gates open and Father challenges God to a fistfight

... and God answers??

[apparently God lives in the sun, and only comes out during an eclipse??? looks just like the usual gate-eye-tentacle creature, tho]

okay, so we get our answer as to why an eclipse: male + female, sun + moon, = perfect being = immortality.

apparently there's a rule that all megalomaniacal shounen villains end up looking the same, because Father looks just like Aizen''s final form from Bleach now, except with more eyes.

Father ate God and now he's young and hot and mostly naked again.

He negates alchemy and creates a miniature sun in his hand because he can.

I hope God gives him indigestion or something.

Oh, wait, Hohenheim had a plan after all... THOUGH APPARENTLY 50 MILLION PEOPLE HAD TO DIE FIRST, WAY TO GO THERE

turns out he's been letting bits of his philosopher stone around amestris on his travels so that father would eat them and they'd tear him apart from the inside

... and the circle for the alchemy is the moon's shadow on the earth.

[I don't know if the astronomy actually works out, but it's very nifty nonetheless]

anyway, everybody's soul returns to their bodies, and everyone wakes up. IDK how their bodies handle having been functionally brain dead, but we're just gonna say it all works out, okay?

ooh, and everyone REMEMBERS WHAT JUST HAPPENED so they’re all like “...the fuck??”

scar saves the world by activating the reverse transmutation circle over the center that all the Ishvalans set up during the time skip

instead of blood you just need circles drawn on paper for reconstruction? why did Team Evil go to so much trouble to murder people instead?

father spends this whole fight looking like a very ripped hohenheim in a bathrobe around his waist OMG

pride calls ed his brother and I think this was handled better in 03 with Envy, but w/e. anyway he's going to take over ed's body but kimblee steps in and stops him

(man, this fucker again!!!)

kimblee's like "lol, I just like being a contrary bitch"

pride is reduced to a little baby, which Ed calls "Selim" and puts on his red jacket... okay...

well that was a trip.

cannot fault the manga-ka for ambition and epic scale here, but also: WHAT DID I JUST WATCH.

[r6shippingdelivery]

This goana be a big one All OP's Christmas tradition can be sexual if you want. Ps mean all of them

Whenever I get an ask for all of the ops, I’ve always kept those family friendly, so if you don’t mind… Holiday traditions for all the ops! I also want to thank everyone who’s helped me with this and endured my questions and prying, thank you so much @demilitarised-zone, @grain-crain-drain, @cerosin & @aesos-caliber. Any mistakes remain my own, y’all did an awesome job helping me!

FBI

Ash: Eliza Cohen is Jewish, she celebrates Hannukah, not Christmas. She feels a little alone in the endless sea of Christmas decorations, but she’s happy to see everyone around her being cheerful and festive. If anyone actually tells her “Happy Hannukah” instead of “Merry Christmas” she might feel inclined to share one of her sufganiyot with them. 

Thermite: He loves to decorate the place with luminarias (lights or candles in paper bags). He also makes wreaths out of barbed wire. Nobody knows if he’s kidding or not when he says that’s actually a longstanding tradition in Texas.

Pulse: He takes gingerbread houses very seriously, and tries to make them as elaborate as his baking experience allows him. Do NOT mess with Pulse’s gingerbread houses. Ever.

Castle: Tinsel, baubles and lights might look very pretty, but for Castle it doesn’t feel like a true Christmas tree unless it’s decorated with pop-corn threaded on a string too.

SAS

Thatcher: He doesn’t go carol singing, but it’s the only time of the year he’ll go to a church service, and then right to the pub. Also, the Queen’s speech is sacred and a must hear every year, no excuses and no clowning around when her Majesty is on the telly.

Sledge: His favourite celebration is Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve), with the street parties and bonfires and fireworks. Aside from that, every year he burns a yule log, and if he’s argued with someone recently, he’ll burn too a branch of rowan tree, to clean the air and start the New Year with a clean slate. Not that he truly believes it works, but it’s still a nice tradition.

Smoke: If anyone asks him, he’ll say his favorite thing from the Holidays is getting stuffed with good food. However, now that his daughter is a teen, he’ll admit he used to love writing with her a letter to Santa, and then watching her face of wonder when she opened the exact presents she had wished for.

Mute: He only celebrates Christmas because everyone around him does, not because it has any significance to him. But fitting in is easier if you go along with it, and it is a fun festival, even if he’s not the best at gift giving.

GIGN

Montagne: He loves visiting Christmas markets, walking around, buying a new figurine or ornament. He as a sizeable collection of santons, even if most of the time he sets a pretty minimalistic crèche (nativity scene/manger)

Twitch: When she was a kid she used to celebrate St. Nicholas on the 6th of December, since it was an important tradition where she lived. Nowadays, she celebrates by distributing candy to her friends and teammates (and keeping a good portion for herself as well).

Doc: He is a muslim and doesn’t really celebrate Christmas. He appreciates the festive atmosphere, and doesn’t mind the decorations, but he doesn’t decorate his home, nor does he celebrate anything in particular. He’ll gladly make use of the free days to spend time with his family and friends tho, and also give to whatever charities are popular around these dates (which usually are kid related).

Rook: To him Christmas means good food - mostly scarfing down as much foie gras as he can, and having bûche de Noël (yule log cake) for dessert - and good company. He holds a small pre-Christmas team party every year, so he can celebrate with his teammates before he goes to visit and celebrate with his family.

Spetsnaz

Tachanka: Watching “The little blue light” (a variety TV show) right after midnight in New Year’s Eve, both him and his sister have been watching that literally all their lives. He used to dress up as Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost) for his kids and nephews, but they’re too old for that nowadays.

Kapkan: After New Year’s, he’ll always go on a lone hunt for a few days and come back with fresh meat right in time to celebrate the Old New Year (on January 12th).

Glaz: After the celebration of the New Year and being in contact with more people than he usually handles, and drinking a lot more than it’s advisable, he’ll spend the next day  nursing a hangover and painting, isolated from the rest of the world. 

Fuze: He would say the home cooked food from his mother and grandma is the highlight of the Holidays, since he doesn’t care much for celebrating when they all feel his missing’s brother’s absence so keenly still.

GSG9

Jäger: He adores Christmas and still buys advent calendars for himself every year. He also inevitably forgets to open several days in a row and eventually binge eats all the sweets when he remembers. He hides it tho, because he doesn’t want people to think he’s childish.

Bandit: In contrast to Jäger, Bandit doesn’t care one whit about the Holidays. He’s of the opinion that the only good thing about Christmas season is Glühwein. Although, if he’s with his family, he will accompany his nephews on Epiphany day to go singing carols and get sweets.

Blitz: He will always organise a secret Santa event at the base before everyone scatters around for the holidays. Loves Christmas markets and the very American traditions of wearing tacky Christmas sweaters.

IQ: She likes to bake Christmas sweets, but dislikes her teammates hounding her for cookies. Aside from that, she’s pretty minimal in decorations and showing the Christmas cheer. Although she has an Aventskranz (advent wreath) and burns one candle every Sunday leading up to Christmas. 

JTF2

Buck: It’s not Christmas without Tourtiere (a traditional meat pie) and Buck is quite an expert in making those, the results are even better than the one his mother makes much to her frustration.

Frost: Moose Milk, a highly alcoholic beverage that’s a tradition in the Canadian Armed Forces. Frost is the undisputed champion of both preparing the Moose Milk and drinking more cups than anyone else.

SEAL

Valkyrie: For her Christmas is not complete without gifting (and in turn receiving) Poinsettia flowers, and eating tamales. And while a Christmas tree is a must, she still keeps with her family’s tradition of putting up a nacimiento (nativity scene), even if it’s much more minimalistic than the one her mother does.

Blackbeard: He participates in a Jingle bells 5k run, dressed as Santa. He likes dressing as Santa. Aside from that, he’s very particular about going to personally choose a tree, then set it and decorate it on his own.

BOPE

Capitao: What he misses the most is watching the kids have fun with  the Christmas play of “Os Pastores” (The Shepherds), he barely goes home nowadays, and there are no more children in the family for now either.

Caveira: She wishes for a proper amigo secreto (aka, secret Santa), where you give (and receive) small gifts all through December using an alias and some sneaking around, and then having to guess the identity of your secret Santa on Christmas’ day. 

SAT

Hibana: She sticks to the notion of Christmas being a time to spread happiness, and also a romantic time. She’ll give people small gifts, go admire the Christmas lights, and eat outside. If it can be a romantic dinner with her partner, even better.

Echo: To him Christmas means pretty lights, eating KFC and cake. And visiting Tokyo Disneyland if he’s in Japan during those days.

GEO

Jackal: He never celebrated Christmas much, he never saw the point in it when he doesn’t have a family to celebrate with. But he always liked all the traditions around New Year’s Eve to bring in good luck: eating the 12 grapes (one for each strike of the clock at midnight), wearing red underwear, dropping a golden ring on your champagne glass for your first toast at midnight; and most importantly, right after the clock strikes the end of the year, hugging the people gathered around you. It always gave him a feeling of comfort, as if he was part of a family.

Mira: Two words, Christmas lottery. She finds a way to buy some from Spain every single year, and then faithfully tune in on the 22nd of December to hear the kids from San Ildefonso’s schoolchanting the drawn numbers and prizes. It doesn’t feel like Christmas is about to start without that.

SDU

Ying: Christmas is synonymous with party, especially since it’s impossible to escape the Winterfest in Hong Kong. Who doesn’t like to party?

Lesion: He likes sending Christmas postcards, by traditional mail yes. And he’d be even happier to receive some as well. Aside from that, he doesn’t really celebrate Christmas.

GROM

Zofia: She likes to have a traditional Christmas, especially when it comes to Christmas’ Eve dinner. Even if most years she can’t really buy a live carp to kill herself as her dad did, she still has carp fillet on the menu. Always puts an extra place on the table, as it’s the tradition, but also because she hopes one day Ela will take up her offer to come.

Ela: The true Christmas tradition for her is avoiding her family, although Zofia keeps inviting her to spend either Christmas’ Eve or Christmas Day with them and meet her niece.

707SMB

Vigil: He prefers to spend the holidays either alone with his parents or with very few people around, he’s not comfortable with those big gatherings and parties everyone seems so fond of. And ice-cream cake from Baskin Robbins is a must. 

Dokkaebi: She still doesn’t get why so many westerners think that money is not an appropriate gift. It’s better than receiving something that one doesn’t like, right? All her Christmas decoration depict Granpa Santa with blue robes, and she will always argue blue is the right color, not red.

CBRN

Lion: He always attends midnight mass on the night of Christmas’ Eve. He used to hate it when he was a kid going with his parents, but now he finds it calming and comforting.

Finka: She misses celebrating Kalyady, which mixes the pagan celebration of the winter solstice with the celebration of Christmas and New Year. Caroling is so much fun when you also dress up with masks of animals or fantastical beasts.

GIS

Maestro: Christmas means family gatherings for him, and home baked Panettone, and carol singing and visiting the Christmas Markets. Will invite to his table anyone who mentions not having plans for the holidays, since nothing seems worse to him than being alone on Christmas.

Alibi: While her family doesn’t celebrate Christmas, she sometimes will celebrate it with friends if she doesn’t have those days free to go home to visit her family. The thing she likes the most is decorating. Proper, tasteful decorating, not those kitsch nightmares so many people seem so fond of! 

GSUTR

Clash: She loves Boxing Day as much or even more than Christmas, cause while family meetings can sometimes be a little tense, she’s always felt at ease with her friends; and especially after joining Rainbow, she’s dying to celebrate with them.

Maverick: It’s been years since he last celebrated Christmas, between being deployed and then, well, imprisoned for a time. He remembers he used to go watch “The Nutcracker” almost every year, and build snowmen Santas, but it seems like that was a lifetime ago.

GIGR

Kaid: Doesn’t celebrate Christmas and he’s not very fond of the over-the-top decorations that pop up everywhere. He’s a bit grumpy about it, especially since doing good deeds for the community sounds like what the holidays should be about. He actually likes that bit.

Nomad: She doesn’t celebrate Christmas either, but doesn’t mind participating in the festivities. She’s travelled all over the world and observed the local traditions when she was there, this is no different.

SASR

Mozzie: He will sing the carol “Six White Boomers” 8about how Santa’s reindeers are replaced by kangaroos since the heat is too much for them) until everyone is either sick of it or knows the lyrics by heart or both. And also, beach barbecues!

Gridlock: For her Christmas means summer and going to the beach and Santa in a surfboard. The idea of a white Christmas is very aesthetically pleasing, but in reality she hates it and can’t wait to go back to a place where Christmas means beach parties.

USS

Warden: He has to have some fruitcake (mostly nuts, some other dried fruits, and spices) soaked in bourbon. It’s a true delicacy, trust him, he’s a man of refined tastes, right?

JGK

Nokk: The tradition she likes the best is, before opening any presents, lighting up the tree (with real candles instead of lights if possible) and walk around it while singing carols. She and her mother used to sing and twirl around the tree as fast as possible, until they were almost dizzy and laughing.

APCA

Amaru: She will make dark hot chocolate with cinnamon and cloves for everyone. The fireworks at midnight on Christmas’ Eve are a must, as is gathering at home with her family and closest friends.

FES

Goyo: It’s not Christmas without ponche and rompope (more or less equivalents to punch and eggnogg, and alcoholic). He also likes to eat pozole, although his is never quite as good as the one his mom cooked for him. (And no, tía Azucena, he’s too old for a Posadas party, stop bringing piñatas!)

NIGHTHAVEN

Kali: She doesn’t celebrate that, and doesn’t really give any special free days to her men either. Lucrative opportunities for work don’t stop just because it’s Christmas or New Year, quite the contrary she would say.

Wamai: He doesn’t care much about celebrating Christmas or not. The only special consideration he’ll take is to eat meat instead of fish (since his fishing family always had meat that day as a treat) and have a couple of strong drinks, maybe with Kali, and she will even smile at his toast. Those are his only indulgences for the holidays.

[monasatlantis]

My thoughts on MLQC chapter 22 to 24

Under the cut, you find my thoughts and feelings about the newest chapters of Mr.Love Queens Choice. Obviously there are spoilers!

- Shaw is one of these characters were you constantly switch between “he is kinda cool” and “I want to strange him” and “What a child”

- Seriously tho, whenever he is angry, or pouty or jealous because MC wasn’t listening he let out a roar of thunder like a child screaming while throwing a tantrum. No offense to his fans, but he doesn’t really fit into MCs harem with that kind of childish behavior…

 - Personally, I felt Victor and Helios were a bit out of Character in this chapter and I mean out of their current “I never had MC in my live before” – characters that were established in the previous chapters

- Gavin felt extremely natural and normal in his behaviors towards MC. He is a “justice” kind of person and mixing that with the fact that all the boys feel naturally drawn towards our Lady makes the way he acted around her feel natural and normal, even under these unusual circumstances

- Lucien too felt normal and real. He needs the Queen, after confirming that MC is in fact the Queen, it was clear that he would go back to be a Lucien that tries to get closer to MC to benefit from it, like he did in the past. Also… using the fact that he knew she needed him for getting something out for himself feels very much like the worst version of Lucien we know, which is the version that tries to suppress his true feeling for MC with all his might and only show his Ares-side. It fit his current “I don’t know MC so I don’t have feelings for her” – state very well…

- But then there was Helios… him trying to protect her even tho he was in a bad state himself and she was in fact still a stranger (that was what? The third time they met in this new timeline?) for him and yet, he shielded her when the car crashed like she was the most precious being to him? He didn’t even question it, when this stranger – a girl whos throat actually met his very own knife not so long ago – blurted out she can’t lose him, like there was any kind of deeper bond between them. Which isn’t the case with this Helios. And as he himself said that he didn’t care about the queen, that could also not be the reason he tried to shield her without thinking about himself.

- And then there was Victor. The same Victor, that basically gave “I knew her” – vibes from the very beginning of us entering that timline. The same Victor that came rushing to her side when the mob was attacking her. The same Victor that saved her from that situation, even gave her a peptalk and affectionately called her “dummy” like usual at the end of the last chapters… suddenly has trust issues with her just because she was at BS, which, by the way, he was too? If Victor would have acted like Lucien did in the first chapters, giving basically no sign he was drawn to her or interested in her, or if that were those very first chapters, then that would have felt totally natural. But the way it was, it felt like our original Victor has been standing in for the Victor of that timeline in the last chapters and in the new ones the true Victor of this timeline suddenly came back not knowing why the hell he should trust that random girl

 - Gavins final scene in that underground dungeon thingy, were he gave MC back her bracelet got me a bit teary eyed. He long lost his second place among my favorites to Kiro/Helios but this time he was the only one getting me emotional and making it feel right and natural on top of it

 - MC can drive herself? So does she not have a car because its more convenient for the story that the guys have to drive her around and that she can get randomly attacked while walking down dark alleys on her way home?

- MC really tried hard to be strong and save herself and others for once and she was great in Gavins-Part and she did relatively well in Helios Part and she didn’t fuck up the Lucien-Part for once and I guess going off on her own in the Victor-Part and short Gavin-Part that followed was also relatively…. good. But all in all it still felt like in the end, she rushed into danger without thinking and ultimately, despite her trying really hard, she failed and once again had to be saved. Shaw saved her after she fucked up the talk with Eli. Gavin had to shield her with his monstrous-powers. Helios had to hold her to lessen the damage she would take from that car-accident that she more or less caused herself (there goes Helios cool SUV… RIP). Victor had to protect her from those cars that followed them when she was trying to get to the ship – and without him she would never had made it that far in time anyway because she spent far too much time listening to the leaders of Black Swan. Gavin had to stop her freaking twice from making herself a living target by yelling that she is the Queen Infront of people who should better not know that. If not for Helios, MC would have fallen into that dream and probably drowned or something.

- And as much as I love our guys being the Heros… I am kind of sick of MC ending up being the Damsel in distress that actual brought most of her misfortune on herself do to acting stupid

- How come MC had spend the last chapters and also the first of the new chapters normally in her flat and then suddenly her key didn’t work anymore? I mean, if that flat would have belong to someone else from the start, shouldn’t she have noticed? And how come that person conveniently was never home when she was until now?

 - I saw a lot of people were disappointed by Victor in those chapters but I don’t really get why? He might had sudden questionable trust-issues but did anyone actually really believe he was serious for one moment when he held a gun to her head? MC herself was joking that she would hold it against his “true version” later, which really indicates she wasn’t really scared of him actually shooting her. And if you didn’t trust Victor or MC herself (which I get) then trust Lucien. He would not have allowed Victor to go with her, if he would have worried that the guy would really harm their Queen.

- Victor killing Hades was…well... why should I care? Seriously, Hades was a dangerous thread already in the old timeline and he tried to kill Victor first. Maybe there would have been other ways, but I seriously see no reason to feel bad in any way because Victor killed that guy.

- The only thing I would maybe dislike about what Victor did, is that he met up with someone from Black Swan at all. But in the end… it was shown pretty clearly that he didn’t fit the likes of Hades. And even tho there obviously is a connection, Victor and BS doesn’t really seemed to think alike. So there is nothing to be disappointed about.

 - The leading people from Black Swan were supposed to be on equal Levels… why do people there respect and fear Ares so much then?

 - It was kind of sad that MC could finally find her answer about Helios being Kiro in that timeline. I would have loved to see the reaction of our “real” Helios if she would have revealed to him that she knows now that he is definitely Kiro

- How did she actually finally overcome Helios spell? Was it seeing him using his “commanding” – power or was the anti-evol-device working on her too? That was not really clear to me.

- Wasn’t Helios the slightest bit confused that a stranger that never met Kiro before actually managed to figure out his true identity? After all, when he woke her from that piano-sleep, he mentioned she called him by the wrong name and in her dream she mentioned Kiro so its likely that is what she called Helios until she was fully awake. Bad timing, I get that, but uh… still I would have taken the time for a quick question there and then if I would have been Helios

- What actually happened to Helios after he tried to shot the Piano-Guy? He was suddenly gone and I didn’t get why.

 - Honestly I didn’t get a lot of things. Still more questions and almost no answers. And a lot more confusion.

 - All in all the chapters were good tho. I really enjoyed them this time – last time I kind of found them boring.

 - So… can we finally go back to our original timeline?

- We still don’t know why Shaw wasn’t affected by all of this…

[twilightofthe]

For the fanfic writer ask meme: E, N & W. Thanks 🙂.

Thanks for the ask, anon! (sorry for responding so late aaaa)  Questions from this writing ask game

E: What character do you identify with most?  Is there a certain fic of yours that captures these qualities particularly well?

C-3PO, I too am loud, over-talkative, anxious, like linguistics, and tend to bother people.  Lol but for real?  Ok, I know I’ve made this joke before, but minus the evil and the murder, I really do relate to Anakin in a way, like I’ve got this entire [post] on why I think he’s ADHD like I am, and his anxiety and general tendency to be a disaster socially resonates with me too, like, I get that.  I’m also a massive drama queen who’s really smart about like one or two particular things so yea.  I’d say overall tho, I’m probably the most like Luke, a little whiny and awkward, a little dramatic, little reckless, love my friends and family a LOT, want to explore.  As to fics that capture similar qualities, I’d definitely say Pas de Deux, the way I write Anakin in it has a LOT of my anxiety and my worst headspace involved and wrapped up in his character, I very much projected a bit while writing it.

N: Any fic ideas brewing that you’d care to share?

Ohhhh honey you’ve got a storm coming….  besides the obvious other two books in walk the (family) line, I’ve got an entire list on a separate document of different stories I want to write, ideas including:

A oneshot fic I’m actually kinda working on right now.  It’s another modern!AU Obikin romcom and I won’t spoil it, but it involves parkour, R2 the parrot, Obi Wan may or may not be James Bond, and Anakin accidentally becomes Twitter famous

An epistolary style fic set during Obi Wan’s time on Tatooine where nine year old Leia finds the emergency comm Bail has to contact him, and both the lonely, kind of awkward young princess and the tired old hermit who should know better but is also lonely and misses both of her parents dearly set up a penpal relationship.  End goal is to establish a relationship that gives Leia a proper reason to name her son “Ben”.

A semi-crackfic where the Jedi Council gets some sort of Clue From The Force™ about the identity of the Secret Sith Lord, that clue being that the Sith Lord is: a politician with close ties to Anakin Skywalker, and also had very specific motives to send Darth Maul to Naboo.  Alllll the wrong conclusions are drawn from that, and the next day, Padmé Amidala is arrested for treason.  Obi Wan is the only Council member who’s like “y’all she’s innocent, it’s clearly the fucking Chancellor”, Sidious tries to manipulate the situation to remove the only two people in his way at once, and poor Anakin spends the entire fic in a state of “UH HI YEAH WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON”  Shenanigans ensue

A 5+1 times they kissed Obikin alternate canon shortfic, because I’m hopeless and want to write shmoop.

A Sadmé (Satine/Padme) Ocean’s 8 AU that came about entirely over me yelling over Cate Blanchett and wanting to write a heist fic starring all of the SW Prequels/TCW ladies being total badasses

This absolutely BONKERS Rebels AU fic where S4 Ezra accidentally pulls both Ahsoka AND Kanan into the World Between Worlds during the Vader fight in S2.  Vader recognizes what happened and promptly kidnaps S2 Ezra who’s there by himself— as well as Maul who’s established a bond with Ezra over the Sith holocron —in hopes of discovering the secret of time travel.  While S2 Ezra has to somehow survive the Crazy Murder Roadtrip with Maul and Vader, now S4 Ezra, Kanan, and Ahsoka have to race to A: Find and rescue S2 Ezra before one of the Sith kill him— and therefore also kill S4 Ezra, B: Make sure Maul and Vader’s tentative alliance doesn’t lead to them finding Obi Wan for obvious reasons, and C: Make sure neither Maul nor especially Vader find the Lothal Temple World Between Worlds entrance and risk unleashing either into a past they both desperately want to change

A fic detailing different little neuroses and traits and attitudes passed down through the Yoda-Dooku-Jinn-Kenobi-Skywalker-Tano line.

Cross generational shortfic focusing on the desert children— Anakin, Luke, and Rey — and their first experiences with water and rain

A ficlet where Yoda somehow gets babified and basically just all of the Jedi Order having to deal with the cuteness overload that is Baby Yoda.

A post-TROS political drama where Leia’s Force Ghost realizes that once again, a new government is gonna need to be built in the aftermath of the First Order’s nonsense and that there are almost no good remaining politicians in the galaxy.  Finn is unfortunate enough to know how command works, how to take charge, how to deal with FO remnants, and is Force Sensitive enough to see ghosts, so Leia takes it upon herself to mold Finn into the next leader of the GFFA.  Would focus on rebuilding, family legacy, be very very Jedistormpilot, and so on.  I feel like I’m not really invested enough in the ST but I reeeeally want to see this idea in fic form, so I might end up giving this idea away at some point.

This one fic that’s been going through my head for YEARS but have always felt scared of actually writing because I know right now that it’s gonna get LONG, like over 200k (lol and look what’s happening with Mutuals ahahAHAHA—) where Anakin flat out dies.  Just, during TCW season 5, he fights Dooku and in the process of killing him, goes down with him and dies.  Padmé will have just became about a month pregnant at this time, and part of the fic will focus on her and Obi Wan and Ahsoka dealing with the aftermath of Anakin’s death, as Sidious is forced to jumpstart his plans and execute Order 66 early now that he’s not waiting on Anakin anymore.  The other part of the fic will focus on Anakin’s ghost, unable to communicate with Obi Wan or Ahsoka and having to watch them and Padmé and the surviving Jedi form the Rebellion themselves and his children being born and growing up without him, even though Luke and Leia will end up being the only ones who can see him.  It’ll go right up through the 20 years of the Empire and have a gigantic cast and I just don’t know if I can do it.

Now, I hate to say it, but I need to let it be known that these are still MY IDEAS, and I have not given anyone permission to use them, so please do not be that person.  Do not steal these ideas for yourself.  I will be VERY upset if someone does.  If you really like an idea, DM me and ask, but I don’t plan to give any of them away at the moment.

W: What is your favorite pairing to write?  Favorite pairing to read?

Hmm, to write?  That’s tough!  There’s so many different complex relationships in Star Wars that I’ve really found myself enjoying exploring, and it’s hard to find a particular one that I like best.  I’m open to at least sampling most pairings for reading, but my favorite has to be Obikin.  It just makes me happy!!!!! :D

Thanks again for asking, and y’all should tell me in the notes if any of the fic ideas sound like something you’d read!!!!!

[franeridart]

what program/brushes do you use for your art? it's so damn pretty

Easy Paint tool SAI and the default pen/brush/marker tools, mostly! and thank you!!! ;^;

Anon said:When I was a kid I would've had a crush on Akane

HECK that’s such a compliment!! Thank you!!!

Anon said:Couldn't Akane technically Control/move Kiri's hair since it's dyed? I mean it's like his hair is stained meaning it's not alive! so Akane finally warms up to him and messes with him or plays with his hair?

She can and she did! I drew her doing just that both in the first and in the fourth thing I posted about her! :D

Anon said:okay i don't know if this is coming through but i have just looked through your entire blog(can only go 4 years back) and let me just say you are wonderful, I absoluty LOVE how you paint/draw like its sooo pretty??? like dnjwcfehbi i cant describe it, (part 1) || like you are wonderful, I absolutely LOVE how you paint/draw like it's so pretty??? like dnjwcfehbi I can't describe it like it's absolutely Fabulous, Stunning, Amazing, Lovely and it looks so smoooooth like what????how??But anyways love your art and love you keep being Amazing! (part 2)

AH GOD THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! This is such a sweet ask to get TT^TT (and you can only go 4 years back because the blog is 4 years old! Can’t believe you actually went through it all!!)

Anon said:I really love your art style and your comics are so cute and I love how you draw older Bakugou and Kirishima!! It’s all so wonderful! Thank you for sharing it with everyone!

Oh man thank you!! ;;; I’m so happy yo know you like them!!!!!! TTOTT

Anon said:the level of FLUFF and KOOKIENESS and SOFT and MARSHMALLOW and MY HEART CAN'T TOOK THIS IS is so much I could die.

PLEASE DON’T DIE I LOVE YOU !!!!! 

Anon said:I love everything about Akane's au. Her, her interactions with Bakugou, how she dislikes Kirishima but is beginning to warm up to him, the boys' aged-up designs. Everything. It's all amazing. Thank you for bringing it into my life!

Nggghhhhhhhh no anon thank you for liking her!!!!

Anon said:Currently procrastinating on my essay to go through your blog because it de-stresses me and I love your art so much like seriously h e l p

GAH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! /////

Anon said:There's something I'm not understand in your AU children kiribaku. She adopted by bakugo or she is a kid bakugou have with someone. ( I'm really really sorry for my English )

Adopted!

Anon said:Your comics are so cute and funny! I'm loving the story with Akane, the last update was great! I really like the way you draw the characters, like your style is so nice. Thanks for making my day better with your art!

G o d thank you So Much!!!!!!

Anon said:Akane is adorable, and I absolutely love the comics that you upload of her, but also on top of that your mohawk Bakugo has cleared my skin, watered my crops, and brought me back from the dead at LEAST twice.

I’M REAL GLAD TO HEAR THAT because mohawk Bakugou owns my whole soul and it’s nice to know I’m not alone in that hahaha

Anon said:What are some ways Akane messes with Kiri (or used to) when he wears red clothes? Does she often do that? Does she do it when Baku's not home, or when he is so that she can hammer in just how much she dislikes Kiri? Has she ever done anything major that caused her to be really reprimanded by Baku, but being the best person in the world Kiri did not get angry?

She really only ever gets pissy (or used to! they’re starting to get along better !!!) at Kiri when she feels jealous for whatever reason, and that doesn’t happen as often as it seems through my doodles, so it’s not like she’s always antagonistic towards him! Mostly she just ignores him, so no, it doesn’t happen often at all! And she’s never gone further than messing his hair up or tugging a bit at his clothes, since she doesn’t have the strength to move Kiri all that much haha the only reason she managed to have him fall the first time was because he was balancing already, but generally Kiri weighs way too much for her to move him around or pull at the red stuff he’s wearing enough for him to notice it all that much 

anyway, Baku never reprimended her for it - not more than he did in the first comic I posted with them, at least, specifically because the damage she can make is so minor that Kiri and Baku barely consider it something to tell her off for... if she were ever to act that way towards someone she might actually hurt (say, a kid her own age) then Baku might reprimend her more seriously, but as long as she’s just tugging at Kiri’s clothes they don’t see it as anything worth fighting her over :D

Anon said:Just sent an ask, so forgive me for this one, but I'd love to get this straight: in the Akane AU Kiri and Baku graduated and share an apartment, are madly into each other, but they neither has made a move on the other yet? Perhaps that should be sad, but it's 100% adorable.

I know I shouldn’t say this as I made the au myself, but I find the arrangement pretty dang adorable too haha they act like a married couple anyway, so it’s like... pining while the rest of the world already considers them an item? and the pining is mostly about stuff like ahhhh I wanna tell him I love him or ahhhhhh god I wanna kiss him, but then they’ll fall asleep on the couch together or hold hands just for the hell of it or cook for each other or make plans that always involve each other and all in all act as each other’s partner, so it’s mostly just like *Kaminari voice* “God these oblivious idiots” hahaha

Anon said:That latest Akane comic melted my heart like you often do. Though for a moment, I expected Eijirou to say "I don't want Katsuki to be my dad, I want him to be my daddy" XD Though that would not sound like him. Props for his adorable interactions with Scarlet Death Queen Witch.

Anon you don’t get it that’s exactly why I had him say “be his son” instead of “be my dad” LMAO it was like, a conscious wording decision hahaha thank you so much for liking my girl, btw!!!

Anon said:Fran! I was just wondering if you would be willing to post your Demon Kiri and Angel Baku art on Redbubble? I'd love to buy a print of it!! Totally understand if not. Also your newer Akane comics are killing me, they're so damn cute!! So yeah love you and your beautiful art! Hope you have an awesome year!!

I CAN TRY I think I did try last time I updated my rb? But the format of the pic made it hard to use it for a lot of things so I gave up??? I can try again tho!!! Thank you for being interested in buying it!!! And thank you for liking Akane too!!!!!

Anon said:is katsuki and kirishima not together in the adopted child comics or is there gonna be a plot to them getting together? 👀

I’m not really writing anything cohesive for it so I wouldn’t call it a plot point, but yeh they still aren’t together! And I wanna have them get to the point in which they are together!!! :D

Anon said:I'm gonna die why do you do this with your adorable art my god

PLEASE!!!!! DON’T DIE!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Your Akane + KiriBaku comics are adorable and I love the relationships that exist between them. I can't wait to see more of them!

Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!! I hope I won’t disappoint!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:I love your art so much!! Especially the little Akane au (so freaking cute!!!!). Random question: if you’ve ever seen Lucifer, who do you think would fit his character? Have an awesome day!

I haven’t seen it, sorry :((( but thank you for liking my girl!!!!!!

Anon said:I apologize if this has already been thought of but i feel as though when akane gets older and if she decides to be a hero, part of her costume could include useful red objects mayhaps?? Such as a shield or daggers or handcuffs so if there’s a lack of red around her she isn’t in a complete ditch. But i love your work sm ahhh💕💕

Yes!!! That’s the plan!!!!! I don’t think I’ll ever draw a teen version of her character but I MIGHT mention this idea in the current timeline, I like the idea so much TT^TT

Anon said:Hey there, I am absolutely obsessed with Akane like I love her so much wow but anyways I was wondering if you've ever drawn tododeku/ will in the future?

Thank you!!!! And I have drawn them in the past (under my tododeku tag!) and I might draw them again in the future, though currently I’m in a pretty big izu//ocha mood so I dunno when that will happen!

Anon said:I love your art so much like??? Help???

THANK YOU TTATT

Anon said:Y'know it could be gayer c'mon

This ask has been in my inbox for 17 days and I still don’t know what it means ??? but I laughed a lot when I got it so thank you anon and yes, definitely, everything could always be gayer that’s just how the world goes

Anon said:I swear you drew an older version of the krbk kids and it wasn't a fever dream I'm currently frantically searching through your blog rn help

I DID that post is CURSED anon, you can look it up through any of the tags I used to tag it and it won’t show up it won’t and I don’t know why!! I always lose it exactly because of this reason I have zero idea why it does this but??? okay I guess???????????

anyway if you still want it it’s here

Anon said:If Akane can control red things, does she low-key also have control over things that are pink and orange depending on how reddish in hue they are? I love her btw. Such a smol bean who could probably kick my ass!

What a good question you got there!! She has control over everything that has a color that falls in the red wavelength of the visible spectrum - that does include certain tones of pink and certain tones of orange, but there’s a point where orange gets too yellow or pink gets too white that her powers stop working. As long as the red in the color is more than any other hue, though, her powers work! 

Anon said: im just imagining if baku takes akane with him when he is going to work and is there with kiri and akane help kiri with his hair bc she is suffering when he tries to style it himself

Once they start getting along better Akane and Kiri actually start helping each other with their hair! They’re both very particular about it so they understand each other as far as that topic goes haha

Anon said:Hi I just wanted to say I’m really enjoying what you are doing in your latest drawing. The contrast with the thick sketchy lines and the thinner crisp ones and the spaces that have no defined line! It’s cool to see you experiment with your line work while staying true to your natural style! Sorry if this came off weird but I love seeing talented artists try pushing the boundaries of their style it’s really visually/conceptually interesting! :)

AH MAN thank you so much I’m so happy to know you like that tool TT^TT it’s really super comfy to use, so it’s nice to know someone finds it visually appealing too!!! thank you!!!!!

Anon said:Is there any chance you could make a masterpost of the aus you do? It's a lot to scroll down to the beginning of a concept u have sometimes and it can be unclear when they start

They all have a tag they’re under, tho? If I’ve made more than one post about them! I have so many AUs going around that making a masterpost with all of them is a bit... mostly so since I don’t know for how many I’ll actually go back on! But if the tags don’t really work for you (generally the link is gonna look like https://franeridart.tumblr.com/tagged/[here goes the tag]/chrono to have it in chronological order) then I can try? I can’t promise I’ll find a comfortable way to do this, tho orz sorry!

Anon said:This might be an odd ask but does Akane like Jirou? I feel like they would get along really well. And how about her grandma Mitsuki? Since she takes after Katsu who takes after her, they could make an adorably angry trio

She hasn’t spent much time with Jirou yet so right now she’s mostly meh about her (though right now she only actually likes Bakugou, and she’s warming up to Kiri, but that’s about it). She doesn’t mind Mitsuki, but she hasn’t spent too long with her either! She yells a bit too much at her dad tho, which Akane isn’t particularly fond of (protective bean that she is, she doesn’t get that that’s just their way of communicating just yet), so out of her grandparents she prefers Masaru, after all~

[blatherkatt]

i just started reading your blumenthal kids reunionfic and i LOVE IT! Its so good and so full of potential and angst and I LOVE IT!!!💞💞💞 The way you write Eodwulf is soooo good hes such a mess and so gay help him. and Astrid Omg... I cant wait for more of her i checked out some of your posts on here and shes just great??? You've clearly put a lot of thought into them with the child designs and stuff, did you have any major inspo for the two of them like songs or other characters and stuff???

hey tumblr dont…delete part of my answer what the heck

anyway!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH,,, ed ( @tactfulgrimalkin ) is the one doing the actual writing but we plan everything together and i edit and do artwork so he deserves lots of love for the great writing…i dont remember what else i had here before tumblr deleted it so i hope thats the gist of it 

eodwulf is a gay disaster of a bastard man and astrid is SO fun and im SO GLAD UR EXCITED TOO BECAUSE WE SURE ARE

anyway you just opened pandora’s box and i’m very sorry for the length of the rest of this answer but here we go prepare for some cursed content necessary to answer that question ( | ) w ( | ) it was a Wild Ride getting these two characters to where they are boy howdy 

so the thing is in order to explain how we created these characters i actually have to get into the origins of the fic on the whole because the two are inextricably linked, and also, the origins of this fic are incredibly cursed and you can send all ur hatemail right here go on blast us we’re ready 

but we were talking about caleb and how we’re both excited for whenever astrid and eodwulf turn up, and the thought came up for basically the rough skeleton of that scene in chapter 2: 

“hey how messed up would it be if instead of them both hunting him down like we’re expecting…one of them comes in with a huge savior complex and sincerely thinks he’s delusional and should still be in the asylum, how MESSED UP would that be” 

…and then shortly after that, this happened 

thats the cursed part dont say i didnt warn u but listen you know we’re right

also that pic of caduceus didnt exist back then i went back and got this screenshot just to share the curse with you all

ANYWAY

in classic us format we got carried away and eodwulf got slotted into the role of that scene in chapter two and his character was largely developed around that scene, like, what kind of person would still be clinging to caleb after all this time to that degree to make that happen? and what was come up with was an extremely avoidant person clinging to a fantasy version of things wherein they don’t have to fight

(eodwulf was developed into a Person before astrid, i should note at this point, and ed did most of that developing; i took point on astrid later on)

but around this time i went “screw it im gonna do some concept art we’re both in too deep now” so here’s some of that for u guys 

started with them all as teens and did a couple sketches as well as one of baby (well. teen. so baby) caleb/bren/we were calling him felix at the time as some of u probably already know 

first draft had astrid with longer hair than eodwulf lmao check this out 

flipped the hair length on those two which was for the best because at the time we were imagining eodwulf as a bit more mischevious which is another thing that got reversed over time now astrids the prankster and eodwulfs the overworked mom friend because bren takes astrid’s ideas and makes them SO MUCH WORSE but he still looks better with longer hair and then i played around w/ colors for a while and wound up w/ this

voila, the initial kid concepts, to which subtle yet vital changes were  made after time. if any of you are curious about if im frustrated that that’s still the best i’ve ever drawn eodwulf’s nose the answer is yes. yes i am. 

astrid’s hair is not messy enough, theres not enough freckles, and she does not look ready to fight the entire world for a dare. 0/10. 

anyway then i did adult versions which look WAY OFF NOW LMAO 

eodwulf with way too much beard, looking far too messy when he ought to look very clean so that he can hide how much of a disaster he actually is, and also a glimpse into the very boring Ice Queen/Heartless Bitch we vaguely had astrid as to start with. even more out of character tho is the earring, astrid as she is today would absolutely never tolerate an earring unless she absolutely had to, girl’s got sensory issues but she didn’t back then. ALSO STILL NOT ENOUGH FRECKLE 

anyWHO a while after this it was decided that eodwulf has ADHD, something both the authors have a whole lot of lmao, and that was the point where ed REALLY took off and developing eodwulf went out of control and we both went Well I Guess We’re Gonna Have To Write This At Some Point Now

and with that happening is when developing astrid took more priority i think, because man, at that point in the game she came way too close to that really  annoying trope that shows up in fanfic a lot wherein The Girl is A Bitch who is Getting In The Way Of ~*The Yaois*~ and thats like, thats bad. we knew from the outset we were absolutely not setting this up as a love triangle because we both hate those but even w/ her having no romantic relationship to either of the two, like…she was kind of just There and the one who was most loyal to trent (the only thing of her original characterization that really stuck, honestly) and sooo boring???? 

so like, and i say this honestly, i managed to COMPLETELY FORGET that “reverse sasuke” cursed comment from the beginning of all this and STILL go “well what if we made her more like caleb’s rival that’d be fun” 

and that’s how astrid sorta wound up accidentally morphing into the Scrappy Underdog of this anime trio and calling her a naruto analogue is extremely cursed but also not inaccurate tbh 

started out with the concept of her popping into bren’s window because she heard they were doing magic and wanted to learn it too and evolved from there; we decided that she was gonna be neurodivergent too but, hilariously, initially that she was “the best at pretending to be neurotypical” (WE COMPLETELY REVERSED THAT AND IT IS FOR THE BETTER. SHE’S SO MUCH MORE FUN NOW) and made her also autistic because it one meant she could be like SAME HAT at bren really hard which’d make her feel more like part of the group instead of just the odd one out, and two because it fits with the whole rivals thing

branching off of that we made her just. INCREDIBLY direct. like. astrid’s thought process is “how can i accomplish what i want accomplished with the smallest number of steps? what are the consequences of doing it this way? do i give a shit? no? im gonna do that.” 

(which is why she climbed a tree to get into bren’s attic instead of using the door because that way she just completely skipped having to convince his mom to let her in)

i cant get into it much here because so many spoilers and we’re gonna explore it all, but like, astrid’s backstory turned into this exploration of the intersection of sexism and ableism especially as applied to a medieval-esque society in which the word “autism” doesn’t even EXIST and in which a convenient double standard exists Right There in the form of bren and like,, its gonna be good guys im excited for it 

as far as characters tho she does also have just a touch of Vimes from discworld to her, albeit like, she’s lawful evil to his lawful good, but she’s got the same tendency to stick REALLY FIERCELY to the rules that she thinks are important, even when they inconvenience her, even if it’d be so much easier to bend them just this once 

and for songs i cannot link like any astrid songs because they all might accidentally give away so much BUT I CAN LINK AN EODWULF SONG 

this one was HUGE for him 

uhhhh i think that’s everything i can think of that we can say right now unfortunately so i’ll end this with a comparison to the current teen designs we have now that are being used in the actual fic, even tho im not fond of how bren came out in this picture, but like, for the sake of comparison 

lets see how far we’ve come 

I N C R E A S E    F R E C K L E