#also my first draft of this covered up and through the comic

[sabraeal]

The Vagrant’s Season, Chapter 1

[Read on AO3]

Written for @onedivinemisfit for her birthday, late by a couple days due to Life Constraints, and by that I mean two kids under 10 with head colds! This is part of Annie’s Shapeshifter AU, specifically a prequel to this piece

It may be muffled through wattle and wool, but Obi still hears the question loud and clear: “What do you think of the boy?”

Bark bites into his gloves as he stiffens, the chopped wood clutched tight to his chest as he presses against the wall. It can’t be possible the Goodwife’s considering the spring, not when there’s snow still piled in the streets and ice clings to every eave. There’s weeks yet until he has to worry, until the heat makes his scalp prickle worse than a bee swarm and he’s driven off just to satisfy the itch. Why, he still has to break through the ice on the well to get water in the morning, there’s no reason to think winter’s even halfway done--

Plink. Water splatters at the tip of his nose, hard enough to make him sniff.

“The boy? Obi?” Goody has no mate-- ah, no husband to speak of, but Harwin comes close enough to both. Not a thing he’s supposed to know, but this is hardly the first wall he’s heard too much through. “He’s a quick one, that’s for sure. Knows how to hold his tongue. Bit on the small side.”

Plink. Plink. His eyelashes flutter, flicking away the drops. They’re cold enough to sting, but there’s nothing to be done, not unless he wants to drop his whole load and give away the game.

“He’ll grow yet.” He won’t, but it’s kind of her to think so. Among his kind, he’s already tall enough, a full-grown male who peers over most heads. Last thing he needs is to stick out any more. “I thought I might speak to him. Ask if he wants to stay on through the spring. Might be nice to have another set of hands, specially when people start traveling the roads again.”

Plink. Obi looks up, licking the water from his lips. The icicle, it’s melting. Even now, he can see the next drop beading on its tip, trembling as grows bigger, no longer able to fight against the earth’s sway--

Ah, so it is time. 

Goody never has time for her little chat. Obi slinks in when the serving girls are all aflutter, asking about stews and trenchers and whether they’ll have enough ale in the cask for after sundown, leaving the wood by the hearth. It’s nothing to snag his sack then, filling it with what he can reach in the larder. Bread, cheese, dried meat-- anything that will keep; he’ll need it until the snow melts. There’s always forage to be found by those wise enough to see it, but nuts and winter berries make a thin meal indeed.

A meat pie on a sill makes for a king’s feast as he lets his feet carry him out of town, the stink of man fading away as he wanders from the well-trod road out to where stone cedes to pasture. Or at least it would, if the last storm hadn’t covered the fields. Might have been nice to stay on until the last frost; he had no proper bed, the way the serving girls did, but a mat rolled out on the hearth made for a warmer one than he’s used to. And if he was fed scraps...well, being fed was better than not being fed at all.

But winter’s comforts do not last spring’s thaw. The goodwife might find her boy handy now, but that would pass soon enough. All it took was a few custom asking about the gloves on his hands and the hat that never left his head, and folks would start looking at him sideways, start puzzling at a mystery never meant to be solved. Better to leave now, before his memory can sour.

By next year these folk will have forgotten him. After all, boys disappear off the streets all the time. No use remembering a scrawny one.

The pie loses its charm along with its warmth. Still, he’s eaten worse-- will eat worse, if history holds-- and he stretches it to its last crumb. After that first glut he keeps to a bite every few hours, ignoring hunger when it wraps its sticky fingers around his stomach. It’s hardly a stranger, after all. Practically an old friend. 

It’s a day’s walk to get to the forest’s edge. Not the one the townsfolk mark, just outside the glow of their little village, but the one he knows, long past where the stink of man has faded. Another day sees him safe, long past any trail even the most daring would mark. It’s only then that he dares to take off the cap.

It’s like being born again. All at once the world gains new dimension, a riotous cacophony that swells over him like a wave. His ears ache; both from the deluge of sound and from being pinned so tight for so long. A simple flick eases the physical discomfort, but the rest...

Obi breathes deep, cold burning his lungs. He’s dizzy, disoriented, but by all spirits in this wood-- as little as he can feet them-- he would take this over another second of pretending to be man’s child.

He dares a fire that night; a small one, just at the mouth of a cave he finds beneath a mossy outcropping. Sitting close, there’s enough light to stitch by-- and enough warmth that he can take off his trousers altogether. Still, he works quickly, ripping fabric and plucking out seams, squinting and swearing until they’ve been made new.

Getting to his feet with a wince-- ah, but these rocks are still cold, fire or no-- Obi pulls them on. It takes a moment to catch his tail, threading it through the hole he’s made. but when he’s finished...

Well, it’s easy to pick out his hasty work from the goodwife’s careful stitches, but at least his tail isn’t cramped inside a leg. Matted and sad as it is, it spreads over the rock like ash from a fireplace, or maybe ink from a quill. Given a few days, it’ll fluff up fine, the envy of every dog from here to Tanbar. And with these clothes, fresh from man’s world-- well, it’d be hard to keep the vixens off him, really. So long as the Keeper didn’t catch wind of a vagrant roaming around. That’s the last thing he needs, a wilder getting all curious about him.

He hulls a hunk of bread from his loaf, setting it to toast on a rock at the fire’s edge. It’ll make a meager feast even with the meats and cheese he’s got in his pack, but it’ll fill him. Until the snow melts, that’s all he can ask, unless he’d like hunger clinging to his shadow, a demon not even those mountain women can exorcise, try as they might. Worse comes to worst, he might be able to stave it off in his small form, feeding off the small rodents that peek their noses out of their burrows, but they’re a spare meal at best, hardly enough to keep him hunting. And still...

It’s not good to stay small so long. That’s what the wise women would say when he was just a kit, scolding the young when they’d play their hiding games out in the wood, seeing how long it would take for the other to find them. Obi had been the best at that game; he’d manage a day or two, enough that the patrols would have to find him, dragging him out from his warren by the back legs.

Stay too long like that and you’ll forget, one of them had creaked direly. You’ll forget what it’s like on two legs, on how to do anything but feed and flee. Wild in truth, that’s what you’ll be, and never able to come back.

He’d never taken the old witches seriously. Who could, when he was so used to the elders barking, make a face like that and you’ll get stuck! Yelp too much and you’ll only be able to howl! It was silly superstition, a way to make the kits behave.

Or so he had thought. Never again.

His mouth sours, so much that even water can’t wash it out. It takes a slice of sausage, salty enough to cleanse any spirit, to banish the taste. He’ll have to consider that though-- what he’s going to do during the weeks his supplies her sparse, and the forage is thin on the ground. Where he’ll go if he doesn’t want to hunker down and hope for spring.

Tanbar’s a fine enough stretch, so long as he stays out of the hills. He doesn’t need to get tangled up in territorial disputes, especially when the picking’s so slim. But go much further south and there’s patrols, two dogs to every pass, with noses sharp enough to pick out another in the brush. They’re not kind to vagrants there, even less so the ones they’ve marked before. Different Keeper, maybe, but Shenazards are either shrewd or stupid, and neither makes for a comfortable jailer.

There’s the Yuris Wilds even farther south, a long jaunt for a cold welcome, though the weather might well make up for it. But the Keeper...

Obi grimaces. The Valley’s his best bet. The snows may not melt as quick as further south, but there’s a patch that’s thick with winter berries not far past the territory’s edge, and plenty of tubers once the their stems peeks above the drifts. He’d hardly have to skirt far past the boundary to reap the rewards. Last time he’d gone there hadn’t even been a patrol; no point when the land’s been abandoned since the last Keeper’s time.

The toast burns his fingers when he plucks it from the stone, but even that can’t keep the grin from his face. There’s an extra slice of sausage when he takes his first bite, cheese and meat softening with the the warmth of the bread beneath it. His supplies may be scant this season, but he has something far better now: a plan.

He approaches the valley as a little one, cutting through the tall grass with as much substance as a shadow. The night covers him; as long as he keeps downwind and moves when the grass does, his pelt merely a darker spot among many. Not that there’s anyone keeping watch here-- he smells one dog at the most northern border, a sharp, unpleasant set that annoys more than unnerves, but once he skirts south it becomes all sweet with a hint of pine.

The patch is where he remembers it, nestled only an hour’s trot past the treeline. Dawn breaks when he reaches it, sun filtering through the thick canopy, dappling the snow like stained glass, and he flops into the underbrush with a relieves fwoosh. Three days of scant meals have left him famished, mouth watering as he stares up at the plump, ripe winter berries, but--

But he’s been traveling all night as a little one. Good for swiftness and stealth, but stamina...

His breath evens, chin resting on his paws. A small nap, that’s all he needs. Enough to let the sun come up and warm the air, and then he’ll shift, letting his clever hands take their bounty. Glut himself before he finds his next bolthole.

When Obi sleeps, he sleeps the sleep of victors. But when he wakes--

“Tulleri, lull, is he still alive?” The song cuts through the silence, bright as the sunlight itself, sending him stumbling to full wakefulness. “Far, far away in the forest.”

The vixen’s scent follows not long behind, carried on the same winds as her melody, a mix of sweet honey and bitter greens-- the same as the buds he used to pop with chubby fingers, their fluffy blooms spilling wetly across his fingers, leaving a stench the wise women would cluck over him for. Leave them, they would grouse, all three together, they taste better on the spit than they do your fingers, pup.

“Why yes, he is.” He’d slept so easy thinking it was simply the herbs growing beneath the snow, muted by the melt, but it’s her, her scent clinging to every branch. Foolish of him; the volva might warn against staying little lest the mind be forgotten, but they never spoke of this-- stay too long as a man, and go as nose-blind as one of them for your trouble. “The little one is lying in his cradle.”

Her words fade to a hum, certain in their uncertainty, and there’s no time to run, not when her next silent step brings her into sight.

She’s a tiny thing, even for a wilder. It’d be nothing for him to shift, to step out into into the patch with all the confidence his height could bring him and scare her out. Not his style; the men have saying-- they have one for everything-- you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Obi’s never tried to catch a fly, wouldn’t know why a man would, but he’s certainly had more luck with vixens playing sweet rather than sinister.

“I am busy, I cannot go out to the fields.” She drops to her knees as the next line hums through her lips, wordless, so close to him that his paws skitter back, folding beneath him. “Well, the wind blows and birch go, and the little one still sleeps so nicely.”

Obi had thought the town had been overwhelming with its hundred thousand scents, with pies being baked and men walking about their business, sweating and eating and leaving the scent of their mating upon them. He’d kept himself apart as much as he could, hiding his wilder-sensitive nose beneath a scarf, but this--

Honey and herb smother him, as palpable as a blanket over his nose, leaving it aching even as his eyes stung and watered. It’s too close, too much. And yet--

It soothes him. Soothes him so much his skin itches, even as he melts into the ground beneath his belly.

She reaches for the winter berries first, plucking enough to fill the basket she keeps at her side, singing the entire time. Children’s songs, enough that he’d wonder if she was a mother, if he couldn’t smell her innocence on her, like glazing on a cake. One left in the window, begging for clever hands to steal it.

Obi keeps his paws to himself. It’d be one thing to sniff around a vixen with a few seasons under her belt, but one unmated-- and as pretty as this one-- oh, that’d bring a Keeper down on him quick. And the last thing he needs is the attention of this one’s.

Instead he lazes, keeping one eye open as she works. He’s almost sad when the last berry falls onto her pile, but then--

Then she starts digging in the snow beneath. It parts under her hands like soap bubbles, crumbling to water and slush. Still, her fingers turn red as her cheeks, looking cold and swollen by the time she exposes the greenery underneath.

“There,” she murmurs, voice as sweet as her song. “Finally--”

Her breath catches, and it’s only then that he looks up, meeting her wide eyes in monochrome.

“Oh my.” His heart stutters when she smiles, the way females do at kits. “I didn’t know I had company, little one! Here.”

She takes a handful of berries, holding them out just beneath the bush’s shadow. “Would you like a snack?”

Obi whimpers, his stomach gurgling at the offer, but-- but--

She might think him a harmless little one, sleeping among the underbrush, but if he stepped out into the sunlight, notched ear and shadowed pelt, his brand just visible beneath the fur--

Well, he knows what welcome there would be for a male like him.

“Come on now.” Her lips purse, kissing at the air, coaxing him close. There’s a part of him that is tempted. Perhaps if he only stuck out his nose... “There’s plenty to share.”

Obi stares at her, sunk into his wary crouch, and when she reaches out a hand--

He bolts.

#obiyuki #akagami no shirayukihime #snow white with the red hair #shapeshifter au #The Vagrant's Season #my fic #ans #this is one of those fics I have a feeling in like two months I'll be back #just rewriting the whole thing #i love this whole au and everything in it and I feel like this is GOOD #but I gotta let it percolate and then i can make it SING #also my first draft of this covered up and through the comic #so one day I'm sure to come back #and give this a few more chapters at least #in any case HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNIE #i hope you enjoy your gift!!

[sleepis4theweak]

WARM UP SKETCHES YAYYAYAYYAYAYYYYYY

Except plot twist: all of them are based off of posts I have saved as reblogs in my drafts.... I like to save stuff there to look back on! And so I was scrolling through them for doodle inspo!

So credits:

1- @trashyandtiredsol ! From their ref of themselves here! <3 2- @cuddlebugmonster 's Usagi <3 <3 <3 Whom I love so much.. his design is so amazing I'm in love with it AH! Ref post here. 3- @bulbabutt 's Mona Lisa! I've been following their comic and I'm so so interested in seeing where it is going....... here's the one I have saved (tho theres a third one now!) and here's the first in the series!

4- @scarylarry376 's rottmnt oc Elise!! I just think she looks really cool hehehehe... I've been wanting to draw her for a while! Post here! 5- @winkwonkblog 's Leo from this post!! LISTEN LISTEN I JUST LOVE THE WAY THEY DRAW THE TURTLES OKAY??? IM OBSESSED AND LEO IS SO PREEETTYYYYYYYY <3 6- @probably-not-a-rutabaga 's aberration au Leo!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH AND ALSO HERE'S THE POST I AM FASCINATED BY THIS AU

7- @junoinouterspace ... listen this au has been in my head for weeks now it feels.... teacher mikey.... and also his design.... it rotates in my head constantly... mayhaps an unhealthy amount even..... I adore it. Here's the post! (Also I forgot Mikey's nose ring OH NO-) 8- @defnotnoodle 's Miku Donnie!!!! EXCEPT I COULDN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO DO THEIR LITTLE BROWSER FACE COVERING IM SORRY AHHHHHHHHH) Post here!! <3 9- Little note cat <3.... Its a cat that I doodle on all of my notes... he's stinky :/

10- @sha-biest 's GF MIKEY AND AMMI!!!!! BECAUSE I LOVE THEM AND THEIR DESIGNS!!!!!!! I've been wanting to draw them for a while and they were just as fun to draw as I imagined..... anyways posts here and here! <3

SORRY FOR ALL OF THE TAGS AND NOW I'M OFF TO DRAW BYE BYE <3 <3 <3

#sorry if I got any designs wrong!!! They were just quick sketches.... :) #I just adore all of these designs so they've been sitting in my drafted reblogs for like weeks #months for some of em... #ANYWHO #<3 <3 <3 #sleepy art

[fumifooms]

i know you aren't really into marcille/laios any longer, but since you went looking online for dungeon meshi doujins, did you happen to find any other marcille/laios ones? (funnily enough at the convention i was at a couple weeks back they had like five, but they were extremely over-exaggerated and personally i prefer my fan content relatively in character...)

Ok first of all: Yeah listen laimar doesn’t have a grip on me anymore but I still quite enjoy it! Just more passively… Altho I do have an analysis that focuses a lot on the importance they hold to each other in my early stage wips drafts, and listen in canon I do think they’re queerplatonic flavored, call me an ot3 qpr truther because Laios Marcille and Falin have a something going on and it transcends being put into a box. But hey hey I reblog laimar artworks I bought that recent doujin I put laimar fics in my -checks- 106 pages long to-read list… Also I have like 5 pages of fanfic prompts for them I may or may not get to writing. Though yeah I do feel bad whenever I notice people following after liking all my laimar posts haha

Sadly to get to the meat of the topic, not really… I don’t go to cons for lack of opportunity so whatever I find is through online. The one I got is The Fourth Basement Floor, it has an english ver and seems so so very in character I can’t wait to get it! Otherwise I’ve looked on Otakurepublic & Doujinrepublic since I use their services for merch from Japan, warning if you click on the link, there are 18+ ones and covers can be pretty explicit. I don’t remember any other laimar one except the one nsfw one I think, but on the plus side there are a lot of gen no ships doujins. I’m bothered because looking back I feel like the catalogue of doujins was wider when I looked all those months ago and it feels like I’m forgetting something hmm… I wish I could help more, but yeah 😔 Pixiv has many laimar comics up (in japanese) if that sates the hunger any

As consolation since I’m already here, why not show some of my laimar things laying around gathering dust I’m fond of. Don’t look if you don’t want to be spoiled for fics I may or may not write I guess? All down below is just laimar prompts

I spoke about some various ones and esp my timeline where she gets him into Daltian Clan here. "Laios… I was wondering, because you enjoy fantasy stories right? I was wondering if you’d like to give my favorite book series a go… It has monsters!" I love love love post-canon laimar where he gets the habit of chewing on her hair because he’s stimming and hungry. Like a goat.

Laios goes to Marcille for love advice.  "You like someone?! Do I know them?" She eagerly asked. "Erm… Yes…?" // Post-canon. He’s so nervous and puts his foot in his mouth n lets things slip out that he thought would give him away. (Comic) "You like someone??! What are they like? Who are they?" And he’s like "Well… She’s a half-elf." He’s like shit she’ll probably know right away. And she goes still. "I’ve never met another half-elf!! We’re so rare! You’re saying you met one and didn’t tell me???!" She’s shaking him. And then she goes still again, contempt drawing on her face. "Wait… Are you asking me for advice because I’m a half-elf?" Laios runs with it "Yes!! And because you’re so savvy with romance and what people like…? If, uh, if you were a half-elf, what would you like to get as a gift? What sort of confession would you want?" "… You saved it there. Okay so since I’m so knowledgeable on romance, tell me what is she like?" "-describes Marcille-" She nods, smug yet oblivious. "Aah I can already tell we’d be great friends. Good taste." (then Thinking bubble with him giving her flowers at a restaurant "Did you know roses are edible and used in recipes", candlelit dinner, or wait maybe the most romantic is cooking together alone at home, chocolate! It’s expensive though… Wait I’m king now!)

Lil comic, Laios wakes up snuggled against Marcille’s back then promptly falls off the bed. The noise makes Marcille wake up and she’s like omg are u ok?? Laios is so sweaty and panicked and in denial about her being special to him.  She explains, disgruntled at the memory "Izutsumi is bunking in with Chilchuck again, they’re taking the whole bedrolls." Pause. "Sorry, I should have told you, but you like sleeping with Izutsumi too so I figured…" She looked sheepish. "Between you and Senshi, I much prefer sleeping with you. It feels sort of nostalgic, like a sleepover, no?" He relaxes and gets in the bed again, smiling. "But… We’ve never had a sleepover?" She chuckles "I guess not. I must be getting that impression because of Falin…" And the air between them is warm yet bittersweet now, as she smiles like that and his eyes and smile cloud over. The earlier instinctive reluctance to touch is gone now. She snuggles into his arms and is like "Hug me?" "Okay." And he does, wraps his arms around her and tucks his chin over her head.

Post canon, marcille takes him to a squid restaurant. Cute lighthearted hehe. He sulks "If there are any parasites in this I will ban squid from this kingdom or so help me…"

Short post canon fluff marcille pov about laios gaining weight n becoming chubby. She used to dream of chiseled abs and angular elves, laios in every way, shape and form is so far from the beauty standards she idealized so. And yet… She loves how soft sleeping against him is, how much there’s more of him for her to hug and nuzzle her face in. She loves seeing him and seeing someone strong, who isn’t malnourished or underweight, someone healthy with color in their skin. An healthy appetite. He used to look more like a rectangle, severe and strict, but now he looked rounder, and seeing him smile at her always made her feel like that roundness suited him. She smiled back, and melted thinking about how her boyfriend was the sweetest in the world. ^I still wanna do this one really bad. Sometimes a fic premise comes from nowhere and puts you in a chokehold and you must finish it to obtain catharsis

Short oneshot about laios musing about Marcille’s smile, how important it is to him in subtle ways etc: Ends with Laios being like wait there’s something off (succubus). Then he grabbed her throat. Or smth

Laios seeing her dungeon like "this is so wrong Marcille you can’t run a dungeon for shit" and also "WHAT ARE THESE HORRORS OF MONSTERS NOO THEY CAN’T BE EFFECTIVE LIKE THAT"

Dinner for two: Very warm. Marcille and Laios are meeting up and cooking a dinner just for them both, no one else is there. They’re being so domestic and it’s light. Laios pauses at some point, doing the dishes, saying… I’ve always worried, thinking doing things like these would remind me of my parents.

Laios doesn’t know what to do when he realizes he actually *likes* likes Marcille, so he avoids her. Everyone notices and is disapproving of him.

Her mana acts up and she shares her dream with someone, kinda like with Izutsumi. Listen the premise could be smutty but I think it’d be more fun if they just hanged out n were silly, like the nightmares chapter without the nightmare

Laimar pining but from the view of Chilchuck, his love hatred sensing a storm brewing. The giggling, the looks. Ugh! It reminded him of himself and his wife when they were young and newly dating.

I love Laios and Izu being worsties so. Laios sees izutsumi rubbing her scent on marcille’s clothes and gets possessive. Maybe Golden Kingdom maybe something else I have no clue but Laios being ridiculous and cheek rubbing or something <3

I might want to do an AU where Laios gets into werebeast ring fighting, before canon and the split happens after he deserts the military. So he’s alone, has nothing going for him and stumbles into that sphere and gets werebeast tattoos done. It doesn’t make him happier at all and fighting sucks actually, but it brings money and he likes being a beast and being cheered by a crowd aka illusion of being liked, and money brings food and eating is the privilege of the living etc etc. So then when he goes to check on Falin at the academy it’s a big AU where he has a whole other reputation and look to him, and when he meets izutsumi their relationship is different and aaaaaa… He’s freeer in this au, lets himself be animalistic and weird, even though ofc the arc is him letting himself be more human as well and connecting with humans, through talking and infodumping n shit. Oh I went off but the laimar is because it’s inspired by cool laimar art here (warning tho it’s an art dump with toudencest also 😔) but werewolf Laios laimar AUs… A lotta fun stuff there idk idk

#Laimar #ask #Ppl can send me laimar asks tbh idk when i’d get to them but i do still love them #Not all that much left i wanna explore analysis or post wise with them though #Laios touden #marcille donato #Fanfic wips #Dungeon meshi #Spoilers #dungeon meshi manga spoilers

[zoe-oneesama]

Hi Zoe, I saw a few asks before about a physical edition of Scarlet Lady, I'm curious how you are planning to go about it? For now I saw you talk about volume one, are you planning to make one season = one volume? Will there be any changes to the current comics? (Like color, bonuses etc.) thank you in advance!

Yes, the plan is 1 Volume = 1 Season, with Volume 5 having the finale episodes, so, extra thiccccc.

I have edited the pages to fix spelling errors and made a few changes so subtle that I can't even remember them, as well as trying to make old pages more legible. And there are bonus images and commentary to fill in the blank spots left by page bonuses.

^Here's an example bonus pictures I made for "The Pharaoh". It's the picture Alix joked about sharing with the class of Marinette dressed as Scarlet Lady, and Plagg dressed as the Black Cat statues that the group walks past at the end of the episode.

Because mixam (the ones who'll be making these books) needs pages divisible by 4, I do have some full color pages for the Volumes that happened to not fit that number nicely (so far it's just Volume 2), so look forward to that. I think I'll share those pages later this week.

Additionally, the chapters got new "headers" since they're in a new format:

^Ivan finally got his moment!

So, it's not as easy as just throwing it into a PDF and giving it out like that. I want this to be a special gift for anyone who's willing to put down money for my content - they deserve something extra for their interest, which is also why I'm not trying to spoil everything.

As for the status of everything: - Volume 1: Final Walk-through. I've gone through one draft and added a few things to match changes I made to other volumes, so after I complete a few commissions I'll be ordering in another (hopefully final!) draft. One book costs me about $60 to order, but that's because I'm not ordering in bulk. But it does mean I take plenty of time between ordering draft. - Volume 2: 2nd Draft. Volume 1 had very few errors in its first draft but Volume 2 had quite a lot, starting with the cover being so dark it was basically a black blob with green eyes (the covers are the different heroes). So I've been editing saturation on the cover and need to print just the cover locally to find the right balance. Additionally, there were a handful that accidentally got cut off, so I needed to fix those. The cover is really the biggest thing holding things up. - Volume 3: Ready for it's 1st Draft. Again, these are expensive, and after the debacle with Volume 2 I want to test print Volume 3's cover to make sure it doesn't have the same problem since it also has a lot of black. - Volume 4: Only the pages have been edited. That means I need to do chapter covers, extras, chibis, and page fillers, as well as the cover. - Volume 5: Same as Volume 4, as well as not being done with the season.

Additionally, I'm not out here trying to get sued, so I need an original product to sell with the book being a "freebie". I don't do a lot of original content, so any suggestions would be appreciated. A print? Charm? Bookmark? Stickers?...pencil?

Then there's obviously the store to use, launching a page, creating marketing materials~ All super fun -_-

#my sister suggested using store.envy but also mentioned that international shipping was difficult #so if anyone has suggestions on what site to use please drop them below #sl book #sl ask #my art #sl art #selling sl

[niphredil-14]

hey so how do you think the rottmnt boys would deal with having a published writer s/o. I imagine s/o has made Leo a jupiter jim fanfic which feels way too accurate it could be one of his comic books. Or like left little poems for Donnie lying around to cheer him up and discuss feelings with it or Fantasy short story for Mikey?

Oh, how the writer in me loves this request!! (also, welcome back to my inbox! nice to see you again! c:)

Leonardo:

Ever since Leo had found out that his lover could write, he had been begging them to write fanfiction for him. They had most likely been forced to watch all of the Jupiter Jim and Lou Jitsu movies before they even started dating Leo. But no matter how much he had begged for fanfiction, they had refused. They were just too busy working on the next volume in their series! But little did he know, that in the weeks leading up to his birthday, they had been brainstorming, plotting, drafting, and editing a special story just for him. When they handed him the gift, wrapped meticulously in Jupiter Jim themed wrapping paper, he was so excited! Before even unwrapping it, he knew that he would love it, just based on the look of pure joy and excitement in their eyes. He ripped the paper off, and found a deep blue binder, filled with paper. On the cover was written, "Happy Birthday, Leonardo" in large letters, and below it, in smaller letters, was written, "All my love, Y/N <3" His heart warmed, and he flipped the binder open, and almost squealed in excitement. Jumping over t them, he pulled them into a tight hug. He did not put it down until he finished reading it, and then he would just reread it. After he almost dropped it while on patrol, he asked Donnie to transcribe it and put it on his phone.

Raphael:

He found out early on in the relationship that his partner was a writer, and while he was very impressed with them and their talent, he wasn't much of a reader, so he didn't fully grasp just how amazing they were at first. While Raph could read, it was always hard for him, and he would have to go back and reread paragraphs over and over until they stuck. Out of love and interest in his darling, though, he began to listen to the audiobook versions of their books while he worked out. And he found out that worked for him, and was enjoyable. And though he often found himself wishing that it was their voice reading their stories to him, he knew from their conversations just how awkward they felt reading anything they wrote aloud to people, he knew how much they hated it, how vulnerable it made them feel, so he never asked. How much and often they talked about their work to him varied, though when they did it was usually just them complaining to him about their publishers/editors, or asking for his advice on the plot, or just using him as a fill in for them to perform the rubber duck theory. However, one day, they burst into his room, holding a book, and practically shaking. He had been sat on his bed, and they quickly sat down beside him, with the book pressed close to their chest. Before he could get a word out, they had begun to speak.

"I have a gift for you!" They trilled, they voice high, and sing-songy. A grin had stretched across his face, even wider than it had when they had first entered the room.

"Aw, Babe, you didn't have to get me anything!" He said to them.

"Well, It's not really that kind of gift, so..." They trailed off, and instead opted for just pushing the book into his hands, forcing the knitting needles aside. He looked down at the book, and found their name written below the title. How they had managed to keep the fact that they had published a new book a secret from him was beyond him, and he paused in wonder. "Open it!!" They exclaimed. And so he did, he flipped through the pages until he came to the dedication, and his eyes began to water at what he saw. Typed in a fancy, swirly, italic font was written,

"To my dearest, Raphael, who has given me endless support, love, and inspiration, who's the best muse anyone could ask for, and who's character is better than any I could create, I have written you into these pages so that your essence may be as immortal as my love for you is."

They had all the talent when it came to words, and he was left with only speechlessness as he pulled them into a tight hug, fat tears falling down his face as he buried his beak into their neck, holding them as close as he could.

Donatello:

It had never been a secret that Donnie was incredibly impressive, and taking that fact into consideration, it was no real surprise that anyone, even as talented a writer as his love, would find themselves often speechless in his presence. With their emotions running too high to properly verbalize them in the moment, they would often find themselves writing out how they felt in long paragraphs until they were able to cut down the words into poems, vague and intricate enough to not be fully clear, and yet so powerful as to make someone know exactly the emotion the poet felt while scribbling the words. Donnie had a very clear understanding of their experience with being unable to verbalize just how they felt, as he often experienced the same thing, and resorted to building things as a way to show his love. Which was why he was so moved when he had found their journal. He knew that all of their final drafts were kept on an ever-growing document on their computer, but he never knew just how those drafts came to be final. And yet, there was a pain in his chest as he held the journal, a disorganized mess of thoughts, in his hands, and was able to see their word vomit be carved down into pure art, not unlike a sculptor chipping away at wood or stone, to reveal the heart of their creation. He had known that he was important enough to them for them to gift him some of their poems, but to be able to look at the proof, to be able to hold it, and to touch it, the proof of just how strong the emotions he stirred up within them were, that was a powerful experience. It was as if his brain had completely shut off for the moments that he held their raw thoughts in his grasp, and all he could think of was how impossible it would be to ever completely and successfully express the same level of depth that his emotions had for them. But he knew that he'd be damned if he didn't try. And with that, he placed their journal back down on their desk, and made his way to his lab, already brainstorming.

(I got kinda carried away with Raph's, I'm not sure what came over me lmao. guess i got possessed by some kind of inspiration ahaha)

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt #tmnt leonardo #tmnt leo #rottmnt leonardo #rottmnt leo #tmnt raphael #tmnt raph #rottmnt raphael #rottmnt raph #tmnt donatello #tmnt donnie #rottmnt donatello #rottmnt donnie #tmnt leonardo x reader #tmnt leo x reader #rottmnt leonardo x reader #rottmnt leo x reader #tmnt raphael x reader #tmnt raph x reader #rottmnt raphael x reader #rottmnt raph x reader #tmnt donatello x reader #tmnt donnie x reader #rottmnt donatello x reader #rottmnt donnie x reader #tmnt x reader

[stitched-mouth]

Madame Web Production BS

Just to be clear, I love this movie. But I love talking about what a dumpster fire it was behind the scenes so let me point everything wrong with my favourite of the year so far. SPOILERS!

• Cass’s personality is not fleshed out… that’s a major problem. I feel like they just told Dakota Johnson to do what she wants the whole movie BUT then right at they end they decide to give Cass a personality completely ripped from the comics. And it doesn’t work with the way Dakota was playing her the whole movie and these no character development over the course of the movie, so it’s actually a little scary seeing her switch at the end.

• None of the characters have a personality actually. The villain was the worst to be fair because I still don’t really understand his motives. Like… you tricked and murdered a pregnant woman and a few others because your family was poor? And you think Spidey strength will fix that? Um, ok. So is mine but I don’t know.. wouldn’t kill anybody over it though.

• I hate Sydney Sweeney’s image. And it’s not her or her marketing teams fault. It’s her fans’ and her directors. She’s constantly purposely dressed sexy in movies (even when dressed down like a nerd, she’s still sexualised) but then is playing a child. Like wtf. They did it to her in Euphoria and they’ve done it to her again in Madame Web. And how Sydney dresses for press also is clearly influenced by directors and fans’, like the look isn’t just what they want for her characters but also how she’s expected to be irl too. It’s kind of sick and related to how paedophilic things are still normalised in our society today, I’ll have to say that rant for another day though.

• Why does it feel like nobody cared about this movie? The script feels like the first draft that was supposed to have rewrites but nobody was bothered. Same with the editing, everything but especially the dialogue and music feels so placeholder, why was it in the finished project? Like even the Google cast page is not finished, only the leads have their character names on there. Zosia Mament (the villain’s assistant) is credited as fucking ‘Actress’.

• Why was Cassie able to fly to Peru when she’s a wanted criminal? Why is she flying to Peru when talking about laying low because she’s a WANTED CRIMINAL??!

• The writers constantly forgetting what year it is was hilarious and the editors just throwing one Brittney Spears song in and a few Beyonce billboards in to cover up their mistake is also hilarious.

• ACTUALLY, apparently the whole reason the movie was set in 2003 was because the director really wanted to use Toxic in the movie. Because apparently you can’t play a song in a movie if the movie doesn’t take place in the same year the song was released 🤡

• BUT Toxic was released in 2004 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡

• The writers taking the time setting as a opportunity to reference Garfield’s Spider-Man but then also forgetting that that SM was born in 1995 🤡🤡🤡🤡

• Yes I checked, they specifically wanted to reference Garfield’s Spidey, but through editing they realised their mistake and started trying to make it look like they were talking about Tom Holland’s SM instead, which risks breaking some rules with Marvel… AND THAT SPIDEY WAS BORN IN 2001 SO THEY STILL FUCKED UP. The fact that a simple Google and common sense (like they must of know Garfield’s fist SM movie took place in 2012 and if he was born in 2003, he would of been only 9 years old in 2012 😑) would of fixed this problem is again hilarious.

• Obviously the biggest goof was Dakota Johnson not realising she’s not in a Marvel movie and firing her agent the same day the trailer got dropped 🤡

• She also might be in trouble for posting the teaser on her Instagram and tagging Marvel before the trailer dropped (so before she found out), but I don’t think Dakota manages her own socials tbh. That post was removed then put back up without a Marvel tag.

• The press tour is amazingly bad, I love it.

• Not seeing the girls turn or become heroes was probably the worst part about this movie but I knew that going in so didn’t mind too much. But the real issue is with how Sony keeps straight up lying to their audience with their trailers. Obviously some studios add somethings into their trailer to create more interest for the audience but that’s not what Sony is doing, they are straight up LYING. And they do it so often now I want to fight whoever is in charge of that, they are the reason this movie flopped.

• Them and the writers… and whoever decided to hire the Morbius writers again, everyone there deserves to lose their jobs.

• The only reason I want this movie to do well is because I want Madame Web to have more movies with Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Adam Scott, Isabella Mercer, Emma Roberts and Celeste O’Connor all returning. But I really don’t see that happening now, I can’t see Dakota signing another contract with Sony or doing everything to get out of this contract if it’s not over yet.

• The fact that they had to dub the villain’s lines makes me so confused to why he was hired? He didn’t even give a good performance, not saying he’s a bad actor (I’ve heard he’s great on other movies), but he really didn’t do anything in MW.

• And the part with the FBI agent and the villain had me so confused too. Like, did she seduce him to find out information about him? Because it makes sense that the FBI would be suspicious of this guy. But then did he see through her act and decide to at least get laid before killing her and stealing her passcode? But everyone is saying he seduce her for her passcodes and yeah I’m confused.

• The problem is the pacing and how everything that needs explaining isn’t, but everything that doesn’t need an explanation IS explained. And too much.

“He worked with my Mom in this place looking for this spider right before she died”

That’s not the exact quote but it’s pretty close to and that’s less than 5 minutes in. Ok thanks spoiling the whole movie to me. I really didn’t know a movie could spoil the movie to me.

• I’ll add more to this post when I remember more bs this movie endured or forced me to endure, feel free to add to this list in the comments or reposts.

#stitched #stitched talks #stitched writes #madame web #dakota johnson #emma roberts #cassandra webb #mary parker #ben parker #uncle ben #adam scott #sydney sweeney #julia cornwall #isabella merced #anya corazon #celeste o'connor #mattie franklin #tahar rahim #ezekiel sims

[infini-tree]

now for something completely different (and something of a third anniversary post)!

as i’ve stated once in a while about the music room scene in the comic: it was one of several scenes i’ve been extremely excited to draw. its gone through a lot of revisions, which is detailed here.

it, along with captain’s first appearance was literally one of several reasons why this part of sticky notes au exists as a comic as opposed to just writing it as a fanfic. sure, it may have taken less time to write, but words can’t really compare to the buildup, gutpunch, and subsequent tone shift that came with that one scene.

i’ve literally been revising this one specific part since october 2020, which puts into perspective as to how long i agonized over it (for reference, the scene went live online in fall 2022*). so have that process to the lead-up to the snap.

* (disclaimer: a good chunk of the scene was in my drafts for months prior to its posting, but you get the idea.)

late 2020 (pics 1-2): 

the original plan was for krupp to fall. i never figured out how or why-- maybe he just slipped on some vc-barf! i think some versions had him additionally fall back into the stairs as a result of that. but in that moment the boys just took advantage of that moment and snapped their fingers to switch him over before he hit the ground. this was also back when krupp also knew the method of switching, hence his hands in the first pic.

early 2021 (pics 3-5): 

still had the concept of krupp knowing about snapping, but i swapped it to the idea to him learning it right at the moment before he switches over in the coming months. early sticky notes krupp and captain are learning how this works and having their initial assumptions about the other challenged, so i figured it would be the more appropriate story beat for the whole thing at the time.

i don’t remember the context of the comic thumbnails in the 4th photo, i think i was just playing with how the snap itself was going to be illustrated. but the right panel was a different version of it. krupp was initially supposed to say... something. i don’t think i planned that out in specifics, but the point was that he was supposed to be genuinely afraid. the hand was going to come into view, and was blurry. when it snaps, the hand is the one in focus and krupp is blurry. the change in focus is all symbolic. here’s my original commentary on the subject:

theres going to be a future page where the boys start talking but it just continues to linger on krupp's pov for a lil bit and how he feels abt the boys just being v casual and callous about the fact that theyre making him fight a monster (semantics about how its CAPTAIN whos gonna fight notwithstanding)

before yanking the pov back to the boys for some sweet sweet dissonance

a version of this dissonance does make it in the final comic, so there’s that.

2022 (pics 6-9): 

we’re almost there folks. the trio of poses (and gif made of those 3 poses) was from a version of events that had less block-busting. basically, the gag eel was at the door much sooner, and running out of options, the boys essentially say “the stealthy [prank] option isn’t working, he’s dry enough, we have to do it now”. krupp is confused and panicked on the fact that there’s a monster and this whole bit in the music room was a set-up. 

he starts panicking and hurling accusations/theories about how they did it. he even had a throwaway line along the lines of “did you steal one of melvin’s inventions [to make me into captain]”. that line was immediately scrapped since mentioning him felt a little out of left field at this point of the story and i wanted to keep the scope small.

while in this version of the thumbnails, the frames were meant to gradually zoom in to krupp’s face, i did do a set of full body poses just in case i did want something more than a waist up... mostly to make sure if krupp’s pose and hand placement could be feasible

note the fact that he’s covering his head but not his ears. he’s really working off of assumptions

#mells draws a thing #captain underpants #sticky notes au #anyway sticky notes is 3!!! wild #anyway THROWS commentary at you

[looniecartooni]

Okay- for over a decade now, I've thought about publishing a comic book series or graphic novel, but have never found the time, energy, or resources to get one off the ground. I've also been really nervous about exposing my writing despite coming up with multiple storylines in my life. I am planning to start a Kickstarter or something for at least one of them. I know I've pitched creative projects or theories before and haven't gone through with them, but I want to at least see what of things I have developed or began development on interests' people before I start anything.

So... I am going to start a poll. Maybe I'll make one free short comic before I dedicate myself to something that requires funding.

Descriptions below:

These Hands- A first person perspective from former Diamond Cutter infiltrator and later cause of their demise- Mimic the Octopus. See from when he first joined the Diamond Cutters and follow into his fall from grace. Will his plights be sympathetic or shall he be forever scorned by himself and his actions?

A full storyboard draft has already been created for a one-shot story. If chosen, it may take between a couple weeks to over a month to release (depending on my college schedule)

Henchmen for Hire- A cowardly magician with the power of luck on her side (and her Eldrich terrain shifter best friend) are stuck in their jobs as Henches for Hire for random Elites and criminals of their world, escapading on dangerous quests through ancient caves to find mysterious power sources and ancient treasures. While life is fairly comfortable (despite them having to live in a cave themselves because how can you live in a nice place when you're stuck in such a shady business?), the past is catching up to them, and one of them has a knife. Can these two ever live without the fear of being alone and helpless when nothing but danger plagues their lives?

This series is one of the ones I am currently working on and its still very early in development. It may take a couple months, maybe even a year to complete. There are maybe 3 stories and 5 or 6 plot points planned out. But I'm having a lot of fun with it and do hope to make something off it some day.

Experimental Living- A mad geneticist and engineer finally returns home from his stay in prison and is ready to wreak havoc on the world with his new genetic experiments. However, things do not go as planned and in order to keep his cover as a "reformed" villain, he must raise them as if they were his children, which the 10-year-old and 6-year-old are more than happy with. With help from his Henchmen, constant harassment from his mystic and militant father, and suspecting eyes of heroes and citizens, will this evil villain turned single dad ever succeed in his violent plans to save the world?

I storyboarded almost the entire series and a sequel series for this for almost a full year. There are still many parts that need to be tweaked or rewritten as there are gaps and maybe some problematic elements, but this could be something that could get started sometime in the Summer. I want to be able to fund it, but I don't have the elements to do so at the moment and I'm afraid the premise is a bit too close to the idea of a Starline, Surge, and Kit AU. Though it is more loosely inspired by them with a lot more to it than that, I don't know if I might run into some copyright issues if I go through with it, no matter how loosely the characters or premise are to their inspirations.

Journey of Eclipse- The Light had fended off the Darkness for hundreds of years, constantly sealing it in a cave to protect the world from his curse. Now, a child born from the Light and conceived by the Darkness must tread on a perilous journey to save his mother from the curse that now finally firmed its grasp on her. But this story is not so black and white, and the circumstances that lead to the birth of such a child may have a much more deep-rooted tale than what has been told.

I had this idea back in High School and recently revisited it. I would imagine that it would be a rather short series or graphic novel, but may need a few months to fully get a good narrative out of it. There is a clear beginning, middle, and end, but much more needs to be fleshed out and reconfigured to tell a well thought out tale.

Angel Story- A long time ago, super soldiers known as "angels" were created to protect villages from strange dark entities referred to as "demons" or "shadows". With the dark entities seemingly vanished, the angels and their children were now declared to be the protectors against criminals and symbols of order. However, new chaos arises as these angels are seemingly vanishing, or getting corrupted by a similar energy to that of the shadows which should be impossible. Now a new crew of angels must try and stop these new monsters and the energies that are driving them.

Only one plotline of this supposed to be short series has been fully developed, but it's fun to work on and reread the storyboards for. It may take a few months give or take to fully start, but I feel it will be a fun read when worked out to its full potential.

I have quite literally cabinets full of stories that I have created since freshman year of high school and have on and off worked on quite a few. There are some others that I am currently working/reworking on such as a superhero trying to find out what happened to her superhero dad while being raised by her evil uncle. Feel free to ask for more information on any of these projects or any other projects. I've been too scared to bring them up or publish any creative projects because of being overwhelmed with school and fear of possible backlash. But I'd be happy to share anything people might want to ask about- I want to know if I could actually do this or if this is one of those dreams I've got to just put on the back burner.

I'll still create just random fan stuff for BBU and things like that. I did try to start a videogame/visual novel last year, but that never truly got really developed or much attention. I might work on other different kinds of projects in the future when I have the time, money, and energy (or stop making excuses). But for now- let me know what you guys think (very kindly) and if you'd ever wat to see an independent project created by me. If not- that's fine too, just please be nice if you think this isn't a good idea.

If no one chooses anything- that's fine too. I'd probably still do something eventually or try my shot again with other pitches. I welcome any advise for creating, publishing, self-publishing, legally making money or legally getting money to make something, ect. I'll be posting on other social medias as well. Let me know your thoughts (nicely and constructively). Thank you.

#my writing #writing advice #advertising myself #sonic idw #writing pitches #my art

[stillness-in-green]

Coming Soon: Tone Poem for the BNHA Status Quo

Sometime in the next 24 hours, I'm expecting to post a project I spent the last few weeks working on. It's pretty different, format-wise, than my usual stuff--instead of a written meta post, it's a Webtoons-style vertical scrolling comic consisting of rearranged panels of the manga (with some strategic splashes of color) for the purposes of making an argument via juxtaposition. The format is new, I say, but the argument will be a familiar one to my followers.

I make this post this as a warning that, thanks to the way tumblr manages images, I will be having to make several posts back-to-back to fit the whole thing; they'll be titled "Bring It All Back" and tagged "bnha tone poem." Please click through their View Post/Read Mores only if and when you are ready for some serious "Do you like the color of sky" levels of scrolling! I'll be crosslinking the installments to each other, so feel free to just click on whichever one you see first and follow its link to Part One.

That said, I'll be leading with a post containing an AO3 link for it with a short teaser covering the beginning through to where it first jumps the track. If you just want to read the whole thing all in one go (I encourage this most strongly; that's how I intended it to be read!) please just go straight to AO3. It'll also be at its native quality there, compared to the tumblr posts, which, from my draft experiments last night, will be just a little bit fuzzier.

I hope everyone will enjoy it in one form or the other! I first thought the idea up almost a year ago, but recently hit a patch of inspiration for it, by which I mean I obsessively worked on it several hours a day, every day, for two solid weeks. I, uh, kinda blew my arm out making it, in fact. Turns out that going 0 to 60 on using a stylus for a few minutes once or twice a month to hours of daily use has some physical consequences. Go figure! (I'm doing fine now, but that is the reason this project will be posting tomorrow instead of a week ago.)

#bnha #bnha tone poem

[vangh17a]

How do you go about formatting your comics? I’ve always wanted to make a comic but formatting it has always been a struggle..

Also don’t forget to drink water and care for urself

Drink has been acquired! Grab yourself one too, it's "Vane might ramble too much" hours!

Keep in mind that my formatting is what works for me, so it might not work for everyone. I also use Clip Studio Paint (EX), so some bits might work for other programs, while some might not. I also can't for the life of me remember the difference between CSP Debut, Pro, or EX so I'm sorry if I mention features you might not have.

I'm gonna cut the post here, so it doesn't take up too much space on the dash :D

Alrighty! I'm not completely sure what you mean by format, so I'll just do a quick rundown of my process!

Script

I usually start with a script. It can be as loose or detailed as you want it to be, but mine usually are something like this:

Character A: "Says a word!" Description of scene or action

Character A: "Says more words!" Character B: "And more words are said"

I use gaps in the text to signify a panel break. So this would be two panels! Keep in mind your workload, and don't put in too many if you're not ready for it.

Sketch

After I finalize, or at least have a general understanding of my script, I get a canvas around the size that I think it'll be. I usually start out with about 1800x8000, but you can adjust it based on your needs.

I like to try and sketch out a rough idea of how I want the comic to flow. Using my script, I sketch out the panels and toss in where I think the text bubbles will go. Here's the latest Wanderer update as an example! (Yes I usually use the first draft sketches for the final product, don't worry about it lmao)

I do a sketch of the entire thing, which helps me resize as I need.

Panels

The panels were always the hardest part for me to figure out before I started working on Wanderer. Again, this is what works for me. It might not work for everyone, and this is also just how I set up this specific comic.

Let's get some boxes going. Go to the Frame Border option, and select rectangle frame.

It needs to be on create frame!

Click and drag one giant box over your sketch. I'm using an excerpt from the above sketch for example! You can click the frame layer itself, hold ctrl down and adjust the width of the box.

Delete this layer:

and move your sketch above the frame layer so you can see it!

Now we just split the panels up how you want them. Next to where you found the Create Frame option earlier, there should be a Cut Frame option. I personally use Divide Frame Folder, so everything is contained without bleeding through to other panels.

You can mess with these:

The "gutter" is just how much space is made between panels.

When making your panel splits, you can hold ctrl to snap to a 45° angle.

It might end up looking messy to the side, but each new frame folder will be like a new mini canvas for each panel. I find that color coding the layers helps me find which ones I need if I start getting too many.

Here's a look at what it might look like based on what I've done for just this example.

And if we go to the actual file for the upload...

It keeps everything nice and organized, imo!

Okay, I thiiink that about covers it. Text boxes/bubbles and the such are easier to find tutorials for, so I'm not gonna cover those unless people specifically want those. But I'm more than willing to divulge... most... of my secrets haha.

As always if I need to clarify anything, just ask and I'll do my best to clear it up! Best of luck on your comic making adventures!

#mailbox #tutorial #I hope it's easy to understand! #And thank you for the ask!

[lazytoufu]

Behind the scenes: Once upon A Dream!

Countdown

Paper on Shuu’s face (to mask his feelings on his face, not to be spoil the comic and also to show u he ‘used to’ cover himself up) an idea from Lost one’s weeping if u ever listen you know, you know! I really recommend you to go for Akashi ver. (Which so similar to Shuu) I put the link below!! And apple is representative of Shuu if you notice hahaa

The first blood!

just huge idea on Dream once I got through the fic. First has only just sketched for fun but just became bigger which annoying bc it couldn’t have redraw much when it was on paper, so I moved to digital drawing and as I being myself not enough redraw and finished fixing it

^ funny how it on first draft!

No. X Prototype

The mess but plain—

no fancy props

both got ip15 on 2010 setting. Me as Best mum of the year: provided the best for my sons.

you know who shirtless (my place is hot at this time) then realised later.

No. X+1 with Shuu frills pyjamas.

u see so much fixing compare to published ver. Ive been working so hard with it. Can tell.

so stressed both physically and mentally. I got right foream pain and finger hurt for a while, and several headaches and downs.

published ver. is ultimate of No. X+Y prototype

if u read original fic. U know it’s Karushuu🍓🍊 i’ll try to make myself to reach that part…

next ch. to be continued…

#lazytoufu #toufuarts #toufucomics #karushuu #asano gakushuu #akabane karma #karma akabane #gakushuu asano #gakuhou asano #Youtube

[blorb-el]

13 and 23 for the fanfic end of the year asks?

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

I have songs that inspire me to think about the fic in question and the characters, but I usually need minimalism while actually writing. For inspiration: the Prisoner’s Chorus from Beethoven's Fidelio, the first movement of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in D minor, Peter Gabriel’s cover of The Power of the Heart, Leonard Cohen’s Recitation/A Thousand Kisses Deep, Regina Spektor’s The Call. For actually writing, long playlists/best of's of Arvo Pärt, Max Richter, and Ludovico Einaudi, and this random album of FNAF game music remixes

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

putting this under a cut because there are SO DAMN MANY GOOD GOD...........

the biggest would be finishing the Kryptonian superbat au, which would be (mild spoilers?) sort of a sequel to isostatic. It was my NaNo project in 2022 but I had to stop about 25k in for Reasons. I think once it’s done it’ll land in the 40k ish range? There Will Be Footnotes.

of course finishing we shall be free; we shall find peace, but tbh I was pretty damn sure I was never going to finish that in a year. I made about 45k of progress on it during NaNo this year, but, horrifyingly, that only got me about...halfway…through the plot outline. this mfer is a SLOW slow burn

I really wanted to participate more in bottom bruce wayne october with various superbat ideas and ended up with 4 drafts, one of which was done enough to end off to januariat to be beta read, but I just couldn’t figure out how a few paragraphs in that would flow, which is usually a symptom of being unsatisfied with a deeper issue. So the catboy pwp, the chastity belt dkos-ish au, the sex pollen, and the [redacted fic that shall remain undescribed bc I will never have the nerve to publish it except on anon] all remain in tragic stages of unfinishedment

speaking of various pwps, I really wanted to make progress on an immediate post-wf289 fic where the ashes of the Kryll give superbat low-level temporary telepathic empathy and of course they've been pining for each other for years and do it very tenderly and probably weep manly tears, because that's the bronze age worlds finest vibe <3

The claspers whumpfic where clark gets shrapneled and bruce has to do emergency surgery and oh no discovers his claspers remains one scene. I need to look up best practices in octopus physical therapy for this though if it gives you some idea of the intended plot. This would be a prequel/backstory to make this place your home and a home for my xeno clark headcanons in general

I really want to do an omegaverse fic that’s the opposite of the 'oh no, I’ve just gone into heat and I have no plans, you’ll just have to sleep with me' trope. like, bruce's contingency plans have fallen through yeah, but with two weeks advance notice and he's asking clark for a gentleman's favor and there's traditional style courting with cheese plates and possibly slow dancing. also maybe to incorporate xenomegaverse Delta clark and also how much more dangerous Poison Ivy would be in an omegaverse setting

I still have aspirations for a sequel to tacere featuring Kara acclimating to life on earth, but that’s on the back burner until I read more of her comics bc i know that plot's been done over and over and i want to be sure i know what the canon takes are

i fervently want a comfort (xen)omegaverse cloisbat set during the recovery in superman: lost

dragonclark aka the one where kryptonians all avoid magic bc they don't want the spells that shapeshift them into humanoid forms to be broken and they're actually (slightly fifth dimensional) dragons but otherwise tech based. don't worry about it. martha and jonathan found a baby six-limbed dragonlet in that rocket that blinked at them and then shapeshifted and they were like ok we are still gonna adopt

was contemplating a fic set in clark's sophomore year of college where xenoclark/mermaidlori get together but i can't decide whether i want it to be straightforward pwp hooking up or actual melancholy young love plotfic where they both have this impending separation hanging above their heads. i was vaguely thinking of having lori's mermaid tail be partially paralyzed but i'd have to do a hell of a lot more research into ableism related to wheelchairs and find a wheelchair using beta

old timey radio husbands ft. radio bruce getting blackmailed for having sexe pictures. need to buy a book to research the metropolitan american gay scene in the 40s. or perhaps the fic is just the excuse i need to order the book?

every time i watch any given jl episode i want to write a fic where dcauclarkie my problematic rectangular fave gets some god damn therapy. this has been the state of my brain for two years and it may in fact be time to pick up my first ever attempt at dc fic, which was post-stas pre-jls1 fic that attempted to explain why the US government would ever trust dcauclark again by lifting the plot of panic in the sky from the reeves show (ft. amnesiac clark)

speaking of reeves and watching shows every time i watch an episode of batman 66 I want to write an adamwest!bruce/georgereeves!clark because every time I watch 66bruce be a ridiculous dad to dick I’m like ohhhhhhh this man NEEDS to get [redacted] until [redacted] he DESERVES it. he is so husband material. and 50s Superman also could use [redacted redacted redacted]. Unfortunately this is not a plot, but as Jan so patiently reminds me, pwp is a thing, so...

that was so many. if you have read to the end let me know if any of these are intriguing and i shall perhaps move them forward to the front burner alongside wsbf

#thanks for the ask :^) #the thing about me is that i have. so fucking many fics in the wip drawer #my entire 'wip' folder in scrivener is. 248k words. as opposed to the 40k words i have published on ao3. its clownographic #dio-icarticaae #my writing

[upagainstthesunset]

Okay I had saved last rb in my drafts for a time when I was at the computer to type up my own thoughts that this brought up.

It would make sense that if Darkseid/Apokolips is "evil" (read: villain), then the opposite being Highfather/New Genesis is "good" (read: hero). That stands to reason for like 90% of super hero comics in DC. But interestingly, it's not a perfect 1:1 for New Gods. Yes Orion stood against Darkseid and swore to take down his own father if it was the last thing he did, but he would do so with his own hands. Not with weapons or armies. The Fourth World publication history became a bit of a mess, but in-universe that seemed to be the original plan.

And what's interesting is even that good vs evil thing isn't quite exactly right. It's more that the evil is oppression, and the opposite of oppression is free will. That is what those on New Genesis represent.

[ID: Two comic panels from New Gods (1971) #1. In the first Highfather and Orion bow to a group of children who had been singing. Highfather says, "First we boy to the young -- they are the carriers of life! They must remain free, Orion! Life flowers in freedom!" Orion replies, "In this cause I live as well."

In the second, the two walk through a darkened corridor. Orion says, "There is danger, then! Life and freedom are threatened--" To which Highfather says, "On a scale never before attempted! Come! We go to the chamber of the Source!" /END]

--

And as OP mentioned, it also wouldn't have been Highfather to fight against Darkseid anyway, because long, long ago Izaya the warrior had already done that. For many years! To the point of tearing apart all the universe around them. He looked at the destruction, the broken life and festering remnants of war, and saw that his actions were no better than Darkseids since in the end it all led to ruin. So he sought to find himself, and he did.

[ID: Two comic panels from New Gods (1971) #7 of Izaya. The first with his face in his hands. He wears gold, red and black armor and says, "We are worse than the old gods! They destroyed themselves!! We destroy everything!! This is Darkseid's way! I am infected by Darkseid!! To save New Genesis -- I must find Izaya!!"

In the second he rips off the shirt of armor and throws his staff. He yells into the sky, "I tear off my armor! I reject this war-staff as a weapon!!! I reject the way of war!!" /END]

--

That was all back in 1971. Since then several others have written Highfather and Orion, and even more have written Darkseid. Now for comparison, let's jump to 2013 and 2014 to see what New 52 gave us, since that seems to be what a lot of newer canon is based off of, and what many fans are familiar with...

If I recall correctly, the New Gods make an appearance first in Wonder woman. You can see even from a cover from this arc that the Highfather described above doesn't really seem like the one they're portraying. This cover would have you believe he is a dictator.

[ID: Cover of Wonder Woman (2011) #22 with the tagline "For the Glory of New Genesis" written in a blocky font with backwards R's. The image is a giant bust of Highfather with Wonder Woman and Orion flying in front. It is colored red and yellow and highly stylized to look soviet in appearance. /END]

--

Then In Superman we see Orion acting kind of like a jerk to be honest. In the past he had acted honorably and wanted to protect innocents. Yes he has violence and destruction running deep within him, but the whole point was that he could be something more. I don't remember a single time where he was vying for "the throne", so I really don't know where that line came from.

[ID: Two panels from Superman (2011) #18 of Orion. The first is after defeating a monster. He says with an angry wrinkled face, "But seriously... You can't even muster a 'thank you'?"

In the second he has a smoother face and thinks "Is this why I'm so angry? Because I'm tired of being treated more like an errand boy than an heir to the throne?" /END]

--

And the last item to point out is from Godhead (my beloathed) where Highfather and all of New Genesis is portrayed as a warring planet that attacked OA (if I remember right, I try not to think of this story as much as possible). Here you can see Highfather is shown as an armored leader of thousands of troops. This to me is the antithesis of what Highfather stands for, and a slap in the face of the character building Jack Kirby did. Was this meant to be before he denounced war? I can only hope so given the armor colors. But it doesn't seem to be the case since this is taking place when Orion is already a full adult.

[ID: A comic panel from Green Lantern/New Gods: Godhead #1. Highfather stands on a balcony far above thousands of troops standing in formation. He wears heavy gold, red and black armor. Narration reads, "Every since -- for time beyond measure -- we have readied for the next battle with Darkseid. We know not when the final confrontation will come... only that it will." /END]

--

So in all of the above you can see how newer readers (if you can call 2014 new), might really think that Highfather is meant to actively fight Darkseid, and that Orion is his warrior son who is next in line for some great throne. And that's really a shame because New Gods was a story about real human emotion and choices, even if it was about gods. Jack Kirby explicitly wanted to make a story for modern audiences where the gods represented the people of today!

Anyway, I've been meaning to express this whole concept of N52 New Gods and why it's such a disservice for a while now, and that last ask/reply gave me the courage to sit down and do it. There's so much more than this that we could go into, so consider this scratching the surface. And like OP of that reply, I too don't really know what tf is going on with New Gods right now, especially if their horribly out of character appearance in Action Comics from just over a year ago is canon. I think once again they're off in limbo and writers don't really know what to do with them. Sadly all too common.

#katetakes #new gods #fourth world #highfather #darkseid #orion #newgodsmeta #wow this post took me literally an hour to put together jeez

[genericpuff]

a shapeshifting time traveler and his apprentice who works as a minimum wage barista get pissed because their perfect speedrun keeps getting ruined by two teenagers with a kill count

they're about to run attempt 9999 and the barista is terrified that his boss is about to end up in some Y2K situation

the time traveler is very old and really does not care for the pop culture references from his apprentice whose strongest skill is creating latte art

they don't even get the bragging rights of being the main characters but still have to do the job of the main characters because the actual main characters are too involved in their love/hate relationship to be any good at saving the world

this is time gate.

---------

OKAY BUT HONESTLY I've been kind of stressing over making this post not because I didn't want to follow through on that poll I hosted, but also just because like... it's original work! And it's original work that I've been doing for over a decade in relative obscurity. So it's a little nerve-wracking to be like "Hey guys! Go read this comic that I started drawing nearly a decade ago! It really shows!" especially when I'm doing it from an alt account (i.e. this one) that people know me for being relatively confident on. It's like being that "one kid" in show & tell with their Pokemon cards all over again 🤣 I kept trying to come up with some kind of post that would "justify" me posting about it all, but nothing felt "good enough" so I finally went back to this draft about Springlock and decided to use that as the icebreaker. It's now or never.

Time Gate is a dark fantasy series I've been working on since about 2007/2008ish. It's existed on the Internet in multiple forms, starting as a Zelda fanfic online in 2009 and then dropping all the Zelda stuff and turning into an original comic series in 2014. Since then its first installment, Reaper, finished in 2021, two hours before the 'untimely' death of Betty White that totally wasn't the fault of my main character who can predict people's deaths. Reaper's completed narration of the beginning of [loop: 9998] clocks in at over 2,000 pages.

Now I'm working on Time Gate: [AFTERBIRTH] which is a direct continuation of Reaper and is drawn in the more vertical webtoon style. Yes, the choice of title is intentional, funnily enough the episode featuring my main character bursting out of a tub of her own blood and bodily fluids only got removed by Webtoons for having "too much boob curve". So I covered it up with more blood and that got Webtoons' seal of approval. Webtoons is... weird.

This series is a love letter to all those "weird kids" who grew up wondering why they got dopamine rushes off of arguments and fights or getting in over their heads trying to grow up too fast. It's a love letter to the people who love hyper-analyzing convoluted and way-too-long narratives with overpowered characters who could only exist within the limitless bounds of the imagination.

But most of all, it's a love letter to the part of me that still adores dumb over-the-top weeb shit.

That being said, this piece of work is not intended to provide comfort, but rather, catharsis. Don't read it looking for any kind of guidance on life or interpersonal relationships. Its story and its characters are only concerned with what comes after - when the lights have gone out and the hourglass has run empty.

This series contains blood/gore and fantasy violence, and depicts adult topics such as post-traumatic stress disorder through a fictional lens. It is not intended for anyone under the age of 18+.

I have a dedicated Time Gate blog, so you might see some reblogs here every now and then as I start to use it more (though I'm currently resting through a hiatus, LORE | REKINDLED came around at the perfect time for me to have something new to work on).

As you may have guessed, with Reaper originally launching in 2014 (when I was literally 18) the comic has... not aged gracefully, at least in my opinion, and could use some reworking, at least the first few volumes (I'm still pretty happy with the stuff that came out around the 2019-2021 mark after I took a nearly 2 year hiatus).

Of course, I can't stop y'all from looking it up and reading it (the original version will still be canon even if it's aged so help yourself) but just know there's a dedicated redraw and rewrite on the way <3

And if it's not your cup of tea, that's fine! It's a completely different story with different goals from Rekindled. The main characters aren't saints and they're in a relationship I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone be in LMAO

That being said, don't be surprised if you hear the subtle heartbeat of Time Gate underneath the floorboards of Rekindled~

#bedtime for me now #this is gonna keep me awake all night #oh god i'm so exposed- #ask me anything #anon ama #anon ask me anything #time gate #time gate comic #original story #original characters #webcomic #i'm totally gonna get bullied for this #/hj

[dollarbin]

Dollar Bin #24: The Doors

Like every other wishing-he-were-cool Southern California white boy born in the mid-to-late 70's, I had a big Doors phase in 1990. In the year leading up to Oliver Stone's ridiculously silly, TV flinging, film I spent 10 rich months in the following fashion:

First, I copied a friend's father's double CD Door's Greatest Hits collection (the one with Jim Morrison's fabulous pecks on the cover). I was discovering music after comic books and I memorized every glorious moment.

Next, I tracked down the band's four easily accessible full albums via another friend's Costco (or was it still called Price Club at that point?) Nice Price 4 Pack and memorized all of that too, even though I found parts of Waiting For The Sun dull and much of LA Woman sorta gross.

Then, I decided that Not To Touch The Earth was actually their best song and that anyone who only knew the band's greatest hits was a poser.

Next, I enjoyed listening to my father's tall tales about how The Doors had once lived on the strand in Manhattan Beach (my hometown) and were often practicing in their garage when my dad passed by. He also claimed that Morrison had worked for him for one single day as a house painter (my father's trade) but that Jim had been too nuts to keep on the payroll. At other points in my dad's joyful imagination Charles Manson and Ginger Baker had also been on past crews; his lies, which were specifically designed to entertain us, led us to mock and roll our eyes at him when he sincerely claimed that one of his past painters, Robbie Rodgers, actually had gone on to be a relatively successful musician. But then dad scored us tickets and we went to see the dude's Reggae/slasher band, War Called Peace, open for Yellowman; it was totally nuts, and Robbie told us that my dad had changed his life.

After that, I learned of the existence of The Soft Parade and swore to myself that I'd never listen to it. My heroes, horrifyingly, had once SOLD OUT!

Next, I watched Apocalypse Now over and over, daydreaming of the day I'd get my own hands on The End's master tapes and undercover even more of Morrison's Oedipal ranting.

(All the while I had no idea what Oedipal actually meant.)

Throughout it all, I feverishly followed Robert Hilburn's updates in the LA Times on the back and forth on set about whether or not Val Kilmore would sing or lip sync in the upcoming film.

Shortly thereafter, I shook my fist in fury when Billy Idol dared to cover LA Woman. The poser!

That drove me to the library, where I got Riders on the Storm, Jim Densmore's Morrison bio. I read it feverishly, taking mental notes on how I too would one day successfully avoid the draft by demonstrating Morrison-level savvy madness.

Midway through Densmore's self-aggrandizing tome, I bought a copy of Wilderness, Morrison's slim and posthumous published poetry collection, and carried it around with me together with my copy of the Tao Te Ching, convinced that they were the two true holy books. Anyone who thought otherwise I recognized as a poser.

All the while, I spent a lot of time thinking about how Ray Manzarek doubled as the band's bass player and pianist all at the same time on one keyboard. I viewed him as Einstein with a chainsaw.

Somewhere along the way, I sought out an ancient tape copy of a disco sounding album the band made after Jim's death and noted that no one in the band had made meaningful music ever since. And so I grew slightly concerned that maybe my heroes were secretly lame.

But I still stood in line for opening night of the film and smugly mocked everyone else in line with me as a poser. Clearly, none of them knew the secret lyric, edited out, after She Gets! on Break on Through...

And I thought the movie was pretty cool!

Then I proceeded to grow sick of the whole thing - the band and everything about them was suddenly far too mainstream for my superior tastes - and I decided anyone who liked The Doors on any level was a poser. Lou Reed and Bob Dylan were all that mattered.

Then a cool older kid played me Peace Frog and I realized I'd missed a whole album (damn Costco!). So I decided The Doors were cool again for about 15 minutes.

Then, 10 months after the whole thing had started, I moved on for good.

But that's not entirely true. Years and year later, I sang my kids to sleep with The Spy and The Crystal Ship; and I can still can almost recite Morrison's poem about some dude burning leaves. Now that I summon it from the internet and read it again I still think it's pretty great:

A man rakes leaves into

a heap in his yard, a pile,

& leans on his rake &

burns them utterly.

The fragrance fills the forest

children pause & heed the

smell, which will become

nostalgia in several years

But now, I have to ask, how does one even go about listening to The Doors with any objectivity 33 years after they became the world's biggest band for a moment and 50 years after Morrison's death? I mean there's a 15 year old hipster in the high school where I teach who still wears a t-shirt with Morrison on it. I don't know if objectivity can be achieved.

But I'm giving it a shot right now as I write this.

My copy of their debut, self-titled, album is an original print supposedly, and the vinyl sure sounds like it's creeping up on its 60th birthday. Crackling thunder, seemingly borrowed from Riders on the Storm, buzzels and pops throughout. But the whole record sounds great that way, like it too was taken from the Ancient Gallery and WALKED ON DOWN THE HALL!

Fair reader, here's what I think: if I try hard and strip back all the nonsense I know about poor Jim and the band, then I'm left with what is elemental music.

Sure there's some silly stuff to be found: Morrison's lyric "specialize in having fun" from Take It As It Comes is, and always has been, embarrassing, along with basically all the lyrics to Light My Fire. And I don't really know that the organ's drunk circus vibe in Alabama Song holds up.

But listen to Manzarek spill every coin in the band's copious wallet on Take It As It Comes; remember just how cool the wandering guitar intro still is on The End, not to mention the slapping, rippling, pick me up 3/4 of the way through that wandering track; appreciate just how unhinged Morrison's screaming holler is on Back Door Man; ride on the perfect Crystal Ship. And for god's sake, just sit back and listen to Light My Fire.

What if we simply thought of The Doors alongside their actual peers from 66-71: Love, Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, The Grateful Dead? What if we slowed down and remembered that the band did everything they did in under 5 years? What if we remembered, at the same time, just how much Stephen Stills still sucks? And what if we set aside for good just how damn magnetic poor Jim was? What if we just listened to The Doors?

I encourage you to give it a shot. Drop the needle on The Doors debut once a season; ride the King's Highway west; catch all the weird scenes in the goldmine. You too will wish The Doors practiced in a garage down your street.

-------------

Update! After posting this, my famous brother sent me this photo of Morrison. He's actually in Manhattan Beach!

I think my father, who, come to think of it, looked a hell of a lot like Morrison at that point, is just outside the frame, striding away after firing his ass. Rest in peace Jim.

#the doors #jim morrison #stephen stills sucks #Youtube

[classpecting-the-hoyoverse]

Asking for Sampo classpect bestie ♥️

One Sampo analysis comin right up bestie! ♥️

Edit: Damn even when writing him henever ceases to make me mad. My draft not saving 4 times...

Sampo Koski: The Sylph of Rage

gonna put in a page break this time, for this is a doozy!

Sylph: The passive creation class

One who creates their aspect for others.

Alternatively, one who heals through their aspect.

Rage

Abstract: Doubt, Confusion, Skepticism, Chaos, Truth, Actual Rage

Literal: Clowns, Cults, Theater

Rage is one of the most... bewildering aspects in Homestuck, and those who identify with it are even more-so.

Sampo is no different: A man of many voices and personas, sending anyone that has the misfortune of running into him into a whirlwind of schemes and swindles.

Rage.

Those bound to the aspect are sources of great confusion and chaos. They're steadfast and stick to what they believe in, near impossible to convince them of otherwise. Though this might label them as stubborn, it's unwise to underestimate them:

Sampo's introduction to the astral express crew was nothing short of baffling. What is a man doing there huddling beneath a pile of snow in the middle of nowhere?

The answer comes rushing in with Gepard running into the Astral Express Crew in his pursuit for the blue haired man. Gerpard accuses them of being Sampo's accomplice and when they try to clarify that they aren't, Sampo disappears. Note that this makes March 7th very angry.

This, apparently, isn't anything new and has gained a reputation for causing trouble. Disappearing at inopportune moments, antics like these are considered as "classic" behavior by Seele.

Now that his chaotic nature is established, next is pinning truth into his character. But how can a man who constantly lies and connives have any bit of truth tied to them?

Let's segway into his class, the Sylph

I know it sounds kinda weird, but bear with me.

Sylphs are mostly known as the healers of Homestuck, creating and providing others with their aspect to aid them in one way or another. But keep in mind that this isn’t always the case.

Sylph of Light Aranea Serket has more obvious examples of healing and providing Light to others. In our first introduction to the character, she offers to heal Terezi of her blindness, stating that she could help "people see things":

How magical.

Aranea can also instill literal Light into people, like what she did with Jake English.

Next we have Kanaya Maryam, our Sylph of Space. When we get to meet her properly, we get to see her in her room. Kanaya's room is covered with garments she created, some for other people.

Obvious Sylph behavior there, but Kanaya's role becomes more... atypical than what one would expect a Sylph to be.

Kanaya's aspect of Space is associated with both emptiness and matte; literal space. Therefore Kanaya heals through creating more space.

During the Horrorstuck phase of the comic, Eridan was planning on joining the side of the antagonist Bec Noir as a desperate attempt to keep livin. He blasts holes into both of them, killing two trolls as some sort of proof to Bec's loyalty. One of those trolls was of course Kanaya, and through what I could label as a unique ascension into her role as a Sylph by reviving as a rainbow drinker was she able to stop Eridan from killing any further.

First, she was able to fill in her otherwise fatal wound before hunting down Eridan and return the favor, increasing the space within his torso:

This may have not have healed anyone, in fact its the opposite, but killing Eridan was for the benefit of the other trolls still alive.

Sylphs are also the archetype of the fairy. Fairies can grant wishes or power to those who ask for it, just like how Kanaya created a wand for Eridan and how Aranea gives long expositions to anyone who comes across her booth, acting out the phrase "Knowledge is Power".

So how does this apply to Mr. Koski?

Remember that the Sylph is a passive class, they don’t take action themselves until someone or something else influences them to do so. And once they are incentivized to act, they act to help others accomplish their goals.

I should also mention that it’s ironic that a person on the path of Nihility, a character that deals in debugging the opponent, would be classified as a healer player.

So what if I told you that Sampo Koski is the true savior of Belobog.

Let’s go back to our protagonists’ first meeting with him: If it weren’t for the convenience of his encounter at the beginning and the subsequent misunderstanding with the Silvermane Gaurds of being his accomplices, the Astral Express Crew wouldn’t have easily been able to find their first lead in their mission through Cocolia.

But before they were about to leave with them, when March 7th was still trying to prove their innocence, the Trailblazer shows the Captain, Gepard, a photo of their planet as proof that they aren't from this planet.

The image stirs up feelings of surprise and awe, the viewers unable to believe that what they're looking at is their home.

This would lead to the first bit of Belobog's lore and what life was like before the big freeze, being retold in legends.

This also raises confusion for the players, you must have wondered why Belobog is in an ice age while the past had recounts of outer-world visitors at least once.

For his freedom, Sampo enables truth and suspicion. Though a trade evokes images of a rogue, there is a explanation that I'll dive into later in another post.

Two big examples that showcase his "roundabout restoration" both happen during the opening and closing acts of the Underworld arc.

While the Trailblazer and March were at Natasha's resting, Dan Heng wakes up. Sampo talks to him first and instructs him to join the fight club, telling him that if he were to become champion he would be able to uncover something about it.

Though, winning doesn't exactly mean that one can get into direct contact with them. Instead, winning buffs Dan Heng's reputation and his likelihood of reaching someone who may have their answer.

This leads them to Wildfire, where the Underworld arc begins. Through Sampo having the Astral Express crew meet Wildfire were they able to save the Underworlders from their crisis and the Crew able to discover more about the planet’s stellaron.

It’s also where Bronya, who was also brought down there by Sampo, not old uncovers the truth of Belobog’s underground residents, but also about herself and her origins rooted down there, both of which were hidden from her by her mother Cocolia. And through that experience does she decide that once she becomes Supreme Guardian she will help her planet for the better.

If Sampo didn’t bring Bronya to the Underworld to witness their hardships, she wouldn’t have the initiative to help them once she returned. We also wouldn’t have had BronSeele

I should also note that Sampo could also have been named after the mythological item of the same name. The Sampo from Finnish mythology was a device forged by a blacksmith named Ilmarinen, its purpose was to bring great wealth and prosperity yet the characters that are involved in its story were consumed by greed and fought for its ownership before losing it in the sea and breaking it.

Next, let's discuss the arc of the Sylph.

Sylphs deal with the struggle of moderating their aspect, sometimes having so much of it that they push it onto others needlessly in the form of meddling. Meddling in other's affairs is a trademark characteristic of Sylphs that can be seen in Kanaya and Aranea: The former being given the name Fussyfangs due to her habit of placing herself between others and act as a mediator in stressful situations and the latter literally messing with the timeline so much she caused it’s destruction just to become important in Homestuck's larger narrative.

The entirety of his character story is just him under many disguises and swindling others left and right, meddling and double-crossing other's while causing chaos and raising suspicion while he’s at it. Sampo was also responsible for one of the most ridiculous bans to ever happen in Belobog in my opinion:

But in an example where his meddling does cause some good happens when Bronya was about to (falsely) apprehend our Crew, Sampo comes in out of nowhere to rescue them. In the process though, he knocks everyone out. His interference saves our protagonists and skews Cocolia’s plans off course.

For saving him from Gepard, he feels like he owes us a rescue back.

For how he knew where to find us, he tells the Trailblazer that after his escape from Gepard, he looked after them and March and Dan Heng afterwards.

In fact, Sampo has a peculiar habit of watching others, especially if who he's watching has no idea.

This moves onto my next and final point: What is Sampo's purpose in the story as a Sylph of Rage?

This is where this post will cross more into theory territory, starting with Sampo's Lightcone.

The card's brief description describes a sniper aiming his crosshairs at Sampo, who seems oblivious to his impending demise as he throws money all around him. Before the sniper can pull the trigger however, his target turns to look at him through the lenses. Almost as if he was waiting for him.

The description mentions how it seems that Sampo can read minds, but I can promise you that he likely couldn't. But what Sampo could do is appear to those he thinks can benefit from his services, attracting them by doing something outrageous. Hence his plead to have his assassin to hear him out.

This brings us to his last cutscene in Belabog: the Trailblazer’s fever dream.

In it, he does say some very… curious things. Although it can be said that this is how the Trailblazer perceives the man, there’s a few things about this scene that make me think otherwise.

The dream plays out like a snippet of a play with Mr. Koski being center stage. He seems to be talking to someone, briefly recounting his feelings on the Astral Express Crew.

This "someone" could be the Aeon Aha, who's design is a chaotic mashup of circus and drama, both of which are associated with the Aspect of Rage.

Who Sampo could be talking to could be Aha, the Aeon of Elation. Despite being on the path of Nihilty, why would he have ties to a different Aeon?

Well, Nihility is only half of what Aha represents. The summary of their beliefs being that the universe is ultimately without meaning, Nihility, and cruel by nature. But Aha does give a reason to live through that pain, and so what it means to live a life to the Elation is to find joy to numb the pain.

Healing wounds, diluting sorrow and eliminating pain through laughter well explains the role of a Sylph of Rage in simple terms. Sampo echoes this statement in the Trailblazer's dream, adding onto how he'd rather be on the sidelines instead of being an active player:

It's been established that Sampo likes to work behind the scenes in order to avoid arrest and that the events in Belabog have left him exposed more than he'd like. He is given the offer to leave and come to Epsilon, which is curiously enough the only place where Aha's followers, the Masked Fools, are mentioned to be in.

He refuses, saying how he doesn't find the place any fun. Perhaps he doesn't find the company of Masked Fools to be anything to be associated with. When taking into consideration his secretive nature and the extravagance of the Masked fools, then it's a fair assumption that he doesn't like them despite being affiliated with the same Aeon.

Afterwards, he starts to say his farewells to the entity. Though this may read like Sampo is just talking to Aha while oblivious to the fact that their conversation is being observed, the whole dream makes itself to be a play; a monologue.

He mentions that he needs to make his curtain call, which is when an actor comes out from backstage to acknowledge the applause of the audience. He faces forward, towards the camera before asking if the viewers enjoyed his performance. He asks if he brought joy, but to any who played this line may just have added more confusion and suspicion to Sampo’s character.

Once the Trailblazer wakes up and you choose to tell March that you dreamt of Sampo, March takes it as a bad omen.

So what purpose could this dream have?

March could be correct in that the Sampo dream could be a signal for events to come. Whether those events are either good or bad, we’ll have to wait and see.

We are going to see Sampo again later down the line for his curtain call, the story on his lightcone is a microcosm of what will happen to the Trailblazer in the future: They will need help, likely in a dire situation, and Sampo will appear out of no where to aid us. His sudden appearance will certainly stir shock and surprise to everyone around him, using that to his advantage to bide precious seconds to clock in his blows.

His dream serves as a reminder that he’s watching us from the shadows, or at least keeping tabs on our progress and waiting for the right time to give the Trailblazer an offer they can’t refuse.

#ask #homestuck #sylph of rage #godtiers #classpect #classpect analysis #rage #rage aspect #sylph #sylph class #Honkai #honkai star rail #hsr #hsr sampo #sampo koski #hsr sampo koski #it got a lil ranty at the end #but I’m just happi that I was able to finish it