Happy Halloween! Have a book:

This is Siren's Song by @kedreeva (Hi! I asked to bind your fic months ago, sorry it took so long XD). It's an incredible Good Omens siren AU, which needs no introduction from me but it gets one anyway. It's one of the most in-character fics I've ever read, tackles a lot of the most resonant themes of the original (love in the context of aromanticism and asexuality, human labels in the context of non-human perspective), and has incredible world-building. Later parts of the fic always make me cry but they're good tears. You'll see. When I first learned that fanbinding was a thing and started looking into how to do it, this was one of the first fics I thought of. It just took me a while to learn the skills I needed before I could do it.

More pics and process talk under the cut!

So the cover up there is black faux leather and momi paper that I bought...about two years ago? And just kept on hand till I was ready to do this project. This is the first time I've worked with it and it was fairly nice, though harder to get a nice crease into than lokta or chiyogami. It felt very fragile when I was handling it but I didn't have any issues with tearing or glue bleed-through like I thought I might. It did bleed some color when I got it damp with the glue, and it took way longer to dry than normal, but once that was done it's been fine. Which is nice because I have a lot left over, so it'll probably be making many future appearances in my binds.

Look! It's rounded! I got a backing setup recently and this is my first time using it. It was Very Hard and I am not very good at it yet. But I think it looks pretty good for a first attempt, and there was really no other way to mitigate the spine swell on this one. I used a thick paper so I've got a thick book. I also tried something new with the case, though it isn't visible. Usually I make the text block and the case separately and then attach them as the last step, but for this one I actually built the case around the text. Like, boards attached to mull/tapes (sandwiched between thinner boards, with grooves cut for them so there are no bulges), then covered with momi, then leather corners and spine, then paste down the endpaper. It's got an oxford hollow, too! The tapes and mull actually wrap around the outside of the boards instead of the inside like I've done before. Endpapers are my favorite feather chiyogami. Combined with the marbled momi they make for a very opulent look, and I had just barely enough to do this. Like, down to the millimeter. I had to trim the edges and then glue the endpapers after to be sure they were right. I'm glad they were, because I didn't have a backup plan. Handmade endbands, colors picked to match the cover. Also, last note, I got the corner bits right for the first time. Measured properly, with no weird pointy bits that come out at funny angles. Very proud.

Title page and bookmark/interior shot. Did you know that some basic fonts in MS Word look different when you use a huge font size? Because I didn't until I made this title page. That's Parchment for the title, and it only gets those swirly bits around the capital letters if you take it to 26pt or higher (I used 72 here). Now I wonder if any of the other fonts have easter eggs in them like that. The ribbon is very fancy, to go along with the rich endpaper/cover combo. I think it's pretty appropriate for a mythological golden age of piracy story, as are the text ornaments:

Chapter header image, chapter end image, and section break image. It was a very image-heavy typeset. I was originally planning to only have a header and a section break, but I couldn't decide whether I liked the ships or the book/shell/feather better, and they both suited the story so well that I just went with both. Again, opulent, but I think it fits. All the images came from rawpixel, all I did was resize them.

There was a small error in the trimming process. Comes of having to calculate so closely the exact amount you can trim off, that you have to trim off so your slightly-too-small endpapers fit. I think something got misaligned when I poked the sewing holes because only the first signature is like this. The rest of the book has a more appropriately-sized margin between the page number and the edge. I got very lucky here, and I know it, and I'm never cutting it this close (lol) again. Next time we just order another sheet of chiyogami.

And that's it! I have one author's copy and one new bind in progress right now (that's taking a while because I'm learning more new stuff for it), and then I have two Christmas gift books to do, so it might be a bit before I have another book to share.

I have thought about Cake saying 'fuck him up' and Finn going 'suck these nuts' every day since I watched those first two episodes

“You knew... All along you knew I had this thing inside of me, and you hid it from all of us! Why? What were you afraid of? That you would have to tear me appart to get you PRECIOUS SAMADHI FIRE?!”

@cowboy-like-moony @medicine-and-molly @kurtcobainsgreencardigan

I have officially listened to 74 chapters of all the young dudes. That’s 19 hours. That’s a looooong time.🥺

Remus just realized he’s super in love with Sirius after spending the summer with his boyfriend. it’s giving “i can see you” 🫢

Fig: rolls a nat 1 on a perception check

Brennan: you don't see anything because the death of your sexy rat was much too jarring.

I really like your idea about creating Arsenios. It's always interesting to see the thought process that goes into creating a character. It's true that there are often stories of artists who've sold their souls to the devil in order to have talent, and you can really do a lot of interesting things with that. It makes you want to find out more about Arsenios and the pacts he's already made.

In general, when I create an OC, I always start with a character trait I'd like him to have before building his story around it. For example, in the case of Alix, who is a couple with Lucifer and Diavolo, I started off with the desire to have an OC with a very assertive and dominant character, ten I thought that no matter how dominant and assertive it might be, a simple human would be no match for demons and angels, so I made it a witch, then I wanted it to be a safety reference for my human OCs, so I made it a demon and Angel hunter.

Little by little, the characters it had planned for grows and it's as it their story was being written on its own, which I always find very enjoyable.

-^^

Ah thank you, I'm glad you're interested in Arsenios! I always thought it was an interesting idea to sell your soul to the devil for talent and I wanted to see how that might work in a setting like the Devildom. I kinda just made up a lot of stuff about how the pacts work and stuff so that it suited my purposes.

The first thing I think of when I'm creating an OC is how they fit into the world that already exists. So I think that's where the whole thing for Arrie came from. In my MC's case, that was already there 'cause the role of MC is built into the game. So when I was creating Ciaran, I was focused a lot more on their personality traits. I really wanted an MC who was as chaotic as the brothers.

So I definitely get where you're coming from deciding first to make your character assertive! And then it just spirals from there, I'm pretty sure that's just always how it goes. Alix sounds incredibly interesting! I love the idea of a witch who is a demon and angel hunter! And yo if they're dating Lucifer and Diavolo at the same time, I would say they need to be pretty assertive lol!

The characters and story always take on a life of their own. That's how it works for me, too. I start out with one little idea and then it just snowballs into something deep and elaborate. It's so fun to fill in all the details. I think it sometimes feels like the story is writing itself because there's a bit of a logical flow to most stories. It just makes sense for certain things to happen the way that they do.

But sometimes it's also like hang on, this makes sense, but I was NOT expecting it. And that's always exciting for me!

okay so i have a question. bc i’ve seen it quite a few times and i’m just genuinely curious now…whenever you guys write remus as a professor, why is he so goddamn rich?😭 like, i’ve seen it in multiple fics now and i just wonder if that is actually accurate and i just have a horrible idea of what professors get paid or do you guys just do it for the plot??

my hannibal playlist is 376 songs help

Homeslice, I'm curious. How is the teenager mercenary story coming along? 👀👀

Ahh. Slow but coming along. Haven’t been writing recently, but it’s gonna be finished eventually! Only got about 800 words down atm ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Playing Spiritfarer was a bad idea. It’s made me realize how much I need an irl hug. I don’t think I’ve touched another human being in months.

Ooh??? What did you get on your ribs, if I can ask?

Hi !! It's a snake and some flowers !! I'll send you a pic later !!

Expertise can't help you here.

Nautilus expedition live streams (+ their commentary) 2020 / 2021 / 2022

Ah—I can relate to AU’s not really having any names. While some of mine do have one, they’re more basic names than anything. Like, for my Dr. Scraptrap AU, that’s exactly what it’s called—though I sort of want different names for all of them.

Anyways—mind sharing some of that angst that you mentioned? I love angst :) As well as anything for Springy? I’m curious.

<Incorrect-fnaf-quotes

incorrect-fnaf-quotes 🤝 universewolfpup

not having names for our aus

OKOKOK SO MOST OF THE ANGST IS WITH SPRINGY AND FINN DKDHDKDH

basically what happens in the au is that in the first part, (omigosh I have to explain everything djekfjd) Springy and Fredbear are married and they adopted Goldie when they were a baby, and so as they get older, Goldie gets sick and has to go to frequent doctor visits and just has to be taken care of and stuff (i still don't have their illness figured out hrng)

and so they're around 10-ish, 11-ish years old at this point in the au, and they end up passing away cause they're just so sick, and it absolutely destroys Springy (and Finn)

and so Springy has chronic depression and anxiety cause he's always been like that, the poor lad, and so when Goldie passes, it absolutely breaks him because he just lost his child, and Fredbear is going the best he can to comfort him while trying to cope himself

Finn on the other hand doesn't know who to turn to, so he just stays quiet on the whole thing while everyone (the adults, not his friends) thinks he's fine (he's not (how would you feel if your best friend died ??))

I still really haven't figured out how Finn copes but it'll come to me eventually (a friend suggested him and Goldie having the same illness, Finn getting to live and Goldie passing away, which absolutely destroys Finn and he starts thinking to himself "it should have been me, I should've been the one to die, not Goldie" essentially feeling so much guilt for something he had no control over, but I'm not quite sure yet) (that route also gives me the excuse to include a bit of Withered Foxy in there since they suggested he loses his arm and leg from the illness) (shoutout to the GOAT peanuts !!!!)

and so Goldie dies, and as the years pass Springy doesn't get better. he's still super distraught over the death of his child, causing him to be more distant from Fredbear and their diner (and their nephews and niece (the gang teehee)) (all four call them Uncle Fredbear and Uncle Springy 🥺🥺)

Finn gets a bit better through the help of his friends, but he ofc still misses Goldie dearly. during this time, the gang are now in their late teens/early 20s, and that's about where part 1 of the au ends !!

the second part gets worse, and that's where we split the au, still following the gang, but also following Springy's perspective.

out of all the parts in my au i think the first part still needs more work, mainly on character interactions and relationships, if that makes sense. part 1 doesn't have quite a whole lot going on compared to part 2 (where the Toys and Funtimes get introduced, as well as Springy's spinoff and whatnot)

Just so you're aware, New Vegas has a hard cap of 10 for the SPECIAL stats. Doesn't matter how much equipment or consumables you have, it can never go above 10. This is unlike Fallout 4 where it has a soft cap of 10 (meaning you can't raise it above being a base 10), but equipment and consumables can raise it as high you'd like.

THAT IS A REALLY GOOD TIP, THANK YOU. There are so many small gameplay differences between FO4 and FNV, dude. I'm still getting used to them despite being 35 hours into this game lmao

I need to find a new poem to obsess over

I can't just be the bury guy