The Ones Who Live - 1x01 - Years

early morning, on the way to Martinaise

I'd say that in the middle of above and below Is limbo.. or the middle! Basically maybe where wallys trying to contact us? Or maybe someone?

LIMBO THAT'S THE BITCH - i couldn't for the life of me recall the correct word, thank you

honestly i think Wally is contacting our world through it, but i doubt he's in it... if the pits / portals / possible entrances to limbo are the source of the black stuff, i have a feeling that Wally might not want to be in there. Between Places are rarely fun to exist inside of, anyway.

I’m not sure if you’ve specifically answered this before, but how long did it take you to outline, research, and prepare the foundational meat of Lionheart since it’s such a sprawling saga with threads for so many characters? Did you have it all mapped out before you started writing? What about shorter pieces like The Climb and the latest, delightful The Death Eater Diaries?

The series outline for Lionheart I wrote on one bleary, rabbit-hole of a day in the summer of 2022 when I was definitely supposed to be doing something else, and after that, each book took me between 3 days and 2 weeks to outline completely. The later books have taken longer because of their length and the number of threads — the series has a way of getting wider as well as longer, and for the last two books, I sometimes got a bit grumbly about how many characters pop up in every novel. As for research, most of that will happen before or during the outlining process; I'll have a copy of the book on-hand to check plot details, but for the most part I try to work without flipping back to the text, to avoid copying beats or stylistic choices unless I have a thematic reason to. I also use HP Lexicon and fanwikis while I'm editing for content, though when I'm drafting I make a real effort not to switch out of the tab for any reason, because it breaks flow. I'm sure I have missed some details despite my references, but c'est la vie; JKR had to do continuity edits in subsequent edition releases for several books, so at least I'm not alone.

For The Climb, I wrote the first chapter in the raw, then went through and blocked out the second two in an outline at the bottom of the document. Very very broad strokes there — TC is different from Lionheart because it's a slice-of-life tone piece, so there's not as much plot to be done. It's a novella conceived for the sole purpose of exploring one particular relationship, so the plot came secondary to the things I wanted to highlight about how that dynamic worked. It's a character-forward piece, to borrow culinary terminology, and outlining for character is a lot easier than outlining for plot. (For me.)

The Death Eater Diaries emerged almost fully-formed from a Tumblr post I made joking about the sort of ludicrously awful decade Narcissa experiences. The hardest part of outlining was nailing down canonical dates. Stuff like how old Andromeda was when she got pregnant, when Bellatrix got married, when the members of the previous generation died, all that's unspecified — but it's also all functionally constrained to a narrow window of time, if you take in where the characters are at certain other parts of the story, so you can't just say anything. It was very fun to write, though. Doing so also stressed how hilariously short the timeline on the Black family collapse actually is. Between 1971 and 1981, they go from a two-branch family with an heir, a spare, and three healthy daughters -> completely extinct in the male line, two of its descendants disinherited, two imprisoned, one missing, presumed dead, and Draco Malfoy's mom.

Wondering if Messmer was just the only one to help/sympathize with Marika on the shattering of the elden ring. His relation to snakes, fire, etc, could just be that he turned himself into a living weapon taking parts of all of the enemies of the Erd Tree he could find. Momma's boy headcanon tbh.

until the DLC is fully out and confirms otherwise, i'll stubbornly cling to the mommy's boy theory fr fr 😭😭

with Fromsoft's track record of portraying motherhood (*stare at Bloodborne*) i simply refuse to believe they made the Mom™ in Marika and won't expand on her further or won't have a kid that is just...insane over her. prayer circle for that theory to be supported in canon because i have ART to DRAW if true !

alright. know what? with Secrets of the Obscure right around the corner and plenty of new Mists-related sky island settings coming with it, I'll just bite the bullet and interest-check a little something I've been turning in my head for a long, long while.

would YOU be interested in a Mists-based GW2 roleplay guild that uses a lore compliant multiverse system to allow canon, canon-adjacent, lore-breaking, and otherwise 'contradictory' muses to coexist in the same setting?

simply put: every writer's cast would be set in their own self-contained universe. as such, everyone could bring whatever muses they want with their own personal headcanons, and no one could dictate what is or isn't canon for anyone else. so long as your muses are GW2-based, you're good to go! bring your Commanders, bring your canon-divergent OCs, bring your canon muses-- and yes, even the ones that are 'supposed' to be dead. who can say what might have happened in a strange world far across the Mists, after all?

neutral hubs and in-character safety guardrails would be in place to keep all muses on a relatively even playing field regardless of their power, history, and prestige, too. play hardball if you like, but it might not end quite the way you'd hope. the main rule would be to maintain good OOC etiquette at all times: no godmodding, no metagaming, no theft, don't blend IC and OOC, and so-on.

if that sounds like something you might have interest in, please interact with this post! and if you've got questions or concerns, I'd love to hear them; feel free to send an ask or a DM, or just reply to this post!

tagged (some while ago) for heads up seven up by @borisyvain! manythanks!

due to The Grunk, I have not been writing very much of late, but here are seven lines (written Some Time Ago) of the still-nebulous early eighteenth century vampire story for you...

By now the fall of the dark curling hair over the strong forehead was familiar to him — the captain was a man just past the prime of his life, and in that early autumn which brought color to his face just as the first bruises come to a ripened apple. So too his tipsy state was a treat to Marcellus, who had become accustomed to taking his own drink without that seasoning. To partake of Rowlandson while he was in liquor — that made another taste of the man entirely, and Marcellus found that he liked that new taste very well. And to see Rowlandson looking up at him with those great dark eyes, the pupils blown wide so as to encompass nearly the full span of the iris — that too Marcellus liked. He drew another draught off of Rowlandson’s wrist, licking the wound clean of spilt blood when he had finished, and held the limp hand for a moment, for even though he had finished with it, it was still very warm in his own. Rowlandson panted his way through a breath — it was terribly warm on Marcellus’s skin, and smelled harshly of brandy and iron. This time, it was Marcellus who flinched, and Rowlandson who grasped for him, with a feeble twitch of drink-numbed fingers.

and I shall tag... @dxppercxdxver, @tgarnsl, @baronetcoins, and @sanguinarysanguinity, if you'd like to join in?

Rise of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Non-Canon) - Madame Drakkon & The Ranger Slayer

In another timeline, the Rise of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was much, much less of a rise.

(Rise' World of the Coinless deets under the cut, i'm having fun)

In another timeline, Rita's attack on Grace Oliver left her severely injured and near death. This threw Tommy into a fit, which forced the shadow out of her body in an incredibly traumatic and painful manner. Desperate, she pleaded with Zordon to help her mother, but the White Light confirmed her fears. Grace was gone.

Unstable and still reeling from Rita being ripped from her body, Tommy would seek out where the shadow was hiding, tracking her down to an abandoned warehouse on the docks. She would witness the partial resurrection of Lord Zedd and barge in, demanding the Dark Spectre bring her mother back. The Spectre agreed, on the condition that the Green Ranger help him recover the other five Power Coins and reunite the Zeo Crystal.

Over the next few months, Tommy would slowly lose more and more of herself as she pursued more power and learned dark magic from a weakened Rita inhabiting the body of Dr. Finster. A final assault against the Rangers would see Jason attempt to combine the spectrum of the team's powers to become a White Ranger, only to be struck down by Tommy. She would claim the coins for herself, corrupting and forcing the coins into her own White Ranger form.

Zedd and Tommy, with their combined powers and now endless source of energy, would then conquer the Earth unopposed. But as more time went on without Zedd's promise fulfilled, the more Tommy began plotting to overthrow the Dark Spectre. She's be encouraged by Rita, now unable to leave Dr. Finster's deteriorating body and kept alive with salvaged parts from the destroyed Command Center.

As the last of Earth's defenders fell, Tommy struck down Zedd with the Black Dragon Saber, laying claim to his seventh Zeo Crystal shard and the planet and taking the name Madame Drakkon.

Years later, tired of her friends being captured or dying and at her wit's end, Kimberly Hart would decide today is the day Drakkon dies. But she would be captured, her mind taken over with a spell Drakkon had been perfecting for some time, and become her right hand with her old Power Coin as the Slayer Ranger.

Kimberly would later break the spell with the help of the Coinless Resistance, who'd been built by the combined efforts of Trini, Richie, Bulk and Skull. She'd then lead the Resistance against Madame Drakkon's regime, taking on the name Ranger Slayer as a symbol of her goal to slay the last Ranger on Earth.

if there's one thing I personally focus on when I draw something, it would be the emotions. I try to convey the exact emotions of a character when I make art, and portray how they'd be feeling at that exact situation, as they say something, and so on...

I try to feel the same feelings they would when I draw an expression, as close as I can get at least, it's what I do over and over. You don't really have to do that ofc, but for me, it's a huge part of the point and it's really fun to do! It's what I believe could give my drawings more life and make them more genuine, even if it's a sketch (in fact, sometimes sketches can be more powerful on that aspect so I used to stick to drawing exclusively those for a very long time). That's how I pour my heart in, and I'm sure a lot of artists would do the same in their own ways when they create their works.

For that same reason, I really like drawing smiles (and characters that can make genuine ones) because that makes me happy. Other feelings are cool, too, but drawing happy art is so soothing, so I draw a lot of smiles!! It's also why I feel the need to understand a character, because you can't exactly feel what they'd be feeling unless you aren't so aware of what they're going through. I wouldn't be entirely right, I'm sure, but I really want to try. It's maybe why I usually stick to drawing a select few characters from a series all the time, because there are some characters I "get" better than others, and feel I can bring out better(and most of the time, luckily, those kinds of characters end up to be my favs, so I can draw then alot ;v;) Then again, I'm seeing them through my own lens of thinking, I'm just putting out what I see in those characters in the end. But it's usually the good things I love! Or something I feel is really intriguing and want to think about, or want to explore on, emphasize? Anyhow, it's the feelings and emotions part I've always been interested about! So I hope I can do that well!

My drawings aren't perfect, but they aren't too bad either, and I've been trying all the way. If they could imbue some sort of feeling for you, that's definitely what I wanted to accomplish! It makes me so excited when I get feedbacks about it being able to make someone "feel" something.. it means what I wanted got across so I'm like "yes"!!

it'd be nice if they will feel genuine one way or another!! I was and is and will be happy to continue to share my works with you all

the "aliens exist" - "no they don't" of it all.......

reading the title of this video dealt me psychic damage, listening to it made me feel shrimp colors

📷: eulyncolettehufkie

(I'm on anon)

"My shining river Rin.. say, I do find your words endearing and all but let me ask you one question, yes? To make sure you are certain about what you feel right now."

Neuvillette looks into your eyes, wondering.

".. what exactly do you like about me so much that it makes you feel confused?"

~ 💐

ahugaouedauoshdaufeodajnelfkajskldjals vi i THOUGHT WE WERE FRIEND S /nm

who, me?? liking you?? well i do like your voice. not. not sure where you heard that, monsieur. uh. i mean. you're a good person and the way you care so much about other but unable to express it properly is endearing sir, but you see i am just not looking for love right now.

Mfw one of my favorite characters in a game either isn't popular and barely exists in the fandom, or everyone hates them.

what was the point of Golem. like its not as though wildbow thought he Did Something and failed. he just created a character and did nothing with him. guess you could argue that theo is Supposed to be a subversion of a chosen one thing and that him being boring and having no personality or opinions is part of his avoidance deal but like a) then why have him accept jack's challenge in the first place and b) i still do not care. motherfucker was raised by abusive nazis and doesn't even have an opinion on that one way or another CMON NOW go girl give us nothing!!!!!

yuo have 4 hoc characters right. ,,,..... what if joker card (probably would be the side characters of side characters)

when i first read this the image of a tactical jester appeared in my mind and im. kinda not liking it

okay but like. this? the joker card in HoC? i saw this ask come in and i keep thinking about it... i hope you don't mind if i ramble

i can't really think of an OC based on the Joker because i already wrote Jack's character to be a wild card, i.e. being chaotic in personality, unpredictable, little to no regard for rules. he fits the role if you think about it

that and i based the characters off the suitmarks first before assigning them what face they got, rather than the alternative. and i know the joker card doesnt have a suitmark but i also dont really wanna draw a jester emblem when the others are so easy lol

then i left it out because i had no idea how to fit in a comedy character into the House of Cards yk? i'm already not funny and i'm not about to add the Joker into the AU and the callsign Joker seems really mean considering there's a callsign that's like 'King'

and i don't know how to write like, a side character well (i struggled writing Price as just a passing figure(i struggle writing in general))

back when House of Cards were in it's first drafts, all the way back when i even considered drawing out a comic for it (Act 1 alone would have taken me half a year to produce), i wanted to put in a background character that would appear just before a catastrophe happens. sort of like an omen

hell, i wanted to put my sona in the background to act as an omen/easter egg/4th wall break or whatever but thought against it since i think it would immediately take away all the seriousness in the scene (and its lowkey cringe lets be fr)

i soon settled to just fics and the idea of adding said background character was tossed aside

i suppose the joker card position remains unfilled? we'll see how things go but i'm curious how a joker character would fit in

a more rowdy and chaotic version of Jack? a funny guy who cracks jokes over comms to alleviate tensions? or maybe just a passing person who disrupts the storyline like a butterfly effect? a random person for any of the existing HoC characters to interact with like a confidant? or maybe a friend for Jack, someone young and fun like him who she can relate to.

maybe it doesn't have to be just the one joker too. maybe it's how Queen views useless soldiers or King referring to FNGs that make fools out of themselves. people in the background with no real value to even be worth mentioning.. not a lot of positive connotations with jokers really,,

i'd like to hear your ideas too anon. ramble with me.