Oath/breaking

Golden Afternoon

Summary: Just two best friends enjoying the sunshine and a good book. (slight Lo’ak/Human Reader)

Prompt #1 for my submission for #𝐂𝐫𝐲𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐞𝐬𝟏𝟒𝐃𝐎𝐋𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

Story Tags: No use of Y/N, Female Reader, Na'vi Language, Na'vi & Human Interactions, Friends, Secret Crush

Na’vi Translation: Iknimaya – (Na’vi for “Stairway to Heaven”) is a treacherous but fundamental rite of passage in which a young Na’vi hunter must select, capture, and successfully bond with one of the ikran who nest in the Hallelujah Mountains

Ikran – also called “Mountain Banshees”, they are large, dragon-like aerial predators often tamed by tribes of Na’vi for thousands of years for traveling long distances, for hunting from the air, or even during times of war

Uniltìranyu – translated to dream-walker in the Na’vi language, it is another term meaning for genetically engineered human/Na’vi-hybrid bodies, designed to serve as a remotely controlled vessel for a human mind

AO3 Link

“Hey, ready to go, Mamas?”

You looked away from your self-appointed art project of redecorating the walls of your private bunk within the human compound and grinned up at the younger son of Jake Sully who was – unfortunately for him – grounded once again for going out with Spider and doing something stupid and reckless. So, with no flying and no access to his best male friend for the next two weeks, that meant you more or less had him all to yourself. Not that you were complaining in the slightest. You had had a crush on him for the last three years since you turned eleven and it didn’t look to be going away any time soon. “Yeah,” you agreed, putting your paintbrush into the dirty cup of water so it wouldn’t solidify. Again. He squinted, stepping into your bedroom and peered closely at the scene you were painting on your metallic wall just for the hell of it. “Am I dressed okay?”

The Na’vi hybrid glanced over your outfit of light blue overall shorts and a white tee shirt and nodded. Then turned his gaze back onto what you had been working on. “You’re getting good,” he complimented and you beamed up at him, your cheeks turning rosy as you muttered back a shy ‘thank you’. You shuffled off your messy bed and located your boots and the socks you wanted to wear with them and slid them on – not in that order, though. “Oh, hey, bring the book.”

You grabbed the old novel that had been republished about some sixty years prior back on Earth and followed him out of your room and to the nearest exit of the compound, grabbing a mask in the airtight antechamber as he put his nitrogen mask back on the proper hook. Once it was secured in place upon your face, he opened the vestibule door and you stepped outside into the beautiful world of Pandora. You were always in awe of the world you had been born on and sometimes wished that you could breathe its air as easily as Lo’ak could. Alas, you were fully human and Norm had told you creating you an Avatar was out of the question until you were at least eighteen years of age. Hormones, he cited, which was bull shit but since you were just a kid, then there wasn’t really anything you could do about it until then. Besides, it was only another three years, seven months, and five days away. But who was counting?

The Na’vi hybrid rolled his golden eyes as he looked back over his shoulder and took in your expected look of awe. He reached down and scooped you up, laughing as you squeaked. Expertly, he moved you to sit on his shoulders while you carefully handled his neural queue so you didn’t accidentally sit on it.

“Careful, Mamas,” he cautioned you, as he did every time. “Sensitive, remember?”

You hummed your agreement, carefully draping the black braid over his shoulder to rest down his lean chest. With you now settled upon his shoulders, he took off, being able to move much faster than he would have if he had let you walk. You were nowhere near as fast as Spider was who was now reaching six feet tall at sixteen years of age so it made sense for Lo’ak to carry you. Plus, without you struggling to keep up, you could take in the scenery a lot better. Just like you liked to do.

Thinking of ages led you to consider upcoming birthdays.

“Hey, Lo,” you inquired, running your fingers idly through his braids as you continued to gaze at Eywa’s beautiful world. He grunted, letting go one of your calves briefly so he could get himself over a log that was surely your height. “Your birthday’s coming up, right? Have you thought about what you wanted? For your birthday?”

He paused and his ears twitched, tickling the insides of your knees as they did so. Then he shrugged, chuckling as you yelped as the movement threatened to topple you. His firm grip on your calves proved he had you steady, though. “I really just want to pass my Iknimaya,” he muttered, voice going flat. “It’s so embarrassing that I got thrown off the cliff. Neteyam did it his first try! Heck, even Dad did it his first try and he was a uniltìranyu at the time!” You shushed your best friend gently and laid your cheek atop his head, rubbing your face soothingly over his braids. He calmed, adding a quiet, “Sorry. It’s just… I’m not perfect like him and I swear Dad just constantly looks at me in disappointment.” He sighed and sniffed, going quiet for a while, just allowing you to continue petting him comfortingly. Then his ears twitched and he paused, asking, “Could you make those chocolate chip cookies again? A whole batch just for me?” You grinned, retorting, “As long as you don’t eat them all in one sitting and complain about a stomach ache later.” He huffed and nuzzled his temple into your knee, replying, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, nag.” “I nag because I care,” you countered. He squeezed your calves in a silent acknowledgement of your words and finally decided to stop next to a pond. Drawing you up and off his shoulders, he let you settle on the lush grass before he flopped onto his back and smiled up at you. Drawing out the ragged book, you settled yourself against his side and opened it to where the bookmark lay. Clearing your throat, you open my mouth and begin to read aloud as you have every day since Lo’ak’s most recent grounding, silently thinking to yourself that Lo’ak enjoyed the main character (despite her being a human female) because she was secretly just as much as an outcast as he felt most days, being “Divergent” and all. “Chapter twenty-one: the door to the Pit closes behind me, and I am alone. I have not walked this tunnel since the day of the Choosing Ceremony…” You continued to read through the chapter in the golden afternoon sunlight and was about to start the next one when Lo’ak suddenly let out a yawn behind you and you realized he was starting to fall asleep. You put the bookmark back into place and turned against Lo’ak’s stomach, leaning against him and just admiring his sleepy face. He mumbled, “I’m awake.” He immediately yawned widely, revealing his sharp canines. “Uh huh,” you teased. “Don’t fall asleep out here. You’ll be thanator chow in no time.” He snorted but pushed himself up and rubbed at his face. “Guess I should get you back,” he commented. “Can we do this again tomorrow?” You smiled and nodded, secretly hoping he was enjoying spending all the time he did with you as you did with him.

𖥸 · ─────── · 𖥸 · ─────── · 𖥸

Originally Posted: 03 February 2024 Word Count: 1,147

@crybabies-heart, @cryingwhilereading, @ikeyniofthetayrangi, @erenjaegerwifee, @bambithewriter, @lloreya

AO3 Link

i am going to finally start posting what I’ve been working on!!!

my girlfriend and I have been world-building together for a homebrew pathfinder campaign that she started running for us and some friends- this is a character i’ve had for 3 years now, but only really started developing her story and whirling her around in my brain at mach speeds in the last couple months or so

i’ll put some lore and a couple other sketches under the cut. i’m also going to try and set up a queue for the other art and sketches i’ve made for the campaign so far, so watch out for that!

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

Have you heard of a whale fall?

Imagine being a creature living on the bottom of the ocean floor- life is hard. It's cold, it's dark, food is scarce. Suddenly, a giant, incomprehensible being floats down from the heavens. You and hundreds, maybe thousands of organisms clamor to the remains of the beast, a sudden beacon of prosperity in this wasteland, desperate to get even a scrap of its of life-giving nutrients. Every creature that partakes will have a piece of that being inside of them forever- fueling them, giving them life, becoming a part of them. Do you think these creatures would worship such a being? Would they consider it a god? Salvation? In the world of Omna, remnants of old gods past have fallen down from the divine realm and settled in the mortal plane. Their remains are what have created the landscapes of this world (mountain ranges, valleys, islands, etc). Mortals who live and dwell upon the remains find themselves changed slowly throughout the generations- changed by the faint fragments of the gods lingering power. --------------------------------------------------------

ok. now for my character Name: Felise Pfeiffer (Fell) Age: 19 Class: Cosmos Oracle Background: Scholar (Arcane) Felise is a cosmos oracle- which means her powers come at the cost of a curse that slowly takes over her body. Instead of something like stars, I wanted her curse to appear as this sort of.... corrupted, glitchy, chaos-y aura. It's very closely tied to her emotions, so when she gets really worked up, the static progressively expands around her. After she was "cursed", if she let her emotions get away from her, she risked hurting herself or other students at her academy. In order to avoid becoming a threat to the other students and faculty, and ultimately getting kicked out of school, she devised a number of strategies to help keep her emotions in check. (mechanically this is her settle emotions/refocus action. I'd like to think she uses the time to focus on slowing down her breathing. She uses her dancing lights cantrip to help- i imagine her spinning the lights around in her hands meditatively, kind of like baoding balls if you know what those are) (also yes, her curse magic manifesting is the equivalent of a panic attack) She's covered up a lot of her body to try and hide as much of it as possible, but her hair is always a dead giveaway. She leaves her fingers exposed since it's easier to channel magic through exposed skin (gloves, unless made of a special magic-conducting material, tend to dampen spells just a bit) - but this means others can see her fingers start to shift into static as she uses her cursed magic. I had a lot of really intense anxiety in junior high/high school/college, so she's become a really neat vessel for me to conceptualize and process those experiences and emotions. But, like, instead of having undiagnozed ADHD and RSD she gets like. cool magical girl powers BIO: Felise was the sole child of local inventor and archeologist, Atticus Pfeiffer. Her father's lifelong devotion was to study and uncover the mysteries of the ancient winged people known as the Featherfolk, who had seemingly vanished some 1000 years before. She grew up in a cottage built on the coast of a mysterious bird-shaped lake, where she and her father would excavate broken murals, walls of hieroglyphs, and other artifacts that hinted at the lives of this forgotten feathered-society. Until just under 10 years ago- when her father mysteriously vanished. From then on, reports of strange attacks began sprouting up all over Aton and other neighboring regions. Attacks fronted by giant, chimera-like bird monsters that would descend from the sky to snatch up unsuspecting victims- carrying them away to some unknown in the sky. Felise did her best to pick up the pieces of her father's research- hoping to find the cause behind the sudden appearance of these monstrous aberrations, the reason for their attacks, and maybe, just maybe, where her father disappeared to all those years ago.

-------------------------------------------------------- you did it!! i give you tasty treat for reading my lore dump! even if you didnt thats ok, you must have at least clicked the read more and scrolled down. you can still have a little treat

an unfinished reference sheet for her dad, atticus

these are my girlfriend @im-ashl sketches - Skraaw, The Carrion King - the BBEG of the campaign, an Evil Bird who is Awful

and finally some sketches of- whos this? the featherfolk princess??

Vil Schoenheit (Huli Jing!reader x lover!Vil)

genre: angst, romance but sad ending, 

note: act of intentional poisoning, also very late because I thought I set up the queue because I was celebrating my brother’s birthday… I’m sorry

summary: People call you the unrivaled beauties and with rumours of engagement in the air, Vil was prepared to devote himself to his beloved. But his friend, Jack warned him that you were not as you seem.

series index

You and Vil were considered works of art in the world of beauty. Many were convinced that you two were sculpted by visionary beings from above as your features and charisma were thought to be beyond human. 

However, while the world was allowed to take in Vil’s beauty in his movies and ads, it was very difficult for those to revel in your beauty as you preferred the company of nature and their inhabitants. But Vil found that charming of you, after meeting you as a consultant for a movie he was involved with. You were cheeky and witty, yet full of wisdom as though you lived through years of experience. You were an enigma to Vil but he grew fond of you, even if some of his friends weren’t. 

For example, his old friend Jack. 

“Vil, you’re in danger! You have to get out of there!” 

But Vil ignored him. He was preparing to devote himself to you, promising to ask you as you slept next to him in his bed. He chuckled amusedly watching you clutch his hands in your sleep. 

But his plans were stopped in its tracks one fateful day. When a stalker snuck in posing as a worker and handing a bottled drink to Vil, he didn’t expect to find himself kneeled over in pain as stabbing pain in his stomach urged him to his knees. He lost his sense of balance and felt his consciousness slipping due to the stinging pain he felt as he was rushed to the hospital. 

He kept fighting to stay awake though. Long enough to hear Jack yelling at someone at the front of his door, and a familiar voice yelling back. 

“Stay out, demon!” 

“Do not test my patience, you mutt." You warned in a way that Vil felt almost worried for his younger friend “I will not lose him.” 

But Jack stood his ground, so you did what you had to do. 

Vil felt a rush of wind all of the sudden and then a loud thud, as though something burly fell to the floor. He then felt a hand on his cheek, which felt unnaturally hot to the touch.

“My love” you whispered, waves of worry swirling deep in your voice. He couldn’t understand why but he felt as though you were looking deep into his very being, with great fear in your eyes. 

“I’ll be fine,” the blond assured with a beautiful smile “The doctors will take a sample test soon and we'll find out what that insane man fed me.” 

But that did not ease your worries at all. 

“That’s not quick enough” you let out a whimper as you became tentative for a while. Then, your expression steeled itself as though you made a decision. 

Vil felt a soft caress of his hair as you gave him a smile, albeit a sad one. Vil couldn’t tell if it was the pain of the poison or something else but he felt a heavy sinking in his stomach, as though warning him of something dreadful. 

“Dear…” he started but you shushed him. 

“You’re gonna be fine” now you’re the one to reassure him. “Just take a rest, my love” 

You placed your lips gently but firmly onto his, just as you always did. It was a kiss where he felt all the love you had pouring into him but it was more soothing than usual. He felt himself feeling lighter and better, as though his body was healing from your touch. The pain was gradually fading and soon he was drifting back to sleep over the calming relief of his dissipated pain. The last thing he heard was the sound of your loving words.

"I love you eternally"

That fateful day truly ruined his future plans. You were gone that day and was not seen again even after Vil was discharged from the hospital. The doctors were relieved to see that any hint of poison in his body was not found, as though it was never there. They did however had to reprimand the young actor as they had to follow protocol even with celebrities. 

“I apologize, Mr. Schoenheit. But, we cannot allow animals in our facility so we had to escort your pet fox out of your room.” 

ADOR U! … nishimura riki ㅤ▷ attention ㅤ"the last thing i want is attention,"

SYNOPSIS. a silly dare led niki to attempt to be your silly boy

GENRE. fluff, crack, some angst

PAIRING. danceteamleader!niki x teammember!fem!reader ft. enhypen, newjeans

WARNINGS. unhinged and maybe its cringe since i explained the moves to the placement of their feet, im sorry-😭, jungwon says niki got no rizz, lowercase intended, tba

WORD COUNT. 1.2k

NOTE. idk where the idea came from but yeah nwjns yk. this is my wack attempt at slowburn (not really) and specifically targeted at my bsf😘🤞 didn't proofread.

Reblogs and feedback are highly appreciated! prev.:ㅤ.master.ㅤnext:.

now playing:ㅤattentionㅤ ılllı ㅤㅤ ㅤ newjeans 0:00 ─●──────── -0:00 ㅤ⇆ㅤ◁◁ ▐ ▌ ▷▷ㅤ ↻

ㅤㅤㅤ ☰ queue

"dare." And that, determined niki's fate to be involved in your business. 

"ask out the next person through the door," jungwon fired, bursting into a fit of laughter at his friend's pained expression. Regret filled the boy as he looked at the door anxiously, awaiting the next person intently.

“do i have to do it right then and there?” the younger boy drawled, sending his two friends beside them into a fit of yes’s, their eyes not leaving sight of the door of the cafeteria for a second. 

A distance away from the doors stood you, fumbling with your sweater. You filmed the previous routine in a more secluded area, not exactly nervous since onlookers were absent. But the next location was the cafeteria, sending chills through your spine.

You walk through the hallways to the cafeteria with anything but confidence. When your friend, minji, said it’d be a small gig alongside academics, you should’ve restrained from her desperate pleas to get you to join their dance club.

This is definitely not what you thought you were signing yourself up for. Dance was something that came naturally to you, the expression of emotions though either soft or rigid beats or none at all, using your body appealed to you, mastering it and turning the art into your forte. Beside your impeccable talent, the massive obstacle was that you were too shy to dance around anyone other than those close.

Your aura changed when it came to the expression, executing the sentiments with each soft yet rigid movement with apt emphasis. A prodigy praised many, but your timid attitude needed to go.

With that minji tiresomely tried to break the hardened shell and to no avail. So her next best solution happened to be this; helping you gain confidence in your skills and meeting the member requirements for her next routine. “i’m a genius!” she had exclaimed enthusiastically, much varied from her current tense stature and furrowed brows.

Danielle, who was also a part of the team had forgotten to learn the choreo with no one else to fill the spot. The others were assigned different songs and no one covered dani’s part, the current situation arose and you were seen to dance alone, by yourself.

"danielle, you were supposed to learn the choreography of hype boy with yn–"

“I thought we were filming attention today and hype boy tomorrow,” the rebuttal ended with confusion and a sigh of frustration from minji.

You were more than expected to carry out the routine alone but the faint of eyes scared the living shit out of you. Shrinking in your shell, you raise your palm to minji aware, “i’ll do it,” you say, with absolutely no grounds of your voice, your words heard as a light whisper.

Minji heard your mumble and her frustration turned into worry, “you don't have to push yourself, we can film tomorrow,” she stated, sympathising with you and your courage. You’d be lying if you said her offer wasn’t tempting.

“the deadlines in a week for the competition, moreover we have to practise the routine for cookie,” You stood contemplating out the doors of the cafeteria, recalling your connotations to minji before you agreed to join the club.

“the last thing i want is attention, minji”

You didn’t want minji’s endeavour to end sourly, and that led you to step up and face your sheepish fears. There came your predicament, and you'd never wanted more than to just crawl in a hole and hide.

Minji gave you a small push to the door with a soft and proud smile. You went through the doorway before the rest, hyein trailing behind and taking the lead ahead of you, adjusting the camera and setting it to the right angle while you merely managed yourself from fainting. The number of eyes surrounding you seemed to multiply tenfold when the music began.

All while the curious trio peered at you from a distance, rowdy and loud, shouts, “it’s her,” from their table. One jet haired boy face planting, dropping his head to the table with a thump. They began chanting his name, while the supposed main character lifted his head, flushed with a shade of red painted over his cheeks and ears. 

“they seem busy, can’t i ask her out later,” he winces, creasing his forehead. Sunoo shook his head frivolously, urging niki out of his seat. And off he went sprinting over to the spot, avoiding the camera, observing you warming up. 

He smiled at you with a nod, whispering a few words of notice to minji while he responded enthusiastically making it appear to be something of the positive sort since minji fervently nodded with a thumbs up. 

The music boomed overhead, the adrenaline coursing through your veins, like a jolt of electricity almost. You played with your hair, fixing it and peering at minji with desperate orbs, solely for her to grin at you, shouting words of encouragement.

You started with the pre chorus, meeting the minimum required length for the short video feature and competition. You sprawled your arms to the front, forming them in a circle and over your head on both sides, skipping to the right twice on your toes. 

You began feeling rather stiff from the amount of people judging you. It would've been much better to have someone beside you also doing the routine, sharing the burden of the mass of onlookers. 

Minji's smile caught the corner of your eye while you barely fared to look at the camera. You prepared yourself for the chorus that followed and entered the boy with a lunge, dancing to former danielle’s part alongside you. You swiped the invisible dirt off your shoulder and he copied along. 

He seemed to know the choreo beforehand, his movements outshining your own. The two garnered more attention from passerbyers. He shuffled to the left and hit all the point moves danielle would've covered had she remembered to learn the dance. At the end of the chorus, the crowd was going feral, yells singing to the song while the others cheered.

The verse continued and niki motioned to the camera with a half held hand heart, waiting for you to complete it. You shy away, minji exclaiming from beside you out of the frame, ushering you to complete it. You shook your head with a laugh, completing his silly heart with silly sentiments.

“and cut!” shouted hyein, a huge smile plastered on her front, the rest cheering for you both. You turn to niki with a grin out of both thankfulness and timidness, “thank you,” he waved the gesture off. 

The crowd began to disperse, sunoo and jungwon looking at their friend through the throngs of people with a death glare. Niki’s heart was pounding as you turned away to look at your friends.

“can i ask you a question?” he piped up, his bottom lip disappearing between his teeth out of nerves. The calm atmosphere returned except for niki’s anxiousness. It quieted down, and you hummed with interest, meeting his gaze, “yes,”

“will you go out with me?”

The last fill from August worked its way through the queue this evening, so it's time for another one of these things.

We got 57 fantastic fills this month, created by 26 brilliant participants. Whilst I don't tend to comment on the ratings split, it is something I have a breakdown of each month, so I can safely say the 34 explicit rated fics are way, way more than any other month - thank you to all the wonderful kinkalot cross-posters, and to the mods that permit it!

In terms of format, we have 45 fics and 7 artworks. We also got one gif, a moodboard, a podfic, and then two glorious overachievers who used multiple formats for a fill (one gif + playlist, the other fic + moodboard).

How about ships? Well, Merlin/Arthur was predictably top again with 33, and then a pretty whopping gap until we get to gen in second with five fills. After that, we're looking at Merlin/Gwaine and Gwen/Morgana with three each, followed by Gwaine/Percival, Gwen/Lancelot and Merlin/Arthur/Gwen at two each. Finally, there's a fun handful of one-off ships (once again, kinkalot gets much of the credit here!) - Merlin/Knights, Arthur/Gwen, Gwen/Vivian, Elena/Morgana/Vivian, Arthur/Anonymous, Merlin/Arthur/Gwaine and Merlin/Arthur/Lancelot.

And now, the bit you're all here for... the actual fills! As always, they're sorted by ship and then by rating, and we encourage you to pay attention to any warnings the creators have given, including occasions when they've said they're choosing not to warn for anything (there's more of these than usual, so I figure it's worth a reminder)!

So hit that continue reading button, and if you love something, let the creator know!

No ships/gen

Bitter Nectar of Productivity by salted_popcorn Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Coffee & Tea, Customer Service Agents, Night shifts, Fluff and Humour, Modern Era Summary: Arthur is fed up with the night shift at his new workplace, Merlin is disgusted with the way Arthur is making his own tea, and neither of them looks forward to answering the call of Customer Service.

Morgana ~ Lost Souls At Crossroads by willowsmarika Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: indie music, folk music Summary: Morgana's road trip playlist: Lost Souls At Crossroads

It's a kindness, highness by king ani Rating: General audiences Warnings: Major character death Major tags: hurt/comfort, grieving Summary: Uther dies of a heart attack; Arthur tries (and fails) to cope in the immediate aftermath. Luckily, Merlin is there to help.

Locked in a cage by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: Teen Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Canon Compliant, Missing Scene, POV Freya (Merlin), Angst, Hurt No Comfort Summary: Freya had trusted them. She had hoped for the warmth of their embrace, and instead she had only the emptiness of hunger.

My Lady by meljayne Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply, Restraints Major tags: Art, Alternative Universe - Regency, bondage, Sub Morgana, Summary: A young lady finds herself restrained and blindfolded on her bed.

Gwen/Vivian

Brief Candle by Polomonkey Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: First time, kink discovery, wax play, bratting Summary: Vivian's being a brat. Gwen accidentally stumbles on a way to shut her up.

Gwen/Morgana

Fever-Dream Tangerine Sweat by lavender_spice Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Porn Without Plot, Light Dom/Sub, Goth/Prep Summary: There are a lot of pretty girls on campus, but Gwen is definitely the most beautiful one of them all. But really, that's not the only reason Morgana wants her.

Touch by Meljayne Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Boarding School, Lesbian Sex, Uniform kink, Smut, Art Summary: Morgana and Gwen have an intimate night in their final year of boarding school.

you turn me right round by Saurus Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: modern era, 69, face sitting, bisexual gwen, first date Summary: Gwen goes on her first date with Morgana and she simply cannot resist the woman.

Arthur/Gwen

invisible string by kairennart Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: digital art, soulmates Summary:

Gwen/Lancelot

We could make a blanket forts by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Male-Female Friendship, Protective Gwen (Merlin), Protective Merlin (Merlin), Post-Episode: s01e05 Lancelot (Merlin), Episode: s03e04 Gwaine (Merlin) Summary: Gwen must deal with the awareness of Lancelot's departure and Merlin is there for her. When it's up to Merlin to awere Gwaine's departure, Gwen is there for him.

the lovers by kairennart Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: fanart, digital art, tarot card Summary:

Merlin/Knights

The Lesser Evil by SauraUnderscore Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Abuse of Power; Morally grey Arthur and Knights; Alternative Meeting; Could be seen as Dub-Con; Gangbang; Please check other tags Summary: After the skirmish in Ealdor, Arthur and his knights get followed by a young peasant.

Elena/Morgana/Vivian

Princess Initiation by lavender_spice Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Porn Without Plot, Threesome - F/F/F Summary: This has got to be the strangest Princess initiation protocol, in Elena's humble opinion.

Merlin/Arthur/Gwaine

Charlatans and Ruffians art by kairennart Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: fanart, digital art Summary:

Merlin/Arthur/Lancelot

the masquerade has come to define the night by SlantedKnitting Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: threesome, double penetration, trans Merlin, lace Summary: It’s masquerade night at the sex club, and Merlin and Arthur are looking for a third.

Merlin/Arthur/Gwen

Wrap by SauraUnderscore Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Threesome; Polyamory; Fuck or die curse; Sex with an unconscious person (Merlin); Could be seen as slight Dub-Con; Consent is presupposed; Consent is given at the end; Summary: Gwen finds Merlin in the royal bed, and nothing works to wake him up. When Arthur helps her get rid of his wet clothes, the only part of Merlin that reacts makes them think that maybe it’s that kind of a curse.

Dreams Upon the Dunes by s0mmerspr0ssen Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, Rape/non-con Major tags: Apocalypse AU, Modern AU, Morally Grey Arthur, Awesome Gwen, Abused Merlin Summary: On the day Arthur was born, it rained. It would be the last time.

Arthur/Anonymous

Sensory Deprivation by SauraUnderscore Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Sensory Deprivation; Blindfolds; Anonymous Sex; Oral Sex; Mentions of Multiple Parings; Summary: It's Gwaine's birthday and they celebrate it in a very especial restaurant.

Gwaine/Percival

Five times Percival was surprised by Gwaine, and one time Gwaine was the one surprised by Laevateinn Rating: Teen Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Remix, 5+1 times, Canon divergent, Gwaine pov Summary: People knew Gwaine as the fun knight. But like everyone, he was much more complex. Five occurrences where Gwaine wasn't what people expected him to be... and one where he was not the only surprising person.

A Bittersweet Taste by Laevateinn Rating: Mature Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Sexy Chocolates, Modern AU, College AU, Humour Summary: It was all Morgana's fault

Merlin/Gwaine

Surprise me by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Merlin, Gwaine Flirts, Modern Era, No Magic Summary: Merlin shouldn't have listened to Arthur. Now he found himself spending the evening in the hospital, again. At least the doctor was nice

Emrys' Island by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Angst with a Happy Ending, POV Gwaine (Merlin), Hurt Gwaine (Merlin), Merman Merlin Summary: Gwaine wanted to be free. He'd do anything to achieve that

Stay away from him by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: Teen Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: BAMF Merlin, Protective Merlin, Gwaine being Gwaine, Gwaine knows about Merlin's magic, Captivity Summary: Gwaine is captured by bandits. Merlin doesn't react well.

Merlin/Arthur

No Flirting with Customers (Unless They’re Single) by sleepygecko Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Flirting, Jeweler Arthur Summary: After Gwaine split up a third engaged couple by flirting with one or both of the partners, Arthur created the number one rule on the ground: no flirting with customers. On this particular day, however, Arthur couldn’t help but break his own rule.

castle's crumbling down by kairennart Rating: General audiences Warnings: Major character death Major tags: digital art, the diamond of the day but worse Summary:

A Conversation With The Sun God by willowsmarika Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: merthur, mythology, Sun God(s) Summary: N/A

"recreate a famous artwork" by Mischel Rating: General audiences Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: merthur, medieval art, digital art Summary:

So Close to Reaching that Famous Happy End by Robin_Fai Rating: General audiences Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: idiots to lovers, costume parties & masquerades, AU modern setting, co-workers Summary: "You are cordially invited to a fancy dress masquerade ball!! Attendance is mandatory. See you there!!" Where Arthur meets a Mystery Man at a masquerade ball and tries to find him; however, he's much closer than Arthur would think.

watch all my bridges burn by queerofthedagger Rating: Teen Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: The Diamond of The Day, Alternate Ending, Angst, Unhappy Ending Summary: His chest still feels warm, devoid of the sharp, hungry burn that has been eating through him for the last two days, almost as greedily as the sting of betrayal had. It’s good now, though, better. He wonders how Merlin had done it, in the end, how many lives could be saved if he possesses the power to pull Arthur back from the brink of certain death.

A Danger Forseen Is Half Avoided by Pearl09 Rating: Teen Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Pre-Relationship, Soulmates, Tournaments, Blood and Injury, Hurt/Comfort Summary: There's a tournament around the corner in Camelot, and Arthur isn't as ready for it as he would have hoped. He's distracted by the reoccurring feeling that his soulmate is in danger.

Engage your enemy by HadrianPeverellBlack Rating: Teen Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Open Ending, Alternate Universe - Spies and Secret Agents, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Female Merlin Summary: Merlin and Arthur have been together for a couple of months. Until they discover they are members of two opposing spy associations

all the city lights on the water by queerofthedagger Rating: Teen Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: College/University, Truth or Dare, Mutual Pining, Love Confessions, Fluff Summary: Five increasingly absurd dares, and one time they finally speak the truth. Or: emotionally repressed idiots will find overly convoluted ways to be earnest with each other; just give them some time to figure it out.

Wish I Stayed by mooonwaffle Rating: Mature Warnings: depression Major tags: making up, post-break up, emotionally constipated Merlin, happy ending Summary: Merlin has been living a nightmare since he left his boyfriend to move to New York. After seven years, he decides to return to England. He wanted to avoid his ex, Arthur, at all costs. However, fate decides to reunite them once again.

me for me, you for you by Sage_Owl Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Knotting, Sex Magic, Alpha/Beta/Omega, Omega Arthur Pendragon, Secrets Summary: Arthur Pendragon is the Golden Alpha Prince of Camelot, and he's been keeping a deadly secret since he was sixteen.

the stranger the better by jopzer Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Druid!Merlin, King!Arthur Summary:

Te Amans by SauraUnderscore Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Age Difference; Explicit Sex; Falling in Love; Fluff and Angst Summary: Everybody knows that Merlin is Arthur’s concubine. He should be warming his bed and not sitting at the Council table, as if he knew anything at all worth speaking of before his betters. Merlin feels the sneers like venom in his blood, and he doesn���t know if that is worse than the pity in the eyes of the knights that know him better. When Arthur does nothing, the fury mixes with the magic in his veins, creating a terrible combination for a young heart in love.

The Unspeakable Acts of Viscount Arthur Pendragon and his Valet, Mr Merlin Emrys by @ravenwilds Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Victorian AU, Smut with feelings but mostly smut Summary: In which Lord Pendragon is a terrible tease and then reaps the consequences.

Are You a Fan? by meljayne Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Public Sex, Band AU, Moder AU, No Magic, Smut, Summary: A girl hits on Arthur at one of Merlin's shows. He's a bit too enamoured to care. A band AU with a smutty conclusion.

with our lips we commit the greatest sins of all by Saurus Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: first time, implied sex, modern au, blowjob, handjob Summary: It's PWP. It's a short sweet, dialogue only smut fic. I cannot give you any more than that.

Sweet Cream by Meljwrites Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Frottage, Dom/Sub undertones, Public Sex, Food Kink, Sub Arthur Pendragon Summary: While on tour in Amsterdam, Merlin leads his boyfriend around the streets at night and makes an interesting discovery at a food stall. Or; Merlin buys a pastry and Arthur looses his mind.

A Confession Gone Wrong (Gone Right) by Sage_Owl Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Sex Pollen, Canon Era, Court Sorcerer Merlin, confessions, getting together Summary: Arthur's got it all figured out.

i'm something else when i see you by Saurus Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Voyeurism, modern au, office sex, masturbation Summary: waine wants a word with his boss, but Arthur is otherwise occupied. Gwaine can't help but stay and watch.

Baby Be Good by ravenwilds Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Phone sex, Dirty talk, Mild Dom/sub, lingerie, daddy kink Summary: Arthur's away on a business trip. Merlin's looking after his place while he's gone. They have dirty, kinky sex on the phone.

Catch Me (I'm Falling) by s0mmerspr0ssen Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dom Merlin (Merlin), Sub Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), BDSM Summary: With both Merlin and Arthur overwhelmed by their fateful meeting, emotions are running high, just as things at Pendragon Investment keep escalating, too. Cara Nimueh is not backing down and seems determined to ruin the firm, and it looks like it might fall to Merlin to fix both the mess at work as well as this thing between him and Arthur. (Part 4 of Avalon)

This Remarkable Season by s0mmerspr0ssen Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alternate Universe - Bridgerton (TV) Fusion, Alternate Universe - Regency, Historical Inaccuracy, Everyone is Bisexual, Romance Summary: Arthur Pendragon, Crown Prince of Camelot, must marry. King Uther expects him to choose a high-ranking noble, preferably a lady, from amongst the Camelot ton. But as fate would have it, the Prince finds himself drawn to Mr Merlin Emrys, an obscure gentleman from the countryside. Merlin, impoverished and desperate to save his family from complete ruin, must marry, too. Feelings are secondary, for the match must be an advantageous one. Soon, both Arthur and Merlin are caught between the pressure of expectations and what their hearts truly desire…

It Hurts So Good by TrebleMaker07 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Spanking, Established Relationship, Alternate Univers - Modern Setting, POV Arthur Pendragon Summary: Arthur finds out Merlin ate all of the biscuits, and must be punished.

Not So Holy Sanctuary by elirwen Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Porn, Dom/sub, Bondage, Dom!Merlin, sub!Arthur Summary: Merlin and Arthur are "taking care" of a bookshop of a certain angelic friend.

Rescue Me by s0mmerspr0ssen Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BDSM, Dom Merlin, Sub Arthur, Protective Merlin Summary: Merlin takes a liking to a sub on public display, but quickly realises something is wrong.

Do You See What I See by TrebleMaker07 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Mirror Sex, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Established Relationship, Spit as Lube, Horny Merlin Summary: After a long day at work, Arthur comes home to a surprise.

Danced Into My Heart by TrebleMaker07 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Uniform Kink, Soft Arthur Pendragon, Established Relationship, Blow Jobs Summary: Merlin can't wait to tell Arthur some good news. The response is...unexpected.

Into the Mirror Verse by elirwen Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Porn, Bondage, Soul Bond, Ritual Sex, Bottom Arthur Summary: “I told you it was a terrible idea, but no, you had to touch the creepy dark crack in the air. And now we’re locking unconscious mirror universe versions of ourselves into a damn utility closet.” Merlin hisses under his breath as he piles wards and locking spells over the door. “There’s no time for your grumbling,” Arthur says. “We need to get out of here fast. Before someone starts looking for those two.”

I'd Get on My Knees for You by TrebleMaker07 Rating: Explicit Warnings: Choose not to use archive warnings Major tags: Role Reversal, Alternate Universe - Canon Summary: Arthur would do anything for Merlin.

A Taste to Rimember by chaosgenes Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Dragon Rider Merlin (Merlin), Dragonoid/Humanoid Arthur Pendragon (Merlin), Rimming, Top Arthur Pendragon/Bottom Merlin (Merlin) Summary: Merlin may be the lord of taming dragons, but Arthur is the one who tames HIM.

mermaid by radioactivesunflower Rating: Explicit Warnings: Rape/non-con Major tags: dark merlin, extremely dubious consent, kidnapping, modern with magic, god merlin Summary: emrys is older than time itself and get a gift of once a year. the ability to come onto land to hunt for the heart of mortals. he meets his mark for the night and feel's a pull when his target turns out to be the son of uther pendragon that man who has been hunting down this kind for years. it will be a great pleasure to steal away the son of the man he hates. this was the best night he's had in a long time

Thursty for Uniforms by chaosgenes Rating: Explicit Warnings: No archive warnings apply Major tags: Alternate Universe - Law Enforcement, Uniform Kink, Police Uniforms, Clothed Sex, Top Merlin/Bottom Arthur Pendragon Summary: It was two years ago when Arthur met Merlin at a Halloween party. Merlin, in a black and white striped prisoner costume, had taken one look at his uniform and badge and drunkenly threw himself on him. “Why officer,” Merlin drawled sweetly, breath smelling of alcohol as he draped his arms heavily over Arthur’s shoulders, “whoo have you come to arrest?” OR How hacker Merlin gets into Officer Pendragon's pants/good side.

Cyntefin by s0mmerspr0ssen Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence Major tags: Alternate Universe - Canon, Druid Leader Merlin, Merlin is Emrys, King Arthur Pendragon, Prophecy Summary: King Arthur seeks out the druids to make peace, but is soon haunted by strange dreams of a masked man, set on killing him.

Now this is something I started working on for a while. So here are my fan made partners (and main antagoist) of my conceptual paper mario game:

Paper mario and the craftsmans curse!

Name: Lewis "hoodie"

Male, he/him

Species: toad (cap has no spots, it's a birth defect)

Personality: can be a bit self-conscious due to being bullied a lot, paranoid, smart, dorky, gets annoyed easily

Backstory: born with no spots on his cap, he was always told that they would come in eventually. Well, they never did, and pretty much every toad around made fun of him for it. Around a year before the game started, he met mario, and they became good friends and have been regularly hanging out since.

Name: Bloom "bloombaria" (hates her real name)

Female, she/ her

Species: Goomba (chipped tooth was a result of an accident in her childhood)

Personality: shy, wears crown since it boosts her confidence, sweet and a bit of a people pleaser, loves sparkly things,

Backstory: she has looked up to the princesses since she was a goombaling, hence why wearing a crown helps her with her confidence. Broke her tooth when she fell forward and hit her tooth against a rock. Like hoodie, she was made fun of for this as well but had an easier time hiding it.

Name: sherbert

Male, he/him

Species: Shy guy, has very strong ice powers

Personality: talkative, energetic, socially unaware, secretly very lonely, touch starved, quick-witted

Backstory: Because of his lack of understanding of social queues, he was ostrisied by the other shy guys in the town he grew up in, he set out to find the friendship he desired. Most places he went to tended to give him the could shoulder due to his tendency to freeze things over. This led to him hopping towns frequently.

Name: you decide (like the yoshi kid in tyd)

Gender also chosen by player

Species: chain-chomp, incredibly small for its species

Personality: goofy little dog

Backstory: bred by a group of bowser's minions to br a serving chain chomp, they failed a "quality check," meaning they were not fit to join the ranks of bowser's army, led to them being abandoned not far from the base they were born in.

Name: Shrapnell "nell"

Male, he/they

Species: Bob omb (nothing of note just yet)

Personality: severe anger issues, laid back, loves science, inventions, and general technology, can get aggressive

Backstory: Whenever his anger got out of control, he exploded. Thankfully, Bob omb scientists invented a small fuse attachment that prevents the individual from exploding due to emotions alone. This led to them becoming very invested in modern technology and inventions and the ways that it can help people.

Name: Lavender

Female, she/her

Species: poison blooper, she's lavender sented

Personality: calm, quiet, brooding, isolated, caring, gives good advice

Backstory: As the lone poison blooper in a civilisation of bloopers, she naturally drew to isolation studying the making of potions and antidotes. Thus, she became a well-known alchemist across the mushroom kingdom and the best individual to go to if needing a poison antidote

And now for our villain

Name: The craftsman, "crafty luigi"

Male, he/him

Species: human, possed, and turned into a wooden doll

Personality: cruel, vengeful, sadistic, aims yo turn the entire mushroom kingdom into wood and fabric.

Backstory: a toad living in an ancient city loved to create art using wood and fabric, but the other toads hated him. When he gave the Prinsess a wooden doll as a birthday present, the king was so offended that the craftsman was locked into a dungeon until he died. That's when he came back as a ghost to torment the people who tormented him. He was cursed to be trapped into a needle for all eternity. Unfortunately, our favourite green man cut himself on this needle, allowing him to be possed and the craftsman to come back for one last chance of vengeance.

Video Games I played in 2023 (and maybe even enjoyed)

A completely unorganized list of games I played this year that I wanted to talk about because they were great.

1. Ultrakill - My biggest time sink of the year. Found out about this game about a year ago due to FUNKe talking about it a lot. Was hooked from the first level, and after beating it I replayed several levels until I mastered the mechanics, then looked for all the secret levels, then P-ranked all of Act 1 and then the P-1 boss fight several times over (Act 2 is hard to P-rank). However enjoyment did kinda dry up for a bit after I actually got good at the game but then Hakita dropped the first part of act 3 a while ago and it started all over again. Here's hoping the last 2 chapters stick the landing and keep scratching that itch (which they probably will let's be honest)

2. Metal Gear Solid series - Played all of the games aside from 4 which couldn't run on my PC (had to watch a long play for it) and Peace Walker just cause I got distracted by other stuff. The first game didn't really resonate with me on a deeper level but its storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and 4th wall breaks are amazing, especially for the time. 2 and 3 hit far harder and are some of the best games I've ever played. I could talk for hours about every facet of 2's creativity with its meta narrative and constant questioning of reality but then I wouldn't have time to talk about other games here. Just know that it is now my favorite game ever made. 3, while not quite as crazy and predictive with its plot, is just a really good story about a small group of characters that is incredibly written and told. I also really enjoyed 5's gameplay and a lot of the more subtle storytelling, and while 4 has an utterly incomprehensible plot with tons of holes, the character writing, voice acting, and graphics are phenomenal. I want whatever Kojima smokes when he comes up with these.

3. Red Dead Online - I played this with my brother and encountered a modder on my first day. Think that really informed my take on this game because he gave me a shit ton of money and I was able to use it to get a bounty license which took up most of my time in that game. We'd just queue up a bounty mission and play some Oingo Boingo and Talking Heads while we ride, do the bounty, then watch random videos while we waited till the last minute to drop off the bounty bc of how Rockstar decided to set up the system. We also met a couple people online and overall just had a great experience bein a rootin tootin shootin cowboy. Also my guy looks doofy as fuck.

4. The Artful Escape - Impulse bought this game after I watched a vid by Jexonite where he played every game published by Annapurna because the premise seemed fun and I thought it looked cool. Turns out the game does look cool, incredible even. But the art style is kind of all this game has going for it, aside from some solid voice actors (Jason Schwartzman and Lena Headey were cool and Mark Strong was completely unrecognizable). Gameplay is basically just a walking sim that occasionally tells you to press buttons to play notes on your guitar and the story took a pretty generic turn. Has absolutely zero replay value but I did enjoy playing it.

5. BPM - The first roguelike I've ever gotten into, probably because it has a guns in it. I got all the way up to the last level then died to a low level enemy and have not gotten that far in the game since. The OST goes insanely hard though and is part of the reason why I keep coming back to it. It's also insanely addicting so be warned.

6. Hotline Miami - Probably holds the record for the game that pissed me off the most this year. An insanely fun and fast paced shooter game where your reaction timing is everything and that every nerd with a YouTube channel has already picked apart. Even though some of the AI is complete jank it is so satisfying clearing rooms in this game. The art style is also quite good and the soundtrack introduced me to a ton of new artists. Also is a strong case for environmental storytelling needing to be more prevalent in games. I can figure out what's going on I'm a smart guy.

7. Katana Zero - A very Hotline Miami inspired game aka a game with a pixelated art style and a synthwave soundtrack where the goal is to clear rooms and you die in one hit. I feel a bit more mixed about this game compared to Hotline honestly. I really liked the time slowing mechanic, the mobility, and the way you can reflect bullets with your sword. I also like how the enemy AI actually stays consistent through each run of the level, whereas with Hotline there were some enemies who could move erratically and fuck everything up even if you plan a solid route. However, I think because of how the story was told I don't think it had as much of an impact on me. I can't really remember a lot of the important details but I can remember that a lot of plot threads were left unresolved. Also, while I do like the combat a lot, I feel like it's missing the sandbox approach that Hotline had. Honestly not a game I would necessarily come back to, but if the dev made a sequel I would buy it (especially if we get to play as Dragon more he was cool as fuck). I'll also give the game props for actually having an OST unlike Hotline.

8. Undertale - What could I say about this game that hasn't already been said by the entire population of South Dakota? It is very fun and I am glad I finally took the plunge and played it. Now I just have to finish the other routes at some point lol

9. Lethal Company - I played this game with multiple friend groups and it was incredibly fun but also terrifying. If you haven't played yet, the best advice I can give is to just go in completely blind and figure shit out on your own. Also, try to actually go into the buildings instead of staying in the ship like a goo goo ga ga dingus.

Other stuff I played worth mentioning (Smaller stuff or games I revisited/haven't finished a full playthrough of):

1. A Hat in Time DLC - Played the original game late last year and loved it, but didn't get the DLC so I didn't play it for some time. Played it this year and had a blast. The Nyakuza Metro level is so detailed, you can really tell the devs poured their heart and soul into making this game look as great as it does. Made me rediscover my love for the base game.

2. Titanfall 2 - Not my first time playing it but replayed the single player on PC for the first time (played on Xbox before) and realized the characters and level design were way better than I remembered. I then started pestering everyone I knew to play it and the ones who did seem to like it too. I also popped off multiple times in the multiplayer so it was nice to have a multiplayer game that I'm good at.

3. The Magic Circle - Played for a few hours and then stopped, but the premise is quite fun and I am eager to revisit at some point in the future.

4. The Looker - This one was just funny idrk what else to say. (I have not played The Witness)

Hello! I've been doing some long, hard thinking about my current commission offerings.

TL;DR:

I am doing away with my "standard" menu (headshot/halfbody/fullbody/etc.) in favor of more experimental work.

Effective June 1, my commissions will close completely, including the waitlist.

If you want any of my current offerings, please let me know before then. You will be added to a final waitlist queue, with payment only required once I get to you.

If you're currently on my waitlist, or are interested in what's next, please see the bottom of this post. Once the final orders are complete, I will focus on relaunching.

Below is a more elaborate explainer of why I'm doing this, and what I'll be doing next.

Introduction

Essentially, commissions have worn on me more and more as time goes on (which may be tangible if you ordered one recently and it took months). Part of me wondered if I was burned out on art in general, or it was just becoming less of a hobby for me, but that sentiment didn't feel quite right. After all, I could still get grabbed by a picture idea every now and again, which I would then crank out in one evening.

Was there some sort of difference between the pictures I could hammer out quickly vs. the ones I couldn't? Well, I wouldn't make a post about an investigation without already having a prime suspect.

My Art Style

When I first started drawing aliased, it was to quickly crank out panels for my forum adventures, mostly because I was using GIMP and didn't know anything about brush settings. I was way too frustrated with anti-aliased lines and how little I could make them look how I liked, so I retreated into something completely different.

It worked for a while, but as I became more comfortable with the style, I developed bad, perfectionistic habits (something I've already mentioned being A Problem I Have). I would tweak lineart at the pixel level, just because some stray bump or two bugged the hell out of me. I consider this one of the reasons my art output has slowed down.

Trying to embrace a "perfectly inconsistent," or "consistently imperfect" look as "my style" just created its own irony. For example, I will deliberately draw patterns and textures by hand, because it sticks out too strongly otherwise if I just paste it in. You can bump into this quickly enough by scrolling through my various character references.

I would love a world where all my OC references feel "current," but as it stands, I'm finding it increasingly hard to work on the remaining characters I want to draw while commissions are also an obligation. Taking a break from aliased character art commissions in order to work on aliased character art references is...just doing more of the same? It isn't a break.

In order to create breaks that actually feel like breaks, I have to compromise. ONE of these has to go home and change. My personal art gets priority here, and I still very much want my OCs to look consistent in their reference art, so...I need to find a more efficient way to draw for money that keeps my dysfunctional brain entertained.

The Long, Slow Realization

Back when I used GIMP, I tried the chalk brush on a whim and ended up quite liking it. The rough look helped me ignore what I would consider "imperfections" otherwise. However, perhaps because I had a comic or character references I wanted to keep consistent, I mostly considered it a fun oddity and nothing more.

More falling dominoes that would eventually lead to this post were my experimental style offerings that I introduced last year (at the time, I just offered it because I thought people may be interested in art that looked relatively unique), Art Fight (having to agonizingly obey "finished not perfect" because of the event deadline), and other gift art I did around this time (the reasoning being, it's gift art, they wouldn't mind if I used it to experiment).

Now that I use CSP and am no longer bound by webcomic obligations, I've been experimenting more with brush settings. Wouldn't you know it, most of my modern art of my original stories is no longer aliased. I go "off-model" deliberately, fuck around with layer settings and effects, and enjoy creating pieces just because I saw a cool tutorial, brush, or program I wanted to try. These are the types of pictures I mentioned I could crank out in one evening. Maybe they're not "formal," but I feel like they're the most "me."

With all this new experience swirling around in my head, I finally realized: Why am I not selling art I actually find fun to draw?!

The New Offerings

Currently, I'm leaning toward one style of illustration only, cheaper than the experimental style I offer presently, and "rougher" as a result. I want something equivalent to my '22 Art Fight output; something flashy, unique, and most importantly, quick to do.

The specifics are what I intend to figure out while I work through the queue. Here are some thoughts already rotating around in my brain:

Should I offer price "tiers" that roughly equate a level of "polish" (equivalent to sketch/flats/shading) or just go with one-price-fits-all?

Should I still offer sketches as a cheap alternative, or is that too confusing with my Ko-fi already sort of being that?

Should I offer specific pricing for bust/halfbody/fullbody/etc., or was that another symptom of why I had commission burnout before, and should be avoided?

Should I eschew all of the above and just offer one thing at one price (e.g. "give me $50 and I'll draw your OC" with no other choices for the buyer), or is that too intimidating?

And so on. The last option is currently what I'm vibing with the most, but it's definitely the most daring idea of the bunch, too. (& If you have any thoughts on this, let me know! I have so much more thinking to do.)

The Old Offerings (But New)

When I reopen, I would like to have as few options as possible. However, I have considered the possibility that an old offering would speak to me and I would add it to the new menu again. Here are some thoughts on those:

Icons have a pretty high chance of coming back.

I've always liked drawing faces and headshots the most. If I decide not to bring back headshot sketches, I could just roll it back into "icons" and instead offer colored sketchy headshots. This would be similar to the headshots I did for Art Fight, but...with colors.

Half/fullbodies would depend on how the new style goes.

This is elaborating on what I said in the previous section. While I'm sure my core audience (i.e., you) will be fine with a potentially spontaneous angle to my commissions, buyers I'm less familiar with might not be. I want to try "one price fits all," but if someone gives me shit about me drawing a bust when they were anticipating a fullbody, I might have to add options to specify this.

Regardless, the style would still be "experimental" either way--the composition is what's important about it (which is also why I feel like I can get away with one single price). If anything, I feel like forcing myself into the little boxes of "halfbody" and "fullbody" was partially what was stifling me. Like, when do I ever consciously decide to draw a halfbody of an OC? I don't. It feels very arbitrary, and I'd like to distance from it.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: Character design is NEVER coming back!

I deeply appreciate those that did want a brand spanking new OC from me, but I've never considered myself to have a terribly strong design sense. They just kind of ended up being extra nervewracking to do because I had to design a character on top of drawing a fullbody. I will still take the final requests for these, but this is your absolute last chance for a Jovian Twelve™ Brand Original the Character.

What if I'm Already on Your Waitlist?

You don't have to do anything! I will get to you when I get to you. After June 1, I will close the waitlist, and whoever is on there will be able to have one of my old commission types, as promised. You can change your request anytime as long as I'm not currently drawing it!

Reminder that my waitlist is NOT "first come, first served;" I order it based on the complexity of what's wanted. Because of my slow pace, I didn't want to keep someone waiting forever when all they want is three sketch headshots, you know? This is a heads up that if you change your request, your position in the list may change as well.

I have no ETA when the current waitlist will be completed, given that currently, fullbodies are taking me months. Sorry :( Just another reason I'm making this post!!

What if I Want the NEW Style?

I will accept up to five (5) waitlist slots that want to "test drive" the potential new commission style, placed after the "traditional" queue is all cleared out. (So, you'd be waiting extra long.) If you're interested in this, get in touch! I will offer them to you at a lower rate than what I'm expecting to charge for the real deal, as thanks.

If you're already on the waitlist for something else, and want to test the new style instead, let me know! Just be aware this would bring you to the bottom of the queue as described above (but it WOULD give me one less commission I'd have to go through to get to the new stuff, WINK).

In the chance I get no takers the entire time it takes me to go through the waitlist, then the first five commissions I do in the new style will just have to be "test slots" instead.

Final Word

I know these long posts might not be terribly interesting to anyone that's not me, but I find it therapeutic to scrawl my thoughts out in text. Additionally, I'm over 30 years old and conclusions are still the hardest part in writing an essay. I can feel my writing style begin to devolve the closer I am to the end...

Uhhh.

Thanks for reading, and understanding?! See you soon, maybe?! Get in touch if you want to discuss Commissions From Me?? 💃 Cool.

Hero and Partner Week, Day 7: Free Day!

Last up for the free day today is a little drawing of my own team! After I made all this art of Neo and Skitty (now named Penelope) for this week, I decided that I should actually try to come up with unique designs for them. Now all of my previous illustrations of them are officially outdated. Oops.

I'd gotten attached to the depictions of them in my previous Hero and Partner Week drawings, so I didn't want to change them too much, but I still wanted them to be recognizable as original chararcters and not just general depictions of an eevee and a skitty. I'm pleased with Neo's redesign, but I would like to make Penelope a little more unique in the future. If you're interested, you can read more about them and their alternate universe under the cut!

This will be my last submission for Hero and Partner Week. I had a blast drawing and writing for this event over the past month, and I really enjoyed seeing what everyone else created as well. Thanks so much for hosting this amazing event! I'm already looking forward to participating again next year and seeing how much I've improved as an artist by then!

(Also, apologies if this posts twice. It disappeared from my queue sometime after I scheduled it, and I'm not sure if it's still going to post. I decided to just rewrite it in advance, and if the other version turns up, I'll delete it.)

@heropartnerweek

Neo

Neo is an odd-colored Eevee who woke up in the Tiny Woods one morning unable to remember who she was or how she got there. She occasionally dreams of a strange Pokemon atop a frozen mountain, and after learning about the legend of Nintales, she comes to the conclusion that she must be the human in the story who angered the deity and abandoned her partner Pokemon, Gardevoir. She feels obligated to help save the world because she's (allegedly) the one who brought about its destruction long ago, but secretly she feels she's not capable of it and is hoping for a way out. Neo can most easily be described as cowardly. She lacks courage and prefers to run and hide rather than fight and stand up for herself. She doesn't wish to hurt others and cares deeply for many Pokemon she knows, but when push comes to shove, her strong sense of self preservation takes control and she always puts herself first, even at the detriment of other Pokemon. She also lacks confidence, and this causes others to be distrusting of her and lack belief in her abilities. Neo tends to make promises she can't keep because she either doesn't think it through all the way or just wants to help and please others, which makes her seem more unreliable to those she lets down. Her hastiness also hurts her ability to think for herself. Neo can problem solve well when she is forced to slow down and reason out the situation, but when she rushes herself, she doesn't consider all the possibilities and can come to the wrong conclusion. Neo came to trust Penelope quickly because Penelope was there for her when she didn't have anyone else to turn to, but she also sometimes regrets forming a team with her and wonders if it was the right choice because of her struggle to show bravery and do the right thing like Penelope does.

Penelope

Penelope is a young Skitty who was raised in Littlegrove, a town on the sea northwest of Pokemon Square. Her parents, a Meganium and a Delcatty, tend to a pecha berry orchard and a small garden of other berry and herb plants, and her mother is a skilled weaver who makes scarves and other textiles using the plants grown in town. Penelope and her younger sibling Orion were often tasked with travelling to Pokemon Square to sell Delcatty's scarves to the Kecleon brothers and the many rescue teams that visit town, but since a mystery dungeon formed within the Tiny Woods, Penelope has been making the trip alone. When she learns that she and her partner must be the ones to save the world, she immediately rises to the task because the lives of her family are on the line and she's determined to save them, even at the cost of her own life. Penelope is courageous and quick-thinking with a strong sense of integrity. She's highly motivated by her commitment to and love for her family, especially her younger sibling Orion, and she'll never make a promise that she thinks she can't keep. Her strict moral code often makes it difficult for her to be understanding of those who act selfishly, and it also makes her prone to overworking herself or throwing herself into danger if she thinks it will help someone she loves. She is highly confident in her beliefs and her decision-making abilities, which allows her to act quickly on instinct. However, this also makes her stubborn and unlikely to follow in other Pokemon's footsteps or take their advice without good reason, and because she's still young, her beliefs and decisions aren't always backed up by experience or knowledge, leading her to make some poor choices. Her personality is often at odds with Neo's cowardice and self-interest, so they have a rocky start to their relationship.

One early spring day, Penelope was travelling through Tiny Woods with a new stock of her mother's pecha scarves when she came across an odd-looking eevee named Neo who said she had lost her memory. While she was distracted by the stranger, Gengar of Team Meanies snuck up on Penelope and attacked her. Because of her Normalize ability, Penelope was unable to fight back and Gengar stole most of the scarves she was carrying. Neo fled in the commotion, and Penelope chased after her, assuming she was working with Gengar to steal the scarves.

Penelope found Neo at the entrance to the Tiny Woods's mystery dungeon, which appeared as a deep chasm in the forest floor. She confronted her while Neo couldn't escape, but Neo claimed she didn't know anything about Gengar or his plans to attack Penelope. As they were arguing, they were approached by a Butterfree who needed help because her child, Caterpie, was lost in the dungeon. Penelope agreed to help and forced Neo to come with her because she didn't yet believe that Neo and Gengar weren't working together.

After finding Caterpie and reuniting him with his mother, Penelope took Neo to Pokemon Square where they decided to stay the night at Kangaskhan's inn because Neo didn't have anywhere else to go and Penelope didn't know how to fix the problem of the stolen scarves. While in Pokemon Square, she asked Neo to form a real rescue team with her in order to help earn back the lost money.

Afamiliars beware

since I’m banned I don’t really care anymore. Buckle up, its long and I’m not gonna put it under a read more because :))) these girls have broken my spirit for the last time.

If you’ve ever seen a community around called Afamiliar: don’t join it :)))

For those who don’t know what Afams is. Its where you can order a little drawing of a familiar from FR and it comes with unique colors and markings and can dress it up, breed, it and scavenge with it. Artists make them in a queue and fill orders as they come in.*

The admins are INCREDIBLY toxic. They can’t take any sort of criticism and they play favorites with who and how people get punished. You aren’t even allowed to say you’re unhappy about anything. Ever. Or if you do you get a strike. If you call out the team or admin’s hypocritical behavior you get a strike. If you stand up for yourself when the admins are clearly doing these things you get a strike.

I was part of Afamiliars for two years and was part of the team for a year and during that time I watched the entire thing fall apart. They really try to make it seem like they’re one big family but its just not true. The admins and owners Myndris and Sketchanie are both pretty toxic and talk about people, members of their community and their staff of artists and other team members, behind their back and make snide comments about them constantly. And while everyone else is held accountable to the rules neither of them or their friends are. Myndris talked so much shit about someone she had the entire team convinced they were a terrible person just because they didn’t like some art they got. The best part is when the admins agree with you about things you have problems with in Afamiliars in private over DMs and then publicly renounce everything you say. So hypocritical AND completely two faced. My absolute favorite :)

I was fired from my position as artist in July because another team member antagonized me into telling them to shut the fuck up because I wanted to be able to have open dialogues about the actual stuff that was bothering me. I ended up leaving for a week I was so furious at the state of things and why the admin team had such shitty conflict resolution. No negativity. Nothing in any way could be perceived as negative or you got a strike, so long as you weren’t a friend of the Admins. If you were they’d just tell you to stop. It was full on ‘no war in Ba Sing Sa’ in the Afams server and still is. Which is why I left and then for a week not a single member of staff reached out to me to see if I was okay. In fact after I left the community noticed and they started deleting messages asking what happened and where I was and where I’d gone and why I’d left.  Their most prolific artist had just LEFT and the only way they thought to respond was to delete every message that asked what happened. :)))) They also lied to the team about how many strikes I had and my ‘behavior issues’ to convince them to vote me out. Which is hilarious bc there are way worse actors in the team than me.

But saying anything that might be slightly confrontational got you a warning or a strike. So it was literally impossible to have any sort of adult conversations that might make people upset. Things that had been bothering me for seven months. Things the admins agreed with and refused to do anything about. They just let it sit. And stew. Agreeing with all the problems you have with X thing in private while publicly acting like it wasn’t a problem at all.

They also don’t listen to feedback like... at all. I’m not expecting anyone to be perfect and I know we’re all only human but they keep making the same comedy of errors again. And again. And again. To the point that now they’re two most popular artists are either gone, or about to be gone. They’d been given feedback from multiple people multiple times about how a trial mod on the team makes certain people uncomfortable and instead of removing that person they doubled down on them and did not remove them. And then when people went to other admins about the problem THAT WAS SHARED with the person in question. Admin specific information saying how people were uncomfortable with someone with that person. Probably with their name attached. When I brought THAT to an admin again nothing was done.

In the past few months I’ve just watched the team and the server completely fucking implode. The admins doubling down on zero negativity even as more and more people realize... something isn’t right. More people, people I don’t even talk to!, mention things that are a bit more aggressive than the admins would like. Someone even got muted on the server for telling a mod that an admin had dealt with the problem and the mod was then continuing to antagonize the original problem; which is against the rules. Someone got harassed over DMs by another member, asked where they could submit a report and posted proof of it, and they were the one given the strike and told that the admins do not moderate DMs. But they do sometimes feel the need to moderate and condone certain discord servers run by people they don’t like :) Which is a true thing.

In the past week the second most prolific artist left because one of the admins called the afams everyone makes ‘a miserable pile of pixels’ in reference to how much drama they get in the server and feedback form. This obviously upset some people and so said artist is taking a break for a month. I know she’s not a fool. She also sees what’s happening. She might go back but I doubt it and I hope she’s much less stressed out whatever she chooses to do. Then another artist stepped down the next day. Then just today a third artist stepped down, both of which were admins. So within a week 3 artists felt the need to step down to focus on themselves and mental health issues.

I’ve never attacked any of these people by the way except when they say shit about me that is categorically untrue. Or they show up trying to bully me. Which they also do. I was friends with all these people in the team while I was on the team until one day they just decided I wasn’t :) Not allowed to be friends with the admins anymore if you call them out on their hypocrisy.

And then today they finally banned me from the server. Which I wasn’t really a part of anyway and didn’t participate in much. And people have said worse and done worse to the team and admins but because I’m the designated server villain everything I do is worse.

This is why I was banned

from the latest admin artist that stepped down after giving their message they were stepping down. And I said ‘that seems pretty call-outy and overly negative to me’ which is... against all the rules on the server. But I’m the villain. So I’m not allowed to point it out.

The other admin said this to me pointing out that THIS ADMIN was breaking the site rules

Even tho I’ve legit gotten a strike just for saying ‘I don’t like this thing you’ve done. I’m not gonna talk about it but I want you to know I don’t like this decision you’ve made’.  And these rules also exist in the team only area and it says that  NO ONE is exempt. And I said as much. Because that’s bullshit.

At least unless you’re the owner’s wife. Than you can do whaaaatever you want :)

But yeah. Fuck Afamiliars. I’ve seen the writing on the wall for the past year. They’re gonna implode, or explode, and the admins are gonna be busy finger pointing at everyone but themselves for the problems. In Sketch’s stepping down message she said this exactly

I understand there have been many fuck ups on our end, and I apologize for those, but we have always strived to learn from those mistakes. And I'd like to think that we do a little better each time. 

Which is not what I’ve seen the past few months. Instead they’ve doubled down on Being Right at all costs, not listening to community feedback, lashing out at people who call them out on their bullshit and hypocrisy and I know they still talk shit about their community members in DMs with their stooges.

It’s been a BEAUTIFUL fireball to watch the past 3 months since I was fired.

*Lots of artists don’t actually fill their orders. They just let their queues fill up into huge ribbons on trello and then once a month maybe fill 1-4 orders. One artist has been around 10 months and made so little art their orders can’t even fill 4 pages on discord search. So you’re stuck waiting months, or sometimes YEARS, for a project you want to fill. A friend of mine just gave up on a project because they’d been waiting two and a half years. But the queues on all artists except for maybe... idk, 3-4 artists (including me at the time) were so slow you would be waiting and waiting and legitimately no progress was made. There used to be a rule of 1 afam a week to keep queues moving but sometime around the time Sketch decided to stop making afams that rule was quietly removed.

Ough i’m like.. also obsessing over clockboy and iasw rn and some of your art reminded me of a time where fireworks were happening and I actually also have noise sensitivity issues (but I wear earplugs instead of the muffler headphone things and unfortunately they don’t work as well with fireworks) and I was walking off the ride before i heard a firework and immediately went back inside where clockboy is (I go to WDW) and THE REST OF THE FIREWORKS WERE SO MUCH MORE QUIET THERE and idk why but my heart MELTED like “omg… it’s even more cozy and safe in here than I thought” (and honestly I don’t know how, its not like its a fully closed space its still entirely open to the outside technically)

Idk.. silly story.. but aughh its a memory permanently stuck in my brain now. Clockboy my beloved, truly one helping with the autism gang. 💛💛

Oh are you referring to this art?

The last time I was in a park for fireworks, I was leaving Epcot and I had to just cover my ears w my hands which is Not as effective as ear muffs (it was probably comparable earplugs) ... It was Rough 😭 I have struggled w fireworks ever since I was a kid so I 100% am with you on ducking back into an enclosed area to escape them... at Disneyland I usually try to time being in the Indy or Space Mountain indoor queues when they start

small world would 100% be my go-to but it usually closes during fireworks as a safety precaution, as the fireworks are launched nearby backstage (and maybe also on top of the roof of the show building? Don't quote me on that) and also... The fully outdoor queue would not be ideal if you're not inside yet 😭😭😭

I haven't been in MK for fireworks in like... A decade or longer so it's good to know they're at least dampened in there 🥺 the weird indoor facade finally has an advantage, and it's protecting guests & Clockboy from the loud fireworks 🥺🥺🥺

Insane that my mom ran the most popular patrick stump archival blog on tumblr + was a full time lawyer + was raising two mentally ill kids + doing culinary arts school + having a cookie business. I think its her autism i wont lie. But now its all catching up to her and she has no energy which would be the ehlers danlos fault this time.. tried to convince her to steal her old url back but on cohost so she made an account but couldnt immediately make side blogs but boy oh boy. she would be giving the fall out boy fandom what they want and more. Shes like i cant do it again i have no idea how i did it before im like ma! its called having boundaries. Shes like i cant do that when i have a special interest its called autism. Im like right but queue posts for once a day and find 30 pictures from a photo set and boom one months worth of posting fall out boy and you can conserve your energy. But she doesnt know how to do her special interests in moderation. Im honestly just glad she went and accepted a bunch of access to her mega archive folder thingy. But shes so mad she doesnt have access to like her actual archive bc the website she used go archive everything changed their subscription plans and she has so many photos it would be like a zillion dollars she doesnt have 😭 like bogus i remember photo storing websites were so free. Take me back to 2010 for real :T Anyway she used to get so mortified when i told my friends as a teen about her blog i actually told her coworker once and her coworker somehow RETAINED the url and went home and looked at her blog and she was so upset at me 😭😭 but now like she kinda doesnt give a fuck anymore bc fall out boy was her special interest for an entire decade and she’s over it. Obviously still a big big fan but not in bandom anymore. Her new special interest is a band i introduced her to when i was 13 and its kinda cringe so i dont talk about it but she also ran an archival blog for THIS band and i told my friend at a sleepover who liked this band about her blog and they fucking FOLLOWED HER and shit bricks and my mom was MORTIFIED. But anyway yeah she doesnt gaf now if i tell people she was this blog and i even posted a tiktok about it once and people started doing detective work that would make her autistic self so proud…. Bc thats what she was good at! sleuthing stalking detective work on the band. Pete wentz privately answered several of her asks on tumblr i’ll see if she can send me the asks and their responses. But yeah she doesnt care anymore. her original url was scrubbed by tumblr and shes very angry about it bc it was an original bandom url for patrick stump so shes like wtf ever i dont wanna touch this im so mad. Which SAAAAME. ive done that so many times. She started permitting access to people who requested it for one of her photo archive website thingies she left in her last post. But yeaaaahhh… she was patrick stump for halloween in like 2008 and she won the costume contest bc she had rhe coolest sideburns and looked so much like him. My first ever concert was a fall out boy concert in spring 2007 i was 6 turning 7 within the next few months lemme just say the music video for carpel tunnel of love played on the screen as they played the song and my brother and i was so traumatized. But then immediately they played this aint a scene after that and we were like HELL YEAAAAAAAAA. And my brother (5 at the time) and i knew every single song and sang along and my mom went look at everyone else no one else knows these songs. You guys are so cool. And we looked around and yeah no one was singing the songs and were sooo excited! Oh and theres that one time she recorded us singing keep it simple by cobra starship and THEY PUT IT ON THEIR MYSPACE PAGE AT THE TOP WE FLIPPED SHIT. i wish THAT video was still up. Shes also met fall out boy so many times and walked away from patrick stump while he was talking to her bc she didnt want to take up his time at a meet and greet. Omg. so many memories. I was literally raised in online bandom thats so insane. Maybe thats why im a homosexual

Tokyo Day 1.

After visiting Kansai and Chugoku regions last June, I returned to Japan with Ejii-chan with the mission to explore the entirety of Tokyo. We flew on an afternoon flight and arrived at around 7PM in Narita. We took the local train to the megapolis. When we arrived at the hotel, we settled for a bit and then splurged on kombini (convenience store) food near our hotel.

The real Day One starts the next day.

I took Ejii-chan to Shibuya. She's been to Tokyo some 15 years ago when she became an exchange student at a Japanese school. She always told stories about her stay back then and how Tokyo had changed over the past years. We had a late lunch at Ichiran in Shibuya and charged ahead of the 45-minute queue just to have our ramen fix for the day.

Ahh. The world-famous Tonkotsu ramen + extra chashu + extra kikurage. Having a warm, artery-clogging meal is nice to compensate for the cool autumn winds and tireless 20,000-step walks daily.

The view from outside Ichiran. We took photos of the surrounding buildings and neighborhood as we queued.

Ejii-chan's homecoming. She always loved Japan and its culture. Anime, film, art. You name it. Now, she's back in her turf.

We paid tribute to Hachiko while around Shibuya.

Later at night, we rode the metro to Ueno Park after reading from reviews that Ueno Park at night is a must-visit. Only to discover that most of the food stalls and stores around the park are closed by 6 p.m. So, we took a stroll around the park and its roads. We went through the nearby Ameyayokocho instead and strolled through its streets looking for something to eat.

Traveling is always tiring. But it's also always worth every step.

We were back at the hotel by 11 p.m.

Tokyo, Japan October 2023

Oh, she was lovely! So genuine and sweet! I was stimming like crazy when I was in the queue and when I got in front, I couldn't get my words out properly I was that starstruck! She released a song the day before called "Make it clean" and its a legit good song, listened to it on the way down and I ended up saying "Song!" "Love!" "Keeping...clean!" and she understood! I also drew a picture of her when she did her surface pleasure show in New York and she was like "That's me at my show!" and I like to think she appreciated being recognised for something other than Encanto.

Encanto is truly a once in a lifetime film for me, it was the right film at the right time. It gave me hope during a time where I didn't have much of it, my relationship with my mum was shit, I was considering not coming over for Christmas that year. But seeing Mirabel and Alma at the river hugging and Mirabel being acknowledged for her role and all she's done for the family really got to me. The last time there had been a piece of media that was the right thing at the right time was Glee back in 2010 I think it was? Encanto is still my favourite ever disney movie and I'm hoping to save up eventually and add to my mermaid tattoos with Luisa as a strong woman mermaid

I would have reacted the same if I ever got to meet her! She’s so precious! Just like the character she voices, Luisa 🫶🏼🥹 That art piece you did for her is beautiful! You can see how much she loves it. I bet it made her day receiving it and hearing all the feedback from you about her work, especially the non Encanto related stuff! I feel I gotta listen to these songs of hers now too! 😍

I’m sorry to hear you were having a rough time. I understand where you’re coming from, it’s the same for me. But I’m glad the film helped you to mend things with your Mum. The film and overall message behind the film is so wholesome. For me, Bruno is such a big comfort. He’s become an important part of my life and helped me through some very dark times with my own family. I feel his undying love and kindness helps teach me to try and be a better person too 🥹🫶🏼💚

A mermaid Luisa Tattoo?! Hell yes! ✨

Soundless AAA: It's CGs. (And more)

Tip: You can get posts like this sent directly to your e-mail by subscribing to the Substack!

Hello, happy Sunday, how are you? Progress has been very steady, even with the fact that I’ve also been working. I wasn’t able to reach the “best goal” of having the opening done by today, but it’s definitely coming this week.

First, let’s take a look at the completed version of the Auma approaching Mercy CG.

Nice and afternoon-y, huh? I took a lot of cues from SayoOshi for the coloring here.

Additionally, I’m in the process of refining two CG sketches.

The first one is the one where Mercy approaches Delilah in the fields. I’m drawing this one at double the size because the original had (very pixelated) close-ups. You can see in the corner that I’ve written a 20. That’s for “20 degrees”, the angle the shot is at.

The other one is the Auma and Nyn reveal. I’ll be retaining the original angle to make it feel kind of like they’re “above” the crowd, but before I do that I have to draw the piece at a neutral 0 degree angle. This is so that things don’t look too wonky. I also draw much more than what’s actually shown so it looks “right”.

There are a lot of moving parts to this CG. Under normal circumstances, this would’ve been one of the last ones to be completed due to its complexity, but because it flashes in the opening it’s this high up in the queue. The good news is that once it’s done, it’s out of the way.

I actually had to go back and look at the original CG for this. Those two people in the back are Delilah’s father, the Expulsive priest, and the Barrier priestess that Mercy runs into at the start of the story. I don’t think I’ve ever publicly shown this part of the CG with the crowd/twins/Head Priest layers hidden. So, here it is—now you can see what Delilah’s dad looks like.

The Barrier priestess is pretty cute, huh? Her hairclip is my favorite part. It’s a shame this is the only time she ever shows up visually.

Also…

Here’s some screencaps of the updated art version of the opening straight from AfterEffects! I was able to plug in things that were already finished and it looks pretty cool!

Art Patch Progress Summary

Sprites

Finished

CGs

2/31 completed (3 in progress)

2/5 opening CGs completed (3 in progress)

Implementation

All main sprites implemented.

Toggle option implemented

Initial selection screen roughly implemented

Other

Updated art version of opening sequence in progress

You can play Soundless for free with the original art on Itch.io now!