kitty

Yes, I know it is deplorable and disgusting to have soppy pet names for your significant other. But seriously, if you met this kid, you'd agree with me. He purrs when you pet him, and he bats at ponytails, and he makes disgruntled cat noises when he wakes up and realizes you were drawing him in his sleep.

I need more life drawing practice. I can do faces all day long, but god forbid I have to attach a body to them. I should take a life drawing class, but all of them are at 8am. Eeeeeeeew.

Oh, so last weekend we did a Savage Worlds one-off set in the Inception universe. It was pretty trippy. We started in the middle of a firefight in Columbia, everyone got killed, and then it turned out we were in a dream and we'd failed our objective. So we took this other job where we were supposed to get the plans for this phone app from a dude, and we had a crazy Russian ex-Mafia dude on our team who wanted to skip the whole dream thing and just torture it out of him, but luckily we convinced him to do the torturing in the dream instead. Poor Matt had to play the guy's Chinese girlfriend and get very realistically tortured in front of the guy, who held up remarkably well and just refused to break, but we did get it out of him eventually (turns out he was much more susceptible to personal injury than psychological torture. Always go for the kneecaps.) And then it turned out that the app was for mind control and the guy we'd stolen it for was going to sell it to China so they could control the world, so we got into a messy firefight with his bodyguards in the penthouse office of a skyscraper in... Dubai, was it? Anyway, my character got shot in the leg and still took down four of the six guards (two of them with a double butterfly kick) while everyone else was flailing around and Matt's cowardly scientist character was hiding under the desk. It was a good time, and I really like the Savage Worlds system - much simpler than DnD.

In other roleplay news, Magical Steampunk Gypsies is going swimmingly. Alex is finally participating again, which means that he's forcing us fussy writer types to slap down some words and move the plot along. We've started three new threads in the last two weeks, and everyone is posting with some regularity. I made an antagonist character, one Enderos Thorn, to interact with Marcus and Suvoi in their origin thread. He's a Crimson Hand pilot who's getting too old for the whole mercenary thing and just wants to go find his two daughters in the Ratways. He's a pretty easygoing dude, but he's also capable of laser focus and split-second decisions under fire. (In other words - he might seem like a softie, but he can still mess you up.)

little things/big things

I have some doodlies for you, as well as an announcement.

First up: Kunan from the Avatar D&D campaign, the ultimate grouchy old lady! We had such a great Halloween sesh this year. I chose the costume Mikasa from Attack on Titan, so I got 3D Maneuver Gear and swords and +10 to Teenage Angst and +15 to Dead Parents. Andrew made us crawl through a horrible Temple of Vaatu. Matt and I got trapped in this puzzle room yoinked straight out of Amnesia (the one with the fountain full of blood with the legs coming out of it) and I thought it was a good idea to climb into the fountain, which then swallowed me in the manner of a GIANT SQUISHY ESOPHAGUS. It was friggen awful. At least Andrew let me fire my maneuver gear at the ceiling and pull myself out before I actually drowned in blood. I still win, because I'm the only one who didn't get horribly cursed! (Matt's character is now a vampire for the rest of the campaign.)

And now, Birthright things. I feel bad abandoning these guys. It's Fidelio doing what he does best: reading.

And Andra looking vaguely pissed, as per usual. I think I'm getting closer and closer to a practical outfit for her. Also, I find it interesting that I tend to gravitate towards characters who have so many character flaws that they're almost unlikeable. Using Andra as an example: she's angry, bitter, sarcastic, violent, lazy, and slow to trust. (Of course, all of this is largely situational; her father tried to kill her and then her mother abandoned her. Her adopted parents just sort of ignore her. She has this physical disability to contend with, as well as emotional trauma stemming from past sex abuse, not to mention that almost everyone in the city hates her.) God, I love this girl.

Now some random doodles. Because this is what happens when I get bored in class.

Oh look, it's Clary! (Pre-City of Bones Clary, apparently. She looks about fourteen here.)

Teensy Mako doodle. Good god, his eyebrows. They are actually dragons.

Teensy Beast Boy. What a cutie.

And some not-fanart. This is Severine's mother Oriana from House of Arcane Treasures. I dunno what happened to her and the daddy, but neither of them are in the story anymore, so probably something bad. I peeked into Severine's nightstand drawer a few days ago and discovered a portable casette player with an old tape inside. The tape contained a recording of Oriana begging an infant Severine to "protect the House" while windows shatter in the background, telling her how much they loved her and that Hawksmith would keep her safe. It was all very exciting. I considered doing this story for NaNo, but then quickly realized that I'm in college and have papers and just nope.

Also from House of Arcane Treasures, it's Abigail the trigger-happy American! She looks so deceptively sweet and even-tempered, doesn't she? Well, it's a trap. She will mess you up. With her machine pistols.

Drew this chick with dreads in my Great Con notes, and now I want to make a character out of her. She looks like she's got personality. Dunno where to put her though.

Liked her so much I even turned her into a real drawing. I think dreadlocks are fascinating, but I don't think I ever want them on my own head.

You knew this post would devolve into Magical Steampunk Gypsies if we waited long enough, didn't you? Well, you were right. Have some sultry Suvoi. (E'rebody wanna piece o' dat. Unfortunately for her.)

Everybody except Marcus, that is, despite all her efforts to the contrary. As it turns out, he did like her originally, but then he remembered that everyone he's ever loved has died, so he pushed her away. Being her stubborn self, however, she decided to stay with him anyway.

This is what happens whenever she tries to seduce him. OHGODOHGODOHGODHOWDOIGIRLS. (Ian really appreciated this picture.)

D'aaw, look, it's Gideon the gypsy sky pirate! My god, he's adorable. And apparently he's also the incarnation of one of the mythological heroes of the Surlinds, known as Constellations. So this should be good. (He is also hopelessly in love with Suvoi, as is EVERY MALE, along with some of the females, in the story. Except Marcus.)

Speaking of Constellations, a few weeks ago, we sat down and hammered out a new (very ancient) species called the Progeniteans. It would seem that Gideon's Constellation was a Caelian man who fell in love with a Progenitean woman and then went off to fight the Vile and got himself martyred. More on that later. Meanwhile, have a generic Progenitean lady.

And while all of the shenanigans in Guaren are going on and everybody's biting off way more than they could ever hope to chew by invading the Asylum with a bunch of loony professors (oh god Anna), our Meran characters have massive catfights and the plot goes nowhere. Have some gloomy Verdigris, reflecting upon her past sins. (After all, she did participate in the conversion of Ashes' sister Chiara, who then proceeded to go feral at four years old. God forbid we ever put Ashes and Verdigris in the same room.)

So that's all the billions of doodles. On another subject entirely, this is mah boyfriend. I am showing you his picture because he is a sexy, sexy Vulcan and because today is our one-year anniversary.

Thanks for being so awesome, love.

Whoof, now I must go put on a dress and go to dinner. Bye dudes.

Commander Kip
You are a terrible. But you're my terrible.
Normal is overrated!

the useless one

So this is my sketchy sketchy Attack on Titan cosplay. There is no chest harness and there are no swords and the jacket is the wrong color, but considering that the only thing I spent money on for this costume was duct tape, I'd still call that a pretty solid win.

The gear actually didn't bang around as much as I was expecting, although I did have to carry my books under my arm instead of wearing my backpack, and sitting down was quite the adventure. Also, people kept asking which character I was, so I finally decided Armin, because I am useless and I have no swords. (I like Armin though. He's a cutie and he reminds me of Mana from Magical Steampunk Gypsies.) In any case, Ian and I were quite popular and got lots of "for humanity!" salutes from random strangers, which is always the best.

There will most likely be more pictures of this costume eventually, because Ian and I want to drag Alex and his fancy camera down to the Natural Lands and leap around in our 3D Maneuver Gear like a bunch of badasses. 'S gonna be great.

Commander Kip
"So sorry... to attack... from... behind..."
Normal is overrated!

that sort of night

You know what's awesome? Well-timed fog.

This is my college campus, as of last night, October 30th. Are we winning at weather or what?

I love creepy fog. Happy Halloween, dudes!

There will eventually be pictures of my costume, because Ian and I were both Survey Corps soldiers from the delightful anime Attack on Titan, and people recognized us, and it was brilliant. (I use the word "delightful" in the sense of blood spatters and wrenching angst, but y'know, for us writer types, that sort of thing is actually delightful.)

On the subject of blood, we also went to a haunted house in the basement of another dorm, and it was an insane asylum full of screaming people in bloodstained hospital gowns. It was quite good. I enjoyed it immensely. Haunted houses are way better when you go with people you know well, rather than near-strangers. Duly noted.

I just love Halloween. I think I will always love it, even when I am an old grouchy lady. It's just the most spectacular crazy holiday and people don't look at you funny when you go to all your classes in costume. I love it.

Commander Kip
"Look at Ian. He's stabbing absolutely everyone."
Normal is overrated!