#a big spooky fan zine

[theinstagrahame]

More amazing games this last couple of months! Mostly from crowd funds, but with a couple of birthday gifts and the first installment of Zine Club in the mix!!

Here's a breakdown with some "why I wanted to check 'em out" hype!

DCC - Sailors on a Starless Sea: I recently got a copy of Dungeon Crawl Classics, and asked folks in the Plus One Exp Discord for recommendations, because I'd seen a few of 'em talk about DCC. This had at least two people recommend it! So, I'll be skimming it.

Emerald Templars: I was initially intrigued because of the South American creators and focus of the game, and can't wait to explore it further. The art and the overall quality of the book look great, and I definitely love seeing Fantasy stuff that's not Euro-centric.

Lichoma: Billed as a "meatpunk" game, I really needed to know what that meant. It's a dark, violent and interesting game with some neat mechanics (at least per the stream I watched).

Convictor Drive: This hit crowdfunders around the same time as the Dark Souls 5e came out, and I think while the Cowboy Bebop RPG was crowdfunding. So I was on a kick of really wanting to see more Japanese games get translated and brought stateside, which this was. It's an exosuit procedural super-detective kind of game, which intrigued me, even beyond the JP angle.

Overisles, Inspirisles, and the Shaping Deck: This one I'd been aware of for a while, having gotten Overisles in a Bundle years ago. It's an RPG that uses American or British Sign Language as part of the mechanics. It's supposed to help you learn ASL or BSL, and I've always been curious about those languages. The books are gorgeous, and they came with a pin and 2 really beautiful booksmarks

The Wizards & the Wastes: Big fan of Snow's work in general, but what got me (aside from the Howl's Moving Castle touchstone) was the ability to use art you already own (books, poems, music) as a focus for your character's magical abilities. It's a really gorgeous book and I've been wanting to bring it to a table. I also really love the mechanic where you bring someone from outside the game in to solve disputes.

Crush Depth Apparition: Spooky submarine horror is a good concept on its own, but I was also excited because it just looked so stylish. Plus, another thing through Snow's store, so I was into it.

Girl by Moonlight: Sailor Moon but make it Forged in the Dark. I'm in! Partner and I have been watching the original Sailor Moon. I've been playing and enjoying Beam Saber, and I kind of love the way FitD games deal with character growth.

Wreck this Deck: The pitch is: You trap demons in a deck of cards, and actually mark the cards as you go, creating a neat artifact of play as you go. So after a few plays, you have this really ominous deck of cards, some of which are super messed up or even missing. It's a rad idea, and I'm looking forward to messing up a $3 Bicycle deck.

Guys in Chairs/Spin The Bottle: This is part of the Zine Club shipment for the month, but I'm also a big fan of Dillin's work. I heard them play Guys in Chairs on Party of One, and it's a great game.

1978 - The Night They Came Home (and a Trick-or-Treat bag with rollable tables because why not): I backed this before I ever saw Halloween, but having gotten into those movies this past spooky season, I'm really into this. 2-player game where one of you is the killer, and the other is the person trying to run.

Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop: This looks beautiful, pastoral, and I love a good spiral binding. It's a journaling RPG about someone who runs a bookshop that floats up and down the river. It's super cute and I love it.

Nasty, Brutish, and Long: Friends at the Table put me in a revolutionary action mood, but I also really like the work that Not Writing Games puts out. Also been on a bit of a FitD kick lately (as previously established). I'm also going to pass by making jokes about the name.

The Corrupted: The other half of the Zine Club shipment for the month. I've heard extremely good things about this, and zombie horror is a fantastic genre in general. So I'm hype to dig in.

Hark! Says the Frog Magus: When this was first announced, I was bummed because I'd just lost my job and wasn't sure I'd be able to justify a purchase. So, a friend preordered it as a birthday gift (same friend later got me a different gift because they're a monster). Sin's work in general is rad, and this is adorable but also a great adventure, so I needed it.

I will take a second to highlight these two!

They came from the Plus One EXP Zine Club, and the sticker did too! And it's such a rad thing. A monthly subscription that brings some zines to my door, supports indie creators, and keeps the lights on for a community I care about. All Wins all the time.

I also received the expansion for Return to Dark Tower. I haven't really played Covenant yet, but I'm excited to try it out, because it adds some rad new models and some cool new classes, and a whole bunch of new skulls for the Tower.

#indie ttrpg #ttrpg #indie ttrpgs #zine club #board games #tabletop rpg #tabletop games

[raptorfae53]

Monster High Reimagined: Ghoulia Yelps character bio/redesign

Ghoulia Yelps (they/ze/zom)

AroAce

Zombie child of the Yelps family (Haitian-Canadian) 

Whip smart,pop culture savvy and often very snarky despite being a Ghoul of few words. (Literally, having decayed vocal chords makes communicating verbally in human languages near-impossible) Ghoulia Yelps is widely considered by zom's peers as the go-to for anything tech and fandom related they have trouble understanding,something they as an autistic person are usually very happy to divulge in. Between all this and being the best friend wing-person and number-two of wannabe queen bee cleo de nile,its a wonder ghoulia actually has time for schoolwork,but somehow they always get the best test scores and grades within zeir year. 

Likes: video games, comic books,sugary drinks and snacks,making zines and other such doodads and attending conventions and fan events.

Dislikes: being underestimated or infantilized for their disabilities, last minute schedule changes,people handling zom's mobility aids without consent, slow Internet and cleo doing stupid stuff for clout and popularity.

Killer style: 2000s inspired alternative,scene and emo fashion all the way! and on lazy days when there's nothing better to do, ghoulia loves to browse the web looking at stylish new alt items and accessories in the big character hoodie Sloman got for her 15th birthday. 

Familiar: Hootsalot, the ghost of an owl. Ghoulias mother works as a veterinarian and Hootsalot was one of her patients,who'd been mortally injured by a car and died despite her and the other vet techs efforts,or at least his body did. His spirit, seemingly appreciating the effort to help imprinted on the vets but with all the trouble that what is essentially a flying cat with the ability to phase through walls can cause in a workplace,the Yelps decided to take him in,and he and Ghoulia have been inseparable since.

Pet Peeve: people underestimating her intelligence purely based on the fact ze only verbally communicates in Zombese. It makes Ghoulia thankful that Monster High offers courses in zombese and ASL,as well as that zom's peers there are willing to take those courses instead of simply infantilize her for zom's disability.

Freaky Flaw: like many of their fellow neurodivergent classmates, ghoulia likes to really focus on doing one thing or interest at a time,keeping to a tight schedule and often being unable to work with last minute changes to plans or something throwing said schedule out of whack. This often jars with the more "drop everything we're now doing X" way zeir best friend cleo does things, and whilst ghoulia knows it's just something that's a part of how ze is,ze really don't like how they're not able to give their best and most focused effort when it does happen.

Spooky Secret: ghoulia has more followers and account activity than cleo on all their social media. Ghoulia having hidden said follow counts on everything out of a fear that if she found out,cleo would do something rash for followers and end up losing or hurting more than simply her dignity and pride because of it…

Dream job: Ghoulia may be very smart and enjoys highschool, but otherwise has little to no interest in a career in anything, preferring instead to earn an income via monetizing their interests, such as through livestreaming, esports competitions or art commissions, or getting a job not involving them at all.

Five Fearsome Facts 

Zombies like all undead have mobility issues due to their decaying bodies,and Ghoulia is no different, using an ambulatory wheelchair and cane to aid movement,luckily having an influx of undead students like zem means monster high is readily wheelchair and disability accessible.

Their decayed vocal chords also mean Ghoulia finds speaking english very hard,but zom's far from unwilling to talk and is actually very sociable. Instead, ghoulia communicates using American sign language and written words on a whiteboard as well as using Zombese,a monster-developed conlang designed to be easy on the vocal chords.

Ghoulia is autistic. And who outside of their neurotypical best friends Cleo and Duece and regardless of their wildly different interests tends to get along best with their fellow neurodivergent classmates regardless of interests best. (Although considering the sheer berth of Ghoulias pop culture knowledge theres probably something that they each mutually enjoy and talk together about) Zom primarily stims verbally, making small whistles and mumbling phrases in zombese.

Far from the stereotypical hunger for brains, ghoulia can't function without sugar,with sugary snacks and energy drinks being among zeir favourite snacks when gaming or drawing, and zom just can't survive without caffeine in the morning (often graciously provided by cleo,who in turn claims coffee “calms the nerves”,being seldom seen without a super-sugary latte or frappuccino herself)

As well as playing,reading, and watching a lot of different media,ghoulia often tries their hand at making their own stuff, making zines, animations, and little games using their skill in art and coding. Often giving out physical copies of their work to people during conventions and events ze attend.

Hi again, I'm back with another profile,this time for Ghoulia.

This time around however theres not really much in terms of lore as i generally do like Ghoulias g1 charachterisation, so I just exaggerated it a little,giving her and cleo an almost jeeves and wooster or even wallace and gromit type dynamic (the latter more to do with ghoulias way of communication exemplifying body language and expression if nothing else).

Also as mentioned in Cleo's profile I want all the undead monsters to require some form of mobility aid (what with decomposition and all) and Ghoulia is no exception. Seeing artists like @katetorias ,@alexiseatzbeez ,@jet-apologistmybadhomies and @spookberry 's works with characters like ghoulia needing mobility and speech aids inspiring a lot of the concept seen in this continuity, I know its only a small thing to pay it forward but please go check out their pages because their art,monster high or otherwise,is just brilliant.

Also some non character-related but important stuff regarding this whole fan continuity's near future below:

Unfortunately, since I've had a bunch of other hobbies take up my time recently (most notably drawing as well as stuff like gardening and just going out now that the weather's nice again where I am) the profiles I've started are pretty threadbare compared to the last few who in turn are those of the central cast, who i felt needed there's done first, the thing is with there being sooooo many monster high characters who all have a loyal fanbase I'm finding it hard to pick,so I ask you fellow monster high fans...

Anyways, shares and comments are appreciated and I hope you generally like this post. See you for the next one of these,whenever that is...

#monster high #ghoulia yelps #monster high reimagined

[monty-glasses-roxy]

i'm all ears for the book idea homie

You would not believe the confusion of this ask because I completely forgot about that post lmao

Anyway, yeah I thought it would be cool if we, as the fnaf community, made our own fnaf short story series for funsies. I was thinking without considering how to do it, so in my head I was saying it would be dope as hell if a bunch of us writers and artists got together and did a little series of spooky horror story fnaf books that followed the same format as the actual books, but with more art stuff for the artists to join in and... better writing in a lot of cases lmao. I was thinking of physical books at the time like how I've seen some some of those big community zines that raise money for charity but I have no idea how to do that so...

Now that it's not stupid in the morning before I've slept, the easiest way to do something like this I guess would to like... make a PDF maybe? Three stories per 'issue' I guess and release it for free of course! (Unless someone knows how to make 'pay what you want' with any money gained going to a good charity? I dunno. This would just make it optionally free) Someone could do epilogues for each one, so one long story over however many we make, which could be fun.

Could put it on a Neocities (which is a free website thingo that's also free to view) or something too. I dunno, it could be fun though! One collaborative project, linking together writers from different corners of the overall fnaf fandom to do what the source material is doing but better... that'd be pretty fucking cool ngl

The overall idea of what's actually getting written and stuff is where I'd pobably lose people though. The idea is basically 'do what the books are trying to do but better', as in... 'expand on the fnaf universe in short, fnaf themed stories' and not 'Blorbo Adventures: The Twink Robots Kiss' kind of stuff. So like... new animatronics, new attractions, new Fazbear themed horrors, people dying or whatever, possessed robots, terrible business decisions, elaborate coverups and... I dunno I've not read that many lmao but you get what I mean. Basically, do what you want, go crazy, just don't write your Canon Blorbos as you normally would if you were posting on Ao3.

I suppose it's like... Fazbear themed original fiction? Kind of? It could include re-imaginings of stuff of course, since that's part of what's in these books to begin with, but I still think it's probably not fan community oriented enough to ever see the light of day, ya know? Would be really fucking cool though!

Could do an interest check on it I suppose? How many people hate the books so much or want to write general spooky stories enough to join a poject like this? I dunno. If this post gets enough traction, I'll do a proper interest check and we'll see about it.

Also if none of this makes sense, you can for sure ask for clarification my brain is... not braining today :(

#dunno where I'd start with it though #and how do you convince fandom people to write a short story that doesn't focus on blorbos? #obviously it COULD but like... the idea is books but better because we could so EASILY do better than them #which means sentient robots is uhhh probably something you'd only be able to imply? I dunno... #I dunno how to explain it #other than 'idea of the book series but we do it better because we can' #does that make sense? hmm #pop rox answers

[artvmisia]

TAG GAME

GET TO KNOW ME :) or don't lmao

I was tagged by @lovememadly92, thank you for the tag!

NAME:

I prefer not to use my real name on the internet, so you can abbreviate my url and call me artemis.

PRONOUNS:

She/her

STAR SIGN:

I'm a Libra and I love having my birthday during spooky season.

FANDOMS:

I have a lot of interests but would only say I'm a true fan of certain series. When it comes to TV/movies, my current obsession is with The Boys in the Boat, I also enjoy Band of Brothers a lot (I had a whole BoB sideblog for 6 months in 2013). I watch the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions at least once a year. I have really enjoyed House of the Dragon (I'm a big fan of the ASoIaF books and read Fire and Blood), The Queen's Gambit, The Mandalorian, Andor, and A Series of Unfortunate Events (major childhood favorite), to list some shows from recent years. My favorite movies of all time are both Wes Anderson movies: Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Grand Budapest Hotel.

I'm also a gamer, and Kingdom Hearts, The Legend of Zelda, and Fire Emblem are among my top favorites.

FAVOURITE COLOUR:

Pastel pink, and black.

FAVOURITE SONG:

I don't have a singular favorite song (does anybody?), but I do have ones that always put me in a good mood: Baby Good Night by B1A4 (kpop) and Bitter Song to Sugar Step by Unison Square Garden (jpop)

FAVOURITE AUTHOR (OF ANYTHING READABLE - BOOKS, FANFICS, ZINES, WEBTOONS, WHATEVER!):

I don't really have a favorite author these days but if I had to answer, Lemony Snicket/Daniel Handler is the one whose writing style I admire the most and has continued to influence my artistry from childhood on.

FAVOURITE FIC TYPE:

Mutual pining? One-sided is also good although I don't read many fics.

FAVOURITE HOLIDAY:

Halloween and Christmas.

HOBBIES:

Gaming, reading, occasionally making art. I call myself a writer but haven't written anything in over a year so I need to get on that.

FUN FACTS ABOUT ME:

I've technically been on tumblr since 2011/2012, but after around 2016 I gave up my original blog and jumped around a few others. Back to multifandom/personal blogging now and hoping it'll stick.

I was never a tumblr content creator until now, the first and last time I made a gif was in 2013. Boys in the Boat fandom, you're welcome.

Non-fandom interests of mine: ornithology, historical costuming, Victorian/Gilded Age/Edwardian social history

Tagging my bitb mutuals, @foxhollow18, @sidraofthewildflowers, @dustyjumpwjngs, @gnfard, @xxluckystrike

#tag game #I deleted a few questions that I didn't want to answer so feel free to find the original version if you want all the questions

[everygame]

Dead Space (Xbox 360)

Developed/Published by: EA Redwood Shores / EA Released: 13/10/2008 Completed: 27/10/2023 Completion: Beat it. Trophies / Achievements: 600/1000

I wanted to keep spooky season going, so I reached into an old, dusty cupboard, pulled out an antique tea chest covered in cobwebs, unlocked the chains that bound it and pulled out… a 2008 third-person shooter! Ooohhhhh, scaryyyyy! I didn’t even play the remake! Oooohhhhh!

Damn, this is 2008 as hell. Usually I’m thinking to myself, like “how much have graphics really changed since the Xbox 360 generation?” and then I play this and I’m like “Oh.”

(Which I actually think is mostly down to art direction, but that’s probably another conversation.)

I guess it’s just funny to go back to a major triple-A release of the era and see it’s, like, not open-world (it’s actually sectioned into levels!) and the different sort of derivative it manages to be. Set on a space station that’s been over-run with disturbing monsters made from the warped bodies of the dead, it’s *cough* quite clearly inspired by Event Horizon and Bioshock, with a central mind-bending twist that you’ll spend three-quarters of the game waiting to pay off because it’s so bloody obvious.

There’s some good to Dead Space. I think the combat system, which asks you to shoot the limbs off enemies to disable and kill them, using weapons with really nice, clear sights so you can aim successfully, is inspired. It’s a sensible length, too, clocking in at under 10 hours.

The problem with Dead Space is that there’s really only one kind of scare: the jump scare. Pretty much every encounter is either walking into a room and having an enemy jump out, or it’s doing something in the room and having… and enemy jump out. Or several enemies. Every enemy, also, pretty much just runs directly at you screaming, and with plentiful “stasis” (an ability that allows you to slow down enemies, making it easier to chop ‘em up) every battle I had basically devolved into me making my way into a corner and waiting for enemies to run towards me so I could dismember them.

So unfortunately Dead Space becomes really quite boring long before you’re done with it, so thank god it’s as short as it is. It’s possible you might invest in the story more than I did, but I found it a pretty ratty bag of cliché at least in 2023, and the game’s nod to puzzle solving is generally just dragging things around using your “kinesis” ability, which leads to what I consider the nadir of the game, the final level where you very… slowly… drag a huge monument around on conveyor belts. In fact the entire ending is a bit of a damp squib as you shoot weak points on a big boss that I wasn’t sure why I was fighting???

Pretty disappointing!

Will I ever play it again? I won’t play the remake, which sounds surprisingly faithful, and I think I might have a copy of the sequel or the third one lying around somewhere but I’m not enthusiastic about the idea.

Final Thought: Playing this got me thinking about Event Horizon, and here’s a couple of fun facts: one, apparently the film was inspired by Warhammer 40,000, with Wikipedia claiming "Fans consider Event Horizon to be an unofficial prequel to Warhammer 40,000, when humankind discovers the Warp and learns of its dangers the hard way." They do???

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

#video games #games #gaming #retro gaming #txt #text #review #Xbox #Xbox 360 #EA Redwood Shores #EA #2008

[amadness2method]

Collab with @ineffable-human for A Big Spooky Fan Zine

You can find the fic, Scaredy Cat, by AnnatheHank on Ao3. 

It was a DELIGHT working with everyone on this zine project. We had so much fun!

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #good omens fanart #aziraphale #crowley #gabriel #archangel gabriel #halloween #costumes #dc #dc comics #the penguin #catwoman #superman #digital art #digital painting #digital illustration #artists on tumblr #digital artist #a big spooky fan zine #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #a/c/g

[yvesribastudio]

Good Omens fandom! Are you a fan of @caedmonfaith and all her wonderful fanfic on AO3? Here’s a way you can return the joy of reading one of the many Caedmon fics. Whatever you can donate is GREATLY appreciated. In fact... Our friends at @abigspookyfanzine will send you a digital download of their 300+ page zine, chock full of GO fan art and fiction, when you email a screenshot of your donation to Help Haley Smile! Check out their tumblr for their email and lots of great previews of the zine!  Haley’s surgery is coming up! Let’s make sure she doesn’t have to worry about her bills! Thank you Spooky folks! And thank you donors <3. 

#GoodOmens #Good Omens fandom #good omens fanfiction #fan fiction writer #fan fic author #fundraiser #good omens zine #a big spooky fan zine

[abigspookyfanzine]

Welcome back, dearest Hallowbeanies!

Hello, and welcome to the month of Halloween! MWAHAHAA!

*Cue bats and spooky thunderclaps*

For A Big Spooky Fan Zine v2 (1.5 technically), we’re going to be doing things a little differently. Instead of a zine this year (do to the fact that the admin is an overworked little possum but still wants to celebrate with all her Hallowbeanies) we’re going to make this a month-long event! 

Specifically, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to open up an AO3 collection that will be open for anyone to add to and special, S~P~O~O~K~Y Discord channel themed around Good Omens and Halloween! Contribution is open to anyone, but the Discord invites will be reserved only for those 18+. Invitations will be extended to those who have contributed to the event, so tag us on our Tumblr here or Twitter (@ABigSpookyFanZ1) once your work is posted and we’ll extend an invite post-haste! 

And, since I can already here you all asking, NSFW work is allowed this year in the collection, so go nuts, butts, and coconuts!

We will also be posting daily prompts from today until Halloween itself (but feel free to ignore) to perhaps inspire some art, cosplays, writing, creations, whatever your dark little hearts desire 🎃 So, without further ado, HAPPY HALLOWEEN MONTH (and here’s day one’s prompt).

#good omens #ineffable husbands #crowley #azriaphale #halloween

[unioncolours]

A 2nd Majsasaurus Year!

Today, 22nd of September 2021, it’s been two years since I officially joined the magical world of fandom. 22.9.2019 I uploaded the first chapter to my fic Shadows and Sand, and the rest is history.

I did a deep dive into my first year as a fic writer and active member of fandom last year, when it was my first anniversary. You can read it here!

In that meta discussion about my membership of fandom, I presented it as if walking on clouds. I was so, so happy and talked during all the discussion about my happiness in fandom.

Since that post was written, my life and also my perception of the fandom I am part of has changed. Change isn’t always bad, as I really had a honeymoon phase with fandom over a year ago, and the low after hit hard.

But let’s see what I’ve been up to and what I’ve been writing! The following year provided much change and fun things! Please keep reading 💜⬇

The first fic I wrote since 22.9.2020 was a Sakura x Ino fic. I had for a longer while been interested in writing a woman-loves-woman ship, which I had never done before, and as a wlw-person myself the urge to explore that part led to Promise me this is just a kiss. The pairing itself was chosen on rather random, it had to be two women and I like Ino, so I chose the most popular Ino-wlw ship for this for convenience.

I really liked writing the fic and it was well-received! It was the first time I had written a fic that was entirely centred around exploring feelings and having sex.

After this I jumped directly onto the next idea that had been boiling inside me for a longer while. Up to this point, all I had written, except the wlw-fic, had been set in the Naruto canonverse and I was itching to try to work with a multi-chaptered modern au! The pairing was of course my beloved Shikadai x Inojin.

It was during the creation of this fic I began to struggle. This was a new genre, as this was romance only and all my other works had been action and fantasy based, except the sex fic of course. I was maybe over critical and stressed, which resulted in me having a hard time writing it. But I made it. Was the sky always this beautiful? ended up being 35k long, and in hindsight, I freaking love, love, love how it turned out in the end and what it represented. I am very proud of this fic.

I “upgraded” as a fan by the end of October when I bought myself a digital drawing tablet. I began drawing fanart of Shikadai and Inojin and preferably them two together, haha! I still draw a few days a month and find it extremely fun as a side hobby beside the writing.

We are now in November 2020. By this time, I had completely finished my zine fic, Under the Scorching Sun, which I had written during September and October, for the Shikatema zine I was kindly accepted to. I was proud of what I had created and was eager for the rest of the contributors to wrap up theirs, so we’d have a wonderful zine for sale in 2021. It was lovely to write ShikaTema again. As the zine fic was about to be released in months from when I had at first finished it, I wanted of course to write something fans and friends could immediately take part of on the internet. I had hyped myself up to a state where I wanted to write a third and final story in my series To love and never let go, my epic series about Shikadai and Inojin.

Now, I should maybe have waited another month, but I was worried the readers would give up on me if I didn’t write it right away. In December, I began writing To find hope in the Universe, with my usual speed and love for the art.

What I by then didn’t realise or even recognise was that I was very slowly turning burned out. I ignored all the signs.

In December I wrote simultaneously as Hope in the Universe a fic that was part of the Shikatema server’s Secret Santa event. The fic’s name was The Ghost Stories of our Hearts, and it was ShikaTema, as the event’s name suggests. It was fun to write and despite the final big fic, Hope in the Universe, pressing down on me, I finished The Ghost Stories of our Hearts and was very happy with the result. Sadly, at this point the burnout began taking control over me, and I never managed to reply to the comments.

The 15th of January, I began uploading To find hope in the Universe. It was a lovely experience, even if it was tainted by negative feelings coming from my decreasing happiness and the fact that it didn’t do as well as To dance above the Stars, the second fic in the series. To deal with two very contradiction emotions, loving my work, the characters, how I have painted an entire world around the characters and how I knew some people honestly loved my hard work, and then the negative feelings coming from not feeling good enough and depressed, was a difficult thing to navigate and still is when I think back to that time. It didn’t help that during the process of uploading the fic I went through grief, and I chose distraction as my coping method. I kept writing and working, the only thing I ever knew.

Our pre-order of the Shikatema zine was in full motion by this time and it was a nerve-wracking time! Mostly because of excitement but also worry. I’m super happy for my friends who were part of the zine, with whom I could share all the excitement and nervousness with. The zine ended up making good sales, which made me happy among the uploading of the long fic.

To find hope in the Universe was completed 31st of March 2021. When I uploaded the final chapter, I felt nothing. It was so weird, so spooky, to have finished a long fic and a series on top of that and not feel anything. But deep down, beneath the layer of depression, I felt great pride.

That was the emotion that broke free once the burnout left me. Pride.

I had created this empire of Shikajin, a whole alternative timeline, an alternative canon from my own head and to this day, that is my internet legacy. I love Trial of the Heart, which I wrote in 2020, but if I have to choose between ToH and this series, I will choose To love and never let go in a heartbeat.

So, even if it felt depressing and hopeless in the moment, I look now back with pride and happiness. Never forget that. Never forget that I made that.

April was a curious time. I swore to not write anything, because I had by now recognised that I was burned out and needed to rest, yet managed to scrape together three smaller fics.

The first one was another wlw-smut fic, TemaSaku this time called Another Light. I wanted to explore that part once again. I wrote it in canonverse and honestly think the fic ended up extremely nice. Perfect amount of feels and sex. It didn’t feel hard to write at all, because the setting, characters and emotions were so different from the fics I had written the last five months.

Now more interesting things lay on the horizon! A new zine, the Ino-Shika-Cho zine called Beyond a Bond had an interest check during the spring, and later the contributor application. I urged in the interest check to please give us the next gen kids, Shikadai, Inojin and Chocho – my kids and babies, and when it turned out they were going to feature, I had to apply as a writer. For this application I wrote a one shot, called It’s just hair, and I loved this spunky little story featuring the best babies that I created.

I also edited one of my tumblr fics, And then I kissed him, into a longer, better version that I later in May uploaded onto AO3. It was once again a Shikajin, a sequel of Trial of the Heart, and it was a fun little project.

Now May came and I sent in the application for the zine early, which I now am relieved I did. I am happy that I did the work for the application in April instead of May, because in May I had a few breakdowns and another grieving period, which lead to complete creative paralysis. I didn’t write a single word during May, only uploaded the two one shots I had prepared in April.

What I did do in May was to read through the Shikatema zine I had contributed to! It arrived in the mail! I was so nervous; my whole body was shaking when I opened the package right outside the post office. The zine now resides on the parade place in my little zine shrine in the bookshelf. Thank you to the mods who made this a reality!

To my great happiness my zine adventures continued as I was accepted to the Ino-Shika-Cho zine as a writer and was assigned to write my favourite characters. I felt so relieved and overjoyed, mind blown by the sheer talent among the contributors.

On the other fandom front, June didn’t continue any brighter, with stress and mental pain still having a strong grip around me, despite the very happy news that I am still so grateful for. I wrote a Yamanaka family fic which to this day hasn’t seen the light of AO3, because of negative emotions surrounding it. I turned into a complete wreck compared to me in June 2020. In June 2020 I was flourishing, I loved what I did, I loved fandom and I loved the friends I had made through Discord servers. Now I could find myself crying my eyes out over a wip not going the way I wished it would. What had happened to Bex 2021?

I was so incredibly frustrated with myself, groaning in defeat when my hands just couldn’t write. I managed to push through 6k of what I called my “emo au” – more of that later – and finish the Yamanaka fic which is still buried, and on top of that I had the zine and another fandom event, The Naruto Photo Album, to create content for. Why couldn’t I do it? Why couldn’t I find happiness in something that once was my reason for happiness?

In the end, I managed to write 15k in June. My former monthly word count used to be 30k. One could think this would turn into the end of my fic writing career, or the beginning of a longer hiatus, but I am stubborn and want to meet the expectations of the people who love my content, so I didn’t want to give up. I wanted to try. I wanted to be whoever I was before.

Funnily enough, the healing came in the shape of the most self-indulgent fic I have ever, ever written, a fic I like possessed began writing July the 1st 2021. It was nothing less than a freaking fairy tale AU, namely a Shikadai x Inojin Peter Pan AU. I can hear you laugh at the silliness of it, but this whimsical AU gave me back my love for writing. I hyper-fixated on this story quite a bit and stopped writing on everything else, something I almost never do.

Only happy boys fly ended up being 21 000 words long! I knew it was a niched story, and true to my guesses, the story has to this day very low stats. Today, two months after it was published, it has just above 100 hits and 10 kudos, so for all I know, only ten people read and liked it. I try to not care too much, since I love the story and in some way, that story saved me from going batshit insane over my emotions about writing.

At this point I had begun writing my fic from the Ino-Shika-Cho zine, finding joy in silly scenes with my favourite characters and trying to heal. The writing process was frustratingly slow, but one word at a time I got forward and as of today, the draft is done. The pre-orders are in December. At the side of the zine fic I wrote a short fluffy Shikajin story, CLEAR, a story with almost no plot, because I knew how much self-indulgence could help me.

And then, I finally began writing for real on my emo au, A gang of fallen stars, which has the first few chapters up right now! I have for the first time in six months a longer fic (if we don’t count the Peter Pan story) and it feels… good. This fic is once again a modern au, but in darker tones than my other modern au from November 2020. I honestly like what I have so far, even if I during June and July almost planned to never finish it. I am so relieved I managed to begin the upload. In September the Photo Album was released and I could show my two fics I wrote for it.

It sounds like this year has been nothing but misery, and at times it felt like it. However, there are a few fandom friends who brought light to my life when I couldn’t see it. The first ones to mention are of course my partners in crime, @notquitejiraiya and @thespookymoth. Together we created a server dedicated to Ino-Shika-Cho during the spring and it has been tons of fun with the members there! Thank you two for listening to me and for being my friends during 2021.

I also have to mention Soverel, who carefully begun taking contact through comments and likes on my twitter, and later through direct messages, and it has been a fun ride ever since. We’ve had lovely discussions which are very dear to me and your support means a lot to me. Thank you for being you and for drawing so many wonderful artworks you’ve shared with me. Haha, and for making me play Genshin Impact, even though I do it like twice a month!

Another person who has made my days so much brighter is @sugarriene. Thank you for sending me that one dm that made us chat regularly, thank you for popping up and sharing panels and your wonderful drawings with me, and for vibing head canons with me. You are a lovely person, and you make me happy.

Finally, I want to give a shout out to @yoboseyokyu for listening to me when I had to yell into the void and for making me happy with your cute posts on both twitter and tumblr.

Since September 2020, I’ve written around 195 000 words and drawn close to 35 illustrations, most of them of Shikadai and Inojin. Almost 200 000 words of Majsasaurus. I’ve created a Discord server and I’ve been part of two zines as a writer, plus a free PDF-project.

It has been a wild year. A year filled with passion for my favourite characters and ship, with the excitement that came with being part of projects and hyping them. It was a year where I learned to draw digitally, and heck what fun it was.

This also a year where I learned people can be mean to me because of what I ship and that fandom friends won’t necessarily always stay to be your friend anymore and how much it can hurt. I also learned what my limits are, and what punishment I get if I don’t listen to my own mind and rest when I have to.

It was a year, guys.

Now, onto the third Majsasaurus Year. Cheers!

And those of you, who supported me when I needed it – thank you and I love you.

#majsasaurus

[lady-divine-writes]

Good Omens - “Tricked and Treated” (Rated G)

Summary: Aziraphale and Adam bump into an intriguing man and his son while out Trick or Treating. Of course, it is Halloween, and nothing is quite what it seems ... (3415 words)

Notes: This is one of two stories I wrote for A Big Spooky Fan Zine. Be sure to check the rest of the collection for some amazing spooky works from other wonderful fandom creators :)

Read on AO3.

Knock-knock-knock-knock!

“Trick or Treat! Smell my feet! Give me somethin’ good to eat! If you don’t, I don’t care. I’VE GOT PURPLE UNDERWEAR!!”

The chorus of tinny voices dissolves into giggles as a multitude of pint-sized monsters, ghouls, and superheroes wait for the door to open. If it doesn’t … they won’t do anything. Not a one of them is older than nine, and their parents are standing a few feet behind them. But the song is tradition, even if they do tweak the lyrics a bit every year.

Last year, the preferred modifier for underwear had been ‘dirty’, and even though that isn’t age-inappropriate, per se, the parents are thrilled the quorum decided upon a color this year instead.

The group falls silent when they hear heavy footsteps approach from the opposite side. The brass knob turns, and the door pulls in. The children know what to expect, but still, they take a tentative step backward. It’s an old house, but a familiar one; that always has carved pumpkins on the patio at Halloween and handmade wreaths on the door at Christmas. A house that generations of children have run up to on October 31sts past and knocked on its door. Those children grew up and bring their children here to visit the same bubbly lady who never seems to age, always has a smile on her face, and a tray of homemade caramel apples wrapped in wax paper at the ready.

The door creaks open.

The children gasp in anticipation.

Then, she is revealed: a red-haired woman in a flowing, floral kaftan beneath a cozy pink peacoat steps out with her gentleman behind her, dressed in olive drab and menacingly pointing, of all things, his right index finger, as if he thinks it will protect him from the beasties gracing their porch. The woman looks at the crowd of masks and made-up faces surrounding her and gasps in mock fear.

“My goodness!” she says, putting a hand to her mouth. “Look at all these frightful goblins and ghouls at my door tonight! I don’t suppose any of you like caramel apples, hmm?”

“I do! I do!” Hands shoot up, eager to be seen. The woman smiles.

“Mr. Shadwell! Put your finger away and bring me that tray!” she scolds, grabbing up apples on their sturdy wooden sticks when they come her way and handing them out one at a time, receiving a grateful and excited, “Thank you!” with each one.

“I do believe everyone’s parent is present,” she says with a glance towards the ring of adults manning her garden gate, “but if they’re not, you let them know that these apples came from Tracy Shadwell’s own kitchen, so they’re safe to eat.”

“Yes, ma’am!” the kids answer obediently. Most everyone in the neighborhood knows Mrs. Shadwell and her famous caramel apples. For those who don’t, she ties a pink tag at the base of each stick with her name and telephone number embossed on it in gold, should anyone want to verify.

And while she hands out her wares, she looks over each child and comments on their costume – the hand-crafted along with the store-bought – with nothing but the highest praise. As the crowd thins, two boys approach, patiently awaiting their turns. Mrs. Shadwell spots the first of the boys and hands him two caramel apples. She knows him - and his chaperone - very well.

“Why, Adam Young!” she coos at the boy dressed in white satin brocade. “What a stunning costume! Another one from your grandfather’s collection?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the boy replies proudly. “French Revolution era. I’m a political prisoner, about to get my head chopped off!” He drags a finger across his throat in a slicing motion, tilting his head to one side and sticking out his tongue for greater emphasis. His eyes pop as he remembers the best part. “Look! Here’s my head!” He fishes around in his candy bag and pulls out a childishly executed but morbid prop - a bleeding papier-mache head on a stick. It vaguely resembles Adam, having the same hair color and skin tone, but drenched in fake blood and with X’s over the eyes. “I wanted to slather blood all over my neck, but my grandfather said no.”

“I can understand why!” Tracy chuckles. “That costume must be expensive! It looks quite handsome on you.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Shadwell,” Adam says with a dignified bow.

“You’re very welcome.” Her gaze lands on the boy standing beside him. “And you! Another scary vampire!” The corners of her mouth tug down as she struggles for a name. “I can’t seem to recall your name, dear. Would you be so kind as to help an old lady out?”

“I’m Warlock,” the boy says, speaking with a pronounced lisp and spitting his consonants, courtesy of the plastic fangs crowding his mouth.

“Here you go, Warlock.” Mrs. Shadwell hands him two apples as well. It wouldn’t be right to give him only one since he’s seen Adam get two. Besides, thanks to her husband’s help, she has a whole army of apples sitting in her kitchen, waiting to be doled out. “Thank you for stopping by so I could see your costume. Give your parents my fondest regards.”

“Yesh, ma’am,” the boy slurs, trying his best not to spit again. “Thank you, ma’am.”

The boys wave politely as Mrs. Shadwell closes her door. They turn together, stepping down from the porch, eyeing one another’s costume as if the two of them are catwalk rivals.

“That belongsth to your grandpa?” Warlock asks, looking Adam’s shimmery outfit up and down.

“Yup.” Adam holds his head high and gives the boy a spin so he can view it from all sides. “Your costume is cool, too. Did your parents buy it? Or did someone make it for you?”

“It’sth vintage,” Warlock explains, tongue tripping over his teeth. “It wasth my father’s when he wasth a boy.” He holds the ends of his cape out wide, flapping the wings it creates.

“Awesome!”

“That’s right, Warlock,” a tall man says, receiving both children when they reach the wooden gate. “It belonged to your ancient, elderly father.”

The man standing beside him chuckles, reaching a hand out to Adam as the boy walks through.

“Well, despite its interminable old age, it really is a smashing costume, Mr….”

“Crowley,” Warlock’s father supplies, extending a hand in greeting. “Anthony J. Crowley.”

“Aziraphale,” Adam’s grandfather answers, taking Crowley’s hand and shaking it. “Aziraphale Fell. This is my grandson, Adam.”

Crowley nods at the boy who is less concerned with the subject of adults’ names as he is with comparing his haul with that of the boy beside him.

“I believe we’ve lost them!” Aziraphale laughs as Adam and Warlock dive into their sacks.

“Bound to happen,” Crowley concurs. “We’re nowhere near as entertaining as chocolate. At least, I’m not. Not to be rude or anything but aren’t you a little young to be a grandfather?”

Aziraphale grins hard enough to make his cheeks ache. “That’s very kind of you to say, but I am much older than you might think.” He narrows his eyes at the man tousling his son’s black hair - suspicious considering his own hair is red. Flame red. Of course, that could come from a bottle. Not that Aziraphale is judging. It looks rather fetching on him. “Forgive my saying so, but I don’t think I’ve seen you or your son around here before.”

“Is that so strange?” Crowley asks, his grin growing tight, but not terribly.

It seems Aziraphale may not be the first person of the evening to mention it.

“No, not really. But we’re a tiny hamlet. Everyone here knows everyone else.” Aziraphale leans in a companionable inch. “All their secrets, too.”

“Ah, well, we’re not from around here,” Crowley admits with a sheepish grin.

“Gotcha.” Aziraphale winks. “It’s no secret that we’re one of the few neighborhoods around that gives out full-sized candy bars by the handful and real popcorn balls – not that stale, store-bought crud.” Crowley’s lips quirk, in shame it seems, and Aziraphale rushes to elaborate. “Not that we mind visitors!” he says, waving his hands as if to wipe away any doubt. “As long as the children have a pleasant time, that’s all we care about. It’s nice to see some new blood around here.”

Crowley stares at Aziraphale, his face blank for a second. His lower lip quivers. He sputters, then he laughs out loud (harder than necessary, Aziraphale feels).

“What?” Aziraphale asks self-consciously.

“Nothing,” Crowley says, reining in his laughter with a snort that Aziraphale can’t help but find adorable. “It’s just been a while since I’ve heard that term. But to be honest, we’re here strictly to socialize. We don’t eat candy.”

Adam, totally engrossed in his conversation with Warlock, catches that last part. His head snaps up, jaw dropping to the ground, utter disbelief written on his face.

“Don’t eat it?” he moans with regret on his new friend’s behalf. “Why not?”

“I’m on a special diet,” Warlock says, looking down at his pregnant bag of sweets.

“A special diet?” Aziraphale looks from Warlock to his father.

“I adopted Warlock from a hospital overseas,” Crowley explains, distracted momentarily by a new wave of Trick-or-Treaters headed their way. “He has a rare blood-borne illness that they were ill-equipped to handle.”

“But … is he okay now?” Aziraphale gazes at the boy’s face, particularly his large, sleepy eyes, dark circles underneath made all the more prominent by his pale skin. Crowley watches the way Aziraphale looks at his son, examining him with an expression of genuine concern, and smiles.

“There is no cure, but we’re managing it the best we can.” Crowley puts a hand on Warlock’s shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “It helps when you don’t have to worry about trivial things like money. Heartbreaking for those parents in dire straits who don’t have an excess of disposable income. A lot of tough choices to be made when you find yourself in that position.”

“Aren’t you the lucky one?” Aziraphale teases, knocking Crowley playfully on the shoulder.

“It’s old money,” Crowley replies, that sheepish smile from before making a comeback. “I like putting it to good use.”

Aziraphale looks up when Crowley does and meets his eyes – boundless amber eyes that catch the surrounding street lights and flickering Jack-O-Lantern candles in a mesmerizing way, as if with a single blink he could read Aziraphale’s mind.

Or hypnotize him into doing his bidding.

They don’t look human. Snake-ish, more like - slit pupils and all. They can’t be real. They have to be contact lenses. Fake or not, there’s something about them that makes Aziraphale shiver. Crowley notices, grinning devilishly. Aziraphale laughs.

He’s letting the magic of the evening get to him.

Or the magic of this charming man.

From the corner of his eye, Aziraphale catches Adam yawn. He fishes his watch out of his pocket and checks the time.

“Oh my goodness!” he exclaims. “Look at that! When did it get so late?”

“We’re not going home now, are we?” Adam asks, whining the way tired children do while fighting back a yawn.

“I’m afraid so, my dear,” Aziraphale says. “You’re just about dead on your feet, and I can’t carry you all the way back to the house. Besides, I promised your mother and father I’d have you tucked in before they got home.

“We’d better be heading out as well,” Crowley says, wrapping an arm around his son’s thin shoulders and holding him close.

“Do we have to?” Warlock asks, sulking into his father’s embrace.

“I’m afraid so.”

“All right.” Warlock turns to Adam, who yawns again, shaking his head to dislodge the exhaustion from his brain. “It was nice meeting you, Adam.”

“It was nice meeting you, too,” Adam says.

“Do you guys …?” Aziraphale starts, not eager to see this captivating man disappear so quickly. “I know you said you aren’t from around here, but …”

“We’re in Mayfair,” Crowley says, anticipating Aziraphale’s question. “About two hours give or take, as the bat flies.”

“Ah.” Aziraphale casts his eyes down dejectedly. “That’s quite a distance to travel for conversation and candy you can’t eat.”

“We’re also visiting family. Family that we’ve been looking into visiting more often, maybe even moving closer to, so who knows? You could be seeing us around?”

Aziraphale nods because if that question implies what Aziraphale hopes it does, the answer is definitely yes.

“Who knows?” he echoes, hoping Crowley catches on to the fact that he’s flirting. It’s been a while, and he was never very good at it to begin with. “We might end up neighbors.”

“Maybe,” Crowley says, the word a vague promise but a promise nonetheless. It leaves Aziraphale with the feeling that if those plans to move fall through, he may still see Crowley again. “I could take you out for a bite?”

Aziraphale smiles, cheeks flushing red and not from the chill in the autumn air.

“I’ll take you up on that.” Aziraphale reaches into his pocket and pulls out his business card. “You can reach me at this number. I have a bookshop in Soho. I’m there most of the time … even if the sign on the door says closed.”

Crowley takes it, slipping it from between Aziraphale’s fingers and sliding it into his inside breast pocket. “Clever of you, really. Who wants to be bothered by a bunch of busybody customers anyhow?” He smooths down the front of his jacket, patting the pocket keeping Aziraphale’s business card safe.

That subtle touch of his palm to the spot makes Aziraphale tingly inside.

“Here …” Warlock, watching the exchange between the two men, holds out his bag of candy to Adam “… I want you to have this.”

Adam’s eyes grow big as saucers, his face lighting up at the offer of a sack of sweets as big as his own. “No way! Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Warlock says with a sad, one-shoulder shrug. “I wasth gonna hafta throw it out anyway.”

Adam looks up at Aziraphale, eyes pleading. “Can I?”

“I don’t see why not. It would be rude to turn down such a generous gift.”

“Yes, it would,” Adam agrees, reaching for the bag and taking it reverently. “Thank you, Warlock.”

“Don’t make yourself sick eating all that candy in one night,” Crowley says.

“Oh, I won’t!” Adam assures him. “I’m going to share it with my three best friends! Hey! If you come back, I can introduce you!”

“You would do that?” Warlock asks.

“Of course! There’s always room for one more in our group.”

“Now, you see, you must come back,” Aziraphale says when he’d meant to say ‘We’ll see, boys. We’ll see.’ He doesn’t want to appear pushy. He doesn’t regret it an inch, though, when he notices the new look in Crowley’s eyes - the one that says he’s prepared to move heaven and earth to make that happen.

If it’s because of the promise of new friends for Warlock or to see him again, however, remains to be seen.

“I guess we will,” Crowley responds.

“Have a safe evening, Mr. Crowley. Warlock.” Aziraphale raises a hand and waves good-bye, backing away, pulling Adam along with him.

“And you as well, Mr. Fell. Adam.” Crowley waves back, turning down the street with Warlock in tow.

Crowley and Warlock weave through several pods of children racing up to houses and knocking noisily on doors. They walk against the flow of revelers, ending in a dark street with no lamps lit, no decorations on the porches, no Trick-or-Treaters anywhere to be seen.

“Did you have a good time?” Crowley asks.

“Yesh.” Warlock reaches up and spits out the false teeth that had been covering his fangs, glad to be rid of them at long last. “That was a blast! Adam and his granddad are really nice. Don’t you think they’re really nice?” Warlock asks, vibrating with the enthusiasm of … well, an eight-year-old on Halloween.

“Yes,” Crowley agrees, turning one last time, using his supernatural vision to find the man and his grandson walking down the street. Crowley doesn’t believe for a minute that Aziraphale is that boy’s grandfather, but he couldn’t get a read on him … as in he couldn’t read Aziraphale’s mind like he can with other humans. Adam’s neither, which makes the two of them that much more enticing.

Aziraphale looks over his shoulder and bites his lip as if he knows he’s being watched. Crowley eyes the dent his teeth make in his skin, lingering on it and licking his lips. If his heart were still beating in his chest, it would be racing out of control by now. “They were great. With any luck, we’ll be seeing them again.” Crowley puts a hand over the pocket with the business card hidden inside and smiles. “So,” he says, clapping his hands in front of him, “are you ready to give it another try?”

“Yes.” Warlock sounds confident, but he looks ready to puke. “It’s just … I’m not as good at it as you are.”

“It takes practice,” Crowley says, and with a snap of his fingers (which is entirely unnecessary - he does it solely for dramatic effect), he changes - shrinks down, sprouts wings, keeping only his serpentine eyes and a tuft of his red hair.

Crowley transforms effortlessly.

Warlock manages the feat with a little less finesse and a frantic snapping of fingers, but even though he’s only done it about a dozen times, he makes a handsome young bat. Father and son circle the neighborhood once to stretch their leathery wings and then rise high into the air. From this height, they can see everything, the whole of London stretched out beneath them. Crowley manages to spot Aziraphale and Adam one last time, then heads towards the ocean, disappearing into the night.

***

“Here we are, Adam,” Aziraphale says, opening the door to the Young house and ushering his charge inside. “If you hurry, get yourself washed up and into your nighttime clothes, you can sort your candy until your parents get home.”

“Can I have a piece or two?” Adam asks, gripping hard to the handles of his bags. “Or seven?”

“Three,” Aziraphale counters.

“Five?” Adam negotiates hopefully.

Aziraphale bobs his head back and forth, taking his time on purpose.

“Four,” he decides. “Final offer.”

“Deal!” Adam takes it. No need to tempt fate any further. He races off towards the staircase, burdened by roughly sixteen pounds of sugar weighing down his arms, but stops at the bottom step. He looks at Aziraphale thoughtfully for a moment before he speaks.

“Aziraphale?”

“Yes, Adam?”

“Warlock and his dad … they’re vampires, aren’t they?”

Aziraphale smiles to himself and nods. Crowley and Warlock are as much humans as he and Adam. Aziraphale is an angel, tasked by the Almighty Herself to care for the Antichrist, ensure he never comes into his power and brings about the end of the world. He’s been on the lookout for demons since Adam was born.

Which should make striking up a conversation with a vampire inadvisable.

But Aziraphale doesn’t believe Crowley meant to do them any harm. He didn’t come across as the dangerous sort of evil. For one thing, he didn’t seem to recognize Aziraphale and Adam for what they are at all. And a vampire adopting a son? Aziraphale has never heard of such a thing. Vampires tend to be opportunists. What could Crowley possibly have to gain by doing that? Still, Aziraphale can’t let his guard down, not for a minute. He isn’t sure what Crowley was trying to pull, but he hopes he gets the chance to find out. “Yes, I believe they are.”

“Cool,” Adam says with an awe-consumed grin. “I hope we see them again.”

Aziraphale pictures Crowley in his mind: his fair skin, his steep nose, his red hair, and his snake-ish eyes. Aziraphale has seen his share of demons, but they’ve all been wretched. Not Crowley. Crowley takes pride in his appearance, that’s for sure. It reminds Aziraphale of the sad state of his wings. He must groom them as soon as time permits.

“So do I, Adam,” he says, planning for later tonight when young Adam is asleep. Wing grooming is a messy business, one he’d prefer to do in private. “So do I.”

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #ineffable husbands #ineffable lovers #crowley x aziraphale #aziraphale x crowley #aziraphale #crowley

[new-endings]

Chapters: 1/1 Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens) Additional Tags: Human AU, Sort Of, Dark Crowley (Good Omens), Human Aziraphale (Good Omens), Human (?) Crowley, Murder, Wendigo, Wendigo AU, Written for A Big Spooky Fan Zine, ABSFZ, hi i'm back at it again with dark fics, Cannibalism

After days of wandering the woods, a starving Aziraphale finds a campsite and helps himself to some meat cooking by the fire.

Crowley is more than happy to let him eat his fill. Crowley tends to him, hand-feeding him as Aziraphale collapses from exhaustion.

But it's only later that Aziraphale gets an inkling that Crowley isn't what he appears to be and all that meat has to be coming from somewhere...

a little horror piece I wrote for @abigspookyfanzine~ 

amazing arts by @theeinkibus 💕

#good omens #ineffable husbands #ineffable partners #dark crowley #human AU #horror #tw cannibalism #i wrote a v long cutesy halloween fic so i get to write a dark fic #as a treat

[ineffableplanner]

Newsletter #25 - The week of Saturday August 22nd - Saturday August 29th 2020

Cold Omens - a Good Omens Cold Open Fanzine (signups scheduled to open August 24th)

Ineffable Husbands AU week - September 20th - 27th

[NEW] Good Omens Celebrations - Birthday Edition! October 21st - 25th

Trickety-Boo - A Good Omens Halloween Event

Aziraphale’s Attire - a mini event on the GO server (see below for link to discord) (runs through August)

Good Omens Fic Rec Bingo - (no deadline available)

T-RECS Tuesdays (GO fanfic recommendations) (no deadline/ongoing)

#ButterOmens (ongoing multi media event(writing/art/whatever you want))

#twist-an-omen (ongoing multi media event (writing/art/whatever you want))

Encourage good feedback (no deadline/ongoing)

Celestial Harmonies 2 - zine - looking for staff! (appl close August 24th)

Thwarting Wiles Zine - BottomCrowley (18+)

Zine Interest post: Flaming Like Anything 2 (18+) 

Big Spooky Fan zine (appl close August 25th)

Zine Interest post: Pin Me Up! (18+) (only interest poll unfortunately no further information for the time being)

Good Omens Mini Bang is currently posting

Ace Omens Discord Server - Click here for information post

Do-it-with-style - runs various events like the mini-bang and upcoming Telephone Event. Takes all ages.

Fuck Yeah Good Omens Characters - give the other characters apart form Azirpahale and Crowley some love. Takes all ages, NSFW optional.

GO-events (this server is the one running the AUmens, RomCom and upcoming POV Pairs)

Good Omens Party House (18+) - Click here for information post

Good Omens Stitch-A-Long (ever wanted to learn how to stitch?) - Click here for information post

Ineffable Wives Discord Server - Click here for direct access

Soft Omens Snuggle House (18+)- Click here for information post

GoodOmens - A community for the book by Neil Gaiman & Sir Terry Pratchett and its adaptions to radio and TV with an extra large helping of Ineffable Husbands/Wives/Partners.

Ineffable Husbands, Ineffable Wives, Ineffable Partners - A community solely for Aziraphale and Crowley from the Good Omens book/radio adaption/TV series being in some kind of romantic or platonic relationship. =) Please read the "Rules and Info" section before posting/reblogging here!

Community Calendar (Trello) can be viewed here (it is updated through the week if I hear of any events to add).

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If you have an event you want to add to the calendar and the weekly Newsletter, don’t hesitate to let me know either in the asks/PM or via ineffableplanner (@) gmail dot com.

Also, feel free to share this post. This blog is NOT for reblogging of events, but for listing and perhaps making it a bit easier for everyone to keep track of these events before they’ve come AND gone ;)

As always, thank you to Goodomensevents​, Thegoodomensdumpster (yes - I get a lot of info off these two so follow them!)​ and those of you who PM/email me event info. This would be so much harder without you all.

This newsletter is mirrored on pillowfort and tumblr

If you want updates on other SoMe, check the linktree

(please note that preorders of zines has moved to the Wednesday Spotlight post.)

* This is something tumblr never learned but PF has adopted from the old LJ format - if anyone wants a PF invite, just ask - we get 3 per week anyway to give away and there are pillowforters who will happily share invites.

#ineffableplanner #good omens #good omens newsletter #good omens events #good omens zines

[dotzines]

Artist Spotlights!

🎤 Bluzumara 🥁 Bom 🎷 boredlydoodling

🎺 Bri Penrod 🎸 Bubbles 🎻 C. Douglass

Interview below the cut!

Introduce yourself

🎤 Hi! I'm Bluzumara. I'm a  spanish artist more focused on digital art, and interested on manga creation. You can find me on Deviantart (Bluzumara), on Twitter (@AlmaViajero for art twitter or  @Bluzumara for personal) 🥁 Hi!! I'm bom, I do digital art and draw lots of cute ladies! I love dnd and I'm making an upcoming wlw zine featuring big women! I also love making new characters to sell to people! You can find my art at the following links! https://instagram.com/bombiibom/ https://twitter.com/bombombii/ https://www.deviantart.com/bombombii I follow back as well! 🎷 I'm an artist that enjoys both digital and traditional art. I love drawing cute girls and have way too many oc's. I'm currently in University studying character design and Illustration, and you can find most of my work posted to instagram. ->https://www.instagram.com/boredlydoodling/

🎺 Hello! I'm a nonbinary autistic guy. I love cartoons and drawing and I'm currently going to school to be a storyboarder. You can find me on tumblr at https://hey-lil-artslut.tumblr.com/ on twitter at https://twitter.com/HeyLilArtslut and on instagram at https://www.instagram.com/heylilartslut/ 🎸 Well... This is my first ever zine! I'm generally shy and awkward so please excuse how most of this is worded, I do tend to ramble, sorry;; I'm both a digital and traditional artist (I'm doing digital for this zine though hehe), and I'm currently mostly into Touhou and Granblue at the moment. You can find my art here!!: https://twitter.com/Bubblesdoodles 🎻 Hello, I'm a traditional artist.

Do you do commissions post? Where can we find the info?

🎤 https://twitter.com/AlmaViajero/status/1171118754249490433 🥁 https://www.instagram.com/p/B0zCPqkp7ii/ 🎷 https://www.instagram.com/p/By0mjHlFdld/ 🎺 https://hey-lil-artslut.tumblr.com/post/186570288557/heyyy-ive-been-struggling-financially-since-my

Do you listen to music (or tv shows/films/anything else) when drawing?

🎤 Yes. For some reason, I can't stand podcasts or anything like that, so music is my go-to option 🥁 I watch a lot of speedruns or gaming vids when I draw! I love having constant commentary to give me background noise. 🎷 Totally! I usually can't do anything in silence, but I find music tends to help me more with my schoolwork while a fun movie or tv show is put on for personal drawings! I have a soft spot for animated pieces while I'm drawing.   🎺 Yes, I listen to music, cartoons, youtube videos and movies 🎸 I do listen to music when I draw!!

What’s your favorite music artist/band? If you could ask your favorite band/music artist one question, what would it be?

🎤 Parov Stelar. I would ask them about the starts of their career. How did they started to work to the public and how scary did they feel about it 🥁 I'm really into Ghost right now! I love their spooky tunes and the melody go HARD! 🎷 I'm not sure I have one! I like all kinds. Fan creators. Vocaloids like Miku and Rin and Len, classic artists like Supertramp and I grew up listening to Nickelback, Def Leopard, and Bon Jovi. I would, however, love to ask every single one what their favourite part of music and performing is! Because to me, music is so special and can affect emotions and events, so I would love to hear what goes through some singer and songwriter heads! 🎺 My favorite band is Mother Mother 🎸 I'm not quite sure exactly who my favorite is, considering I have quite a few favorites, I guess I should say Mili since my favorite song is from them. As for asking them whatever question I want? I guess I'd probably ask them which of their songs are connected into a story? 🎻 I really enjoy the music of Lenka. If I could ask her a question, I would ask if her songs are based on her life experiences.

Do you play an instrument? If not would you like to play one? Which one?

🎤 I don't play anything. But I would love to play the violin...Or realistically, the flute 🥁 Id love to play the keyboard or guitar! I'm not musically inclined so the best I could do is a uke or otomone (they're so cute hehe) 🎷 I play piano! Not very well, but I learnt it a few years ago and I still mess around with it from time-to-time. 🎺 I can just barely play the ukulele and the piano. I'd really love to learn to play the keyboard 🎸 I don't! I guess It'd be fitting for me if I knew how to play a trumpet, so that I suppose.

Which song(s) are you going to draw?

🎤 All Night, By Parov Stellar 🥁 A Thousand Eyes by Miracle of Sound, Night of the Werewolves by Powerwolf and Handmade Heaven by MARINA 🎷 I will be drawing the song "Melt" originally performed by Hatsune Miku, though I'll be focusing on the version covered by Youtuber JubyPhonic. 🎺 I am going to draw Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At the Disco & possibly another! 🎸 Ga1ahad and Scientific Witchery 🎻 Lenka - "Maybe I Love You"

What do you expect from this zine?

🎤 I don't expect anything. More than anything, I expect myself to be able to finish it on time! 🥁 I expect to see many great arts from other contributors! Find new artists to follow and new music to listen too! 🎷 A fun time and a lot of beautiful works of art that express how important and magical music can be! 🎺 I'm just really excited to see everyone's pieces! 🎸 I just hope to gain some experience and confidence from it! 🎻 I look forward to a friendly community of artists working together to put together a nice publication.

Anything else you want to add?

🎤 I see a lot of people with creative ideas as for today, and I can't wait to be a part of it! 🥁 I hope this zine is a growing experience for all who participate and those who view it can enjoy all the beautiful art we all put work into it!! 🎷 I can't wait to see everyone's pieces and how they come together! 🎸 I really hope everyone has fun participating or looking through this zine, considering this is my first one ever I hope it's enjoyable for everyone involved! There's so many great artists here to share their work!!

#Bluzumara #Bom #boredlydoodling #Bri Penrod #Bubbles #C. Douglass #artist spotlight #loop #loop artists

[abigspookyfanzine]

A Big Spooky Fan Zine!

Hello and welcome to “A Big Spooky Fan Zine”!  

“What the heck is that?” you may ask.  Good question!

A Big Spooky Fan Zine is a fun, casual, Flash Zine for Good Omens themed around everyone’s favorite holiday: Halloween!  It’s a PDF-only Zine entirely for charity, with a hopeful release date planned for October 31st, 2020!  Move over Christmas, outta the way Valentine’s Day, get thee behind me Arbor Day!

If you’re an artist and feel like drawing Dog in a Hotdog costume, or a writer wanting to write about Crowley and Aziraphale competing to scare the other with scary stories, look no further!  

This Zine’s emphasis is not on perfection, or profitability, but rather ensuring that all contributers have fun producing something that all Good Omens fans will enjoy!  As such, this Zine will have a “T” rating, though mild blood/horror elements are welcomed (and even encouraged!).  Smut, as well as excessive blood/gore will not be allowed.

Whether you’re a seasoned Zine veteran, or a greenhorned newcomer to fanworks, all are welcome to apply!  We’re hoping to fit as many people as we can, although, unfortunately there will be some potential rejections in order to keep the project at a manageable size.

Applications for contributor, Mod, and designer positions have already opened! Click through one of the tabs at the top of this blog! If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask!

#good omens #ineffable husbands #halloween #zine

[yoiprojects-n-events]

Hi!! I don’t really understand how all these event thingies work? Bangs, reverse bangs, zines, challenges etc. Could you explain them for me, please? 😅 Thanks!!

Hey there nony! That is a really great question! I would be more than happy to explain all the different events for you! I will even provide some example blogs you can look at too for reference (please note, not all of the example blogs will be active or current events/challenges).

Hold onto your ice skates because this is gonna be a long one. As such, I will put the explanations below the cut 💕

So I will begin with Challenges as they seemed to be the easiest to explain:

Challenges 📝

Challenges are generally based on Writing or Art prompts. These events challenge participants to create something based on a series of prompts for a certain number of days/weeks/etc. These types of challenges will most often be art-based, but not always.

For example: The most well-known event that would fall into the ‘challenges’ category would be Inktober. Although this event isn’t specific to Yuri!!! on Ice, it’s a good example to use. Inktober provides participants with a list of 31 prompts that an artist can use to guide their drawing ideas. Artists are challenged to post one ink drawing a day for 31 days based on these ideas. Even some writers use inktober prompts to create spooky stories every day for 31 days.

Applications or sign-ups are not typically required for these types of events.

Here are a few posts to check out with different Yuri!!! on Ice challenges:

100 Days of Makka Challenge, Pochatober 2019

Event Weeks 🎉

In the Yuri!!! on Ice fandom, event weeks seem to be the most popular (and generally the easiest to run). Event weeks (sometimes called theme weeks) as the name suggests, are generally week-long events that are often based on a specific theme. These themes can range from week-long birthday celebrations for a specific character, to holiday themes, or even more unique topics like fantasy weeks and ship weeks. Honestly, the sky is the limit when it comes to choosing a specific theme. I’ve seen a whole collection of crazy and interesting theme weeks in this fandom!

Anyways, once the event theme has been decided blog moderators will also provide participants with prompts or suggestions that span across seven days to help guide the creative process. 

For Example: In October I was a co-moderator for a Spooky Week Event (A Halloween themed event) that ran from October 25 - October 31. For each day we had two ‘prompt suggestions’ to help inspire people. On the first day of the event, our prompts were ‘Zombies and Monsters’ and ‘Haunted’. For day Two, our prompts were ‘Devil and Demons’ and “Autumn’. Then that pattern continued over seven days. 

Once the prompts have been released, creators will have a certain about of time to create something based on the daily themes. Then, once the event week starts, participants can start posting and sharing their creations.

Sometimes, event weeks will have a day called a ‘free day’ which means participants can create something based on anything that falls within the scope of the theme set for the event. 

Applications or sign-ups are not typically required for these types of events.

Here are a few event week blogs to check out:

@yoirarepairweek​ (Upcoming in January), @yoitrainingweek​, @yuuriweek2019​

Gift Exchange/Secret Gift Exchange 🎁

Gift Exchanges are when participants create artwork or written fanfiction based upon prompts or ideas suggested by another participant.

When signing up for this type of event, you are generally asked to submit one or more prompts or suggestions based on a theme or pairing you enjoy and would like to receive as a gift from another participant.

For example: Let’s say I am a big fan of Victor Nikiforov/Katsuki Yuuri Super Hero AU’s (One of my not so secret weaknesses). I could ask for my giftee to create something based on that idea (and you can certainly add more details than this). Then, whoever receives your prompts/ideas would then create something (typically art or written works) based on what you have suggested.

It’s also important to note that when participating in these events, you are also expected to create something for another person based on the prompts/ideas that you receive from them.

More often than not, these events are Secret Gift Exchanges, meaning that no one knows who their giftee is until the set day when everyone is allowed to reveal/post their gifts.

Here are a few gift exchange blogs for you to check out:

@victuurisummerloving​, @yoisecretskater​​, @yurionice-secretsanta​

Bangs 📝🎨

Bangs are traditionally challenges that require authors to write a story that is 50,000 words or more within a set amount of time. HOWEVER, most bangs these days, host much smaller challenges that generally only require around 10k or 15k words per author (and sometimes even less depending on the event)

Then, once these stories have been partly, or fully written, artists will have the opportunity to review the written stories or a summary of the story. They can then decide which one they would like to create artwork for (this is often called the claims or claiming period). 

Once the claims have been completed, authors and artists can converse (if desired) about the artwork that will be created for the story. Writers can often suggest to the artists which scenes they would like to see drawn, but it is up to the artist to make the final decision on what scenes actually are created.

Then, on a specific day, artists and writers will be able to post and reveal their works online.

These events can also be called Big Bangs or Mini Bangs at the discretion of the event moderators

Here are a few bangs blogs to check out:

@bigbangonice​,  @otayuribigbang​, @viktuuriangstbang​

Reverse Bangs 🔁🎨📝

Reverse Bangs, as the name would suggest, are the opposite of Bangs. For these events, artists create their work first instead of authors. Then, once their artwork has been created, authors can view the artwork and decide which piece they would like to write a story for. 

Once the art claiming period has ended, Artist and Writers can collaborate (if desired) regarding the creation of the written portion of the piece. Sometimes, (if desired) artists will even create additional pieces for a story based on what the author writes.

Then, on a specific day, artists and writers will be able to post and reveal their works online.

* Sadly, I don’t have any Yuri!!! on Ice blogs to recommend looking at regarding this particular category. The only Reverse Bang I found in this fandom seems to have occurred in 2017 and the main blog appears to no longer exist (I can provide example blogs from other fandoms though if desired, just send me a message and let me know).

Zines 📚

Now, while I don’t necessarily reblog Zine events on this page, I am more than happy to explain what they are and how they work!

The term Zine, which is apparently pronounced zeen -like magazine- comes from the term Fanzine (I’ve been pronouncing it wrong this whole time, whoops). Zines can be created by a single person or by a group of artists, writers (and sometimes cosplayers) who come together to create content for an independent or self-published booklet. 

Zines are often theme-based (i.e. Fairytale themed or centered on a specific ship) and all the content created for the zine is based around said theme. 

In order to participate in these events, interested parties will submit an application containing examples of their works. Once applications close, moderators will review the submissions and decide which applicants will be participating.***

Once Zines are completed, they are put online for fans to purchase. Some Zines are digital-only, meaning that only PDF versions are sold. Other Zines sell physical printed books and even merchandise items (such as pins, keychains, bookmarks, etc). 

Depending on the moderators, some zines donate all the prophets made on sales to a preselected charity while other zines split any money made between all the creators. Most Zines, however, either do a combination of both (donate half the proceeds and split the remaining money between contributors if there is enough) or simply donate everything to a specific charity. 

Zines are incredibly fun events, but I would definitely say that they are the most time-consuming. 

*** Sometimes, when Zines are online-only (PDF versions), all applicants are accepted. If a Zine is going to be physically printed, moderators tend to limit the number of participants to keep both the production costs and the sale prices low.

Here are a few Zine blogs for you to check out:

@yoidreadfulzine​ (applications still open), @onceuponayoi​, @phichimettizine​

Again, I do apologize for the length of this post but I hope I was able to answer all of your questions nony!! I tried to include everything, even the ones not mentioned, but please let me know if I left anything out that you would like to know about! (If anyone sees anything that seems incorrect/inaccurate, please let me know)

I will also create a new page on my blog explaining all of the above again so it will be easy for everyone to find in the future!

- Mystic

#nony #answered asks #yuri on ice #yuri events #Big Bang #bang #mini bang #reverse bang #secret gift exchange #gift exchange #drawing challenge #writing challenge #event week #theme week #yoi