big shrimp energy

Create a perfume for your OC using the My perfume maker Picrew.

Thanks for the tag, @corinnesin , @vixenofcadmea , @cimmanombagel , and @grad-writes ! This was so fun!

I loooove a good perfume, so I had this one locked and loaded for my gals :)

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Leona De Riva

Top Notes: Bitter Orange || Middle Notes: Cardamom, Nutmeg || Base Notes: Vetiver, Cedarwood, Patchouli

Codex Entry: Leona smells of summertime on the Antivan coast. The younger De Riva spent her childhood summers in Salle, running through the famed orangeries and helping out at her family’s bakery. Whenever she misses home, all she needs to do is spritz on her favorite perfume and nibble on a tasty treat in the afternoon sun.

(Fun fact - this is based on the Never Ending Summer perfume from Maison Margiela’s Replica line! It’s a really nice mix of fresh and spicy.)

Serena Cousland

Top Notes: Lemon, Citron || Middle Notes: Pink Pepper, Jasmine || Base Notes: Iris, Teak Wood, Vetiver

Codex Entry: Serena's favorite season is springtime, when the flowers are blooming and the days are full of promise. Her favorite perfume is a mix of ripe citrus and jasmine, grounded by the earthy notes of teak wood. On days when her schedule is packed, she takes a moment to unwind by dabbing some on and thinking of a lovely spring afternoon.

(This one’s based off the Chance Eau Fraîche perfume from Chanel!)

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Thanks for the tag, @cimmanombagel!! Bit of a long one this week…

Part 1: Art WIP

Motorcycle Lucanis. That’s it - that’s the post.

(Just kidding, there’s a preview for Chapter 10 of Between the Lines underneath too 🤣)

Do I know what possessed me to make this? Nope, but the vision has taken hold of me and won’t let go!!

(Really, I remembered I have free will and can make thirst traps whenever I want lol)

Anyway, gonna work on the rendering! I can’t wait for y’all to see the full image :)

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Part 2: Writing WIP

Things are moving right along on Chapter 10 of Between the Lines! Normally, I have such a hard time writing conflict, but I’m having a ton of fun writing Rook and Lucanis beefing with each other.

Anyway, is it time to make my barbies kiss? Nah - it’s time to make them FIGHT 😈

Between the Lines

Chapter 10 Preview

“Oh, were you talking to me, Varric?” Serena’s tone dripped with mock-innocence as she folded her arms across her chest. “Because the last time I checked, I wasn’t the one trying to shove their teammate into the wall!”

She pointed her glare back at Lucanis like a knife to the throat, but he didn’t flinch. Instead, he held her gaze. “You had room.”

“I had inches!”

“That’s enough, isn’t it?”

“Of course you would think a few inches is enough.”

“Excuse me?” Lucanis’s normally calm, stoic demeanor was long gone by now, and his nostrils flared with frustration. “Mierda, I’ll show you what a few inches-”

Serena took one step forward, coming close enough to feel the heat radiating from his chest. Despite the intrusion, he made no effort to step back. If anything, Lucanis dug his heels in to meet her challenge. Annoyance flared brightly in her chest. “Fucking do it then, I dare you-”

Distantly, she could hear Varric mutter something that sounded suspiciously like, Maker save me.

Gentle tag to the friends if you all want to share on this fine Wednesday!

@corinnesin , @cravingcoconutredbull , @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @grad-writes , @jellyeliart , @khayr , @incessantstar , @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea , and of course, open tag to whoever else would like to share!

Thanks for the tag @cimmanombagel !

Excited to report that the writing bug is back!! The Illario chapter ended up re-energizing my writing brain, so I’m excited to get the plot and romance moving.

Scene 1 of 3 of the next Between the Lines chapter is about done, but the other two scenes require a bit more research on my end. For now, here’s what we’ve got!

Between the Lines

Chapter 10 Preview

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Lucanis had been standing outside her door for three minutes now.

No, really - she’d been counting.

The seconds echoed in Serena’s brain as she watched him from the end of the hallway. He was going strong at almost three and a half minutes now, stuck in the same dance: stand perfectly still, long enough for her to think about calling his name. Then he would reach out and firmly place the paper bag on the doorknob, before eventually pulling it back with a frown.

Repeat, ad nauseam.

All the quiet, smug confidence from before had given way to something much softer, much more hesitant. He muttered something under his breath before tucking the bag under his arm.

Again.

Fifty-seven. Fifty-eight, fifty-nine…

Aaaaaaand, that’s four minutes.

Serena pushed up from the wall. “You gonna stand there much longer? I still need to get back to the hotel, you know,” she said dryly.

That’s all for now! Gentle tags to the friends if y’all want to share what you’re working on :)

@cimmanombagel , @corinnesin , @cravingcoconutredbull , @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @grad-writes , @jellyeliart , @khayr , @incessantstar , @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea , and of course, open tag to whoever else would like to share!

Thanks for the tag @jellyeliart ! This week, we’ve got…

Marì by Hadha

THIS SONG BOPS. I love the guitar melody, and my favorite thing is the bridge where he calls her name and the bassline is muffled like you’re dancing at a club. It gives such hot vibes, and I love it. Definitely one of my favorites!

(Will this song feature in a later chapter of Between the Lines? Oh, ABSOLUTELY.)

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Gentle tags to the friends if y’all wanna share some music!

@cimmanombagel , @corinnesin, @cravingcoconutredbull , @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @grad-writes , @khayr , @incessantstar , @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea and of course, open tag to whoever else would like to share!

New Chapter for Between the Lines, a Formula 1 AU!

Chapter 9: Whatever it Takes

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Summary:

(AKA: The Illario Interlude)

Illario thinks long and hard about what it takes to be a champion.

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/70833881/chapters/238057596

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WAR IS OVER, AND BETWEEN THE LINES IS FINALLY BACK 😤

Sorry for the long wait, y’all - I apparently had a lot of things I wanted to explore with Illario. Hope you enjoy it!

(Image inspo: Lando Norris!)

Thanks for the tags, @cimmanombagel, @frotees-corner, and @jellyeliart ! Decided to do a little bit of a combo of both since I missed out last week.

Lots of exciting stuff this week though! I’ve made a ton of progress on the Illario chapter and I think (fingers crossed) it’s almost ready. Here’s a quick snippet!

Between the Lines

Chapter 9 Preview

“Illario.”

The voice crooning his name belonged to none other than Zara Renata, who was leaning against the desk with a smile on her ruby lips. A rarity, he figured - she didn’t look like she smiled much, given the lack of wrinkles on her smooth, fair skin.

(Or maybe she just had a good plastic surgeon. Even with her long history of working in Evanuris, she didn’t look a day over thirty-five.)

Zara pushed up, making her way towards him. “So good to finally chat with you.” Her voice was honey-sweet, sounding nothing like the harsh tone she’d used with Dathraata. Zara leaned in, giving him an air kiss on both cheeks as a greeting, and Illario’s body moved near-automatically to return it.

Wait, he thought midway through the gesture. That’s not a Tevene thing, is it?

She must have noticed the way he’d paused, given how she’d tittered out a laugh. The sound was light, like a spoon clinking against crystal. It was a pleasant enough, though it was laced with the feeling like she was laughing at some great inside joke.

“Such a lovely custom. It’s a shame it’s not common in Tevinter,” she murmured, before pulling away. “I certainly wouldn’t mind it.”

Her pale eyes flickered up and down his figure, and Illario‘s lips curved into a smirk.

Ah. So that was how she wanted to play it.

(Fun fact: the cheek kiss was originally supposed to be just Antivan, but then I remembered they also do it in France Orlais. If you think any other Thedosian nations would do it, I’d love to hear suggestions!)

Gentle tags to the friends @corinnesin , @cravingcoconutredbull , @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @grad-writes , @khayr , @incessantstar , @jellyeliart , @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea , and open tag to anyone else who’d like to share!

Thanks for the tag @cimmanombagel and @frotees-corner ! Bit late on this one, but hey, I survived the week! 😅

I’ve been having a lot of fun lately with drawing Veilguard characters as funny Formula 1 moments for Between the Lines. (And trust me - there are SO. MANY.) Here are a few I’m working on now! I like to think there are a lot of random shenanigans that have gone down in the Corvi garage over the years 🤣

Anyway, here’s a shot from Lucanis and Illario’s younger years…

And here’s a candid from Corvi’s latest group photo session…

Gentle tag to the friends @corinnesin , @cravingcoconutredbull , @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @grad-writes , @khayr , @incessantstar , @jellyeliart , @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea and open tag to anyone else who’d like to share what they’re working on!

Veilguard Characters as F1 Moments - Part 1

Remember Toto Wolff’s infamous headphone smash during the Saudi Arabia GP?

Yeah, I’d imagine Caterina would feel the same if it was Teia.

(This was a fun drawing exercise for Between the Lines! I’ve got a few more of these lined up so expect to see more iconic F1 moments crossed with Veilguard soon :D)

Antivans do NOT mess around when it comes to soccer.

(That includes our favorite Dellamorte cousins.)

Thanks as always to @jellyeliart for the tag! These are so much fun :) This week’s song is…

Silver Spoon by Erin LeCount

This song is my favorite of hers. The lyrics really stand out, and the way she sets the scene really draws you in.

I love how she uses small details to hit it home. You can really feel the warmth in the other person’s life through them - growing up with wooden photo frames instead of cold metal, having the light left on when they’d come back late, and eating at the table. You can really feel both envy and sorrow from the singer when they look at their life versus their lover’s.

The most striking part to me is the chorus, especially here:

I bet you grew up grazing your knees But the fall wasn't fatal like it was for me We're the product of love that we do not receive I'll corrupt every branch of this family tree

I love how the singer gives a harsh truth about their upbringing against the backdrop of a normal kid thing (scraping your knees). For them, mistakes were fatal but were simple things for their lover. And “corrupt every branch of this family tree”??? Paired with the earlier lyric, “you ask about kids, I don’t know if I’m able”??? MAXIMUM DAMAGE.

Your mother said I'm always welcome To visit, to take second helpings I said, "No thanks, I'm so full on resentment that I learned to fend for myself"

I also love the “so full on resentment” thing. It’s a really interesting contrast to the other lyric of “fed love from silver spoons”.

Anyway, I think this song is beautiful and gut-wrenching! Check it out!

(peep the rookanis yapfest in the tags!)

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Gentle tags to the friends if y’all wanna share some music!

@cimmanombagel , @corinnesin , @cravingcoconutredbull, @dreamywritingdragon , @emmi4793 , @frotees-corner , @grad-writes , @khayr, @incessantstar, @negligiblemoose , @vixenofcadmea , and anyone else who'd like to share!

Thanks for the tag, @cimmanombagel !! 💜

Pick a scene/chapter/whatever from one of your fics (or I'll suggest one!) and add any commentary you feel like. Why that line? How come this plot twist? What does the eyebrow waggle MEAN?!?! I want the dirt and I can only smash my face up against the glass of your stories so hard before I start to leave smudges.

This week, I’m nerding out about one of my favorite worldbuilding pieces from Between the Lines:

✨ The Points✨

Ok, fun fact - the points a driver earns in the Grand Prix chapters? Those do actually go to a canon leaderboard that matches the current F1 points system. With the way I’ve set it up, I know exactly who will win the driver’s championship, how big the points gaps are, and how well every single driver placed in each Grand Prix.

Here’s a quick visual into what the standings are right now….

Now, I know what you’re thinking - “Shrimp, this is so random! Why bother?”

Honestly, I’m a sucker for details 😅 And when I started writing BTL, I started asking myself questions like, “If Corvi’s the top team, how many Constructor’s Cups would they have won?” And: “How many championships should Serena’s mom have won?” Or: “How big should the points gap be between Rook and Lucanis?”

That led me down a rabbit hole of making an in-canon championship history (that goes back 35 years lol). I did have to make a few tweaks, but I think it’s reasonably realistic!

(Honestly, that deserves its own post, but here’s a quick peek. Corvi’s the leading team with 10 wins, followed by Evanuris at 7 and the Wardens at 6. And there are a few interesting little Easter eggs in that world champion column on the left…)

Then I ended up planning out each driver’s placements for the current season in BTL. It was really fun to plan out, and let me just say - points-wise, this season will be quite interesting to write :)

And really, the final race placements tell their own interesting mini-story about a driver’s racing style and their career. For example, when I was thinking about Jacobus’s race performance, I placed it in a way that would emphasize that he’s young but talented and working his way up - kinda like a Thedosian Kimi Antonelli 🤣 Which is on me for modeling Corvi after Mercedes…

(Man, what a sentence! 💀 Modern AUs are so much fun :D)

Anyway, that’s your daily fun fact about Between the Lines, where…

Thanks for the tag @cimmanombagel ! 💜

So, great news - art and writing are in full swing this week! Today’s spotlight will be art focused, and I’ll post the last lines I wrote for BTL later today or tomorrow :)

Anyway, WE’VE GOT COLORS! I don’t think I’m done with it quite yet (I think the main sunset lighting layer still needs more work) but everything’s starting to come together!

I’m really liking how the colors are turning out. Minor aside, but I love starting with greyscale and putting down color layers for the flats - it makes coloring things so much less overwhelming. Such a fun piece to work on!

Gentlest of tags to the friends if y’all have anything to share!

@vixenofcadmea , @negligiblemoose , @corinnesin , @wombatpumpkin , @dreamywritingdragon , @khayr , @cravingcoconutredbull , @frotees-corner , @emmi4793 , and of course, an open tag to anyone else who wants to join in!

Shamelessly share the song or piece of music that is your current favorite! If you discovered it yesterday, been listening to it on repeat for weeks or months or years, find it really meaningful, find it fun or funny, find it super technically well made, you like it just because, any reason at all: please share!

Thanks for the tag, @jellyeliart ! Bit of a late one, but eh, it’s still gotta be Friday somewhere :)

Anyway, this week’s spotlight is on…

Stela Cole!

I love Stela Cole’s music. She’s got a fun and interesting sound and her music’s got a cool, sexy vibe. Tbh this is gonna be real specific, but if you’re into Rookanis mafia AUs, I feel like Stela Cole gives that vibe.

Anyway, I adore her songs!! Her entire album, I Die Where You Begin, is a no skip album for me. Here are three of my favorite songs of hers…

Song 1: Now or Nevermind

Now or Nevermind has such a fun beat. I love the little drum fill before the chorus too! Because my mind is the way that it is, this song gives me Rookanis vibes BUT specifically after the pantry scene. Rook and the gang go do drunk karaoke at the Hilt, anyone?

Song 2: Midnight Killer

This song really lets my imagination run wild. I love the imagery she paints here. So fun!

Song 3: God Loves You

I love the beat of this song too, but the chorus is really what sticks out to me. Especially the lines: When you’re fading slow and the river that you cried is ice cold / Cheer up, baby, God still loves you / Even if I don’t.

Like, DAMN. Salty as hell 🤣 and again, because I am who I am, I imagine this song fitting well for someone in a messy situationship with Illario 💀

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Gentle tags to the friends if you’d like to join in!

@vixenofcadmea , @negligiblemoose , @corinnesin , @wombatpumpkin , @dreamywritingdragon , @khayr , @cravingcoconutredbull , @frotees-corner , @emmi4793 and of course, open tag to anyone else who wants to share some songs!

Thanks for the tag, @cimmanombagel!

Getting back into writing has been slow. Real slow. Despite being halfway through the Illario chapter, I feel like I’ve gone back to the drawing board so not much to share there…but hey, this week, I’ve got another art WIP from Between the Lines!

This week’s practice was on expressions, and for Lucanis, the vision I had was “the look of love”. (The other half of art practice this week was trying to figure out how to consistently draw Lucanis’s damn hair 🤣)

Anyway, I think the next part for this one is throwing on some colors and seeing how it looks!

Gentlest of tags to the friends if y’all wanna share!

@vixenofcadmea , @negligiblemoose , @corinnesin , @wombatpumpkin , @dreamywritingdragon , @khayr , @cravingcoconutredbull , @frotees-corner , @emmi4793 and of course, open tag to anyone else who wants to join in!

19. The most interesting topic you’ve researched for a fic

Thanks for the ask @sorrygoldfish ! Sorry for the late reply - this got lost in my drafts 😅

I do a lot of research for Between the Lines, being a relatively new Formula One fan, and I’d say the most interesting topic I’ve researched is: Grand Prix circuit design!

When I first started this fic, I knew I wanted to make special tracks for certain cities, so I looked at the distribution of street / race circuits for an actual Formula One season and made a list of which Thedosian cities get what. If a city has interesting features or a landmark, I put it into the design or history of the track. I love adding as much actual DA lore as I can (so for example, there’s a corner in the Ostwick GP named “The Wheel” based off an actual Ostwick tradition of running with a wheel of greased cheese). I also take note of the city’s geographic location, because if they’re by a mountain range or a sea, that might affect the weather patterns. Which, in turn, affects tire performance and race strategy overall.

(Race strategy is its own fun rabbit hole to go down - if you’re interested, I highly recommend the book, How to Win a Grand Prix by Bernie Collins. It’s a really good and informative read!)

Anyway, when I create the actual track, I base pieces of them from real-life tracks! For example, the Ostwick track was partially based off Suzuka since I really liked the S-curves there. I also research potential conflict points in IRL tracks that can be fun to write about. For example, the diving into a chicane part I wrote about in Chapter 8 is based off the Nouvelle Chicane from the Monaco track, which is one of the trickiest places to overtake.

All in all, I have so much fun putting a track together every time it comes up!