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Shade of My Enemy, Compelled, page 32

In which the nerds flirt.

Also we finally get a chance to really stare at the (canonical! Look at his beast form when he rears up!) shape of Ganondorf’s scars. While we have a broad and deep wound from the canonical heart-thrust of the Arbiters’ spirit sword, the vertical and horizontal scars are clearly of later origin and ragged in form, the angle hinting at probable self-infliction. But why would the proud, ruthless, and ambitious Ganondorf make such a choice, even stuck in a magical prison? It’s a tiny design detail that nagged my mind for years until that Dramatic Pause and Significant Look toward the Zelda in the throne room scene during a replay in ‘15 struck my brain at a funny angle together with the Arbiters’ damning words and here we are.

Thursday backlog pages resume today on Tumblr. New pages continue to be delayed by the highly inconvenient flare-up of chronic pain, obstacles to access of studio time in the few hours my bones are cooperative, and the ever-more-demoralizing demands of the Boring!Job that keeps a roof over our heads.

I am trying to find a way through, promise, but I won’t pretend it’s not incredibly hard right now. Every comment is a treasure and helps fuel the engines of spite to claw our way to the next goalpost. Work continues on the Even To the Edge series in the background, as well as the long-running epics Branches and Fate and Nothing Emboldens Sin So Much As Mercy. (The Wilds era Nor Shall Death Brag is somewhat on the back burner for now…)I know updates have been sparse, and I’m sorry for that. My health has not been great and my ‘free’ time is very slim these days. I make things in the odd moments I can steal around the edges of everything else — studio work no longer brings in enough to offset any reduction of Boring!Job hours — and when it is hard to muster the strength to return to the easel and keyboard, knowing that my dear readers are waiting for an update helps keep me going. (And if it beings you comfort to know, outlines and notes for the final arcs exist for all of it, and I do have a fannish next of kin as a failsafe. The stories WILL be finished. They may be slow and flawed, but never abandoned.) There might even be a spooky whumpy trio darkfic simmering for halloween…

Note that the story will always be free to read online, whether a new page or collected volumes on Patreon, weekly pages here on tumblr, or the prose conversion is available on Ao3 — current prose chapters cover volumes 1 & 2 (and the first chapters of volume 3) so if you’re new to SoME, this is still a good time to curl up with the prose or collected pages to catch up with current plot.

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My children’s suffering worsens day by day; they lack the most basic necessities of life, foremost among them a safe environment. The conditions inside the tent are deteriorating. It is damaged and unsafe, while insects, rodents, and snakes pose a serious threat to my children and their health. We need to build a safe life for them and provide the essential supplies they need to survive.

Please donate. You cannot imagine how even a small amount can provide a safe life. Please donate, even if it is just $10. Please.

Please donate to save the children and repair the tent to keep out snakes and rodents.😭💔