gradevus' writing blog

For a hot summer day, there's nothing better to wear than a breezy sun dress!! Isadora and Lydia escape into the Nevarran countryside for some shade and flowers, and to drink cool champagne by the river while watching the ducks swim by.

Rookie

The morning before the final battle, the team remember Harding.

The team shared their last meal together in the Lighthouse conservatory.

The greenhouse felt empty without Lace Harding, even as all of them crammed in one after the other. The flowers were still there. The herbs and the wisps and the pots that needed to be filled and the vegetables that needed to be harvested. But it had lost it's gardener. The mother that had nurtured it.

And they had lost a dear friend.

"She would have liked this," Taash said as they laid down some of the blankets for picnic rugs on the floor near the fountain. "All of us eating here together. With her plants."

"She would," Rook agreed as she laid out the present she had bought for Harding upon her empty bedroll. The warm, woven shawl would lay there unused for eternity. "I hope we can do a memorial for her after today. Something nice—like what we did for your mother."

Taash nodded—even though Rook could see the misery in their eyes of going through yet another loved one's funeral so soon. "I haven't told her ma yet," they swallowed. "I… There just hasn't been time. And I…"

"I'll go with you," Rook promised them. "After all this. We'll go together. You don't have to do this alone."

"Okay." Taash gave a watery smile. "Thanks." Davrin beside them gave them a shoulder bump and a reassuring pat on the back. They wiped their eyes and looked to the glass ceiling. "Thanks."

I choose sleep attire!! 💤 Night book club sounds perfect! I imagine Rook and Isadora excitedly bring their books for the evening but end up talking the whole time and falling asleep before reading much at all 😅

I can't resist the clown costumes!!! 🤡🤡 I imagine Dora and Artemisia are great at sleight of hand, card tricks and juggling!! That Crow training comes useful in a pinch!

Fake Text Creator: here or an alternative here

tagged by @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai!! Lucanis and Isadora's 7-10 year age gap starts to show when texting...

Lucanis WOULD sign off every text like he thinks rook will forget who she's texting, and Rook would think it's cute to respond in emojis (she's teaching him and he's trying LOL)

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Bonus spicy one below the cut (or well, rook is trying to be spicy)

tagged by @serialsforbellara!! i was going to draw this which is why i left it a couple days and then realised actually i have no time so i just went screenshot diving at lunch HAHA

some of these pics are by my beloved @cravingcoconutredbull who is far cleverer with the mods and the camera than me HAHA. I think I got a variety of expressions there!! (altho funnily enough her most annoyed expressions come from scenes with viago or lucanis...)

tagging if you haven't already and want to @strawberrypinky @tkwritesdumbassassins @brainwyrmz @woodlandeelf @vixenofcadmea @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai @cravingcoconutredbull @onlyslightlypsycho @serensama @khayr @serialsforbellara @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai @doctormur @bigshrimp365 @crowslady68 @nirikeehan @therivercrow @slothquisitor @chaosherald

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Template under the cut

tagged by @chaosherald!! how can it be june already... I thought i'd finish my longfic Rookie by now (i was aiming mid this year) but im getting there and only 3 chapters left!! furiously writing so i can post this chappy before i go on my work trip next week (where i will be unable to write and draw for 5 days 😔)

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Rook and Viago say goodbye as the Crows march for the final battle at Minrathous.

"I'll command the Crows today," Viago told her seriously as he stopped before her. He was wearing more armour than Rook had ever seen—and she could see the many pouches attached to his person were bulging with poisons and potions and antidotes and acids. "You focus on your team." "I will," Rook promised. "Viago—you take care of yourself out there. Please." Viago nodded once. "As will you. Don't be careless. Use your head. Stay alive. That's an order." Rook nodded rapidly—the reality of the situation of her Crows marching onwards into a warzone that depended on her team's success was descending all too fast. Viago paused. Then hesitantly held out a gloved hand towards her. An outstretched hand—not to a subordinate, but to an equal. Rook's eyes stung as she reached back to clasp his hand and shake it. "One more day. And we go home, Viago," she promised fiercely. "I swear it." She tried to convey all her feeling through the squeeze of his hand. Viago was gripping her back just as hard. "We're going home," he said firmly—as if the statement could bend the universe to his will. "This contract will be finished today." It was with great reluctance they finally let go. The last of the Crows disappeared into the Eluvian with a flash of feathers and swirls of cloaks as Rook pinned her House crest to her chest with blurry eyes. And Viago was gone. His absence as always, left a buried emptiness in her heart—but there was no time to linger on thoughts.

I'm sad every time I have to write them parting ways 😭 thats their emotional support Crow!!! (both ways)

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tagged by @serialsforbellara !! I also saw this go around and thought it wasn't for me bc I almost only exclusively listen to musicals but yknow what who cares I'm just going to put musical songs on this list!

I'll use LucaDora for the name and this sick album cover pic @cravingcoconutredbull took for me!!!

L - Letters | Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 In nineteenth-century Russia, we write letters / We put down in writing what is happening in our minds / Once it's on the paper, we feel better U - The Underworld | EPIC: The Musical All I hear are screams, every time I dare to close my eyes / I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died C - Carneval Del Barrio | In The Heights Maybe we're powerless, a corner full of foreigners / Maybe this neighbourhood's changing forever / Maybe tonight is our last night together A - All I've Ever Known | Hadestown I was alone so long, I didn't even know that I was lonely / Out in the cold so long, I didn't even know that I was cold D - Doubt Comes In | Hadestown Orpheus, I am right here, and I will be to the end / The coldest night of the coldest year, comes right before the spring O - Open Arms | EPIC: The Musical This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms / Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart R - Remember Them | EPIC: The Musical Remember them when the fire begins to fade / for the fallen and afraid / We are not to let them die in vain / Remember them A - All I Ask of You | Phantom of the Opera Say you'll share with me one love, one lifetime / Let me lead you from your solitude / Say you need me with you here, beside you / Anywhere you go, let me go too / Christine, that's all I ask of you

Noooo Viv and Dora will serve cunt at Caterina's fake funeral. All the Crows tremble in awe!!! Lucanis is shell-shocked. Illario is laughing. And I believe Caterina fellow girl!boss is watching reluctantly amused from the Maker's bosom.

(Also bonus clown funeral shitty photoshop bc its too funny. They could pull it off tbh)

what is more touristy than wearing gondolier outfits in Venice Treviso??

tagged by @genjyoandgojyoandhakkai !! getting a headstart on the wip wednesday train - i have not been writing this week but i HAVE been drawing like a maniac!! so last seven lines/panels drawn??

comic incoming feat zio illario ;) I'm on the last couple of panels now but here's a few WIP comparisons hehe. i was very amused with my initial sketches

and one more bonus bc i can't stop laughing at this one

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Also Rook annoying Jacobus

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