Figured it was about time I create a masterpost to pin on my blog.
Name: Kogarashi, Amanda, "hey you"
Editor, (fandom) writer, freelance artist
Multifandom geek and generally crafty jack-of-all-trades (master of none)
~ I Draw ~ I Write ~ I Craft ~
Outside links here, but the most relevant is probably my Archive of our Own page.
You can buy me a cocoa (Ko-fi) if you want to throw a tip my way, and you can buy things with my art on Redbubble (slowly adding to inventory).
I also have a side blog for reblogging art I like, and now a side blog for reblogging other people's fiction.
I have a tag list for things like tag games. Want on (or off) the list? Just leave a comment on the linked post.
Fandoms, collected posts, commission info, etc. below the cut to keep this shorter on my page.
Quick links to my OCs:
Castelin Cousland | Aelinn Hawke | Tyria Lavellan | Saadrah Mercar
There are a lot of fandoms I'm in (or at least consider myself a part of, even if mostly on the sidelines). The biggest three would probably be:
Sonic the Hedgehog
Dragon Age
Mass Effect
But you'll find me posting things from other fandoms from time to time. If you followed me for one specific fandom but it seems like my hyperfixation has shifted, if you stick around long enough I'm sure it'll shift back.
I've got some sets of posts where I've put together a masterpost to link them all in one place, or have a collective tag for useful things. You can find them here:
Writing Tips (mine specifically; you can find more under the tag "writing advice")
Art Resources (I may not have every resource post properly tagged for this one, but I did my best)
My fandom headcanons
My tumblr dividers - free to use, credit is nice but not necessary, don't claim them as your own work or use them in commercial works
Yes, I do take commissions for both art and writing. If you don't see a type of commission listed below that you're interested in, you can always send me a message to ask.
OCs or canon characters (or both)
No NSFW
I find mechs difficult but I'm willing to give it a fair go
Digital delivery
Payment will be handled through Ko-fi (if you don't see an option on Ko-fi, message me), or you can send me a DM to discuss alternate payment methods.
What you Get:
High-res digital copy of your commission
Limited personal-use print rights (no re-selling, but you can get it printed on media/merchandise of your choice for your own use)
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Yes, I know SatAM Sonic can swim. I love playing with that fact.
But while it's true that my Flesh and Steel AU is very strongly based on SatAM, this is not one trait that carries over, for...reasons. Anyway. F&S Sonic? Well....
Anyway, let's traumatize a hedgehog!
Prompt 3: Water
“Nope. Nuh-uh. Not doing this. You can go on without me.”
“Sonic, it’s just water.”
Sonic glared out at the glassy-smooth surface of the high mountain lake, dug his heels in, and tried to ignore how casually Sally was pulling on the breathing apparatus that Rotor had supplied for this run. Around them, the rocky shoreline still held a surprising amount of greenery for something within the general radius of Robotnik’s attention span, but then it had probably been low on the pungent dictator’s radar up until it turned out there was a magic rock in there somewhere. Even now, evidence of Snively’s presence was limited to a cluster of hover units and a boxy mobile command station some distance down the shoreline, and something dark but unmoving far out on the water. Sonic and Sally hadn’t sabotaged any of it yet. Sally reasoned it was best not to alert Snively to their presence before they had to. Sonic agreed, even if it was the boring answer.
“In case you forgot, I can’t swim,” he grumbled, squinting as though staring hard enough at the water would make it all evaporate, and squirming yet again at the now-ever-present feeling of his bones crawling with ants thanks to the red Stone in Sally’s pack; Sally didn’t want to leave it at Knothole, just in case Snively could somehow track the weird humming buzz too. At least it hadn’t compounded with proximity to the lake. Yet. “And I sink like a rock.”
“And I’ll be right there with you.”
Blue eyes filled his vision, and he blinked and backed up a half-step to put some space between his nose and Sally’s as she leaned in to catch his eyes. “Wh—hey, watch it!” He could feel heat rising to his ears, feel his hackles stand on end at her sneaking up on him like that and the weird feeling of both an overwhelming urge to bolt and reassurance at her nearness. What won was tried-and-true performative bravado, too cool for her attentions or her sympathy.
Even if he kind of liked it.
Continue Reading on AO3
Oh, yeah. Also giving a fourteen-year-old boy surprise Feelings™ for his friend, because I'm an unrepentant shipper (though it's not really going to be more than inklings at this point in their timeline).
shoutout to the mutuals i actually interact with regularly & big apologies to the mutuals i do not interact with regularly or the mutuals who i used to interact with but now do not. ily all
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I like to think that AO3 and fanfiction are a bastion against dead internet theory. Sure, there's the AI and the bots, but at its heart fandom is still a community of passionate people going "LOOK AT WHAT I MADE" and having people go "THAT'S SO COOL" right back.
So yeah. You wanna beat the bots? Make things. Comment. The internet's not dead as long as you're still here making noise.
I'm not dead yet! Just...got waylaid by illness, which kept me from writing (or doing much of anything brain-intensive the second half of this week, yay).
But I have the second Sonally Week prompt written now, and late is better than never (and frankly, how many times have events said "there is no 'late' in posting"?), so I'm getting this shared now.
It's a Sonic story. The prompt is fire. You know where this is going.
🔥 VOLCANO 🔥
Prompt 2: Fire
“Oh, come on!”
The indignant shout on the comms pulled Sally’s attention away from the map she was trying to decipher, and she looked out over the low wall that hid her from the rest of the volcanic cavern to scan the twisted outcroppings and heat-baked stone edifices that jutted out of the magma pools below. Another Lightkeeper stronghold, also long abandoned to the ravages of time and the forces of nature, and now invaded by a swarm of excavating robots.
And a supersonic hedgehog.
It took a moment to spot him. What remained of any pathways in the cavern were hard-packed, so she couldn’t mark his passage by his usual telltale plume of dust kicked up in his wake, and his inarticulate shouting over the comms didn’t give her any clue where to look—and frankly he was lucky Rosie wasn’t there to hear his mouth; where did he even learn half those words?—but a moment later one of the half-crumbled ruin walls suddenly fell with a rumble and a cloud of stone chips and sparking electricity, accompanied by a whoop and a “yeah, that’s what you get!” directly in her ear.
She sighed and dialed down the volume just a bit, and went back to her map.
Just their luck that they’d chosen to go after the same Stone as Snively, though honestly that was probably for the best, if only to keep tabs on him, and actively thwart his efforts.
“Yikes! Saw blades!?”
Even if that meant having to race him through a volcanic cavern full of old traps.
Continue reading on AO3
Oh, fun fact: when writing the scenery in this one, I was not only channeling the writing I did for the Marble Zone chapter of my fic Awakening (link to the chapter in question), but also some of the visuals from Dragon Age: the Veilguard, specifically Sharksmouth Cave, because it's a massive volcanic cavern with ruins inside.
There's definitely no obligation to read, especially if you're not into Sonic stuff. 💙 But I love you all the same, so tag!
Reblog this if you would not only accept, but welcome fan art, moodboards, etc. of your fics
All of these used to be so common for people to show their appreciation of different fics and authors, and I think it’s a shame people don’t do it anymore. I love seeing fan work for my fics!!
Hey all Twitch streamer, Twitch has you opt in by default that your streams will be use to train GenAI. To opt out, you have to go your "Settings" and in the tab "Security and Privacy." At the bottom of the tab, there is the "Training for Generative AI" setting.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Thanks for the tags, @pixiedurango, @sorcerousadventurer, @sandcastlekings, and @redaresss, and to @jellyeliart for starting this. :)
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!
So I'm totally going to blame @arisofsky for this one, for sharing Jenny Baker last week. I'd also just started actually putting together playlists for my four DA ladies, because I'd done enough of those music games about them that I could have at least ten songs on each list. And while this isn't one of the Jenny Baker songs she shared, it's another one I found while scrolling through Jenny's YouTube presence and it fits my Hawke (and Fenris) perfectly.
Specifically the breakup phase of their relationship. Definitely works in a modern AU, but I think it even fits in canon, even though Hawke obviously doesn't move three thousand miles away to find herself again. He's left his fingerprints all over her (unintentionally), she's managed to fall in love when she didn't intend to, and she can't stop thinking about him or seeing him everywhere (maybe literally in the case of canon, but whatever).
Oh gosh, I've been tagged by so many people on this one already, I'm just going to drop my whole taglist at the end. Thanks guys! This was fun!
Get a screenshot of your OC's eye color and surround it with 8 things that are of the same color.
You know the drill. All four DA ladies, coming right up. These are, like, 75% vibes and only 25% actual literal objects that are the right color. 🤷♀️ Also I gave each of them at least one quote because some quotes came up on the vibes search and I liked them, but they aren't in the boards themselves.
Castelin Cousland first, and lucky girl, she's the only one whose eye color matches her signature color. Which also meant when I was looking at armor pics on Pinterest, photos of Grey Warden cosplay came up. Is it cheating? Probably. Do I care? Not in the slightest. 😁 Give me sea vibes all day long for this girl, and I'm happy.
Also that quote is definitely 100% the Fifth Blight motto.
The rest of the ladies under the cut.
Next up is Aelinn Hawke. Whose eyes are green, so her moodboard is green instead of red. And my goodness, was Pinterest being brutal to her (there were several quotes about pain and being the architect of your own catastrophe and all that jazz; I narrowed it down to two). Skulls, ribcages, broken glass, green fire...you name it. I know the tile at the bottom was labeled as a "healing hand," but I couldn't see it and not think about the icons DA uses to represent mages, at least a little bit, so that went in here too. Even if it really should be an arrow to represent force magic instead of a spiral.
I couldn't decide between these two quotes, so I just decided to use both. We've got the rot underneath Kirkwall, but also growing from the pain of everything she goes through.
Third, we have Tyria Lavellan. Who has purple eyes, so she's stolen Saadrah's signature color for today. And my goodness, was this the most lighthearted one to put together. Lots of flowers, lots of stars, lots of lights. (Also a glittery lava lamp that almost made it because of the whole "pink glitter gel ink" thing, but I had to make a cut somewhere.) I really wanted Tyria's optimism and compassion to show in her moodboard, and I think I got there.
Hence the quote.
Finally, Saadrah Mercar. Who has silver eyes officially (if you see screenshots of her with darker eyes on my Tumblr, shh, pretend they're silver). And so help me, Pinterest kept trying to just feed me textures, which was not helping. Definitely did some more targeted searches for her, as opposed to the others were I mostly put in "[color] aesthetic" and just scrolled. I couldn't not include knives, and also keys for a Rook who "opens doors," and if you've read my "Shadow and Crow" fic for her, you'll know why there's fancy but oddly-shaped silverware in the bottom corner.
Also I think that quote is perfectly her for how she goes through the companion quests, especially Lucanis's. Pretend it says "silver" instead of "gold." It's at least on the correct background color.
And now, tags! If you haven't done this yet, show me what you've got! 💙
I've been replaying Veilguard and it's so interesting to note how, during the time we're still in the Ossuary, Lucanis avoids using Spite's name for the majority of the dialogue: it's always <he / him / we> or "the demon".
And saying stuff like "[sighs] he says he can help" often prompts Rook to ask "who's he?", which is always met with "the demon". It's unhelpful and vague, but it feels very intentional. He's trying to distance himself from Spite. There's a couple of reasons why I see him doing it 🤔💭
To separate himself from Spite down to the existential sense. He's afraid of losing his true self in the corruption, a sentiment that reminds me of that note we find in one of the cells with a "failed experiment":
The act of giving something a name kind of humanizes it, which could be a problem. First of all, he doesn't want to get emotionally attached to Spite, since he wants to find a way to separate them. But the fact of the matter is Lucanis already emphatizes with the spirit.
Talking to him after Spite's "tantrum" proves as much - he says no-one ended up in the Ossuary willingly, not even the demons. You can tell he's conflicted between wanting to get rid of Spite and not wanting to think about it too deeply, because if he does, he might change his mind.
Isn't that why one of the rules in a Nuzlocke is to name everything you catch? Isn't that why sometimes people won't acknowledge what their relationship to each other is? Without a name, it's easier to let it go. Not to mention he can't be caught suddenly ~caring~ about Spite when the other companions (except Emmrich) are still freaked out by him.
So, instead of calling him by name, Lucanis is trying to establish that he's on the same level as his rescuers about this whole "demon" thing. If he started treating Spite like a person, suddenly there'd be doubt about how far along the possession is. Lucanis doesn't need us to find him to be more of an "abomination" than he already is.
I haven't ever chosen Minrathous and I don't think I'd be able to, but I wonder if there's a clear difference in treatment from Lucanis's end...
If you try the Minrathous route, you find out that Lucanis actually cares about Spite very deeply. Something I don't think we get deep enough into during the Treviso route. If you save Minrathous, you don't get the conversation in Café Pietra after saving Caterina and dealing with Illario. Instead, Lucanis has a dialogue with Rook at the fireplace in the Lighthouse.
Lucanis starts the conversation saying,
I've been thinking. Treviso is as safe as we can make it. So when my contract to you is fulfilled, Spite and I will go our separate ways. Literally. I'm going to seek out a way to separate us, wherever that takes me.
Which may initially sound as though he just wants to get rid of Spite no matter what.
HOWEVER!
The dialogue goes some fascinating places...
Rook: And what about the other person in this equation? How does he feel about it?
Lucanis: He dreams of freedom. I've... shared those dreams. He never chose this, Rook. Something must change.
_
Rook: If you can manage it, that's a good idea.
Lucanis: It's the only answer. For both of us, and for my family's safety.
Rook: So why don't you sound happier about it?
_
Lucanis: Being possessed... It's not like separating oil and water. Each element permanently infuses the other. Spite wears my face. Uses my skills. I know I've grown stronger, so... Say I cast out Spite, with all he's learned from me. What then? What if I free myself, but unleash a true Demon of Vyrantium?
First of all, I think it's interesting that not only can Lucanis use Spite's abilities to empower himself, he himself seems to have grown physically stronger from their connection, as well. He talks about it as though it's something that could last without their connection, too.
Second of all, he definitely sympathizes with Spite and has very mixed feelings about the idea of their separation.
Anyway.
Rook can be either reassuring and/or doubtful about it.
Rook: A demon who's worked in a team, saved people and made friends.
Lucanis: He'd lose them if I cast him out.
Rook: You keep saying that... like you'd miss him.
Lucanis: He's been part of me. He'd be alone.
Rook: Spite will only be alone if he chooses to be. But you can't control that.
_
Rook: You sound like you've still got some doubts. For all you know, Spite comes out with your knack for vanilla-and-nutmeg tarts.
Lucanis: Rook.
Rook: My point is, you don't know what will happen.
Lucanis: I know that Spite - a part of me - would be alone.
Rook: Spite will only be alone if he chooses to be. But you can't control that.
_
Rook: If it came to that, you could handle him. Or are you worried you wouldn't be able to put him down?
Lucanis: I worry that I'd... miss him.
Rook: If Spite gets his freedom, it's his choice what to do with it.
The conversation continues:
Rook: All you can do is trust that you're making the right call. For both of you.
Lucanis: (sighs) I know. But from someone else, it's easier to believe.
Hardened or not, Lucanis cares about Spite. He cares about him a lot. He thinks about him with compassion and a great deal of sympathy. He's so concerned about the possibility of abandoning him, leaving him alone, making him experience loneliness. Not only that, he thinks he would miss Spite, as well. What a beautiful development from how we first meet them.
i do think we should normalise being like. platonically enamoured with someone. perhaps i love and admire you dearly and there's nothing romantic about it
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saw a comment that misspelled “kind gesture” as “kind jester” and am now imagining a beautiful world where we praise good samaritans by calling them kind jesters. good on you, you gentle fool. you’ve made the world a sweeter and sillier place.
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