Tea's art blog

So I was looking through what people did with their tumblrs (since it's been a long time) and I figured this would be a good way to start explain the Method to the madness a bit:

Of the Hashtags:

s&s nutcracker: This for the current direction I decided to go in with the nutcracker retelling I have going. This will also be put with the older stuff as some ideas from there still are there but changed.

the nutcracker and the Princess: Anything from the old direction before I decided it would be sword and sorcery. Anything that was during that time will have this hashtag, and if it's a newer post, it would be put there for explaining the history of the idea and where it developed.

Feather: The main story with Tetsuko would be under this tag

Beloved: Jala's story.

writing craft discussion: this is where I would discuss what I've learned while being in a writting community but also catching on on some things authors use while I read. the writing and reading hashtag would probably be paired with this a lot of the time but not all the time.

I actually make them absolutely Terrifying

Okay So for some context. When I start certian villains they sometimes come out bland and not all that serious. That or they're not really not my focus persay.

When I decide to rework them into their own stories and are given time to actually fluorish into their own thing.

Examples:

Ca'thul:

How he started out: He was a Blood Elven Gajinka of Wack Lizardi from Felix the Cat the Musical. Some times a ringleader that went by the name of Antonio (yes this did come back with Alameth), But at the very beginning kinda was a joke. Also Overly Dramatic and pretty Theatrical.

What he turned into now: Chessmaster arrogant prick that is the literal head of the Winter Court. He knows his own power, and knows he's a predetor and is perfectly fine in people seeing him that way. Also very fae in his mindset. Dislikes his twin brother but gets that killing Lantis is a bad move and wishes he just doesn't get in his way all the time. Has the temperment of literal Winter. So can be as dangerous of a Blizzard or as cooling and fridged as the arctic. Did infact however kill his own mother and pinned it on someone else. Also made sure to have his father die a horrid death so he could take over.

Markos:

How he started out: First kinda Asnazi (the first king of the Mice folk) adjacent, then was a AU version of the Mouse King from The Nutcracker Prince... And then more of a bumbling fool version of this version.

What he turned into now: Fae Logic King that doesn't give any rat's ass (no pun intended) about human soceity norms. Likes their fashion but that's about it and thinks that humans are absolutely idiots for putting so many rules on everything. Absolutely Hellbent in murdering his twin brother Hansel (the Nutcracker) and that hate is so bad that he would be triggered at even a fauxsimilie of him. Feeling like his brother gets everything when he was the spoiled one of the two. He is however afraid of Ca'thul cus you don't tick off the King/Kelpie of the Winter court. AKA: "Father Winter". But easily could have beef with the Autumn court.

Waldo:

How he started out: He origonally was suppose to be an Ice King named Calder. Based on Flameheart from the anime series Socerer Stabber Orphen but a ruler and also he was based off of the song "Tragic Kingdom" by No Doubt when I was working with Celestia "Tina" Rotto Veira and her story. I actually didn't get far with this direction because I didn't know what to do with him really.

What he turned into now: an Ice Kitsune who works for Ca'thul (and other villains) as a Butler. Waldo isn't his true name as it's owned by whoever he works for at the time. This direction was created for the "Masque of the Red Death" story idea on DA that was a group at the time where Waldo worked for Thrax with a few other servants. That's where he developed into a far more terrifying person because he's the butler that forever smiles but if he opens his eyes, then you're in deeper trouble. he still looks based on Flameheart but with longer hair tied back as more foxlike features. (He also kinda creeps out Jadolf and Peirios since they also origonally had that base reference.) Enjoys playing "games" (usually resulting in the death of the other).

Jackle/Apep

How he started out: First. he was an AU version of Mephelis from Sonic 06. Turned Dark Furred Fox to contrast from Gin and Tonic. Then Gin and Tonic turned into Tonic who was a siliver Kitsune. Jackle then essenually turned into an "even darker" AU of Ryuma From Shinzo kinda? He was suppose to contrast from the AU version of Ryuma that replaced the the Mushrambo/the three parts and was a Black furred 9-tailed Kitsune still contrasting Tonic as well. He was terrifying within this version but he wasn't to the extent he could have lived up to.

What he turned into now: Bringing back the Mephelis references I pulled in more from the Egyptian lore since Solis was suppose to be the "sun god". After remembering things I learned when I first researched Egyptian mythology, I remembered Apep would have fitted Mephelis more and thus Jackle/Apep became what he is now (I also combined him with the evil Pharoh from Gods Reborn and thus this happened). The Eldtrich Egyptian God of the Void wanting to devour the sun. Though he'll find more amusement in watching Asfar dealing with the chaos now he's awake, but being a god who wasn't suppose to come into the phsyical plane he can actually warp reality around him if he let loose his own power. Also the AU Ryuma was changed into a Eldtrich Being Scholar named Nous Mimir and he woke up Apep much to Asfar chagrin. Whoops.

Cian

How he started out: Created him purely as a joke. He was based on the song "You'll be Back" from Hamiltion and he wasn't suppose to be an actual threat as he was bothering Tetsuko of all people. Vain, purely about power, and he absolutely hated Ca'thul, his father. Full stop. Tetsuko however could actually kick his ass easily because she was a war mage and he was more an annoyance than the actual problems she was dealing with.

What he turned into now: Where... do I even begin? He still has a lot of his mannerisms but it's more.... a Mixture of Eldtrich Horror and Fae logic happening. It's weird. He still absolutely hate his "bio" dad (Ca'thul) But he was raised by someone who doesn't think on the level of Fae due to that mixture. He's still hyperfocus in power but in a way that he wants to be seen, and he's Obessed with Elister but in a far more dangerous way. In a lot of ways he's more like his father than he cares to admit. Methodical, precise and absolutely okay to murder an subordiant if they ruin things. However... He has more of a temper than his father does and a little bit mecurial due to it. While rather new to his position as King of the Griffins (as a Hippogriff), he's proving he can wrangle the other Griffins below him into listening much like how his Kelpie father is able to wrangle the Winter Fae. Which is terrifying when you think about it. Still Vain, but there's more depth to that vanity than before, it's more him saying "I won't be ignored any longer" type of way.

I started to clean up the Playlist for my Writing and had decided to try to put some of the songs there in their respective story playlists on youtube. Gods Reborn however is a playlist I actually finished after the S&S Nutcracker Playlist on Musicbee as I needed some music to keep me focus as I write on the Sword and Scholar short story.

So without farther adiue, the playlist for Gods Reborn (Note: there are some egyptian feeling due to the setting is very egyptian based but also I tried to pull from the unsettling/uncanny aspect due to Cosmic Horror within it.):

Also Me: *Recreates mostly done Musicbee writing playlists so she can share them on tumblr and goes to try to tweak another Musibee playlist for the future writing sessions*

*After an hour of playing with playlists*

Me: ..... oh... I lost track of time. Let me work on that one Short story for September

*Writes 336 words on the short story and literally introduces Mummified Eldtrich Cobras that are coming from above and climbing walls as if it's nothing.*

Me: .... Huh had fun with that discription. *stops*

I may do a third attempt, where I can see if I can share Youtube playlists in total and share the link that way but I figured I can show the full playlist I've made up to this point for the Sword and Sorcery Nutcracker retelling since I may not be able to find all the songs on youtube but I'm sure gonna damn try. But for now have my Musicbee playlist set up in case you want to listen to the songs on your own time (Note if it's missing an artist is probably because I haven't found it yet as I'm trying to fix the meta data through Musicbee as well):

Edit: I decided to test this by making the playlist on youtube anyways. We'll see if this will work better than indivisual videos to the songs.

Spoiler Warning

This is a talk about Peace Talks of the Dresden Files, Book 16 of the series. So if you plan on actually reading the books and want to go in blind, do not read this post. If you don't plan to read it, or Care about spoilers and want to see if this convo intrests you into reading the books, then continue on.

I'm in chapter 30 of Peace talks so this is more of my thoughts and what I'm taking from the differences between what Butcher have done with the supernatural Vs what I've been seeing in Modern fantasy like Romantasy and urban Romantasy.

So earlier this week a friend and I were actually talking about charaterization of introduction of a charater. (Also a bit of the difference between Sword and Sorcery and Epic Fantasy but that wasn't as important as the first part right away). I didn't realize the talk we had actually came inline with this video that Hellow Future Me did a month ago about "Charater Hooks" and It's honestly a intresting point which I didn't realize. I had to rewrite the beginning of Elister's story because I realized it felt.... flat for her, and in Turn Cian's reveal didn't feel as profound. So I went back in time, but also it seemed like everyone liked it more and I had wondered what were the differences. Until this video came into view on YT (I am subscribed but there are times where I'm not in the mood to watch certian creators at certian times so I know I missed this one when it first came out.) It was the Charater Hook. Elister's position was shifted enough to show what the theme actually was. What I suggested was a form of Charater hook that helped the situation for the Friend's story. There wasn't a word for it when I was thinking on it, but this put into perspective why I looked up to verious books and how they handled writing. Having watched this video now, I think it does a good job in going in depth of these ideas. I always did like his on "Show don't Tell" video and the indepth conversation on how to do it without being "Just doing it just to do it." and how you *can* make "Tell don't show" work in moments you need them to. I'll post that video and a few others that would probably work in tantum with both videos. (One of them I think is a bit of a video he did before the first video I embeded as it mentions John Wick)

Okay I should probably explain both why I'm sharing the video and the title: How Themes can be absolutely important to story and writing and how some DMs and Writers do it without even realizing they're doing it. Or if they do, they're not realizing how much deeper it while working on it.

So in 2024, I went through some growing pains when I switched friends groups. But I also was going through some other tought things and I didn't fully understand what made this new group of friends so different in both the Tabletop gaming experience *and* the feeling my writing as being seen. I was enjoying all the Tabletop games, I'm actually having deeper writing conversations with others. But I didn't understand why it felt different in the past.

2025 Had me exploring that but not as deeply as I would have liked but I was also unpacking a *lot* of issues with my mental health and it was giving room to the thought. Then Critical Roll brought in Brannden as DM and two of my friends who DM games were talking about how they always liked Brannden games more than Mercers and I wasn't sure why but at the same time they also weren't fully sure. We all agreed it was maybe because he felt more like a home game than a production.

In this year of 2026? It finally clicked. Yes part of it was because it felt like a home game, but it's because it felt like one of our home games. My Friday games are always about the themes within the worldbuilding and charater dyamics. Both GMs do it even with improvising. My Wendsdays games *do* also have themes but within the more chaoic nature of our players cus most of us aren't "good" people in that world. Same with the way the one game I'm not part of but another DM shows me her story and built such a vibrant world even though it's heavily based on death. Theme is in the forefront core and everything else is build upon it.

Mercer's games are more like how other people play where theme is more of a garnish than fully intergrated into the world. It has more spectical and fun machanics but the story is weaving throughout in a different way than what Brannden does. So to my group of friends he feels more like a production even though he doesn't have a scrip.

This video had it click.

Which then brings me to how I feel like this kinda speaks to me as a writer. With another group of friends who are writers, We've talked about how writing with theme in mind is rather important and we look at the theme and see if it the rest of the things around it works with these themes. For the longest time I felt so insecure about my writing when even before I graduated collage because I didn't know what I felt like I was missing. Around 2022-23, it was brought to my attention about theme and that part clicked. And slowly it had been intergrated into my writing and I feel far more confident in my own writing because of it. It's not perfect but I feel like I can tell the stories I want to tell. I will have Mercerer to thank to at least getting me into Tabletop. I don't think I would have seen the storytelling protentual it could have if it wasn't for Campaign 2. I did however fell off it rather quickly after a bit. the way the side questing felt like it pulled too much from the main plot even though it shouldn't and they do feed into the main plot. From what everyone else says about Brannden's games the side questing also funnels into the main plot but in different ways than if they kept going with the main. Much like how the games my friends run their games.