Two dorks

This is for chapter 15..

Originally I thought of doing another draw,ing but since it would be a lot of spoilers, I think I'm gonna do it later.

Baby's first AI-generated comment, woohoo! 🥰

It's tragic: as much as I'd love my writing to be described as "feels like calm after a storm"...this specific story is 1,5k words of Keith whump, with the most graphic description I've made of a character burning alive. Something very heartwarming, if you will, but not exactly calm.

[Side note: it did remind me that I didn't share this story here. It's a companion fic to @scorp2510's VLD/HSR crossover (which I affectionately call the KIAverse, since its first fic is KIA - Killed In Action.) I'm not sure many of you are into such a crossover, but it was the first flash-fic I wrote in a while, so here goes: The Pyre, VLD/HSR crossover on AO3. I need to remember posting my stories on AO3 and sharing the links on Tumblr more often. I have a stupid backlog.]

Anyway.

The comment disappeared since, but I'm slightly concerned that this is a Registered User, which means scammers now manage to make accounts in spite of the invitation system.

In my case, I'm somewhat blasé about it, since I'm not exactly looking for comments when I post (don't get me wrong, I love receiving them! And being enthusiastic along with readers is so cool! But I mostly post on AO3 for archiving purposes first and readers later.)

But for writers who really rely on comments to remain motivated, receiving something like this and realising it's fake might be devastating.

This is, thus, your regular reminder to comment on the fics you like, so that writers know that REAL PEOPLE actually, genuinely enjoy their work. Comment with your own words, with your own feelings. Emoji and keysmashes also work. Just be yourself and don't overthink it.

DON'T LET CHATGPT WRITE YOUR COMMENTS FOR YOU. DON'T LET CHATGPT RUIN THE STORIES YOU LOVE READING.

A special project for a special person and a special story!

Six months ago today, @scorp2510 posted the story KIA - Killed In Action, kickstarting the series Between Stars and Silver Rails.

A month later, I found out about it by some incredible stroke of luck and I fell deep. This VLD/HSR crossover was eveything I dreamt of, and even more I didn't dare hope for. It didn't even take me a week to take on a project for a fun typeset and bind for the first story of the series that was completed, File Code: HSS-CR-Δ-07.

Today, it's been officially six months, and the series is now over 360k words long, with 12 works (6 one-shots, 2 complete multichapter stories, 4 running multichapter stories. Also, some Easter eggs on my part, as a fun addition.)

I am 9 chapters late in reading, 5 chapters late in writing, as my current life does not really allow me to sit down and read/write. But I am stubborn, and I refused to not celebrate this milestone.

It is thus time for me to reveal another project that was in the works since the story was completed, but that I could only complete yesterday (right on time!): Marion's Adventure Book.

Marion is Scorp's Honkai: Star Rail OC, a sweet boy with the heart in the right place but clumsy morals. He's a Memokeeper who relies a lot on art to gather memories, and, most of all, who has synaesthesia.

The bind itself is Japanese stab binding with my faithful Dubletta Purple Blue, with a scrap of flower-patterned lokta paper that Scorp had admired on another of my binds not long ago, and the inside is golden chiyogami brought back from Japan by a friend. Everything was laser printed on sketchbook paper to keep the idea of Marion's drawing book. Lots of colours for a colourful child!

The typeset was a little of a challenge: since Marion has synaesthesia, colours are very important for him. I thus decided to put all the names of colours... in their colour. Except, here's the caveat: I'm kinda colourblind. A little. So there was a lot of trial and errors. And whining about colours to my ever-patient partner.

Additionally, Marion's story is not (surprise surprise) only a happy, carefree one. At some points, Marion is at risk to lose his colours: for this, I chose to desaturate the colourful chapter title pages as the story went, until the colours came back. I also toyed around with adding some effects on words, that seem very logical intradiegetically but were hell on the printer. It still sort of works. Another win for FAAFO.

I wanted to keep the feeling of a children story, with pastel painting and fairytale elements, even if it's not all fairytales in Marion's troubled life. I went for a very round font, easy to read and with childbook feels (Comic Neue), that I pimped a little by adding touches of: - Century (for a formal but elegant style, when talking about Marion's Knight and his companion) - Coral Pixels and Aardvark Cwm Type (for a glitchy feel, when talking about the distortion or fragmented things) - Christmas Garden (for an elegant, flowery twist on the Garden of Recollection) - Austie Bost You Wear Flowers (for cute flowers in chapter titles), - Asian Girl and 2 Much Coffee (for handwritten things.)

The spacing wasn't easy. I usually make my typeset in a very classic way: no big line breaks, everything justified and square. Here, I went with something looser, to go with the representation of Marion's free spirit through Scorp's words and formatting.

Two mishaps, alas: a small guillotine accident that cut off the page numbers, and... falling short of the paper I decided to print on, which led to me having to switch and the 20 last pages being a slightly creamier colour.

Honestly, considering everything, I feel like I'm lucky it wasn't worse. Looking back, this is way too thick for an efficient stab binding, even with boards. And yet: it still works.

SEVENTH EIDOLONS FINISHED!!!

So, I finally finish this one <3 I made it for the 3rd monthversary of this Crossover and I'm so excited to keep writing about it.

A small recap since I have more fanfics on this!

Happy 4th Monthversary!!

5 days late since I totally forgot to upload the drawing here, but at last!!