Frotee's corner

My art, my writing, my opinions. Fun stuff by other people can be found over on soulcandy ;)

[frotees-corner]

Introduction

Hey, thought I might as well do a proper introduction.

I'm Carina, I write and draw to keep myself sane and my hands busy when I'm not working (ok, sometimes when I should be working) or taking care of my home and pets and family.

You can find an overview over all my fics here.

When I'm not doing either of those things, I occasionally do LARP (more often TTRPGs), sew (both for comfort and for costumes), read, play videogames or get my hands dirty in the garden.

Image selection likely to feature my ongoing hyperfixation(s). I don't do commissions (because who's got the time?), but I do take suggestions :)

[frotees-corner]

I want to be done fiddling with it now 🫣

Have one Rae and Key of Long Live Evil / All Hail Chaos fame! (As always, clicking on the image gets rid of the compression 😅)

Sneaky ping @sarahreesbrennan

[frotees-corner]

Now You See Me

https://archiveofourown.org/works/82654531/chapters/227692871

New Chapter up! In which Varric is laid to rest.

Snippet:

It takes Rook a moment to fully catch up to everything Bellara said. "Wait — what do you mean, weather service?"

Bellara grins. "You know how it's always raining for superhero funerals?"Rook shakes her head. While she's spent plenty of time hiding out in movie theatres, she's never watched a lot of TV, and certainly not sad reality TV.

"Well, it does, and that's not a coincidence. They have people on payroll whose sole job it is to come in and adjust the weather for big events. It's actually really impressive."

At the edge of her vision, Rook can see Lucanis rolling his eyes, and for once, she's inclined to agree. That does feel like … well. A lot of effort, just to make things look right."Isn't that … I don't know; I always thought it was bad to mess around with the weather? That it can wreck weather patterns and cause droughts or floodings elsewhere?" And it wasn't like Minrathous didn't plenty of rainy days all on its own.

"It is, that's why they're so careful with the timing, and why there are very few people both capable of and certified to pull that crap," Neve speaks up from her perch on a nearby table.

"Why go to the trouble at all then?" Rook wants to know.

Neve shrugs. "You'd be surprised how many battles are won in the court of public opinion, and it does help set the mood. It's also a subtle reminder of the kind of power Evanuris inc. has at their disposal."

[frotees-corner]

June art workout, week 1

I don’t like still-life, and flowers are very much not my forte, but I tried 🙈

[frotees-corner]

For this pride month, I want you all to know that my 8y old kid never once thought to question that the first successful romances on my Tomodachi Life island were Neve/Bellara and Davrin/Elek, and how much he cheered when each of them eventually got married.

Bigotry is taught, not born.

[frotees-corner]

WIP Wednsday

I wrote so many fun words the last couple of days that I feel obliged to share :D (More Superhero AU this week)

Rook shakes her head and sneezes, and everything seems to … drag, a little. Like the after-image of a bright flash. Drag, blur, tilt. No, wait — that's not just her vision, that's her body, and there's a moment of disoriented alarm before she bumps into something solid and a familiar pair of arms reach out to steady her. "Rook? Are you alright?" Lucanis' face appears in her field of view, flashes of purple glinting at the edges. "You have really pretty eyes," Rook thinks, except she doesn't think, not really, not with her mind heavy and slow like honey. It's not fair how pretty they are, really, because jerks shouldn't get to have pretty eyes and gentle hands and look that good in spandex. "You can't even see my eyes right now," he says after a short pause, and there's a spark of alarm fluttering through Rook's chest, quickly squashed by the numbness tingling in her fingertips. She can almost see them through the mask if she squints, but she doesn't really need to, because it "doesn't matter, I remember them just fine." Wait, did she just say that out loud? A giggle bubbles up in her chest and gets stuck half-way, because that's ridiculous; she wouldn't just say that. But she must have said something, because Lucanis is frowning again, and Rook can tell, even through the mask. Always frowning, frowning, frowning — the first time she saw him without the silly costume, at the funeral, when she fell off that stupid ladder, when he put a band-aid on her finger, when he grabbed her face a couple of days ago, not when they were infiltrating that illegal fight club. He actually smiled then — not when he spaced out way too close to her face, but when he took her home after, and she likes him better when he smiles. Her hand almost reaches out to wipe that frown away, which would be stupid on account of the mask, and because she can't complain about him grabbing her face and then turn around and do the exact same thing, though turn-around is kinda fair play, but that's not what stops her. It should be, but it's not. She looks down then, no longer at his face but at her hand, which feels like a ballon filled with butterflies but doesn't look like one, and she turns it around, trying to catch the trick.

Gentlest of tags for @adejareve and @sageadvice and @vorchagirl :)

[artworkout2026]

June Art Workout!!

Everything but People

Monthly Challenge: Thats it! No people! Yes, we all love drawing OC's and our blorbos and all that - but this is supposed to be a challenge after all so I couldn't make it toooooo much just la la fun times. So try just not drawing people. Draw a chair. Do a still life. Sketch a picture of that cup of coffee next to you. Since this one is a little different and more themed than the others the weekly prompts are going to be very loose with some extra options.

Weekly Challenges:

Week 1 - Still life. Optional Challenge: Draw your blorbos favorite object.

Week 2 - Animals (fantasy animals included!)

Week 3 - Buildings or scenery. Optional Challenge: Draw your blorbos favorite location.

Week 4 - Draw a picture of your favorite thing you can find in your house right now.

Happy Arting! <3

[woundedsoul12]

@sorcerousadventurer

[frotees-corner]

Watercolour round-up, part two!

Last one still lacks the tree reflection, but I ran out of time 😅

I also had my first figure drawing course today, and can report that I still have the same issues I’ve had for a while. Will not be sharing those sketches XD

[vaultedthewall]

Reading "Before Chapter 1" in "All Hail Chaos" like-

[frotees-corner]

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to work more on my art and try to actually gain some progress, so I gifted myself a watercolour weekend workshop and a one month figure painting course.

Watercolour workshop has definitely been fun today 😃 Just getting to paint without interruption for 4 hours with nice people all doing the same? Extremely soothing. (Did one more but forgot to take a pic)

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

Wait, am I the only one that understands the "What am I supposed to do with this idiot?" as a rhetorical question said out of anger and frustration? Lucanis doesn't look torn or uncertain in that scene. He looks pissed as hell.

I keep seeing people saying that Rook makes the decision about what to do with Illario for Lucanis and that he lacks autonomy or agency here, but I don't think that's the case.

Rook never tells Lucanis what to do in this instance. They either comment on the character of the Dellamorte cousins' relationship or they list Illario's crimes. Lucanis makes the decision to 1) let Illario live on his own and then 2) he decides whether Illario should be forgiven or imprisoned. Yes, the text of the dialogue options themselves on the wheel is misleading and the interface tells you what will happen depending on the dialogue option you select for clarity, and yes, Lucanis's decision is inspired by Rook's words, but Rook never states what Lucanis should do.

Rook only says this: "He tried to kill you and got you imprisoned. And kidnapped the First Talon. And made a deal with the Venatori."

Or this: "Didn't you tell me he was basically your brother and your closest childhood friend?"

Nothing else.

So, what happens when you choose, e.g., imprisonment on the dialogue wheel is that Rook says, "He sucks!" and Lucanis is like, "Right, let's lock him up." If forgiveness is chosen, Rook goes, "You care about him, though," and Lucanis sighs the sigh of the century and is like, "Yeah, he's still family, so we'll keep an eye on him." In both cases, he also immediately commands Viago what to do with him.

Sometimes I feel like people look too much at the interface and not at what the characters actually say, as in, what words actually leave their mouths. But I also understand that the text on the dialogue wheel is what it is, so I guess I can't blame anyone for it. Maybe I'm wrong to assume that if those words aren't actually spoken, they don't count?

The writing of Lucanis as the First Talon certainly leaves something to be desired. As other people have mentioned, he doesn't seem to give input on things he probably should after becoming the First Talon, even though "the Crows rule Antiva" and Lucanis is on the very top of that food chain now. However, I don't think that the decision about Illario's fate is one of those problems. It works with the themes the game sets up for him and Rook doesn't decide here any more than with any of the other companions.

Or maybe I'm dumb, idk. As I said, that's just the impression I've got.

[I also find Caterina's choice to make him the First Talon then and there infuriating in a very immersive way (positive) and in character for her, and Lucanis's "Eh, Caterina is still in charge," afterwards quite in character for him, as well, especially at first. Yeah, I'd have loved it if the game had eventually worked its way to Lucanis making a decision for himself whether he wanted to keep the title but would stand up to Caterina more or whether he'd just say fuck it and leave. From the datamined content, it seems that they might've wanted to do that, but alas, due to the development hell we've got what we've got. But that's a whole another can. In this post, I wanted to focus on Illario, specifically.]

[broodwoof]

reblog if you are veilguard positive!

i've found my little zone in fandom that i'm comfortable in, but it occurs to me that others are still struggling to find the people who actually enjoy this game! and who talk about it!

so please do reply or reblog if you're veilguard positive and talk about it uwu

[frotees-corner]

An Advanced Course on Handling Prophecies

https://archiveofourown.org/works/82123826/chapters/226434511

New Chapter up! In which we start to steer this show on the road again.

Snippet:

Elora spent a long time staring at the door after they had finally said their goodbyes and Lace, Taash and Davrin had disappeared from view. If she just didn't blink, she might be able to avoid an unseemly public display of emotion. Not that she was disinclined, generally, but she hated crying where others could see. People had a nasty tendency to stop taking you seriously when they saw you crying, no matter the cause — anger and frustration were judged just as harshly as grief and disapointment.

Unfortunately, Lucanis chose that moment to wrap his arm around her shoulder, lightly pulling her against him. "I will miss them, too," he murmured, and her composure fractured. She managed to bite down on the sob that was building in her throat, because that was one step too far, but she couldn't stop the sniffle, or the way her eyes overflowed on the next blink.

As long as her friends had been nearby, Elora had been able to hang on to the pretence that this was simply a … particularly weird kind of vacation. Visit the Antivan capital, see the sights, spend some time at the palace pretending to be a princess; if it ever became too much, escape was right around the corner in the guise of familiar smiles over at the nice Inn a little ways down the road. A little fairytale fantasy in compensation for breaking a curse and saving a life.

There was no escape anymore, no pretence to cling to; this was her life now, for better or worse. Not terribly worse, not when Lucanis gently turned her around and held her close while she buried her face in his neck, but it still felt a little like stepping off a cliff, vertigo dragging at her insides as she waited for the inevitable crash.

There was no bone-shattering impact, of course; only the gentle strokes of Lucanis hand up and down her back until her eyes stopped leaking and she felt like she could breathe again. "'m sorry," she mumbled, straightening up with a sigh, "for getting your shirt wet."

"I don't mind," Lucanis informed her with a smile, "I have plenty." The hands that had been wrapped around her back lifted to carefully wipe the tear marks off her cheeks before he leaned in to place a soft kiss to her forehead, and Elora had to bite her lip to stop herself from breaking into tears again. Not that she was going to complain about his gentle care; she'd been on the run for long enough that she barely remembered what it felt like to rest her head on someone's shoulder and have a good cry when she was feeling down.

If only it didn't make pulling herself together that much harder.

Her smile was still a little shaky when he pulled back, searching eyes scanning her face to look for trouble. "I'm okay," she informed him, and if it wasn't entirely true just yet, it would be.

As long as she was allowed to keep him, she could make this work. One of the advantages of being a princess was that there weren't a whole lot of people who could tell her what to do anymore.

[frotees-corner]

I want to be done fiddling with it now 🫣

Have one Rae and Key of Long Live Evil / All Hail Chaos fame! (As always, clicking on the image gets rid of the compression 😅)

Sneaky ping @sarahreesbrennan

[frotees-corner]

I want to be done fiddling with it now 🫣

Have one Rae and Key of Long Live Evil / All Hail Chaos fame! (As always, clicking on the image gets rid of the compression 😅)

Sneaky ping @sarahreesbrennan

[frotees-corner]

… love these moments where I’m almost finished with a drawing - except for those last details that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to do correctly 🙈

Of course I had to choose the stupidest possible angle to need to draw a (metal) gauntlet.

(And then there’s the necklace that I cannot decide how to design, because vibes and description are clashing a little …)

[frotees-corner]

WIP Wednesday

Right, I wanted to do these more regularly, didn't I? Here, have a snippet from the chapter I'm currently working on.

Down they went, round and round the narrow tunnel. The stairs were slippery with moisture, and Elora trailed her hand along the rough stone walls for balance. There was no railing to hold on to, and no light safe for the flickering torchlight ahead and behind, reflected here and there in shallow puddles. They walked on for what felt like hours but almost certainly wasn't, until Elora would have sworn they should be well past the bottom of the pond, and then a few minutes more until the quality of the light ahead changed. It didn't get much brighter, not exactly, but the soldiers ahead of her disappeared from view for a moment; they had finally reached the end of the stairwell, spreading out to allow their royal company to pass. The ground beneath their feet was more of the same dark, slippery stone, spreading out in what had to be a vast, natural cavern. It was ... difficult to see anything beyond the ring of torchlight, the glare reflecting in Elora's eyes making it hard for her sight to adjust. It should be pitch-black, considering how long they had wound their way into the earth — and yet. Glancing up, she could feel her stomach drop; the faint illumination painting pointed shadows at the edge of her sight, the murky shifting lights making it impossible to clearly see the ground beneath her feet? It was the very pond whose edge they had descended into, suspended in the air above, faint sunlight filtering through its depths. That certainly explained the moisture forming puddles on the floor. And all of a sudden, Elora was extremely glad that her magic allergy had yet to cause any existing spells to fail for anyone but her, specifically.

Very gently tagging @sageadvice and @dreamywritingdragon and @gloaminghagette :)