#its-sixxers

[crownedinmarigolds]

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM YOUR LOCAL NOSFERATU and Quinn!!!!! <3 May 2024 treat you well!! Thank you every single gorgeous person who drew their characters with Ralph! Omg! I only had to do VERY minor editing, I hope that's okay! Mostly just filling in a shoulder or two! These are in kind of order but not really!! But all gorgeous and stunning!

@its-sixxers - Elaine de la Saules, Casimmir, Briar Mary, Adam Romaniuk @themarginalthinker - Blue, Charlie, Tweak @tzimizce - Quinn @confusedwithglitter - Orpheus @the-art-block - Oginn, Atena:ti, Lamb, and Wolf Mother @holly-bearie - Angelo @problemsynth - Nere @m4rloe5 - Charlie and hiding place

[wakinguponsaturday]

Almost a year to the day after first asking @its-sixxers if I could print out and bind Half Light (after figuring out how one actually does that), I've finally finished it!!!

She's 825 pages long, has some of the early pages warped from glue, and blood (?) staining the text block, and I am so excited to fall in love with Nines and Mary all over again. Thanks for letting me do this, it's been a really rewarding project and I got a new hobby out of it!!!

Please go read Half Light and everything else Six has written, she is immensely talented. Mary is my favourite character in Bloodlines bar none and reading her story endeared me to VTMB when the game itself did not. Six's Fallout works are also masterpieces, and I haven't checked out her newer stuff with Elder Scrolls but I fully intend to because even if I've never touched a Skyrim game in my life, I know I'm going to adore it too!

More info about the process under the cut.

SeaLemon was an invaluable resource starting out here because I barely know how to sew and I had no idea how to approach the actual construction of a book. I'm gonna plug her right off the bat because she's very beginner-friendly if anyone else wants to learn.

But before all of that I had to format everything in Word! Chapter by chapter I copied the text over from the downloadable PDF from AO3 and would scan through the fic to ensure the formatting was correct (italicization, bolding, paragraph breaks, etc). I'd do this for about an hour at a time over the course of a couple months, until I decided to do the rest of it all at once after one March night at 10PM where I decided to learn how to bind it all, because fuck it, why not. (Answer: I was freaked out about my upcoming departmental talk and this seemed like a good distraction).

Printing all of it just on regular printer paper (don't know if I'd do that again in the future, but it's what I had on hand) it ended up being 52 signatures, or collections of 16 pages (4 pieces of paper) folded in half. Pierced holes in all of those using an awl and an old phonebook to hold the pages open, and then used my old embroidery thread to sew them together. This part took me maybe two days because I was just so damn pumped about it lmao. I also don't have any kind of bookpress to weight down the pages, so I had made due with old textbooks and MCAT prep material.

It stayed this way for LITERAL MONTHS as I gathered all the other supplies - chipboard and brushes from my local craft store, PVA glue online, and by far the hardest part was fabric. I've since learned that you can make your own fabric using book cloth and basically anything you want (if I had known this book would have been coated in red silk I swear) but for now I just wanted to be sure it was something designed for this purpose, as the woman at Fabric Land assured me it needed something specialized. So binder's buckram! Took a while to find something local and the color selection was pretty limited, I was hoping for a dark red or a dark blue but the green was the best they had in stock. Took even longer to get here. And by that point I had enough going on that it fell by the wayside until uh.... last week.

I glued the spine, again realizing that maybe I should've just made my own bookpress but powering through with textbooks to hold things in place, and let that sit for a couple days to fully dry. Ideally it would be flat, but beggars cannot be choosers. Gave her a lil ribbon too.

Not pictured because I forgot, the final text block with black construction paper glued to it to form the inside cover (would probably use something thicker/crisper in the future, something more like cardstock perhaps?). But then it came to putting the cover together! And that was just cutting chipboard to fit and gluing it correctly onto the fabric, leaving gaps around the spine.

Let that dry, and then I glued the text block in and let everything sit for just over 24h, again with makeshift weights to prevent the fabric warping (it's the second book from the bottom).

And then tada! Finished book! (This one's from before it was pressed but it looks the same now)

All in all extremely cool to hold in my hands and I look forward to the next fic that makes me this insane. If I get permission to do The Sun Is Now Fading I might take a crack at that and make a little set! Follow your dreams and one day you too will be able to take notes in the margins of your favourite Vampire the Masquerade fic.

[missn11]

Nines for the character meme!

@ryttu3k oooh yes Nines :D and I'm really, really sorry for taking so long to get this done! 😅

favorite thing about them

Oh man, where to start? XD I love the way Nines talks there is down to earth lyricism to his speech in bloodlines especially during his talks with the fledgling, and how his voice is softer in LAbyN

I love how Nines is willing to fight for little guy and how he stands up and helps the fledgling with learning how to fight and gives them advice. also love how he doesn't fight the fledgling if they keep trying to pick a fight with him, he knows that it wouldn't be fair and again tries to reason with and give advice. says a lot about his character. I feel he's been there, angry and scared and wanting to fight everyone at one point.

And I love how much softer and calmer Nines became in LA by Night, the poor guy is tired but he's still very much a good guy at heart. :3 and I love how he tries to be a good mentor to Annabelle.

I also enjoy exploring his feelings of a leader of the Anarchs even though he clearly doesn't want to be, and is afraid of becoming corrupt, that is so fun to play with. Nines is a lot of fun to write for me, like you can explore his pre embrace family and pre bloodlines life and build on what canon gave us.

It could also be fun to play with a corruption arc for Nines too, like does he go all the way bad or is able to pull himself back into the light? 😈

least favorite thing about them

Dude really needs to actually be a part of the co-parenting when it comes to the fledgling, he and lacroix are meant to have shared custody damn it!

Also, Nines' behavior towards the Malkavian fledgling really irks me, like bro come one, be nicer (honestly I think he had a Malkavian babble some truths about himself he wasn't ready to deal with or mess with his head once and that's why he's prickly)

and even in LA by Night, Nines is still letting a baby vamp take on responsibilities that he should be doing (although at least he is mentoring Annabelle when the plot lets him 😭)

His hair is a bitch to draw though XDD and also he's not in vtmb as much he should be since he is a big deal and I have to say that I feel he should've been in LAbyN more often.

favorite line

"You poor bastard. Listen, LA's the school of hard knocks, so keep your friends close and your enemies in a barbecue pit. Once you square things with LaCroix, don't give that son of a bitch the time o' night. I got my eye on you, kid." I love this line cause Nines is being tough but also helpful towards the fledgling. it also shows that he doesn't want to get too invested in case they die (like bro why you gotta be so aloof :((()

and of course

"You got spine, that's good. But, kid, if I was anyone else, you'd be blowin' in the wind right now. It's good you got fire, but don't go burnin' everyone you meet. Lotsa people here started out like you. You think that over - I got shit I got to set right."

This again shows that Nines doesn't want the fledgling to burn out and has seen other Kindred or been there himself in the past.

brOTP

Nines' relationship with Damsel and Skelter is something I enjoy exploring and I really should do it more.

I do love the fact that Damsel and Skelter has Nines' back no matter what and I can see him doing the same for them too.

On one hand Damsel and Skelter are hero worshiping Nines so much in canon that I can see it muddling their relationship, especially when Nines fails to live to up their vision of him. But it also gives them the chance to grow their relationship into something more real and accepting.

again a lot of fun to play with in fics, and also I love them as a poly relationship too. :3

OTP

I have quite a bit XDD as I've said in the past LaCroix/Nines (the parallels and hate sex are too wonderful to not ship!) Nines/Ming Xiao (for more of the hate sex but also how they challenge each other's views, I feel that Ming Xiao would goad Nines into being a more presence leader and Nines would have her be more compassionate. but they'll be a lot fighting, there's just so much bad blood between them.) And of course LaCroix/Nines/Ming Xiao which I love the best since again it brings both dynamics to the table! (also the chance for a redemption arc for LaCroix and Ming Xiao or a corruption arc for Nines is very possible with this ship!)

Again I also ship Nines/Damsel/Skelter as a otp3 as well, and thanks to @badass-at-fandoming I've come to find Nines/Andrei an interesting pairing to ship as well. (the very bloody corruption arc is just too good to ignore as well!)

nOTP

Again, I don't really have none besides I don't maybe Nines/Boris, I know the second Boris opens his mouth Nines will turn him into paste! XDDD

random headcanon

I might have said this before on my blog but whatever, I headcanon that Nines was embraced by Salvador García during the Second Anarch Revolt in a mass embrace and never told Nines he was his sire even years after the dust settled. Instead leaving MacNeil to help Nines learn the ropes of being a Kindred. MacNeil also knew that Nines was Salvador's childe but never told Nines out of respect for his friend.

Nines learns the truth after bloodlines and it shatters his whole world, feeling even more abandoned by Salvador, and feels a lot of self-loathing, believing that he wasn't even good enough to be raised by his own sire compared to Salvador's other childer.

Nines may have or not told Salvador that he knows but Salvador does know that he knows the truth and there is this tension between them that gets worse when Salvador comes back to the Anarchs like he hadn't betrayed the sect.

unpopular opinion

I've said this before but I really don't like how some of the fandom do treat Nines as someone who gets angry a lot more than he does in canon! XD Also ignore his faults and treat him as always perfect, which I think does a disservice to Nines' character.

song i associate with them

Shout out to my girlfriend @devil-latte for pointing out that this song by Rise Against would fit Nines talking to Salvador García and Jeremy MacNeil about how they let down the Anarchs

favorite picture of them

Again I have too many faves so here's some of them

1. @iravaid 's art of Nines is really great, I love how they dress up Nines in many nice outfits and add those little details that make Nines and also soft! dad to Lunchbox🥺 and I really recommend you to look into their work (especially since they keep improving so much and perhaps commissioning them too if like what you see) :D

2. I know I'm being biased again as one of the examples is a commission for me, but I really enjoy how @luxecoffin draws Nines, it really shows off his down to earth nature very well. :D

3. @its-sixxers is one of the best artists of Nines fanart I've seen in a longtime, the capture the sadness and tenderness of Nines very well. 🥺

4. @ineed-to-sleep also has done some really lovely art of Nines as well and they've put him in some outfits that make me envy his gender! XD

Btw the first example of I need-to-sleep’s art I showed here was commissioned by @rosewoodcasket

[meatcrimes]

happy bday my present is this ask is free reign to go on about ur oc of choice and everyone has to read it

oh gosh which one do i pick… i’ll reblog this later once i come up w something but thank u ☺️

[boghermit]

gimme a lacroix and a tommy shelby for character bingo

Idiot Ventrue can't even get bingo 💔

Tommy ALMOST got bingo but if he tried to flex on me by pouring soup in my lap I would give him a swirly. I might give him a half-assed apology if the soup is cold on not on my lap. Love him though <3 Still need to finish those last two eps but I'm not sure I have it in me 🤡

[falloutglow]

🍹🍺 Dealer's choice!

Hmmmm, let's do Nova! :D

🍹 - Does your OC drink? If so, what’s their drink of choice?

She wants to drink, But her ghoulfriends (NoOne & Hancock) have told her she's not allowed to do so. (She sneezed fire one time and she's banned from buying alcohol in Goodneighbor.)

However, her drink of choice is whiskey. She's not super picky, but she prefers it. She is also a fan of fruity drinks and has made her own cocktails before. One she has called Firebird. No she will not share the recipe.

🍺 - What kind of drunk are they? (e.g. talkative, sleepy, flirty etc.)

Nova technically cannot get drunk due to how her psyker power works. When she consumes alcohol, it immediately converts into "fuel" and turns up both her internal body temperature and how hot her flames get. Her control over her fire goes down, since adding fuel to a fire makes it bigger. The amount of times she's been kicked out of a bar cause she accidentally burned it is kinda high haha.

HOWEVER, if she could get drunk she'd absolutely be a flirty drunk especially towards her ghoulfriends. She'd get very clingy and affectionate and would totally ask them out despite already dating the two of them haha

[OC questions]

[fallout-lou-begas]

Thoughts on Raul, Arcade n' Boone?

Raul’s fun! I like how they thought “what if we had a ghoul was also like a literal vaquero in a costume and everything” and they just made it work in a charming way. I like how he has a sweet tooth and eats anything sweet you put in his inventory (at least I think he does, or maybe that was just a mod I saw one time?).

I love Arcade’s personal quest, especially some of the more tragic endings like being sold to Caesar if just because his responses and his actions are so well-written and delivered, and it’s really great to see characters with strong convictions. I dislike when people caricature him to be, like, a sassy gay best friend; Arcade is gay but he’s also the least cool human being on the planet and that’s why he’s so lovable.

Bone needs therapy. (shout-out to “Too Late to Love You” by @its-sixxers in which Boone literally does get therapy)

[third-rail-vip]

OC Fact Swap - Eleanora likes to play matchmaker when it comes to her friends. People with similar interests? Organize a way for them to meet and see what happens! When you have such a lovely group of pals you want them to find companionship, whether platonic or romantic. :)

Oh that is so lovely! Eleanora has my heart, just wanting everyone to be happy! I can imagine Deacon being very amused by the matchmaking.

Nobody should take relationship advice from Ivy. She is a hopeless romantic and incapable of giving balanced advice in that regard. Every relationships he’s ever had she’s been all-in, jump feet first, follow your heart and deal with the consequences later.

Ives really is heart over head, and it's gotten her into trouble on many occasions. It’s how she ended up in Boston with no degree and an invalidated visa. It’s how she ended up on Mass Pike massively out of her depth but ready to take a bullet because she's a fool. She makes impulses choices when her heart gets involved. But she always says she’s rather regret something she’d done than something she’d not. Even if she has some big regrets.