#lost marbles

[kevintodayis]

Today is World Marbles Day!

[bryanharryrombough]

Last day for Mrs. Tiggy Winkle's/Lost Marbles Westboro.

[dareyoutoread-blog]

”Writing is a mental exercise akin to trying to hold three too many marbles in one hand. Editing is like that too, except you also squeeze your hand shut. Then you lay on the floor and look for your marbles.” 

- Quotes about Writing, by me

[whimsicmimic]

what's marbleverse?

i hope u dont mind that i answer this publicly because im about to write you a real fuckin long response.

So You Think You Lost Your Marbles (aka Marbleverse) is a massive project ive been working on for the past few years!! The easiest way to describe it is a modern magic universe with a bit of a post-apocalyptic twist. Or maybe its a post-apocalyptic universe with a modern magic twist?

who knows maaan. think elves living in rvs.

yknow how in most stories with magic, magic is a very old concept? like, elves and dwarves and fae existed long before humans? that isn’t the case here.

Basically, these weird crystal growths just started rapidly forming one day in seemingly locations, reaching higher than 15′ and 20′ wide in as little time as a week. And when folks were trying to figure out exactly what the hell was going on with these dang rocks, it was discovered that when a chunk was paired with even a very weak electrical current, it had the potential to power entire buildings for months!

‘course, the catch is that these fuckers were volatile as hell. The less beneficial discovery was that when exposed to certain conditions, they fucking exploded in a pseudo-nuclear fashion. Scars in the earth were torn across the countryside. An entire city was leveled, leaving nothing but wreckage and ruin where it once stood. Those who could leave left. In most cases, those who survived were left with nothing. And while those outside the blast radius did give aide to some areas, a lot of people were just left that way.

People are hardy as hell, though. Those who were fucked over sought each other out. People banded together, built shantytowns which turned into more permanent structures and settlements over time. This aint some nitty gritty survival of the fittest story. People took up agriculture, people took up construction and carpentry, people learned what they could about medicine, people became teachers, regulators, chroniclers, spinners, weavers. A lotta them became scavengers, picking their way through the wreckage and finding a use for what was left. And shards of spiritstone, as these crystals would come to be called, proved to be invaluable as ever. A handful of the dust of it could keep a flashlight lasting for weeks, a handful of the dust acted as a catalyst for plant growth, with heavy alteration, even the smallest shard could power a vehicle for a long while. The very thing that ruined folks lives and tore apart the earth became as valuable as gold to em.

it was valuable to everyone else as well; those unaffected by the blast offered a pretty penny and supplies to scavvers in exchange for shards found, as they made an invaluable energy source. Was it shitty? yeah. Did they still do it? yeah. Such an offer meant a golden ticket out of the Wastes. Some took it. Others turned their backs on those outside just as those outside turned their backs on them. Some held a grudge. Others just wanted to be left alone at this point.

The largest town they built directly above the epicenter of one of the blasts when they learned it was safe. They called it Haven, because that’s what it became to them, and that’s what they hoped it would continue to be for years to come.

The land would recover from the blasts. Plants grew at an accelerated rate for reasons unknown. Animals would come back with time. They would live and they would thrive.

With the passage of time in months, years, generations, they’d say that the energy within the spiritstone that was released during the blasts rooted itself deep in the blood of those living in the Wastes. They’d say that it felt like something was always watching them, despite no one being around. They’d say that they could’ve sworn a plant had moved of its own volition, but maybe it was just the wind after all. They’d say the inhabitants were capable of peculiar things, things that shouldn’t be possible by any means at all. They’d call it magic, but magic doesn’t exist, does it?

The first true magician was a man with an affinity for flame. They say he burned himself alive by mistake after his magic turned on him and ate him whole.

They got a lot more careful after that.

The outsiders didn’t even think of them as human anymore; after generation by generation living in the Wastes, they looked less and less human, shaped into something human adjacent by the magic in their roots to prevent spells from backfiring as severely. Their lifespans became longer, the telltale signs of age slowing after a point of maturity. Some they’d call elves or fae or satyrs, gnomes or imps or harpies after the stuff of legends. But as a whole, they were simply called the Waste-touched.

And in the years to come, the Waste-touched would leave the citadel of Haven or the numerous other towns scattered throughout the Wastes, curious about how the world has changed outside since their isolation. In years to come, a new city would be built atop what once was the wreckage of the old one, leveled so long ago. They would call it New Haven, in hopes of creating a place with the potential to start anew once more, in hopes of tearing down the walls built between the Wastes and those who turned their backs on them so long ago.

And that, my guy, is where we begin.

THERES A HELL OF A LOT MORE TO IT THAN THIS like this is. Barely even a slice of whats in store.

tl;dr, humans fucked up and those who had to live with the consequences were turned into magical creatures/users over the course of generations to better adapt to the aftermath.

family portrait is a collection of drabbles I’m going to be putting on my writing blog as practice! Its about a traveling circus made up of these magic users, and the drabbles are snapshots of the lives the circus members lead. Ive already finished the first one, but I’m holding on to it until I have a few more to post!!

this is probably more information than you wanted and for that I apologize, but I’ve been working on this project for a REALLY LONG TIME and I’m suuuuper excited about it and I loooooove talking about it

[creampuffdrawsstuff]

so I got correll painter 7

I have no idea how to use this but have a really rough doodle of Saleh

anatomy isnt the best because i have no idea how to use these brushes yet....there’s so many choices.....help

[whimsicmimic]

marbleverse sounds really cool! would you mind telling me about some of the characters? i'm very curious!

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!

im not gonna lie; there’s a looooooootta characters in marbleverse, just because of how big a project it is. so ill just?? talk about some of the ones in family portrait because those are the ones im working with the most right now!! and also because this particular cast includes some of the oldest characters ive ever made??? (like, I’ve been working with the founders for 8 years!!!! thats a long time to work with a character yall!!! i love them dearly!!!)

SO. there’s 47 members of the cirque du lune. i’m not gonna talk about all 47 of them. im gonna talk about a handful of the ones that might come up more frequently.

the cirque du lune was founded by the sun elf illusionist Felix Pathic and the aquatic elf contortionist Holly Darling. Both of em are trans, Holly’s the World’s Biggest Lesbian, Felix is pan. they have a looooong history together. if you were to ask Felix, Holly is more his family than either of his half siblings are. If you were to ask Holly, Felix is the only family she ever had. You’re gonna see a loooooooooootta them.

They met when they were both kids - Felix was a bit of a pickpocket when his dad Javier Pathic died and he ended up on the streets of New Haven. His dad was a fairly well known toxicologist and much much less known for dabbling in more illegal businesses. Felix says he accidentally poisoned himself. Whether or not that’s the truth is another matter, but that’s the story he gives and that’s the story he’s sticking with. Holly didn’t have a name at the time, but she ran away from home. Felix and the nameless elf got into a scuffle in the middle of a marketplace and she lost her temper, causing a bit of a magic flare up and causing her to literally begin to melt into a puddle of water, which ended up with both of them getting chased out of the marketplace by shop vendors and patrons who didn’t take too kindly to a pair of Waste-touched kids causing a ruckus and called the militia.

Felix helped the nameless elf get away (partially because he felt bad, but mostly because they both dont wanna get caught so why not truce to have that Not Happen so that it Does Not Happen) and the two ended up becoming friends through hiding in a dumpster in an alleyway. They start to talk a little bit. Felix has a flare for dramatics and had been trying to make money through using his illusion magic in a street performing routine. She has no plan, no idea how to move forward. Her main focus was cutting all ties from her family and the community she was raised in, and now? she has no fuckin clue my guy! So they just. Stuck together. Everything’s easier when you’ve got someone to watch your back, right?

anyways, they’ve been running the circus for over 150 years together. Felix technically has the title of ringleader because hes a sucker for The Drama and Holly would Really Rather Not, but without either of em? things would fall apart.

Dapple won’t come up too often in Family Portrait since a lot of the drabbles take place around the time that Naomh joined, and Daps left the circus a few years before then. She and her half-sibling Nico were two of the earliest members of the circus and really really good friends of Felix and Holly! Daps was only convinced to join when she found out that Benzene (a sport fighter) was Felix’s half sister. She’s a half elf and was a swordsman, cellist, and conductor with the circus. She ended up leaving when she was offered a position as a guardsman when the circus traveled to her hometown, which had been a dream of hers when she was a kid. There was a point in time when things between Felix and Daps got real awkward and everyone thought it was because they were fucking. Felix will neither confirm nor deny this, but Holly will if you ask her when she’s drunk enough. Holly will tell many stories about Dapple if you ask her under the right circumstances. Holly’s got dirt on everyone but she’s too nice to use it against folks.

Nico is Dap’s half sibling and they’re a biiiiiiiiiiig half orc. They’re a strongman and fire dancer and they’re just about the jolliest motherfucker you’ll ever meet. They say that they broke someone’s hand during a handshake once, but Nico will neither confirm nor deny. They’re really good with their hands! They helped design Felix’s prosthetic arm once he could afford one and are pretty crafty. They fucking adore knitting, man. They’re very enthusiastic about many things, and knitting is very much on that list. They plan on leaving the circus eventually to become a metalworker, but for now the circus is their home and family and they don’t wanna leave em behind!

Chervil is Felix’s little half sister. She’s a sun elf, she’s kinda sneaky, kinda suspicious. She’s a schemer, that one. She’s fond of pranks, but holds one hell of a grudge when she’s been caught in one. She’s the hypnotist and occasionally works with illusion magic! She grew up in the foster system after Javier died and Felix decided “fuck that noise”. As soon as Felix knew he was able to support her, Felix came back for her. Things haven’t been quite the same between them since; Chervil’s been a bit more distant, a bit more prickly. She instigates and he nitpicks and they argue. Kinda often. But everything works out alright in the end and maybe this is just how things are between them?

Kaitlyn is a jester-sort of actor who has a knack for juggling! She was brought in by her adopted older brother Vincent (a lycanthrope who works on set design and maintenance - he’s the son of a very very very good friend of Kaitlyn’s aunt Cassidy, who raised her alongside Vinny) after she was evicted from her home and had nowhere else to turn. She auditioned as a fortune teller and Felix nearly turned her away, but Holly was enamored by her performance and ended up persuading Felix to let her stay. He warmed up to her after after it turned out she had a thing for juggling and filled the role of a jester instead. She’s a satyr with a jackalope motif. ANYWAYS Kaitlyn’s a giant lesbian and she’s dating Holly. Things’re great with them.

Saru is one of the dancers. He’s a moon elf and kinda a distant cousin of Felix? It’s. It’s complicated. He was a pretty well known prostitute at one point and joined the circus mostly because Felix asked him to and because he thought it sounded fun. He’s kinda like everyone’s weird uncle. He’s delightful to write.

Tante Amaryllis is one of the acrobats, although sometimes she joins in with the dance troupe! She’s an elegant lady. Joined the circus shortly after escaping a reaaaaal bad relationship while pregnant. Ended up with identical twins, named Jasmine and Jasper. She’s been with the circus for like. Thiiiirty years, though? Don’t swear around her. She’ll have words to say if you do. 

Naomh is the circus’s youngest member! They’re a dancing violinist and joined when they were seven years old. They were taken into the circus after they were caught breaking into a tavern owned by a good friend of Felix who thought the circus would take better care of them than the foster care system would, as it isn’t very kind to most Waste-touched folk. They don’t talk much about their life before the circus, but they’ve mentioned having a twin brother who got separated from them.They haven’t had much luck finding him. The entire troupe has played a hand in raising them and the kid sees them as family. Felix fucking adores the kid. Everyone adores the kid. They’re a good kid.

There’s a bunch bunch bunch bunch more but. this is getting long. Saru will come up pretty often because he’s a delight to write for? And Tante Amaryllis and the twins Jasper and Jasmine, ESPECIALLY when Naomh is around but like. Yea. I could yell about a bunch more characters but. this is a lot. there’s technically 47, but only about a fourth of em will show up very often.

Felix, Holly, and Naomh will likely show up the most??? but who knows!! The first drabble for Family Portrait is about Felix and Naomh, though.

[whimsicmimic]

i’m not confused, it’s just you’re making me think of all the conversations missing their link

[whimsicmimic]

hey i finally made myself a new icon after like two years

a drift but with puffin markings because i love my drifts.