Just finished writing out the last chapter of Feral 😭 Holy heck, I can't believe how far that one came! As incredibly sad as I am to close out that story, I'm excited to be able to work on a few other projects this summer.
I'll be starting to write book three of dragon riders now. And I've been working on a pirate AU over the last couple months that will get it's first chapter posted this weekend.
Also have the Shifting Sand sequel coming to life along with several more side quests and a one shot planned. And who knows what else next!
Thanks again to all who followed along! Your support and encouragement is what keeps me going ❤️
Following along with my previous long fics, adding my outfit/style inspo for the yugioh story Feral for anyone who likes this type of stuff ^.^
No plot spoilers here really, but just in case will cut of here in case people want to wait until after they've caught up to see!
We can start with the most important discerning feature of the universe. Feral eyes! I describe them as "slitted eyes" which means they're like cat's eyes basically. And they keep their eye color in their skin and in their fur. I couldn't find their exact colors, but I did find some example art that looked similar to what I imagined. If anyone knows the original artist let me know so I can give them credit
For this, the one on the left would be the same shape and style of Yugi's eyes (put purple), and the one on the right is closer to Atem's (only crimson)
Outfits! I won't got crazy with different looks here (seeing as Ferals like to run around nude more often than not). But I chose to go with a more tribal like style to show culture, not depicting them as primitive. Plus, Vivian would NEVER let her herd run around in anything that didn't look fabulous! And remember their clothes have to be loose and easy to slip out of during a shift, so the "toga" style seemed to work best.
For Atem, he only had a couple looks. The first image would be his daily look, only with more wood/bone beads instead of all the gold. And his other 'looks' were just basic wrap skirts (very easy to take on and off for...reasons....I meant shifting, of course) Both these outfits are blue, but I envisioned Atem wearing red most of the time.
Yugi I decided would have more elegant looking outfits (because Atem liked to dress him up nice). I thought a one shoulder toga would become his go to look in the last arc of the story because he wanted to show the mark on his shoulder for everyone to see ^.- It would look like this, only with no gold embellishments, more wood and bone beads instead. Atem also likes to dress him in blue whenever he can
Then for anyone curious how they stay warm without fire and without their fur in the winter scenes?? Fur lined ponchos...👌🔥Still easy to slip out of if they need to shift on the fly!
And lasty, for anyone curious what kind of style the villagers wore (including Yugi) during the story, they'd be like these styles
And that's all I have this time around! Tune in for when I get my next AU started in a few weeks, this one a Pirate AU! That will definitely need another outfit inspo page I think ^>^
I’ve been lurking on Ao3 for awhile and I’ve read every one of your fics and I’ve loved each and every one!! You make such intricate and interesting worlds with the blorbos and make each instance of them falling in love with one another unique and fun!
You are really inspiring and I look forward to all future adventures (and lovingly revisiting all the past adventures) you take us readers on!!! ❤️
Omg, thank you so much!!! 🥰🥰🥰 Thats so sweet and I'm so happy you've been enjoying these worlds I've been dreaming up!!! Love being able to share them with you all. It makes it that much more fun!!!❤️❤️❤️
It's finally time to post the outfit inspirations for Forging Bonds!!!! I needed to look up a lot of fantasy styles of clothing on pinterest for both parties that we had in this book. But I also added in a few more outfits that they've worn besides their basic Den uniforms. Enjoy!
Just know there are some 'mild' spoilers below for those who haven't read the latest chapter of Book Two. But it's non-plot related spoilers at least :)
I think we'll go chronologically for the outfits for this. We can start with the Suitor's ball! For this one we had Mokuba's inspiration of fire and ice between Atem and Yugi. While still keeping things in the fantasy style, my options were limited for Yugi, but I do like the look for each of them I came by. Osiris liked Atem's look especially, since he matched his rider!
Let's also go ahead and get an idea of what Atem's crown might have looked like since he wore it for the first time during this ball.
And Yugi's Ice inspired look! A bit simpler of a design, but Atem didn't want to overwhelm him yet. Still e very clean and elegant look for our favorite raccoon! He didn't get a cape because he was wearing his twin blades on his back for the event.
I didn't really go into details about what they wore for their adventure around the Capital, but thought why not add some day trip outfits to the mix ^.^
Yugi I gave a simple tunic look that still had the elegance of his higher status moving up in the world. I like to think this was one of Atem's old shirts that he let Yugi borrow.
Atem's day out and about he was wearing a cloak to cover his features, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take a chance to look handsome for escorting Yugi around the Capital. His also was a highborn outfit, but the cloak allowed him to tone it down to remain "anonymous" while shopping.
For the next big "wardrobe" change, we had the king gifting Yugi with a parting gift of swords!!! What ever future son in law deserves! These were as close to the style (the style in my head anyway) that I could find. Switch out the purple stone for rubies and they'd be a pretty darn good match!
Speaking of weapons, we don't show anyone else getting a weapon glow up in the story so far, but I'll put everyone else's weapons up that we haven't seen yet for reference.
Seto - Gave him an elegant, polished look. Liked the blue on the hilt because I think it would remind him of Kisara's eyes. His sword of choice is a broadsword (which pinterest labeled this as, but...)
Jou is a little more rough around the edges. I tried to find a sword similar to flaming swordsman in yugioh, but wow, that just does not seem to exist in real life, lol! At this point, Jou would only have a hand me down from the Den like Yugi did. But it's a solid piece for sure! The description called it a 'long sword' type.
Marik I wanted to give his some family flare and a throwback to his Guard heritage. So I picked out something that looks used over generations. He wields a scimitar.
Alright! After weapons, Yugi receives another gift! This time a fire opal necklace from Atem that Yugi says reminds him of the fire/stars in Atem's eyes (awww, how romantic). It took a hot minute to find an opal piece that shows fire and stars like I had in my head. This was pretty close to what envisioned.
Another scene where I barely touched on outfits was the dinner with the king. Just going to throw an outfit out for Atem and Yugi in for this because it's the first glimpse we get of what they might dress like if they lived in the castle someday. Plus, it was one of the outfits Atem had specially made for Yugi ^>^
Atem here to slay us with purple, chosen because purple has become his favorite color since he saw Yugi's eyes for the first time.
And Yugi looking precious and cozy in his velvet vest!
Moving right along through the story, we come around to the next ball! The Solstice ball that all their friends get to attend with them! I couldn't find exactly what I wanted for everyone, but these were cool outfits I found that fit the bill.
Jounouchi - wearing green and hoping to impress Mai with the look at a later time. He would have had his sword with him as a ranked member of the Guard
Ryou's outfit - probably made Marik do a double-take
Seto and Mokuba - Wearing their house colors of blue and gold. Seto's on top, Mokuba's below
And Marik in his own house colors - This one was HARD to find because most gold/ivory outfits I saw were WAY too ornate and fancy for his tastes. He's from a family of dragon riders and 'lives under a rock'. He wouldn't like the overly fancy stuff. But this looked great with his sword! Ryou would approve.
MANA HAS ENTERED THE CHAT!!!! Omg, finding her dress was so funny. I just searched ruffles and sparkles and went with the most over the top look I could find, lol. I like to think she did a spell to make it herself.
Now for our main boys! Atem went with a more tailored look this time around and wanted to compliment the jewelry that he had chosen for Yugi to wear in honor of his mother.
And for Yugi, Atem had requested that the tailor give him a style more fitting of the northern traditions. The tailor gave Yugi an almost wedding style look because it was the only time northerners ever actually dressed "fancy". His colors were meant to be inspired by the aurora borealis of the northern skies. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an image to perfectly show my mental image of his outfit, but this is pretty close, minus the black edges and extra ornaments.
On top of Yugi's outfit, Atem and the king chose to give him some of the queen's old jewelry to wear to symbolize Yugi as the future of the kingdom. It was hard to find anything in amethyst that wasn't overly feminine, but these got kind of close to what I pictured. There were a lot of gorgeous pieces out there that would be fitting for a queen, but for Yugi, Atem wouldn't want to overwhelm him with a thousand gemstones (for now anyway, lol).
Cuff bracelets on both wrists
This pendant would be on a choker length chain, so that the stone would hang just at the hollow of Yugi's throat. A callback to his leather collar he liked to wear in the series ^.^ I picked this one because it had a little heart at the bottom. Like it reminds Atem of his little dragonheart
And very last honorable mention!!! If anyone knows the artist for this image, please let me know so I can credit them. But this was the ONLY dragon armor reference I could find that I actually liked, and it was OSIRIS!!! If I could draw, I'd remake armor suits for all the dragons, but alas....still, this is incredible and a great depiction of what dragon armor might look like. The suits would also include breast plates, leg cuffs, and head plates. Possibly belly plates too depending on the size of the dragon.
And that's all I have for now!!!! Hope you enjoyed ^.^ We're getting closer to book three, and who knows what I'll be inspired by for that!
Bringing this old post back because I'm super stoked to reveal I am finally working on a pirate AU fic!!!! It'll be one of my summer works to come out following Feral being done 😊
i was thinking this morning about how i categorize fanfic authors that i enjoy like AKC breeds and decided to share my rubric with you:
the specialist: this author has a favorite kink or trope and has written 80% of the content in that tag. you know exactly what you’re getting. they have A Brand™️. no matter what other traits they display, dedicated rare pair authors belong here.
the chocolate box: essentially the exact opposite. this author will try anything once. they have 80+ works in the fandom with no discernible pattern. the shortest one is 268 words and the longest is well over 100k. this breed of author may or may not be related to:
the renaissance fan: they’ve written three things in your fandom: your favorite fic, your notp, and a bizarre crossover with a show you’ve never heard of. you hit “expand fandoms list” on their author page and have to scroll down twice to reach the bottom. whenever you curse the fact that you can’t legally commission fic writers, this is the author you’re thinking about.
the horn dog: they’re here for one thing and one thing only. if someone’s dick is not in another character’s mouth within 500 words, they apologize for it in the author’s notes. they have one (1) g-rated fic.
the rookie: this writer is usually young, new to fandom, or just got a beta-reader for the first time. their fics are a little all over the place, quality-wise, but you’re excited whenever their name pops up because their unique voice gets stronger every time. you feel a personal investment in their development, like you’re an old man reading the local high school sports page and saying “this kid’s the one to watch.”
the live streamer: the most prolific author in the fandom. their works are all over the front page when you sort by kudos. you have no idea how they generate this much work, and have seriously wondered if they have access to an extra-dimensional time portal. their stories are usually un-beta’d and the characterization varies wildly, but their best works are inspired and you’ve read them 30 times.
the cryptid: this one comes out of nowhere every two years, drops the best fanfic you’ve ever read, and disappears. fifteen months after you left a three paragraph comment about how they changed your life, you get a message in your inbox that just says “thanks.”
the novelist: we talk about “filing off the serial numbers” when someone reworks their most popular story to pitch it as an original novel; this author somehow does the reverse. their fics are excellent, usually long-reaching multi-chapter AUs that have almost nothing to do with the on-screen characters except their names. i’d like to extend my personal thanks to this breed of author because it’s the closest i get to reading an actual book.
the reunion tour: this author wrote some of the most popular works in the fandom, but either moved on to k-pop or burned out when canon took a turn for the worse. they put out one new thing a year, often an old draft that’s been haunting them from under the floorboards. their last six author’s notes all say they never thought they’d write this pairing again and “this will probably be the last time.”
For those of you amazing enough to have wanted to see my chaotic mind at work, I've tried to gather all of the outfit inspirations I've picked out for Book One: How to Train Your Dragon Rider! This was way too much fun, even if I STRUGGLED to find the perfect look for what's in my head. Not for the first time, I wish I could draw, lol!!! Most of these are from pinterest. Bear with me if the formatting isn't great. I'm not well practiced in posting on tumblr 😅
Anyway, let us begin the fashion show!!! Going to go in order of story appearance!
Yugi's northern style clothing! - First, I am totally aware this is for a women, but the outfit was the closest to what I wanted. A hint of asian style meshed with fantasy. Lots of layering because of how cold it is. And VERY different from the southern styles that are more traditionally fantasy styling
Now we can talk uniforms!!! (Because there are so many!) To start off, we have the most important one. FLIGHT GEAR, which both Seto and Atem are wearing when they first meet Yugi and the other northerners. Unfortunately I could not find one with the coloring I imagined. So picture this fella here with black leather, and the gold/ivory accents that all Guard Uniforms have! And yes, they also have masks in place like this guy too. And all uniforms would carry the golden mark of the Eye of Timaeus on the shoulder patches
Our next uniform would be the training/lessons uniform! For this I pictured them learning martial arts/weaponry/meditation to strengthen their bond, so I went with more martial arts style look. Again, this would be mostly black with ivory and gold adornments!
The next uniform would be their formal dress that they wore for the Burning and would also wear for special occasions like inspections by the king. Also, don't ask me why everything I find is green. I've been asking myself that for weeks.
On to more casual looks! We'll start with Atem (who has the bigger wardrobe by far) and what style he would have been wearing for the night Yugi came to bring him to the Solstice party
And Yugi's "alluring" look he managed to accidentally seduce Atem in. He really doesn't have much except what the Guard has given him, so he pieces together what he can. He has to wear this again for date night.
Atem's date night outfit. Leather pants. Deep V. Enuf said.
Now for specific items!!! Right now Yugi only has basic training swords, so I won't pick out anything now. But for Atem I tried to find a rapier sword worthy of a prince. When I do a inspo post for Book Two I'll include everyone else's weapons then!
Okay, I'll be straight up here. I did NOT find what I wanted in terms of the flight mask. What I wanted was something to match their black leather flight gear, but let me tell you...searching for black leather masks online is frightening, lol. Like we all know Yugi may be into some shit given the collar he wears but like, DAMN, not in this AU! Anyway, the flight gear uniform posted above is a decent take. I wanted something more fitted and less flowy cause wind might make that annoying. So if the neck cowl thing isn't enough, then I found something a bit more heavy duty than what I imagined, but I'm sure some of you will think it's badass!
And lastly, HAIR. I love their styles in the anime/manga, and I would never take their oh so special coloring away. But I did want them to look a little more fantasy-like in my head. So longer hair in general for both. And when I mention braids, they are with their hair texture in mind.
Atem the best I could find was actually from the dragon prince series. King Harrow actually came very close to what I imagined. Atem's would just be fuller and more colorful. And when it's not braided it would look a lot more like his anime style, just long enough that it doesn't stick straight up!
Yugi...bless his heart and wild hair. I know we say it is wild and only Ryou can tame it. His hair would look like his normal anime look, EXCEPT for when they tie it back for him. So date night Ryou managed something like this (also, no idea if this guy is from some show or whatever, but damn that jawline is something...)
But as I mentioned after date night Yugi will stop cutting his hair and he had to tie it back for his first flight. So that barely tamed disaster will become his signature flight look. Just maybe not THIS long, lol
So that's all I have for now! Thanks for tuning in! 🥰🥰🥰 If you guys liked this I can do it again for Book Two, after everyone get's their DSOS glow up and weapons. I also maaaaay have already picked out what the boys would wear IF they got to go to a certain royal event at the castle....😉
Huge shout out to all the people who read fics. Who actually take the time out of their busy days to open a fic and read it
Before I started writing in earnest, I did not understand how much writing was going to eat into my fic reading time. We joke about having too many tabs open, but I have a different problem: the amount of tabs I have open on new fics is way smaller than it used to be. My ao3 wrapped would be a sad affair. Unless I’ve subscribed to an author or come across something on my dash, I basically don’t see it
Which has really driven home for me how much fandom cannot just be creators. You have to have people who want to read fic and meta discussions and joke posts. You have to have people who want to look at art and gifs. It has to be mutual.
Community thrives on flow. You have to have that movement of people sharing things with each other for a community to exist
i, for one, would gladly eat up a collection post with design inspiration for dragon riders as someone who has been itching to draw something for it for a good while now
Heck yeah!!! I'll definitely be working something up this week once I narrow it all down ^.^ Getting to pick out the different kind of uniform styles was just like running through a candy store! You're so lucky you can draw 🥰🥰🥰🥰
Spent enough time looking up outfit and hair inspo for Dragon Riders at this point that I'm half tempted to make you all suffer with me in one absolutely unnecessary collection post
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