After the fanfic readings Friday night from Kaz, I’m dying to write more. Maybe I’ll even improve my grammar and spelling. But what to write, what to write? Well, I’ve got an idea for that. Since I have SO many followers (50% of which are actually likely not porn-bots), ask the readers! So, have a survey!
If I set it up right, it should be completely anonymous. Using Google Forms because those other ones kinda suck visually and I always like putting images in things.
So… what do you want to see more of on the fanfic side? Don’t worry, there’s ideas for totally new stuff there too as well as a write-in area.
She waited a moment, then put the key in the lock and opened the door. Yellow-Eyes was still on the bed but awake as she set the plates down and locked the door behind her.
“Everything okay?” he asked taking a plate.
“Yeah. A couple of guys tried to pick my pocket, but no problem. I didn’t have any money there anyway, thanks to you. Apparently there’s a Thieves Guild in this town!”
“Of course. Not uncommon in a city of this size.”
“They called you ‘Kem’.”
Yellow-Eyes didn’t even pause. Between mouthfuls, he grunted, “Yeah. They call me that here.”
“Which is your real name then?”
“Neither. Can you get me some water from the table?”
Dodger crossed to the table, filled a mug from a pitcher there, and brought it back.
“Well, what’s the plan? Are we going to see your friend?”
“No. She’ll come here.”
“She?”
Yellow-Eyes looked up. “Yes. She.”
“When?”
He resumed eating. “Don’t know. Maybe tonight. Maybe tomorrow.”
“So, we’re just going to stay here?”
“I am. You do whatever you want. Go see the city. Just watch yourself.”
Dodger sat on the floor cross-legged and dug into her dinner in earnest. Once she started eating, it was all she could do to keep from wolfing it all down at once. It was as if her body was reminded how long it had been since she’d last eaten – and how little it had been even then. It wasn’t till her plate had been picked clean that she looked up. Yellow-Eyes was watching her.
“You okay?” he asked.
Dodger wiped her mouth with her sleeve. “Fine. Sorry. I was pretty hungry I guess.”
“I guess!”
“Well, I think I’ll take a look around anyway. You’re really just going to stay here?”
Yellow-Eyes nodded.
“Okay. I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Two knocks, then two,” he said as she was walking out, though this time she looked both ways down the hallway before she turned back.
“Wait, we’re going to change the knocks every time? Why?”
“Someone might have heard you last time.”
“You’re paranoid. You know that, right?”
“Two knocks, then two more. I’ll keep the key and lock up behind you.” he said.
She tossed the key back to him, but he let it hit the floor without making any effort to catch it.
“Lazy too,” she said.
“Dodger. If you get in trouble, I won’t be looking for you. You need to know that. You’re on your own here. Be careful.”
“Alright DAD.”
“That’s the point. I’m not your dad. I’m an architect. I wish you well, Dodger, but I’m not even you’re guardian here. You don’t have a guardian.”
“Okay, okay. Got it. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
The hallway was still clear when she closed the door and by the time she got to the stairs at the end of it, she heard the latch turn. She went back down the stairs. In the public room, the place was getting busier. She took the plates to the end of the bar. Mr. Broad was talking to someone at the other end of the bar, but he noticed her and nodded so she set the plates down and walked out.
The stars were just coming out as she stepped into the cooling air. The streets, though far from deserted, were certainly less bustling than they had been earlier. Yellow-Eyes, a.k.a. Kem, a.k.a. who knows what had given her a fair idea of the city layout with the tower in the center. It did make it easier to navigate though.
But mostly she just watched the people. Such a variety of people. And not just the variation in races she had read about, but the sizes, ages, clothing styles. It was like the vines back in the Marsh – no two were exactly the same.
“No wonder humans think we all look the same. In comparison with them, I guess we do!” she thought. “Not many kids though. I wonder if they keep them indoors?”
She found herself back in the area with the graves. When she came near the one Yellow-Eyes had placed a rock on, she noticed it was gone. At least, if it was the same headstone. They were all so similar she might be wrong, but she didn’t see any rocks on the other nearby headstones either and she was fairly sure she was at the right place.
“Must be some sort of signal,” she thought. “He puts a rock up there and his friend notices, and comes to that inn as a pre-arranged meeting place. Gotta write that down.”
She sat and scribbled some notes about the two men and what they’d told her of the Guild as well as what she’d learned from Yellow-Eyes. The locking of the door and the code knocking she could use too. Even the nasty restroom could be handy. This trip was turning out to be a bounty of ideas!
When she’d finished her notes, she just sat back and watched the people go by. There were certainly Argonians as well as Orsimer occasionally, but they were still a minority compared to the humans with their swirly ears and their patchy hair. She began to notice patterns though. While there were exceptions, the males tended to keep their hair cropped short, while the females’ hair was usually longer and more elaborately kept. Also, the older the males were, the less hair they tended to have if they weren’t completely hairless.
Yet facial hair ran the opposite way. In fact, she finally decided that the females didn’t have facial hair at all! She saw not a single case in which a female sported any below the nose or under the mouth. That must go beyond style and be an actual physical trait.
She also noticed that the females tended to dress to emphasize their breasts, while the males wore loose fitting trousers as a way of de-emphasizing their own sex. She thought back to Yellow-Eyes and his comment about only needing a jacket. She saw no Argonians here without a full outfit though – minus the footwear. Humans may just see a crocodile in a jacket, but he really should have a full set of clothes. She decided to see if she could find him some pants.
Of course, she actually did have some coin. But she certainly didn’t keep it in her pockets like those cutpurse’s seemed to expect. Yellow-Eyes had seen to that long before they got to the city. The problem was going to be to find a clothing store with clothing for Argonians that would fit Yellow-Eyes. She stood up and began to wander around, now with an eye to finding such a store.
However, she began to realize that the storefronts were all closing down for the night. Only the taverns and brothels seemed to stay open much after dark here, so she gave up on that idea and came at last full-circle back to Luther’s. She climbed the stairs, having only elicited a couple of glances by the patrons and knocked the pattern. Within she heard the lock turn and the door opened. Yellow-Eyes was still alone.
“No friend?”
“Not yet.”
Dodger noticed the room had been rearranged somewhat in her absence. A new set of bedclothes had been arranged on the floor among other things. Yellow-Eyes sat atop those, leaving the bed empty for her. She sat down on it.
“You need clothes, Yellow-Eyes. No one walks around without pants here.”
“I’ll get some as soon as I can.”
“I was going to buy you some, but all the shops are closed after dark.”
Yellow-Eyes turned to look at her. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll make my own way.”
“I know. I wanted to,” Dodger said, laying down and turning to the wall.
“Well… thank’s Dodger,” she heard as she closed her eyes.
“No problem.”
She drifted off to sleep then, probably as happy as she could ever remember being. She was on an adventure for the first time in her life, and the next day would bring more adventures without a doubt.
Suddenly she was awoken by knocking. Three knocks, then one. She looked over at Yellow-Eyes, but he was already up, sword in hand and standing at the door. He signaled for her to be quiet, and she backed up away from the door with her feet pulled up.
I’m like way overhyping this stupid fanfic with these images, but so it goes. Anyway, I got the other 2 from Kaz I was waiting for. But then he went and barstreamed and I got 2 more!
Without going into detail, this is Katia hiding under a pew in the Kvatch chapel, and being coaxed out from under it by Brother Martin. The original sketch had no background though – not even a hint of one. So I dug this up as a reference from the Prequel archives:
Also I needed Brother Martin to get canon colors, but he doesn’t appear directly in any of the archives. But no fear, he’s there in Excelsior! so I grabbed this screenshot:
After finding this, I was kinda surprised by how accurate Kaz drew him from memory since as far as I can tell this is the only place he appears at all in Prequel!
So here’s Kaz’s sketch:
When I requested the next two the other day, he was wondering how much detail I really needed when I just line-draw over them anyway. But dammit, these aren’t JUST for posting. Hell, I might even frame the originals! So I broke out my whip and demanded top-rate sketches even if I ruin them on my color-jobs. So here’s the line-drawing and flatcolor version:
I obviously added the background and it’s kinda shitty – but gotta be something there right? Then added shading and highlights and this is the end result:
I’m not too happy with Martin’s eyes, but I’m not going to succumb to Perfectionist-Art-Syndrome, so this will have to do. Emperor or no, he’s still a pretty minor character. (I think I gave him jaundice – I needed less-than-white eyes in order for the white highlights to show up at all!)
I’ll yabber a bit more this time. I wrote a Prequel fanfic. Yeah, I know. And yeah, it probably is that bad. But I promise it’s at least mercifully short. Now I know Kazerad doesn’t read Prequel fanfics, and I completely understand why not. He knows his characters intimately – (he IS his characters) and therefore knows what would and would not be possible for them. However, nobody writes fanfics without hoping SOMEONE will read them, and I’m not immune.
However, I also know that no one enjoys Walls of Text. It’s a reality in the internet world that very few want to read a straight story. Why, you’re probably already getting tired of this and I’m only 2 paragraphs in! Here, have a Kaz drawing:
Yeah, I got some Line Drawing in my Scan layer. (Well YOU got Scan Layer in my Line Drawing! Two great tastes that taste great together).
This was my original commission from Kaz for this story, commissioned before I’d even finished it. But no, you may surmise the basic story line from these images, but you don’t get the story till I’m done with all three so I can put them in the posting.
Sometimes I’m afraid I may get a bit too clever for my own good. Here, my finished color/shading job. I thought I’d be soooo smart and use a couple textures to do the path and walls of the inner part of the Oblivion tower. But what I did was make the background too busy. I thought then maybe blurring it would be helpful but couldn’t find a blur that I liked, so I left it as is:
It’s not without faults, but I still like it. Now, in all honesty I have another version that has some VERY minor naughty bits. I’ll probably throw that one up over at e621 since they like that sort of thing. She is, in fact, naked after all. That’s just her paint. Story is PG-13 though, so this version is probably what I’ll actually use.
Anyway, off to post away on the Booru. Consider this an ad for my upcoming fanfic. This is, in fact, the climax of the little story but I still think anyone who’s into Prequel will enjoy it – except Kaz. Kaz won’t like it. He hates everything. 🙂
So, a couple days ago I began to see a lot of hits from 8ch.net. I had to go see why. Now granted I know a thing or two about anon boards by now. To cut to the chase, they didn’t much like KM. But, as Kaz says, you can learn a lot from anons. They don’t beat around the bush, that’s for sure!
What I did finally wrangle out of them was that they thought it was pretty shitty borrowing someone else’s character. Katherine may not be Katia, but it’s no secret she might as well be. Well, I don’t want to be That Guy who tries to steal someone else’s character. And after (not much) consideration, it does make sense.
I don’t regret having done KM, I learned TONS! But they’ve definitely got a valid point. I’m still no artist, nor do I plan to ever become one. But if WHEN I venture into the Webcomic arena again, I’ll come armed with my own characters rather than borrow others’. So the Epilogue is off – I did some screenshots, but it was really just setup for the next arc. I’ve ended it pretty well though, I think.
Gave it a good shot, but it was flawed from the outset. Much as I like Prequel and Katia, I shouldn’t use them as the foundation of my own work or it will never be anything beyond a fanfic of a fanfic. I toyed around a bit with the thought of making a yellow-ish Skyrim khajiit rather than the Katia model and call HER Katherine. But, that would really be painting over the underlying problem of benevolent plagiarism. Best to start over from scratch with a solid foundation.
So my immediate focus will finally be on that Cloak of Grey Tomorrow mod that I’ve been promising. Thanks for the readers tho! I’ll make more, just not of KM – i’ve got the itch to tell more stories and take closeups of more Khajiit tails!
I know some of you are following me for the Cloak of Grey Tomorrow mod, which I’ve not done ANYTHING of substance on yet. But I JUST finished a marathon screen shotting session for KM. I’ve enough for 3 posts, 2 easily. But it’s a kinda sad moment for me. I’ve got epilogue to do and setup for the next arc, but the climax is completed now. I’ve seen it. I like it, but it’s still kinda sad when I’ve spent months with these characters in my head and now some are gone.
Once I finish the Epilogue posts – probably 2 or 3 – I’ll get into the CoGT big time as I have PLANS for it in KM Arc 2. Which I can no longer resist doing. I’ve the major plot points for it already in my head. I’ll probably post the next KM on Friday, then Saturday, then Sunday for the 3 part conclusion you might say.
If you happen to read it, heres a spoiler. It’s what I plan to use for the final shot of the conclusion before the 2 or 3 epilogue posts after that. Seemed fitting.
I didn’t mean to have such a delay. But life. And Fathers day. And a new game. Yeah, that too. I will finish this, but I probably won’t do any more. I guess it’s a bit of “If you build it, they will come” not happening. Yeah, I need the ego boost of some decent amount of people actually reading it to stay focused. For those who are, I sincerely thank you and I WILL finish it. And it has been fun too, but without some feedback I just feel like I’m pissing into the wind.
Oh well, like I said at first, it was just an experiment. Not all succeed – if they did, well, they would be pointless.
But I AM still looking forward to the Cloak of Gray Tomorrow! Hope Kaz is getting close to the next installment. Even if he picks a winner (or combo of them) it’s not official till it hits prequeladventure.com directly.
Maybe I’ll even come up with some explanation of why Katherine’s armor isn’t all bloody! 🙂
I may take a (SHORT!) hiatus from KM updates in the near future. The
Cloak of Grey Tomorrow outfit in Prequel has me intrigued. When the
winner is decided, I’m going to go full steam ahead to design a Skyrim
mod for it and may get a chance to use it in KM once done. I’ve already
established that she’s left some “stuff” in the Whiterun inn. That may
include the CoGT outfit if so. Probably the enchantment may be worn
off so it might not DO anything, but it would be a great way to
introduce a new outfit to KM. (and maybe work as pajamas – sleeping in Arena armor can’t be comfortable – and Skyrim doesn’t allow for blankets apparently.)
I also have my own idea of what it
should look like. Since I can’t draw, I may try and create a mod and
screenshot that to the Fanart page as another entry. Mine will include a
catsuit underneath, probably based on this existing mod but with modified coloring:
Because… catsuits are appropriate in every conceivable way. 🙂
Also,
I’m finally going to reveal H with the next update. I need to NOT have
him offscreen all the time if he’s going to be a character. Maiq has a
twin brother (or maybe it actually IS Maiq! He must do SOMETHING
besides wandering around Skyrim all the time.)
If I can do this
next update as I intend, it will be the largest scene I’ve done yet so
it’s a bit intimidating. But I think it will work out OK.
I got through most of the major character introductions needed. I’d like to throw some more in before the plot really gets moving, but I’m afraid they’d be tedious to shove them all in back to back, so I’ll forgo that and work them in after things get going.
Plot should become apparent after the next 2 updates, and perhaps then I’ll feel I’ve got enough going to hold an audience beyond “oh look, more furry ass and scaly tits!”.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to promote this thing? It’s a bit tricky with the Adult nature, but I do wish I could get some people to take a look at the thing.
I had the “Ask a question” turned on for a bit, but I didn’t realize it would post directly to the blog, and I don’t want them there. I also got Disqus working, but it wouldn’t hurt to make it more prominent.
So, I’m up to 7 characters now. A couple still mandatory to introduce to make the plot work, but they can come after it gets moving:
Katherine Managan – protagonist and only real connection to Prequel. H – Lord of the Manor and owner of “Tails of the …” monthly mags. Sabhira, mentor to Katherine. Udaran, friend of Sabhira. Milahme, bitchy argonian model. Red/Muz-Ra outspoken and oversexed Argonian model. Ubergard, giant Argonian guard.
Still to come, Lydia – the only human model and recent addition to modelling staff. Unnamed (as yet) human guard. Unnamed (as yet) khajiit.
And I have one small bit of plot I’ve yet to figure out exactly how to do. I need to see if I can call a Dragon on command. Guess I’ll find out if I can do that when I get there!
Oh, this IS fun. I just hope I can figure out some not-too-spammy way of promoting it. Oh, and KillerfishSG, I totally understand about not wanting to reblog it. It would take a certain kind of blogger to do that. But awfully glad to have you guys at least along for the ride!
bdprequel 