iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

He also comes with some decently sized high heels. 😂 The fact he's holding them unaided should tell you a lot about the tightness of his stringing, because they ain't light...

Photo of the cyborg ball jointed doll holding one of his shoe feet. It is large, with a solidly tall and chunky heel, and though it's hard to see from the side, it has a cast replica of his bare foot visible though the transparent resin.

000

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Because he's so, uh, highly strung, his crest popped off at a funny angle and I'm struggling to get it square again. The most recent attempt sent his hip off to the other side and... I now have a sassy cyborg? Damn, I bought him for the Raiden lookalike, but *really*...

Photo of a ball jointed doll designed to look like a cyborg. He has a dark resin body with a transparent, slightly iridescent jaw, chest piece and cod piece, and a glowing mask (that I will need to remove the batteries from again). He is standing with his chest to the right and his hips to the left and is looking askance at the camera, like he's going "you got a problem with me?"

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

While unpinning the wig from its polystyrene ball: damn this is posh, and also... free pins! Goes to put it on the doll: wait, this has a lace front?? Honestly, it's nicer than most of my spare hair.😭

Photo of a cyborg doll wearing a light blue wig. The wig is neatly styled and has a lace front.

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

If you cast your mind back to the dim and distant start of the year, when I ordered a ball-jointed doll... That's what yesterday's missed delivery was. But the thing is... I didn't expect it because I was waiting for the ransom demand (customs fee letter). I didn't expect it to just... turn up. 😳

Photo of a three foot tall brown box with Chinese hanzi and the word "Ringdoll" on, beside three small polystyrene packages with the same text. Both sit on a small sofa beside several blankets (most of which are smol dog's).

220

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

It was a very pretty journey, an interesting use of three and a half hours, and I wouldn't mind doing it again. It was nice to find somewhere peaceful.

Photo of a tree that bears a strange resemblance to a standing stone beside an old fashioned overhead power cable. They're both on the edge of a sheep field, next to a little brook. The sky is very blue and clear.

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher standing on a clean bridlepath. To the right is a huge orange-flowering gorse hedge (I think) and on the left is a normal hedge. Smol dog is standing side on and staring at me like she's asking, “Wait, are you LOST??” (At this point, slightly yes.)

Photo of a sign on a bridlepath that reads "Derby Nomad Way circling Derby city," which was slightly alarming as none of these places are particularly near Derby...

000

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Church Wilne, sorry. I DID say I had no idea where it was. Or what it's called, apparently.

Screenshot of the map from my watch app, showing my journey from the end of Back Lane (yes I cut off the journey from my house), to Shardlow canal row patch, and from there a meandering journey around Great Wilne (including one section in a big circle; yes I did know I did that), past Church Wilne (I think I saw the church in the distance) then along a strange but pretty bridlepath that led me to Breaston... where I then goth on a bus, but forgot to pause my watch, oops. There's a little knot of trail where we went over a huge green bridge to cross the railway, which smol dog enjoyed.

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Testing out Mousso's new character, ForlornVoid's new hair, JoeLeGecko's new lights and Luthbellina's new straps.

3D render of a white man with long brown hair wearing silvery ribbon straps bound around his neck and chest. He looks down and to the left thoughtfully with his lips parted, both hands relaxed in front of his waist.

131

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Yet again bksy's trending list is an absolute embarrassment. Is this that vibe-coding shit they're apparently suddenly very big on? Or just general incompetence? It's so hard to tell with this lot.

The feed for the trend "A Knight's Tale".

‪Solar London‬ ‪@london.solar.v.cx‬ · 47m
The sun will rise in #London #England tomorrow at 5:58, 127 seconds earlier than the day before.
It will set at 20:00, 100 seconds later than the day before.

‪Velvet Smoke‬ ‪@smokey347.bsky.social‬ · 2m
#PinkFloyd Pulse 1995 #LiveAlbum #Album #LiveConcert #LiveMusic #BlueSkyMusic #SkyMusic #Smokey347Music #Concert #Art #PsychedelicRock #ProgressiveRock #London #England #90s
[Image of a beach with the tide coming in with some pyramids to the right, a large blue iris with a rocky planet aiming at the pupil, a flock of birds against a sea-and-sky-scape and clouds.]

000

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I'd love to know what goes through bsky staff's heads when they curate their trending lists. 'Indie Books' leads with several tradpubbed bestsellers, and 'Spring Blooms'? Look at all the spring flowers. 🙄 (Not the photographer's fault. It's a fantastic photo.)

Screenshot of Bluesky's 'Spring Blooms' trending feed, showing a dramatic monochromatic image of the Waldorf Astoria in New York, taken from a low angle and aimed upwards. There is not a spring bloom to be seen, which is not the fault of the photographer in the slightest as they didn't ask to be in this feed.

010

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

I only meant to go for a little sulk. 😂 Then I realised that since my day job is 80% social media, I was happier not doomscrolling. Then I just forgot to come back. 😅 I'll probably dip in and out, but I don't think I'll be busy here any more. Have a render of Crow I meant to post, uh, last month.

3D render of the Crow Prince, a young white man with floppy black hair, dark brown eyes, and a glossy black crow's wing for a left arm. He wears a billowing red sash covering his chest and hips and has a cracked, glowing halo over his head. He is smiling at the camera and makes a little heart gesture with his right hand.

020

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

Well this was fun! 💀 I think it's working now... This is the first finished video I've successfully made in DaVinci Resolve, and it took *forever.* If you want to make me feel a bit better, you can read my short and gay Valentine's story. 😉 itch.io/s/151940/val...

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

Milos's hair doesn't like FilaToon very much. *sigh* One day I'll actually brush off that hair modelling tutorial I bought over a decade ago and try to follow it...

3D render in an anime style, of Milos, a blond dark elf with hazel eyes, and Alex, a white human with black hair. They both wear black suits, white shirts, and black ties. Milos is standing nearest the camera, a look of shock on his face. His subtitle reads, "Are you that happy for people to get hurt?"

111

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Was beset by an idea the other night. I wish DAZ would remember to actually do something with FilaToon at some point. They seem to have forgotten it exists. Again.

3D render in an anime style. It shows Milos, a greyish-purple skinned dark elf with untidy blond hair and hazel eyes. He has a scar in the shape of an x on his chest.

030

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

Well, that's telling. As an experiment, I took the 'lgbt' tag out of Valentines Day 1 (left in 'gay' and 'mmromance') and... oh look what's just turned up in the searches again. 🙄

Screenshot of four books available when you search 'pax asteriae' on Itch.io. The first book didn't appear in the search when the 'lgbt' tag was included, but does now, even though it's also tagged as 'gay' and 'mmromance.'

141

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

Well this is a bit all over the place.

Barbarian: 75%
Bard: 60%
Cleric: 45%
Druid: 50%
Fighter: 45%
Monk: 50%
Paladin: 70%
Ranger: 65%
Rogue: 85%
Sorcerer: 60%
Warlock: 55%
Wizard: 50%

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Who knew that dogs actually sleep in nests like birdies? 😂 (Or — whisper it — dreys like squirrels! 🫢) Apparently the need to Blanket was overwhelming.

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher sandwiched between two layers of a yellow blanket, with a greenish blue one with a grey fox on covering her on the right side of the picture. She is snuggled up and squinty.

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Storm I was torn between a quote from the very messy book 2, or the slightly less messy book 4, so I went for book 4 and Alex just casually threatening people while they're supposed to be laying low. He's never quite got the hang of subtle.

Radial
WIPSnips: Storm

“He just straight out accused me, again.” Alex had a talent for pitching his voice low but somehow maintaining a clarity that made people two tables over wince without really knowing why. “He doesn’t even know really what he’s accusing me of any more, but he’s going to keep on trying.”
Milos took a large mouthful of hot chocolate and hoped the sugar would soothe his nerves at some point, because it was spectacularly failing so far. “And you said...?”
He’d learned fairly early that in moods like this, all Alex needed was a little prompting. Half- starting a sentence at least saved time on trying to formulate a full response and getting smacked around the back of the head for the trouble.
Alex glared down at his coffee. “I told him if he came within a foot of my car ever again I’d break both his legs and leave him in the hills to rot.”
Milos winced and drank again to try to cover it.
The glare descended into a scowl. “He said he had nothing to do with it, and yet when I said then we could just call the police instead and let them sort it out he freaked out, shouted some more and stormed out the office. The amount of weird looks I got afterwards.”
Milos accidentally snorted into his drink.

0202

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Commit It's Milos's first day working for the government! Which means being treated to Alex first thing in the morning as well as all through the day. Oh joy...

Radial
WIPSnips: Commit

“We start at eight.” Jaska’s gaze flicked the length of Milos’s body; he suddenly wished he’d picked one, two, no, maybe four sizes up instead.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
The human shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
He was pretty sure he had, but the smirk had slid from the other man’s face and the last thing he needed to start his first day with was for it to be replaced with the loathing that seemed so at home on Jaska’s handsome features. “What time is it?”
Wordlessly, Jaska pointed to the clock beside Milos’s bed.
Five to eight. He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. Today was already shaping up to be a very long day. “Come on then,” he said, shoving first one foot and then the other into the appropriate set of white slip-ons from the set lined along the bottom of the wardrobe. “I wouldn’t want to make you late.”
Jaska grunted noncommittally, but turned and led Milos from his room.

0140

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Notice Wow. There is *far* too much noticing going on in these stories. 💀 Anyway, this is from one of my favourite short stories, where Milos gets assigned a new house. His bedsit was already a step up from what he was used to and this... takes a little adjusting to, to Alex's amusement.

Radial
WIPSnips: Notice

This, though... it’d make staying over with Milos significantly more interesting.
If the stupid elf ever got out the car and had a look at it, that was. To prompt him, Alex turned off the engine and climbed out. When Milos remained staring through the windscreen, a faint frown furrowing his brow, Alex sighed and opened the passenger door too. “Come on.”
The twitch was smaller this time, but still noticeable. “What if it’s worse than my apartment?”
The weirdest ideas went through his head sometimes. “Look at the street. Do you really think that’s likely?”
“I don't know,” Milos said softly. “That’s why I asked.” Then, to head off the question already forming on Alex's tongue, he added, “the street I'm on now looks nice enough too, and...”
“You have a funny definition of ‘nice enough.’” There was no way the damn elf was going to get out the car without help, was there? Before Milos could object — always the best way to do things — Alex ducked his head into the car and slammed his thumb down on the seat belt release; without waiting for the inevitable complaint, he grabbed Milos’s upper arm and dragged him from the car.
The elf’s mouth was already moving to form a curse when he looked up at the house and stopped before the first sound could escape. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again, but no sound came out for a full five minutes and when it did it was little more than a squeak. “Which… which room is it?”
Alex had retrieved the keys while Milos finished tidying his desk — and Alex’s, which Alex thought only fair — and did a little double-checking at the same time. “Room? You fucking idiot, the whole house is yours.”

0223

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Bone Milos is trying to give something he found to a girl they took in a few chapters before. Except she didn't like him then (and cracked some of his ribs using her mind to throw him into a wall), and... well, maybe she's going to start small and work up?

Radial
WIPSnips: Bone

He turned slowly, ignoring the screaming protest of his ribs, to see the beldame standing in the middle of the room with her hands at her sides and a murderous expression aimed directly at him. His heart plummeted into the pit of his stomach. “Hi. Uh. I have something for— Fuck!”
He wasn’t quite fast enough to avoid the remote control that clipped his cheekbone. From outside he thought he could detect the faint sound of laughter; he ignored it, keeping his eyes on the girl and praying she didn’t try to repeat her earlier tricks. The room might not be big enough for determined flinging, but he suspected it was just perfect for a quick game of Milos Pinball.
The way her stare settled on him, then flicked around the room again, didn’t help matters. He tried again. “Look, I found this, and...”
The remote grazed over his upper thigh and skittered into the corner; he could guess at where she was aiming and it didn’t make him feel any better. Neither did her expression, which spoke volumes on how she felt about missing.

1313

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Transfer I thought I'd have loads of this one. Alex is always threatening to transfer Milos to Research! ...Haha, nope. So this comes from a side story about Tay, a former counter-terrorism agent forced into a department of misfits after he's suspected of killing his previous team.

Radial
WIPSnips: Transfer

“Do you think you should come back to the office now?”
He snorted, yanking the arms of the machine together and hoping the way they covered his face blocked out his wince as the abrupt movement sparked pain in his shoulder. “No.”
Her face came back into view as he let the machine prise his arms apart again. She looked like she was trying to be patient, but it was becoming a struggle. “Marrok wants to speak to you.”
“Marrok can go fuck himself.” He yanked his arms back together and this time the pain in his shoulder wasn’t quite as bad — or he was so angry he no longer noticed it. “He’s made it clear ever since he met me he doesn’t want to have me here. I don’t want to be here. He can transfer me to Research, just like he wants, and I get the fuck away from him. Win, win.”
“He’s invested too much in you now to let that happen.”
“Like hell he has.” He relaxed his arms, then yanked them back together. For an exercise that was supposed to build up his chest, he suspected he’d only end up with multiple sprains instead; he didn’t care. The pain gave him something else to focus on. “He’s been bullied into this for some reason and there’s nothing he wants more than to replace me with someone he’d rather have.”
“That isn’t true, Tay.”

0261

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Tattoo Apparently nobody in Radial has any tattoos, and Jude doesn't have his yet in Ghosted, so it had to be the drum-beat kind. Altho this is from my enormous Radial scriv file, this one is *cough* from Radial: Valentine's Day [Take Two]. Milos is immune to honey-tongues; Alex isn't.

Radial
WIPSnips: Tattoo

Before he could process what had happened his body just moved. The next thing he knew he was standing in front of Milos, one hand hard against the elf’s chest as the elf strained against it. One of Milos’s hands still reached out past Alex’s chest; the other, fingers formed into claws, had their tips inches from Alex’s face. His eyes were huge. His chest heaved against Alex’s palm.
Under normal circumstances he had perfect confidence in his Skill. Years of experimentation and training, and a couple of years of working with a nervous, pointy elf, meant he was always prepared to let things phase harmlessly through him. But now, when his body was effectively puppeteered by an idiot teenager?
Milos could’ve had his eye out and shredded his face to ribbons. From the elf’s look of absolute terror and the hard tattoo of his thudding heartbeat against Alex’s hand, he knew it too.
“I...” Milos’s voice was low and shaking. “I wanted to — I only wanted...” To Alex’s right, the grey blades ran back into fingers again.

0140

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Activity I am slightly horrified that this is the only use of the word in all of Radial. It's not in Ghosted at all. From a very short (and very old) story post-book 2, Alex is having nightmares.

Radial
WIPSnips: Activity

He jerked awake in a flail of arms, lurching upright before he knew he was moving. He’d fallen, he’d fallen and this room was far too dark and quiet, the only sound was his harsh breathing and oh God it hadn’t been a dream and—
He turned slowly, dread crushing his chest because he knew, he already knew that the space beside him was empty, that he’d fucked up...
The dark shoulder visible above the sheets rose and fell with Milos’s breathing. Alex allowed his eyes to track the length of his body, taking in the relaxed position, the mass of thick blond hair tangled from the night’s earlier activities, the sheer peacefulness of the man, and let out the shaking breath he hadn’t realised he was holding.

1252

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

There does need to be more stories about MinPins in the world... Personally, because I'm easily amused, I like sitting Squidge on top of her toy bear, so I can start singing: Whoa, we're halfway there, Whoa-oh...

Squirrel on a bear!

A grey squirrel dog toy sitting on top of a green bear dog toy.

110

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

It's not a complicated pose. I don't know why I had to turn limits off to get the thumb there when I could match up the finger positions to mine without a problem. So strange. Maybe it'll behave better if I try again tomorrow.

3D render of white human Alex (black hair, brown eyes) and dark elf Milos (blond hair, hazel eyes). Both wear black suits, white shirts, and black ties. Milos stands a bit behind Alex, smiling nervously, while Alex brandishes a blank card that will one day have his ID on it.

100

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 20/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Absolutely no use of this word in all of Radial's files (about 500k words). 💀 The closest I got was a rusted trolley in a canal, so I went for ~vibes~ and Alex being an arsehole to Milos in book 1 just because he can. (If anything, it's hard to pick just ONE of those moments...)

Radial
WIPSnips: Troll

He jabbed his knife into a potato, which promptly fell apart. “Are you going to teach me how to file?”
Again he felt Jaska staring at him. “Fuck no. You’re barely literate as it is.”
“Hey—!”
“If you were in any way capable, you wouldn’t need remedial lessons. I’ve seen your schedule—”
“—how?!—”
“—because there’s a copy in your file. I know just how incompetent you are.” Jaska sliced and ate a piece of pork like he was perfectly innocent, like he wasn’t busy insulting Milos in every way he could think of. “Your only real talent is that you’re an elf so the polymetal didn’t slice your body into chunks. Beyond that, you’re a liability and the sooner you’re either sent back to Research or dealt with in the field, the better.”
Part of his brain reminded him it was nothing Jaska hadn’t said before. Nothing that Robin hadn’t said before. The rest of it was screaming that Milos should tip his dinner over Jaska’s head. At the very least he should try to take him by surprise, jump on him, and shove a large roast potato into his mouth.

0180

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Drain Still in Radial, where Milos first meets Sarah, one of Alex's very, very few friends. Milos is on probation at his new job (the one he got against his will from being experimented on) and keeps getting lost between office/dorm/canteen.

WIPSnips: Drain
Radial

“Nope. He’s been like it since school. He’s a bit like Marmite, if Marmite was almost entirely unsellable.”
“I like Marmite...”
Her laugh echoed around the corridors. “I bet you won’t in a week or two. Look, here’s your room.”
And it was, in significantly fewer twists and turns. He shook his head, and his rescuer laughed again. “Thanks. It’s all still... a bit...”
She gave his arm a squeeze, then released it. “It’ll get easier. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes with that map.”
He nodded gratefully and slid into his room. The bed was softer than at Robin’s and once he sat on it, all the nervous tension from the day seemed to drain away; he flopped bonelessly back onto the duvet and covered his eyes with his arm. A map meant he wouldn’t have to rely on Jaska. It’d make them both happy, so why had Jaska not provided him one? Was it that much fun trying to bully his new, unwanted, co-worker?
He’d just answered that question himself, hadn’t he?

1190

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Remain Since I've been loitering in my sprawling Radial scriv file, that's where today's quote comes from. Alex has just tried to murder someone on a motorbike and then stopped in the middle of a motorway. Milos is, understandably, a little unsettled by this.

Radial
WIPSnips: Remain
Alex watched as the bike overshot the car and braked hard enough to slide sideways across the lane, the rider’s right leg outstretched to balance the vehicle with its passenger clinging grimly on. “It’s time you met them.”
Milos stared around wildly, digging his fingers into his thighs in a futile attempt to remain calm in the face of this fresh example of madness. “Are you seriously trying to get us killed?!” Any second now, any moment, there’d be the grinding of metal over metal, a crushing pain, short but awful, and oblivion. They were stopped in the middle of the fast lane of the motorway, the lane home to lunatics like Alex who never grasped the concept of speed limits. It was only a matter of seconds before one of his fellow idiots drove straight into them. Of all the ways he’d envisioned dying over the years, this wasn’t the one he’d seen coming.

0131

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Alex's second-favourite work tool: the air syringe he uses to take in troublesome Skilled. (His primary favourite is the gun he's licensed to use, but that's only for special occasions.)

3D render of Alex, a muscular white man with dark brown eyes and short black hair, standing with his weight to his left and frowning with an annoyed expression at something in that direction. He wears a well-fitting black suit, white shirt, and black tie.

030

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

I only tried out this pose because I was being lazy and curious, and... it turns out that when they try to apply an expression when you already have a different one set up, the result is it looks like someone caught a man who turns intangible a lucky hit to the head, and now they're going to *die.*

3D render of Alex, a muscular white man with short black hair and brown eyes. He wears a black suit, white shirt and black tie, and stands with his right hand pressed to his head. His face is angled down but he looks up, an expression halfway between a smile and a grimace on his face, and he looks on the whole like he's two inches from murdering someone.

000

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Alex, on the other hand, is a bit more well-built. (I took his clothes off to put new ones on, and kinda liked him without...)

3D render of Alex, a muscular white man with short black hair and dark brown eyes, He is standing shirtless, his arms at his side, and somehow still makes it look a threat.

100

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

It's not even a complicated image to cause the kind of trouble it's been responsible for! It shouldn't have taken this long to do. Anyway, considering *most* of this render was quick (aside from the actual rendering bit), I like how cute Milos turned out. He's so damn skinny, clothes hang off him.

3D render of Milos, a purple-grey skinned dark elf with untidy above-shoulder-length blond hair and hazel eyes. He wears a black suit with the jacket undone and a white shirt with the collar open, and is standing in a relaxed pose, looking off to his right and smiling prettily.

101

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Brain A small cluster of brains for this one. Mmm, tasty.

Ghosted
WIPSnips: Brain

“They come into places like this thinking it’s routine, and then it turns out to be anything but. The next thing they know, everything’s gone sideways and zombies start dropping out the ceiling.”
Gabe watched him through the camera screen, twisting to ensure the one on his chest was aimed solidly up the stairs. He was going to be so sore tomorrow, it’d be a wonder if he could untwist his spine within a week. “So you’re saying that I’m going to be famous for being the first person to catch a real zombie attack on a livestream?”
The other man smiled faintly. “Then you’ll be famous for being the first person to have your brains eaten by a real zombie live on air.”
“Hey, they can’t eat my brains if there are no brains for them to eat.”

0100

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Fixed some of the more apocalyptic moments (I accidentally blew out the lights in the restaurant too) and remembered to fix the texture thresholds that DAZ seem to think should be a per-project problem rather than a one-and-done one (it shouldn't). Need more parked cars; it IS Valentine's Day.

3D render of a rainy street, the camera pointing down the pavement. There are several cars parked along the side of the street, and streetlights cast a fairly pointless glow (inspired by local street lighting *sigh*). There are shops down the right side, most of which are dark except for a brightly lit restaurant at the end, and opposite are some terraced houses, some of which have lights on. An old car passes by.

030

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Tried to render a street scene from the first Radial: Valentine's Day story and accidentally caught a small apocalypse in progress instead. (The lights are distinctly wonky in DS. I had a couple too many 0s... but only a couple.)

Grainy 3D render of a street with shops on the right and a road with a parked car on the left. In front are some houses, one of which is filled with light that spills out onto the street and is so bright even the roof is illuminated.

240

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

I did a thing in DaVinci Resolve! It's crap, haha, but it's the first thing I've successfully done. (I mean, I had to watch three tutorials and rewatch another one to figure out how to export it...) It only crashed once, so it's arguably already ahead of DS.

010

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Climb When my writing speed is so glacial I almost forgot I wrote this. 💀 Gabe having a brief moment of excitement in the first chapter.

Ghosted
WIPSnips: Climb
Still, all he had to do now was swing his leg over and drop down the other side—
An unholy creak filled his world. A juddering series of clinks. Gabe let out an embarrassingly loud squeak as, beneath his near-numb crotch, the gate shuddered, then swung majestically away from its twin.
He supposed the view might’ve been impressive. He wouldn’t know: his eyes were screwed shut. The feeling of the wind through his hair was bad enough. Only when he’d come to most of a halt did he risk peeking.
The gate had ground to a stop by the wall, its bottom rungs tangled in a menacing bramble reaching spiny fingers for his torch. If he’d already started to climb down the other side, he’d have ended up dragging himself free from its thorough grip.

0182

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Oh my gods, I haven't drawn in ages. Why is it so difficult? 💀 Anyway, I just want a hair like this for FilaToon. That's it. Just a nice wavy 'I want to hide' hair. (Poor Jude. He looks better than this really, I promise. He's really cute when not drawn by me.)

Sketchy drawing of Jude, a nervous looking man with wavy short hair that hangs over his eyes, wearing a hoodie.

000

Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

#BluePitHype For the amount of things I've rendered for this project, I have remarkably little that's shareable (or even on my laptop, annoyingly). Hopefully I'll fix that by the time BluePit starts! 😅

3D render of Gabriel West, a white man with reddish brown hair and brown eyes. He wears a checked shirt in shades of blue and white and is looking pensively off to his right with his right hand raised.

Fun fact: I did this render to demonstrate to someone that the shirt can be worn without the trousers it came with, but it's turned out to be one of my favourite pictures of Gabe. He's also not wearing pants in this picture.

3D render of Jude Jones, a half-Asian man with untidy and slightly overlong black hair and dark brown eyes. He is laying back in a mysterious black fluid with his right arm raised and his hand shielding his eyes. His left hand rests on his stomach. His artfully torn blue jeans are slightly undone. Some of the black fluid has spattered on his body and some parts of it have formed streaks like someone has tried to pull him under. There are wet black handprints on his left shoulder and thighs.

Fun fact: those wet handprints are actually dynamic 2D panels. In order to get them to land where I wanted, I had to simulate each one individually and repeatedly, adjusting the friction setting every time until they stopped sliding off his body entirely and ended up where I wanted them. If he'd been a real person, he'd have been very wet, cold, and grumpy by the time I was done.

3D render of puppet!Gabe and puppet!Jude investigating the hospital wing of the old building. Puppet!Gabe is red with a blue nose and eyelids, and wears a red and white long-sleeved T-shirt. He's holding his phone up and filming. Puppet!Jude is smaller, and a kind of beige with a red nose and eyelids and wears a white turtleneck sweater. He's looking at Puppet!Gabe with his right hand raised, holding a large DSLR camera in his left. They both have weirdly realistic hair.
Behind them, a spooky ghost (tm) levitates, sheet-like and glowing, behind the open door. Neither of them have noticed.
There's a little sign that says "BooTube" in the top right corner.

Fun fact: ...Look, I was bored, alright? And I never got that much use out of this puppet morph, which is for a previous figure generation and only for male characters. You can possibly tell from the clothing fit that it's not really ideal for most things, but this was fun to do. A pain, but fun.

3D render of the lobby of the building Gabe and Jude are exploring. It has rough and dusty wooden walls with Art Deco style lamps studded along it. A large white-painted and chipped staircase dominates the middle of the scene, a stinking and tattered red carpet leading up them and held in place by tarnished stair rods. The flooring is black and white tiles, some cracked or simply missing, and leaves have blown in from the last time the door was opened. The air is dusty and cobwebs hang from the ceiling.

Fun fact: this is an older model and when I accidentally applied displacement from a shader, all the wood panelling cracked and let in light from the HDRI. It took me a while to work out what'd happened and fix it, and the whole effect was slightly more creepy than it deserved.
I spent an inordinate amount of time fiddling with things you can't see in this render. Just in case.

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

I am ridiculously easily amused. Even if this is three renders in a trenchcoat (two of which were just to deal with Jude's hair).

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

#WIPSnips: Table I thought, I'm only five chapters in and they've only encountered one desk, so I'd be surprised if 'table' is there. 'Table' is there far more often than I expected. Scrivener still insists that should read 'cytoplasm-dripping.' I still don't know why.

Ghosted
WIPSnips: Table

He angled the torch towards the right corner of the room, and Jude could see absolutely nothing. It tracked along the wall, around the height a short-ish thirteen year old boy might be.
“Maybe he isn’t supposed to be in here,” Gabe said, his voice so low Jude struggled to catch it. “Because there’s a big dent in the side of his head.”
Just because he’d said he was psychic, didn’t mean he wasn’t making this all up. He could be a very eloquent conman, like the table-raising, ectoplasm-dripping psychics of Victorian times. All those TV shows had disclaimers they were for entertainment only; they probably made the lot of it all up. At least, that’s what the rational part of his brain was insisting, tapping its little tin cup in a nagging tattoo against the side of his mind.
From the way Gabe’s back hitched under Jude’s touch, how his breathing quickened, he had to be so good he’d even convinced himself.

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

The view from the top of the hill this morning.

Photo of a dark early morning at the top of a snowy hill. There's is a small patch of grass ahead, the fence to a childrens' play area to the left, and some houses to the right. In the distance are some warehouses. The sky is a solid blue-grey.

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

#BluePitHype Hi, I'm Aphna/Pax, an agender writer and 3D artist (no AI) who lives pretty much smack in the middle of the UK (but my heart apparently yearns for Yorkshire). I write gay fantasy, and occasionally sci-fi, romances very slowly (and 'fantasy' covers a multitude of sins).

Cover to The Night Fair by Pax Asteriae, showing a man (Iphre) with long brown hair loosely tied back staring up at the sky with a smile. He wears a little chain necklace around his neck, and although he wears a blue loose shirt and open purple and gold robe, his chest is bare. He stands against a night fair (shocker!) with tall brocaded tents and a fire in a brazier.

Fun fact: I had a PC that was little better than a potato when I did this render, and once I stopped it crashing every time I tried to render it, it took about a week for this image at 1600px across to complete.

Cover of A Binding Strategy by Pax Asteriae, showing Gabrys, a blond man with a loose fringe and his hair tied back. He wears a loose semi-transparent cropped top with long sleeves and a gold chain that crosses over his torso. On his wrists are delicate filigree bindings, connected by a gold chain that hangs between them as he clasps his hands nervously in front of himself. The background is the entrance to his arranged fiancé's palace.

Fun fact: for the initial render a few years before this one, I had to paint those gold bindings on Gabrys's wrists by hand. Luckily, when it came to redo the cover, an artist called Fabiana (who creates many magical 3D jewelleries) had made these which are almost exactly like the ones I painted. I was much happier to pay her for these and never have to swear at Photoshop again. (Well, except for all the other reasons to swear at it.)

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

How to make sure I never vote for Labour again. (Kanishka Narayan is the minister for AI and Online Safety, who is apparently absolutely determined to be as shit at his job as everyone else in that gods-damned party.)

"The American president is as against child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls as I think that the British public and the British government is," said Mr Narayan. "So that's the first thing to say."

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

It was very windy (I watched someone's red recycling tub drift past on the dry pavement 😂) and there is a river... but that's in the opposite direction to the wind. No fog, but it could be tiny frozen water blowing along from a very distant cloud! The weather forecast is about as useful as usual. 😅

Severe Weather Alert - 6m
A Severe snow warning for your area begins at 20:00 tomorrow and ends at...

Severe Weather Alert - 6m
A Moderate snow warning for your area begins at 17:00 tomorrow and ends at...

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Ahah... I've just realised I uploaded the wrong version. This princess was also in another castle... sorry, drive. Too many drives. He's a little bit hairier than that one! (Oh the joy of rendering twice so you can remove the hair intersecting the fabric...) Fun to render though! 😁

3D render of Gabe, a brunet man with light brown eyes. He wears a red ribbon over his (hairier than the previous version) chest with the bow at chest height and a pair of red shorts, and kneels on a wooden floor in front of a Christmas tree in a (questionable) attempt to look seductive.

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

The third render was one of my favourites from this year. Prince Danvin has his marriage arranged to King Ardashir, who is... not known as a nice man, and I loved creating a gothic romance cover style image for him. 😂 I am very easily amused.

3D render of Milos, a greyish-skinned dark elf with untidy blond hair and hazel eyes, and Alex, a muscular white human with short black hair. Alex embraces Milos from behind, left arm around him with his hand on Milos's stomach, his right arm over Milos's shoulder and his hand pressed to his chest. Milos covers Alex's right hand with his own and is leaning back against him, smiling, and although you can't see it his left hand is pressed to Alex's thigh. Both are wearing trousers, although who knows for how much longer.

3D render of Milos, a greyish-skinned dark elf with untidy blond hair fanned around his head as he lays back in bed, his eyes closed and his hands above his head, gripping the bedsheets. His eyes are closed and his mouth is ajar.

3D render of Danvin, a tanned and muscular man wearing a white... nightdress? that exposes more skin than it covers up and a white pair of satin trousers. He is walking down a dark corridor with a candleholder in his right hand, holding it aloft as he cautiously explores his fiancé's palace.

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Most of my smutty stuff is still on my 3D PC, but these are the ones I have on the shared drive. I thought I had one of Caeso+fabric without the text, but apparently that princess is on another drive so these are all fairly tame.

Cover to the story Hard Work. It shows Caeso, a very pale man with short white hair kneeling on the floor with his legs apart, a pile of red cloth in front of his groin to preserve what little modesty he has left. It's draped over his thigh and trails behind him. His wrists are bound behind his back with red handcuffs, and his eyes are covered by a large cross-shaped blindfold. His mouth is open and he has a red flush in his cheeks and spreading down his chest...

3D render of Caeso, a very pale man. You can't see his hair or the top of his face in this render, but you can see he is shirtless and wears a red set of shibari ropes around his chest and a red cuff around his wrist. He is holding a pair of gold-rimmed glasses in his left hand and has one arm of them in his mouth, smiling seductively.

3D render of Jude, a half-Asian man with untidy black hair and dark brown eyes. He is shirtless and lying in a mysterious black fluid. His blue jeans are open, displaying his treasure trail, and his left hand is on his stomach, his right shielding his eyes. His body is covered with spatters of the dark liquid, including handprints and a smear like dragged fingers over his chest.

3D render of Gabe, a brunet man with light brown eyes. He is kneeling on a wooden floor in front of a decorated Christmas tree and presents, and he wears a red ribbon draped around his body with a big bow at his chest and a pair of red shorts. He is trying to pull a seductive expression, but might start laughing in a minute (possibly because he's also wearing a headband that says "Merry Christmas" with added baubles and little stars).

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Aphna @aphna.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Still trying to find Alex a replacement hair for his three raccoons in a trench coat. Still failing. The first one is just... no. And I'm not sure why I looked at the second one and started laughing, but... 😅 Back to the three raccoons...

3D render of Alex, a shirtless white man with dark brown eyes. His black hair is short, slightly curly and unruly, and curls across his forehead.

3D render of Alex, a shirtless white man with brown eyes. His black hair is white long and parted mostly in the middle, and falls to around his ears.

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