iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 11/10/2026

Sam! I haven't seen you 'round these parts in ages! Not been so bad, I took smol dog to be appraised by a shark on Tuesday. How have you been?

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher, mostly in shadow, standing in front of an aquarium tank. Behind her is a small white shark, which is sidling past while giving her a very speculative look. This is the second time it's seen her and she's probably starting to look quite tasty.

My hand is also visible, holding her harness so she doesn't fall off the ledge. Somehow it looks like a creepy AI fake hand, despite being 100% mine in this terrible photo.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 08/10/2026

Smol dog had her very first pupiccino, which she loved so much that while I was carrying around the empty cup looking for the bin, she kept staring me in the hope I'd give it her again, magically full. She genuinely would've demolished a second if I'd bought one for her.

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher in a natty beige, blue, brown, and orange sweater with a bright blue collar and a blue and yellow harness. She had her nose in a pupiccino cup, and is slightly blurry due to her eldritch horror nature.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 08/10/2026

A lot of squirrels were pursued today. Much nicer to go when it's not half term.

Screenshot of the Honor Health app showing a very wiggly journey around Elvaston Castle Park grounds, mostly in pursuit of squirrels (and some photos). 8.53 miles were travelled (2 of which are off-map at home, going to and coming back from the bus stop) for a total of 4 hours 51 minutes; 19,668 steps.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 07/10/2026

#LitHodgepodge I'm not really very good at these, so... this might be my narrative voice, as filtered through Marcus? 😅 There's some dialogue, but mostly to make the non-dialogue bit make sense.

“And if I said I didn’t want to go?”
Marcus fidgeted in his seat, as much as it would allow. “Then I couldn’t make you. I’m not about to throw you over my shoulder and carry you there. But,” he said, taking a deep breath, “you’d probably get a phone call from Camille later. I did ask her if you really needed to be there…”
Blake let out a groan, dropping his head to his hands; Marcus wished he couldn’t see just how pale his knuckles turned as he gripped his mop of brown hair. Just on the edge of hearing, he caught Blake muttering various things about train tickets, travel times and something almost unintelligible, but Marcus assumed to be insults. Whether they were aimed at Camille or himself he didn’t want to guess.
Eventually he pushed himself upright again, hands falling to ball into fists beside his thighs and a flex to his jaw that hadn’t been there before. Marcus kept his mouth cautiously shut; Blake had no idea how tempted he’d been to break that awkward silence, but he’d sensed it would go very, very badly if he had. “At least,” Blake said slowly, “it’s tomorrow and not today.”
It looked like the other man had got the measure of him already. It was all Marcus could do not to duck his head, and that was mostly because if he moved again, he might vanish entirely down the back of the sofa. Just a pair of legs sticking out like he’d been thoroughly chewed.
Blake would probably be thrilled.
No, actually: he probably wouldn’t, because then Marcus would be a permanent fixture, even if it was just a pair of shins he had to shove aside every time he sat down. And there was nothing Blake had made plainer than his wish for all this to be over and done with.
Finally, he managed, “So… you’ll go?”
Blake’s eyes flicked across to him, but the smile Marcus hoped to see curve his pretty lips was depressingly absent. “It doesn’t look like I have a choice, does it?”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 03/10/2026

#LitHodgepodge Handily, I rendered both of these just recently for the moodboard. 😅 Since both these dorks are POV characters in Singer/Songwriter, here they are. Marcus, the light elf, is the pop singer. Blake, the dark elf, is the songwriter (and musician).

Marcus, a light elf with large, pointed ears, spiky and slightly overlong blond hair, and blue eyes. He faces the camera and smiles, his left hand raised to cup his chin.
He wears an open, cropped blue jacket embroidered in silver, open to expose his chest and stomach, and a pair of blue leather trousers tied with black cord.

Blake, a dark elf with long pointed ears with several studs in his left one, untidy brown hair, and green eyes. He stands directed towards the camera but facing to the left with his arms folded across his chest.
He wears a white T-shirt blending into the white wall behind him, and he looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here. (Because he would.)

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 02/10/2026

#LGBTQWriteAThon Singer/Songwriter (shush) is about two idiots who get fake-engaged: one for money so he can keep his flat, and one for publicity and an album that might do better than his last. Six months, a few new songs, and they can part ways. After all, they'll never fall in love, right?

A moodboard of six images. From left to right, top to bottom, they are:
An acoustic guitar and a black notebook with a black pen laid on top, on a bed by a window.
A set of USB drives, connector-side facing the camera, on a rattan surface.
A blond light elf man with long ears, spiky hair and blue eyes, one hand raised to his chin, smiling at the camera. He wears a loose blue jacket with silver embellishments exposing his chest and stomach and blue leather trousers.
A scowling brunet dark elf wearing a white T-shirt and facing to the left, his arms folded across his chest. His left ear has several black studs in the lobe and at the tip.
An acoustic guitar is laid on a canvas cloth beside a white tablet with the screen off. A pair of white earbuds with cable sits on top of it.
A moodily-lit microphone in a smoky, open room.

White text on a blue background across the centre of the image reads:
"I thought I looked sexy."
The tips of Blake's ears turned scarlet.
"I guess I'm not wrong."

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 01/10/2026

#LitHodgepodge I'm Pax, I write... stuff, that I mostly never finish. There's frequently elves (the tall ones). Sometimes gods. These questions were weirdly difficult when the answer to so many should be 'both'...except the answer to the last one is 'neither.' I prefer to be asleep at both times. 😁

Literary This or That
Paperback / [Hardover]
Series / [Standalone]
Tears / [Laughs]
Coffee / [Tea]
[Hero] / Villain
[Character-driven] / Plot-driven
[Computer] / Pen & Paper
[Sweet] / Salty
Silence / [Soundtrack]
[Bookmark] / Dog-ear
Plotter / [Pantser]
[Lush] / Minimalist
[Vomit Draft] / Slow Craft
Morning / Midnight

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 29/09/2026

#WIPSnips: Well Wherein Marcus is being politely interrogated by his fake-fiancé's older sister while driving to London with said increasingly unhappy fake-fiancé.

“So what’s this thing he’s a plus-one for? If you’re okay to talk and drive.”
“Blake’s holding the phone, so I’m okay until his arm goes numb. It’s just a little awards event, for Teen Dream, if you know it?”
“Ohh, I didn’t know that was still going!” She snorted. “I used to read it when I was young.”
“It seems like a pretty fun magazine. Not that I’m a girl. Or a teenager. Or… well, yeah. And Blake kindly said he’d come with me so I wouldn’t get lonely on the drive down.”
Blake shot him a glare that promised trouble later; Marcus flashed his best innocent grin in return.
“That sounds remarkably unlike Blake,” Bryant said drily. “Are you sure you didn’t just tuck him under your arm and dump him into the car?”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 28/09/2026

This is what I mean about her being like Lee: a person who turns up in the story on occasions and happily runs away with it. In this case, bickering with her younger brother. And now she gets to embarrass him to his fake fiancé. 😁

“I can’t — you can’t — will it stop you yelling at me?!” The last part was delivered at a volume that made both Marcus’s left ear ring and Blake sound a tiny bit hypocritical. “Fine.” And he thumped the speaker icon so hard Marcus half-expected the phone to crack.
“—And I’m not yelling!” A female voice suddenly filled the narrow confines of the car, at a volume that belied her words.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 27/09/2026

Had a homegrown chilli with my dinner~ Not hot, but quite sweet and very tasty.

Photo of a purpleish-black chilli pepper on a green table cloth beside two spring onions, a pair of ceramic chopsticks with a blue-black floral pattern, and a matching bowl with spinach in.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 23/09/2026

I wanted to do another pinup picture of Marcus, the glossy marketing shot kind, but it took so long to pose that damn hand and glass that I ran out of energy for the rest of the scene today. 😅😂 Maybe he's advertising a new and incredible invisible chair, rather than the drink...

3D render of Marcus, a tall and toned blond light elf with blue eyes. He's reclining in a chair — or would be if I'd added one to the scene — while holding up a glass of brownish liquid with ice cubes in it with his right hand and smiling. He appears to be sitting on a pot plant, because I haven't added any scenery yet. Or clothes.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 14/09/2026

Bsky: If we lump all of them in together, no one will notice, right?

Screenshot from the Bluesky trend "Cheetah Chrome dies"
Two posts, one above the other:
CatCmdr1: Bob Mackie, designer to the stars who dressed Cher and Madonna and defined '70s glamour, dies at 87
Desert Dog Dad: RIP, Bob Mackie [an image of a gown designed like a set of green velvet curtains with gold fringing and a tassel hat]

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 13/09/2026

I accidentally a Marcus music promo image. 🫢

3D render of Marcus Ryan, a light elf with spiky blond hair and a gold chain draped over his nose. He is standing with a microphone in his left hand, his right hand raised to his right ear, and his eyes closed as he sings soulfully into a microphone. He wears a yellow and black cropped jacket that hangs open, exposing his chest and stomach, and matching black and yellow trousers, and he wears a bright blue digital watch on his left wrist.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 10/09/2026

Will this stop him from damaging WordPress's reputation any further? Probably not. Considering this level of bullshit, I wonder what on Earth he was about to try to do that they finally lost patience with him?? www.404media.co/wordpress-au...

For the last few years, Mullenweg has waged a divisive legal battle with WP Engine, sparing publicly with opponents and peers on social media and in his personal blog. In 2024, he made an “Alignment Offer,” giving Automattic employees who disagreed with his stances the option to take six months of pay or $30,000, whichever was higher, with the stipulation that they would lose access to their work logins that same evening and would not be eligible for rehire.

One hundred and fifty-nine people took the offer and left. He then made another buyout offer, and threatened employees who spoke to the press with termination, saying, “exit gracefully, or be fired tomorrow with no severance.”

Most recently, Automattic attempted to claim it owns the word “automatic.”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 07/09/2026

#WIPSnips: Elevator Early in chapter 1, where Marcus gets to be a bit vain about pictures of himself in the lobby of the building.

The cut-out was a good likeness, and it really *was* life-sized: Marcus double-checked while he waited for one of the bank of elevators to return to the ground floor. It was from his particularly good side, taken during his last tour. It was also intimidating to anyone human, and Marcus was only average for a ljusalfa: the top of its head, much like his own, came perilously close to the top of the lift doors. Putting it here, where the majority-human users of the building all had to pass through, felt like an act of aggression.
Oh well. Not his problem. They’d had to walk past enough pictures of him to get here, thanks to whatever efforts Camille had gone to; the least they could do is see him in the flesh. Well, cardboard. Maybe it’d boost sales.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 04/09/2026

#FantasyIndiesSeptember A few days late starting, but eh... I'm still Pax, still an English bean (definitely not runner), still a depressingly slow writer. I'm still working on the Singer/Songwriter story, a weirdly contemporary fantasy romance about two idiots getting fake-engaged for fame/money.

Fantasy Indies Sept prompts by @ChesneyInfalt & @LydiaVRussell

1. Introduce yourself & WIP
2. How do you choose your next read?
3. Education in WIP
4. Free Friday or do you collect anything?
5. Saturday Snippet
6. Do you know what your next WIP will be?
7. Something in your WIP that surprised you
8. Would/does your MC like school? Favourite subject(s)?
9. What magic or superhero powers would you/your MC choose to have?
10. Does your MC want knowledge or power? How far would they go for it?
11. Free Friday or books that remind you of autumn
12. Saturday Snippet
13. How organized are you/your characters?
14. Lessons learned in WIP
15. How would your characters describe you?
16. Poem or Flash Fiction featuring the word “autumn”
17. What type of book would your MC(s) write?
18. Free Friday or share pet photos
19. Saturday Snippet
20. Words you tend to overuse
21. Power-hungry character in WIP
22. Your autumn TBR
23. What grammar rule(s) do you struggle with?
24. Interesting fact(s) from your WIP’s world’s history
25. Free Friday or music you’ve been inspired by recently
26. Saturday Snippet
27. What research do you do for your writing?
28. Your thoughts on DNFing books
29. Are you/MC an introvert, extrovert, or ambivert?
30. Monthly Wrap Up

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 04/09/2026

#WIPSnips: Collapse Marcus and Blake are arranging to attend an awards ceremony together. Grudgingly, on Blake's part.

Blake’s gaze slid across and up to him. “You’ve attended this before?”
“Well, yeah. Almost every year now.”
“But you still forgot it was happening?”
…He really should have left. “It’s been a bit busy. I’d have remembered if it wasn’t for all this.” It sounded defensive. Sounding defensive was never good; he tried to add a smile to soften the edges.
Blake’s neutral expression collapsed into a scowl. “And if it wasn’t for all this, I wouldn’t have to go.”
Marcus ducked his head and slid his phone back into his pocket. “I’m sorry. I’ll buy you a meal after? Or before?”
“I don’t—” Blake caught himself, and Marcus just knew it would’ve been followed by want to spend any more time with you than necessary. “I don’t need bribing. I’ll meet you there.”
He opened his mouth to offer to meet him at the station, or the bus stop if Blake was truly masochistic, then shut it again. He was already up to his knees in this hole. There was no need to keep digging. “I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 03/09/2026

Marcus loves taking selfies. Blake is rather less keen...

Selfie-style 3D render of Marcus, a tall blond elf with blue eyes, who wears a designer black shirt open to almost the navel with a gold belt criss-crossing his waist. His right arm is raised, holding his phone, and he's grinning and making a peace sign at the camera. To the right, with his back to the camera, is Blake, a brunet dark elf wearing a black suit jacket, black jeans, and neat black shoes. He's walking towards the door in the background and is pretending Marcus isn't there.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 01/09/2026

I went to Aldi because the Co-op's cash machine is broken (again) and bought this silly cube shaped corgi toy because it was cute. On getting home, smol dog immediately decided it was hers and she's so determined to fit as much of it into her mouth as she can; who am I to say no?

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher holding a very large brown fluffy toy in her mouth. She's crammed so much of it in there that her nose turns up at the end.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 31/08/2026

Something I find fun about 3D: I wanted to render Marcus taking selfies, which meant I finally needed to work on Blake. Only when I posed them together did I realise that not only did Blake blush when he got in the car with Marcus... he now has to spend an awards ceremony facing his bare chest. 😂

3D render of Marcus and Blake. Marcus is a tall blond light elf with long pointed ears and blue eyes. He wears a pair of black leather trousers and a fancy dress shirt open to the top of his stomach, held with narrow gold belts. He is standing facing Blake mid-conversation, his right hand out.
Blake is a short brunet dark elf with long pointed ears and green eyes. He wears a black suit jacket, a band T-shirt, and black jeans, and is standing facing Marcus with his hands clasped, also mid-conversation.
Blake is short enough that if he looks straight ahead, all he will see is Marcus's bare pecs.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 30/08/2026

Got Marcus's proportions fixed (which was fun; I adjusted a chest proportion and he immediately lost two inches of height 😱) and then spent ages digging through my files to find a hotel exterior. In the end the most suitable one is so old I had to nearly retexture it... Scrubs up well though!

3D render of Marcus, a tall light elf with long ears, short blond hair parted to his left (our right), and blue eyes. He's standing between two sets of velvet ropes on a red carpet you irritatingly can't see, and is posing with one hand behind his head and the other coquettishly at his mouth while grinning cheekily for cameras. He wears a black shirt open to below his pecs with a gold belt around the waist, and tight black leather trousers, and stands in front of a fancy hotel.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 21/08/2026

Ah... on that note... (I thought it was a joke when I first saw it, but no, apparently it's real.)

Promotional image of the 7Up rebrand, showing one green can on its side and one black can standing upright. Both read "Lime Lemon 7UP".

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 17/08/2026

Share a TV show you love where a main character is a detective. 🔎📺 #TVSky

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 16/08/2026

#SumLuv For Alex and Milos, it's little touches even when they're technically arguing. (They had a major falling-out in book 2, but Alex still can't keep his hands off Milos.) For Blake and Marcus, it's weird feelings they can't identify and finding one another unexpectedly easy to talk to.

Alex just stared at him, then fell in live behind him as he headed towards Robin's former office. Worrying; Alex turning down an opportunity to insult him wasn't something that happened often. Lost in thought, he tapped once on the office door then pushed it open.
A hefty stapler bounced off the wall mere inches from his head, followed rapidly by a shout of "Oh shit!" Milos shot backwards so fast he ran straight into Alex, who steadied him with two hands on his hips and sent his heart climbing into his mouth. "I'm really sorry!" Rick called from behind the desk. "I thought you were him!"
Well, that answered his question. He turned to glare over his shoulder at Alex, who let his hands slip from the dokkalfa, leaving yet another cold patch. "You *knew* he was going to do that, didn't you?"
He shrugged, a humourless smile curving his lips. "I could guess."

Blake closed his mouth again. One less thing from that list of horror would be welcome, at least. “I’m not doing anything interesting.” Which was true. He’d decided today was the ideal time to go through his demos and see what might suit this mythical album. Apparently doing it uninterrupted was too much to ask.
“I don’t mind. I’ll just sit and watch.” Marcus grinned another irritatingly attractive grin.
There was absolutely nothing worse he could think of. Well, there was… but he didn’t intend to get naked with the other man to find out if it really was as abhorrent as Blake anticipated.
Marcus’s words cut through the sudden, awful mental images. “And… Facebook friends?” He smiled again, but there was another edge to it. Not malicious this time, but very almost sad. Not that Blake could think of a reason for it. “We can say we didn’t want anyone to know before now so we kept our distance, but since we just had a whole press conference about it, it’s a bit hard to keep that lie up.”
Really? He was putting more thought into this than Blake had even known was necessary. “Whatever.” And Marcus’s face actually fell. What was wrong with the idiot? And just why did Blake feel so bad about it, when there was no reason to? “I’ll see about finding my password.”

Silence, for so long Marcus had to check he hadn’t been disconnected. Long enough he couldn’t help wondering if that was the wrong answer. Only once he had his fingers covered in half-applied CC cream did Blake say, so quietly Marcus almost missed it, “You’d do that?”
“Well, yeah. I wouldn’t say I would if I didn’t mean it.”
“I suppose not.” If only Blake didn’t sound so dubious. “It’s still the same one?”
“The only one I have, yes.”
A noise came through the phone that sounded distinctly unimpressed; Marcus found himself grinning at the mirror again. “It would solve the problem, I guess…”
“And since I’m already going to London, it’d just be like carpooling. One fewer journey.” And it’d save Blake money, but Marcus wasn’t stupid enough to say that out loud. “So that’s a yes?”
Another grudging noise, then a quiet “Thank you.”
Just for a heartbeat, a flare of heat filled Marcus’s chest. He glanced down at himself, frowning. One ‘thank you’ and it made him happy? He didn’t think getting gratitude from Blake was like pulling teeth, but knowing how the other man felt about him…
Time to change the subject. “Figured out what you’re wearing?”
“You said it’s informal—” But this time even Blake seemed to catch the sharp edge to his words, and the sigh that drifted across the city made Marcus smile, just slightly. “The same thing I always wear. You’re not going to make me go up there with you, are you?”
Marcus laughed softly. “No, not if you don’t want to.”
“I don’t.”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 15/08/2026

My birthday presents to myself. 😅🤣

Photo of stationery items and CDs. From left to right, to to bottom:
A green Platinum Prefounte fountain pen, a set of Derwent Chromaflow coloured pencils, two packs of Platinum ink cartridges in light blue and green;
Gloom Division CD by I Don't Know How But They Found Me and In The Wild CD by The Interrupters, Wistful Watermelon and Gruntled Guava inks by Cult Pens, I Am A Cat ink by Wearingeul, two converters for Platinum pens, and a Platinum Preppy Wa Hanabi fountain pen.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 14/08/2026

My WiFi dipped out a moment while I was sat on the toilet and I got the sodding alert AGAIN. Good thing I was already on the loo, really. Also, so much for Do Not Disturb. 😭

Screenshot showing the England and Wales emergency alert showing on my phone at 22:54.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 14/08/2026

I didn't need a height chart for the difference between Milos and Alex (they're both 5'10"). I just needed one for the difference between Marcus (6'5") and Blake (5'6") for the fun of hand-holding, kissing, and, uh... more horizontal activities.

Image showing the height difference between Marcus (6 foot 5) and Blake (5 foot 6). The top of Blake's head reaches just above Marcus's shoulders.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 09/08/2026

Anyway, since I'm getting too toasty to finish Marcus's awards ceremony outfit (and Blake will also be a bit toasty after he's seen Marcus in it...), here's Marcus's simple headshot. Luckily, I'd already sorted out most of his face for that fake advert image. Refining his ears put up a fight tho.

3D render of Marcus, a white light elf man with long pointed ears, large blue eyes, and short blond hair. He is looking at the camera with a neutral expression. Due to the shape of his lips, it looks as though he's smiling slightly.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 07/08/2026

#WIPSnips: Handle Wherein Blake gets an ear-bashing from his angry sister who'd much rather her younger brother announce his engagement to her, not to the press... Can't blame her, really.

Blake pinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. “Don’t, Bry. Just… just ljusalfa will do. I’ve already been called the s-word once this week, I don’t want some weird Karmic imbalance to make it worse.”
Another pause, longer this time. “Who called you that? He did?”
Why were all the office doors shut? Statistically he knew at least one of them should be unoccupied, but considering his luck the last two days, he’d walk in on far too many meetings and introduce total strangers to his furious sister, all while Bryant chewed his ear off some more. “It’s fine.” It wasn’t. “It’s not a big deal.” It was. “I can handle it.” He was starting to think he really, really couldn’t…

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 05/08/2026

#WIPSnips: Carrier No carriers, so I went for a holder instead. Marcus is trying to pre-mollify Blake with coffee so what he says afterwards won't make him angry. (He hopes.)

Blake took it with a careful hand; when he sipped its contents, Marcus was sure the other man melted, just slightly. His eyes fell closed as he visibly savoured the taste.
But it was too much to ask, Marcus supposed, that when they opened again they looked upon him more favourably. “I s’pose you better come in,” Blake mumbled, stepping aside, but he couldn’t make it any more obvious if he tried that it was only formality that made him do it.
Not that Marcus would say no. Not when he had something to talk to the other man about, and wasn’t entirely sure he was looking forward to it either. He sipped his own coffee without taking it from the cardboard holder; for a moment Blake was obscured by a beige blur.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 04/08/2026

This is kind of what I mean when I talked about unhelpful publishers for a prompt a while ago. There are a couple of references to bears, but the word they're looking for is 'grisly.' And yes, I am aware the author wrote the book I just finished reading. The clue was in the text. Good book though.

A quote on the front of the book that reads, 'Grizzly and revolting, Wolf Worm will live in my brain for ever' - Olivie Blake

About The Author
T. Kingfisher (she/her) writes fantasy, horror and occasional oddities, including Nettle & Bone, What Moves the Dead, A Sorceress Comes to Call and Wolf Worm. Under a pen band, she also writes bestselling children's books. She lives in North Carolina with her husband, dogs and cats, in an area with absolutely no botflies.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 03/08/2026

#FantasyIndiesAugust 3 Ahh, book covers. I'm not good at them, but I have fun. 😅 These are all 3D, not AI. I didn't used to have a particularly good PC (GTX 850M GPU) so one render could take literal days to finish, and I couldn't use the PC while it was rendering. 😭 My PC is a bit better now.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 03/08/2026

#SumLuv I don't have many classic meet-cutes. My favourite kind are when two people get completely opposite impressions of one another. In this one, Marcus meets Blake in the lift and accidentally insults him. 😅 (Also 'svartalfa' is an offensive word, though Marcus doesn't know that at the time.)

This was worth investigating. The svartalfa was short, even by human standards, and looked pointedly away as Marcus stared. An open suit jacket hung over a plain grey t-shirt, and his grey hands were buried deep in the pockets of black jeans; a glance up and then away again revealed a set of glittering black studs in his left ear.
Definitely not a lawyer.
Or maybe he was underestimating the other man, and maybe the legal firms in the building too; Camille had warned him about his assumptions and prejudices. Only one way to find out. “Going to court or coming from it?”
Another glare, this time with such anger behind it Marcus only just stopped himself recoiling a step. But no actual answer: after a moment, the svartalfa’s glare returned to the elevator doors.

“I — I—” The ljusalfa stuttered, fiddling with the sleeves of his jacket and avoiding her dark-eyed stare like that’d absolve him of the crime. “I didn’t know, I swear. That’s the word I always heard, so… so I just assumed…” He looked up at Blake with wide, stricken eyes. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.”
Like hell he was telling the truth. Blake glowered at him, hating every single perfect, pale fibre of his being with a violence he couldn’t remember experiencing in a long time. He was tired, the day had already been trying and it was only two in the afternoon. There was every chance it’d get even worse before he went to bed. He should take deep breaths, relax his hold on the chair and force himself to clear the fog from his head.
Instead he found his mouth moving without him. “Liar. You already tried to accuse me of being a criminal in the lift.”
“What?” Consternation and frustration warred visibly on the other man’s face. “I thought you were a lawyer! You looked like you’d just lost a case!”
He was on his feet again before he realised it. “I’ve just come from a goddamn funeral!”

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 02/08/2026

#QueerWriters I have no 'Hurry' in this project (surprisingly), so I went for 'Rush' instead, which I had a... uh, rush of. I'll have to hurry to add a 'hurry.' (Now there's a word that looks increasingly ridiculous the more you write it.)

For the first time in eight hours, Blake was finally alone again.
He took a breath, then another, just to check it was true and that Marcus wouldn’t come bursting back into the apartment again. He shouldn’t — he couldn’t, not with the locks Blake had — but it would just be his luck. When five breaths had passed, he realised he could relax: a tenseness he hadn’t realised existed drained from him in a rush. His earphones hit the desk; four running steps and he threw himself onto his bed. It smelled faintly — irritatingly — of Marcus, but it was soft where his chair wasn’t and for a moment sleep threatened to claim him.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 02/08/2026

I wasn't sure about resuming this project, because Marcus and Blake have pretty specific thought processes. Luckily for me, I'd left it on Marcus's chapter and it seems, since he's a bit like me, I can slip back into it relatively easily. 😅

It looked like the other man had got the measure of him already. It was all Marcus could do not to duck his head, and that was mostly because if he moved again, he might vanish entirely down the back of the sofa. Just a pair of legs sticking out like he’d been thoroughly chewed.
Blake would probably be thrilled.
No, actually: he probably wouldn’t, because then Marcus would be a permanent fixture, even if it was just a pair of shins he had to shove aside every time he sat down. And there was nothing Blake had made plainer than his wish for all this to be over and done with.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 02/08/2026

Ooh. I didn't think I had any pictures of them on this, but apparently I do! Glad I found the height chart again, I thought I'd lost that.

3D render of Marcus, a pale elf with short, spiky blond hair and blue eyes. He is smiling flirtily at the camera, leaning his chin against the side of his hand, and wears a chain over his nose, a feather from one ear piercing, and bright star-decorated fabric wristbands on his wrist. He's probably promoting something.

It's not a great render, but it was for the background of another image entirely so it wasn't vital. In the end you couldn't even see it...

Pen and Kurecolor marker drawing of Blake from 2020. He's a grey-skinned dark elf with long pointed ears with multiple black studs visible in one ear, untidy brown hair, and green eyes. He wears grey T-shirt and a black suit jacket, and looks very not thrilled to be there.

Blank humanoid figures showing the relative difference in heights between Marcus (ljusalfa, 6'5") and Blake (dokkalfa, 5'6"). The top of Blake's head reaches about level with the top of Marcus's shoulder.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 28/07/2026

This is the size of my XTEInk 3 next to my Kindle Paperwhite. When I ordered it, the 3 had better features than the 4... but now there's a 4 Pro with a backlit screen so I'm *so* tempted... It's nice to always have a very small book to hand. 😂

Photo of a small ereader with a greyscale image of a fluffy cat on the screen, with a light green-blue cover. It sits beside a larger black Kindle Paperwhite with text on the screen.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 24/07/2026

Me: Huh, TTRPG Authors is trending, I wonder if something interesting is happening? Bsky: LOL LEGO. I don't know why I'm even surprised any more. 🙄

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 19/07/2026

This is smol dog's stone. She has carried it over a mile back from the beach. When I tried to remove a thistledown from her mouth she scampered off, and when she put it down outside the door, every time I tried to move it she picked it up again, so I had to let her bring it in. 😅

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher laying on a grey rug with a small brown stone in front of her, between her front paws. She is looking up at the camera with bright, wide eyes.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 18/07/2026

Oh yeah. Thunderstorms. Swimming in 'em. 🙄

Photo of a beautiful blue sky over a field with houses to the left. The sea is in the distance.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 17/07/2026

"Don't stare at the sun," they say. But what if the sun is staring at *me*?

Photo of a bright setting sun taken over grassland. To the left is a row of houses; to the right is the sea and a set of offshore wind turbines. There is a lot of sky, with very few dotted, fluffy clouds.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 16/07/2026

Bluesky's shitty trending topics strike again! So... are Microsoft the Wildfire or the Snake? Is this the new top/bottom?

Wildfires and Snakes
@trending.bsky.app

Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social - 50m

New: Unions in the U.S. and Canada are have filed unfair labor practice charges against Microsoft for allegedly mishandling its latest round of mass layoffs.
CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth claims Microsoft "unlawfully" fired Bethesda Game Studio Montreal workers without notifying the union.

[A photo of people protesting, holding up various signs such as 'We don't run from boss fights.']

Unions take legal action against Microsoft over Xbox layoffs
CWA Canada president Carmel Smyth claims the company 'unlawfully fired people without giving notice to or discussing it with the union.'

www.gamedeveloper.com

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 16/07/2026

On a less 'fuck these morons' note, or possibly just a different one... Bsky's appalling trending list strikes again, but at least this time it made me laugh. The ultimate in private schooling! (If you don't mind getting nommed.)

Private Schools
@trending.bsky.app
See Through Canoe @seethroughcanoe.bsky.social - 50m
A Manatee swimming with a HUGE group of rays in Tampa Bay, Florida. Manatees are found in freshwater but are mostly saltwater aimals. Freshwater habitats aren't big enough to support a breeding population of manatees.
#nature #animals #amazing #florida #wildlife
An image of many, many rays skimming over the surface of green water or swimming beneath it. There's a big clear arc behind them, and in the centre is a manatee, relatively massive compared to the size of the fleeing rays.
White text overlaid at the top left reads, "Manatee Swimming in a HUGE School of Rays"

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 15/07/2026

Noodling my way back through Bunny is fascinating. I remember when we were all playing this! (Even me on dialup, and I didn't *always* lose... 😂) bunny-comic.com/278.html

Screenshot of the Bunny webcomic.
Title: v1.5
Bunny - bunny.frozenreality.co.uk - 06 Jun 05
guest strip by drunk welshy
The Pink Bunny is sitting on a red grid with a green lightcycle trail to its left and a blue spiky sphere between them.
"the Bunny was sure it could hear the deep doom drone of recognisers..."

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 14/07/2026

Is there something Microsoft wants to tell me about the final??

Screenshot of Microsoft's World Cup coverage from the widget menu thing in Windows.

At the top it shows today's match: France vs. Spain. FRA 0 - 2 ESP.
Below that, it shows tomorrow's semifinal: England vs. Argentina.

More concerningly, below that it shows the matchup for the final, where one team is To Be Decided and the other is, inexplicably, France. Who have just lost to Spain.

Not that Microsoft had their own favourite or anything...

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 11/07/2026

#SummerOfStories This is a pretty long one. Milos is assigned a new house and Alex goes with him to look at it. So they're both happy, but for rather different reasons in the end. 😁

Milos turned to him; for one instant Alex thought he was finally going to get the pathetic attempt at a cuff he'd been expecting. When the elf wrapped both his arms around Alex instead, hugging him so tightly he almost slapped Alex across the face with his ear and burying his nose against Alex's neck, it was more than just the force of the hug that took his breath away. "This is incredible! I can't believe it!"
By rights he should be shoving the elf away. This sort of thing — in public, even! — was ridiculous.
His arms encircled the elf without his permission. That they always felt so right around him was Milos's fault, of course. Couldn't be Alex's, he'd never hugged a man before Milos, so obviously it was Milos's fault.
When Milos released him Alex barely had time to take a breath before the elf grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him through the door, without even a pause for them to take their shoes off. They came to a halt in the living room, a space that looked far larger inside than it had from outside and led through an archway into what was probably intended to be the dining room. Patio doors at the end revealed a long strip of green: Milos froze, staring at it with wide eyes. "There's a garden?"
"Apparently so," Alex said drily. He'd seen Milos experience a lot of emotions, but this one was new and Alex found he liked the wide-eyed wonder. It wouldn't last; he'd savour it now, while he could. "If you think I'm mowing it you're sorely mistaken."

Milos grinned and, rather than answer, abandoned Alex in the middle of the room and padded along into the dining space. Alex watched, amused, as Milos peered through the window at the garden, his fingers hovering just above the glass rather than touch it and leave his prints all over the spotlessly clean surface, then glanced away, let out a short cry of delight, and trotted out of view.
Alex found himself smiling and had to turn away to inspect the room to get over the unexpected feeling. The bay window did a lot to add to the impression of space that was so lacking from outside, and the fireplace in the left-hand wall, filled with a neat little electric heater, was a surprise: he'd expected someone to have blocked it up by now and taken out the flue entirely. There was more than enough space to fit in Milos's sole item of furniture, his new sofa. Even with it, the room would still look too open, too empty. Obviously the next step was to convince Milos he was allowed to own more than one item...
"What're you doing?" Milos's voice cut through his thoughts. "Come and look." Alex opened his mouth; before he could say anything, Milos seized his hand and dragged him towards the kitchen, grinning the entire time. "It's amazing, there's central heating! I can't believe it!"
Milos's hand was warm and felt surprisingly good. Was it supposed to feel like that? And wasn't he supposed to let go once he'd hauled Alex into the next room, rather than carry on holding on?

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 10/07/2026

Got here, unpacked, took smol dog for a walk, a doggie ice cream, and an Epic Wee, and now she's conked out.

Photo of a small black and brown Miniature Pinscher in a blue collar laying on a grey sofa. Her eyes are tightly closed and she's fast asleep.

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 09/07/2026

#FantasyIndiesJuly 9 I don't really have any aesthetics or mood boards set up. It's an awkward project really. I just have these two renders.

3D render of Caeso, a pale man wearing a red shibari rope around his chest and a red leather wrist cuff. He is biting on the arm of a pair of gold-rimmed glasses and is smiling.
Text on it reads, "A little hard work never did anyone any harm, and for Caeso, it's not only the work that's hard..."

3D render of a yellowed CRT monitor, old-fashioned keyboard, and mouse. There are no cables attached to anything because the model didn't come with any (but it was free and generously shared) and the power button is nonexistent because the model doesn't like my 3D rendering program. (I bet it works fine in Blender. I, however, don't.)

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Pax-A-Scare @paxasteriae.northsky.social · 09/07/2026

#BluePitHype Ahaha... I bought a ball-jointed doll I didn't already have a character for. Somewhere along the line his character appeared, then his personality and his stories, and he now no longer looks like his doll. (This is not the first time this has happened.)

Photo of a slender grey ball-jointed doll wearing a loose, long sleeved white shirt and jeans. He has white hair and red eyes, and is sitting on a bookcase looking forlornly off to the right.

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