JT, a swamp witch in the desert
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yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
JT, a swamp witch in the desert
@yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
600 followers 850 following 7.4K posts
elder millennial enby crocheter & writer | autism- & ADHD-powered nattering about games, books, and moral panics | likes FE3H (Dimilix), VLD (Sheith), BG3 (my OCs, Bloodweave), SGA, B5, Skyrim | dislikes censorship

https://linktr.ee/yarnpenguin
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yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Sylvain rocks up like
poorly and quickly done photoshop (with great big scare quotes around that word) of timeskip Sylvain with a cartoony disguise comprised of a black bowler hat, a pair of black glasses, a big black moustache, and a black bowtie. none of the elements of the disguise are appropriately placed on him except the glasses, but they aren't angled to match the angle of his face. The mustache covers the bottom of his nose, the bowtie is attached to his chin, and the hat is too small and just covers his forehead.
November 26, 2025 at 3:17 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
'Cause the thing is? THE THING IS?? The people who think "it's publicly available on the internet and thus it's open season to tell the writer how shit they are" are probably going to struggle with things like this:

(and this is advice for people who want to sell their writing and NEED to improve!)
Be aware that submitting work for critique can be an act of tremendous bravery for many authors. Your comments should be accurate and truthful--but please make every effort to be kind, diplomatic, and supportive, too. What may seem like straight talk from you may be received as harsh and discouraging. Our united goal is to lift our fellow authors closer to a great final product, so please remember that your input is intended to SUPPORT your fellow critique group members, as their critiques will support you.
November 23, 2025 at 11:04 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
oh Eilistraee what the hell have I done do I want to look
screenshot showing 30+ notifications here on bsky
November 23, 2025 at 10:29 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Oh, marvellous! I've just got this little section here on page 200. Obviously this is still mostly legible, but I was hoping you could verify that in the 5th line it's "clenched my fist hard around" and in the 8th, is it "the long, clean line"?
A portion of the novel "The Everlasting" by Alix E Harrow. Some letters in some words for a few paragraphs are missing.
November 22, 2025 at 7:10 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I found this picture of a blond lion (h/t the Toronto Zoo)

so I opened paintshop and eyedroppered Dimitri's in-game portrait for eye colour and

look this was a VERY NORMAL thing to do, I don't know what you're talking about
a photograph of a male African lion against a background of green trees or other foliage. The image is taken of him from roughly the knees up of his front end and a bit of his midsection, from the side. His head is turned towards the camera, but he's not looking straight forwards into the lens. His mane is roughly the same golden shade as the fur of his face and body, making him seem "blond". the exact same image, but the lion's eyes have been edited to be bright, light blue.
November 18, 2025 at 2:39 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
touch? REALLY look at each other? Something? Something to make the non-explicit books and the explicit books look different from each other. 'Cause, like, as much as I enjoyed A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping, given the cover, yeah, the spicy IS surprising. 🤷‍♀️

Luke and Sera aren't even
(10/14)
Cover for A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna. Features a fully illustrated cover, with a multi-story house on a hill as in the centre of the background. There is a fence separating the MMC, a white man with blond hair wearing a black sweater and jeans while cradling a steaming mug, and the FMC, a brown woman with long black hair wearing a long pink sweater over black leggings and a pair of Wellington boots, while holding a boo open in her hands that has magic swirls rising from it. There is a fox at her feet with its tail curled around her ankles, and on the opposite side of the cover from them is a rooster made of nothing but bones. Neither character has facial features, but the MMC may well be looking at the FMC, but she is in profile so it appears she is not even looking at him but towards the edge of the image.
November 16, 2025 at 11:53 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
covers being a surprise. And I guess it's not that I "mind" the cartoon character covers being a surprise. It's just that I know which of these two books Icebreaker more closely resembles, and I don't think my memory is so shoddy that I'm wrong that the Harlequin Regencies were MUCH less
(7/14)
Cover for a Harlequin Regency Romance called Dame Fortune's Fancy by Phyllis Taylor Pianka. The illustration, done in a realistic painting style, shows a white woman with her hair in an old-fashioned updo, wearing a green gown and white gloves and holding a fan in her left hand. A dark-haired white man in typical regency era male garb is turned towards her and holding her right hand. He's looking directy at her with a smile; she's facing forward, with a knowing little smirk on her face, and seems to be glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. The blurb at the bottom of the cover reads "She knew her dream of love could not survive the barrier of his family tradition..." Cover of "Icebreaker" by Hannah Grace. Additional text notes that it is a Maple Hills Novel, with over one million copies sold, and is by the number-1 New York Times bestselling author of Wildfire. Two cartoon-style characters stand in a skating rink. One is a white woman with brown hair wearing a blue and pink long-sleeved figure skating dress and figure skates, standing with her hands no her hips as she looks up and smiles at a white man with brown hair wearing hockey gear, holding a hockey stick, and wearing hockey skates. They are turned slightly towards each other, standing what would be roughly a foot apart in real life. An old "clinch" cover for Bertrice Small's "Love Remember Me." A white man and white woman lie in bed, with the man mostly on top of the woman, with his face inches from hers. He is bare to the waist. She has her red hair spread out on the pillow beneath her, and holds up a pink dress to cover her bosom. The dress's skirt covers both characters from the waist-down, somehow. One of the man's hands covers the woman's arm that holds up the dress; his other hand is clutching the blankets beneath him, and her other hand is on his back.
November 16, 2025 at 11:53 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
#TavQOTD

My male Tavs, coming right up! From top left: Irennan (oath of the ancients paladin), Zephyr (cleric of Selune), and Asher (glamour bard).

Guess which one's is the "secretly actually a heinously terrible person" one.
Irennan is a male drow with collar-length white hair swept back from his forehead except for one strand stubbornly falling down the right side of his face. He has violet-grey skin and violet eyes, small pointed ears with two piercings in each lobe and two in the cartilage. He has a scar running across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek and freckles on his cheeks. He has another scar on his lip and another on his jaw. He wears heavy armour in dark bluish-silver, violet, and white, and carries a longsword. In this screenshot, he's in Rivington, looking at something off-screen with a displeased but small frown. Someone might have stepped on a flower. Zephyr is a tall and muscular male tiefling with blue-grey skin, short grey horns with gold decorations, dark grey eyes, pointed ears, and long red-black hair. He wears Selunite robes in white, silver, grey, and blue. In this screenshot, he's standing with his hands on his hips at night in the Act 1 camp, with a neutral, "I'm listening" expression on his face. Asher is a male half-elf with very pale blue eyes that have heavy eye makeup, and shoulder-length white hair swept back from his face. He wears a blue and white version of Astarion's early access ruffled doublet with puffy sleeves. In this screenshot, he's in the Emerald Grove, and Astarion stands out of focus and slightly in shadows behind him, while Asher is mostly sunlit, though the left half of his face is shadowed, too.
November 13, 2025 at 11:03 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Here we are.

I don't know if FE3H now outnumbers the works from LOTR and HP, which I separated out into two other accounts for the former (one for ~*~problematic~*~ works and one for not-problematic) and one for HP, which I took my name off of 5 years ago, leaving them only in co-writer's name.
A screenshot from my AO3 dashboard, showing Fandoms and works written. Fire Emblem: Three Houses has 6, Stargate: Atlantis has 5, Baldur's Gate has 4, and original work and Dungeons & Dragons are tied for 3.
November 12, 2025 at 5:49 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I love this game so much 😭
#BG3 #BaldursGate3
A perfectly normal screenshot from Baldur's Gate III of a perfectly normal dinosaur and a perfectly normal cave bear sitting at a table on a balcony. They are in fact using the chairs just like people, which is a perfectly normal thing to do.
November 12, 2025 at 7:02 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
#TavQOTD

Irennan's relationship with Astarion is summed up in two screenshots, because apparently Astarion doesn't know what paladins are:
Screenshot from BG3. Irennan, a male drow with collar-length white hair has his back to the camera as he stands with Astarion in front of Astarion's camp. Astarion is speaking, and the subtitles read, "Is there a reason you're always such an utter drip? Do you have some sort of condition? Honestly, it's like you hate good news." Screenshot from BG3. Irennan, a male drow with collar-length white hair has his back to the camera as he stands with Astarion in front of Astarion's camp. Astarion is speaking, and the subtitles read, "Did you actually want something, or are you just here to spoil my fun?"
November 11, 2025 at 9:56 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Indeed! Look how perfect!
An image of someone on a yellow and black motorcycle driving down a road with trees in the background. The motorcycle has a bright yellow sidecar with a dog wearing goggles in it. However, a portrait of timeskip Felix has been superimposed over the driver, and a boar emoji, representing Dimitri, has been added over top of the dog.
November 9, 2025 at 7:21 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
If you see this (and wish to) post four female characters you love.
Academy-phase portrait of Mercedes von Martritz from Fire Emblem: Three Houses. She is a white woman with large blue eyes, and long blond hair tied oer her shoulder with a black and gold bow. She wears a high-necked white shirt and a shawl. Illustration of Keyleth from Critical Role's Vox Machina campaign. She is a half-elf with pale skin, hazel eyes, and long red hair, wearing an antlered headdress, green and brown robes, a gold choker with red gems, and carrying a wooden staff. Screenshot of Karlach from Baldur's Gate III. She is a red-skinned tiefling, a humanoid with pointed ears, and one long, curled hair .She has red and black hair, orange eyes, and several facial and ear piercings. She looks sad. Promotional shot of Donna Noble from Doctor Who. She is a white woman with red hair, wearing a grey tunic shirt over a purple shirt, cinched with a wide brown belt. She's also wearing a brown leather jacket. Donna is staring down the camera with her hand on her hip.
November 9, 2025 at 2:07 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I always, always forgot to attach images to emails. Ugh.

Okay, let's go with this mandala and since it's self-striping bump it up to 14-16?
A skein of Lion Brand Mandala self-striping yarn.
November 8, 2025 at 8:05 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I'll claim this particular yarn, and hmm. I've made a star blanket or two in my day. I won't claim the centre, but maybe rounds 4 and 5?

I did not forget to attach the image before, I would never ADHD that close to the sun.
A 3 by 3 grid of yarn in different colours, with the centre square of a dark purple skein circled.
November 8, 2025 at 7:38 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I don't know why I didn't think of this when I posted this originally, but yeah, that's a "your mom" joke. From Shakespeare.
(Titus Andronicus, which is probably the Bard's most bonkers-ass play, an adaptation of which--Julie Taymor's--gave me an actual nightmare because I am delicate and fragile.)
Excerpt of the script for William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. Demetrius: Villain, what hast thou done? Aaron: That which thou canst not undo. Chiron: Thou hast undone our mother. Aaron: Villain, I have done thy mother.
November 8, 2025 at 3:58 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Quote with characters that give you gender envy.

It's him. It's always been him.
illustration of adult Link from Ocarina of Time, in front of the Water Temple. He's in profile to the camera, Master Sword strapped to his back, playing the Ocarina of Time with his eyes closed. Colour illustration of Link from the Twilight Princess Manga. He's looking with a determined expression on his face to something to the left of frame, the wind blowing his hair. He has the Master Sword strapped to his back, and the fingers of one hand are visible at the bottom of the image. Illustration of Link for Breath of the Wild. He has his back to the camera, his head turned to look over his shoulder. There is a shield on his back, a quiver strapped to his belt, and he holds a bow, an arrow nearly nocked.
November 8, 2025 at 12:09 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Getting back into the swing of #WIPWednesday - a wee preview of one of my FE3H Rarepair Week fics (Sylvain/Yuri)
“You lied to me,” Sylvain says, lounging on the floor against the side of Yuri’s bed. “Oh?” Yuri says. Sylvain can just imagine the arched eyebrow, the curious tilt of his head. “And what, pray tell, did I lie to you about?” Sylvain lifts his wine glass. “This is at least an entire step above plonk.” Yuri laughs, then runs his fingers lightly through Sylvain’s hair. With a soft sigh, Sylvain tilts his head back, meeting Yuri’s lovely violet eyes, then stretches up, leans closer—but Yuri leans away from him. “You might feel like that’s what you need,” Yuri says, still stroking Sylvain’s hair, “but if that was the case, you would have gone down to the village. You wouldn’t have come here. There’s no need to play the cock around me, you know that.”
November 5, 2025 at 6:01 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
#TavQOTD
Irennan modelling.

Finally an excuse to post these! There are more, I'm afraid.
Irennan is a male drow with collar-length white hair swept back from his forehead except for one strand stubbornly falling down the right side of his face. He has violet-grey skin and violet eyes, small pointed ears with two piercings in each lobe and two in the cartilage. He has a scar running across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek and freckles on his cheeks. He has another scar on his lip and another on his jaw. He's in the Rivingington Camp in Act III in these screenshots, wearing the Wavemother Robe in blue. In this screenshot, he's on one knee, with his forearm draped over the knee that's raised, and looking off to the side. Irennan is a male drow with collar-length white hair swept back from his forehead except for one strand stubbornly falling down the right side of his face. He has violet-grey skin and violet eyes, small pointed ears with two piercings in each lobe and two in the cartilage. He has a scar running across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek and freckles on his cheeks. He has another scar on his lip and another on his jaw. He's in the Rivingington Camp in Act III in these screenshots, wearing the Wavemother Robe in blue. In this screenshot, he's in profile, leaping like a graceful gazelle. Ooh. Irennan is a male drow with collar-length white hair swept back from his forehead except for one strand stubbornly falling down the right side of his face. He has violet-grey skin and violet eyes, small pointed ears with two piercings in each lobe and two in the cartilage. He has a scar running across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek and freckles on his cheeks. He has another scar on his lip and another on his jaw. He's in the Rivingington Camp in Act III in these screenshots, wearing the Wavemother Robe in blue. In this screenshot, he has his back to the camera, only he's twisting his upper body around to look behind him. Irennan is a male drow with collar-length white hair swept back from his forehead except for one strand stubbornly falling down the right side of his face. He has violet-grey skin and violet eyes, small pointed ears with two piercings in each lobe and two in the cartilage. He has a scar running across the bridge of his nose to his right cheek and freckles on his cheeks. He has another scar on his lip and another on his jaw. He's in the Rivingington Camp in Act III in these screenshots, wearing the Wavemother Robe in blue. In this screenshot, he's got one hip cocked flirtatiously to the side and his hand on that hip.
November 3, 2025 at 4:57 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Drop something pink.
close up photograph of a pink and white flower with a yellow centre
November 3, 2025 at 5:51 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
still image from Fire Emblem: Three Houses of timeskip Sylvain winking. Text has been added to it that reads: Fódlan's most enthusiastic Dimilix shipper
November 1, 2025 at 5:01 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
#TavQOTD - Wavemother Robe!

In order:
Irennan - blue b/c that's the colour he associates with Eilistraee;
Zephyr (Zeph) - silvery blue b/c Selune silver makes him look washed out;
Asher - black & red for Astarion;
Saga - black b/c she's my goth fantasy viking princess.

Tell me: who wears it best?
Irennan is a male drow with violet-grey skin, violet eyes, and collar-length white hair. He has freckles and a scar across his nose and cheek, and four piercings in each ear. He wears the Wavemother Robe in blue, and stands outside in the Rivington camp, turning his torso and looking of to his right, with his right arm raised and bent at the elbow, his hand behind his head, and has a little smile on his face. Zephyr is a male tiefling with the "strong" body type. He has grey skin, long straight red hair, grey eyes, and short grey horns. He's wearing the Wavemother robe in dark blue-grey with a white trim, and Selunite boots in white and grey. He's standing beside Shadowheart's tent in the act 1 outdoor camp, staring into the camera with a "whatcha gonna do?" expression, and shrugging with his hands out to his sides, palms upturned. Asher is a white male half-elf with shoulder-length white hair and pale blue eyes with heavy eyeliner. He's wearing the Wavemother robe in black with red accents and a pair of black sandals that lace up to the knee. He's standing outside of Astarion's tent in the act 1 temple/crypt camp. He's sticking his right leg out slightly as he raises his arms above his head while stretching. He has a neutral, staring expression on his face as he looks right at the camera. Saga is a white human woman with black hair and green eyes. She's wearing the Wavemother Robe in black. She's on a very large, moss-covered rocky outcropping in the act 1 outdoor camp, near the river, lying propped up on her right elbow and forearm with her left arm draped over her side. Her right arm is stretched out, and her left leg is bent at the knee. She's wearing ridiculous high-heeled shoes that have straps up to the knee. There's a bit of a smirk on her face as if she knows this is ridiculous.
October 30, 2025 at 5:19 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
I'm gonna wade gently into something here. Reading this (from Renni Browne's Self-Editing for Fiction Writers), I was immediately reminded of the "too many words on the page" Booktok discourse and I'm wondering if "we" didn't deliberately misunderstand and take what was being said in bad faith.
You probably noticed that the first version tells, where showing would be more effective the writer narrates bits of the interview that belong in dialogue. But another editing technique produces the dramatic difference between the two versions: the first is a single, page-long paragraph; the second has been broken up into more manageable chunks. The second version has white space. At the beginning of Alice in Wonderland, Alice glances at a book her sister is reading, notices it has no illustrations or dialogue, and thinks, "And what is the use of a book without pictures or conversations?" If you've ever leafed through a book in a bookstore and noticed page after page of long, dense paragraphs, you probably know how Alice felt. Before youve read a word, you're turned off. So be on the lookout for paragraphs that run more than, say, a half-page in length. Whether it's because readers feel lectured to, or because they feel crowded, or simply because some white space on the page is visually inviting, lengthy unbroken chunks of written material are off-putting. The simple, purely mechanical change of paragraphing more frequently can make your writing much more engaging. Paragraphing frequently can also add tension to a scene. In the example above, although the dialogue was all potentially there in the single paragraph, it didn't convey the tension between the two men until it was edited into a series of rapid-fire questions followed by two-and three-word answers. Whether it's because sentences tend to grow shorter as the speakers become more upset, or simply because read ers' eyes move down the page more quickly, frequent paragraphing gives dialogue snap and momentum.
October 29, 2025 at 6:50 PM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
Wrong Enough to Know Better: “Danielle Smith Just Suspended the Charter of Rights and Freedoms”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypLG...

This quotation from this video (about the UCP using the notwithstanding clause against Alberta's teachers) is too good and important not to quote in full, so:
“The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was meant to sound a trumpet, a declaration that power would never again drown out the people. But last night in Alberta, that trumpet has been silenced. Danielle Smith may think she's restored order, but all she's done is prove how fragile our rights are when all she has to do is legislate obedience. But you know what? Fuck you, Danielle Smith. I don't want people's lives to be turned upside down, but I hope her entire province turns on her, and shuts the whole thing down.” Wrong Enough to Know Better. “Danielle Smith Just Suspended the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” YouTube. 27 October, 2025.
October 28, 2025 at 4:20 AM
yarns-and-d20s.bsky.social
#TavQOTD

Who does Irennan get along with the least?

Astarion. These screenshots should sum it all up. It's like he's never encountered a paladin before.

(To be fair, Karlach's approval is only slightly higher, and I think it's for similar reasons: Irennan is very rigid and unyielding. No fun!)
Screenshot from BG3. Irennan, a male drow with collar-length white hair has his back to the camera as he stands with Astarion in front of Astarion's camp. Astarion is speaking, and the subtitles read, "Is there a reason you're always such an utter drip? Do you have some sort of condition? Honestly, it's like you hate good news." Screenshot from BG3. Irennan, a male drow with collar-length white hair has his back to the camera as he stands with Astarion in front of Astarion's camp. Astarion is speaking, and the subtitles read, "Did you actually want something, or are you just here to spoil my fun?"
October 28, 2025 at 3:14 AM