I DID IT. I FINALLY DID IT. THE BUG TAROT DECK IS COMPLETE!!!

cinderella marries the prince

and it’s… fine. The prince is great! They’re in love, he’s very sweet and passionate, writing her poems and songs, giving her anything she wants. The time she spends with her husband is great.

but cinderella is not royalty, her family was noble but she never spent time in those circles. She’s used to being busy, she’s used to cooking and cleaning and mending. There are hours, days, where she has nothing to do.

time passes. cinderella learns the fancy lady type of needlework. Learns to ride horses. Reads a lot.

as is normal for royalty at the time, they travel and are hosted by nobles or stay at castles owned by the king. But even that variety begins to become routine. The prince is distracted, there’s a lot of young women living and working on their route. Daughters of nobles. Younger and prettier with soft hands that have never done a day’s work.

cinderella needs something to spend her time on, and there’s a part of her thinking a couple-only trip might get her husband’s attention again, so she suggests making an old castle that’s fallen into disrepair their “project.” It was built in the time when castles were made to be defensible, so it’s quite sturdy, but it’s overgrown and secluded. The prince doesn’t know why his family stopped living there either. A hundred years ago it was their summer home.

so they go. And they work. And for a while it’s great! But when they leave for winter cinderella’s husband forgets her once again. cinderella resolves to make the best of her life and stop worrying about a man who has gotten what he wanted from her.

summer comes again and this time cinderella goes alone to the old castle (minus staff, of course, but cinderella manages to narrow it down to only repair workers and one maid). She can cook and clean and mend again, but this time it’s her own choice. She is happy.

this summer they make more progress on repairs. The workers say that most of it can be salvaged, except one tower that’s been completely overgrown with vines and briars. It will have to come down, eventually, but for now it can be safely ignored.

cinderella has more free time now. The old castle has a surprisingly untouched library, though time and moisture have damaged many of the books. Behind a collection of greek poetry cinderella finds an old diary. Very old, in fact, at least a hundred years. It’s rude to read a diary, of course, but whoever wrote this is long dead, and cinderella is bored, so…

from the description of activities the author looks to have been nobility. Maybe even a princess. She’s sensitive and sweet and smarter than she seems to realize. If circumstances had been different cinderella wishes they could have been friends…

after the summer ends cinderella returns to her husband. He’s spending a lot of time with a young musician and cinderella can’t even work up the energy to care. She does some research about the castle and the family she’s married into, finds out the name of the princess who wrote the diary.

aurora. Cursed and forgotten. She died young, they say, in a plague that also took out the castle staff and her own parents. Luckily they avoided a succession crisis, but not so lucky for the dead.

time passes. cinderella goes to the old castle again and again, even out of season. Soon enough all that remains to be done is the old tower, and the builders say they should tear it down and fill the gaps before it gets cold.

one night cinderella is restless. The princess from the diary had been fond of that tower, and cinderella is far more attached to a dead woman than she ought to be. She gets out of bed, reads by candlelight, and finally goes to walk the empty halls.

she finds herself going to the tower. Pushing past the vines that don’t seem so troublesome really. They almost part before her. The stairs are perfectly intact, the door at the top is already cracked open. As if she should have done this years ago, cinderella steps into aurora’s bedroom.

she’s as beautiful as the stories say. And sitting under her hands, crossed across her stomach as it rises and falls, is a book of greek poetry.

years later, people will tell the story of cinderella as a cautionary one. Don’t seek above your station. Don’t marry for prestige. After all, a girl who grew up as a servant once married the crown prince, and disappeared after only three years. She ran away, they say, she couldn’t handle the lifestyle.

two old women who run a bookshop together agree with the lesson. Marrying for the wrong reasons never ends well. It’s best to wait for someone you have things in common with, shared interests.

or, failing that, the more linguistic of the two says, wait a decade or ten for someone to fall in love with you from your diary.

her partner laughs and hits her with the socks she is mending.

Cough cough…

It’s my second time making Tinky, and I think I’ve learned a lot since my first attempt. His tongue is full of pipe cleaners so it’s fully posable, and I got him his toy box, too! I think I’ll try making some goggles for him later. The pattern is based on CholyKnight’s chibi animals, with some modifications.

he was the only one that wasnt too busy to babysit

Bee doodle

I got too excited while playing chess and told my opponent that I was going to slit his throat and slaughter him like a hog. something to work on for next time

who let bro get a driver's license 😭🙏

Zombie AU!

short lore descriptions ↓

Pete- He was the first to notice Bill was a zombie, but after punching him in the face to get away, Pete gravely discovered he punched Bill right in the mouth, i.e. he got bit. Although he's a fast moving zombie, Pete moves slow on purpose. He has the least remnants of humanity out of the group, fully embracing his ghoulish way of life.

Josh- Bit by Bill at comic-con. He found a group of survivors in a cafeteria and tried convincing them he wasn't bit; it didn't work and they locked him in the freezer. Although he missed out on ice powers, being locked in the freezer for so long and having thicker skin gave Josh high fire resistance.

Jerry- Bit by Bill at comic-con. Ran into the woods to escape need for human brains. Subsides hunger by eating forest animals and is eventually overgrown with plants from lack of movement. Rejoins Bill's zombie hoard with Pete and Josh as he became stir-crazy.

Bill- The first to be infected by inhaling spores from a moldy comic book. Bill's the start of the zombie apocalypse and the end of comic-con. He has the highest level of intelligence, meaning he's able to communicate with zombies and humans, but will use his intelligence to manipulate his friends. It's finally a world where Bill doesn't have to work a shitty job and can steal as many collectibles and comics as he pleases. Being head zombie also raises his self-esteem, but the caveat is there's a country wide search for "Patient Zero," which could end his fun.

Slight book of Bill spoilers!

Him being a pathetic ex was not on my 2024 bingo card....