#[ would it ever actually happen probably not but this is my sandbox i can do what i want ]

[spitedriven]

a fic idea i have that i might write sometime is lucanis knowing there's no way he can ever let illario have any rank of meaning within the crows, which he knows is eating at his cousin. there's no way he can just invite him back either, there's too much bad blood between him and many of the other families. house dellamorte isn't strong enough to fight back yet, but the idea of his cousin rotting away--whether in prison or on the estate, it doesn't matter--eats at lucanis himself.

so he hires someone to break in and essentially steal illario away and fake his death, so he might have the chance at living a life free of the crows and getting to have the freedom he thinks illario craves.

but who would be brave enough to break into a crow stronghold, get illario out alive while also making it seem like he's dead, and then be able to set him up in a new city?

zevran arainai, that's who.

[paper-possum-party-pal]

Meet The Narrator!

And it appears that there are two other characters to unlock in this lineup!

I’ll give you all the lore for main tsp AU once I reveal the design for the final character, but for now you get to learn about my Narrator!

The Narrator is a being known as an Informis Voxumis that has spent years observing humanity. The Narrator and other beings like him do not have natural physical forms, they’re just a voice/consciousness stretched across planes of dimensions and reality. This existence intersecting these planes can allow them to build physical forms for themselves, but it’s incredibly difficult to do so considering the matter that needs to be pieced together in a functional manner. It’s a miracle that The Narrator would eventually manage to pull it off. Informis Voxumis, or ‘Voices’ for something simpler, existed across the galaxy since near the beginning of time, but their numbers have dwindled to the point that The Narrator and his two cohorts have only interacted with each other, and while there’s still probably more out there, it’s unli they’ll ever meet. There are two more Entities similar to the Informis Voxumis that are also watching over Earth and the three Voices, but that’s a story for another day.

The Narrator’s Bio!

(The Narrators fear and disdain for humanity is completely warranted. Not only are living things, to him, gross meat things that do awful gross stuff, but intelligent mortal beings are fully capable of killing or controlling the Informis Voxumis. How? Oh I definitely totally remember how and am certainly not stalling to tell you when I figure it out)

After spending years watching humanity The Narrator begins to grow bored, and while he’s weary about interacting with any aspect of Earth, he’s become insatiably curious. The Narrator gets the clever idea (in his opinion) to create a human and place it in a little sandbox he’s created to study the idiosyncrasies of humanity.

This is the start of The Parable.

Unfortunately for The Narrator, he doesn’t really know what he’s doing and while he thinks he’s making a completely original human, he’s actually plucked the recently deceased soul of one Stanley and has begun fiddling around with it. The original Stanley is mostly lost in this process, and beyond the few remanents left of Stanley, he is nothing more than a shell of what he once was, so at first he doesn’t really do much. The Narrator then has to tweak Stanley until he can move around, understand orders, etc. This creates a new Stanley with no memories of the past beyond what the Narrator has shoved into him for his character. This new Stanley starts out curious and optimistic, but you know how the story goes by now. He loses that optimism, starts doing everything he can to go against and irritate The Narrator, and they start butting heads. This begins their on again off again friendship and rivalry.

I’m still deciding when in the timeline it happens exactly, but The Narrator eventually makes his human form, partly to prove that he’s better than humanity and that he’d make a great human. Another repressed part of him did it because he was curious and lonely, and the most repressed part of him did it because he noticed how lonely, depressed, and touch starved Stanley was becoming. He doesn’t use it for a long time after making it, he hides it and doesn’t tell Stanley, but eventually he’s given the push he needed to try it out and finally greet Stanley in person.

He is immediately punched in the face.

Stanley doesn’t apologize, which is warranted, but that’s the moment they really start over and try to get along better.

That’s one(ish?) part done. Sorry if I’ve rambled on too much or if it’s disjointed. I’m honestly not used to writing things down like this and I needed to put what I had in my head out into the world. I’ll probably write a more comprehensive document or something, maybe answer questions, idk. It probably doesn’t help that there are certain aspects of this AU that I’m still trying to develop. I’ll need to make a separate things so I can make it clear exactly what’s going on with Stanley.

One final note, my Narrator does share a human name with one of @shinakazami1 Narrator’s from her lovely Ao3 fic “Destiny Surely Likes to Play Tricks” that she made with Taking_L’s. I wanted to make sure they got proper credit, and if you haven’t read it already, you really should! I’ll be posting a link to the fic separately since this post is already long enough.

Congrats if you managed to wade through my idea speghetti, good job! And thanks for all your lovely words in my last posts, it really makes my day!

The first image but without the character shadows

[fandomgachapon]

Fanfic announcement!

AO3 user AlwaysLying is writing "The Initiative", a Hunger Games AU.

Excerpt:

He almost didn’t notice the Collector generating the second name, for the boy tribute, until he read it aloud: “Anthony Stark.”

Synopsis:

The six original Avengers are either Reaped or volunteer for the 50th annual Hunger Games.

Tags of interest:

Stucky pining

Character exploration

Fake dating

Potential triggers:

Haven't decided yet, but there might be major character death. There will definitely be violence and killing, and I'd probably tag it with "graphic depictions of violence" just in case.

Read the first chapter here! The second chapter will be updated based on donations from this event.

Author Interview

How did you come up with this WIP?  What inspired you to start working on it? 

It was actually an accident - I sent tumblr user worstloki a picture of something human!Tesseract might wear, and worstloki said it looked like something they'd wear in Panem's Capitol as they laughed at all the poor kids dying in the arena, and the concept was born. Human!Tesseract is a Capitol citizen, Thanos is the president, and the Avengers are stuck in the arena fighting for entertainment. Will a revolution happen before they die? Maybe! Right now there are 6 possible outcomes, and I won't know which one makes the most sense until I get there. Embarrassingly, this might actually be the most words I've ever written for anything.

How do you feel about the original media that your fic is for? 

Absolutely terrible. That's specifically for the MCU. The Hunger Games is great, I have all the respect for Suzanne Collins for maintaining her privacy, and for making great commentary at a YA level about bread and circuses. A lot of it did go over my head when I was in middle school, but I can more fully appreciate it now. I used to love the MCU - I was a diehard fan in the 2012 they-all-lived-in-the-tower days, went to the midnight premier of Age of Ultron, saw every movie... but now everything is focus-grouped and tailored to avoid saying anything significant or offending any bigots, all in the name of a megacorporation making more money. Endgame was supposed to be the end of it, but then they kept going, and never manage to leave the military propaganda side of things. I'm done giving money to them, but I think this fic was intended as... an homage to the time I spent playing in that sandbox as a kid. All of my MCU fics seem to be an attempt to reclaim the stories and the joy from the soulless megacorp and make my own thing from them.

What parts of this WIP are you most excited to write?  (Non-spoilery answers only, please!)

I got REALLY excited to figure out what each of the Avengers would look like as a teenaged Panem citizen and tribute, and that's what I'm working on right now. As for future parts, I'm a little excited to write the human versions of the Infinity Stones, and a lot excited to figure out and then write the "audition" scenes where the Tributes show off their skills and get scores.

If you have a snippet or teaser bit from the WIP that you'd like to share before the event, feel free to share it here! 

…like one of the old war pictures, from back when Panem had been at war with enemies on the outside.  The soldier desperately kissing his girl goodbye.  Then Bucky turned away.  Started walking toward the stage.  “Don’t leave!” Steve yelled, running after him.  Peacekeepers moved to block his way and restrain him.  He tried to shove past them but he had never been strong and he wasn’t strong enough now.  But that had never been a reason for him to walk away from a fight.  “Take me instead!” he shouted.  The words ripped from his throat like bandages coming off.  “Take me instead!  I volunteer!” 

Donations are now closed, but you can start reading the updates here!

[tshortik]

Hiiiiiiiii 👀 👉👈 thats SUCH a cool redesign for Zariel, it got me so excited to DM a DiA campaign. Any tips for running it? I LOVE YOUR ART ITS SO AMAZING AND THE COLORS ARE SO PRETTY, THANK YOU FOR SHARING IT OKBYEE

Aww thank you so much! ❤❤❤ I LOVE Descent into Avernus, but my love is a complicated one. I do think it is a really good, albeit difficult module, to learn how to become a better DM, though... I will explain.

The lore in DiA is pretty flat and the campaign is pretty railroady by design. If you have a roleplay-heavy group, I think it is best to heavily alter the module and incorporate things in there, that are very relevant to your players. That is also its magic though, because you can make the conscious decision to just use DiA as a base and structure, that you then heavily alter. The premise of the main quest is cool and imo easy to follow, so taking that and shaping everything around it can be pretty neat. I don't think I would have learned as much as a DM, if I had just used a "perfect" module that already did everything for me. If that is not what one looks for though, that's also understandable.

Tips:

In DiA, the characters start in Baldur's Gate, which is imo the absolute worst decision I've ever seen. Elturel's fate is integral to the story, so I recommend having your PCs at least see what happens to Elturel. I recommend the oneshot The Fall of Elturel for that, where the PCs become witness to Elturel's fate from afar. It will also cover the low-level sessions in a neat way. Having at least one player character with a connection to that city also really helps. Otherwise, your PCs will just go "Oh wow how terrible. Anyway, I'm not from there anyway, don't know anyone from there, never been there, whatever lmao."

Some people cut out the Baldur's Gate part, but my group enjoyed that area a lot, so you can use it for roleplay-heavy sessions and fleshing out the lore. It is also a great sandbox to figure out how you as the DM will implement your characters goals and backstory into the plot, before venturing forth. Having a player character from Baldur's Gate or with a connection from there is also perfect. SPOILERS: Same thing with Candlekeep as well. It is a wicked cool location that is not explored in the module at all, but it might end up a very interesting mini arc for your PCs if you approach it on your own terms.

To flesh out the lore and make everything feel more lived in and logical (note: there are some very silly bits in the module, that would make a thoughtful player immediately go "that makes NO sense lol"), I recommend checking out the Alexandrian Remix. It can go on huge tangents that are unnecessary for your own means though, so don't feel like you have to stick to it 100%. It does have some really neat ideas and fixes for the lore though, and I have ended up using it more than the actual book lmao.

Avernus as a Sandbox is also great. In general, if you find a way to give your players choice in where they go in the Nine Hells, they will probably have a good time. I think they should def feel pressure and know of a goal, but also make sure that they have power over what road they take there, you know?

I mentioned Candlekeep – Elminster's Candlekeep Companion is also an amazing resource if you wanna flesh out that location. I have also heard of some people adding adventures from Candlekeep Mysteries in there, but I didn't do it myself cuz my players felt time pressure.

Contrast the evil, awful and depressing with moments that are nice and calm, even if it's just roleplay opportunities. Otherwise everything will feel like a drag. On the other hand, don't be afraid to then overwhelm your players by throwing a bit too much at them afterwards. High tensions and emotions are perfect for the setting imo, but you need to design it with ups and lows as to not overwhelm.

I have completely rewritten some of the Forgotten Realms lore, changed characters' genders and names and races in the book (Ravengard is a woman in my story, Reya is a dragonborn, etc.) especially about the deities. Don't be afraid to make the story your own. I also incorporated the player backstories heavily into the plot, which makes them sometimes go on completely homebrewed sidequests. Embrace that and don't be afraid of it!

Sometimes players also see connections where there are none, or they speculate about super wild stuff – and this might be controversial – but sometimes it is really neat to take some of those ideas (not all! otherwise there is no surprise) and make them actually relevant, even if they weren't before. If your players are engaged, that is always the best possible situation. Making some of their thoughts true can be on one hand extremely satisfying for them, and on the other hand they will make your own made-up-world much more interesting, because they collaborated unknowingly in making it so much richer and complex.

It really helps the flow of the campaign to have at least one PC that is: Morally dubious, or interested in deities, religion or lore. If not, you as the DM can attempt to make them more interested until they actually get to Avernus, through new goals or revelations. The themes of the Nine Hells have a lot to do with corruption and betrayal and emotions, so having characters with themes that go into that direction will make it easier to keep your players engaged.

This is my own opinion, but maybe play a couple devil npcs with this motto: There are certain good deeds only a devil can commit. Devils are the enemies, but they also have to become your allies. Your characters will be literally walking through a plane that is inhabited primarily by devils, and they will have to speak to some of them or parlay, if they don't want to be ripped to shreds immediately. Devils are smart and cunning, and many would prefer to talk it out, instead of risking their lives in the Nine Hells. This can also be an opportunity to explore corruption or redemption arcs, or to explore fiendish pacts. Both can flesh out the story tremendously. 👀

The setting gives you the opportunity to explore some esoteric and theological concepts. IF that is your jam (it is certainly mine), think about how you make that digestible to your players. They could find lore in a library, find strange ruins, meet a powerful deity, get visions by other deities, be manipulated by archdevils, etc. You don't have to leave it all as subtext, because devils and angels and otherwise literally become a central point of the campaign. Also don't be afraid to get weird about angels and devils. They are from a different plane – making them a little alien, letting them have absolutely wild opinions about the universe, not needing to fit them into our ideas of science – that is rly interesting stuff to explore as a PC and also DM. Resources (optional)

Flee Mortals by MCDM, Tome of Beasts (2023), Tome of Beasts 2, Creature Codex have really awesome monsters

Encounters in Avernus

The Encyclopedia of Demons & Demonology by Rosemary Ellen Guiley is a book that I own privately for some creative projects, but I got some neat inspiration from it for my campaign too!

A lot of the lore in Dnd is very questionable, but especially in the older versions you can find some wild and creative shit (and also lots of problematic rubbish you can just filter out lmao) that is mentioned once and then never again. Little nuggets like that usually inspire me the most and a simple sentence can spawn an entire lore or mission idea for me. Some books that you might find interesting (try to find a pdf version online cuz they aren't printed anymore) are Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, Fiendish Codex II: Tyrants of the Nine Hells (3.5), Guide to Hell (2e), Manual of the Planes (3.5).

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

this is such a fucking stupid question but. do you have any advice for developing a good understanding of characters? like i wish i could put those guys into situations but it's like there's a mental block and my mind goes blank as if they're Unfathomable Real People Who I Cannot Possibly Hope To Ever Understand.

no not a stupid question! actually a really good question. it's such a good question in fact that i don't have a simple answer so i'm going to. word vomit onto the page and hope something sticks. i ramble like crazy so have a read more :)

precursor: i have to note that i feel like armand and daniel are the two characters i've like. Understood. more than any other characters in my life. i think that's because i relate to them both in very distinct but separate ways (we'll discuss that later) but i think it's also because. part of anne rice's writing and the show's adaptation is so determined to break these characters down to their fundamental parts. that's kind of the thesis statement of the books, even, that when you live forever you're no longer a "product of your time" but rather just you, yourself, and you kind of have to spend the rest of your eternal life figuring out who that is. so that to me gives both a flexibility and a set of basic building blocks for each character that you can play with.

that being said, here are a couple of ways i maybe go about building understanding:

option 1: the projectorrrrr (this is me most of the time)

if you like looking at your character and going "ha ha i do that" then that's awesome. do that! figure out what parts you relate to and think, okay, if the vampire armand was me, how would he react to my coworker saying this. alternatively, if i was the vampire armand, would would i do if i'd just broken a 500 year vow to myself?

this is where, like, critical thinking comes into play of course, because you are not the vampire armand and the vampire armand is not you. but 1) you're allowed to play around in the sandbox and have fun without constantly going "He Would Not Fucking Say That" because uhhh. this is fandom and we are doing this for fun and 2) once you to get to the point where you're kindly going "He Would Not Fucking Say That" you can then be like oh! well what would he say? because the contrasts are often as fun to explore as the comparisons

option 2: that's my friend

i also think you genuinely can view characters as Real People — but you can hope to understand them!!! or at least you can understand Your view of them, which doesn't have to perfectly match mine or anyone else's view.

this is going to sound crazy and part of the reason why i feel like i don't have a good answer to your question, but genuinely my best writing happens when i uhhh. hear them speaking. in my mind. this is literally a developed skill because like 4-5 years ago i was terrible at writing dialogue and it frustrated me + i never had good ideas for fics because i just wanted to write meta posts. so i was like. i'm going to get good at writing dialogue if it kills me. imagine you're talking to them or they're talking to someone else. look up writing prompt sentences (like on roleplay blogs if nothing else) and think about how they'd respond. i'm at the point where i'll decide on a situation and will sit in silence for a minute, imagine them like dolls in my head, and go "SPEAK!" and wait to hear what they'll say.

my final tip is to please please remember if nothing else that this is supposed to be fun and that at the end of the day it is just playing with dolls online with your friends. you're allowed to be wrong. in fact you probably will be. but that's okay! you can start small and be wrong and as long as you're having fun and enjoying putting your characters in scenarios it's all worth it

[bocceclub]

Kate Wagner is a writer I've admired since her mcmansion hell days, and this piece she wrote earlier this month about dealing with an mTBI is so beautiful and vulnerable and deeply affecting. She puts into words exactly how my year of long covid felt: that I was trapped in darkness, incapable of doing the things that had defined my entire life (art & writing) and unsure if I ever would be again.

If I didn’t write, did I even matter? The answer I kept coming back to was: no. There was no living without writing, there was no point to existence if it couldn’t be mediated through language.

Me and my therapist were working on changing this, week after week because, frankly, “no” is not a very good answer to the “is the life worth otherwise living” question. In the sandbox of the analyst’s office, such dangerous, narcissistic thoughts can be expressed freely. They don’t really have teeth. Such expression is almost a means to ward them off in the real world, and definitely a part of divining the ancient, psychosexual sources actually responsible for them. But now that the unthinkable had happened, that I’d injured my brain, the writing apparatus, I had to test that dangerous hypothesis out in real life. I had to be (or return to) someone who was Kate Wagner, not the writer, but just some woman, a body moving through the world, a person existing only in the hearts and minds of shockingly few people. Given my personality, ego-death is probably far beyond my reach. Brain injury would have to suffice.

[tiredassmage]

10, 12, 21 multimuse asks :3

fhamk you! at least one of these is still going to make me feel like i have to pick the favorite kid or something akdnfla;kdfn;lasdf.

[multimuse asks!]

10. Which muse is the most fun to write for?

Spoiler alert, it's this one - the one that makes me feel like I'm maybe trying to pick a favorite kid. I could make probably an assumed argument for Tyr because [growing laundry list of aus I keep developing of him], but... ouughghg, I don't knowwww.

So, obvious disclaimer, I enjoy any of the blorbos that stick around long enough for me to put more than a handful of things into their tags. What you might not expect for this answer then based on the fact that I don't have a lot of completed stuff, I think, of them, is.. I really do enjoy writing Savosta and Rhyst's dynamic. Out of the two, I think Savosta deserves the special recognition for this one because I think there's still... things that I'm trying to get to settle out about Rhyst. But Savosta just has... really interesting ways he looks at things and a quite interesting sort of... way of speaking and describing things that I've done... There are tiny pieces of things I've written that I think I would phrase differently for him now with a bit of hindsight and a better grasp on who Savosta is, but he has a very distinct demeanor compared to the rest of my cast. For being a Sith, and especially for being in the role of the Warrior, Savosta is physically probably not what you expect (somewhat short, even by Chiss standards being one such way, and has a usually... fairly level and measured way of speaking. It's fairly deliberate and not... hurried, but not meandering, if that makes sense. And I don't have anyone else that really wields speech the way that he does, which can be slightly challenging to properly convey out of my head and into the written form, but does make him uniquely interesting and fun to play with. When I actually sit down and write anything of the deeply developed saga in my head between him and Rhyst as the Sith Warrior and Jedi Knight of my legacy batch.

12. What is something everyone should know about your muses before they interact?

... If I've ever said something about them and then later on down the line said something that seems contradictory, it isn't that I was lying, it's just that I learned something new about them /lh. Which is half-joking, but also... yeah. Which is one of the beautiful and probably most enjoyable parts to me about developing characters together, particularly with even one other person to play cheerleader at least for them, or even better to actually put the plastic dinosaurs together in the sandbox and see what happens.

But! I love getting into the meat and potatoes, if you will, of developing a character by trying to understand their motivations - what views they hold and at least a little about what developed them into holding those in the first place. And then from there the good ol' reliable wisdom of the fictional character does not necessarily reflect reality is a good one. I have a fairly developed cast of characters I would generally describe as good, or at least decent people at this point, and have started to play more with characters who just... might fucking be in the wrong and be stuck in that view lately for a little variety in the blorbo garden, if you will. Seren's my staple example of this at the moment because Len I initially thought was going to be more of a consistent hardass than he ended up being because lo and behold, introducing him to a broader cast of people and developing what he thinks his honor code is and how he applies it sort of... domesticated him, if you will? He's certainly still not a good person, but oouggh. I love that stubborn asshole, dude.

Anyway, Seren is just... Seren can also get attached to other people and can even want better for them, despite the numerous not-great ways he can go about showing and expressing that, it's just... well. The point is that what he Thinks is good at expressing that and supporting that is not always, in fact, good. For anyone. Let alone the object of his attention. And that's kind of The Point, with Seren. Which is actually a good lead in to the last question then, lol.

21. Which muse is the most problematic towards other muses?

Of my own cast and their ability to nuisance each other, I'd be ready to accuse Len simply because he's pretty bullheaded and thinks instigating can be a little fun.

But actually now that I have once again thought about Seren, I... I really gotta probably say it's him. Because sometimes the biggest difference between Len and Seren is that Len can, even if he's incredibly stubborn and kind of reluctant about it sometimes, recognize and admit when he's wrong and that he's probably hurt someone he cares about. Len has a level of self-awareness that should not be over-credited, but should be credited nonetheless. He is semi-set in his ways of doing things, but he has enough self-awareness to admit that it does not work for everyone and it doesn't always make him a joy to be around.

Seren on the other hand has... a tendency to overassume things about others - even people he says he likes or cares about, etc. He can project onto others what he thinks happened, is happening, what that should feel like, and how he would handle the Thing in question. This is the major root cause of issue between him and his brother Coredin, and it's even present in his relationship with their sister, Eli. Seren claims to have such a protective streak - and a borderline controlling one, to be frank - over Eli for her own good and to look out for her, but I do think he fails a lot of the time to consider Eliana as her completely own person. Seren gets his own shit involved in what he thinks is right for her, and she's not the only one he does this to. Now, for Coredin? That's entirely set up his life for years of struggle. For Eli? She considers him kind of a nuisance and... not much else? A probably well-meaning nuisance because he's her older brother, but... kind of a nuisance nonetheless, that she kind of writes off because well. That's siblings, isn't it?

Anyway. It can work in his favor...ish, if it happens to also align with the other party's views. But frankly in a way that usually makes both Seren and said other party worse, rather than better. (Citation, the whole odd... thing... of a situation... of affection and devotion so deep the lines blur a lot with A'jel @shadowsofdread that he has.)

[moregraceful]

Hi Goose I was wondering if you'd be able to share any advice on guaging interest for fandom prompt memes. There's Only 1 You and Time Begins on Opening Day have me thinking about possibly setting up team specific prompt memes, but I've never done it before and don't know where to start

OH good question.

I think a better example than o1u and Time Begins would be my actual team specific prompt memes - @sharkuda-prompt-meme and @seattlekrakenpromptmeme. Krakene prompt meme I started in the team's first year and mostly how I set it up is I went into my friend's discord server where I knew there were a bunch of Kraken fans and went prompt meme y/n? And they said yes so I did it, and then I did it for three more years. (and tbh this is probably the last year and I will see if I can hand it off to someone more active in Kraken fandom because I have kind of cooled on the team (not like, active beef. just sharkspilled). The very rich and active Kraken fandom deserves someone way more committed to sparklemotion.) but tl;dr that one was just asking some pals if they'd play along.

@sharkuda-prompt-meme... some of my dear friends were Sharks fanfic sickos and I said haha what if 👉👈 and I don't actually recall if anyone actually answered but I did it anyway. That one I actually kind of soft-launched the first year as kind of a week-long fest of, here are a bunch of tropes, make them about the Sharks. Which got some really really really cool fills but that in particular is a difficult format to run every year, so the next year I did a prompt meme which got way more traction. and then it turned out everyone in sharks fandom is pathological so I adjusted for the next year to run all year. This is also probably the last year I run it, or at least run it solo bc I'm TIRED but it's been a joy for thee years.

I think for both of these, it helped to have a couple of sickos who wrote for the same teams, and to be able to be like hey crew. would you play in the sandbox with me. and when they said yeah maybe, just promoing the hell out of it. I think one thing people don't realize with team-specific prompt memes is that first year, and esp with small, less popular teams, you have to do a TON of promo and basically just never shut up about it for a month straight, because team fandoms tends to be so scattered across so many tags/discord servers/sites.

A lot of this honestly took a ton of trial error, I have some prompt memes that I ran for a couple years and consigned to the dust bin and one prompt meme that had gorgeous gorgeous fills but was such a headache that I will never ever ever run it again. Some of this is just throwing stuff at a wall and seeing what sticks honestly, and then trying again next year if you think it was worth the effort.

I will also admit that having a pretty large follower list helps a lot with the promo and not shutting up part, which I recognize not everyone is lucky (cursed?) enough to have. There is some organic growth that happens as word spreads but I'm fairly lucky in that at this point if I just say HEY does anyone want to play paperdolls, there's usually one or two people who say yes.

It also sometimes does help to just run a poll on your blog and see who shows up and how many. I did that with Kraken prompt meme this year and told myself if I got at least 8 yeses, I would set it up - did, and then did. Polls are an easy way to gauge interest, because quite frequently, esp in the beginning when I started running these, no one would respond if I said hey send an ask :3 but then I'd get like 20-30 votes on a poll about whether people are interested.

idk if ANY of that is helpful, but that's kind of what I did for those two. Happy to answer more questions if you have them!!

[wisteriagoesvroom]

hey :)) got any hopes for the race? who do you think is going to be in the top 3? (i'm just hoping for no in-team drama, but maybe that's bc i'm new lol) - @monegasquess

no in-team drama -> oh man @monegasquess you're gonna get me yapping. i feel like we've entered f1 at such a sanitised / different age to what it was before but there always was, is, and will be ✨drama ✨... what form it takes i don't know!

but it is certainly interesting compared to even 5 years ago how the public narratives have changed and how much teams (or maybe specifically ferrari and mclaren as examples) actively rely on happy-brotherly driver narratives to market the sport to new audiences (people like us) now. even with red bull i get the sense that the only reason we're not seeing inter-driver drama is because checo knows exactly where he stands and what is role in the team is, which is definitely interesting to watch. we are experiencing max in the kind of... moon waxing phase because he already has 3 WDCs but we're also seeing indications of how volatile he can get when there's a hint of challenge to getting him that WDC, like silverstone, austria, hungary. it seems like a very different type of drama to the danil/pierre/alex albon eras where they were younger drivers feeling like they had a lot to prove to each other as much as the team... but i digress.

where we're at in the season now makes for extremely compelling racing, especially given the almost clean sweep max made last year / what a friend of mine called "max's leisure sunday morning drive" to p1 every time lol. and this is not to downplay that he is a once in a generation driver who wrangles magic out of the car - due to a variety of reasons it hasn't been easy for him this year and that's what makes for great viewing too: added stakes.

TANGENT ASIDE, my personal hopes for the race... from a mclaren pov....

obviously i'd like an oscar podium in spa (tho a win would be stellar). he's driving well and idk anything about the track conditions or whether they favour the car but consensus seems to be that the orange car is a rocketship whichever way you slice it, so. but also. maybe something people don't talk about as much is how much driver synergy is actually required - amongst the other engineering prowess obviously and huge credit to andrea and team here - to get the car developed to this point. lando and oscar are clearly very evenly matched in skill at the moment. to me, in an oversimplified way, lando has better tyre management, and oscar is better on attack. and also i am thinking about how andrea says it seems lando and oscar discuss the car amongst themselves before they deliver feedback so they are on the same page. so it'll be exciting to see them battle wheel to wheel more... and certainly not without drama.

there also was a really funny and accurate post about how mclaren's DNA has been kind of... repositioned publicly to be all chummy chummy but that's probably going to change if the two drivers ever end up fighting in earnest for a WDC. idk. there are a lot of unknowns. there are a lot of possibilities. there's a reason why fic is the fun sandbox to explore those because we also just never know what might happen with the reg changes by '26 which could toss mclaren all the way back to middle of the pack, it's incredibly hard to say.

one thing for sure though. is that until oscar gets his wdc (which in my biased but also strident opinion he will in his career)... i am unfortunately buckled tf up to watch lmao.

and the sport will change again with the arrival of new talent, new marketing, new audience acquisition, the direction that Liberty Media i.e. the owners want to take it (more street tracks...eugh brother eugh)... so who knows, genuinely.

anyway your ask about this particular race weekend turned into a much longer essay centred around my interest in oscar and the future of the sport sooooo uh yeah staying true to my rep as yappatron 3000 i guess. but with summer break coming up and new folks following the sport all the time, i thought it was worth chatting about!

thank you for the question!

[squirrelno2]

ok so Slick can’t be the only clone who ever thought like that. There’s millions of them and no group is a monolith, and the clones I write tend to run the gamut of possible feelings about the Jedi in general and the ones they know in particular but like. what about clones who feel betrayed by other clones, too?

someone who grows up hearing about how they’re all siblings, all fighting together for the same goal, how they can depend on each other - the stuff Domino struggled with in Clone Cadets, about not leaving a man behind, and then the very real fact that in the war we see, that isn’t actually how it goes. there are a lot of times where they have to leave clones behind, and other times where they didn’t necessarily have to but there was something else their leaders wanted to achieve more. (sometimes it’s tactically sound choices that are horrible to make, sometimes it’s like. anakin being anakin. clone wars as a show never really thought through its implications but you know what I look at something that’s not that deep and go “my house now” the nasty implications are my sandbox)

anyway made up a clone called Roadkill, as one does, and I’m thinking he’s very much like Slick. probably passes information to the Separatists. maybe he’s subtler than Slick or more sparing with details so his commanding officers never realise, maybe he just goes undiscovered bc he’s so far away from the chain of command that they don’t realise the bad luck is something more. because this is a clone who resents the Jedi, yes, and the Kaminoans, and the Senate, and sees them all as slavers equally deserving of his scorn, but also this is a clone who’s watched officers - clone officers who told him they were in this together! - walk away from clones they could have saved for the sake of the war. “it’s bigger than all of us” people tell Roadkill, but if they don’t have any personal loyalty Roadkill can see, why should he?

and then there’s Pip, who’s got the brotherhood brain in spades. He sees Roadkill, who never makes friends and who everyone agrees hates everyone, and goes “ok this is my new best friend, I can fix him” and has no idea that Roadkill is out here betraying him every day. it’s the sunshine-grumpy dynamic but the grumpy one genuinely hates it, and Pip is too hopeful and loving and forgiving to really get that Roadkill is doing everything he can to push Pip away. Pip keeps saving Roadkill’s life. He is the only one who puts effort into that, really, and he’s the first example Roadkill ever has of someone saying “no we need to go back for a clone” and maybe Roadkill does eventually soften but

I don’t think Pip ever fixes him. I could go the love conquers all route and have their friendship be the thing that makes Roadkill realise what he’s done is wrong, but also I’m feeling violent with my oc creation today and I think that Pip dies because of something Roadkill does. He never really looks at Pip as a friend, let alone a brother, and then after it happens he keeps catching himself looking for Pip because he knows Pip would have something to say. he can’t back out now from the life he’s made. the separatists have too much power over him. he won’t desert because if there’s one thing about his upbringing that stuck it’s the idea that all he’s good for is fighting.

so he just quietly keeps sending information that never really changes the outcome of the war anyway, until the day it stops mattering.

[capyquest-logs]

Daily Log #14

Two steps forwards, one step back.

10/9 and 10/10:

Weight-painted one capybara model

Created water material

So, I weight-painted a capy model! It was my first time ever doing that, and oh boy, what an experience it was. For some reason the weight paint kept shifting my model's topology in a way it wasn't supposed to. I didn't even know it wasn't supposed to happen until I asked my professor for help. So, in the next few days he's going to look at my files and see if he can help out. Thank you professor Ketty!

Here's a screenshot of all the action! Since the legs are so close together I'm having some issues. At least, that's what I think is causing the issues. We'll see!

So, now something that's actually been completely successful! WATER!

I wanted to find the perfect water material. And I'm very picky. So, it took me three tries to find the right one for me.

As a little disclaimer, I didn't create any aspect of any of the water materials. I'll try to find the creators of the tutorials I used (I should have saved them... oops) and I'll give huuuge props to the one that I ended up using because it's absolutely perfect! Well, huge props to all of them, actually. They're all awesome as hell. When I have some free time I'm going to study the node systems of all three, because it's honestly a magical mystery to me how they work.

The first one I tried (on the left) is admittedly gorgeous, and I almost settled for it. I used this tutorial by Stylized Station, and WOW are the colors nice! The only thing was, I felt it didn't match the rest of the environment very well, and I also felt like the water looked out-of-place, like a puddle more than a pond. There's no border, so it's just kind of sitting on top of the landscape. It would be perfect for larger bodies of water, though!

The second one I tried, with this tutorial by MrTriPie, didn't turn out as nice as the tutorial's results. It was more cartoon-y, which I was looking for, but it was a little too cartoon-y. I also added the clashing wave normals from the first material for some extra dimension, but it sort of flopped.

Then I found the most gorgeous, diverse, amazing texture I've ever seen, by Sandvector Studios.

WOAH.

And for reference, the ENTIRE 16-minute video is just demonstrating the different settings you can change. 16 freaking minutes! That is a crazy amount of parameters! It genuinely impresses and inspires me so much.

It looked like a great option, but this was a demonstration, not a tutorial, and the material is for sale. You can find it here, but unfortunately it's out of my budget. And probably a bit too dramatic for a small pond and a shallow hot spring. It makes for an absolutely amazing ocean or river, though! I hope to make materials this impressive someday.

But finally, I found the perfect tutorial for my needs. And like I said earlier, I have NO clue how most of it works. I am absolutely going to study it and break it down over the weekend. I found the tutorial here by Your Sandbox. It's absolutely perfect. Here's my result:

And with that, I'm done for the day!

[solibrie]

i know i'm writing 22c but i think constantly about what an actual jatp s2 would have looked like

like 22c is NOT what s2 would have looked like absolutely NOT. that is fully self indulgent wish fulfillment about julie and the boys being successful and only really having to deal with high school-level drama. it's a sandbox for me to have fun with my dolls

actual s2 would, like, contend with caleb, possession, a slow progression to the boys becoming fully corporeal, etc.

julie meets willie. she welcomes him into the fold. tbh i could also see willie joining the band in an attempt to fight back against caleb's hold on his soul. i think that would be fun and also serve to justify him coming to life at the end too LOL

i do think julie's rage could still be a cornerstone of the season, tho. like, caleb!nick deciding to pursue julie anyway (she's just playing hard to get!) and julie having to deal with that while the boys hunt down caleb. maybe even a confirmation that julie is legit magical/actually a witch would be on the table. the beginning of a carrie redemption arc

TBH i can see julie's theoretical magical awakening happening in a very katara-esque fashion where she's yelling at carrie and then BOOM her heightened emotions cause something crazy magical (like making the boys visible in that moment without music) and suddenly carrie Knows Something Is Up...

also idk how i feel about headcanons where bobby made a deal with caleb that ended up killing the boys. on one hand i prefer it to versions where bobby was ~coerced~ into his dishonesty. but on the other hand i think the... mundanity of the theft is what makes it so tragic? like, bobby CHOOSING to be an awful friend is way more compelling to me then wittle bobby shaw being forced to

that could probably be a fun plot point. like, the boys follow a thread implying bobby didn't mean to, he signed a predatory contract, etc etc etc but then they find out... no, he did that all on his own. it would be a scene that mirrors their anger at the theft in s1 but instead of fucking up they just warp back to julie and mourn the loss of their friendship and brotherhood

AND THEN HOW DOES ROSE TIE INTO IT! HOW DO WE GET CALEB OUT OF NICK! there are so many questions, so many possibilities...

i do know that in my mind, a proper final confrontation for the show as a whole (not just s2) would be julie having to choose between bringing her mom back or bringing back the boys. and julie picks the boys—not because she loves her mom any less, but because rose already got to live. the boys died before their lives could ever truly begin. and there's no guarantee that rose coming back would erase her sickness. what if she came back just to die again, just as quickly?

rose, in s1, is gone in ways that the boys really aren't. like, she doesn't have a ghost. she's gone. and i think that's actually really important? bc i do believe this show contends with real grief in a compelling way, and bringing EVERYONE back kind of... undercuts that. rose staying dead is important to the tone of the show and the message it wants to convey about loss

IDK THIS IS SO RAMBLY i have so many thoughts all of the time. sorry for having so much to say constantly. but imagine how i feel. this is just in my BRAIN

[cherokeegal1975]

Article below is what I wrote on my post on DeviantART for this game idea that I very much know isn't going to happen. I thought it might if I could find the right game developer that would be willing to work with me, but I quickly discovered that game developers do not like outside ideas, especially unsolicited ones. I can't do it myself partly because I can't afford the classes or the resources needed to get it done...and I'd probably need a team, which I'll never get. Also, I look at myself and realize that even though I'd enjoy games and probably do well in them, I write stories okay, but I don't have it in me to create challenges, different outcomes or puzzles. I'm not talented that way. Even so, it was a fun idea to think about. I look forward to putting this artwork into my art journal when I can afford to get it made.

    I created a fake game play screen shot.  I can take credit for the horse and the dragon, both the full characters and the heads, but nothing else.  The rest I found online and made use of them like stickers.  I did add the text though.  Call me lazy if you will, but I just wanted to focus on drawing my characters and sharing my concept.  The game itself will never be made, I don't even know how to do such a thing, much less have the funds to buy the programs to make them.   The closest I can come is do a kind of writing game where I say "This thing is happening, if you choose to go left, click the #1 link, if you choose to go right choose the #2 link and keep reading."  I don't see myself doing that anytime soon...if at all.  It's an idea though.     Both the horse and the dragon are based on small plastic toys that I had as a child.  The drawings look a lot better than the original toys I lost so long ago.  Anyway, the basic game idea is that it's a story based, open world, lots of side quests, puzzles, useful collectibles, possibly a bit of a sandbox thing going on in it, with more than one possible ending.  Both animals can talk, both have abilities that compliment the other.  The main focus will be on content and though it doesn't have to be G-rated, it should not be focused mainly on violence or sexual themes.     So what do you think?  I know this isn't the most action packed scene in a game I've ever seen, but use your imagination, this is only one set in a huge world map.  I haven't thought too much on the story plot or anything, only the basic concepts of what I've learned from watching game playthroughs on YouTube.  I gradually learned what kinds of games I like and this one has everything I find fun and appealing in a video game...or so I imagine.     So, tell me what you think of my idea.  I really want to know.

    Update:   (This a journal entry from a few weeks ago, I've already figured out their names and I only added this on to help fill in some detail just in case someone actually wants to take my idea seriously...which I still know is about zero.) I know why a game developer wouldn't want to take my ideas and collaborate with me, they got too many of their own already and want nothing to do with outside help.  It's a shame too, I've got some good ones and just occurred to me that my pink dragon (I can't figure out a name and Rosie won't do because I've got a cat named Rosie here and I don't like to have more than one animal named the same thing even though my dragon isn't real.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Her name was Pink-yellow-blue, but that's a stupid name my child self came up with and I've long since out grown it.) might make a great avatar for a roll playing game in an open world kind of game.   Her abilities are human speech and intelligence, omnivorous, fire breathing, excellent senses of sight, smell and hearing. Very good at digging, powerful jumps, her tail is as prehensile as a monkey's so she can carry objects with it or help her to hang on to things like tree branches.  Her scales make her tough and fire resistant, excellent climbing capabilities, a really good swimmer and her fore feet work like hands.  She can also stand up and walk for short distances on her hind legs so she can use those hands.  She's the size of a large dog, so that means she can go into smaller places the bigger species of dragons can't.  Her only disadvantage is her lack of wings since her kind never had them in the first place.  Also, males have two small horns on their noses and her kind comes in all colors and patterns, so if they show up in the game, no two would look alike.  Her best friend is a black horse with four white socks, a white mark that starts on her forehead and runs all the way down her nose, a white mane and a white tail and silver eyes, who is just a sweet an intelligent horse in spite of her unusual coloring.  (Haven't drawn the horse yet, but I will.  I had almost forgotten that horse.  It's gone too, lost it long before I lost the dragon).  My character's home environment is a enchanted forest full of giant sentient trees that can change themselves to make hollows in their bases the dragons can use as homes.  The trees can also create mischief for the unwary traveler who disrespects them by shifting positions in such a way that the movement is never seen.  This movement can create false paths and get people hopelessly lost if they aren't careful.  This tendency can also aid my character in finding places if she asks them nicely to help her and most likely they will because their relationship with the tree dragons is a friendly one.   Maybe one of the game goals is to have my dragon go on an adventure to rescue her horse friend?  The game could have puzzles included as well as helpful companions that could come along as the game progresses.  I would like the game to have the best graphics.  I did down play the details on my dragon a bit because I wanted to hurry up and finish her.  I've been doing a lot of dragons lately and I've gotten tired of drawing more scales than I can count.  So I just did contours instead and only suggested that she's a scaled dragon.  She's got little lizard like scales except for the ones on her underside and I would love it if that would show up in the game when ever the camera got close enough to see them.   Well, anyway, I am aware that my chances of collaborating a gamer are slim to none, I'm still willing to try to put the suggestion out there just in case someone would take me up on my idea.  This dragon would do great as an avatar.  Not sure of the full plot, but those details could be worked out later by the developer. Also, I think the game controls should have the option to be made to work with a mouse so people on a tight budget don't have to buy a game controller so they can play the game on a laptop.

[2-d-rogue]

I hate, hate, HATED this game. Normally, even if a game is crap, I can find some silver lining in it, but in this case, no. There's next to nothing to like about this game. Between it's boring narrative, empty sandbox map, tedious semi-crafting system (you need to find parts in order to make useful items or build campfires/light fireplaces), and slow movement, this made for probably the most excruciatingly godawful experiences I've ever had.

I quite enjoy games where you're left on your own to explore an abandoned location and must investigate to discover the truth about what happened, and I saw how highly recommended this game was, so I thought this would be up my alley. Plus, snow forests are ripe for this type of genre. However, when I found myself going back and forth through long distances trying to figure out what to do, I quickly realized how dull and empty this whole map actually is. There's so much asset flip, that everything looks the same. Even the houses are just repaints of each other for the most part.

I can deal with a lot of bullshit tedium a game throws at me, especially if the story is engaging and builds to a solid payoff. But this game does not. In any way, shape, or form. The narrative is largely disconnected to each other that most of the stuff you discover about the characters is mostly irrelevant. And the ending of the game all simply happens abruptly, closing things off in a dull chase sequence.

There's a lot of awful jank, too. There's many occasions where the MC, Carl, simply will not interact with items unless you are in the perfect sweet spot. He also moves like ass, because he pauses in the middle of a jog every millisecond, making exploration slow to a crawl.

While the game can seem atmospheric because of being in isolation, the tension quickly fades when you realize you're never in any real danger. You'll usually deal with some wolves that can be run off easily by firing a shot into the air, or throwing them some meat. You'll run into them so infrequently though, that you won't even have to do that much. But seeing how cumbersome this game is, I welcome the fact that combat is scarce.

The music is also irritating. The little track on the radio was nice, but soon became annoying. And the theme that plays at Lamothe's garage gave me a friggen headache after a while.

And while the narrator was fine, he got on my nerves constantly reminding me about Carl getting cold. Which reminds me, the heat system is a nuisance, while the health and mental meters are borderline arbitrary. I barely had to worry about them at all. Again, kinda glad I didn't have to babysit Carl that much, though.

Then there’s the fact you can accidentally trigger the ending segment after examining just four certain objects, where you’ll be forced to continue exploring everything at night. When this first happened, I thought this was where things were going to get intense, but no. Nothing happens. It’s just the same thing, except now you’re in the dark, which makes things more arduous to explore around. Again, you’re never in any real danger save for the wolves you MIGHT encounter, and even if you do, they can be easily scared away, so the tension dies fast.

Then the game blocking you because you didn’t examine some document that you missed somewhere, and gives you a vague clue — that might not even be totally accurate — about where that might be, causing more frustration.

There's just so much about this game I despised, and it's sad because I feel like this game had great potential. Whatever this game tries to do, other games have done leagues better. (Call of the Sea, Myst, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories to name a few.)

It's not often I rate a game a "0", but I just couldn’t get any fun or enjoyment out of this game.

0/10. Complete dullfest with very little going for it. Was not worth two dollars.

Finished Kona. Blech.

[evevoli]

fnaf security breach au: gregory is the crying child reincarnated

i have been thinking abt this lil idea of mine almost nonstop for the past two weeks so i wanted to share it because it will not leave my head. it’s about what it says on the tin; the crying child (who will go by Evan in this au) reincarnates into gregory and doesn’t realize it at first feat. some Michael Afton Is Possessing Glamrock Freddy because i’m messed up

please enjoy!

to start, this AU takes place after the 3 star ending because oohe i have so many headcanons for that one and now i get to Use Them. to be clear in my version of this ending basically:

vanessa takes gregory (and by extension freddy) in after they leave the pizzaplex, mostly out of guilt and some sense of moral obligation.

she Just So Happens to have two bedrooms in her apartment because fiction is my sandbox and this is a utopian au where a 23 year old chuck e cheese employee is able to afford that alone

assuming she’s going to be fired anyway, vanessa engages in further Risk Behavior and goes back into the pizzaplex to fix freddy, putting his head back on, turning off his safe mode and getting him in somewhat of a working order. his shell still has several gaping holes in it but hey he has a working battery now don’t worry about it

she Does Not end up getting fired actually, because the same higher-ups that recommended her for her position in the first place despite lack of experience thought her too valuable to let go of for whatever probably-nefarious reason. i’m not saying this because i think it’s a reasonable amount of plot convenience; it just sounded fair considering what we already know about her.

(note: i do not yet know how or if they are going to address burntrap still being in the basement. i like to think that with vanessa free and glitchtrap without a host to infect he’s just kinda stuck down there in his tube for the most part)

she manages to clear the murder virus infecting the other animatronics in the same trip and freddy is working and it’s all good so everyone is happy and well forever and nothing bad ever happens again yayy

so now freddy has a mostly-functioning body and he and gregory are living in vanessa’s apartment. gregory is reasonably distrusting of vanessa for a good while but stays because he literally has nowhere else to go and it’s so warm inside and there’s real food in the fridge, and maybe he cries a little sleeping in a bed for the first time in five years but shhh that’s a secret

they are a happy found family consisting of a traumatized college student, a traumatized feral orphan and a remarkably well-adjusted stolen pizza restaurant mascot and they all love each other :)

and now for the actual reincarnation thing i promised lmfao. big TW for child death, trauma, and psychological/memory/identity issues.

so a few weeks pass and our band of idiots has settled into their life together, figuring things out one day at a time, when gregory starts feeling weird.

every now and again he’ll catch flickers of memories belonging to someone else; an old house, a family he doesn’t know, a strange pizzeria he’s never been in. and if he concentrates he can still hear the cruel laughter of a teenager wearing a foxy mask. 

(wait, but who is foxy? why does he recognize him?)

it scares gregory; these... aren’t his memories, right? who is he? what’s happening to him? is he really gregory after all, or is he the evan afton these people in his mind keep calling out to? which of his memories are real and which aren’t? he must be losing his mind.

he tells freddy and vanessa about what’s been happening, and they both feel this... strange sense of familiarity. as if they know this child haunting him.

william would sometimes fill the silence in his and vanessa’s shared mind by talking about his family. it was all so twisted how he spoke, of course, so cold, but vanessa remembered every detail, remembered all he’d said on the fate of his youngest.

and freddy can almost picture the old foxy mask gregory tells him about. he can envision its owner’s face as clear as his own reflection, as if he were there, as if he’d been the one taunting that child, as if he’d known him better than anyone.

(and if he powers on one morning knowing how half-rotten skin feels when it’s set on fire, he tells no one.)

as gregory remembers his past life more and more, he subtly starts to change, becomes more skittish and prone to tears as the past weighs on him. a glamrock freddy plush he kidnapped from the pizzaplex becomes his best friend — him, someone much too old for stuffed animals, thank you — because he is so afraid and something about it is so familiar to him.

it grounds him when it becomes too much and freddy isn’t nearby to comfort him, until it almost starts to replace him, until freddy is almost unneeded.

(and of course there’s something... off about freddy, sometimes. it looks as though he has too many teeth, or that he’s just too tall, or maybe his gaze is too cold and stares right through him, and sometimes his eyes seem to glisten purple.)

(but... no, no, he loves freddy. freddy would never hurt him. freddy would never hurt anyone.)

[august-ia]

There were very few things August wouldn't do for Yeosang- actually, he'd never come across a thought that would be a no-no to him because ever since they had practically played on the sandbox together, August felt like it was his life's mission to protect the cloudling and give him anything he could possibly wish for. Though, when it came to protecting someone, August barked at the wrong tree at times and his judgement wasn't always the best and simply put, if the two were kidnapped it would probably take time for the two of them to realise the seriousness of the situation rather than it being another fun adventure.

"We've barely had any time to gossip, I had to bring my A game to make it happen," the fairy joked in response, wrapping his arms around the other's shoulders as soon as he'd scooted over. It felt good to simply lay there for a moment. August had been under so much stress lately that it was a miracle he hadn't broken out with hives or grown a few grey hairs. While Yeosang was tucking himself under the fairy's chin, August made sure to give the top of his head the hardest kiss he could muster, his pecks always slightly on the more aggressive side. Although he knew how to be gentle too, oftentimes all the emotions within him burst out all at once and he acted accordingly.

As soon as he heard the word marriage, he groaned and let his head fall back on the pillow. "Yeah, I can't believe it either," he sounded far less enthusiastic than his friend did, staring at the beautifully painted ceiling while he held onto Yeosang. "Can you imagine that one evening Ethirdil and I headed to a party my parents were arranging, only for it to turn out to be our engagement party? Not a word to either one of us beforehand."

When he'd thought about his future engagement in the past, the first thing he'd of course hoped for was that he got to decide. His family never did, so onto the next hope he'd held onto. That at least he would be told who beforehand so he could adjust himself, perhaps even his expectations. All of that was out the window when they had been told on the spot. "It was a messy evening. We ditched the party at some point and my parents weren't very happy about it even if Ethir gave a good excuse," he didn't want to retell the entire story or just how heartbroken, upset, and absolutely wasted he'd been by the end of the evening. For now, that would do.

"You know my family is set on doing it the traditional way," his fingers brushed along Yeosang's shoulder soothingly, as if he was the one who needed it instead of August. When it was just the two of them though, he liked babying the other even if they were the same age. It made him feel important somehow when he got to take care of the cloudling. "I just- I don't know. I just want to get it over with. I want you there. I know Ethir wants to make it different, to make it ours. That's what he said. But it all feels silly to even think about.. It would just be the easiest to go with what they want."

Skincare & gossip ~ august & yeosang