#(spoilers for trailer and main game in tags)

[uwudonoodle]

Canon confirmed. Both Link and Zelda are horse girls.

[corvuskoraki]

LIES OF P OVERTURE ANNOUNCED LET’S GO BAYYYYYBEEEEEEE

[pillowspace]

We feel like we're on the edge of falling into isat, like we're considering buying the game but we're super broke rn so it feels like a big risk

What is the biggest draw to the game for you (outside of the time loop)?

(We don't care about spoilers, actually we prefer them lol. Less overwhelming)

At the time of me getting it, I actually didn't even know anything about it over than what I'd seen in the trailer. The main reason I got it was because I had been very depressed lately, one of my close friends liked the game, and he had shown me Loop.

Their design interested me, and I liked their general vibes of saying "stardust." Soooo. I got it! In hopes it'd make me feel better! And it did!!!

But those are very personal and circumstantial reasons. So beyond that:

It... has a lot of tropes I like. I love time loops in general, I used to always search the "time loop" tag in fandoms on ao3. It frequently explores the topic of touch starvation in the main character, which I not only relate to but also just have a general fascination for. I love when a character suffers and has to deal with the ever-growing mental weight of that, which Siffrin does (to put it simply: I enjoy angst). I like... Loop in general. The game is full of LGBTQ+ themes which is very nice. The characters have so much personality, I never feel like I have to "fill in the gaps" with the main party. I love all the secret dialogue and events, because it's a time loop game, and thus finding changes feels special. There comes a time where the game stops feeling fun exactly, and honestly, despite how that sounds, I loved that. I kept coming back to play for hours even as the game's mood dropped lower and lower. Like the game had forcibly dragged me into Siffrin's own perspective, and the worse they got, the more immersively I fell into the same state. It made me long all that more for Siffrin to be okay, and in the end, the catharsis of it all felt rewarding. And I love the fandom!!! Everyone's so lovely!!! The fandom's in that state of lively but kinda small. The cozy sort of fandom. I have such a deep enjoyment of the characters and the rough journey the game takes you down in general.

But!

If you don't think you should get it due to money reasons, and it's risky, prioritize what you think will be best for you. If you think you shouldn't get it, that is perfectly fine.

[doubledeadstudio]

Hello! Welcome to the official Double Dead Studio Tumblr, the solodev behind Reanimated Heart, Another Rose in His Garden, and Pygmalion's Folly.

Reanimated Heart is a character-driven horror romance visual novel about finding love in a mysterious small town. There are three monstrous love interests with their own unique personalities and storylines.

Another Rose in His Garden is an 18+ erotic Omegaverse BL visual novel. Abel Valencia is an Omega who's hidden his secondary sex his entire life. Life's alright, until he meets the wealthy tycoon, Mars Rosales, and the two get embroiled in a sexual affair that changes his life forever.

Pygmalion's Folly is a survival murdersim where you play as Roxham Police Department's star detective, hellbent on finding your sister's killer... until he finds you. 

Content Warning: All my games are 18+! They contains dark subject matter such as violence and sexual content. Player discretion is advised.

This blog is ran by Jack, the creator.

Itch | Link Tree | Patreon | Twitter

Guidelines

My policy for fanwork is that anything goes in fiction, but respect my authority and copyright outside it. This means normal fan activity like taking screencaps, posting playthroughs, and making fanart/fanfiction is completely allowed, but selling this game or its assets isn't allowed (selling fanwork of it is fine, though). You are also not allowed to feed any of my assets to AI bots, period, even if it's free.

Do not use my stuff for illegal or hateful content.

Also, I expect everyone to respect the Content Warnings on the page. I'm old and do not tolerate fandom wank.

F.A.Q.

Who are the main Love Interests in Reanimated Heart?

Read their character profiles here!!

Who's the team?

Jack (creator, writer, artist), mostly. I closely work with Exodus (main programmer) and Claira (music composer). My husband edits the drafts.

For Reanimated Heart, my friend Bonny makes art assets. I've also gotten help from outsiders like Sleepy (prologue music + vfx) and my friend Gumjamin (main menu heart animation).

For Reanimated Heart's VOs, Alex Ross voices Crux, Devin McLaughlin voices Vincenzo, Christian Cruz voices Black, Maganda Marie voices Grete, and Zoe D. Lee voices Missy.

Basically, it's mostly just me & outsourcing stuff to my friends and professionals.

How can I support Double Dead Studio productions?

You can pay for the game, or join our monthly Patreon! If you don't have any money, just giving it a nice rating and recommending it to a friend is already good enough. :)

Where do the funds go to?

Almost 100% gets poured back into the game. More voice acting, more music, more trailers, more art, etc. I also like to give my programmer a monthly tip for helping me.

This game is really my insane passion project, and I want to make it better with community support.

I live in the Philippines and the purchasing power of php is not high, especially since many of the people I outsource to prefer USD. (One time I spent P10k of my own money in one month just to get things.) I'll probably still do that, even if no money comes in, until I'm in danger of getting kicked out the street… but maybe even then? (jk)

What platforms will Reanimated Heart be released in?

Itch and then Steam when it's fully finished. Still looking into other options, as I hear both are getting bad.

Will Reanimated Heart be free?

Chapter 1 will be free. The rest will be updated on Patreon exclusively until full release.

Are you doing a mobile version?

Yeah. Just Android for now, but it's in the works.

Where can I listen to Reanimated Heart's OST?

It is currently up on YouTube, Spotify, and Bandcamp!

Why didn't you answer my ask?

A number of things! Two big ones that keep coming up are Spoilers (as in, you asked something that will be put in an update) or it's already been asked. If you're really dying to know, check the character tags or the meta commentary. You might find what you're looking for there. :)

Will there be a sequel to Pygmalion's Folly?

It's not my first concern right now, but I am planning on it.

Tag List for Navigation

Just click the tags to get to where you wanna go!

[defectivevillain]

at the whim of her narrative

pairing: Monika/Reader

reader's race and gender are ambiguous; no pronouns or physical descriptors are used.

summary:

Monika You chose me last.

You freeze for a moment, startled by the unexpected remark in lieu of a greeting. It takes you a few extra seconds to hit the enter key on your laptop and continue the dialogue.

word count: 4.8k | ao3 version | monika playlist

warnings: spoilers to Doki Doki Literature Club; canon-typical blood, violence, death, suicide, self-harm

You’re not quite sure what first draws you to Doki Doki Literature Club. You suppose it’s a combination of things: it’s a visual novel game; it’s free to download to your computer library; and it has earned great reviews since its release. You’re a bit late to the party, but better late than never, right? 

Furthermore, the game doesn’t take very long to download—nor does it take up too much storage. 

Within five minutes, you’re ready to start the game… and you find yourself staring at the main menu screen. You have to admit, you’re eager to discover what about this game earned it the “psychological horror” tag on Steam. From what you’ve seen of it so far, it looks like a harmless dating simulation game. Upon starting a new game, you have to enter your name into the name field and choose a save file. Before long, you’re inhabiting a character by your same name—a high schooler with a childhood friend in Sayori, the next door neighbor. Together, the two of you walk to school frequently—and today is no exception. 

Sayori manages to drag you to the Literature Club. From there, you meet Yuri, a soft-spoken girl with a knack for writing; Natsuki, an immature girl who enjoys reading manga; and Monika, the Literature Club president who you shared a class with last year. Somehow, you manage to get wrangled into the action—to the point where you’re now required to bring a poem to the club’s next meeting. Supposedly, you’ll share your writing with the others and develop your writing style. Despite your misgivings, you end up going along with it—and becoming the club’s fifth member. Upon the conclusion of the first meeting, Sayori and your character head back to your houses to prepare for school the next day. 

Your screen is then overtaken with a free-response section for the poem you’re supposed to bring. That’s… interesting. From what you had seen of the game in the trailer, this section was only a multiple-choice section—in which you tried to pick words that corresponded with the girl who you wanted to grow closer with. There was never any indication that you’d actually have to write something… and you find yourself strangely nervous. For reasons you can’t quite elucidate, you feel pressured to put genuine effort into your poem. 

None of the girls have very high expectations of you, which you suppose is to be expected. Your first introductions with them weren’t exactly your best—as your nerves prevented you from expressing yourself too strongly. When things reach the next day and you’re in the classroom once more, you have to choose who to show your poem to first: 

Yuri Monika Sayori Natsuki

You decide to show your poem to Sayori first. You suspect that she’ll go easy on you, and you’re right. She’s quick to praise you, encouraging you to keep practicing. Sayori’s own poem is a strange mix of happy and sad — “bittersweet,” she calls it. You enjoy reading it and tell her as much. After your conversation with her, you’re prompted to share your poem with the next member: 

Yuri Monika Natsuki

Yuri is next; you’re pretty nervous to show her your poem, since she’s quite the talented writer herself. You don’t want to embarrass yourself. Fortunately, it seems like you didn’t have anything to worry about—Yuri reacts rather positively to your writing, stating that it’s a wonderful first attempt. She gives you some tips on how to write like an experienced writer and you make sure to keep them in the back of your mind. 

Monika Natsuki

Natsuki’s next. She takes one look at your poem and scoffs, accusing you of not trying hard enough. Within a few moments, it’s clear that she doesn’t truly feel that way—and is instead putting on an uncaring front. Then you can’t help but laugh when you read her writing. She talks an awfully big game for someone whose writing is… well… rather straightforward. You certainly understand the appeal of her writing style, but it’s immensely clear to you that she’s projecting her insecurities onto everyone else. When you don’t immediately respond, Natsuki gets very defensive—and you spend the remainder of the conversation attempting to convince her that you liked her poem. 

That leaves Monika as the last member to share your poem with. You’re slowly but surely getting the hang of things, and each time you share your writing, it feels a little bit easier and less burdensome to be vulnerable. You know that it’s just a game, but sharing your writing in any form is still nerve-wracking. 

Monika You chose me last.

You freeze for a moment, startled by the unexpected remark in lieu of a greeting. It takes you a few extra seconds to hit the enter key on your laptop and continue the dialogue. 

You What? Monika  Nothing! [laughs] I think we’re all just a bit tired today. 

You blink and eventually decide to move past that remark, instead waiting for her response to your poem. For an unnerving amount of time, she’s entirely silent. You’re almost fooled into thinking the game crashed—and you’re about to turn it off and progress from your most recent save file when your screen shudders. 

Monika Don't!

You freeze, your cursor still hovering over the “Load” button. Monika’s dialogue almost seemed to be a direct response to your actions, as if she was able to somehow comprehend your intentions. You push aside the strange thought, putting it down to coincidence. Regardless, you’re a bit unnerved… and you decide to keep waiting for the character to respond. 

Monika Sorry, I forgot to speak! You probably thought… Haha. I was just so wrapped up in your poem! You What do you think? Monika What do I think? I think it’s wonderful.  You Really? Monika It’s quite magnificent, really.  Many people, when prompted to write a poem with no regulations, would only write a few lines. They wouldn’t take it seriously, or they’d get intimidated by the prospect. But you… you…  You took it seriously. And your word choice is really quite fitting. I like how you moved past standard depictions of grief, into the more nuanced emotions that a person can experience. 

…This game is more sophisticated than you thought. Monika’s segment must have some form of text recognition, for her character to be able to make specific comments like that. It’s kind of an interesting choice for the developers to only use that feature for her character—without including Sayori, Natsuki, or Yuri—but what do you know? Maybe it switches each day. You’re not sure. All you know is that Monika seems impressed with what you’ve written. And yes, you know that positivity is a programmed response… but it still feels nice. 

You And your poem?   Monika Ah, of course. I almost forgot! Here you go. 

You read the poem that appears on the screen. Entitled “Save Me,” it’s a rather immersive piece about… Well. You can’t presume to know what it’s about. But the language in it is strangely meta, with the title (“Save Me”) and the last line (“Load Me”) referring to the game itself. Your mind is kind of running in circles. Fortunately, your avatar is quick to respond. 

You Wow, Monika. This is… great.  Monika You think so? You Of course. May I ask what it’s about?  Monika Hm… I’d rather not say. It’s pretty personal. And plus, I don’t want to tell you how to interpret it. Everyone has their own unique perspective, and that’s part of what makes writing and reading such pleasurable activities! Wonderful. Now that we’ve shared our poems, I’ll leave you with some advice: Monika’s Writing Tip of the Day! If you’ve been writing for a while, try taking a quick break to get up and walk around. Stretch your legs, grab a snack, go to the bathroom, take a deep breath. Sometimes, you can even come back to your writing with additional insights.  Why don’t you take a moment and rest? I’ll still be right here, waiting for you!

You frown. Again, there’s that strange dialogue… It feels out of place. Why would the developers choose to put that there? Shaking your head, you ignore the comment and instead click through to the next bit of dialogue. To your surprise, it’s still Monika: 

Monika You didn’t get up to take a break. 

Your blood runs cold. Is there some sort of timer sequence? Did she—no, the game, you remind yourself—realize you reacted too fast to have taken a break? The thought is unsettling. You blink and suddenly the group is all together, discussing the upcoming school festival. You write that moment off as another of the game’s quirks, before continuing to play. 

You start to go through the motions: attending club meetings; writing poems and sharing them with the other members; getting to know each of them better. Things seem entirely relaxed—almost too much so—and you once again think about the genres Doki Doki Literature Club was listed under. Whatever horrors there are… you haven’t encountered them yet. You’ve been playing for at least an hour or two now—long enough to recognize that the characters all seem to be in love with your avatar (a typical occurrence for otome games). But, as you choose to spend time with each of the girls, you start to learn more about them. Sayori is a bit insecure, and she plasters a smile on her face even when she doesn’t feel happy; Yuri can get intense and obsessive; Natsuki pretends not to care, but she has a good heart and cares about her friends. And then… Monika. Despite how long you’ve been playing, you still haven’t learned the first thing about her. Your character can only interact with her during club meetings—and during those times, the others are monopolizing your attention. Virtually the only thing you know about her character is that she’s often the one interrupting tense moments between you and the other girls. 

This habit of Monika’s manifests multiple times; and on one specific occasion, when you’re speaking with Sayori and attempting to discern the cause of her strangely uncharacteristic behavior, Monika fully interrupts your conversation to speak to you alone. 

You Do you know what’s wrong with Sayori? She’s acting a bit strange.  Monika Is she? I didn’t really notice.  But you’ve known her for longer than I have; if anything, I should be the one asking you! You I’m a bit worried. I tried talking to her, but she brushed me off… She’s never done that before. She always tells me what’s bothering her.  Monika Always? You Except now.  Monika Maybe she can’t tell you… because it’s about you.  You …? Monika You really don’t get it? She’s upset because of you. 

The dialogue reads as strangely forceful, despite Monika’s easy going character. You raise a brow as you continue playing, secretly annoyed with the somewhat oblivious nature of your in-game character. Sayori’s feelings for you have been pretty obvious from the beginning, what with her jealousy of Yuri and her sudden withdrawn behavior whenever you speak to the others for too long. 

Monika I’ll talk to her.

You’re not sure why that makes you feel uneasy, but it does. The thought of a friend of yours suffering in silence like Sayori is enough to unnerve you. You have to actively remind yourself that it’s just a game. These characters are fictional. You soon focus on speaking with Yuri, as your avatar reads with her. After some time, Monika returns and declares that it’s time to exchange poems again. Before your in-game avatar can choose who to share your newest poem with, Sayori is rushing by in a blur. Your stomach lurches; what the hell would Monika have said to Sayori to make her react so strongly? You can only wonder, since the interaction occurred off-screen.

Your avatar is weirdly unaffected by Sayori’s departure; unfortunately, there’s no choice for you to go running after her, so you’re forced to continue playing as if nothing happened. You share your poem with Natsuki, Yuri, and Monika, respectively. After discussing everyone’s writing, Monika brings up the school festival and her idea to have everyone recite a poem. Yuri and Natsuki are skeptical about it; and without Sayori to calm everyone down, final judgment on the matter is deferred to you. It’s kind of funny how much agency this game awards you. If you weren’t playing as the main character, you’re certain your opinion wouldn’t quite matter. You push aside the thought. 

You I think we should do it. 

Yuri and Natsuki start to come around to the idea, especially once Monika gives them each a task to complete. Yuri is in charge of the decorations and atmosphere, while Natsuki will make cupcakes. Monika will work with Sayori to make pamphlets. And you? Well… you’re given the choice to join any of them for the weekend: 

Natsuki Monika Yuri […Sayori]

Your instinct is to join Sayori: after her abrupt departure, you’re pretty worried about her. You have no such luck, though. When you attempt to click on Sayori, Monika is reminding you that your friend has already agreed to work with her. It looks like you’ll have to choose someone else. 

You consider the options for a moment. 

Natsuki Monika [Yuri]

Yuri seems excited that you chose her. Natsuki looks annoyed, and before long, the two of them are fighting again. They have rather different personalities and writing styles, but you still don’t think that’s a justification for the venomous insults they’re hurling at each other. Natsuki goes so far as to accuse Yuri of self-harm; while Yuri furiously suggests that Natsuki should end her own life. 

Suddenly Monika appears as if she’s in front of the two girls, with the two of them fading into a monotone, blurred background as the screen’s focus centers on Monika. Her character glitches, her face being bisected for a brief second. She seems to be standing closer than before—and her eye contact is far more intense and scrutinizing. 

You blink and, in what must be a trick of the light, Monika blinks back. Fear instinctually prickles along your skin at the feeling of Monika’s intense scrutiny. You’re not sure how long this particular cut scene—if it can even be called that—lasts before the classroom is returning to its normal sunniness. Yuri and Natsuki are still annoyed with one another, but they don’t appear to be genuinely upset as you expect them to be. You click through the dialogue a few times and Monika somehow manages to return things to normal, wishing you and Yuri a good time with assembling the decorations. Then Yuri somewhat forcefully dismisses Monika, so that the two of you can exchange phone numbers and talk over your plans for the weekend. After some deliberation, the two of you decide to meet at your house—as Yuri seems uncomfortable with the idea of inviting you over to hers. 

The game soon progresses to the next day, when Yuri is supposed to visit. You can’t help but feel worried about Sayori. Fortunately, there’s an option to check on her before Yuri drops by—and you’re quick to take that opportunity. Sayori confesses that she has rather severe depression, which often makes it difficult for her to get up in the morning (and, as a result, late to school). She says she’s always enjoyed spending time with you; and that she’s grateful you joined the club. Even so… it doesn’t take much analysis to realize that she’s jealous of the other girls for the time they spend with you (or, more accurately, your avatar). 

You attempt to calm her down, but you’re not sure how well it works. Your characters hug for a while, before you eventually have to leave to meet up with Yuri at your house. Why the game doesn’t just let you stay with Sayori, you’re not entirely sure. You’re subject to the whims of the narrative, however—so you have no choice but to leave your suffering friend. 

Yuri is waiting for you; and the two of you spend the day getting the decorations prepared. You paint a banner with a calming gradient of colors; and the resulting sequence seems to be hinting at a romance between the two of you. Your character wipes the paint from Yuri’s face and the two of you seem to be leaning closer to one another, about to kiss, when the moment is broken and the tension dissolves. 

Things get even more tense, however, when you walk Yuri outside at the conclusion of the afternoon—only to find Sayori waiting for the two of you. From there, an exceedingly worrying conversation ensues between you and Sayori: 

You  Sayori. You weren't waiting for me, were you? Sayori No, no. I just… wanted to see it for myself.  You  See what?  Sayori Monika told me as much, but I didn’t want to believe it.  Sayori I’m happy for the two of you. You Sayori- Sayori I guess she was right. Maybe I should listen to her advice.  You Advice? Sayori, you’re starting to worry me… 

Sayori leaves before your character can get any more information from her. You take a shuddering breath in real life, unable to shake the uneasiness pervading your bones. Yes, this is all just a game. But the themes in it are still distressing. You can’t help but think about Sayori as your avatar returns home and goes to sleep. 

Soon, it’s the morning of the school festival. Your avatar waits outside to meet up with Sayori and head over to school; but after some time passes, Sayori never shows up. Concerned, you proceed through the game and check on the girl. The sequence is frighteningly similar to the day before, with you sneaking into her house and entering her room out of concern for her. Except, while you found her crying yesterday… Today you find her hanged. 

The screen glitches and shudders, spine-chilling music escaping your computer speakers and sending a chill down your spine. Sayori is dead. She hung herself. Your avatar’s conversation with her the day before is running through your head. What was it that Sayori said? “Monika was right. Maybe I should listen to her advice”?  She had murmured that to herself as you were attempting to calm her down. Was Monika involved in this? Did she… convince Sayori to do something like this? You don’t want to believe it, at first; but then the facts set in. Monika is the only character that you know virtually nothing about. The game has kept her an anomaly, an enigma. 

You’re starting to think she may play a bigger role in this than you first thought. Either that, or there is something very wrong with this school. The latter theory only seems to gain credibility when you meet Yuri at school, only to find her uncharacteristically twitchy, wide-eyed, and flustered. There’s a visible bead of sweat running down the side of her face and her hands keep fidgeting for something in her pocket. That’s right… She keeps a pocket knife, doesn’t she? Her character had revealed that to you when the two of you were preparing for the festival. 

Things only get stranger from there, as Yuri weaponizes a vacant stare and reveals that she is in love with your avatar. Her confession grows increasingly disturbing and horrifying, as she tells you she touched herself while reading your poem… with your character’s pen…  

Yuri  I want to rip you apart and put you back together. 

Your avatar is silent, evidently just as speechless as you are. This was barely foreshadowed earlier in the game, so it’s a pretty surprising twist. Before you can contemplate the implications of that statement, Yuri is continuing to speak. 

Yuri Will you accept my love? 

You make sure to save the game before making your choice. 

Yes.  [No.] 

Somehow, you get the feeling you’ll learn more if you deny her confession. After all, you haven’t forgotten about Sayori… And, furthermore, you suspect accepting her confession wouldn’t get you the true ending of the game. It would be anticlimactic. You wouldn’t get the answers you’re looking for. 

Yuri can’t seem to handle your rejection, as she quickly brandishes her knife and stabs herself in the stomach several times. Blood splatters across the screen and you instinctively flinch, the physical sensation of the spray hitting your skin feeling far too real. You’re staring at your computer screen in disbelief, entirely frozen and watching in horror as garbled text streams across the dialogue box. You click and click and click, but the dialogue is never-ending—as if your avatar is stuck in place, staring down at Yuri’s bloodied corpse. Even hitting the “Skip” button to speed up the dialogue doesn’t work. Light passes and fades across Yuri’s face, the only sign that any time is passing within the game. 

Finally, there’s a familiar, unexpected voice. 

Monika Oh. You’re still here.  …That scared you, didn’t it? I should probably clean things up… 

You don’t get to wonder just what that means, before there’s a window showing up on the top left of your computer screen. You blink at it warily. 

Monika There. Much better!

You stare at your screen incredulously. Did she just…? There’s no way. She’s just a character in the game—there’s no way she’s aware of the world outside it, let alone able to access the files on your computer and delete them. You must’ve pressed a button accidentally, triggering the action unintentionally. 

Monika This feels a little too impersonal. And I would love to hear your voice… see your face…  You’ve been hiding behind that screen, after all.

A jolt of fear runs up your spine and you instinctively move to close out the program. Somehow, the action doesn’t succeed—no matter how many times you click “Quit” or attempt to close the window, nothing works. 

Monika [sighs] That’s not going to work, you know. 

Your heart is racing now. Maybe this is just a glitch, though. You head over to the “Load Game” option and, to your relief, it sends you to the array of save files you have stored. Except… they’re all empty. Every single one of them. You clearly remember saving before making important decisions in the game… yet now, every single file is gone. It’s as if someone just entirely eradicated the narrative and bent it to their own whims. 

Monika Now. Let’s talk, face-to-face!

You place a hand on the top of your laptop screen and move to close it. Before you can completely shut it, however, there’s a hand latching onto your wrist with deceptive strength—yanking you forward. Your entire body feels as if it’s being compressed into nothingness, then stretched out once more. You close your eyes as your vision spirals and blurs; and it feels like a lifetime before your ears stop ringing. Finally, after some time, you can take a calm breath. Hesitantly, you open your eyes… only to find yourself staring at Monika.

The space around you is drenched in warm light; the two windows in front of you show a sky oscillating between roaring flames and calm midnight. Monika sits before you, her hands clasped and resting under her chin. She looks the same as she did through the screen, but there’s an undeniable vitality to her—her hair has visible texture, her eyes rove about your face. For a moment, there’s nothing but silence as you attempt to get your bearings. Then, Monika speaks. “Hello!” she greets you brightly. “It’s good to finally meet you.” 

Your tongue is locked to the roof of your mouth, as you try to comprehend just what new reality you find yourself in. How in the hell is this happening? Are you dreaming? A solid pinch to your arm confirms that you aren’t. Besides, you don’t think your imagination is even strong enough to manifest the hungry expression on Monika’s face as she looks at you. Her green eyes bore into you, rendering you speechless. There’s no way she pulled you into the game… right? Surely not. That’s not physically possible. (Or, at least, it shouldn’t be.)

“I was wondering what you really looked like,” Monika continues, unbothered by your silence. She’s staring at you with adoration gleaming in your eyes. It feels horribly misplaced. “This is a pleasant surprise. Your avatar really can’t compare.” 

Your throat is burning. It’s extremely difficult to get the words out. “...What did you do?” you say somewhat hoarsely. Everything around you feels all too real: the chair you’re sitting on; the desk between the two of you; the weight of Monika’s gaze; the ebbing and flowing flames in the sky. 

Monika only smiles. “You may have to be a bit more specific,” she suggests.  

You take a slow breath, attempting to find some semblance of composure. “How am I here?”

“I brought you here,” Monika responds easily. Indeed, she did. Her hand had latched around your wrist with startling strength, her fingernails digging into your skin with vigor as she pulled you in and didn’t let go. You glance down at your wrist to find fading crescent-shaped marks circling your skin. 

“And Natsuki, Sayori, and Yuri…?” you ask, despite feeling as if you already know the answer. Maybe you’re just hoping for a different one—an easier one. 

“I’m sorry you had to see all of that unfold,” Monika says, a sympathetic smile on her face as she clasps her hands and regards you. “They were getting rather bothersome… But no matter! They’re finally out of the way now.” Out of the way. At your apprehensive look, Monika elaborates. “I deleted them,” she says with an unshakeable finality. 

“They’re… gone?” you choke out. That can’t be possible; that shouldn’t be possible. How would Monika be able to exert control over the programming of the game? You think back to how enigmatic Monika seemed before and shake your head in disbelief, wishing you had just taken a moment to think things through. It’s all staring you in the face now: Monika’s convenient interruptions whenever you spoke to one of the other girls; her conversation with Sayori, days before her death; her constant, unassuming presence. She had been puppeting things from behind the scenes from the very beginning. 

“It’s just you and me now,” Monika states, her voice eerily void of any distress at her friends’ deaths. “There are no more distractions, no more obstacles.”  

She stares at you for a long moment, before breaking the distance between you and placing her hand over yours. It’s almost frightening how seamless the motion is—how her fingers interlace with yours, as if they were always meant to be there. Her hand slips from yours moments later, before she takes yours and investigates it—her fingers running up your palm, down your wrist. Monika’s nails trace the marks they made with reverence. 

“You’re...” Monika breaks off, uncharacteristically lost for words. There’s something akin to wonder in her voice. The smile across her lips is sharp and dangerous. “You feel real.” 

She leans closer and her hands rise to bracket your face. Her thumbs explore your skin, running along your cheekbones. Then they run down, down, down to the very corner of your lip. Your heart is roaring in your ears as she wipes at the spot concentratedly. “You have her blood on your face,” Monika notes, distaste and something darker fighting for prominence in her voice. The remark is an unpleasant reminder of the horrors you witnessed mere moments ago. She wipes it away with a gentle touch. 

Then, as if sensing your spiraling thoughts, Monika gets to her feet and looks at you expectantly. “Let’s go,” she says. It’s clear she’s tired of explanations. 

“...Where?” you choke out. Your ears are still ringing. Your hands are shaking and your heart feels as if it’s about to crawl up your throat. Nothing feels right. How did you get here? How will you get home? …Are you even able to get home, or are you trapped here? All these questions and more race through your mind, refusing to give you even a hint of tranquility. 

“Anywhere,” Monika answers your first question. You think her eyes may be glittering. There’s a serenity in the way she’s handling herself, as if she’s now at peace with her surroundings and her existence here. “Nowhere. This world is ours now.” You have no choice but to take her outstretched hand, allowing her to pull you to her feet and lead you through the world she built for the two of you.

thanks for reading! <3

check out my other works, sorted by fandom.

general taglist: @its-ares @excusemeasibangmyheadonawall @kingkoku @the-ultimate-librarian @gayaristocrat @always-lying-to-you

friendly reminder that i don't give permission for my writing to be shared to other sites, stolen, copied, translated, or used in any way. thanks!

[kaija-rayne-author]

Dragon Age Veilguard Review 4th in series

22 game hours 20 actual playtime

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard

Critical review and a rant

Obligatory disclaimer. If you've already read it you can skip to the cut.

Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It's fantastic. I'm also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.

I'm on media blackout while I play this, so I'm only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.

Y'know? Every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking 'have you Bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?' My guess is nope.

3.5 in series is here.

If I've ever played a glitchier piece of shit game in my life I honestly can't remember it.

So I went to go watch a movie with the partner and kids. I saved my game and turned it off.

Came back and it played okay for a few hours. I met both Mae and Dorian squeeeee!

Met Davrin and Assan. Everything's going fine. I got creamed (again), I swear the devs have no idea. I'm a consistent gamer who plays on hard/tactician mode in most games I play. (Many the same style of fighting as DAV.) And I'm having trouble with the strength of these monsters. WTF do they think someone just getting into gaming is experiencing?

Anyway. I got creamed, clicked reload last save, and it loaded with the now far too familiar no CC reverted back to the basic elf body error. I went back to the main menu, and now absolutely none of the saves are showing up with video. They load with sound, map in the corner, and tags above heads but no fucking video. They're either corrupted or the game is just a piece of shit.

Yes. I'm rather annoyed. I was looking forward to finishing recruiting Davrin tonight and it doesn't make my brain happy to have to stop in the middle of what I wanted to get done. In game or out.

I'm currently verifying my files from steam. We'll see if that fixes it. I just... and this is what the devs thought was releasable? REALLY?

I know I keep using BG3 as a comparison (which honestly isn't a very good one because one is turn based and one 'live' fighting). But the Venn diagram of people who play DA and who play BG is probably a circle so that's why it comes to mind.

It's also the most recent game I've actually purchased and played a lot.

I played that day of release and on into the week and had nowhere NEAR this many problems. I actually think I've had more trouble with DAV in three ish days than I've had in BG3 for over 700 hours FFS!

Anyway. Vent over (for now. I imagine this game will give me plenty of more opportunities).

Dorian looked really weird. He has what I'm now dubbing the 'Solas effect'. He doesn't look like himself. I wouldn't have recognized him at all if it weren't for him introducing himself.

Oh, and way to retcon the condition of the veil guys. For three games it's been getting more and more tears and holes in it. Now it's solid and the only thing holding off a world of blight that hadn’t ever really existed in the fade like that before? It was just the black city. Do these guys ever get sick of retconning shit? I sure get sick of playing retconned shit.

My partner saw the game and he really can't get over how jarring the art is. He's a pretty consistent gamer too but I doubt he'll play this one.

Y'know how I said I didn't know WTF the devs were thinking in my review of the game play trailer?

I'm even more flabbergasted now. I just... seriously?

The game doesn't work well. it has numerous glitches.

The art style sucks.

The bad dudes are WAY overpowered for even a pretty decent gamer. Not so experienced gamers are likely rage-quitting in droves. Every one of the glitches I look up is pretty common. Even for people with better machines than mine.

The story took bloody forever to get started. It finally seems to have but it shouldn't take me 20 hours of game time to get somewhat invested in the story!

The characters are honestly pretty meh so far. My much beloathed Lucanis is the only mildly interesting one so far.

I honestly just can't get over how they felt this was A. Good. and B. Ready for release.

I'll keep trying. But if it's corrupted my whole 20 hours I'm not sure if I've got the stomach to replay all that boring assed nonsense to get to where I only just got to today.

I HATE writing critical reviews as a matter of course. I especially don't want to write them about a piece of intellectual property like Dragon Age that I love so very much. But What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Part 5.1

[illusivesoul]

I'm going to be on a temporary hiatus starting later today to avoid any potential spoilers for Veilguard. The queue is full and it will keep functioning as normal (most of the posts on my blog are queued lol) but I won't be around, so don't think that I am ignoring your tags or comments lol.

I am going into Veilguard with what I'd describe is mixed excitement. The main draw for Dragon Age to me has always been the lore and seeing how our choices, regardless of how small an impact they made, affected the world of Thedas throughout the games. So as you can imagine and as you might have seen in some of my Bioware critical posts, the news that only 3 choices were going to carry over into DATV "took the wind out of my sails" and really dampened a lot of the excitement I had been carrying for the game since the first trailer dropped back in june.

Regardless of other concerns that I have, like the more light hearted tone of the game and so, its still Dragon Age, my favourite franchise ever, im going in with an open mind and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. I'm excited to meet the new companions (Davrin and Neve in particular) and im excited to finally see northern Thedas (fingers crossed for Kal'Sharok and more dwarf and Titan lore)

Can't wait to see what everyone else thinks of the game too :)

[lyriquette]

I guess I should mention that I am playing this game totally blind.

I have not seen a trailer or interacted with the fandom. Pretty much for me, it was just "Oh, Atlus made another game about a blue-haired protagonist - who also just happens to have heterochromia?" and like "Well. I'm sold."

I'm hoping I haven't screwed myself with the stat specing. I started with luck at first - and then after two levels of that "I'm like. uuhhhh that might not be the wisest thing in the world", so I started on magic speccing instead.

I usually play melee-happy characters in other games, so going magic is going to be an interesting twist for me. I will probably die from bad MP management though lol, if it's anything like the Persona games.

---

Anyway, back to the playthrough, I wasn't expecting the whole "it's human" to be the content of the wham line, but it sure ended up being like that. Aha.

Also for a playthrough, is there a specific tag for a game playthrough? I don't want to blast the main tag with massive spoilers, especially for like a game that just came out a day ago lol.

[fraeuleintaka]

AAIC Allies & Adversaries Trailer

This is the 67th post in the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection Countdown: 14 days left until release!

Today's topic: the Allies & Adversaries Trailer for the Investigations Collection!

A full new trailer has been released for the Investigations Collection titled "Allies & Adversaries Trailer" which not only introduces said allies and adversaries (or some of them) but also teases the story of both games in an epic way.

For Investigations 1 we of course get introduced to Kay and Shi-Long, our main new ally and main adversary, with these nice little focus images (including the ever present chess pattern, of course).

The way I1's story is teased is pretty vague to avoid any too specific spoilers but they use several of the later in-game images as epic teasers (that fire visual from I1-5 is one of my absolute favourites from the whole of AA) and I love how the text references some plot points without directly stating them (the "key to the present" meaning the Yatagarasu's key plus the significance of who the three people in the image are). If I wasn't already beyond hyped to replay this game again, this would definitely do it!

For Investigations 2 our adversaries, Sebastian (Eustace) and Justine (Verity), don't get these focus images sadly though they're still introduced with a confrontational line each. In the allies category I would've expected to see Ray (Eddie) mentioned but he doesn't show up at all in the trailer. Something interesting I noticed here though is how Sebastian's name tag for when he talks is "Eustace", his first name, whereas it was "Debeste", his last name, in the fan translation. Miles does call him "Prosecutor Debeste" up until the end of case 3 but I always thought "Sebastian" would be more fitting for his name tag since Miles switches to his first name for the rest of the game and it wouldn't lead to Sebastian's father having his first name in the name tag, when Sebastian doesn't, as to not be confused with his son. I don't know if the official localisation will have Blaise (Excelsius) go by "Winner" in his name tag but I do like that they switched to Sebastian's first name for his. Hopefully Miles' change in how he addresses him is kept intact as I adore how it shows how Miles starts to recognize that Sebastian is not that different from how he used to be.

I2's story gets a lot more focus instead of any individual characters and they aren't nearly as vague about it as they were with I1. Most of the central story questions and general obstacles get teased - again in a pretty epic way! I especially love the way the IS-7 incident is brought in with its connection to DL-6. That means you already know a lot more details from this trailer but since I2's story is so meaty anyway I don't think it's a bad thing. There's still so much more to discover!

And one thing the trailer revealed specifically is the new name of the organisation standing in Miles' way which Justine is a part of and which was called "Prosecutorial Investigation Committee (PIC)" in the fan translation: Committee for Prosecutorial Excellence (CPE). That will definitely take some getting used to from me but it sounds nicely imposing and powerful. I like the focus on specifically investigating any wrongdoings from prosecutors in the fan translated name but depending on how they describe the purpose of this committee being responsible for prosecutors doing the most "excellent" work they can might be more fitting. It sounds a tad too similar to the quest for "perfection" of the von Karmas for my taste if I'm being honest, but I'll have to see how they use it in the game to solidify my opinion.

Apart from that we also got a first listen to Justine's new voice in English and in German since the trailer has also been released in German!

I love these coloured backgrounds for the voice clips, yellow for Shi-Long and purple for Justine, they look so good! Justine's voice clip stays "Overruled" as expected and her new voice is notably deeper than her fan voice was. But I like it, it sounds effortlessly commanding with a calm authority that really fits her. I get the criticism that it sounds too old but I see that more as a problem with her age in the game simply being too young because Justine sounding as old as she does actually makes more sense.

In German she says "Abgelehnt!" which is exactly what I predicted way back when! It sounds good, I don't have any issues with it, looking forward to hearing it in context. Her German voice is a bit higher than her English counterpart though still mature and authoritative and it even has a little more oomph behind it, she says it more forcefully which I love. Really like the German voice clips so far!

Since I have the opportunity with the German trailer version I wanted to compare a few lines directly with the new German translation. We get Kay's introductory line where she calls herself "the Great Thief Yatagarasu" or in German "Yatagarasu, die Meisterdiebin". I love "Meisterdiebin" as the choice here (literally "master thief"), it's a great title and has a lot more oomph than any version of "Der große Dieb" or whatever would have! I also kinda love that the German line specifies her as female, she doesn't say "Ich bin der Meisterdieb Yatagarasu" but instead loses the article before Yatagarasu and then characterizes Yatagarasu and herself as "Meisterdiebin". I do wonder how they're going to do that with her father allegedly being the previous Yatagarasu and the confusion around who the Yatagarasu is but they could probably switch it around between "Meisterdieb" and "Meisterdiebin" however they need it. (Side note, the HD chibi sprite of Miles being tied to a post is as glorious as I expected it to be!)

We also get a line from Shi-Long antagonizing Miles, showing his disdain for prosecutors in general and Miles specifically. I adore Shi-Long's habit of calling Miles some variation of "pretty boy" several times (he really does it an, let's say, interesting amount of times...), it's so deliciously specific! And I'm heartbroken to report that at least for this line they removed the "pretty" connotation from the German version 😭 He calls him "Schnösel" instead which doesn't have an exact English equivalent but means something like a snob, a vain conceited person (often rich but not necessarily) who's only concerned with himself. It does fit the general meaning of the line in that Shi-Long insults Miles' excessive poshness and how he's unfit to be at a crime scene but I hate to lose the specific additional connotations of "pretty boy" in this context. Though to the translators' credit I'm also struggling to come up with a more fitting alternative. The direct translation "hübscher Junge" doesn't have the same connotations as the English version at all and would result in Shi-Long basically calling Miles too good-looking to work. (100% full-on flirting, I'm not kidding here. It would still sound somewhat condescending but it wouldn't be the insult it's supposed to be.) The only similar option I can think of is "Schönling" and I think that'd work pretty well. It keeps the "pretty" connotation (schön = pretty) while also keeping the insult. I would've preferred that to what they went with. I still have hope for Shi-Long's other lines though (as I said, he says this several times and in ways that are a lot harder to remove the playful tone of), let's see what the German translation does with those!

Moving on, we of course also get the German name of the PIC: Komitee für ausgezeichnete Staatsanwaltsarbeit (KAS?), pretty much a direct translation of the new English name. I like it, no criticisms that I don't already have for the English version.

Finally, the trailer closes with a great amount of different scenes from the games all floating over the screen. There's too many to talk about all of them so I only want to comment on three specifically:

First, the one of Little Thief projecting the Haunted House looks awesome! Especially the Little Thief version of Miles' chibi sprite, even if you can only see part of it, is so cute. Chibi Shi-Long looks like he's trying very hard to look unimpressed.

Second, there's the scene of Miles and Shi-Long exchanging business cards (looking forward to seeing the evidence icon of Shi-Long's in more detail!) and it really looks like the HD animation includes the cards this time! Yay! (The things I get excited about with this game 😄)

Third, there's a scene of Sebastian using his new name as a pun! It might not be representative of all the ways he's going to do that but it shows at least one instance of it. In English he says: "I'm not just ANY rookie! I am a winning rookie!" and in German: "Das will aber nicht viel heißen! Schließlich bin ich ein Winner!" I'm not gonna lie, I vastly prefer the German version here 😅 The English one just sounds kind of... dumb? Which isn't necessarily unusual for Sebastian but it's not even really funny? Whereas the German one uses the double meaning of "Ich bin ein Winner" = "I'm a winner" and "I'm a member of the family Winner". It's still Sebastian-level of cringe but at least it sounds like he tried! Oh I can already tell I'm going to struggle with all of these little differences...

And one last point: The music chosen for the trailer is amazing! It's the arranged versions of I1's Objection theme (for most of it) and I1's Pursuit theme (for the last bit). Very sneaky to tease them like this, I can't wait to hear the other arrangements and the full versions. They sound epic!

[headcanontheshitoutofsoulsborne]

Guys, I have a confession to make. I have zero interest in playing the Elden Ring DLC atm. I still will open up headcanons for it starting August 1st. I spoiled myself on the lore and I made screenshots and got screenshots from friends for the most important characters. I think a couple are still missing like Ymir or Bayle, but I find a way around. But now under the cut I want to say the why I can't bring myself to play the Elden Ring DLC right now:

So... I was genuinely excited for this DLC. It would give us Miquella lore. It would finally tell us what his deal is. We can finally see his plan to save his sister etc etc. And then I saw people being REALLY disgruntled about the DLC. Mostly Mohg fans. So I got curious... far too curious. "What are they so upset about?" And so I looked up spoilers. I looked up who the final boss of the DLC is. Only to be slapped in the face with Radahn. Freaking Radahn! Apparently he and Miquella are doing a twin princes situation?! After that relevation I ran to AO3 to look at the ship tags...

Not. a. single. Miquella/Radahn. fic. had. been. written. pre. DLC. That DLC... just gave us a crackship that had nobody on the agenda and made it CANON! I couldn't believe it. But I first wanted to play through the DLC and see if I can take something from it that I like. And yeah, there are things I like from the lore, but I cannot help but think that final boss is bullshit that someone pulled out of their ass. Malenia whispering to Radahn in the story trailer is not enough for me. Okay, so I played the game, but... ...while the exploring is as fun as in the main game... It suffers from the same problems I have with the Elden Ring main game end game. Enemies with bloated HPs, FAR too long combos and I just don't have fun learning a boss when I heal after a combo and the animation is too slow so they hit me again with the start of their next combo. I don't want to summon my mimic tear for every single boss. Really not. But sometimes the DLC feels like it forces me to because I am not fast enough anymore. Why are all these bosses on speed? Sigh... it just isn't much fun to me anymore. What I liked so much in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, the hard and fair gameplay, seemed to have reduced to "hard for the sake of being hard". And yes, I collected Scadu Tree fragments. Doesn't change the fact that the bosses still have insanely long combos that my brain cannot comprehend. One day I will play through the DLC. I paid money for it after all... but after that sorely disappointing final boss reveal and the game being more of the weakest part of Elden Ring (at least for me), I don't feel like playing atm. I kinda hope that FromSoft takes a long break from Soulsborne now and thinks about where they want to go with it.

[fereldanwench]

CP77 2.0 & Phantom Liberty Spoilers

Since we're only a few days from game patch 2.0 dropping, and there's barely a week left to wait for Phantom Liberty, I just wanted to let folks know how I'll be handling spoilers for filtering purposes and whatnot. ♡

The only spoiler tag I'll be using is #pl spoilers. I'll be using this tag for both my posts and for reblogs, and it'll cover content from both patch 2.0 and Phantom Liberty.

I usually record my thoughts here as I play through games, and I suspect this time will be no different. Most rambling will go under a cut, especially if I'm talking about major story/character events.

I'm starting a totally fresh game, so Phantom Liberty content (aside from, like, gifsets of the trailers and official announcements) probably won't appear here until the end of next week at the earliest.

I'm also going to be filtering out all possible spoiler tags I can think of before patch 2.0 drops, and I likely won't be going into the main Cyberpunk tags until I've finished this run, just to be safe.

How to Filter Tags & Content

And for anyone who's unfamiliar with Tumblr's native content filters, here's some extra info on how to use them:

There are two ways to filter content:

Filtered Tags: This option hides posts that have been tagged with specific hashtags; e.g. #pl spoilers.

Filtered Post Content: This option hides posts that contain your specific keyword or phrase anywhere in the post (sometimes even catches it in reblogs), not just the tags.

If you're really spoiler-averse, I'd recommend using both options to account for all major varieties of spoiler tags, the game name, and character names; e.g. put "solomon reed" in both the filtered tag and filtered post content sections.

To add or remove filters:

If you're on desktop: 1) Click on "Settings" on the left sidebar. 2) Scroll down until you see "Filtered Tags" and "Filtered Post Content." 3) Click the little pencil icon to expand the lists.

If you're on mobile: (I'm on Android, but I'm assuming Apple is similar) 1) Tap on the person icon at the bottom right. This will bring you to your blog. 2) On your blog page, tap on the cog icon at the top right to bring you to your account page. 3) Then tap on "Account settings" and scroll down to "Content you see." 4) You'll have your list of both Filtered Tags and Filtered Content here.

[incorrectshantaequotes]

Okay, so! Few days late to this - as in, nearly a week late - but in all fairness, absolutely NO ONE was posting about this on the Shantae tag, so I feel like I can be excused. Anyway, for those of you who don't know, on April 5th, WayForward actually released about 15+ minutes of gameplay footage for Risky Revolution, which you can watch here!

Now, we don't really get any story details beyond what we already know, very specifically to avoid big spoilers, but there are a few interesting details I'd like to note (it'll be under a read more for anyone who wants to go into Shantae Advance completely blind)

Firstly, and perhaps most exciting to me, we are in fact getting unique bosses! This is evident by the sign that's read in front of the first dungeon, located in Orc Orchard:

Now, we don't know ANYTHING about these bosses, other than that they've kidnapped Mimic's fellow Relic Hunters and one of them is named MishMash, but there is a trailer at the end of the video, and there we do get some footage of what I suspect to be some of the bosses

Faaaaaairly certain the pink one is MishMash; the arena matches the dungeon they're in, so...yeah. Blue one is a complete unknown but may I just say they are KILLING it out there. You go you weird little freak

Anyway! Moving on from that little tidbit, some other things to note:

Rotty is actually part of the main group from the start!

Which is very nice and all for her, but considering that this is all, canonically, the second game in the series...dramatic irony is rearing its head right now, ESPECIALLY with Sky, so I can't help but look at this and go "uh oh."

Also, Rotty is the shopkeeper. And I would like to direct all the Shantops shippers directly to the exact pose Rotty goes into while you look through the shop

She is down so fucking bad it's unbelievable. My god. Rotty Shantae is busy looking for potions to survive her next fight she's not going to notice you sitting flirtatiously like that especially when you barely know each other at this point. Girl

And for one final note, we've also gotten a look at the Crab form for this game! Which is a completely different design compared to what Half-Genie Hero gave us

More hermit crab compared to the original. If you consider the scrapped fiddler crab design from Half-Genie Hero this means Shantae has three different crab designs. There is a carcinization joke to be made here I know it

[pyxilatezero]

Azure Override: The [Fan] Sequel to Scarlet Nexus that Nobody Asked For or Cares About

I’m writing it! If you want to read it (probly not ngl) I’ll release it on AO3 in a week or two. The fanfic will include the following:

the POVs throughout the story of Akairo (Aka)2/ Murasaki, Aoi Murasaki, Kasane Randall, and Naomi Randall.

Detailed description of character mechanics if they were part of the game at the introduction to the fic

A trailer released on YouTube that will likely be released at the end of the fanfic

The resurrection of Naomi Randall and Nagi Karman

A love interest for Kasane (Akairo). If you aren’t a fan of wlw stories, avoid Aka’s path, where her crush on Kasane is a much larger plot aspect than in the other three.

Kyoka x Arashi (I had to add my favorite Scarlet Nexus ship propaganda here I’m very sorry, also, we should totally call it Double Speed imo. And again, if wlw isn’t your thing, avoid Kasane and Akairo’s paths, where this ship is much more prominent)

Major character death (shocking, I know)

Angst (it’s a Scarlet Nexus fic? You can’t live without)

Time travel (duh)

Mind control and emotional manipulation (This might be a touchy subject for people. I will warn you ahead of time when this is about to occur in a chapter)

Original characters & Ships

Interplanetary travel

Aliens

Zombies

Zombie Aliens

Planetary Colonization

Heavy Combat

Betrayals

Nagi x Yuito (if mlm ships aren’t your thing, avoid Naomi’s path, where this ship is much more prominent)*

Hanabi x Naomi (if wlw ships aren’t your thing, why are you reading this fic? I am a lesbian. I must preach.[I’m not trying to ‘indoctrinate your children’. It is just my preferred way of telling a story. Also, I am in high school. Cut me some slack please] But avoid Naomi’s path, where this ship is much more prominent)

Villain POVs (Aoi)

The introduction of new powers

Twisty plot twists (they’re very twisty)

And, of course, spoilers for Scarlet Nexus.

Surprise character POVS

*Aoi’s path is the straightest, if you simply want a heterosexual relationship as the endgame. This is in no way to depict heterosexual people as a villain. It just happens to veer away from the main cast of the story, and so it winds up being straighter, as Aoi’s love interest is .

The fic will be rated T, for Teen, and will include the warning tags ‘Graphic depictions of violence’ and ‘Major character death’. It will be posted under the Psued ‘DreamsAreNightmaresToo’, but will show up on the account profile as ‘Pyxilate’ (my AO3 account). It will have ‘Gen’ for its relationship tag. I may post it on Wattpad in the future if it gains enough traction.

!!! THE FIRST POV BEING RELEASED WILL BE AKA’S, THEN AOI’S AND KASANE’S. NAOMI’S PATH WILL BE LAST !!!

[demiboydemon]

This is a different person from the last ask. They aren't the only one who noticed. Every other Zelda blog I follow tags spoilers appropriately. You are the outlier. I've had to block the main eow tags because of you specifically. Take a closer look at your eow posts without spoiler tags, and ask yourself honesty if all the information and screenshots are public knowledge from the trailers and promo materials, and not things you'd only see if you'd played the game.

Just block me if you don’t want to see my posts. It’s probably easier than blocking all the tags. I promise you I will not notice and will not mind 👍

Because I care about tagging my spoilers, I went through all my EoW posts and made sure they were properly tagged. Every single one had all 3 tags except this one, which is not a spoiler.

I’m assuming you are thinking of someone else. I will not be responding to any more messages from you.

[livums]

WIP Soundtrack Tag

Tagged by @writernopal (kind of a little while ago.... hehe). Find her post here!

Doing this for The Romance of the Demigods, because I think the marking blood ost needs... some more time to cook (the playlist is more angsty heartbreak songs and not... angsty heartbreak SOUNDTRACK music yknow? Maybe I'll do another part sometime).

Anyways I'm killing the part of me that cringes please be gentle with me 💜 also I'm being very vague so as to dodge spoilers as best I can bc I don't want to just leave the song with no context LOL

I added the Spotify previews of my favorites/the most important(?) songs below the cut lol

Teir Abhaile Riu | The end would make a great backing for a trailer theme... that's what I imagine, at least. hehe.

The Mageseeker | Nysean flees the palace, her home, in search of the Demifae and the Aiamede.

Dance of the Pagans | Theme of Kesh Akesheen, who has freshly dodged death, again.

Somewhere Out There in All that Noise | Eve is afflicted by dreams. She can't hear what she's telling herself.

The Dynasty | Theme of the Paladins of the Sonnelic Host, and its Holy Commander Réithe au Haulgen.

Surviving Exile | Kesh and Eve have a fraught second impression. The nature of Kesh's magic becomes clear to Eve.

Ancient Land | The fellowship departs, united on their journey... kind of.

The Banquet / Nil Sé'n Lá / Kingdom Dance | Various songs of traveling and merrymaking.

Lament of Orpheus | Irial sings.

Carrying You / The Journey to the West | Kesh comes home, to all that awaits her.

The Ancient Wellspring | Theme of the Aiamede, domain of the Queen of the Earth.

Dashing and Bashing / Blood in the Wine | Fun, games, and Fae antics in the Domain of the Earth.

Burn for You / Eyes, Nose, Lips | Eve tells Kesh how she feels. Kesh feels like her chest has imploded.

Magic is Everywhere, Magic is Rising | Kesh realizes who she needs the most. Eve bears the ink of their covenant.

La Stravaganza / Radiance | The Hierophant, Nysa's betrothed.

The Call | A great tragedy has struck. Kesh weaves a dangerous plan.

Charge of the Knights | Like, it's a really stupid fucking plan.

Revolution | Eve fights a traitor.

Specks of Time | Eve learns the truth of her dreams, the truth about Nysa, and the truth about Kesh.

SORRY it got so long. oops! Anyways, tagginggggg (if u haven't done it already and would sure like to) @writinglittlebeasts @sarahlizziewrites @yedithwrites @ink-flavored @tabswrites @cabaretofwords @rudeneles @jasperygrace @words-after-midnight @mysticstarlightduck @welcome-to-the-atmosphere and anyoneeee else who would like to, please tag me! o k thank you bye <3

[digimon-pokemon-swap-au]

Welcome to the Blog!

This is a sideblog created for art and fics for the Digimon/Pokemon Swap AU created by FireDragon1321 (that's me!). I decided to make a sideblog to make it easier to post about this mess of an AU since it got too big. This post contains all the info you need to get started.

What is the Digimon/Pokemon Swap AU?

Basically, Digimon is Pokemon and Pokemon is Digimon. Themes, characters, items, and even staff of the two franchises are switched thanks to a multi-dimensional reset. The AU has a project on Ao3 (project link here and artbook here), which will contain fic, art, and more. Basically everything posted here will eventually migrate there.

Wait, Didn't I See X Before?

Yes, you probably did. It was posted under the username @firedragon1321, which is my main account. I may accidentally post from that username- consider anything posted from there after this blog's creation official or canon to this AU. If it's not posted by that account or this sideblog- or links back to/mentions either source- it was reposted/stolen and I'd like to know about it.

Any Triggers I Need To Know About?

(Note- this will update as the AU evolves)

General Triggers

Unreality (for pretty much every entry)

Trauma

Panic attacks

Pokemon/Digimon death ("tw animal death" will be used for entries that depict this)

Electric Soldier Porygon Disclaimer

The lore heavily revolves around Electric Soldier Porygon, a Pokemon episode banned in Japan for causing epileptic seizures. You can read about it here (there is a gif of the seizure-causing animation frozen on the first frame- do not click the gif).

If the mere concept of this episode makes you squeamish, then this is not the AU for you. I found the lore of this episode interesting to explore (in some cases, it was the only episode to contain the information I needed). However- due to the real-world tragedy connected to this episode- I understand that its mere inclusion may be upsetting to some people.

Out of respect for the victims, this AU will contain no flashing lights. Posts with bright colors or patterns that may trigger seizures will be tagged "seizure warning", though I will try and keep those to a minimum. Posts with Zalgo text will be tagged both "zalgo text" and "eyestrain", and I'll keep the "craziness level" as low as possible.

Leak Disclaimer

The lore will contain references to leaked material for Pokemon. Note that I will never include material from unreleased projects. The instant there's a trailer that showcases the information, it's fair game. Also, beta designs have already been mentioned as early as the fic's prologue. But all beta designs that are under three generations old are banned.

I also will not share the leaked material I do have, and I do not have nor want game builds. So please don't ask for or offer me things. These materials will be used for the unreality/meta parts of a fanfiction and nothing more.

Okay, Anything Else I Need to Know?

Monster entries will be tagged "swapdex". Character entries will be tagged "swapchara". Fanfics will be posted to Ao3 and here, where they will be given the tag "swapfic". General lore posts will be tagged "swaplore".

Spoilers will be given the "spoiler" tag, along with two variants depending on how serious they are. "light spoilers" will be revealed rather quickly. "heavy spoilers" refer to major twists and big chunks of lore. Block whatever tag combination works best for you.

That's about it for now! This post will update on an as-needed basis. If you're ready to jump down the rabbit hole, please enjoy your stay.

Great! I Want To Get Started! Um, Where Do I Start?

Here's a list of links to some master posts. It may take time for master posts to update.

Lore Posts (Important! Start Here!)

Character Posts (for all non-monster characters)

Monster Index (Pokemon) (Swapped Pokemon only)

Monster Index (Digimon) (Swapped Digimon only)

Fic Masterpost (links to all fanfic/writing elements)

And the collection on Ao3 is here! Read the stories in order, or you'll get very lost. The last entry is a prototype collection and no longer canon.